About The Founder
Csilla Ari D`Agostino, Ph.D.
"Being a neuroscientist, one of my main passion has been to better understand how our brain works and how could we improve its health and functions. As a Research Assistant Professor at the University of South Florida, I have been studying metabolic therapies in the last 12 years, specifically researching and optimizing ketone molecules for different applications. During these years of research, after publishing many scientific publications and making several discoveries in the field of ketones that resulted in multiple patents, I began to realize that not all ketone molecules were created equal. While researching the beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) molecule and seeing all the amazing effects, - even at the cell and molecular levels-, on optimizing health and performance, I became more and more convinced that I really should be consuming these molecules....many companies were selling exogenous ketone products by then, but my husband, Dr. Dominic D`Agostino and I felt that none of the available products were optimized and formulated ideally, we could not find any to recommend to people and I certainly did not find any that I felt both efficacious and enjoyable enough. We also knew that many people felt the same way. A couple years went by when finally I became frustrated to the point that I decided, I will embark on this unknown and risky journey of starting my own business and to develop the ideal ketone supplement, a highly potent, premium quality, but still enjoyable formulation without unpleasant side effects. My goal was to eliminate all the negative aspects I encountered while testing dozens of other ketone supplements on the market, while still delivering a high dose of BHB in a great tasting product. I was not in a hurry; all I knew was that I just wanted to do it right!
The accumulating scientific evidence, -including my husband`s research and his deep knowledge on this topic-, was a great inspiration that led me to the decision to create my own products, although creating the products of such high standards seemed like a demanding and “audacious” journey, a project that I finally embarked on alone.
In 2017 the University of South Florida enrolled me in the National Science Foundation's Innovation Corps, which program was initiated by the government to train academics/scientists to bring their inventions to the market, so the public can actually benefit from them. My team completed the program at regional and national levels, but entering into the business world seemed even more intimidating.
Luckily, a long-time friend with huge amount of business experience, Ron Penna (co-founder of Quest Nutrition and Legendary Foods) offered his help to guide me on this journey and he walked me through over the years step-by-step how to create high quality products in an efficient and smart way. His encouragement and support convinced me to dare to take even if tiny steps and slowly, but to move forward to create the products I envisioned, in the business world that often felt like walking on a minefield. Audacious Nutrition was born and the KetoStart products were launched on July 3rd, 2021. Getting all the amazing feedback from people who previously had negative experiences with other ketone supplements and whose lives are now changed by the Audacious Nutrition products made all the years of work already worth it and I can promise that this is just the beginning..."