Sharps safety was an important part of Braxton Fleming’s life before sharps became something he needed himself. He’s a nurse, and actually, sharps safety—that is, how to properly transport and store hypodermic needs—was a part of his life before Braxton Fleming as he is today was a part of his life.
Fleming is a trans man and is one of thousands who take hormone replacement therapy injections weekly. Early on in his transition, without knowing other trans people, YouTube was where he found community. Trans folks often record their transitions on social media and YouTube brings up page after page of videos labeled “MTF [male-to-female] Transition” and “FTM [female-to-male] Transition,” some with millions of views. Hundreds of thousands of other posts come up on Instagram. Documenting his and watching others as well, he noticed something.
Fleming
“I’m assessing everyone in videos –they’re putting the needles down, there’s no place to put them that’s proper,” Fleming said. “As people were talking about the injections, I’m realizing that they have nowhere to place this medication. Once I realized I needed it, I realized they needed it, too,” he said.
Enter Stealth Bros & Co., Fleming’s Eastampton-based luxury dopp kit company, which makes toiletry bags with special compartments for the hormones, syringes, alcohol wipes and bandages trans men and women need to access on injection day.
“This was my way to be a part of my community without stepping on anyone’s toes. There was a lot of trans guys making t-shirts to raise money [for gender confirming surgery], selling hats to raise money, and I’m like, ‘how can I get where I can work with them and not over them? I realized you can wear your t-shirt, you can have my bag, and you can have his hat all in one picture and make it a collaborative unity thing, and that’s what has pushed Stealth Bros,” Fleming said. “I’m able to collaborate with a lot of other influencers who create things within our community, and everyone has a piece of the pie.”
The trans influencer community was fertile ground for Fleming to expand his business. The photos and videos they shared with an audience of their peers, mostly other young trans folks, proved to be a place of organic growth for Stealth Bros & Co.: Fleming would get in contact with them and send them a free dopp kit, and it would ultimately be featured in their content.
“Some people do take it biweekly, but most injections are on a weekly basis. So every single week, they’re excited, they’re taking their shot, they’re saying they love it, they feel so much more organized,” Fleming said. “It’s really been an incredible experience just hearing the feedback and love from everyone.”
Entrepreneurism was modeled for him by his parents through the creation of a dance studio (his father) and a salon and trucking company (his mother). But the moment that empowered him to make the leap to business ownership was a prove-them-wrong moment in response to his ex-girlfriend, who had broken up with him because she told him he “wasn’t doing anything.”
“No one wants that yellow-orange sharps container on their dresser. Why not give them something they like?” said Fleming, creater of Stealth Bros & Co. dopp kits. – GOLESTAN PHOTOGRAPHY
“My entire life I was a go-getter, until I met her, because I was so focused on her and bringing her up to speed that I lost myself. When we broke up and I had to move back into my dad’s house, I thought, ‘I’m going to do this for real.’ I was in home care nursing, taking care of a little baby 12 hours a day. This baby slept for 12 hours, so I dove into the computer, and that’s how it started, right at that house in Eastampton,” Fleming said.
The two briefly reunited after that, but it wasn’t a match for Fleming—what was, though, was his budding business.
“My dad always said, you should really focus on a community and find that void and find that need in order to create a product. If you try to be a master of everything, you’re a master of none. My focus became my community … and now that I’ve touched base with [famous trans influencers] I’m ready to expand that into other communities that need me,” he said.
The convenience of his dopp kits holds up for anyone who takes injections—diabetics, women undergoing in vitro fertilization, and trans folks alike. Fleming said in some cases, a trans individual would use one of his bags, and their diabetic mother or father would get one to organize their own meds. He found out about its use in the IVF community when a woman complimented his product and said, “wow, I love that pink bag, I’m going to put all my IVF meds into it.”
On June 29, Fleming and other LGBTQ+ innovators will speak at Proud Innovation, an online event hosted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office in honor of Pride Month. Among others, he’ll speak alongside Sabrina Kent, senior vice president of corporate relations for the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, who he said has been “a godsend” and “a divine connection.” Kent and the NLGCC have connected him to opportunities to grow his business – including Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur’s Access Network, a business accelerator program for Black and Latinx entrepreneurs of which he’s in the inaugural cohort – and the CVS Executive Learning Series for Diverse Suppliers, which will give him more business sense and get him in front of CVS Health executives to pitch his product.
Fleming’s goal for Stealth Bros & Co. is for it to be more than just the maker of a product. He wants to educate folks on proper injections.
And while he expands into other communities that need medical dopp kits, his product gets more deeply woven into the story of those transitioning. Boston Scientific placed a bulk order for his dopp kits recently to send around to transgender clinics nationwide in an effort dubbed “kitsgiving.”
“I want [the transgender community] to know this was made for them. I want people to understand this was made to give trans individuals a safe place to carry their medicine,” he said.
