The Bossticks - Cleanse The Right Way, Manage Weight, Super Foods, Nutrients, & Wellness Practices Ft. Lisa Odenweller
Episode Date: January 12, 2023On today's episode we are joined by Lisa Odenweller. Lisa is a serial entreprenuer and the founder Kroma Wellness. Today Lisa joins the show to discuss how we can cleanse the right way, manage weight ...and live our best lives. We also discuss how superfoods can be used in our every day diet to enhance our performance and perserve our well being. This episode is jam packed with all things heal and wellness. To connect with Lisa Odenweller click HERE To connect with Kroma Wellness click HERE To connect with Lauryn Evarts click HERE To connect with Michael Bosstick click HERE Read More on The Skinny Confidential HERE For Detailed Show Notes visit TSCPODCAST.COM To Call the Him & Her Hotline call: 1-833-SKINNYS (754-6697) This episode is brought to you by The Skinny Confidential This episode is brought to you by See's Candies Order by February 6th on sees.com to make sure your See's Valentine's Day gifts gets there in time for Valentine's Day. Go to sees.com to shop their Valentine's Day treats and gifts, or visit your nearest See's Candies to shop in person. This episode is brought to you by Alo Moves Alo Moves has always been inspired by a single goal: to empower people to live healthier, more fulfilled lives. Alo Moves is the streaming on-demand platform with yoga, fitness, and meditation classes. Go to Alomoves.com and get 30 days free & 60% off of your annual membership with code SKINNY30. This episode is brought to you by Zoc Doc Zocdoc is the only FREE app that lets you find AND book doctors who are patient-reviewed, take your insurance, are available when you need them and treat almost every condition under the sun. Go to zocdoc.com/skinny to download the app & book with a top-rated doctor today. This episode is brought to you by Fashionpass FashionPass is a clothing rental service where you can get unlimited designer rentals for one flat price. Go to fahsionpass.com and use code SKINNY at checkout to get $60 off your first month. This episode is brought to you by Ritual Ritual knows it's basically impossible to get all the nutrients you need from your diet 100% of the time, so they made a multivitamin that helps you focus on what's important. Like filling key nutrient gaps to support foundational health. Go to ritual.com/skinny to receive 10% off your first 3 months. This episode is brought to you by Perfect Snacks Made with freshly-ground nut butter, organic honey and 20 organic superfoods, Perfect Bar has a variety of products that are good to eat and good for you. Go to perfectsnacks.com/skinny to learn how you can receive a perfect bar for free. Produced by Dear Media
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The following podcast is a dear media production.
She's a lifestyle blogger extraordinaire.
Fantastic.
And he's a serial entrepreneur.
A very smart cookie.
And now Lauren Everts and Michael Bostic are bringing you alone for the ride.
Get ready for some major realness.
Welcome to the skinny confidential, him and her.
I would watch my friends party from Thursday to Sunday and then juice fast from Monday to Wednesday.
And I thought, I'm not a doctor, but this cannot be good for you.
I went to New York and I went to like weak hair spa and I went to every spa I could go to to really understand this concept of cleansing.
I bought in great chefs and lived in the kitchen with soup and salads and snacks.
And there was elixirs and like real food that you would want every day.
Welcome back to the skinny confidential him and her show.
That clip was from our guest of the show today, Lisa Oden Weller.
and she is going to tell us all about cleansing, how to cleanse, what to do when we need to cleanse,
all the cleansing tips. And she's also going to tell her story. Her story is incredible. I was on
the edge of my seat the entire time. This episode is full of all the feels. You're going to just
walk away learning so much about cleansing and superfoods, but also like hearing her story,
you're going to be obsessed. Okay, so her cleanse is called Chroma Wellness. It is a
is the most beautiful cleanse I have ever seen. So much so that Gwenip Paltrow is an investor,
Amy Schumer and Kristen Cavalary. I actually heard about Chroma Wellness through Kristen Cavalary.
She was raving about doing this cleanse on her Instagram stories. And Kristen is someone who is
very thoughtful and purposeful about what she puts in her mouth. So I knew that she had really
done her research on this five-day reset. So immediately I had to try it. And
They have this cookie butter. It's like OMG cookie butter and it has goji berries in it. It is like chewy
deliciousness full of superfoods. Lisa also has in her chroma wellness cleanse, this cranberry
hydration powder that I've been putting in my water every single day. It's like full of electrolytes.
And then they have one of the best machas I've ever had in my life. Lisa, who we're talking to in this
episode is the CEO of Chroma Wellness and she is so thoughtful about each ingredient,
which we'll get into, this is the cleanse. If you're doing a cleanse where you're feeling
starving or hungry or grumpy all the time, throw it in the trash and try Chromal Wellness.
I have been trying and testing all of their things. I'm harassing Lisa over text. I'm sending
her pictures of Zaza eating the oatmeal. The whole cleanse is so beautiful. It's white. It's a
aesthetically pleasing, but it also has 50 delicious nutrient-packed foods and beverages. Also,
you get the cookie butter, just so you know, that are in it, that you can just eat, even if you
want to just eat it on the go. I took a bunch to L.A. when I was there. I'm telling you,
this cleanse is going to be the biggest cleanse in the world. I literally think so. And after interviewing
Lisa and hearing her story, I cannot wait to share it with you. She's a visionary serial entrepreneur,
a wellness expert, and she used to own Beaming Wellness, which is a superfood cafe that was in
L.A. in San Diego. And now, like I said, she is the CEO of Chroma Wellness. You are going to learn so
much in this episode. I hope you love it. I loved it so much I invited her back on to talk more about
cleansing. This is the skinny confidential, him and her. The cookie butter is so good. It's staring at me.
What is in this cookie butter? It's so good. It's almond butter, coconut butter, coconut oil, a special plant protein from Ecuador, hemp seeds, goji berries, and a little bit of coconut sugar. How are you so ahead of the curve? Like, I want to go back to how you even got into wellness. When do you remember your first moment that you like sort of fell in love with it? So I think for me, it's been a part of my life, my whole life. I mean, I grew up in a healthy family. My family. My family.
parents were always exercising every day. We were eating healthy food. My grandfather did a thousand
push-ups and sit-ups a day until he was 90. So it was in my DNA, you know, and then just sort of
grew up with it. And then in high school, I was making superfood smoothies before it was a thing.
I mean, we're talking like, oh, long, I don't even know the Vitamix existed. So I don't even
know how I was making them. I was making healthy chocolate chip cookies. So sort of all of that was
in me. And then, probably 15 years ago, well, there's a whole bunch of other story that goes with
this, but 15 years ago, Superfood specifically became interesting because I read an article in Oprah
Magazine. And it was talking about macca and goji berries and spirulina and all these things and
mushrooms, things that were not on the map yet. And I will never forget the article and I freaked out
and geeked out and I was like, what are these? I need to know everything about them. So all of those
things were sort of pebbles along the way. And then I geeked down on Superfoods and I've been doing that for 13
years. So go back before you had children. What were you doing that was wellnessy before kids?
Were you doing besides what you said making cookies? You said that you were reading about them.
What were you doing that you can remember and put your finger on that you were like right before you had kids?
So honestly, nothing outside of just taking care of myself and always being obsessed with health and like wanting to feel empowered with my health.
So but I didn't take a career track with that. Actually, well, here's the irony. So my first job out of college was
with Nestle and I was selling chili and cheese sauce and country sauces gravy and corned beef hash
and I was horrified.
I somehow didn't know that that's what I was going to be doing.
I thought it's going to be planning parties or something.
That it's kind of ironic to think back to like that's how I started, but that was so not my
DNA.
But what was funny about that experience is that I found these sauces that they had, these
salad dressing sauces.
I was like, oh, I'm going to turn these into like most incredible like pasta salads
and salads.
and I'm going to make Nestle healthy.
And I created a cookbook that I then took to the biggest salad bar chain in the country
and sold them the sauces.
So for me, that was like redeeming myself since I was selling such junk food.
So I think, again, it was like all these things led me to where I am now.
But like many people, I had a lot of other twists and turns along the way.
I mean, from there I went into at Oracle for many years.
So I went into the software side of things, became a business development.
I worked in the e-commerce world for a long time.
And then as it got to a point, my daughter was four.
We were living in the Bay Area.
I hit that point of like, okay, we want to have more kids.
This is a crazy lifestyle.
I'm living on an airplane.
Let's slow me down.
And let's move to San Diego.
And is your husband with you with the business side or is he doing his own thing?
So I'm not married anymore.
But at the time, he and I moved to San Diego.
We had two more kids.
We moved to Santa Luz.
Okay.
And then had two more kids there.
And as soon as I got there, I was like, okay, the entrepreneurial bug was in me.
And I'm like, okay, I got to do something.
What can I do to make the most amount of money with the least amount of time and be with my kids and be creative?
So I started a window coverings business and interior design company.
And so I did that for like six or seven years.
And it served its purpose.
I got to be creative and made great money and was there for my kids.
But there was always this inner burning.
Like I have a bigger purpose.
There's something I'm supposed to do that's so much bigger.
that's supposed to make an impact in the world. And I just felt like that anxiety, but I didn't know what it was.
So fast forward, and this is sort of like how that I got hit over the head with just like, this is what I'm going to go do.
I was 38. I went to go see the gynecologist for a regular checkup. And I said, you know, I just don't feel right.
You know, losing my hair. I have no energy. I'm gaining weight. I feel inflamed. My workouts aren't the same.
Now, mind you, I was healthy. Like people always came.
to me to say, what should I eat and how should I exercise? And when you stay healthy, like,
is it because you had your diet under control, where you were doing, your fitness was under control?
Yeah, I mean, I exercised every day since I was like three, you know, so this was like,
I'm not one of the people that say I don't have time. Like, I will always make time for that.
And we just ate healthy. Like, I was mindful of it. Now, nothing like where we are today,
where we talk about gluten-free and dairy-free and organic. So this is, you know, call it 13, 14 years ago.
So I'm at the doctor, and I'm saying all these things that I'm feeling.
and she looked at me and laughed and she said, oh, honey, welcome to getting older.
And I was like, F that.
Like, I'm 38.
That is not an acceptable answer.
And that was sort of a moment of truth for me that I'm like, I'm going to figure this out.
There's no way that this is just like it's all downhill from here, especially at 38.
So that was one.
The other was that my daughter was 11 at the time, I believe, and she had been on ADD medication for two years.
And it was one of those things I'd seen five doctors.
All five doctors said, sorry, there's no other option.
She has to be on medication.
Otherwise, you know, it's going to be really bad.
And I just intuitively knew that that was wrong, but I didn't know what to do.
And so I, between my moment of truth at 38, between what happened with my daughter,
I just decided I was going to take all of this into my own hands.
And I started to understand food as medicine.
And I read every book I could.
and I went to IIN, the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, and I started to understand the power of food.
And so through that, I started making simple changes in my diet, my family's diet.
Like what? Give us specifics.
So, you know, at the time, we just, again, we weren't as educated.
So things like removing gluten, using all organic, using really pure meats and fresh fish and no processed foods.
And we can laugh at this now, but 13 years ago, we thought whole grain goldfish were good for you.
No, no, that, like, that, like, I always talk about this on the show. That, like, span of, like, the 90s to the early 2000s. There, like, there was not a lot of healthy alternatives in the stores, at least.
Not at all. And we're, I mean, we've made so much progress, but we have so much farther to go. And accessibility, I mean, the nice thing is now, like Target and Walmart and Costco, you can get organic, right? So, huge progress since then. But, you know, wheat thins we thought were healthy for you. I mean, Michael's mom was putting windex in his Cheerios. So, yeah.
No, but I think about like my, you know, I think I was always similar to you. Like, you know, I always took care of myself. I thought, but when it come to diet, like I think a lot of our parents and a lot of people that were, you know, bringing in the food at that time, like the option, like, I remember when they started talking about organically, there was like specialty stores for that. There wasn't a lot of stores that carried organic anything.
It was crazy expensive.
Yep.
And there was the whole argument, is organic really that much different?
Do you remember that whole battle?
And like, does it really make a difference?
So again, we've come a long way.
But at that time, just starting to be more aware of like, and, you know, let's be real.
Kids love pasta, pizza, you know, all things bread and gluten.
Well, it's a food pyramid.
Think about like the what we're taught.
The food pyramid's like total bullshit, you know?
Exactly.
And even that still hasn't changed.
So it was like, oh, wait, gluten actually is an inflammatory.
And it causes inflammation in the body and the brain.
What if I take it out of my child's diet?
What if I take it out of my diet?
And even though I was using really good bread, it stills gluten.
Right.
And so and it just was, and then even that, you know, all the snacks and things that kids eat,
which is really hard to avoid eating more vegetables, having really clean, you know, plant,
or not just plants, but also, you know, meats and fishes.
And just by making those simple changes, my health transformed.
And I did a game with my daughter.
I said, let's for two weeks to see what would happen.
If we remove, you know, if we put all these things out and we just do lots of fruits and
vegetables and we do, you know, really yummy meats and stuff.
And so she's like, okay, mom.
And in two weeks, her brain was completely fine.
And she did not need to be on a medication anymore.
And that was a moment of truth.
How do you mean her brain was completely fine?
She was thinking fine. She was acting fine. Her behavior was fine. Like, she could, her, she was not hyper anymore. She could read a book and retain it. And like yellow, whatever and all this weird shit and all the food.
No, but that was, I remember, I remember being a kid in elementary school in San Diego and like, listen, granted, I was a problem child and I was bouncing off the walls. But like, the answer was always like put this guy on that kind of medicine. And my dad, like, he had the same kind of intuition. He's like, no, I don't think so. Because, and. And.
Again, during that period of time, like that was the answer from a lot of people.
It was like, oh, they need medicine.
They need medicine.
They wouldn't think about like change the diet, change the ingredients.
It was never a part of the conversation.
Not one doctor ever said that.
I remember running with Kim Kelly's, one of the girls in a boot camp, and she was
talking about her daughter having migraines.
And they put the daughter on medication.
And I was like, will you just try removing gluten?
And sure enough, she had a gluten allergy.
She didn't need to be on medication for a migraine.
And so all of these things were happening. I mean, obviously the transformation with my daughter was
massive. And for me and as a mom, I was like, pissed. I was like, this is fucking bullshit.
Like, why did I have to go figure this out on my own? Thank God I did and took it into my hands.
But now I needed to go tell the world. And how am I going to do that? And so that really became
the precursor to my last brand beaming, which was how can I help people feel and experience how
good you feel when you just make simple shifts in your diet. And it isn't about making it perfect,
but it's just like little steps that lead to better health. And by doing that and creating
all these healthy, delicious, I made healthy taste amazing, is what I did. Amazing. You guys, because I'm
from San Diego and it was amazing and it was so avant-garde. It really was. We were ahead of our time,
for sure. And but I've always been a foodie. And so I'm like, if I'm going to eat this,
it better taste really good.
And so it had to be really delicious salads and wraps and smoothies and we scattered our
own almond milk.
And we were using all of these superfoods that I had found in the Oprah magazine that no one
had heard of.
Like, maca wasn't a thing then and mushrooms, you know, using Rishi and cordyceps and chaga.
So it really was me just obsessing because I wanted this for myself.
And the other thing that was also, I think timely for that is that was.
during the juice fasting days.
Remember those days?
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
I roll,
I roll, please.
Three day cleanse.
I remember that.
Remember the juicers,
three day cleanse?
Yeah, the juicers.
That's where everyone would.
You can go on my blog in 2011.
And look at that.
Well,
you see it.
And you got shot out.
Listen,
that was still like in my courting phase
and I was trying to lock Lauren down
and she showed up with these like jugs of juice.
I was like, you got to do these for three days.
And I was like,
oh, I don't know.
People were miserable because you were drinking like
beats and carrots for one whole day.
I'm like,
talk about a shoderns.
sugar crash, right? Yeah. And so I was watching this craziness happen. Of course, I did some of it, too.
So then I was like, I'm going to go figure out this cleansing thing because I would watch my friend's
party from Thursday to Sunday and then juice fast from that freaking juice bar from Monday to Wednesday.
And I thought, I'm not a doctor, but this cannot be good for you. And so I went to New York and
I went to like WeCare Spa and I went to every spa I could go to to really understand
this concept of cleansing.
And, you know, going back to the juice, the juice fasting days, there's like 220 grams of sugar a day in those things.
So, like, like, the max you should have in any day is like 50 grams of sugar and that's high.
But that's like, most people have like 150.
There's 220 grams of sugar in most of those, which is great, no protein, no fiber, no fat, nothing to feel your brain.
Not to mention those, the juice was just sitting in jugs for days.
I mean, they were dead by the time you drink them.
So I don't even know if it was organic.
I know it wasn't because I went in his kitchen.
I actually went back in his kitchen because I was snooping.
It was not organic at all.
What the fuck, Lauren.
What did you make me do?
There's different seasons, Michael.
But that was the thing.
That's what everyone was doing.
It was so, it was just baddening.
So anyway, that was just like typical for me.
I was like, I'm going to change this.
I'm going to approach cleansing differently.
And we're going to do it with food with the idea.
So building beaming started.
with this beta cleanse that I came out with, which was completely new concept in the country
of like, we're going to eat food, but we're going to cleanse with food, but we're going to get
really freaking good. I brought in one of the top cleansing experts in the country, Adina Nemerow.
I brought in great chefs and lived in the kitchen to go create the first beaming cleanse
with soup and salads and snacks. And there was a juice, but it wasn't like six or seven juices
a day. And there was elixirs and like real food that you would want every day. And, and like, real food
that you would want every day. Novel concept. Was the idea behind the cleanse, it was just to clean
out the system and get healthy? Was it like a weight loss cleanse? Great question. So let's be real.
Everyone wants weight loss. Sure. That's what people buy. So call us beta spade. But I was always
looking at it like you're going to get the weight loss. What I really want is the awakening.
Like I want you to, when you put this food in your body and one, it's good. So you're not punishing
yourself, you actually enjoy it, and then you feel the difference.
And you're, because that's how we're going to best learn. And so as people were feeling the
difference, and all of a sudden, yes, they got the weight loss. The inflammation went away.
Sleep got better. Brain got clearer. All the things that we want. And it was so easy.
And that was really what I was going after is, if I can make this so enjoyable, would you want
these foods all the time? And so that beaming cleanse that I launched, but you didn't,
you guys weren't part of the beta, were you?
I think that I tried products that were on the cleanse, but I didn't do the cleanse.
Before we launched or after we launched?
After you launched.
Okay.
So before we launched, we did a year of these beta cleanses.
And like a thousand people went through this.
And we were like creating this out of...
Oh, you mean before you even had the stores?
Before I even over the stores.
Oh, okay.
So this was this whole concept of leading to food is medicine.
How can I share this with the world and do it in a way that's never been done before?
Right.
And the concept for beaming was in my head, but I had to go prove it first. So I launched this cleanse, this food-based cleanse. It became a cult followed in San Diego. And like a thousand people went through it. And we were producing it out of a cupcake kitchen, mind you. And I was like calling my friends, having them deliver these cleanses to people all over San Diego. My children were labeling bottles and packing teas. It was like madness. But it was also a really, really beautiful time because it was.
was working. Like, people would call me and freak out on day four. Like, I can't stop. I feel better than
I felt my entire life. I want this all the time. I find those moments in business, the most memorable
moments, though, right? Like, when things are kind of going, like, smooth or, I mean, obviously,
you work towards the smooth and the, you know, the win when it comes to, you know, growing the business.
But I think, like, what you remember are those moments. Absolutely. I mean, those are such magical
moment. They were hard, really hard. And I was going through divorce. I had no money. And this was like,
like literally out of the garage kind of thing.
Wait, you're going through a divorce as you're doing all this.
That must have been really hard with three children.
Three little kids.
Yeah.
No.
And was your ex-husband supportive of what you were doing or was he like?
I mean, he and I had a very emical separation.
But I don't think he actually believed that I was going to pull this off.
Like it wasn't like he was like, go Lisa, go.
Okay.
When you tell the rest of the story, you have to tell us what happened when it did take off, what his energy was.
But go on.
So we're, so this was super successful.
So the people who did the beta, some of them ended up funding and helped me raise money to open the first cafe in Del Mar.
You essentially kind of, you crowdfunded a bit like by involving people and having them be a part of the experience.
It's very smart.
A concept.
Very smart.
And so that worked.
And so got the first money.
And actually, this is a cool story.
Because since you were at that first beaming in Del Mar.
do you remember there was like 10 juice bars before then that it all like bombed in the place that
beaming was in the place that beaming was yes and i only remember beaming though isn't that funny
well because it was there right now the what's there right now the earth bar now because earthbar
bought be it yeah it is it is but but all of these juice bars had failed and this was just a fun
kind of store and i remember i was looking for a location looking for a location couldn't find one
i was standing outside of where beaming ended up being the first one and i started crossing
I was like, I just want to open the store.
Like, this is crazy.
I want that location.
And so I walked in and I asked for the owner,
randomly, and she's like, that's me.
And I said, I know this is a crazy question,
but any chance you would want to sell.
And she's like, oh my God,
did you just hear my conversation with my husband?
Like, I just told him I want to get out.
You know, sell the business.
And I was like, me.
I'm in.
I'm done.
How much?
And that day, I bought them out.
of their lease and I took over that space for for beaming Del Mar.
Wow.
Now was Delmar Kids just like a little off story?
Was Delmar Kids next to the next to your kids was right.
Okay.
That's vintage.
This is vintage.
We are going way back.
No, we're going way back.
Okay.
So you open beaming and beaming is wildly successful.
It was it was like something.
It was like air want energy.
It was like a very shocking, surprising thing in San Diego.
But you always had a huge line.
We had lined out the door from the day we opened.
Now, I had built all this momentum through the beta, right?
So there was, but there was no social media at the time.
It wasn't like we launched on Instagram or like, hello, we're open.
So it was all word of mouth.
And the crazy thing, it was 900 square feet.
Our kitchen was maybe 50 square feet, 100 square feet.
Yeah, it's a small space.
I just keep thinking about it now.
It's a very small space.
And we were producing so much food.
You couldn't even fit in the kitchen because there was boxes of produce everywhere.
and we were juicing all our own stuff and making our own nut milks.
I mean, it was total mayhem, but somehow we were pulling it off and people were obsessed.
And it ended up become the most successful concept in the country and it's in its time,
which is what's important to mention there too that we were talking about earlier is,
like December 2020, 2012, San Diego only had jamba juice.
So there was no like organic juice bar, healthy grab and go nowhere.
in San Diego. And so I introduced this very high-end, up-leveled experience with 10, $12
smoothies, $14.A.E bowls. And people just became obsessed. And one of the things that I just am
most proud of is that the kids became obsessed. And if you remember, it's tucked behind McDonald's.
There was no street signage. I worked at McDonald's.
Even better. I worked there. Of course you did. Yeah. Yeah. So when it takes off like this,
what is your ex-husband supporting this?
No, no.
He really was not involved with the process at all.
But was he like,
was he like, go,
like,
go Lisa or was it like,
no,
he was not.
And the reason I asked this is because I think there's a lot of
women that are listening
that should be blunt are pressed down by men.
Like if they're married,
they're like a lot of,
a lot of women that I talk to in my DMs,
the men try to keep them small.
Oh, can you be quiet for us?
Shut the fuck up, dick.
I was like, that doesn't seem to be a problem for you.
I love you too.
No, but like, I feel like a lot of men like press women down and make them smaller so they can feel big and powerful.
So that's why I asked that question.
So I didn't have that, but he certainly wasn't cheerleading me.
I mean, to this day, he's never said, wow, Lisa, what you've done is amazing.
Never.
I listen, there are, I'll defend men a little bit because I'm the only man on the show.
I do think there are men for sure that do that.
But I think that there's a lot of men that are just, especially nowadays, are struggling with the dynamic.
of like that traditional patriarchy
may not be the same anymore.
Like that the woman stays home
and the guy goes...
Well, I'm struggling with the dynamic
that we've had to carry children
for the last billion years.
That's not fun.
Like a lot of people that kind of,
especially probably people in your husband's generation,
like the example was like the, you know,
the mom stayed home, the dad went to work.
It's like they struggle when like the woman starts
to become the breadwinner or starts to maybe overtake them
or become the option.
I'm just saying like a little empathy one.
I think that's certainly a real thing.
I wasn't experiencing it.
But it did hurt me that he wasn't like cheering me on
because we still had a very amicable, you know, divorce.
And it wasn't, like, there was no, like, encouragement.
He sort of just rolled his eyes and was like, let's see if she really pulls us off.
Oh, she pulled it off.
She pulled it off and something else.
So you're in Beaming.
You are, are you working with partners at this point?
So I raised money.
And then because we were so successful, people were flying in from all over the country to see
what we had done.
And our kitchen, we were out, we out grew up the day we opened.
So I immediately needed to raise more money.
So that became the next round of money.
And I raised all through angels, which were basically all customers, which was an amazing thing to do.
What I didn't know in doing that is that I had never raised money before.
I'd never had a business plan.
So both times I raised money was pretty naive.
And so a couple, you know, I just sort of took money from anyone.
And, you know, people would buy a seat on the board.
You know, this very famous woman came in and she offered me a million dollars.
And at the time, I thought, well, that's amazing.
raising three. So there's a third of it. And she said, but I want to see it on the board. And I gave
her seat on the board. And she was like 85 years old and completely irrelevant. You know, she would
argue with me about why we were spending money on social media and we should advertise in newspapers.
And so. Yeah. So I had, I mean, my stories with that were absolutely bonkers because it was
some really hard lessons around like, be careful who you go to business with. This episode is
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Zock.com slash skinny. If you're looking back at yourself, would you tell yourself not to give someone a seat at the board?
What are the things that you would tell yourself looking back? Well, you, so when you go through what I went through,
which we can get to, but you have to pause and go, okay, how did I get here and how do I never end up here again?
Right. I mean, I built this amazing brand. You want to be surrounded by people who support you.
are excited that are, like, and because the shit's going to hit the fan, too. So not only the
cheerleading and supporting in the good times, but really in the bad times. And I didn't have that.
And I think when, if you're raising money, I mean, the first thing people want is like, well, who's on
the board? And I'll tell you, raising money for my new company, Croma, we specifically,
we only invited one person. So it's my business partner and I and one other person on the board.
So there's only three of us. And we maintain control. And I think that's a really important
part. That's not always going to be the case as we get bigger and bigger. But for now, in this early
stage, I mean, having the freedom and the autonomy to make decisions, to make mistakes,
and not have people breathing down your neck and have people ultimately that have influence that
could destroy the business. And that's what actually happened, you know, for beaming sadly.
Tell me what happened and tell me when you started to notice that something was going astray.
So we were on fire and we're two years in and I raised a bunch of this money and so we're going to go expand.
They couldn't find any more locations in San Diego and I just didn't think San Diego was ready for us yet.
I was looking at Orange County in L.A.
And we ended up opening three locations in L.A. in three months, Santa Monica, Brentwood and West Hollywood.
So which was a crazy time because I had, I didn't have a life in L.A.
Like I had no idea. And mind you again, I'm still a single mom with three kids.
So I'm trying to open all these stores in L.A.
My daughter, who had been working with me since she was 13, came up to L.A. with me, I think she was 15, 16 at the time, and opened all these stores with me.
And we just sort of had to build a life in L.A. because I had to entrench myself. And it took off. And all the celebrities came and people were obsessed with it. And, you know, it did what it did in San Diego. And so that, you know, got more and more, you know, followership. And people got really excited. And then we ended up ultimately,
building it to 10 locations. We partnered with Equinox in a couple locations. We actually even opened
at the Southwest Terminal at LAX. So we really became a real brand. And we were in every magazine and
you know, had a lot of incredible attention. But I think as I probably four years in, you know,
things are really tough. I mean, owning bricks and mortar is not an easy business, especially perishables,
very complex. Opening in a new market is not easy. And,
And we were struggling with just some of the different economics of it, I guess. And without going
to the boring details, I just, it ended up in a situation where I was very much in conflict with my board.
And I really wanted us to, you know, not only take the good of what the stores were doing, but how do we focus on non-perishables, build the business online.
We had to go online. We had to have a better economy of scale, better margins, reach more people.
That was always my vision. And the board really felt like you can't do both.
things. You only choose one. And I'm like, okay, since I'm a little girl, I don't like, no. So,
no does not work for me. I'm like, why can't we? And so it was very much handcuffed. And
because they look at other businesses that couldn't, so they just assumed this one could. And none of
these people had any experience in the industry. So I was surrounded by people who did not add value,
sadly. And then it just eventually became a very painful process because this beautiful brand who
was changing lives, people were obsessed, had such a great vision for it. And I had the wrong
people and it was very painful because ultimately I ended up having to walk away because I just,
I was so misunderstood and like what we were building was so misunderstood. And it was,
it eventually was sold off to Earth Bar. The great thing about what Beaming is is, you know,
people still stop me on the street and, you know, tell me how much they love it, what their
favorite product was, very proud of the brand that we built. And I got to learn some incredible
lessons. And that became sort of my launch pad for my next creations. So did you leave Beaming knowing
that you were going to create something else? Or did you do, did you take a beat, take a step back and
think about what that was? I think a lot of people have this question because I noticed a lot of people
will quit their job and then they feel like right away they need to do something. Yeah, great question. So
I mean, I'm a creator and so I always have ideas. I will tell you that coming off of that,
I thought I would just go off and create again. And, you know, I was going to create these healthy
cocktails. And before healthy cocktails became a thing. What I found was I knew I had to do the
deep work to understand. I've built this amazing company, but I've made some mistakes. And I
really had to do some accountability checks. Like, how did I get here? How do I never get here again?
I went to Hoffman. Everybody talks about that. Oh my God. You got to go off on that for a minute.
Talk about Hoffman. I'll riff on Hoffman. My business partners. Where is my-
Katie Perry did it? Justin Bieber. I did it before all the Hollywood people did it.
Yeah, I'm a greedy. No, I'm a greedy. Jen Adkins. Go on. Okay. So I mean, it was something that I knew
there was some deeper work for me. And to expand on that a little bit more, it was like,
you just, in business, there's other things that influence outcomes, right? It's like you can be
the smartest person in the world. You could have your MBA, all those things. But there's other
things that are blind spots. And for me, I was aware that there was maybe some underlying
blind spots within my own upbringing, if you will, that may have prevented the outcome I wanted.
What do you mean? Can you elaborate on that? Like, okay, so for me, what I found out was sort of
on my own. I was like, okay, what happened here? How did I build such an amazing brand and have to
walk away? And one of the things I realized, and this is maybe going to sound really weird, but I realized
that I said I had hired my parents as my board, which for me meant nothing I did was good enough.
That's how I felt as a little girl with my parents. My parents are amazing, but that was my
experience growing up was I just felt like I was very judged. And being with this board,
it was like the same, I'd recreate the same dynamic.
Whoa.
Yeah.
That's deep shit.
That's some deep shit.
That's deep shit.
You literally recreated your childhood within the business.
Oh yeah.
We do that.
That's not an uncommon thing.
Oh, I know.
We like the chaos of it.
I mean, we do it in relationships.
Yeah.
You end up marrying your dad or something.
No, he's married his dad.
He's sorry.
You married your dad.
I don't know if I can look at you the same right now.
So you realize that there was parallels between your childhood and the board.
Okay.
And also, I mean, if you really want me to go into it, it's like,
I had this thing of like never feeling like I belonged, right? Well, guess what? Like I, you know,
I ended up having to leave my brand. So, you know, like all of these underlying things. And I'm such a,
I'm very introspective and I've always been like very much into like reading, you know,
I call it self-help, but whatever things that would continue to enhance and help me evolve.
So when I went through that, you know, lost all my money, didn't have anything, literally,
and really hit bottom. I had to climb out. And so.
Hoffman was part of that journey. And, you know, for people who do or don't know about it, I mean, Hoffman is a seven-day
intense program. It's an incredibly transformative program. And people, you know, men, women go. And I think
they, you don't come out the same. I can't say much about it outside of the fact that it's,
I think, something everyone should do. And you have no, you have no phone, no technology, right?
No phone, no technology. Full immersion. I think there's 35, 45 people. And, you know, it's
eight to ten every day. And it's all, it's quiet, right? It's super quiet. I mean, you're,
and what I loved about it is you're not sitting around talking about and then my dad did this and
then my mom did that. Like, it's a very internal experience. So people aren't there trying to
like Starfuck. Yeah. Meaning like there's not, if they see like a celebrity, they're not trying to
like network with a celebrity. I hope not. I mean, there was no celebrity there when I was there,
but I think that it's a pretty safe place. No, but I, like I said, one of my business partners
swears by it and he says it like changed his life. And I, and I,
I think men especially, men always go when they're either going through a breakup or no, they
need to go through a breakup.
And when we go through the divorce, I'll connect you to Lisa.
You'll sign up for often.
Yeah, I'll be there.
I'm already on the waiting list.
I think it's like a one-year leading list now, so you might want to start.
I got them on speed dial.
Don't worry.
So anyway, I did a lot of this personal work.
And I think what became really important for me, and that's maybe the message here was
I thought I could snap my fingers.
I've been like, okay, we're back.
Like, let's go create again.
And I realized through that experience, there was some deep, like, healing that needed to happen.
One was just the loss of the business, right?
And that was really intense.
And, you know, I had big dreams with that company.
And so that was, that was a painful experience.
And then just again, like my own healing.
And it wasn't like, you go, okay, you wake up one day.
You're like, okay, I don't want to hurt anymore.
We're good.
Let's go.
It took me a good year and a half to really create again.
And, you know, there was times I had all this self-doubt.
I thought maybe I'm a one hit wonder.
You know, maybe that was it.
Like maybe I'm not as, you know, creative and, you know, know, know how to bring things to life as well as I thought.
Sure enough, through time.
And then slowly but surely, as I started to get my creative back, I decided I had to create momentum because I knew I was going to stay in health and wellness.
Like, I knew that this is my passion.
This is my mission.
I'm here to really change lives and make a difference.
And so I started to just.
like play with the superfoods again. And actually what happened is I'm obsessed with
macha. So matcha changed my life. I came off of coffee. You do the ceremony and everything.
I do the organic ceremonial grade. That's what I was doing at the time. But I,
when I was coming off of coffee going to macho, I was like, this is really gross. It tastes like
grass. It tastes like dirt. Like I know it's better for me, but like there's got to be a better
way. And so doing what I normally do, I became obsessed with it. It started tasting a million
different machas, found the best ones. And then I was like, oh, what if I add all my superfoods
to it. What if I add collagen and turmeric and ginger and mushrooms and like really super enhanced
this matcha? And because I'd go back and forth to LA, I was carrying 10 superfoods with me
and mixing it at my friend's house or at the hotel. And like, of course, the light bulb goes on.
I'm like, what if I turn this into a product? And so that's actually how really chroma
became sort of started was, I'll just create these adaptogen super lattes using all the superfoods
that I love in this powder-based form.
I want the world to drink matcha because I really think it's so incredibly good for you.
And that became sort of the momentum I needed to ultimately bring the new brand chroma to life.
But it took time.
Do you decide that you want strategic investors this time that are celebrities or well-known
people?
Or was that something that you just fell into?
Was there thought and process behind that?
So what was the thought and process?
Did you go panhandle at Hoffman?
I know, go to Hoffman and get your investors.
I should have.
Yeah, bad timing.
That's efficient.
Really bad timing.
You miss Katie Perry.
So a couple things happened.
So as we fast forward this, so I'm creating these products, I've got this momentum.
I'm getting my jege back.
And I end up meeting this guy who became my business partner because I needed a partner.
So one of the things that I didn't have at Beaming that really cost us is I didn't have an operational partner.
Can you talk about that for a minute?
Because I think it's a big, like the, like the.
the more we kind of like delve into business and entrepreneurs on this show, I, I think it's really
important to kind of like define lanes in some cases. Because I think a lot of people get in trouble.
They try to take everything on. And like the dynamic of Lauren and I, for example, is there's
probably like left, right brain. Like one's very, very creative. One's more analytical.
One's more operations. One's more like design branding. And I'm not saying we kind of don't
bounce back and forth between both. But like I think that's been one of the things that's at least
worked for us. It's like we, we, we, I couldn't do what she. Yes. Absolutely. And
that banter and that interaction because you do have different skill sets. And I think any entrepreneur
who tries to do it all, it's just not possible. And I know I'm not a great operator. I'm not one that's
going to go create a, you know, a performer or financial model. And I needed that partner. And I want
the dashboard. I want the, I want the data to make decisions from. But I'm not going to be the person
that does that. Nor do I want to be the person that figures out how we're going to create all these products.
I'll go create the recipes. Somebody else to go figure out how we're going to produce them.
And how do you find this partner that you're looking for?
is that you just put the word out. So there was that. And then I did, this is so random. I was at,
what's the music festival in San Diego? I can't make this shit up. Crossed? No, the one that was at the
fairgrounds. I know what you're talking about. Oh, I know. Not ours. No, no. Was it? What kind of
music was it? Like, it could have been Montfort and Sons. Like, it would only last it for like two years.
It was a music festival in San Diego. And I'm totally blinking on the name. I know what you're talking about. The racetrack
fairgrounds. And they're raised track. Yeah. And so I'm at this music.
festival. There's this guy standing next to me. And he picks up my glasses from the ground and
hands them to me. I can't, I literally can't make this shit up. And he and I become friends.
And that ultimately ended up leading to him being my business partner. Because as we were,
I learned he was a VC guy. He had gone to booth. He had like really understood numbers. And I was
like, hey, you want to help me with my financial model? And as that happened. So it was just one of those
random, but absolutely we were supposed to meet moments, like divine kind of moments. Wow, he handed
you your glasses at a music festival listening to Mumford and Sons. Look out for the guys handing you
stomach. And he was really cute. Like he had this really sweet energy. So yeah, through that,
he and I became business partners and what was so, thank God for this. So imagine this is September
2019. And, you know, I've been doing that entrepreneurship is lonely, right? Sure. Really fucking lonely.
Yeah. And so I'm, and to, and to, and to,
wake up every day and motivate yourself is really hard. So thank God I get this guy who says,
you can never complain to anyone about it because everyone just says, well, lucky you look what you're
doing. Totally. You just do it wherever you want. But it's not, yeah. It's brutal. And thank God I had
amazing friends and advisors that were like, you got this. You can do this. I'm like, are you sure?
Like maybe it's a bad idea. All the all the stuff, the chatter in the head. So this guy leaves his
venture group and it's like, I'll do this with you. And slowly but surely, like he and I start creating
the whole business model together. And the idea for this five-day reset sort of came through this
process of me going, I'm not trying to create a latte company. I actually want to create,
much like I did with Beaming. I just want to recreate Beaming, but in a way that can transform lives.
Like, how can I give you an opportunity to feel how good you feel when you put really good food
in your body? Do it in this non-perishable way so you can travel with it. It can be in your pantry.
You can make it work for you. You can reach people everywhere. And
that became sort of just now getting in the kitchen and creating more and more and more and more products.
I didn't have any money yet, hadn't raised any money yet. He and I create the business model. We create
the business plan. It's beautiful. I'm ready to tell the world. And the day we finished it was the day
the world shut down with COVID. I'm getting back to your question about investors.
COVID, I mean, there was opportunity there though because you do this at home. Yes. And so
mind you, like, I needed money, right?
Not the best raising environment, Lauren.
Not the rest, best, right?
I mean, we were trying to figure out how to get toilet paper and groceries, right?
And so I can't ask people for money.
So, like, all right, shift in plans.
What do I do?
So then my daughter and I started creating the beta program for the five-day reset for
Chroma.
And we'd get in the kitchen and we're like making all the little things.
We're like, all right, let's just go do what we did with beaming and put it out there and see what happens.
And that became viral.
And once again, I had this incredible program.
People became obsessed with the products.
They lost weight.
They felt great.
They were like, I want the, you know, the macha.
I want the spicy passion.
I want the bross.
I want the cookie butter.
I want all the things.
And so those people ended up becoming investors.
Now, going back to your question, I had learned some hard lessons from beaming.
So I knew I wasn't going to raise money the same way.
And I was going to choose who these investors were.
And I had a vision on a couple of things.
One, what if I could raise?
What if I could have money?
mostly female investors. That was one. What if we could have some really, like maybe we have
some celebrities. That would be really cool. And what I really wanted was I want people who
love what we do so much, they want to help me tell the world. And that was the goal. And then
the right people with the right energy would show up. So fast forward, there's actually some really good
juicy stuff here. So everyone's telling me no, no, no, no. I'm talking to VCs. There's no, no, no, no.
So anyone that's raised.
What was the main reasons for the nose?
Just out of curiosity.
Oh, perfect.
Proof of concept.
Love the idea.
Your products are amazing.
They've been burned too many times from, you know, they invested in these startups
that didn't have any revenue.
And they're like, we love what you're doing, but you're too early.
And so, but that's hard too when you're raising money because you're like, fuck, like your
baby's ugly.
It's basically what they're telling you.
And so you have to keep like standing up and you get your nose and your nose and
your nose and your nose.
And finally, so I get to this point.
and I'm going to get my first investor.
And he comes in and he's an angel investor and he's going to give us $3 million.
And he's like promising me the world.
He's crying to me telling me how this program changed his life.
That's love bombing.
But go on.
Okay, well, it wasn't love bombing me, but he was a billionaire.
Let me just also make this note because this is a really important thing.
And he is just telling me how this chroma is going to change the world.
I meet the family.
Like this is like, and something in me said, this isn't good.
something's wrong, something's wrong.
And I would wake up in the middle of the night.
I'd be like, something's wrong.
And I would tell Alex, my business partner.
He's like, Lisa, just take the fucking money.
I was like, no, something's wrong.
I don't trust him.
And I try to Google him.
There was no information.
And yes, he's a billionaire.
I did know that.
But like, very hidden billionaire.
Yeah.
All those guys scraped the internet.
And so, yeah, they actually would.
They have firms that actually scraped.
1,000%.
So, anyway, we go forward.
We get the deal on paper.
the day he's supposed to fund, he disappears.
We never hear from him again.
Now, mind you, I've emptied my 401K.
I don't have a dollar to my name.
I can't even pay rent and, like, buy food.
And I'm not going to be homeless.
Was he a real billionaire?
Did he just ghost?
No, he's a real freaking billionaire,
but he was playing us.
Yeah, he just goes.
Wait, why would he play you?
I don't get the point of that.
That sounds like a waste of time.
Who the fuck knows?
I don't know.
I mean, people do this.
When I tell this, like, what was his motive?
I tell this story.
and people are like, oh, that happens all the time.
Wait, what?
I'm like, what?
If you're an actual billionaire,
yeah.
Why would he string you along to the end?
Like, what is in it for him?
I don't understand.
Ego.
Yeah, actually, I think ego.
Absolutely.
Just wanting to feel like.
And also, I think it didn't really matter to him.
He's like, yes, $3 million, whatever.
Not thinking, like, here's this girl who's like risked everything and her 401k.
It was just like, no big deal.
Let me just go back to my other deals.
So I have a lot of black, nude, white, gray clothes. And in Cabo, I wanted to spice it up and add some
neons. I just wanted to switch it up. But I didn't want to shell out a bunch of money.
So what I did is I went to Fashion Pass. Okay. Fashion Pass is a clothing rental service where you
can get unlimited rentals for one flat price. But here's the deal. And this is why I like it. They carry the
best brands. So they have like for Love and Lemons, free people. I got something from Show Me,
you're moo-moo. They really have so many brands that are on the polls. And what you can do is you can
swap out your items as many times a month as you want. So basically you're just like getting new
clothes every single week. It's amazing. And this is so great if you want to trip and you want to like
mix it up. Maybe you're going out of the country and you want to do something that you like
wouldn't do normally. I know I wanted to do a lot of lilacs and hot pinks in Cabo. But honestly,
I just don't wear hot pink and lilac normally. So to be able to go on there, get my clothes,
it chips so fast. And my favorite part, they take care of dry cleaning. So you literally just
send it back. They sent me like this pre-labeled bag and you can just send it back when you're done.
It literally cannot be easier. Okay, so we have a special discount for you today. If you go to
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That's unlimited rentals for just $29 with code skinny.
I'm telling you,
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you won't be sorry.
Recently,
I did an Instagram story breakdown on my supplements,
my minerals,
and my vitamins.
And first on that list,
as always,
is my ritual multivitamin.
So here's the deal.
I've been taking this multivitamin for the last three years.
I took it for getting pregnant.
Like when I wanted to get pregnant,
I took it.
then I took it during my pregnancy and then I took the postpartum one after my pregnancy.
And now I'm just back to rituals essential for women 18 plus. So this is a multivitamin that's
clinically backed. It has traceable key ingredients so you know where it's coming from. Like literally you can
go on their website and see where everything comes from, which is incredible. It's also soy-free,
gluten-free, vegan-friendly and formulated without GMOs. I was having trouble swallowing a multivide
vitamin, but this one has like this minty essence. So it's very easy to swallow. I take this every
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I just did a fridge makeover. I got so serious about it. I got like an egg organizer. I organized my
cheeses. I even got like a soda holder to hold my sparkling water.
And you know what else I got?
I got acrylic holders for my snacks.
And one of those snacks, the main snacks, is perfect bar.
Okay, so first of all, this snack has six grams of protein.
So you can just grab it and you feel like you've gotten a treat,
but you've also gotten protein, if you know what I mean?
So our fridge is like stocked.
In one acrylic holder, we have dark chocolate chip peanut butter with sea salt.
And then in the other acrylic holder, we have coconut peanut peanut butter and cookie dough.
I like to keep mine in the fridge.
They also recommend it in the fridge.
And if you need something after a workout or a quick bite or a snack,
so if you're looking for something quick after a workout or just a snack, they got you.
They're non-GMO, they're gluten-free, soy-free, kosher, and low GI.
Perfect bar knows it will be love at first bite.
So you guys, for a limited time, they're offering you a chance to try the refrigerated protein bars for free.
So here's how it works.
You're going to sign up for email or text and upload a picture of your receipt from your local grocery store.
and then they'll reimburse you for the cost of one bar directly into your Venmo or PayPal account.
I mean, this is pretty cool, right?
So all you have to do is go to perfect snacks.com slash skinny to get a free perfect bar today.
That's perfect snacks.com slash skinny to get a free perfect bar today.
Happy snacking.
I think when what you were feeling of the intuition of what something's wrong here is when someone tries to get close to you too quick.
And they like tell you everything you're saying you're meeting the family too quick.
I feel like my antenna goes up with that.
Like, you have to, like, court a person and get to know them before you just shove it in,
all the way.
Well, yes, no pun intended.
Yes, there's, that's true, too.
So I think, yeah, I think that's a really important one.
The bigger one I would actually say is, like, your gut instinct is always fucking right.
And that is my biggest takeaway was I knew it.
Thank God he disappeared.
Thank God.
And actually, I'll come back to the story.
But like when we launched Chroma, there's an article that came out in Forbes.
And it was a picture of me, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jessica Seinfeld, and Amy Schumer, all of which he had invested in the company.
And it was this incredible.
It's one of those articles that come out and you scream.
You're like, oh, shit.
And this article comes out and the first thing I did, maybe not the first, but one of the first things I did is I sent it to him.
And I said, thank you.
Thank you for being an asshole and disappearing.
And that was my moment of truth.
Did you ever respond?
Because none of that would have ever happened had I done a deal. I probably would have lost the company if I'd done that deal. And the reason why that's such an important thing is we just, sometimes we doubt ourselves. But I knew, I knew that this wasn't the right thing. And so I was able to go build an incredible group of investors, get 90% funded by women. Absolutely the most incredible investor like cap table on a pre-revenue, you know, pre-launch company ever. And I didn't know any of them. It wasn't like I was friends with Gwyneth or Amy or any of these people. I just.
met them along the way and they fell in love with my product. So the fact that that guy
disappeared was the best thing that could ever happen. I think sometimes we forget, it's like,
when things don't go right, I promise there's something better. Yeah, in every area, dating,
relationships, everything, friendships. It applies to every aspect of life. So after this $3 million
situation happened, what was your next step and how did you start to meet all these people along the way?
Like walk us through that. Yeah. So my first, so I, you know, you dial for dollars, right? So I was like,
on LinkedIn, reaching out to anyone and everyone. I'm asking my friends. Can you make introductions?
And it takes the first yes. That's the hardest one. Right. And my first check was from the former
CEO of Twitter, Dick Costello. And he made an introduction. So he was the first check,
which was a good first check. Again, I didn't know him. And he made an introduction to a guy named
John Callahan, who was the first check in Peloton. And he said, I see the same thing in you as I
did do in the founder of Peloton, which was a nice compliment. And then the,
the third person was the former CEO of Blue Bottle Coffee. So I started with three really great people. And then those people made introductions. And that just sort of webbed out. And then there was just kind of kept going and kept going. And then there reached a point where we'd reached half the money. And so my first check was November 3rd, 2020. And it was February 2021. And I had raised half the money. And I woke up on a Sunday morning exhausted. I was like, God,
this is so hard. Like, I just want to get this off the ground.
And people don't realize if you haven't done it how hard. And it sounds like glamorous,
but like raising capital and doing all those pitch meetings and going back and forth and
dealing with term sheets and it is miserable. It's miserable because you're every day just like,
you're a puppet. And you're trying to run and start at the business at the same time. And life is
still going on. Like, you know, shit like other stuff. You're still bomb and all these other things.
Why you're like, show time, you know, like for your next pitch. Right. And most of time people are
telling you no.
And for people that don't like hearing no, it's like nails on a chalk bar because you mostly get nose.
It's really painful.
Yeah.
So I wake up this Sunday morning and I'm like, I'm so tired.
This has to happen.
And I get a text from one of our investors, Melody McCloskey, who's the CEO of Style Seat.
Amazing woman.
And she texts me and she goes, go check your email.
And I was like, okay.
And there's an email from Gwyneth Paltrow that says, hey, Lisa, you know, I've been a big fan of yours, which no, I did not.
but she was a huge fan of beaming.
And she reached out and she said,
I heard you have a new wellness brand
and I'd love to hear about it.
And that was obviously a massive turning point.
Which I think what's also important in that story is
there's just, you can't, I couldn't chart that.
Like I, did I know in my heart,
like someday maybe Gwyneth would be involved?
Yes.
Did I think I was going to wake up to an email from her?
No.
And just like all those moments where you're in doubt
or it's just like, it's just at that kind of that moment where you're like, can I keep doing this?
There's just, there's always something that kind of gives you that sign that says keep going.
And also, if you didn't have your first brand, she probably maybe wouldn't have reached out for
this brand because like that's what she would not have.
Yeah, because she fell in love with the first thing.
So even the thing that you said you had to walk away from, like that was the thing that.
I had a really good reputation from that brand for sure.
And that absolutely helped me here.
So to your point, as much as it didn't play out the way I'd wanted, it's been an incredible
catalyst for me to attract the people that I did for sure. So you get Gwyneth Paltrow. Is she like
involved in product tasting? Is she involved in the process? How does, how does someone like her get
involved as an investor? She, I mean, she's actually very, I mean, all of my investors are pretty
passive. I mean, what they are is they'll make a mention in a magazine, the celebrities, I should
say. You know, they'll make a mention in a magazine or they'll do a post. I don't ask for anything.
I really let them do it. It's all organic. I get them excited about it. They're the,
They're excited about the product.
They love it.
They want to tell the world.
And that was my vision from the beginning is, can I have a group of investors, whether it's a celebrity or the mom in the community that tells everybody what she's doing?
And everyone in between, that's what I wanted.
And that's what we got.
And how have you seen it take off since you got that email?
Is it just like the trajectory even crazy?
So that certainly adds a lot of credibility.
And through that, we were able to raise all the money, certainly.
and Jessica Seinfeld came in and Amy Schumer and we just continued to have such great investors.
But what I really appreciate about all of them is just their passion and support.
And, you know, just everyone, if I send an email or I kind of just give a little nudge, like, they're just, they're excited.
They're very passionate.
They believe in the mission.
They believe in me, which is huge.
So what is your vision for this?
Because I will say it's really good.
I mean, this is, it's good.
You guys. And that cookie butter is staring at me in the face. It is really, really good. Thank you. So what's like your overall vision? Is it just to continue to get this to every single person possible? So it's, we launched July 22nd last year. So we're 15 months old. We launched with 14 products and our five-day reset. Not something I recommend for any entrepreneur trying to run your product. Maybe start with one. But because I had this business partner who was really freaking good, he was.
was able to manage the complexity of five copackers and 200 ingredients and all the craziness and
this very elaborate packaging system.
Well, for what you're doing, it kind of all, it plays together.
It all plays together.
I mean, I want you, the reason why this box is what it is.
And by the way, I don't, if you guys may not know this, there's 45 different sachets,
all different colors.
It's a wheel.
It was like designed after the Kodak color wheel, like really dating myself.
And on the back, there's a message that I wrote of inspiration.
or education on every single sachet
that is like a little surprise and delight.
So for me...
Cute.
So for me, everything about this is like,
I want wellness to be something that you look forward to.
I want it to be when that package arrives on the door.
It's like an Apple experience.
Like the unboxing is like, I get to do this.
I get to take care of myself.
And that's really how we envision this.
What I think makes this so really so unique.
And this was the same approach with beaming is,
I care more about lifestyle. I care about like making those simple changes in your everyday life. And how can we support that? So when you do the five day, which is our hero product, first of all, they love it. They feel great. They lose weight, but they didn't starve themselves. And that you get broths and porridge and cookie butter and a macha latte in the morning. And it's a very lifestyle base. And then they fall in love with stuff. And then they want it all the time. And so for me, how many times have you done a cleanse or reset or detox? One, you're miserable, usually. And so,
It was like suffered for three, four, five days.
That doesn't happen here.
But the other is like, then you're like, okay, great, I lost a couple pounds.
Now what?
And to me, it's the after that matters the most because that's where real transformation happens.
That's where you're like, okay, I'm inspired.
I got this.
I feel great.
I look really good.
And I love the match and the porridge and the cookie butter and the broth.
And I'm going to keep using those every day.
And they travel with me.
And so those baby steps keep building on themselves.
So you're integrating the products into your data.
day as opposed to just stopping and like binging on chips and salsa.
Yeah, you're like, and you can still do that, honestly. And that's part of what we, like,
we're not about perfection. Like, I just, on our photo shoot this week, I ate Cheetos and Oreos.
Like, I don't ever do that. But, you know, like, it's so good. Can you invent a healthy eat
each other? So, and I never, but like, I don't like, I don't, like, I don't beat myself up for it.
I'm like, okay, you know, it's stressful shoot. Cheetos really hit the spot. And, and that's a really
big part of what we're doing. In fact, what's, I'm going to add on to that.
that we are, we just launched our cleanse with chocolate. We have campaign, which is the whole concept,
you do get chocolate. You're not eating chocolate for five days, but well, you get a piece of
chocolate every day. And the whole idea is like, it's like enjoy the pleasures of life. Like,
have that bite of chocolate and just savor it. And it's so amazing when you're doing a program
with this one, it's total surprise. You get this little square. It's a beautiful, we have a chocolate
tear that made it for us. It's the pure, pure, pure chocolate. And then you get to savor it and you're
like, oh, I didn't need the whole chocolate bar. Just the one, one bite was so special. And so much of
what we're teaching is just about intuitive eating. The ingredients that you have in this are very
high quality ingredients. How do you source all of these incredible ingredients? So that was a big part
of the process because much, you know, again, with beaming, I go not only create the rest,
recipes with my daughter, but we also source and find everything. So everything from the ginger
to the maple sugar to testing 100, you know, organic ceremonial grade machas, finding a plant
protein that was non-lectin, non-isolate, not highly processed, was not easy to do. And I was on a
mission because most people use pea protein and it's highly processed. And for a lot of people,
it's actually really hard to digest. And so I found this incredible plant protein in Ecuador called
Cho-cho. And so for a big part of this creation was finding the best of the best. And, you know,
I've never skimped on anything. And so, and I'm very particular about flavor. And that's why
I personally create the products, you know, with my daughter is so that we can get it exactly
the way we want. I mean, our bone broth comes from Australia. It's made with a refractionated
process. Like it's... Is that what I'm drinking right here? This is really good. You're drinking the
veggie bone broth. Oh, you've got the beef. Yeah, yeah. I'm drinking the veggie bone broth.
Our broths are insane.
And so it's just like everything has been thought about, both from a nutritional standpoint,
as well as your flavor, your experience, and packaging, you know, just the vibrancy of it, all of it.
And who should do this cleanse?
Could it be anyone?
Could you do it for 10 days?
Can you do it for a month?
Do you need to be gluten-free?
Like, who can do this?
So it's all gluten-free, dairy-free.
What's really cool is it's customizable.
So this is also a really unique thing.
Really cool.
That's cool.
Yeah, because everyone's body's different. Everyone's goals are different. You know, somebody might be an elite athlete and they need more. They're going to want to maybe add more protein and nuts or bananas or whatever they want because it's really about, again, that intuitive eating. So maybe you've got a big event coming up and you need to lose a couple pounds, right? And you just need a cleanup where you came off a huge vacation and it's like cleanup time. Right. So it's really designed that you make it work for you.
And because you're eating, I mean, anyone can do this.
It's like there's not starving yourself.
In fact, what people tell us, because you get 10 things a day, they're like, they almost get mad.
They're like, it's too much food.
And that's actually the point is then don't eat it all.
Right.
Like, actually, you get to decide.
You're retraining your brain.
Like, maybe I don't need that smoothie or that afternoon latte or maybe I don't even
need the broth at night.
Or you know what?
I had a really hard workout today because, yes, you can exercise on this.
That's also very unique.
I don't want you to slow down.
There's another program out there that, like, you literally can't get out of bed and you're miserable.
And it's very famous.
What?
A lot of people do it.
That's five olives.
Every day.
That's your food.
But that would, I mean, I don't know what, like, you guys would know.
You guys do know what your time?
Like, that sounds very strange to me.
Some program you just have to sit around and not be active.
Like, what?
No, you're not only not active, but you're a raiding bitch.
Like, you're so miserable.
You can't, like, the family usually leaves the home.
Lord, were you paying that this morning?
You never know.
And there's a place for it, but it's just not the philosophy that I followed. I am much more about
lifestyle. And do I think that there's certain cleansing out there that's like very liver or
gut specific? Absolutely. And that's where you involve a functional doctor. But what we're doing is
we're just cleaning up. Like we're getting off the stuff that wreaks havoc. Maybe it's drinking
too much alcohol. We're going to come off the holidays. We just did. Right. Like maybe I overindulged
or I had just too much food and I just need to reset. And that's what it does without
all the restriction. Can someone just go on the site and try one of the products so they can see
if they like it? Yep, absolutely. So everything that's in the reset is actually available in an individual
form. Go try. The cookie butter. Go try the cookie butter. And also I'm obsessed with this
cranberry hydration elixir mix. This is so good. Is that what we were drinking here? Yeah.
And isn't it so yummy? And that little spicy kick at the end? It's so good. And I swear it is like so
It has the coconut water in it and the cranberry and the cayenne pepper.
I'm actually going to give some of this to my two-year-old.
Oh, yeah, no.
Because I want her to have electrical.
And maybe just elude it a little bit.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Instead of like orange juice, just give me.
So much better.
This is a selfish question.
We have to go on a flight tomorrow like four in the morning and then go for like quick and back.
What would you bring here?
So I'm going to make sure you have all sorts of goodies.
The porridge.
Okay.
I would bring the broths for sure.
I always travel with those because it's so easy on the plane.
Yeah.
Because all you need is hot water.
Because I never accept the food on the plane.
I just don't trust it.
And I mean, all you need is hot water.
So you'll have your chroma mugs.
And then, I mean, I, of course, the greens powder would be great just because you're going to get that fuel and all the greens, especially traveling.
The cranberry elixir would be great.
And for a latte, I mean, I'm, again, I'm obsessed with our macha.
I think it's insane.
How much caffeine is in it?
Because I like caffeine.
I like a kick.
So it's at least double normal.
I mean, I load it.
because I want it too. I'm coming off, you know, I came off of coffee.
Put a little cocaine in there.
So.
Maybe not.
Maybe not.
They're all under the kick.
A little surprise.
But the caffeine is double the caffeine.
It's double the caffeine.
There's at least 60 milligrams.
And but it's, you know, the thing about matcha, and you guys know this is like,
it doesn't have that same zing that coffee does.
And I am not coffee bashing at all.
It's just the benefits of matcha are real.
And like you actually,
it's a mood enhancer. It's like an amazing, actually, if like you drank too much, it's like
incredible for a hangover cure. It's so good for just balancing energy so you don't have that crash.
And then, of course, we've loaded it with collagen and turmeric and ginger and all sorts of other
mushrooms and stuff. I know there's like turmeric root, maple sugar. But we've got it one gram of sugar.
So we keep everything really, really low, but still has enough sweet.
No, honestly, like this is my vibe. Because you want like a, like, a, like,
brands either add too much sugar or too little.
You want like slightly sweet but not like overpowering.
And it's really hard to do that by the way.
It's a balance.
It's either taste like turpentine or it's like a pure sugar bulb.
It's pure sugar.
And I don't care if it's like it's no sugar.
There's that fake sugar taste that's so foul.
Yes.
And it's really hard to create that balance.
And so like even just the way we played with maple sugar, like I use that instead
of coconut sugar because you can just use a tiny bit and then use a little bit of fresh
monk fruit.
So the balance of all those.
things, I think, is something that we do really, really well. And so it does give you just enough sweet,
but not so much that I'm going to make you sugar addicted. And the porridge, I love how you guys have
eight grams of protein. And like you said, you have that healthy fat in there and you have flaxseed.
I mean, this is like, I'm giving this to my daughter. It's so good. Kids love it.
Just put some berries on it. And kids love it. And they also love the cookie butter. I think what I love
about the super porridge. She's going to say cookie butter, cookie butter. I want to hear her do that.
on camera. But I think with the porridge, it's just nuts and seeds. And so this perfect little breakfast,
ignite your metabolism, it tastes delicious. You're not hungry for hours. And that's the other thing
that I think was really important with the reset was, like, I just want you to fight. Like,
if you normally eat bagels or you skip breakfast or you're sick of eggs, like, it's just an alternative,
but it's so healthy for you and it's nourishing your brain. This is really, really smart too.
Like, just I'm always looking for things to give my toddler. And what's,
What's annoying sometimes I feel like is you're making your toddler this, like a certain kind of food and then you're making yourself something like very different because they won't eat it. But with this, I feel like you can do it both at once and you can eat something and your toddler can eat it at the same time, if that makes sense. Absolutely. And they love the broth too. Okay. So good. I'm going to do a lot of tricking. Yeah. A lot of tricking with that. I mean, I've always approached this like, how can we do something for the family? And so that's really beaming did that. All the kids came there after soccer practice or, you know, in between instead of McDonald's.
And so I got really excited about that as a mom.
Yeah.
And so the products are designed, you know, many of them so that kids could have them too.
What is really cute about this, you guys, is it's this huge white box.
You have to go on their site and check it out.
It's like gold details.
And then they have a gold frother, which I love a frother.
It's a good frother.
This is a great frother.
And then they have this little cup, which I actually, the way that I found out about
Kromo was through Kristen Cavalieri.
She was drinking this cup on her Instagram stories.
and it's this mug.
And so basically everything that you have in here
you can put in the mug, right?
No, it's perfect.
It's the perfect size.
It's an elemental mug.
I'm obsessed with these mugs because it's
cute.
It's ceramic.
It's what's really nice.
Don't try to steal my mug.
He's already,
this is what he does.
I pray I have one for you, Michael.
Yeah, don't.
I already see what you're doing.
I'll steal a number if I have to.
Tomorrow is going to wake up with his mug and his own brother.
I already can see.
You guys are going to be fighting of it.
I promise I'll give you plenty to take.
He's going to want a mug.
But then you also get this like little hemp bag.
Cute.
cute. And then you can throw your little frother and your sachets in there. Like, again, it's just
this like little on the go. Lisa, you're a genius. Can we do a code for our audience and a giveaway for
one of these? Absolutely. So we're going to do 20%. Ooh. Which is like really cool, especially in
January. I'm at Skinny 20. Skinny 20, you guys, I'm going to use my own code on this. I think what
you're doing is absolutely incredible. I'm sitting here looking at all the ingredients and trying it. And I'm
obsessed and we're going to do a giveaway. All you have to do is follow. What's your Instagram?
It's Chromo Wellness. Chroma Wellness with a K with a K-R-O-M-A. And follow them on Instagram and then
tell us your favorite part of this episode with Lisa on my latest Instagram at Lauren Bostic.
Lisa, come back anytime where can everyone shop? Had a whole brief and didn't even need to use it
with you. You're a pro on the mic. Yeah, you're pro on the mic. This is so fun. We could have gone so
many different directions. Where can everyone find this cookie utter? So chromo wellness.com with K
and it's as good as she's saying. You guys. I'm obsessed. We're going to link it all out too.
I'm going to go stuff a big spoonful in my mouth the second. Let me ask you a real question actually.
What is the like serving size? Do you eat the whole jar or do you? So Lauren might and I've had
that happen on the reset before they're like, oh, I wasn't supposed to eat it all in one day.
As long as you enjoyed it. Because I might too if I like that. That's why I asked what like the what is the
what is the recommended? What's the serving sites?
I mean, it's like one or two.
Oh, but you know what's amazing.
Okay.
Is take that and whether it's gluten-free or a beautiful sourdough bread, put that on it, put
that on it, put a little slice of banana and like a drizzle of honey.
Oh, sold.
So good.
We started making this at Costa Palmos down in The Four Seasons and that's where we created
this recipe and then they became obsessed to put it on the menu.
Sold.
I'm going to do that.
I want to do this like every single month so I can just give this to Zaza.
There's so many good ideas for Zaza.
Yeah, no, really good.
We were just talking about this too.
We're like, oh, we got to like, we want to like, we want to like,
enhance her diet out because now she has a, you know, she's almost three. She's got a different,
like her palate's like changing. And so she can't just keep doing the same thing. Thank you so much for
coming on. This was so much fun, you guys. Congratulations. Cheers. Wait, don't go. Do you want to win
Chroma's signature five day reset? I want to win. I'm going to enter. I'm telling you,
you're going to die when you see this. All you have to do is follow at Chroma Wellness on Instagram
and then tell us your favorite part of this episode with Lisa on my latest Instagram at Lauren Bostic. Make
sure you're following along on TikTok. I'm posting there every single day at Lauren Bostic.
And on that note, we'll see you on Monday.
