\u201cStress is very sneaky in that it just creeps up on you day by day until you look around and realize that you\u2019ve changed your life to accommodate the stress that you\u2019ve built in,\u201d Williamson told Technical.ly, \u201cand I think that\u2019s very, very dangerous.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, Williamson\u2019s Pelli\u00e1 is the only Pittsburgh startup in the first cohort of Meta\u2019s new statewide accelerator program, with a majority of the other companies coming from the Philadelphia area or central Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
The free program, gBETA Pennsylvania<\/a>, is a collaboration between Meta and Gener8tor, a startup accelerator and investor with programs across the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ten Pennsylvania companies were accepted into the program\u2019s first cohort, doubling its original commitment due to high demand, \u201cwhich really just goes to show the promise and the creativity and the ingenuity that\u2019s coming out of Pennsylvania,\u201d Diana Doukas, director of economic opportunity and small business advocacy at Meta, told Technical.ly.\u00a0<\/p>\n Breaking into a competitive market<\/p>\n Since founding Pelli\u00e1 in early 2024, Williamson has worked to formulate products like body washes, lotions and serums that are specifically for people with dry or sensitive skin.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a saturated beauty and skincare market<\/a>, Williamson is now focused on using her new access to gBETA\u2019s network of mentors, customers, corporate partners and investors to build Pelli\u00e1\u2019s online identity and aesthetic so that it can stand out from the crowd.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI noticed that if you have dry and sensitive skin, the packaging tends to look very clinical,\u201d she said, \u201cand there\u2019s actually a lot of stigma and embarrassment around issues and problems with skin.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Pelli\u00e1\u2019s products are intentionally designed to make people not feel \u201csingled out,\u201d she added.\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite building a company before in the medical device space, Williamson is exploring new territory in the consumer packaged goods<\/a> sector, and she\u2019s eager to apply her experience to this new challenge.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me, the accelerator is mostly about building that product-market fit, particularly online, and they also have a huge investor pool that they\u2019re introducing us to, so for me personally, I\u2019m really curious about learning about this space on a macro level,\u201d she said, adding, \u201cThat connection with Meta is just incredibly important because so much of people\u2019s online experience Meta touches, whether it\u2019s Facebook or Instagram or Threads.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The winding road of entrepreneurship<\/p>\n Williamson founded her first company, AbiliLife<\/a>, while completing her doctoral program at Carnegie Mellon University in the mid-2010s.\u00a0<\/p>\n The company developed a back brace reimbursable by insurance, which sold nationwide and in parts of Canada, Williamson said. Then COVID hit and Medicare changed some of its rules around reimbursement.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c[Our customers were] such a vulnerable population. They really couldn\u2019t afford to pay for the product out of pocket,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n That, plus supply chain issues from the pandemic, flipped the economic equation for the company completely.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cEssentially, I had this product people wanted, but they couldn\u2019t afford to pay for it out of pocket and I couldn\u2019t get it reimbursed,\u201d she said, \u201cso it was a crazy experience, all these things converging that we never knew were going to converge at the same time,\u201d she added.\u00a0<\/p>\n While AbiliLife ultimately had to close its doors, there\u2019s a mountain of lessons Williamson is carrying into her new venture, from customer discovery techniques to supply chain management.\u00a0<\/p>\n She keeps returning to entrepreneurship because it runs in her family and she likes to solve problems that she encounters in her own life. AbiliLife\u2019s back brace was originally designed for her mother, who passed away six months after she launched the company.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pittsburgh also seems like a perfect place to try to build something again, Williamson said, because \u201cthe ecosystem is really robust.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone is incredibly helpful, even if you don\u2019t ask for help, they\u2019re always offering,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a really easy and safe space to launch something because there\u2019s always people who are down to be beta testers or connect you with folks.\u201d<\/p>\n Meta\u2019s presence in Pennsylvania<\/p>\n The new accelerator is one part of the pledge<\/a> Meta made during the 2025 Energy and Innovation Summit<\/a>, hosted at Carnegie Mellon University.\u00a0<\/p>\n The event, organized by PA Sen. Dave McCormick, brought together high-profile politicians, like President Donald Trump, and top execs, setting a new record for private sector investment in the commonwealth at $90 billion.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe saw this as an opportunity to really invest in the robust startup and small business ecosystem, especially as it pertains to AI,\u201d Doukas, the small business advocate at Meta, said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Meta\u2019s also launched a virtual training event recently in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Chamber of Commerce to help PA businesses learn how to use Meta\u2019s AI tools \u2014 the second part of its summit pledge.\u00a0<\/p>\n Meta\u2019s connection to small businesses and Pennsylvania doesn\u2019t stop there.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Pellia-product-scaled.jpg\")
A Pelli\u00e1 product (Courtesy)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Williamson-headshot.jpg\")
Williamson (Courtesy)<\/p>\n