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Beyond the Wellness Hype with Durana Elmi of Cymbiotika · Skin Anarchy

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of Skin Anarchy.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm very, very excited about this uh interview because we're gonna be diving into the world of supplements and in the best way possible because the brand that we are hosting today is literally one of my favorite brands in the supplement category.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like what they're doing is so beautiful because it's so transparent, it's so science-backed, it's so like you don't have to guess about what you're putting in your body.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so without further ado, please welcome Durana Elmi, uh, who is the co-founder of Symbiotica.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome, Daryl.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much, Doc.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's a pleasure new.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for your time.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: Love your podcast and the platform that you've been able to build for people in terms of education um and just community.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: So it's an honor to be here.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: That means a lot coming from you.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I really can't wait to dive into your journey and what you've built and you are building with Symbiotica.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: I literally, I do not say this lightly, like it's literally one of my favorite supplement brands.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: And when you agreed to come on my show, I was so hyped about it because I was like, yes, like we get to dive in and we get to learn about this this world because there's just so much noise, as you know, in the supplement category.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, so with all that said, I would love to start with your journey and learning more about you and like what really got you into like wellness and wanting to build a brand like Symbiotica.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: So I would say prior to 2018, my husband and I um we've lost a lot of family members to cancer, to health, to being very reactive to their health issues once obviously it arises to surface.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: And um we were on our journey of our fourth business together.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: And um, we just had this really beautiful, we have a really beautiful synergy between us where we know how to come and build businesses together.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: We're very yin and yin, that's what we bring to the table.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: And when we uh I lost my father and he lost his grandfather, both in which we were very, very close to.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: And what we discovered was uh although we had means and resources, we were helpless in terms of helping out the people that we loved.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: And when we turned to really understand what is it that's causing so much health issues today, well, one, it's that our foods lack nutrition, our soil is dead.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: Secondly, when we were taking a look at just the supplement industry in terms of, we know, most of the time, like I would say in the past, people would take supplements to be very, like I said, reactive to whatever health issues they had.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we wanted to, when we took a look at the supplement industry, number one, there was transparency that was lacking.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you had a lot of companies doing proprietary blends where you didn't really know what was in it, how much of it was in it, lack of education.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so we were really inspired to create a legacy brand, a legacy and how we would transform how health and wellness would be accessed, but also um on just doing something that had never been done, just putting education and transparency of how we make our products, what's in our products, in the forefront, educating our community and our customers.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: And the inspiration came from losing family members who we couldn't help.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we wanted to change the way people were living, which is there was a time where people were reactive, but now we live in an era where people are so savvy and so smart and they're so proactive about their health.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I have a daughter who's 11 years old and on her wish list for her birthday was the whoop watch.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: At 11, I was eating Oreos.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, I'm like, wow, like how much times have changed?
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: I can't tell you how many boxes of Oreos and colorful cereal I was eating at her age.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: But she, but like their generation is so savvy, and their generation beyond.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: She wants to like track her sleep.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: She wants to like know about her movement, and she's so um intentional about how she's living at 11.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's it's beautiful.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, we entered the space where there was a lot of confusion, when there are a lot of supplements.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: We there was a time where I was taking like over 20, 30 supplements a day.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: And my uncle, he um is a doctor in Geneva.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember going there when I was pregnant with like all these supplements, all these bottles.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: And my uncle was like, What is all this?
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, Well, in America, like we take all this when you're pregnant.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: He was like, Sweetheart, like you should be your nutrition should come from the foods that you eat.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like the delivery and the absorption and all this that you're taking is so low.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, What?
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like we wouldn't, I never thought that way.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: So for us, the biotica has just the form factor, the liposomal delivery, the pouches, like all of it.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's made health accessible to everyone.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: And now, because of the form factor, because it has the highest bioavailability and absorption.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: So our products are 300 times more, it gives you more absorption than a pill form.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: Today you're seeing that our products are becoming more of a daily ritual because people are feeling the impact.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: No, you know what's it that's so fascinating to hear that because obviously, like from science perspective, it totally makes sense to me because that was my biggest question as a consumer for so long.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: Also, being in the healthcare industry, it was like, how this doesn't even get absorbed.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: No, you know, a great example of that is vitamin D.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like everybody is on vitamin D and no one's getting better, you know, and it like always boggled my mind where it's like we're get prescribing 10,000, 50,000 international units of vitamin D, and people are chronically low in this, you know, in this very essential component.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so it really makes you pause and think about what you just explained, where it's like, yeah, you have to mimic the human body, you know, when you think about what we're ingesting.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll tell you, honestly, John, when I discovered Symbiotica, for me, it was everything right about the bread.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: It was the way your the pouches, like they resonated with me.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: It was like, I can put this in my bag.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have to worry about pills.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I think a lot of just the culture that's been around the supplement industry has been kind of off-putting for a lot of consumers, you know, for a long time.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to dive into that from the business side because what made you guys go in this direction of like we got to make it, you know, more like, I don't know, relatable for the consumer to be able to use this every day.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it started with ourselves.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like we we are this kind, we're this company where we do a lot of self-reflection and inflection.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: And when we started making our products, the truth was, I was like, I can't travel with this big bottle.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not throwing this big bottle in my purse.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: And so it was like, how do we create something that can become daily, that can move with you, that can go with you, that tastes good.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: And so we went through a lot of different evolution before we finalized this pouch form that we've landed on.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it was a lot of trial and error.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: But the most important thing for us was like, how do we create something that can create consistency?
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: Because the only way something can last and give you results is by consistency.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: And all the other stuff, it's not, it's it's not consistent.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not consistent with anything else that I have that's not in a path form.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: Because I forget it, it's not with me.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's like I'm just like a hot mess every single day, managing like work and my kids and being a wife.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: Like, so I need something to like throw in my pocket that can go with me, that's in the car with me, like that can be everywhere and alongside me.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: That's the only way that I can be consistent.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: So, first was like, can we really do this?
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: Like, can we take our own products every single day?
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: And as we were evolving, we're like, this isn't working out, we got to figure out.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: So we would keep coming back to the table and like trial and error, keep revamping, keep perfecting our craft until we landed on this packet.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: And the packet's so unique because again, like you can share it with people.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: Before early, early days on, we had it in just the liquid form in a Myron bottle.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: And it was like, in order for you to want to have someone else, you pull out another spoon or you'd squirt it in their mouth, and that was kind of weird.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: So we just we've evolved to really listening to our community, understanding how our community, how we move as people.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: And then how do we create, how do we it again?
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: We may have lucked into it, but it was like, ah, this is more consistent.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: This feels right.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, that I mean, honestly, it shows how much like trial and error you guys probably went through because it's like literally, it's perfect, like it hits home.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: And for anybody even trying the brand, I remember when I first tried it, I was like, oh, this is great.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, I'm gonna put this in my scrub pocket.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: I got this everywhere I go.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, and you can mix and match supplements too.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what I think is so phenomenal about when brands really hit that sweet spot with like the your delivery of what you're creating, is that it becomes that staple in someone's life, you know?
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, I would love for you to speak on that as like a founder and somebody who's had to build this from the ground up, is this idea of like, what does it really take, or what did it take for you, really, when like in terms of building something like that, you know, not just building a brand, but building a staple for people that they can come back.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know, first I'll say long mornings and late nights, a lot of sacrifices away from um my kids and the things sometimes that I love to do.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but what I would tell you is a lot of trial and error community became very important for us as we started building, listening to our customers, listening to um, listening to like what their what were their needs?
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: How do we solve for what they're what they keep bringing to the table in terms of being problems or addressing our delivery form?
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: You know, one of the things that we did that was really unique this year, um, I'm sorry, it was last year, is we created a wellness cafe.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: And it really taught our customers and our community that you can integrate our supplements into the foods you eat.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: So we are constantly evolving in terms of innovation and trying to teach our community that there really is no reason why we all can't be healthy today.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so for example, if you go to the Sematica Cafe in the Fontainebleau Hotel in Las Vegas, you can order a smoothie, you can order um an asai, you can order um wraps, you can order salads.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: And like when you get into like the wraps and the salads, you can order, which is one of my favorites, like a spicy chicken salad that has vitamin C integrated into the sauce.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: So you're getting all of your vitamins while you're taking in your sandwich.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's pretty brilliant.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: So, like for us, we're constantly figuring out like, how do we how do we show up where people are?
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: How do we um really kind of create consistency?
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: How do we take the excuses out of you not being able to take your supplements?
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: And so now we're integrating it.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: We've partnered with great, great retailers like Pure Vita, Joe and the Juice.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we did a collab with Coconut Cult.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: So we're we're showing you the integration now of like your daily life, what you're uh eating, your daily habits, and then supplementation.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, I really, really love the approach that you're taking because for a long time, and I'm being very honest, and I think a lot of listeners can relate to this, like supplements felt like big pharma for a long time for a lot of us, you know, and like it felt like it was just another big pharma type pushing something that no one needed and that would never work.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like almost like every time you bought like that bottle of pills, like you were being duped somehow, you know?
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so I like I love what you just explained where it's like you're showing people like this is how you incorporate this, you know, it's not just like we're selling you something, it's like we're showing you a lifestyle change, a way to integrate.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I and I would love your thoughts on this because I know the wellness movement is like heavy right now, you know, it's I think it's booming more than ever, which for me it's like a double-edged sword personally, because as you know, from my science side, I'm like not everyone's doing the same thing.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: But on the other side, I'm like, I love people taking more control of their health.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: I love that they want to get involved.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think, like like what did it take for you guys to like not compromise, right?
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like on the on the wellness side, like on the on the real heavy-hitting stuff where it's like everything is transparent.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: We know as consumers what we're getting with Symbiotica.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: There's no like, you know what I mean, like gray boxes for us to try to figure out.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: Because I know you guys are a very transparent brand.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: So for us, I would say first is it's so hard because every single day I feel like there's a new competitor or new someone new in the wildness space.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the most important thing for us is like keeping our head down and staying true to why we're in this business, and then also staying true to um just our efficacy, which is everything for us.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: We never follow trends.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's so easy to look up and go, oh my God, we should create that and we should create this.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: But the truth is for us, what has worked and what we know to be true is our liposomal delivery.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: We believe in that form factor.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: That's what you know symbiotica for.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: And so we first say we're gonna stay true to our delivery form.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: And then secondly, we're not going to just create products that are trends, but we're gonna really try to solve for real issues.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: And we're always asking ourselves, what are we trying to solve for?
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: And so for us, like we just don't take shortcuts in the efficacy and how we source our raw ingredients and the why behind what we do every single day.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, in the form factor, no matter how many people pop up, we just continue to stay true to our ethos because it's it's what we know we're great at.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: No, I mean, honestly, it shines.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I, you know, I think like the big question I always end up having when I see brands such as Symbiotica is that, you know, on the business side of everything, what does it take to really scale a brand like this?
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because I know the effort you're putting in is, you know, astronomically high.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: And everything you've explained so far, just that's proof of that, you know.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: So, like in terms of especially like being a woman in this business, I mean, I I don't know how male-dominant the wellness industry is, but I'm guessing it's like every other industry.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: So I'd love for you to give some perspective there.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like, like, what does it take to be a busy mom and to have all this other stuff going on and still scale a business on this level?
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: So one, I would tell you, it takes a lot of wearables to keep me on track.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but what it takes is a lot of sacrifice.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: It takes a lot of sacrifice, it takes a lot of um moments of reflection.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: Because what I'll tell you is um I don't believe that companies fail.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: I believe that founders give up.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: And you give up because the journey is very long and the admission to success is failure.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: Nobody talks about how many times you fail while you're building and scaling a company.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: Because we live in a time today where everything is like a highlight rail on Instagram, right?
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: You just want to see the good side of things.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: The reality is in order to build and scale and create a company like this, you've got to be prepared to fail.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: You've got to be able, you've got to be willing to take chances, make quick decisions.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: You have to be um a leader that is a people first leader, where you're not making decisions based on ego, but you're making decisions based on the leaders on the table, thought, thought leadership.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you are really listening to um, you're close to the the competition and you're close to um like the the the wellness space where you know kind of the trends and uh the future.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: You you know how you can like for us, like we, we um we've taken a we took a chance in 2019 when COVID happened, all the businesses were shutting down, but we invested in ourselves.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: So just I think it's it's really understanding your passion and your purpose.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: And despite the ups and downs, like never derailing from that.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because you believe in what you're doing.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: And for us, it was never about profits or evida.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's about are we making the best supplements in the world?
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_01: Are we putting our head down at nights and saying, I feel good as a human, that I'm making the best supplements that my children can take, my grandma, my mother.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: And there's nothing, no spillers, no toxins, uh, no synthetics in our ingredients.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: So at the end of the day, for us, the efficacy is something that we'll never compromise on.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: But again, it's like um just staying humble and um staying true to like your roots and your mission of what it is you're trying to accomplish.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then again, in parallel to that, I would just say be prepared to sacrifice a lot because it's a lot of hard work.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, there's days where I take a seven-hour commute to LA and I'm driving home at 1 a.m.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: and I've got tears in my eyes because I haven't been able to see my kids all day.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: And so you're sacrificing a lot to get here.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but again, if you're doing it for the right reason, and for us, this is a legacy brand.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: It's the legacy that we leave behind for our children, it's the legacy and the case study that one day, hopefully, Harvard does on how we were able to change um the industry of health and wellness and accessibility because of our form factor.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: So again, and and then also I would say there's a personal reason.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: I was I'm from Afghanistan, where today women have no rights.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: And so for me, I always say, in order to know where you're going, you must know where you've come from.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: I will never forget where I've come from.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: So I am so proud and I'm honored to be an Afghan American, but with that, I have a responsibility.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll never ever forget and have that, you know, inflection point or that perspective.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's so important to have perspective in life of like why you're doing it.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: The companies that come and go is because they're doing it to make a quick buck.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: We're not here for the quick dollars.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like we've built scaled companies, we've made smart investments.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: The reason we got into this was not to make money, but it was to change the world.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: It was to make health accessible, it's to educate consumers so that we can be more reactive, excuse me, proactive on our health versus reactive.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I have like the whoop watch, and I'm so I'm so conscious and I'm so intentional about my daily movement, my stress levels, my sleep scores, and all of this, so that what's the purpose of all of this if I can't be healthy for my children one day?
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: So um, and then to to talk about a woman in this space, it's incredibly hard as a woman because number one, there's so much expectations of you, um, of how you show up if you're a wife or you're in a relationship, if you're a mother, um, how you show up for yourself, self-love, how you look.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I always joke because nobody ever criticizes my husband if he gains weight up or down.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: But for us as women, it's like there's this, there's this social kind of uh pressure on us to also look good and and be this superwoman.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I have to tell you, I'm 46 years old.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: My body is not moving or recovering like it was in the 20s or in my 30s.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: And so every day I kind of feel like there is this, there's this battle that I have of like, how do I show up for myself?
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: How do I be the very best?
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: Am I am I optimal health?
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_01: Am I am I doing all that I am?
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: So like I think it's it's I'm constantly figuring out like how can I how can I be all of it, even though there is no such thing.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but there is a lot of pressure on us.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I've just learned to to to be kind to myself and um and I think that as a woman, my number one thing is how can I support women and how can I make them feel empowered and inspired and ignited?
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: Because that's all we can do.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: Our superpower is how we support one another uh in an industry that is very male dominated.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: And at the end of the day, I try to really open up my life and showcase it so that women know you're not the only one that's juggling all this.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm gonna come out and show that my life is an absolute shit show because I want other women to feel better about themselves and to know that they're not the only ones going through this.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: I cannot tell you how much I appreciate what you just said.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I genuinely like it hit my heart hearing that because like it's so difficult to watch people online or wherever we're consuming whatever content.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I know people say, don't compare yourself as you know, as women, like we can't compare ourselves.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: But it's like the amount of pressure on any female that's living right now in 2026 is more than it's ever been in the history of life.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like that's what it's like it hurts, you know, to see a lot of like, especially the younger generation.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like we were talking, like, yeah, like I I'm about to be 40 years old.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: I look at the 20-year-olds right now and I'm like, I would hate to be 20-something right now, you know, and it sucked when I was in my 20s with all the pressure.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: And like that really makes me think because here's here's where I feel like what you're doing from honestly the health perspective, why this matters so much to me as a woman, because we have no options on the health side.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: No one gives a crap about our health.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: No one cares about perimenopause, menopause, PCOS, diabetes, insulin resistance, IVF.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: No one cares.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: And you know what's crazy, Brandon, I'll tell you.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: My personal journey, I had Hashimoto's, right?
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I was diagnosed.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so then you know, you know about this.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's like the most gray box disease, right?
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's like no one knows anything about it.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like any like autoimmunity kind of thing.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: But here's the weird part.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: When you stopped, like I self-treated myself for it.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: And you know what I did?
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: I stopped eating.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like I went on GLP once.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: I stopped putting this garbage in my body.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: And then everything dropped.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: My antibodies dropped.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: My, you know, everything, TSH normalized, too.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: And it was like, even as a doctor, I was sitting there and I'm like, this is why women's health needs to be studied, because you guys don't know what's going on in our bodies.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: You don't understand it and you don't want to understand it.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why I asked you about the male-dominant thing, because in health and wellness, it's a problem.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's it's not being addressed.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, for when I look at a brand like Symbiotica, yeah, I resonate with it, especially as a woman, because I'm like, you're giving me an option to self-figure out what's wrong with me.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: Because I know when I go to that doctor, they're not going to tell me what's going on because they don't know.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: They don't know the mechanism.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: The research dollars aren't there.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: That kind of thing.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: 100%.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: And also, like, it's tough for uh when you have a male making a product for a woman when you never have been through menopause.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, how could you tell me about menopause if you haven't experienced it?
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: And let me tell you, no one talks about these things, but like Hashimoto's and the thyroid condition, like that's like your autoimmune disease.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's like your, I always say that's like your heartbeat to your entire insides.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: When my thyroid is off, I can't even function.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: I have severe brain fog.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: I can't lose a pound if my life depended on it.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'm tired, my skin is dull, I'm losing hair, and the world's coming to an end.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: And by the way, no one understands that.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like I just come off as crazy.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: When I was perimenopause, which you know, I think talking about like even menopause and peramenopause, it's so, it's not sexy.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I said to my husband, I'm gonna talk about it because nobody talks about this kind of stuff.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: What we experience and endure as a woman, no one talks about.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: I love women because I know how much women go through to become who they are every single day.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like you, we have built this brick by brick by brick.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: And so for me, it's like when when I experienced paramenopause and I thought literally my world was coming to an end.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: I woke up one day, I had severe brain fog.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: Honestly, I thought I had cancer in my brain because I'm like, something's really wrong with me.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I thought I was too young for paramenopause.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, my gosh, like I'm so lethargic, I'm so tired.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: I I it was the worst thing I'd ever experienced in my life.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_01: And nobody talks about it because it's not sexy.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm like, listen, we need to talk about these things and we need to make it sexy because all every woman goes through it.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and also like they don't know, right?
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: And they don't want to tell us that they don't know.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's what really grinds my gears about it all, is that you have a like an entire move, not movement, but like industry, right?
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like this big pharma and medicine is a business.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: No matter what anybody says, it's a freaking business.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: And you are choosing to not put dollars into the entire half of the population's health.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: You're choosing to not do that.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: So then when you come and you criticize us about, you know, like you know how people all say, oh, women always have like 50 things that you guys are taking, you're doing 50 different things.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we're doing that because we don't have any other options.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: And you've created it to be like that for us.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so, like, that's what makes me so angry.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm telling you, honestly, I get so worked up about it because exactly what we are discussing about Hashimoto's.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, think about all the women that are going through like PCOS, infertility problems, like God knows what.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: And they really believe inside.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: I know I did.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: When I got diagnosed with Hashimoto's, and then I had my you know fertility, I thought something was really wrong with me.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: I genuinely I went through it like mentally.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, what is wrong with me?
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: My mother didn't go through this, my grandmother didn't go through this.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: So what's up with me that I can't do this?
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I felt bad about me as a human being at the end of the day, and we don't talk about that.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I I mean, I'm going on a rant, but really it's it's about like people talk about supplements, right?
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: And they talk about this industry, like it's like there's so many gray areas.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: But in my mind, and the way I look at it as a woman who's dealt with a lot of health problems is no, actually, there's a lot of really great people trying to do the right thing.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: And they're doing trying to do right by a lot of us, you know?
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so yeah, it's it's it's a double-edged sword.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: You know, on that note, you know, I we sold 150 million packets.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: And we've sold 150 million packets because we've been a company about education, about transparency, about really we source all of our own raws because efficacy is something we will not compromise.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: And like you said, there are there are a few good ones out there that are trying to do right by the world.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: For us, we say we've never had to do any gimmicky ads on our products.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: Because like I meet, you know, brilliant people like yourself who are like, I love your products, like I feel the difference.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, ah, like everything, all of my hard work, my tough day yesterday was all worth it because of this, just this exact moment right here.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and and I agree with you.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: I think, I think that it's it's very sad to see that we're not getting more education on on some of these problems, right?
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_01: Because the reality is you actually can get ahead of paramountopause.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: You can get ahead of, you know, thyroid condition.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of thyroid condition is also lifestyle, which like for me, I didn't know.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I was so young, right?
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_01: I only knew I had Hashin Motos because my right eye was bulging out.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I had an uncle at the time that was like, your right eye is like a little bit bigger.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, that's kind of rude.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: Your right eye is a little bit bigger.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: And he was like, No, I'm being serious.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like the white in your eyelid is a lot larger.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what caused me to go to an eye doctor and then started the whole thing of me learning I was in Hashimoto's.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: I had a severe thyroid condition.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, it's not talked about.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it's very sad that today we live it, well, again, we lived in a time where, and also like things people weren't so privy to all this information.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: But now, like I said, you have all these youngsters who are reading labels, who are wanting to be proactive about their health and more intentional about the decisions that they're making and the foods that they're putting in their body.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: Which makes me really happy.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I'm so glad they're doing that, honestly, for all of us, for all of our sakes, because what what they're doing is going to push this world in a in a way that is going to really force the healthcare industry to change.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: I really believe that in my soul.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like what Gen Z is doing, like I that's one thing I applaud Gen Z on is like they really care about their health, their wellness.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, I don't care.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: You got to tell me the answer, you know, that kind of thing.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I love that.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I want to ask you though, because I know like like I brought this up earlier, Symbiotica is very transparent.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: You guys are very, very like clear about what you're putting in your formulas.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we know what we're getting.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'll tell you, one of my rituals with the brand is every morning I have my coffee and I pair the glutathione with it.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I love that.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's it's a beautiful combination.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I want to know what was it like creating this brand in a world where everything is behind bars, we don't get told about any like proprietary formulas and like, you know, this is our special blend and you'll never know what's in it.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: Just trust us it works, that kind of thing.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how was that for you in terms of, you know, not going that route?
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think it again, it was like about really understanding that we're in a world today where there's so much noise and everything, right?
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: And consumers deserve to know the truth.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_01: Consumers deserve to know what they're taking.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_01: So, what we believed was like if we build a company based on transparency, transparency creates trust and trust creates community.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what separated us.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_01: For us, it was like I was a non-negotiable.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we have never and we will never um take shortcuts when it comes to transparency.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_01: Because to us, that is our entire ethos.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we always say like people, people companies behave that way because they're worried that people are gonna take their formulas.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_01: But the reality is you, you know, trust should be w have more value than that.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_01: We're okay.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we want to come out and we want to tell you about how we make our products, what's in it.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_01: We don't believe what what what connects you and I today is the fact that there's this trust.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_01: You trust Symbiotica because of who we are, because of our our efficacy, because of our integrity.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_01: So we're not worried about the competitors, we're not worried about someone going anywhere else.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: We've already built the community, and the community is sticky, and the community trusts us, and we're not going to do anything to compromise that.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: I love what you said.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I I would love for you to expand on that a little bit because right now, as you know, we're living in the world of like influencers everywhere, and everyone's like, trust my recommendations, trust what I'm telling you, all that.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: But I mean, you're talking about something I think that is really at the heart of every decision that we make as consumers, which is truly trusting.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, I mean, what are your thoughts around in terms of like when someone is trying to create a brand, right?
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_00: And get to that place of like doing things right so that they compound over time to build that long-lasting trust with their consumers.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think the fundamentals of something like that is from that founder perspective?
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think education is one of the first pillars.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the second thing is to really have a connection and a communication with your consumers so that the consumers feel integrated and part of the journey.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you know, for us, like we've always we always talked to our community, we've always spoken to them.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_01: We've we've we educate our consumers about our raw ingredients, about our sourcing process.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so it's say education, building community and having communication, um, and then and then just knowing that like you know, you can't compromise trust and transparency.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_01: And that journey is is long and you have to believe in it and you have to invest in it as well.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I think for us, it's it's been those pillars, and that's what's really helped us.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: No, that's that makes sense because I mean, I think one thing that drew me a lot to Symbiotica was that you guys weren't like heavily pushing out through influencer marketing at all.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like it wasn't like gimmicky and you know what I mean?
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and I love that because that's where I get very like me personally, I don't know about anyone listening, but I get very turned off when I see an influencer super hard push and putting a product, you know?
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, all right, no, I'm not gonna do it.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean, that's gotta be tough, right?
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, in terms of the marketing side of it, like how did marketing work for you guys?
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like, especially now, like that you're growing so much and people are like taking off.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like, where do you put your efforts from the marketing angle?
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like the dollars.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: So for yeah, yeah.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_01: So for us, like, I agree with you.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's so tough.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like, and I I'm I come from an era the same.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like when I see an influencer pushing a product, I'm really questioning, right?
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like, do you really take that product, right?
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, I think one, it's um we've really invested in community.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we've built platforms, um, different apps that help drive community engagement, education, resources, and tools.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_01: But beyond that, we think that the real marketing comes from the customer experience.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_01: And so we've invested in this, what I call experiential, very, very early on, where number one, we integrate where the community is, whether it's events that are cultural moments or um showing up and creating wellness events within communities, but we are very much about how do we drive an experiential element that then builds this emotional connection to the brand.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what's really helped us build a runway to where we are today.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_01: And most companies, again, they're doing the traditional ads, and I think that that's gone.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_01: The real marketing today is how are consumers experiencing your brand?
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_01: What's the new wave of marketing is experiential?
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_01: How are they having a personal connection to your brand that then resonates to them, creating daily habits and your product becoming a daily ritual for them?
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I love that.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: I think more brands need to do that, to be honest with you, because I would buy a hell of a lot more products.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like I would, you know, like I would really actually invest.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_00: And this actually makes me think, and I want to actually pivot into this because obviously you know the longevity movement is here to stay.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like people are super into longevity.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: I personally love it, you know.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's it's really cool that we're shifting our mindset towards like preventative health and like, you know, just like what can we do for the long run?
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of what you were saying earlier, like I want to be around and enjoy my moments with my children, you know, and and that's I feel like that embodies what I think too about longevity.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and Symbiotica, you guys have supplements that are very pro-longevity, you know, like the glutathione I was talking about earlier, the creatine, the NAD supplement.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, they're all very hard-hitting.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so what are your thoughts around where this is headed, right?
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like the whole movement and like where brands can really do due diligence and making sure we're steering it in the right direction or not getting all hokey pokey with it, you know, where people are going into like weird territories with longevity, that kind of thing.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, I think with longevity, I think it starts with like the basis, which I have to tell you, I never really understood this because again, I felt like I was young and I was sleeping.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_01: I think it starts with the basics of like sleep, movement, nutrition, stress management, community, but again, again, most important supplementation and then optimizing that.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_01: I think the more we become intentional, um, the more clearer the focus is.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_01: For me, I'll tell you, uh, I never thought that like certain personal decisions I would make would have such impacts.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like when I got the whoop, um, it really taught me a lot about my body.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_01: For example, certain things I ate, the impacts it would have on me in terms of how I was sleeping, and then it would move into the very next day.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_01: So I think I think it's really, really important for us to um start with those basics, like know the importance of your sleep.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_01: I I would say people spend so much money on like topicals because we want our skin to look good, and we spend so much money on all these other things.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_01: But what we should spend a lot of money in is like how we're sleeping at nights.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm on this journey of how many hundred percent sleep scores that I can get every night.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so much of that is like my movement throughout the day, my nutrition, my supplementation, how hydrated I was, have I done any activity?
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I've been able to land a few hundred percent sleep scores, which I'm I'm thrilled about, but it's like, how do I keep that consistency going?
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I think it's just about optimization of how you're living and what you're taking, and then being aware of it.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I think the future of it is definitely it's it's gonna be in more wearables where you're gonna be able to track your your movement and how your body's responding to it.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I I just we recently just bought a bed.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's called Eight Sleep, like the number eight.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's fascinating.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm not a uh I'm not a representation of them.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_01: I like I don't rep them, so I'm not gonna even, I don't even feel like I'm gonna be able to represent them correctly on this on the show here today, but like it it manages our your sleep sword, has AI technology that manages your body temperature.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_01: So it changes the bed, uh, whether it's hot or cold based on your own body temperature.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, wow.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_01: And it's really fascinating.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_01: And also you can elevate like the back of your your head, you can elevate your legs, and so you're constantly adjusting your own body to the needs of what you need.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's fascinating because it's improved my sleep score.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like blown away by it.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_01: And as like, for example, these wearables also tell you your biological age.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_01: And so now I'm like, whoa, it doesn't matter how you're looking on the outside, but if your inside isn't healthy, then whatever you're doing isn't working.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_01: So now I'm I'm optimizing how I'm living my life, the things I'm putting in my body, how I'm working out, the level of intensity in my movement based on just what my body needs.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm I'm loving, I think the future of is is gonna be in optimization and in these wearables, and it's gonna continue to be in transparency and the efficacy of supplements that you're putting in your body.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, that's I mean, that's solid.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_00: I need to check that out.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_00: The eight bed you said.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_01: I need to check out this bed because I have to tell you, I wasn't a believer until I and it and all of it's a ripple effect.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like I used to think, like, no, I had a good night of sleep with like a glass of wine every night.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_01: That was like my jam.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_01: It was like, yeah, I've had my glass of cat and I sleep like a baby.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_01: And now I've learned that I actually don't sleep well when I have wine, which upsets me at my core.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm now like, oh my gosh, this is crazy.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_01: For so long, I sold myself on this idea that a glass of wine was relaxing me at night.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_01: When in reality, the the spike in the glucose that I was getting mid mid midway, halfway through my sleep, wasn't even allowing me to get into REM sleep.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_01: So I am I'm so fascinated today by um just like learning about what our how our bodies are uh you know taking in what we're putting in and and the true optimization and then the the impacts that it has on just how you show up every single day from like the clarity in your mind to what you're seeing on your skin, hair, and nails to like your own just endurance and your own energy levels.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, that like really resonates with me because I think sleep is definitely something nobody talks about.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like no one wants to talk about sleep for some reason.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't understand why we're not like pushing more towards like, you know, just healthy rest.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_00: But also, like I feel like you know, there is so much that we don't know, right?
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a big question I have for you because you're building a brand really in a space that's expanding every day.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's like we're learning new things every single day in this space.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_00: How do you keep up with that?
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_00: From like, because I mean your supplement, the supplements Symbiotica has are not like old, you know, like they're like very new age kind of thinking where it's like you it shows that your science, you guys are keeping up with the the science, you're keeping up with like what's actually going to aid the body in the long haul.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_00: How does that work for you from the business side where it's like you know this industry is moving so so fast, and then coming out with products that are going to keep up with that pace, but also add something every time you come out with them.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_00: How does that work?
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I'll tell you, one of the things I'm really passionate about is connecting with other founders.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I love connecting with other founders to really understand like their technology, their why.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so one is that's one of the ways I stay connected is meeting the founders of other brands that are doing well in the space, understanding their why, their technology, how do we integrate into what they're doing, whether it's wearables or whether it's um different AI apps that that help you track your health and well-being, um, to just other brands that complement what we're trying to do for our consumers and our community.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_01: So staying connected to that.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_01: And then I would just tell you that I also like to shop our competitors and and buy the products and and and study them.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_01: And that's the only way for me, I always say, in order to know, like, you've got to know your competitors.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm I'm always um interested in understanding like the different form factors that people are using, um, their why.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then just I guess that that's what helps me stay relevant and preview to to the industry is is trial and error of my my own kind of use of these products and understanding, well, I know why we differentiate because I've used the product, product doesn't work, right?
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_01: Or I know why we differentiate because of XYZ ingredients versus their ingredients.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_01: So I would just say, um I would say from the inside, it's it's sometimes using the competitive products to really understand what works and doesn't work.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then knowing why our products sit in a much better, I would say, uh place than theirs.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_01: And then also just connecting um with other founders.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that I I love that you do that though.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I love that you the way you spoke about it just now, because honestly, like it's been a big question for me is like, where is that like line of like healthy competition?
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_00: How do you utilize that as a founder and how do you really harness the the good side of competition?
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_00: And like especially right now, I see this a lot, and it's mostly in skincare because I do so much work in skincare where there are so many brands that like they are, I know they're trying to learn from each other, but like they they pull each other down, you know, like they really like they kind of come for the jugular sometimes.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I like I watch that as a consumer, and this is just for anyone listening that's on the brand side, like that does not resonate with consumers, you guys, you know, like when people do that.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so I would love for you to give some like words of wisdom here in terms of like when you're creating something that is very novel, it's very new, which you clearly I mean symbiotic, there's nothing else like it in the supplement industry.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_00: How do you harness the power of true like like positive constructive like critique of other brands and then not and stay true to who you are without having to worry about I need to you know navigate their narrative and like what they're doing and and put that out to our consumers.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah I would tell you it's the way I like live my life I don't I don't want to talk poorly about anyone because I think that when you self-reflect you as a person and you as a brand and you as a company you can always perfect your own craft.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_01: So I would first say that like our karma is really really beautiful like as a company we we try to do right by who we are every single day.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_01: I can't control what other people are doing.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_01: So to me it's like wasted energy to sit around and bash other companies.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_01: I just want every single day we only have so many hours in the day I want to focus it on how do we perfect our craft versus how do we put down other people around I think when you put other people down around you what happens is you're really kind of showcasing your own insecurities your own flaws just like as a person if you were to sit and talk negatively about other people around you you do that so that you can feel better about yourself.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_01: For us, we feel so confident in ourselves that we want to just every single day focus on what we're doing, figure out how do we perfect our formulations how do we continue to stay efficacious how do we continue to build the best products that taste good.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's just about your your own kind of like ethos and like who you are and for us like who I am as a person bleeds into who our company is because I actually spend more time with the company than I do like at home with myself.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_01: Majority of my life has been spending time with Symbiotica.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_01: So the footprint and like the the integrity of the company is a reflection of who we are as founders.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's what that's what you're seeing is like who we are as founders who we are as founders like I I why I say so proudly we've sold 150 million packets because the products really work because at the end of the day at night like I feel so proud I'm not like oh my gosh I have to send my product it's not really good.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like I feel so proud I can't wait to get my product in your hands because I know that there's going to be a connection after that.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_01: I know how good you're gonna feel and that's gonna empower me to know that every day what I do is right.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_01: The other thing I want to add is like for us like community when I say community isn't just about the community we build internally but it's the community of how we show up in the world.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_01: So once a month Symbiotica as a company does different things from like cleaning up the beaches, planting trees, feeding homeless, we're involved in the community in such a beautiful way.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's also the karma and the ethos of our company that you're seeing today.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_01: We don't just do right by just our products but we do right by a company and a community and a culture of how we're showing up every single day.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I, you know, it's easy for someone or a company to write and check but when you get every single one of your teammates and every single department to show up and clean that beach together there's like you're rolling in the same direction.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_01: There's something really beautiful about that journey.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_01: And that's the journey that we've been on since day one at Symbiotica is like just doing right by people and and and showing up in our community, showing up for one another um and we're very very passionate about that just as people I love that I really love that because like honestly like it's it's really rarely talked about in terms of like what it means to like uplift other people.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I think in the world of business we don't get into that enough you know what I mean because like I I've watched countless interviews with with people who are incredibly successful right and they've built giant businesses and whatever but very rarely do I ever hear about like the truth on what it takes to uplift a community or uplift another human being whether that's the person you employ, whether it's a person you interact with like what goes into that you know at that level because I know a lot of times when people reach a certain level of success you get tunnel vision and you're on your mission and you're you're building towards something but then it it makes you wonder like well all the people that are around you that you involve like you know where does that what is the true meaning of bringing them along and building them up with what you're building.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I'd love to I would love to get your words of wisdom on that in terms of like what does that mean like when people say I I support those around me or like when women say I uplift other women you know like when your mind what does that really mean so for me I would say I believe that all of us as human beings have a superpower and our superpower is how do other people feel in your company how do you make them feel that is your ultimate superpower.
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_01: I teach my two daughters at a very young age that are 12 and 11 two daughters and I say Yes meeting Ariana your superpower is how the other girls feel when they're in your company your real beauty your real inner confidence is how you make them feel and I have to tell you I've been in instilling it in them at a very young age because one I say the most expensive thing we own is our thoughts and then our superpower in parallel to that is how we make other people feel.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_01: When you can inspire and ignite people to me I think you're living a really beautiful life full of purpose and intention and also I always say be a student to life be a student to whoever you meet.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_01: We go to different uh speaking engagements and I have a lot of different founders who are new in the industry who are like I'm a I'm a fairly new entrepreneur what can I can you help me through the journey absolutely because I don't feel like I compete with anybody I want you to learn from my mistakes so that you don't have to make them you know I want you to to fail a little bit less than I did.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_01: You're gonna have your own failures and your own falls but they're gonna be very different than mine.
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that if you can live a life like that, then you're really living a full life a beautiful life.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_01: And for me I every single day there's a lot of kind of levers that we can't control that happen in business.
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_01: But what I can control is I'm gonna try to be the best person that I can be to every single person that comes in contact with me.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_01: I want them to feel passion.
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_01: I want them to feel ignited I want them to feel that they have a seat at the table and that this table is a place that they can get to um and I think that that's what makes me feel great when I come home at night and I want to instill that in my children and I'll tell you that people that are very close to us as terms of family and friends will tell you I want that to be one of my legacies is how I've made people feel through the journey.
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_01: Because life is hard and you never know what people are going through.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's the other thing I tell my children is like don't be judgmental because you never know what someone's going through whether internally they're going through health issues or something's going on externally that's impacting them just try to spread spread kindness because at the end of the day everyone just needs to feel love and and and feel good.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_01: And so um I think that's most important for me beyond everything else.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_00: I love that thank you so much for sharing that that I really to hear that from someone and I I really really resonate with everything you said and I'm I'm just so proud of you as a woman that you're building what you're building because it's it's really impactful.
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_00: No truly it is it's very impactful it's impacted my life in a very positive way I use your supplements I can tell you as a consumer I can vouch for how efficacious they are and it matters you know to those of us who really like love your brand it really matters the way you're showing up every single day.
• 51:57
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you for everything that you do.
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so honored by you as I mentioned the amount of acronyms that you've got after your name I was like I feel so unaccomplished.
• 52:07
  SPEAKER_01: No I I'm really blown up blown away by by yourself.
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_01: I mean you've created a platform and a community where it is a safe space where we can come and talk and and you're so warm and so kind and so loving.
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I I'm I'm leaving your show feeling so inspired so inspired to do more so inspired to continue to continue to do what we do every day.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so I can't thank you enough today for your time um for getting to know you for you being a part of our community for you trusting in us like I think that's the biggest thing that that someone can give you is is trust right and you're giving me like every single day that you rip and sip I always say this this this rip and sip moment is a moment of self-love and the fact that we can be a part of your life in the moment where you're having a moment of self-love to me is the greatest gift that you can give us.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_01: It truly is and I don't take that for granted and I don't take that lightly thank you so much.
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_00: That means the world to me and it's been an honor to host you and I can't wait to do this again.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you have time and I can have you back.
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely I'd love to I will shoot you a note with my personal contact I'd love to stay in touch with you and if you're ever in San Diego please I'd love to host you whether it's here at the home or in the office I just would love to get to know you more and I just appreciate who you are and how you show up every single day.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 53:31
  SPEAKER_00: That really means a lot and I I can't wait to stay connected so thank you.
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah absolutely and I'm gonna send you I'm gonna make sure you have most of our newest products so if you wouldn't mind please send me your address so that we can get you on our VIP list.
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely I'd love that yeah do you want me to shoot an email to your team?
• 53:46
  SPEAKER_00: I can just mess that'd be amazing.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_01: Okay awesome thank you so much doc.
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_01: I know you said not to call you doc but you know what I have so much admiration for you because the the sacrifice that it took for you to become who you are today was a long journey and it wasn't an easy journey because like the medical like any other field it's very male dominated.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_01: And then we come with the cultural norms of like trying to do right by our family and what our parents think of us.
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_01: There's all that stuff that goes along with it.
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_01: So you should be really proud of yourself.
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_01: You're not just a woman you're not just living in a live but you're making an impact and a difference.
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_01: So what an honor to meet you thank you so much.
• 54:25
  SPEAKER_01: That really means a lot to me you're gonna make me cry.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_01: It means I I really mean it I really mean it like I it's so inspiring when I meet women like yourself.
• 54:33
  SPEAKER_01: I tell my little my little girls like you too can be a doctor you too can have your own platform like this is what it's about right and um you know it's it's inspiring and we we need to support each other because we don't compete and if anything we compliment what we do.
• 54:48
  SPEAKER_01: The journey is is complimentative.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 54:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's right I could not agree more with you.
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_00: No this is it's amazing I can't wait to stay in touch with you.
• 54:55
  SPEAKER_01: You're awesome like you're literally one of the most awesome people I've ever met I'm so excited that's the sweetest thing anyone's ever said thank you that just made my day thank you so much.
• 55:05
  SPEAKER_00: No you made my day thank you and I'm gonna I'm gonna contact your team to get your contact information so I can make sure I have it and we can stay in touch perfect.
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna send it to you right now right after this call.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_01: Okay great thank you so much have a good rest of the day likewise thank you too thanks by