For more than 20 years, Meredith Murdock has worked to prove that botanical medicine can meet the same standards as traditional over-the-counter medications.

As founder and CEO of Faeve, a botanical pharmaceutical company in Sumter County, Meredith researches and formulates plant-based over-the-counter medicines. After two decades working alongside integrative and functional medicine physicians in The Villages, she took the company’s flagship product, Kevo-Prophen, through the FDA’s OTC monograph pathway, the same regulatory process used by major pharmaceutical companies.

Professionally, Meredith is most proud of earning FDA over-the-counter drug status for Kevo-Prophen. To complete the process correctly, Faeve voluntarily stopped all sales and marketing in 2024 while finishing its compliance work.

“Most companies in our space don’t do that because the supplement shelf is right there,” Meredith says. “We chose the harder shelf.”

She says building Faeve alongside her children has been very meaningful and they inspire her greatly.

She has also set out to create a company that would endure while providing customers with natural alternatives for everyday wellness.

Meredith founded Mulberry Integrative Medicine, now Cheshire Integrative Medicine, in 2005 and served as its president for 20 years. She also served as treasurer of the Sumter County Chamber of Commerce from 2012 to 2019.

As Faeve returns to the market, she hopes to create jobs locally while once again supporting scholarship programs and education charities.

She credits her grandfather with teaching her to think differently, while her family and the local business community helped shape her leadership.

Her advice to future leaders is to embrace the difficult path when it matters most.

“My grandfather taught me to know what you don’t know,” Meredith says. “We have two ears and one mouth. You will learn more listening than you ever will talking.”