Well with Arielle Lorre - 14: SARAH CASDEN & JENNA SANDS - Hello, Wellness!

Episode Date: July 17, 2019

In this episode Arielle has a lively conversation with Sarah Casden and Jenna Sands, founders of HelloWellness, about their journey from the corporate world to entrepreneurship in the health space; the importance of in-person connection; self care among high stress careers; overcoming negative self talk; making wellness work individually; the craziest things to happen at events; and so much more.    DISCOUNT CODE: Arielle20 Catch up with Hello Wellness on Instagram Check out the Wellful podcast The Blonde Files Podcast on Instagram   For Arielle's cookbook:https://theblondefiles.com/the-blonde-files-cookbook/ Follow Arielle here on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ariellelorre/ And catch up with Arielle here on YouTubeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Ariel Lori. Today I am coming to you guys from New York City. I've got to say the city is kicking my ass. It is just a totally different pace from L.A. and I always feel that when I come here and then I forget how hard it is. But it is amazing. I do love it. I was really excited to get the opportunity to sit down and do podcasts with some amazing New Yorkers. And today I have Jenna Sands and Sarah Kastin. They are the founders of Hello Wellness. So Hello Wellness produces and hosts events nationwide. Each event is led by a powerful influencer with a curated theme and brand sponsors endemic to the theme and attendees. So it's a way to foster in-person connections between like-minded health enthusiasts,

wellness professionals, brands, and bloggers alike. And in today's world of social media, it's too common to know what someone eat for breakfast or where they like to work out without ever having met in real life. So this is a way to meet people, IRL, as the kids say. I met Jenna and Sarah on their first ever retreat, which was last fall with Kelsey Wells. and then I actually did an event with them back in February with Rob Yang and we're doing another one about gut health in San Diego in the end of August. They were kind enough to give all of the listeners a discount code. So you can go on to their website and see if there's an event coming up near you and there's a discount code in the description of the episode wherever you're listening to this. So you can apply that and get a good deal.

Their events are so well curated. There are so many amazing sponsors. You get goodie bags. You also get the information and knowledge of whoever they have speaking. And there's just so much value. And they're really making it attainable for everybody. So make sure you check that out. And without further ado, Sarah and Jenna.

All right. So I have Sarah and Jenna here from Hello Wellness. Hi, thank you so much for having us. Hi. Guys, we also have Al Sharpton in the background. Next door, a special guest. Yeah, I'm freaking out. Kennedy's here too.

She doesn't have a mic. And she doesn't know who he is. She's a true millennial. It's okay, Jenna Googles. But I'm in Jenna Google. But I'm freaking out. It totally threw me off. I'm so weird.

Like, the people that excited. I know. We need to work on your very robust, hello. I thought you said me. I was like, what? Yeah, he had a really robust hello. Yeah. That's a great way to put it.

So thank you guys so much for coming in. I'm so excited to have you guys here. We kind of, we go back almost like a year, right? Crazy. Way back. How fast time flies. Yeah. So we met in Mexico when you guys put together your first hello wellness retreat with Kelsey.

Yeah. That was amazing. Oh, my God. Take us back. It was so special. Yeah. That was so cool. And then I did an event with you guys in February and we're doing another one in August.

I'm so excited. I was actually working on your event. You were? Oh, my God. I'm excited. I appreciate all the support. We're really excited. And I know our community in L.I. had so much fun at the last event with you. So hopefully this one will be just as good, if not better. And it'll be our first time in San Diego. Yes. San Diego, the whale's vagina. Do you know that reference, Kennedy? No. Come on. Is San Diego closed to L.A.? or not really? I've never been. I don't know. It's like an hour.

Like an hour drive. Yeah. We're so clueless when it comes to California. We're like, oh, is, you know, Napa close to L.A.? They're like, no. Okay. I have to ask, do you, I mean, you live in New York. Do you prefer New York or L.A.?

L.A.? I mean, it's a toss-up. I have my whole family here, so I, and I've grown up here, so I can't imagine living anywhere else. But when I was in L.A., I loved the culture. I loved the restaurants, being outdoors, all the activities that were just at your fingertips. Yeah. Well, let me revise.

You're making me look bad. All of my friends and family are here. You're like, screw them. I'm like, L.A., bye. Which is why I live here. Yeah. But if that weren't the case, and if anyone, even were dispersed, not even if they lived over there, but if I just wouldn't have such intense fomo, I would be there in a second.

Yeah. I get that. I feel like it's a grass is greener kind of thing because I'm like I would live in New York in a heartbeat. I don't know. This trip is kind of changing my perspective on that a little bit because I forgot. Welcome to Smelly Summer. Yeah. I mean, if I, I think if I lived here, I wouldn't be in the city right now, probably. Never. Never. But I like, I don't know. I like the energy of New York. I grew up on the East Coast and I like really despised the city, I think, because whenever I came here, I was kind of uptown and it was like a different vibe. I like downtown. I love downtown. The energy is palpable and it's so amazing. But that's, I think, also.

So what's so nice to escape. And that's why I don't miss it when I'm away. Yeah, that's true. It gets a little overwhelming. Yeah, I feel like my shoulders just shrink down five inches the second I leave. Yeah, I get that. So I want to talk about hello wellness and how you guys became the entrepreneurs that you are today. So how did it come to fruition?

Selfishly, honestly, because we were really into wellness. and our friends weren't and we wanted to meet people who shared the same interests as us. And when we were looking for events to attend and people to meet where we might be able to then make a deeper connection with something, everyone was influencer only and every event was really then excluding us. And so we wanted something where we could meet people who shared those same interests and where we weren't being excluded just for not having a social following. So that was really the genesis of Hello Wellness was just to meet people. And so we didn't think of it as a business at first. We wanted to host an event and it was a get-together to bake cookies because we were like,

oh my God, they like the same things we do. This is so fun. And we hosted, I don't know, how many was it? Like one or two events. Yeah. And each one or both of those kept like selling out. Like, why does everyone want to come here? It's us?

No, we're the influencer. of course, but, you know, we realized that all of these girls have the same common interest as we did. And so we really worked from event to event and event to event. We didn't think big picture. We didn't think of it as a business at all. Yeah. How long ago was that? Almost three years ago?

Yeah, like September of 2016. Yeah. Yeah. So you guys kind of saw like a niche. Yeah. I don't know if we saw it or we felt it and then we saw it. Right. It was like the chicken or the egg.

I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. And you guys have known. each other for a long time, right? We first met in sleepaway camp. Yeah, we met when we were eight years old at sleepway camp. And then we honestly lost touch.

We hadn't kept in... Because you dropped out of camp and I was in diehard camp sleep. Dropout. I'm a camp dropout. Oh, where did you go to camp? I went to... Oh my God, I can't even... Because I dropped out after like a week.

I went in Cape Cod. Cape C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C like Jenna says, you forget about any issues, any boys or drama or anything like that, and it's where you can be your freest, truest self. So, yeah, I loved it so, so much. But we met over pizza eating contests and peanut butter and fluff sandwiches. So fried fish. Friday.

You would not have thought that we would be wellness, business people. Yeah. So anyways, we reconnected in New York City a few years ago. We lost touch for quite some time. And when we kept bumping into each other in, you know, like Sweet Green and Barry's Boot Camp and in the Hamptons, we realized that we actually had so much more in common than our camp days. So we sat down for coffee. We shared some of our common interest, what we both were craving in New York City. And, you know, we just put together our first event.

And then we've honestly been inseparable ever since. People joke around. Like we're literally attached at the hip. Business partner, sister, wife, everything. Yeah. It's great. It's really funny. Yeah. What was each of your journeys to wellness like, like going from camp? And obviously, like, when we were younger, I'm sure all of us, you know, were not very health conscious. You actually were. Yeah. I mean, I was health conscious. I grew up in a really healthy household. My mom always had healthy meals on the table, healthy snack options in the cabinet. I learned, I played sports my whole life, so I was always pretty active. What did you play? I played lacrosse. Me too. Oh, did you? Same. Yeah.

Yeah. So actually, I grew up on a sports team. I was always, you know, into working out. But then when I got to college, of course, like everyone else lost all of those interests. And that was not a priority anymore. It wasn't until after college when I was back in New York City where I was trying to get healthy again, but really struggling because there are so many, all my friends were doing, like the boozy brunches, like going out all night. And I kind of felt a little isolated. So honestly, when we started doing these events, I felt like I was, you know, felt more at home and a little more in my comfort zone.

And that's where really Sarah and I had the same similar. Yeah. I was not healthy growing up. I didn't really think about it. It wasn't like a top of mind thing mostly because, I mean, first of all, growing up in the 90s was such a different game. It was like if you were healthy, it was eating things. fat-free snacks and this and that. There were yodels in my house.

We had a candy bar downstairs and you name it. Yodels. We had it. Yeah, like it was. Yodels. No brainer. It was there. I had it.

If you put them in the freezer, they're really good. Ooh, that actually sounds like. I'm telling it. So I got into it initially out of necessity because, all of a sudden I started to put on weight and I didn't feel like myself and all of the drinking and everything in college and the fried food and everything caught up with me and I just felt awful. And then I think what started as a necessity really became a passion because a lot of issues that I had had growing up that I never attributed to diet, which now seems crazy to me,

all found solutions. So I had had three knee surgeries because everyone thought I had arthritis because of joint pain. And it was really because I had celiac and it was manifesting as that. And so once I removed gluten, it was totally fine. Ran a marathon, has never had any joint pain. After three surgeries? After three surgeries. Wow.

So things like that, I just became so obsessed because how can you not when it solves a chronic issue that you've always had? and that's why I like to say I think like the celiac discovery and running were kind of like my gateway drug into the health and wellness industry because I kept wanting to see okay what else is there what else have I been suffering with that has been unexplained or what else just could be better and I think that's what's so cool about the industry in general it's not like this is something that we've been talking about a lot recently it's not selling one thing it's a lifestyle of just constant improvement. Yeah, that's why I was interested

because I feel like most people get into, quote-unquote, wellness because of a personal struggle. Like, you're not just going along and everything's fine, and you're like, oh, I'm going to, like, start doing all of this and adopt this lifestyle. Right. Like, it's usually out of necessity. Like, you were saying, you're working with Rob, right?

Yes, who I love and got through you. So thank you. That was another thing. Like, I thought when everyone finished a new thing. me all they were so bloated that they looked pregnant yeah that's not true there's just so much that you accept as the norm because it's been your norm and i think that's actually one of the for all of social media's downfalls that's one of the major positives is that although there isn't a norm you start to see maybe some things that you shouldn't have to deal with and that was one of them um and a supplement

routine changed everything in that sense. So that was a huge eye-opener for me and only something that happened after I met you at the retreat. So it's constantly evolving what my health journey looks like. Yeah. Yeah, I think that's important for everyone to hear too because we all want it to be this fixed thing. Like find the thing that's going to be the cure and it's always evolving. And like what I was doing with Rob last year is not what I'm doing now. And people always ask me like what what I eat and what supplements I take what probiotic I take and like that's going to be it and I'm like it's always I wish it was I know trust me so much easier what were you doing before you founded hello wellness I worked in media sales so totally outside of the landscape

nine to much later but not as late as we work now so that's funny but it was very corporate it. And the only thing that I think trained me very well for what I do now is being in sales, I was always managing my own book of business. And I was really responsible for how well I did or how poorly I did. And I think that now bringing on brands, conveying what I do at our company and that same fear and drive of how well we do is in my hands and in our hands, that came from that training. I was running a social media marketing agency and I was managing influencer strategy for a bunch of health and wellness brands. So I also had a little bit of background in doing that before jumping into Hello Wellness. So what was the transition like going from kind of more of like

a corporate environment to starting your own company? Going from a corporate environment to not was incredible. The transition though was so much harder than I thought it would be because I thought what could possibly be harder than working two full-time jobs because I felt like when I was working full-time, I was like running around having an affair. I would be sneaking into the bathroom and taking a phone call with Jenna or coming home late at night because I had a meeting with a client. I had like a full-on sidepiece. Yeah. I had like a full-on side piece. You like you up? Yeah. Hey, babe, you up. And I would literally leave work and then work all night on our business. And so in my mind, it was going from two jobs to one job and therefore it had to be easier.

It had to alleviate some of that scheduling and that pressure. But it only tripled, if not more, in terms of the pressure and the stress and the hours because then you don't have that comfort and that luxury of the full-time job, the person who's making the decisions for you. I think that was a huge one. Guaranteed paycheck. Exactly. I would also just add on to that. I think one of the difficulties for me was just finding a routine and balance in the day. Like, you know, I started working on the business earlier than she, sorry, full time earlier than she did. She left her job a few weeks after me. So I was having a little bit of trouble, you know, like finding a time to work out in the day. Like, should I wear pajamas all day? Should I stay in my apartment all day? So that was a little challenging for me. but now that we have an office space, I wake up every single morning.

I go to the gym. I pack my lunch. I go to the office. I have to get dressed in the morning. Right. And just having instruction in the day makes it feel like more real. It's really hard working from home. People think that like it's the greatest thing in the world.

And then if you do. Oh, it's so hard. You have to be so disciplined. Yeah. The thing that keeps me really disciplined is I am a morning workout person. So I wake up at 6 o'clock and we might be working from my house. that day but I'm still up and then like Jenna said I can get into that routine regardless of if I'm staying home and don't get me wrong I might work out and get back into my pajamas but I'm up

yeah you're up you're energized yeah I'm curious what it was like for you both leaving your like those guaranteed paychecks and leaving the security and the stability I'm assuming that it was stable and secure um for something like totally unknown because I'm sure there are people listening who might want to like take a leap of faith and like when did you know that it was what you wanted or what you had to do. I feel like it's kind of a calling, right? Yeah. I think we knew a lot earlier than we actually left. Yeah. Because financially, we just wanted to stay and be able to not take the paycheck that we would need to take if we pursued it full time. So it's actually two very different timelines, which is interesting,

because we probably knew very early on. Oh, yeah. This is always like the big picture for us. But we wanted to save money and we were reinvesting all the money we were making back into the business. So we would have definitely left our corporate jobs earlier, but because we wanted to save money and be able to make this a full-time thing, we had to save money for a while. Again, we are fully bootstrapped, so it was a lot of saving before we could leave and do this full-time. And even today, we pay ourselves every month an owner's job, but sometimes when business it's lower, we skip a month of paying ourselves. And it's scary. It's not ideal, but it's part of

being a startup. Yeah. Yeah, so what were the early days like of having a startup and that grind? Because you guys have had a lot of success. I mean, you have a recognizable brand now in a short amount of time. Thanks. And I want to talk about that, but I kind of, I'm curious to hear what it was like in the beginning. You know, I know we have come so far. And so the production value, and the brands that we're talking to you on a day to day and the influencers that we're talking to on a day today and the size of the community has come so far but i don't think the day is any different like the grind is exactly the same if not more so um because if anything there's just more on the line i will say though working full time as opposed to part time you accomplish so much more in the day like we like have grown astronomically faster now that we're both full time than when we're you're doing it as our side hustle. Yeah, but it just never ends. It's like when we were both going full time and leaving our second job or first job,

whatever you want to refer to it as, in my mind at least, I think in yours we were like, okay, well, we've been working on it, you know, seven hours a day, which takes us till 2 a.m. Because we're doing it after our job, we wouldn't possibly still be working until 2 a.m. And then surprise, here we are, working until you I am, a lot of nights. That's crazy. That's really intense. How do you take care of yourself? I think actually that was the biggest transition because we started a wellness company because we're so passionate about wellness.

And then all of a sudden, I'll speak for myself, like, I really lost myself for a while because I felt like wellness. defines me in a way and I have never felt less well because all of a sudden I was too tired to work out and I wasn't cooking and I was snacking because I was tired and I was stressed and I just felt like a very different version of myself that I didn't recognize and I didn't like and so I had to talk to Jenna because my schedule is her schedule and vice versa and really figure out how to make it work given the circumstances. So kind of going back to like how can we instill that structure again to make sure that we're taking care of ourselves.

Yeah, I would definitely agree with everything you just said. And I would just say like having the routine. So as I mentioned earlier, not like having a routine every single day was a really difficult challenge for me. But now that I am on one, I like to work out for that one hour in the morning that I like to meal prep throughout the week. and just having that structure in my day really does help me with my self-care regimen. When you're home, do you like make your lunch or do you have it like pre-topped or made?

It kind of depends. I usually make, I either go to Air One, like, big surprise to everybody listening. Literally, Sarah and I went there and brought home the whole store. My dream is to franchise an open one in New York. That's a great idea. I don't know why they don't have one open here. They must be working on it or something because, It would kill.

And there's not that any, like, healthy grocery store option. Yeah. There's Lifetime. Yeah. Which is kind of near my apartment. I'm moving down there soon and Lifetime's a few blocks away. Where are you moving to? Christopher Street.

Okay. Yeah. I'm on. I'll tell you after. I think I told you guys, right? Yeah. I'm right down the street from there. Yeah.

Lifetime's, like, a few blocks away. I'm very excited. Yeah. It's a great neighborhood. Yeah. So, yeah, I'll get Air One and I'll get, like, the hot bar food and I'll get enough to last like two days and I'll just eat that or I'll make food for dinner and then I'll have leftovers for lunch so I'm yeah pretty easy for me because that was like in my mind I was like

oh my God I'm going to cook my meal and I'm going to make whatever I want in that moment or ordering no I'm either picking a snack or not eating and then overeating or so again carving out that time for meal prep or figuring out where I was going to get that next meal from was key. It's hard too, right? Like when you're you're in this wellness space and you feel like you're supposed to be doing everything perfectly or like living a certain way and when you're maybe deviating from that because we're human, right? I know for me when I've done that, there's like a shame spiral. And I'm like, why am I not practicing what I'm preaching? And like it can be really hard to get yourself out of that. Yeah, especially if you're so mindful of everything that you're doing wrong.

It's almost like in a way sometimes ignorance is. You have this amazing quote that you got from Kelsey Wells from the retreat. I was going to be like, oh my God, thank you so much. Do you know that quote I'm talking about? You always tell it to me when I'm feeling down about myself or when I'm picking myself apart about looking in the mirror. Oh, yeah. Okay. It's from Kelsey.

I can't take any credit for it now. So Kelsey on our retreat was telling us that she used to really beat herself up, as do so many of us. And it's so hard not to. but then her husband Ryan, it would hurt him because he would hear how negatively she was speaking about herself. And as her husband and someone who loves her so much and doesn't think any of those things about her, he took offense to it. So he would make her apologize to him every time she was saying something like that because you would never say something about your friend or your mom ever. And if your friend heard someone saying this about you, they would immediately come to your defense. And so that really helped me stop talking in that way about myself, which it's not that I don't have those thoughts sometimes, but they don't spiral because I shut it down.

So that was- She really does practice what you feel. Yeah. I am very impressed with how far you've come talking about that. No, you like, even another day when you were trying on bathing seats, you're like, no, this one just doesn't look good on me. I'm going to return it instead of like beating yourself up over it. And I was like, wow, you've come so far since the retreat. Yeah, since like hating everything. Because like I said, it doesn't stop the thoughts all the time,

but it will stop from ruining my day, which I have no control over, spiraling out of control. Because that's the other thing. Like, if I will keep going with the bathing suit thing, if I try in a bathing suit and it looks bad, then a year ago, I probably would have been totally self-destructive and started eating like shit because I would have been like, well, what's the point anyway?

But that's such a silly way of thinking of it. It's so illogical because I equate it to if you said something mean to a friend, are you going to keep saying mean things all day just because you like already started? No, it's absurd. You're going to apologize profusely and be like, I'm so sorry I didn't mean it. Like, how can I make this right? So why aren't we doing that to ourselves? Why aren't we trying to make up for it and make it right and be better?

And instead we're just then continually putting ourselves like deeper and deeper and deeper. Yeah, I love that. I remember Kelsey saying that and everyone was like, oh, my God. Because they're just like, God. I've heard so much. But yeah, you know, it's interesting. If you think about it, like we have these wild imaginations and minds, right? and everything, I know for me at least, when my mind wanders, it's always negative.

Never good. No. Whether it's about myself or about like work things or anything, really. It's really hard to change that narrative. And I like that, though, because it's not necessarily about changing it, but like disrupting it. Yeah. Like stopping it before it keeps going. Meditation has always really helped with that.

Yeah. What kind of meditation do you do? I'm really trying to get you into it. I've been having very bad. Maybe one day. So I've been doing it. Get into meditation. I'm obsessed with 10% happier because it's not the like fru-frou meditation, which I enjoy.

But this to me, I'm like a logical person. And so I've had so many aha moments where it's like if you receive an email, for example, that's really frustrating or really disappointing, what is getting annoyed with that person going to do? They don't feel your anger. They don't, like, see your face or anything like that. So all you're doing is making your day shittier. I was just like, oh, my God. Yeah. Yeah.

Like, okay. And I think when it's boiled down to its simplest form like that, again, same way, like with the Kelsey statement of I can't always control the thought, but I can control the action better. I can't always control my initial reaction, but I can more easily feel. fix it. Yeah, it's all about the reaction. Yeah. I don't know if you guys know about stoicism. No. But I'm reading about it a lot right now. It's really interesting, but it's kind of about like being neutral with everything. Like nothing is inherently good or bad. It just is. And like what is good or bad is your reaction to it. So it's kind of like taking a bird's eye view and looking at your life. It's, I don't know. I want to read that. Yeah. There's like the daily stoic on Instagram and follow. It's very

trendy right now. It's been around since like ancient Greece. I need the skinny confidential. Yeah, yeah. She, yep, she's really into it. But yeah, meditation is so powerful. Yeah, I love it. God. And I, you should do it. I don't do a lot of it. I mean, I do it every day, but it's like five to ten minutes. Because I think that also goes back into this like wellness spiral shame. I would love if I had 30 minutes to meditate in the morning and at night and go to acupuncture. And work out and cook all my meals. But it's like, okay, well, then I'm not working.

And then I'm homeless. And then I can't afford any of my wellness things. So taking bits and pieces of what I can. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and that's what it is, right? It's like taking the things that you like for your life and applying it how you can, not like doing it all, doing everything.

So I'm curious, like, because you guys have all these events and all these influencers and experts in so many different fields. How do you navigate that information? Because I feel like kind of like we're talking about it could be overwhelming and you would feel like, okay, well, this person does this and they're so healthy. So I'm going to do that. How do you not let that happen? I know. I feel like that happens a lot. I feel like that happens with everyone. Like you see this perfect cookie cutter image on Instagram and you want to be just like them. But that's only a 10-minute snapshot of their life. Everyone has their ups and downs and I think that the beauty of our events is that we have like a glimpse into these people's lives. So Sarah and I always take away something from

each event that we go to, whether that is a recipe or a self-love tip or, you know, a gut health tip with you. Like we go to our events to be educated, well, obviously to work them, but also we love that we are able to become educated on certain things and get tips and meet people who are also struggling with the same things we are or passionate about the same things as we are as well. Yeah, I feel like I've been able to better myself so much by picking and choosing different things from each event. To Jenna's point, what was the biggest takeaway, what brands were there that I hadn't heard of before that, you know, were aligned with the theme that now I know to incorporate for that specific goal. Like, do I want better skin? Okay, maybe I'm going to try this product.

or if I'm looking for a gut health thing, how does the probiotic tie into that and what types of probiotics out there? Because it's not like you just pick one off the shelf and it's right. So I think that's been really helpful and not to go with the gut thing so much. But like going with your gut of also knowing what's your core values. Like I am not a diet person. So if anything, something that I can't sustain for the rest of my life every day, that might not be right for me. but I'm sure there's something in there that I can take out that I still can implement. And also the purpose of our events is not just to say, like, here's the right thing to do,

here's the crash night you should do. It's more just to inform people about the options that are out there. So Sarah and I will never tell people, here's the right answer. We are just re-like sharing the information that we've already heard. What is the craziest thing that's ever happened at an event? Oh, my God. We can't say names. Yeah, no names.

Okay. well we'll tell you names after what's what's yours i mean i was going to say when the host didn't show up for the event oh that's a good one yeah had a full room it was one of our like first events so we had it was it was we had worked so hard on this event we were so excited about it we had brands flying in from all over the country for it we had a hundred girls coming and the influencer who was hosting it not only didn't show up but she had also ghosted us for like a week it was like i shouldn't i mean it was a learning experience and I'm really happy it happened because it put Sarah and I in a position to problem solve. And, you know, like we, there's so many mistakes and so many errors that happened in our company on a day-to-day basis.

But as long as we're learning from them all the time and we're not redoing them, then it's fine. And so that was a perfect situation. Like it happened once. Yes, we were annoyed at the time, but looking back on it, it was a really good learning experience and help us grow as a company. What did you do? I was trying to make a positive. Well, you don't ever want to be back to into a question. corner, but I think it was so valuable for us to know that if we are, we'll manage. So we cried in the

cab and that a lot. And then we, again, because all of our relationships are in the wellness space, we called a nutritionist that we knew and we had her speak on, I'm trying to be as vague as possible about any details about the event. People are going to be like going way back. Yeah, right. We had her speak on why the topic and the activity of the event was like a well-balanced nutritional meal. Okay. So you got other. And we had, we made the best of it.

Yeah. We had one of our brand partners who was on site speak about, you know, not only their brand and their product, but how their mission really aligned with what they did here. And then the other thing that really worked our advantage is we're all about. about creating an inclusive space. And so what we love the most and to us the best thing that can come out of any event is if people are connecting with one another.

And so it really gave more time for people to talk to one another and form even stronger connections. And so we really just open the floor to everyone to share and talk with one another about their experience. I mean, there have been so many crazy things. I'm having like a million flashback.

One time at an event, this girl had a number of, an anaphylactic reaction to a food and my mom had to give her an epipan in the bathroom and she like almost had to go to the hospital and Sarah was moderating the event in the front and I'm in the back in the bathroom like dealing with this girl who's on the floor and I was like yeah so I had no clue but wait first of all I would like to back up and just state for the record that the inflectic shock was not our fault because the partner of ours that was on site had mislabeled nut.

Yeah. So I just want to clear the air on that. Then I was moderating and I had no clue what was happening. So I'm like, la, la, la, what's your thought on wellness? This is going great. And I was like running back and forth. With an epipen in my hand. Oh my God, it was crazy.

Wow. Thank God you had one. Thank God we had her mom there. My mom's all had an allergy as well. And so she was the one who was like giving the epipen. But it was like crazy. I'm trying to think what else has happened. Like so many things.

Yeah. You name it. Yeah. we've we've first of all in neither of our jobs do we have event experience so what also might be super crazy to us someone from an event background might not have thought so but this was all very new to us and then yes we have had crazy things like the host not showing up or an epi-fin situation i was just going to say like leading up to the events they're always stressful you posted events before i have such a good one so when we did our retreat in mexico oh that custom we also learned from the hard way. I remember you guys talking about that. Very difficult to get things through custom. One of which was the protein powder that we were making all of the smoothies with.

And so it was like, Hello Wellness meets Narcos. I put all of these protein powders into my luggage. And it looked like cocaine. Like the only thing separating me from Mexican jail was this one button. And you literally click the button. And if it turns red, they search your entire bag. and if it turns green, you're good to go. So we put it in the bag of our assistant.

We were like, you're carrying it. I was like, oh, my God, oh, my God. No, we dispersed them all. I'm looking at Kennedy, like you're carrying next time we go. So we decided that we would disperse them because we felt like if it wasn't one bag and one quantity, it would seem okay. Like, as if we were all breaking the customs law, it would be better. It wasn't probably the best spot up plan.

If one's going down, you're all going down. Exactly. And so then we're all pressing the button and, like, holding our breath. And thankfully, we were all okay. Yeah. That's stressful. I always get a little nervous because I always bring like collagen peptides and protein powder in like an unmarked ziplock bag. I'm like smoothies for everyone. Yeah. Yeah, there's been a lot of things. And you know, like at every event leading up to it in the day of there's always a million fires to put out. And you know, we get we get pretty stressed out. And luckily we have a team now that can assist with a lot of the things that happen. But like Sarah and I every time look at each other and we're like, F this. Like we hate this. We're quitting. We're done and we're like screaming at each other. And then all of a sudden the event happens and we're on like this huge high and we're like, best night ever. And like it really is true. Like you're on this endorphine around obviously.

But also like you see the community come together. You see all these people who are passionate about the same thing. Like the influencers like sharing like her like unique perspective. And it's just such a great night that like you forget about all those like little mishaps that happened leading up to the event the night of. Yeah. Because ultimately it's so special to see all the hard work come to fruition. and to see our real mission come to life that it's like, what are we talking about? It all disappears.

It's funny. I'm sorry that happened to. Well, I haven't really, my first, like, event that I've planned. I don't even want to say planned because we kind of put it together last minute is this Sunday. But I'm feeling really stressed out, as I told you before. You will be stressed. So we can say don't be, but you will be. Yeah, yeah.

But then it's going to be great. Yeah, I'm sure it'll be fine. Let's do another one. Also, body rock's an awesome studio. Yeah. Well, yeah, it's, um, it's hard. It's a really good workout. I did it when I was here in May and I could not walk for like a week after.

It's awesome. All mega, what are the mega former class we went to in L.A.? Oh, Carrie's. Oh, Carrie's. Oh, my God. Love. Horrible. Yeah.

The more horrible, the better for me. I love it. I was like quivered by, I was quivering. Well, I like what you say about your events. Like, it's, it's about the event, but it's also for people to go and meet like-minded people and that's something that we're trying to do on sunday we're having like a little like scavenger hunt kind of like find someone who lives in your neighborhood find someone follow them on instagram and then we're doing like a prize so it's not so much about like me

right yeah it's like a meet and greet but also like meet other people who you have something in common they follow me for the for some reason right like you have something in common right and it's just so easy to do everything on your phone right now and to not make eye contact or talk anyone and so it's really nice and I think these like forced situations where it's sort of a reminder of how refreshing it is to talk to someone and we just sort of try and act like the facilitators because it is really really hard to make a friend especially as an adult because if you think about it all the other times in your life where you have had to make friends everyone is on the same page. When you're a young kid in school, everyone's trying to make new friends. When you go to

college, you're older, but everyone's trying to make new friends. Now, most people have their friendships established. So it's like, if you want a friend just because you don't want to be hung over on a Saturday and going to work out, other people might not feel that way. And that's that fear of rejection that I think stops so many people from doing things and why we want to help create a space where everyone's in that same boat. And so we can eliminate that fear. Yeah, I feel like everyone nowadays with technology feels like they're so connected, but in reality, we're so disconnected because it's all on your phone. Yeah, email and text and Instagram and Facebook and whatever,

but there's so little like in-person connection like that. There are these crazy stats, and I'm not even going to try and remember exactly the numbers or what they are, but basically the gist of it is that 15, 20 years ago, people had a lot more close friends than we actually do today. Now people say the number is like zero because of the fact that it's like this false connection. It's so sad. Yeah. That's really depressing.

I know. On that note. Yeah, right. Just kidding. Okay. Speaking of friends, what is it like working with your bestie? Well, we weren't always besties. Yeah, Jenna was in the cool crowd.

I was not. She always said that was in the cool crowd. I'm like, there was no cool crowd at all girls came with no electricity. Okay. All of our camp friends. agree that you were in the cooler crowd? I would say that honestly, honestly, it's like really hard.

Like, we are lucky to have each other. I was going to say it was, we got so lucky. Yeah. I was going to say, we're so lucky, but it's been a huge work in progress. We have really learned to have communication skills, and we argue a lot, and we have to, you know,

figure out how to get through those arguments and come to one, like, conclusion to get as a team. But personally, we also have, like, so much in common as we've talked about earlier on this podcast. And we're lucky to have each other. Like, it was Fourth of July weekend last week, obviously, and I went out to the Hamptons with her and her husband.

And I'm going through, like, a lot of personal things right now. And she's been nothing but supportive, like, checking in every day to see how I'm doing. And I'm just, like, so lucky to have her as a co-founder because I hear all these, like, horror stories of like people who have to like shut down their business because they have a falling out with their partner. So yeah, we have a few things we have to work out with like the communication and like some arguments on some type of events. But like at the end of the day, it's like so minor and like the main scheme of the business. I was going to say that we got so lucky. It was so

easy. No, I'm kidding. I think that yes, we are so lucky because also we didn't really like I said, we didn't mean for it to be a business. So you hear about most co-founders. really like talking it out and talking about how they complement each other and making sure they're going to work well and we didn't do that right it wasn't strategic so it could have gone terribly but we're so lucky that we balance each other out so so well and we've learned to Jenna's point so much in regards to communication like if one of us is having a bad day and we say something out of line for example yesterday like yes yesterday, you know, we'll apologize.

And it's like, we're fine. You know, we have enough stuff going on that we don't need to have a whole day. Be mad at each other and have that be our day. We have more important stuff going on. Like, that'll be that. And honestly, that's why I say we're more like sisters than anything else because I feel like those are the kind of fights that you have with your family that you know there's so much else that's created the foundation of your relationship that the little things so

don't matter that it's so easy to just move on quickly. whereas with a business partner or with a friend, it can be a lot more work to get to that point. Oh, yeah. I would never, like, if I had an argument with a friend, it would be, like, drawn out for a day or two. This is, like, an argument, and five minutes later, we're like, hey. I think we're a lot less stubborn with each other than we are with other relationships in our lives because we have so much going on. Yeah. Which is nice.

And I would say the last thing there is that, like, I always say it's, but when Sarah is very stressed out or there's, like, a really bad. She's having a really bad day. I'm a lot more calm. And so I can calm her down and look at the positives. And when I'm having a very stressful day, she'll calm me down. So, you know, we're lucky that we don't have the same stress at the same time. Usually. And if you do, all hell breaks loose. And there has been a few of those. So what do you see in the future for Hello Wellness? Gosh, hopefully a lot. So much. I think one of our, you know, we have expanded really quickly, which is really exciting. So we're now in New York, L.A., Chicago, Boston, Miami. We just went to Houston in May and San Diego.

We'll be our event in August. So we're doing as much as we can to reach as many people because we really want wellness to be very accessible and to not be a coastal opportunity. And so we're working on things, whether that's events or otherwise, which we can't talk about yet, about what we can do to strengthen the wellness community outside of that. And so that's one of our big priorities. So we hope that Hello Wellness becomes a nationwide name outside of just the cities that we're in and that we can continue to strengthen that and shed light on a bunch of different

topics. So this year we've done a lot outside of fitness and nutrition, not that those are not wellness or that those won't always be pillars of our company, but there are so many topics that deserve a conversation and don't get it. So we've done like our self-love event, our body positivity event. We are doing financial wellness, sex love and CBD, mental health awareness, moms and wellness, like all different things to try and make the whole industry, the conversation relating to other people just more approachable. I love that because it is so focused on just diet exercise. It's like we're people, like holistic beings that are way more than just our workouts and our food. Yeah. Although I think about food all the time. I'm having Paul on in July.

I love. It is July. It is July. So it is. Yeah. When you go to San Diego? No, he's coming up to L.A. Oh, that's awesome. When I get back, yeah. We should invite him to our San Diego then. Yeah. We say hi.

Yeah, you should. It's amazing. Well, thank you so much for coming. Where can everybody find you? We are on Instagram at say hellowellness.com and online at hell. Oh, wait, no. Instagram is say hello wellness. And then online is hellowellness.com.

Did I? I don't know. And they have so many events coming up. They're all on the website. So you guys can go there and check them out. They're amazing. They're affordable and so much value. Let's give a discount to her.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah, we'll create a discount code for all of our events. Okay. Okay. So yeah, look out. Well, I'll put it in the show notes. Awesome.

Perfect. All right. Thank you. Thank you. All right. As always, thank you for listening. Thank you to my core loyal audience who always tags me and the podcast and shares it on social media and everything. I really appreciate it.

If you haven't yet or if you just feel compelled to again, please rate, review, subscribe, do all of the things. It really helps me and I really appreciate you guys spreading the word. So thank you again and I will talk to you next week.