Susan Domizi, President and Founder

Susan Domizi started her career in the horse industry as a working student sleeping in a hayloft because the house she was to live in wasn’t finished yet. Still, she recalls crawling into her sleeping bag each night to sleep with the mice and the barn swallows and feeling privileged to be in the employ of a top horse professional, poised to set the show world on fire with her horsemanship prowess.
Though Susan’s original dream was never fulfilled, a better one came true. Her talented event horse [Hull] was plagued by shelly feet. When she discovered a seaweed-based product from Ireland that appeared to help him, she was ecstatic. However, the quality of the imported product was extremely inconsistent. Trained as a biochemist, Susan felt she could do better. She began an odyssey that resulted in the formation of a nutritional supplement company known as SOURCE, INC.

Domizi and friends
Photos of camera-shy Domizi are nearly as rare as a “Bigfoot” sighting … this photo was taken of Susan and “friends” courtesy of SOURCE

Domizi’s intense research into the benefits of seaweed meals led to a product whose benefits not only poor feet but also weight problems, coat condition, appetite, stress, and other nutritionally related conditions are now renowned among horsemen. Along the way she has developed harvesting and drying techniques that make the various seaweed meals used in SOURCE among the highest quality in the world. She helped launch an organization dedicated to protecting precious coastal seaweed beds from pollution and over-harvesting and built a strong company able to prevail in the market against copycat competitors.

Susan attributes her success to an unwavering commitment to quality control, fair and equal treatment of those she meets in the business world, and respect for her customers. From the very first pail, Domizi has sold SOURCE with a money-back guarantee, the first of its kind in the horse industry. She points with pride to a shelf full of notebooks stuffed with letters from joyous horse owners whose horses improved when SOURCE was added to their diets.

Susan’s training as an analytical scientist gave her a model on which to build her success. “Education in any field is useful because it teaches you how to learn and how to seek the answers you need,” said Susan. Every step in the development and growth of her company has been supported by careful research, consultation with experts, and meticulous planning of all details. SOURCE’s longevity is legend in a market where many nutritional supplements blaze as a feeding fad for several years only to be discarded for lack of consistent results. Indeed, clamor among its customers has led to nutritional supplements for both humans and dogs based on the original SOURCE formula.

Susan's inspiration for beginning her life's affair with seaweed: HULL
This treasured portrait of HULL was given to Domizi as a wedding present by artist Jan Royce Conant. Ms. Conant also created the trademark SOURCE Seahorse logo.
Meet Jan the artist in SOURCE Friends

Like many in the horse industry, Susan works long and hard to achieve success. In fact, managing her business now leaves no time for riding or a horse of her own. Still, Susan finds fulfillment in the stories about horses with nutritional problems whose lives were turned around by her product. She points with pride to the photo of a highly successful, famous racehorse whose dam was fed SOURCE and who received SOURCE from the time he was born. She smiles as she tells of horsemen who whisper in the shedrows about their “secret” for raising runners better able to withstand the rigors of racing than their peers. And it all started with her love of a big-hearted event horse named Hull.

article reprinted from:
“50 Careers With Horses from Accountant to Wrangler”
by Bonnie Kreitler published by BREAKTHROUGH Publications


A few more words about Susan…                              

  • She is a life-long environmentalist and served on the CT Governor’s Clean Water Task Force in 1966-67.
  • No surprise that the logo color for SOURCE is green!
  • Her passion for the ocean seaweeds led her to co-found the Maine Seaweed Council and serve on the Board of Directors for more than 25 years. www.seaweedcouncil.org

Our Mission: The Maine Seaweed Council strives to protect the ecosystems
of Maine’s marine algae and adhere to sustainable cultivation and harvest practices, promote the use of Maine seaweeds, educate the public, regulators, and elected officials, and provide a collaborative forum for its members.

She worked with the FDA and AAFCO (Assoc. of American Feed Control Officials) for 8 years as sponsor of the ingredient definition for dehydrated seaweeds. Eventually, 18 botanical families of seaweeds were approved for use for animals.

She served on the FDA NIRFTF (Novel Ingredients Regulatory Framework Task Force) which attempted to bring regulatory sanity to the animal supplements on the market.

She was an early supporter and founder of the NASC (National Animal Supplement Council) which has made tremendous strides in improving the quality of animal nutritional supplements world-wide. (And she earned the 1st NASC Lifetime Achievement Award.)

With George Seaver and Dave Preston, she served on Maine’s 1st FMP (Fisheries Management Plan) for rockweed.

Her passion for sustainability of the resource and its ecosystem led to SOURCE MAINE’s development of and adherence to extensive standard operating procedures and traceability.  All of the seaweeds harvested are certified Organic.

Verifying cutting height with the ‘truth pipe’

It also led to development of unique mechanical seaweed harvesters that protect the seaweeds better than hand harvesting. The 1st 2 harvesters (below, left) were designed by her gifted mechanical engineer husband, David. The 3rd was beautifully re-designed and built by Greg Tobey (below right)

Susan emphasizes, with gratitude, that

it is EVERYONE at TEAM SOURCE

who makes it all possible!

the pioneer in micronutrient supplementation – since 1975