Well with Arielle Lorre - 144: How to Optimize Your Health (and Beauty!) with Bee Products

Episode Date: December 15, 2021

In this episode I’m talking to Carly Stein, founder of Beekeeper’s Naturals, about the power of bee products and how they transformed her health. We discuss different bee properties and how to use them for various health and beauty concerns; how she healed chronic health issues with bee propolis; the science supporting these products; how to be a skeptic in the for-profit wellness world; how she quit a successful and promising career to follow her passion and so much more.   www.Sakara.com/BLONDEFILES for 20% off your first order. www.Talkspace.com with code BLONDE for $100 off your first month. www.Beekeepersnaturals.com/BLONDEFILES for 25% off your first order. www.Livonlabs.com/blonde to get a free sample of all six products plus a free shot glass and free shipping on all orders in the continental US with any Lypo-Spheric supplement order.   Produced by Dear MediaSee 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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or sunnycars. The following podcast is a dear media production. Hey, welcome to the Blond Files podcast. I'm your host, Ariel Lorry, and I'm here to talk all things wellness. From how to achieve optimal health and well-being to the best beauty tips and everything in between, no topic is off limits. I know there is so much information out there, so I'm here to help you navigate it all and live your best life. Thanks for listening. Let's get into it. Hi, everybody. Welcome to the show. I have such a good episode for you today, one that actually. actually a lot of people have requested and one that we have been trying to do for a long time.

I am talking to Carly Stein. She's the founder of Beekeepers Naturals. And we were trying to do it in person and we just kept missing each other in whatever city we were in. So we finally got to do it. And she did not disappoint. This is so fascinating. So we're talking about, of course, her company, beekeepers naturals and the power of bee products and how they transformed her health. And we also discuss like different bee properties and how to use them for various health and beauty concerns and how she healed her chronic health issues with bee propolis. But Carly has a very science heavy background, which she talks about here. And she is ever the skeptic.

So it's really interesting to hear her take on this natural product with such a heavy. science background. And we talk about how to be a skeptic in the for-profit wellness world where there are so many products and supplements going around. And then we also talk about how she quit a successful and promising career in finance to follow her passion and so much more. There's so much value in this episode. So I think you guys are going to really love it. And that's it. Enjoy Carly Stein. Okay, welcome, Carly. So happy to have you here. here and talk to you. Thank you for having me. We've been planning this for a long time. This is a long time coming. So I appreciate you being flexible with my schedule. And I have so much that I want to

talk to you about. I'm familiar with your story a little bit just because we've partnered together in the past. And for anybody listening who is not familiar, I would love for you to just give us like a basic intro, a little background, and what you do now. Yeah. So I am the founder and CEO of a health and wellness company called beekeepers naturals. And basically, we're making products that support people in all pillars of health. And that means immunity, energy, sleep, brain fog, and awareness, you know, all of the different pillars. And what we're really trying to do at the core of it is marry the worlds of science and nature. I found that in my experience that wellness can be kind of polarizing because it's like there's a lot of like woo-woo stuff and I love the woo-woo stuff

actually but there's a lot of stuff that doesn't necessarily work for everyone and then on the other side of the spectrum it's medicine and you know medicine can be amazing but it also doesn't work for every body type and I really more than anything feel like medicine hasn't really caught up with the times like if you look at the back of the label on like cough syrup that you buy at CVS it's full of refined sugar it's full of chemicals there's not a lot that's actually good for your body. It's mostly about getting rid of the symptom, masking the symptom versus actually helping your body to heal. And so the whole thesis behind this company was, can we create a company that your naturopath and your MD both agree on? Can we do something

that is using superfoods from the beehive and different plant-based ingredients, but testing them with the same sort of pharmaceutical rigor that you typically see with OTC products? Can we build things in line with third-party studies at from accredited university versus, you know, totally anecdotal. So really marrying the world of nature and science. And for me, it started with my own wellness journey. I am autoimmune. And growing up, I had just a really weak immune system and I had chronic tonsillitis. And I'm allergic to most strains of antibiotics. So I was basically sick all the time without any form of resolution. and, you know, thankfully I wasn't dealing with something life-threatening, but it was something that, you know, as a kid, I would miss like three weeks of school at a time and I was just always sick. And I don't know if you've ever had tonsillitis, but, you know, for anyone who hasn't, it's kind of like strep throat, it's pretty painful. And I would literally have it for three weeks. And I couldn't normally someone in that situation would get their tonsils out, but because of my autoimmune and my allergies to all these different things, that was too dangerous. So from a pretty early age, I saw like, every ear, nose and throat doctor, every specialist, you name it, and nothing worked.

And then I started just doing my own research and turning to the more natural side and some, you know, Eastern medicine. And I found some incredible tools that I've incorporated into my life today. But I didn't really find the resolution I needed. I was still getting sick and, you know, not really having anything that could help me recover. And that was just my life. I was always sick. And then when I was in college, I did a semester abroad, and I got really bad tonsillitis, of course. And I went to a pharmacy in Florence, spoke to the pharmacist for like a very long time going through my entire life story. And she gave me propolis. And she's like, oh, you need propolis.

This is not a big deal. She just knew like instantly? Well, after I told her the whole thing and what I'm allergic to, and she's like, okay, so you need something that's, you know, going to combat a virus that's going to soothe inflammation. you can't take like a penicillin, moxacillin, anything like that. You know, you're pretty symptomatic when it comes to like a lot of these OTC ingredients, like Dexteranithorfin or whatever. And so she's like, Propolis. That's what you need.

Like everyone uses it in Italy. I was like, okay, what's Propolis? And she's like, you know, from the bees. And I was like, okay, so honey, because like many of us, I only was aware that the bees made honey. And she's like, no, no, no, totally different thing. Propolis. She sold me this tincture. I started using it. In five days, I made a full recovery, and that had just never happened before. So basically for me, propolis function in my body the way antibiotics do for most people struggling with tonsillitis. And after that, I went down a deep, deep research rabbit hole. And I learned that, you know, the first recorded human use of propolis dates back to 300 BC. In the 17th century, it was listed in the London Pharmacoppedia as an official drug. We have a very long healing history.

with Propolis. And in Europe, it's very mainstream. And as I was traveling around, I started to see, you know, in France, I found anti-aging products with royal jelly and brain boosting products, royal jelly. And when I was in Copenhagen, I found these energy boosting pills with bee pollen. And I started just incorporating all these things. And I was feeling amazing. And I learned that we just don't really have the same awareness in North America. And so I was like, cool, awesome, found my thing. Not at all thinking about starting a company. company, like never took a business course and came back to Canada to finish up college. I'm from Canada. And I got sick and couldn't find Propolis anywhere. I could find Manuka honey and all this honey,

but I couldn't find the specific stuff if I needed. So I started beekeeping to make it for myself, became completely obsessed with the bees. And, you know, here I am today. The holidays can be super stressful, no matter what your circumstances are. And if you are struggling at all, those struggles can definitely be magnified by everything going on around you and this emphasis on the holidays being a happy time. I definitely feel the stress just from work pressure and family stuff and traveling. So I definitely know how it is, but you don't have to do it alone. I am a huge proponent of therapy and there's no better time than now to start getting the help that you need. So if you want to be matched with a licensed therapist and start the process today, I definitely recommend TalkSpace. It's

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They have five herb Pesto pasta, dark chocolate granola, which is my absolute favorite. They have winter sun salad, which is loaded with veggies, a sweet potato, coconut dream parfait. They have pumpkin scones, root veggie, enchiladas. Everything is so good. And along with delicious meals, Sakara has daily wellness essentials and herbal teas to support your nutrition. To boost results, try the best selling metabolism super powder. It's an all-natural remedy for bloating, weight, gain and fatigue. It's amazing. And you also have to try their bars and their granola. I am

absolutely addicted. Sikara is delivered fresh nationwide and they are offering my listeners 20% off your first order. If you go to sacara.com slash blondefiles. That's S-A-K-A-R-A-com slash B-L-O-N-D-E-F-I-L-E-S, and enter the code Blond Files 20 at checkout. Again, that's S-C-C-C-C-R-A-R-E-L-E-F-E-E-E-E-F-E-L-E-E-S, and enter the code.com slash blonde files and blonde files 20 to get 20% off your first order. Okay, I have one million questions that I want to ask. But the one that's kind of top of mind for me is to your point about like the lack of awareness that we have here about these more natural remedies that they have in other places in the world. Do you think that that's just because of their history compared to ours or is it their medical system or what is it? because I feel like, and we'll get into, like, Propolis and other ingredients that are in your products

and their healing properties and the science behind it and all of that. But it's not so woo-woo, but yet to so many people here it is. So why do you think that is? So it's a bunch of different factors. You know, for one, honeybees are not native to North America. Honeybees were brought over by European settlers. So Europeans have a much more nuanced understanding of how to work with the honeybees looking at them for things like propolis and royal jelly and pollen and going beyond honey and pollination. Whereas in North America, we pretty much used honeybees for honey and pollination. When I started my company for the North American beekeepers I worked with, I had to like teach them how to harvest propolis, a few of them. They're like, why would you want to buy propolis?

What? This is, the stuff is like sticky and annoying. We throw this out. And I was like, what. So tell people what propolis exactly is and how do you harvest it? Yeah. So I'll do kind of a really quick bee product 101. and then I'll get back to answering your question because I have a lot of thoughts there. So I'll start with honey. It's the thing we all know and love. So honey is the bees food. It's their carbohydrates.

It's their energy source. It comes from flowers. And so the bees will suck up floral nectar and, you know, bring it back to the hive, let it ferment. And that's how they get honey. And it's literally the energy source of the hive, their food, their carbs. For humans, honey has a lower glycemic index than cane sugar. It is full of antioxidants. It's full of live enzymes.

It's really great for digestion. It's really great for helping the body calm down. A lot of great ways to incorporate honey in your life. Topically, if you're using it on your skin, it's a humectin. So it helps to strengthen the moisture barrier. So lots of good stuff with honey. But it's the food of the hive. Okay.

the bees will go and collect the plant and tree resins, mix it with their own enzymes, and they make this like sticky amber-colored substance called Propolis, and they literally use it to line the entire hive and keep a germ-free. Without Propolis, the bees would not survive. It's how they protect themselves from germs. And for humans, it functions in the same way. It's a great everyday immune booster. I use Propolis every day just to support my system. It's anti-inflammatory, antifungal, really high in antioxidants, actually on the ORAC chart. It's one of the highest sources of antioxidants. There's more antioxidants in propolis than blueberries. Wow. So, you know, a really great nourishing food, but it's the medicine of the hive or the immune system of the hive. And then just

really quick, Royal Jelly you can think of as the brain food of the hive. It's a, the nurse bees will secrete it and feed it to the queen bee. Actually, all newborn bees are fed Royal Jelly for the first three to five days of development. So it's similar to like Colstrom or breast milk. It's really nourishing. And then after three to five days, all the regular worker bees switch off of their royal jelly diet and go on to a more normal diet of honey and pollen. And only the bees to become queen continues her exclusive royal jelly diet. And she develops very differently. So the queen bee will lay like 1,500 babies a day versus a regular female bee that doesn't have reproductive organs. The queen bee lives three to five years versus a regular bee who lives six to eight weeks during

foraging season. So in the hive, Royal Jelly, create some pretty epic biological changes. And then for humans, it's been cool to Royal Jelly. Eastern medicine has really focused on its effects for hormone stabilization and anti-aging. So, you know, in traditional Chinese medicine, a lot of people will put both men and women on Royal Jelly when they're trying to conceive. And then after, when they're trying to stabilize their hormones, we also have a lot of TCM practitioners who will put people on our be-powered formula when they're taking them off birth control. I used a lot of royal jelly when I was doing my egg freezing. So can you put it on your skin too topically? Oh yeah. It's it stimulates collagen production. It's like a whole, yeah, Royal Jelly is like, I need to bathe in it. Got it. I literally do.

And then Western science is focused on the neurological effects. So Royal Jelly is a brain booster. It helps focus memory concentration. It promotes BDNF, brain-derived neutropic factor. It's really, like we see a lot of athletes use it because it actually improves your spatial reasoning, people struggling with concussion, people who have been exposed to mold or toxicity, people overcoming Lyme. That's a lot of different ways that people use Royal Jelly. I use it just to basically like get me in the zone, you know, during the workday to help boost my productivity. If I don't, if I'm trying to like cut back on my caffeine, I'll have it in the afternoon. I'll have my Royal Jelly shot instead of like another cup of whatever. And it really works too.

It's crazy. And I was just telling her off mic that I'm a little bit jet lagged and I was so groggy this morning and I was like, I need that because it's so much better than caffeine for me. Like, if I drink caffeine in the afternoon, all bets are off. I'm not sleeping that night. Like, that's it. And I get anxiety from it and everything. And this is just like kind of like an alert, like a clarity and like an alertness. Totally. Royal Jelly. People describe it as like cutting through the fog. Right. And I love Royal Jelly too because it addresses the symptom. I mean, all of our products do this. We're really big on addressing the symptoms. So like if you want to be more alert, you want to stay in the zone. We got you. But Royal Jelly, it actually.

helps to promote like healthy aging of the brain. And we have like a lot of our customers, we have like different customer segments that use our Be Smart product. And we have a lot of members of aging population that are looking to prevent neurodegenerative conditions or people who have, you know, a family history of things like Haltimers, dementia, who are using Royal Jelly to help really support, protect their brain. My head of growth had a lot of concussions. And so he really used Royal Jelly after one of his ski accidents to, you know, help him kind of come back to baseline, and he had really powerful results there. But Royal Jelly is an amazing food both for like hormonal stabilization. It boosts your energy levels, but really like Western science is focused on its

effects on the brain and, you know, focus memory concentration. And then really quick, bee pollen, it's the bees protein source. So it's literally pollen from the flowers. The bees pick it up, mix it with their enzymes. It's those little like granules. You can, I like to think of bee pollen is nature's multivitamin. I'm not big on most multivitamins because of titration and absorption. Bee pollen is super bioavailable. So it's like getting a straight shot of nutrients. It's got broad spectrum vitamins. It will boost your energy levels. It's got BCAAs. And there's actually been some studies found that bee pollen increases your endurance. So it's really great when exercising. And how much? Because it's very potent, right? You don't need a whole lot to get all of the benefits.

Tiny bit, especially with ours because ours is raw. You only need a teaspoon. I think I've made the mistake in the past of like buying B pollen like years ago and I would dump it all over my smoothie bowl. And I know, I never like had any any adverse side effects. I don't think. But I remember when I tried yours and I was like, oh, yeah, you only need a little. That's like chugging a bottle of multivitamins. Oh, got it. Okay. I love that for me. I mean, it won't hurt you. It's just like, you know, all you need is a little bit. But yeah, I take that every day. So what about like, I'm sure there are some cynics listening going, well, that's great for the bees, but like we are so different biologically from the bees. So how does that translate to humans? Yeah. So all of the products we build, we build in conjunction with third party science. So, you know, just now saying that Royal Jelly is good for the brain. While that's not, you know, my humble opinion, that's, there was a study that came out of University of Warsaw that found that regular consumption of Royal Jelly improves your spatial reasoning.

there are so many studies to substantiate its effects on the immune system, it's anti-inflammatory effects, it's like antioxidant capacity, it's effects on gut health. So everything we're doing, because I'm a skeptic, I have always kind of de facto being a skeptic because of my health issues. And I only want to put products on the market that have clean natural sustainable ingredients, but that science totally substantiates. So our whole process. isn't really like, huh, this felt good for me. It's like, this feels really good for me. And does us feel good for our test group? And is our medical advisory board, which is our medical advisory board, we have acupuncturists, we have MDs, we have MDs, we have MD pediatricians, we have naturopaths, we have

RDs. So we're trying to get like all the voices in the room and be like, does everyone love this? And does everyone believe in this? And then everything we're actually building, you know, we have an incredible chem team. We spend a lot of time in testing. I was just complaining about one of my products, how it took three years to build before he started recording. But that's our whole thing. I think wellness is tricky because there are a lot of skeptics and you're right to be skeptical. I, including of Beekeepers Natural's products, like everyone should be their own detective. Everyone's body is different. Nothing works for everyone. There is so much marketed to us. And unfortunately, wellness has become wellness and medicine on both sides. It's become

really crowded and deceiving in some ways. I'm reading this book right now about the Sackler family and it's all about like how messed up the pharmaceutical industry is. So I'm also like thinking about that right now. We just watched that show. Oh my gosh. Yeah. It's wild. My dad went to Sackler med school and I was like, ooh, I want to change that name. Yeah. Yeah. Seriously. But yeah. So with all of that out there, we really, the whole reason I've started this company is because I'm dedicated to bringing people something that works, that they can trust that, you know, if they go on PubMed and do a search, they can actually find studies around that there's real science, but using all clean ingredients, all things that are going to address the entire body, looking at yourself as a whole.

And so that's what we're kind of about. I mean, by the way, guys, PubMed is my favorite resource. It's kind of like us Wikipedia for studies, sort of, but it's like published accredited studies. So just like go to PubMed.com, throw Propolis in there, hit. search and see what you find. I love that too because I think that we all inherently have confirmation bias. So we're going to find whatever we're looking for. So if we look for studies supporting, you know, Propolis, for example, and it's use in humans, like you'll find the supporting things.

If you look for something negating it, you'll probably find that because you can find opinions and anecdotal articles on both sides, but PubMed is very unbiased. It's just science. And I've had experts on my show in the past where I've asked them, like, this is great if you are, like, scientifically literate. But for somebody who wants to know, you know, what supplement to take and what's legit and what's not, and they don't really understand the language, and it's hard for them to navigate PubMed, do you have any tips for how to figure out? Because you had to do that yourself. And obviously, you're very, like, literate in this. And I know you studied chemistry, right, for a while. I did a lot of chemistry. So one, I kind of have an edge in this because,

before I started this company, I was, I started in pharmaceutical, well, in the financial sector, but in pharmaceutical research. And then I became a biotech trader. So literally all that I did was read studies and pending patents and then like do that. So it comes pretty naturally to me. But what we're really trying to do here is democratize wellness and help people understand. So we work really hard on our website, beekeepers naturals.com. Sorry to plug it, guys. But we really try. We really try to explain the ingredients and explain the benefits. Our Instagram as well, all of our social media, we're trying to, our blog, we're trying

to bring this to people in a place that it, you know, is approachable and help people understand this. Because if this is a tool that can help someone, we want to make it available to them. And I, you know, again, we're not going to be everything to everyone. But I really believe that a broad population can benefit from these products. And I want to do what I. I can to educate about them. And the other thing is with this company, I mean, I kind of like simplified my story, like started beekeeping and now I'm here. Oh, we're going to go back to it. Don't worry.

Yeah, like I really started this company because of my own struggle. And so some of the things that I really value and the things that I wish existed when I was really challenged and having a hard time. And then also framed by my experience doing pharmaceutical research to bring it back to the Sackler family again. And when I was, I interned in college at the Bill Clinton Foundation. And one of my many projects was the lead researcher on the prescription drug abuse initiative. So I have like my own history. And then I have this, I have a lot of different, I have a lot of perspective on this. And it's really important to me.

Authenticity is number one. So I really care. And my team really cares about building products that can actually help people and helping to distill the science so that, you know, people can be empowered to use the tools that are going to support their health. If you feel like you are taking vitamins every day and feeling no difference, it might be because your body makes it really hard to absorb nutrients, both from food and from traditional supplements. So many things from digestive conditions like celiac and IBS to taking medications like antibiotics and birth control pills to even just being under a lot of stress and aren't we all,

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So I have been using these for a long time now. I use the vitamin C. I love the glutathione. And I love that you don't have to take pills. It's like a gel and you just squeeze the packet into one to three ounces of any cool beverage and take it like a shot. And so I've always just done it with water. But when I was just visiting my parents last week, my mom had the vitamin C and she would put

it in a little bit of sparkling water. and she said she really loved it that way. So I've yet to try that, but I'm going to do that next. So you can order any liposphoric supplement now from liveonlabs.com slash blonde. And you'll get a free sample of all six products plus a free shot glass and free shipping on all orders in the continental U.S. Again, that's liveonlabs.com slash blonde, L-I-V-O-N-Labs.com slash B-L-L-O-N-D. Since you're hearing from Carly all about beekeepers naturals, there's not a whole lot that I could say here, but I do want to just say that I think they totally saved me during this trip when I've been traveling from one climate to another. And also Carly brought me a couple of products when I saw her. So she brought me Propolis, of course, which I spray all day long. And she brought me the throat lozenges, which are amazing because I have searched high and low to find. throat lozenges that do not have cane sugar. And it was like impossible to find until she brought me

hers. So those are also amazing. And then she brought me their new B biome. It's their new probiotic. And I have been taking it for about a week now. And I really like it. So back to the propolis, because that's kind of the star here. She is explaining obviously how it works here. But for me, I just feel like it's one of those daily micro habits that I can incorporate to help support my immune system. And normally, whenever I travel, especially if I go from like warm to cold or cold to warm, and in this case, I did both, I usually get a little bit sick. But Propolis was one of the things that I just used consistently. And so far, I have been good. I just sprayed a couple times. And it's the best. I also use it before I podcast. I got Chuck hooked on it. So I definitely recommend.

checking that out. You can get 25% off your first order if you go to beekeepers naturals.com slash blonde files or enter the code blonde files. That's B-E-E-K-E-E-P-E-E-R-S-N-A-T-U-R-A-L-S dot com slash blonde files or enter the code blonde files for 25% off your first order. Okay, so you mentioned your story and we kind of jumped over everything. What happened next? So you're studying abroad, you were sick, you were introduced to Propolis, and then you got better. What happened after that? Did you come back to Canada, right? And say, like, that's it. I'm going to start a company? Or what was the trajectory of that? Oh my gosh, no. So first of all, I did a social science degree, literally never took a business course. I was at the time in my third and fourth year, I was a chemist. I was a TA for my chemistry class. So I was doing a ton of chemistry and, you know, pretty comfortable in that area. And I always thought I would go into pharmaceutical research because I never saw myself as a doctor. But I liked sciences. That's what I was good at. I thought I was bad at, you know, other stuff. So I was like, I'm a bad writer. I'm this. I'll stick to like bio and him. And so I came back to finish up college at University of Victoria. And I couldn't find

Propolis anywhere when I got sick. Like literally couldn't find it. So I started beekeeping. And I just Googled it, found the local beekeeping association, started going to meetings. It was like, I was definitely an odd woman out at these meetings. Can I just ask like what your friends and family were thinking? They literally thought I was psycho. Okay. There were, there, there, there have been like two major occasions in my life where people thought I was like, full, full. Losing it. Losing it. This one, they were just like, okay, Carly's kind of quirky. She's into weird stuff. Like, you know, this is like, this is like a corky thing or a phase. But then when I started like, beekeeping every weekend, and I'm like,

what are you doing? This is so weird. You're, you're going out. And like, they'd see my beekeeping suit. So it's like, I remember one time someone opened my cheerleading bag and it was, they pulled out like my beekeeping suit and it looked like they're like, are you going to murder someone? Oh my God. Like this is so weird. That's funny. It's a funny image. So yeah, so they thought I was crazy.

But I started, it was really great because I had this practical experience. I found an incredible mentor, a retired biochemist from Romania who had moved to Victoria, Canada, to write a book and be a recluse. And he's also a third generation beekeeper. And so he was like, yeah, you can work for me for free, sure. But he also like loved lecturing about stuff, which, and I was like, yes, yes, yes. So that was such a fortunate experience. And I had this great opportunity because, you know, because I was a TA, I had full access to the lab. And then I was like going out into the

apiary. Apiary is like a bee farm. And going out into the apiary in the day and having like a very practical experience and working with somebody that has, is looking at everything through a scientific lens, but also looking at things through like a multi-generational beekeeper lens. And so it was just like, And it was also, I never thought I was going to start a company. I was just like, this is my hobby. This is my thing. So there was zero pressure. I was just, and I cured myself, basically.

I really stopped getting tonsillitis. You know, a lot of different situations I had from skin issues. A lot of these things just that I've been struggling with my whole life really cleared up. And I've started making these products and my friends thought I was crazy. And then I started to give them out to my roommates. And next thing, you know, people on campus were Facebook messaging me to buy. these like weird bee products. And I was like, okay, maybe this could be a thing. This is obviously working for more people than myself. And I know the science is there. And so I had this dream of

starting a bee product company. And everyone thought that was like insane. Like if you, especially in 2012, 2012, 2013, you tell someone, yeah, I'm going to start a bee product company. They're like, oh, honey. And you're like, no, no, no, not honey, though. The more medicinal ones. And they're like, okay, I'm going to leave now. So everyone thought that was a bad idea. And then I was really fortunate because of my experience as a researcher at the Clinton Foundation, I got a job offer out of school at this hedge fund to join them as a lead researcher. And so I joined that hedge fund. I was doing pharmaceutical research, which was cool because it was just like reading about drugs all day, but in a very different sphere because I was reading about like pharmaceutical drugs. And then 10 months into that I got

recruited by Goldman Sachs and I joined Goldman as a trader and started with a biotech focus but moved into kind of global macro and that was in like I was at Goldman like 2014 to end of 2016 and I learned a lot but I was like okay this is I mentioned that I value authenticity it felt very inauthentic like I just it was never something I was interested in I think when I started and I had the biotech focus and I could just kind of be like okay. well, I'm reading about like science all day. That was easier. But when they shifted me into another role that was very financing and mathy, I was like, I hate this. And it was also, you know, it was also an environment that was just wrong for me, the things that a lot of, and Goldman is a huge

place and there are incredible people there. But the specific team I was on just really, we didn't, I didn't share values with anyone at all. And I was working insane hours and pulling all nighters all the time. I started having really, really bad panic attacks. And I was just like this, I'm really miserable. What happened to your bee business during this? Just no time for it? No, no time for it. I was still, my mentor out in BC, I was still buying bee products from him because the other

thing is I'm really intense about pesticides. And so like even organic bee products, I'm like, no, I know how this works. So like I weren't just like. I won't you talk about having a bad reaction to one and you did a toxicity test. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I'm really intense about that because organic is not actually a good measure for bee products. So I'm very intense about, like, who I buy bee products from.

So I was still, like, getting all the products for myself. He was sending it to me in New York. But, yeah, I was really unhappy. And I would, like, dream of working with the bees and being able to play mad scientist. And I was like, you know what? Like, why can't I have a hobby? I can't exactly keep bees in my shoebox apartment in New York. but I can still order lab equipment and play science games afterward.

And so I ordered all this lab equipment literally looked like breaking bad. And that was like another moment where everyone was like, what are you doing? I remember at that time, if I was like, if I was dating, like I could not bring someone back to my place. They would think you were like cooking meth, 100%. Yeah. Or I'd have to be like, okay, so I'm not a meth. I'm not making meth. Like you say, you know, and then they're like, what do you? Okay. And then I'm like, I'm actually making

B products. And it's not better. Right. And so that was an interesting phase of life. But yeah, I started after work, I would source the raw product from my mentor in BC and basically, you know, do a propolis extraction, make my products, put it into at first, like, I would get like all the little Sephora sample things and put it into there and like give it to people. And then I started buying like bottles from the dollar store and I had a girlfriend who had a pop this like she's working with this company that does pop up stores and like makers markets and cool things like that. And so she was like, why don't you come and sell your B products? Like that's kind of weird.

That's exactly like what we're doing. We're looking for like female makers. And it's like, okay. And so I painted a sign and oh my God, it was so embarrassing. What year was this? This is in 2016. This is while I'm still at Golden. long ago. No, no, no, not that long ago. So I was still a Goldman and I was also like,

what if someone from work sees me? I am terrified. So I was always like looking around. But I sold out. And it was a lot of young moms. It was a lot of young professionals who've struggled with gut issues and autoimmune looking for something different. And, you know, nobody was like, at first, people would come up to my booth because they thought I sold honey. And then I would get into conversation with people and they'd be like, oh, that makes sense. I'll try it. And then I started going to do. different pop-ups. And I started to create this, like, I had like a little following. I had like my propolis groupies. And so they would, I had like an email list and I would let people know like what

market I was going to be at on the weekend. And they would come there. And people started asking me if I could ship it to their sister-in-law in Chicago or whatever. And I got to a point where I was like, okay, I kind of have a big email list now. So this is a lot of people that straight up just are benefiting from these products. I absolutely. hate my job and I'm really, really unhappy doing that. And why can't I try this? And so that was the time that people really thought I was having a mental breakdown. Yeah. Got it. Because like, yeah, so I told people that I was like, look, I'm looking to leave. And they're like, okay, you know, are you going to go into tech? Like, you know, the normal places people go from Goldman. And I was like, actually, I'm going

to start my own company. And they're like, okay, like a fintech company or like, and I was like, no, B products. And they're like, it's a bad idea. Like even my parents. And then you're on Forbes. So. Yeah. But everyone in my life was like, is Carly okay?

And yeah, I had to kind of like quiet the noise and just go for it. And I mean, I always knew it was the right decision because I believe in these products. I personally experienced from them. I am like a very, if I am nothing, if not an incredibly thorough researcher. and like OCD person. So I know I really believe in what I'm making and putting out into the world. And I think people,

I think there are more people that had my not exact same experience, but have felt like they don't really have a place within the medical system or our wellness structure and feel kind of like, I don't feel good, but what do I do? Or I don't know what products to trust or I don't know where to turn for this. And if we can create something that is totally rooted in science with clean ingredients,

for the overall environment. It's like a win, win, win. Yeah. I mean, I think right now, especially, it's hard because the medical system is flawed, and I think any honest doctor will tell you that. I mean, I totally respect it. My dad's a doctor. And then I think on the other end of the spectrum, the kind of functional world is also flawed. I mean, there are people say, like, follow the money with like traditional Western medicine and, you know, big pharma, but also follow the money when it comes to supplements. I mean, so many functional practitioners and everybody in between are trying to sell a supplement, which is like very unregulated, I think. And they're making money off it too. So I think a lot of people have some dissonance when it comes to that. So I really appreciate how you've married,

you know, really thorough research and scientific evidence and background with this more holistic product that actually works. Thank you. And on that unregulated subject, I have a hot tip for everyone because I have to be so intensely careful with what I put in my body. Like, it's very, very easy for me to trigger a psoriasis flare up or like, you know, literally wake up, head to tone hives. I have all kinds of allergies. And so I'm from Canada. So one, there's a different, so in the U.S., it's like FDA, and then there's kind of nothing policing natural. It's like, and by the way, there's flaws with the FDA as well. Yeah, a lot. But there's, there's no structure. There's no regulatory body looking at natural. And it's not like that everywhere in the world. So in Europe, there's a stronger

structure in Canada. Health Canada has something called an NPN, which is a natural product number. And so for us, I'm Canadian. Obviously, we sell our products in Canada. In order to do that, we have to get NPN numbers. And in order to get the NPN numbers, we have to legally substantiate all the health claims we make. My co-founder, he's like my best friend from forever. He's also from Toronto. He was an M&A lawyer. And the reason I early into it was like, I need help was because I am not a lawyer and I couldn't figure out NPN numbers. And so buying supplements that are produced or sold or from, you know, where a Canadian

incorporated company, from a Canadian company, a European company, different companies that have like different regulatory structures in the world, that's, you know, a great, if you have a super sensitive system, that's a way to kind of look at it. Because you're totally right. like the world of wellness is very much for profit and everyone is selling a supplement and I don't think people should be taking a million different things and or you know taking one thing just because a celebrity is I think people really need to listen to their bodies really do their own research and figure out what works for them. Okay so something that I wanted to ask you because you know your story

is so inspiring how you just the trajectory of your career I think so many people especially over the last two years have reevaluated what they're doing, where they are, what their purpose is, all of that. And I talk about it a lot on the show. Do you have any tips for somebody who is feeling like you were feeling when you were working in finance and you were just miserable? I don't know, tips on like finding your purpose and following your passion. As cheesy as that sounds. I mean, I totally do because I, it's really hard. Like I really struggled with that. I mean, I was ready to leave Goldman for a year before I did at least. So I think number one is, I feel like we've really glorified the startup. And, you know, I run a startup and love it. But shows like Silicon

Valley and like all these, you know, we've really like glamorized being an entrepreneur. And I feel like one thing that we've really glamorized is like, drop out, do this, all in. And that's not how it happened for me. I like dipped my toe into the water. And over the course of several years, years, educated myself and took baby steps and, you know, tried different things. You know, even I was selling at farmers markets on the weekends while I was working way more than a nine to five during the week at Goldman. And so I think don't be afraid to try things. I think also if it helps you just to not really tell anyone and just let yourself try to have that space and freedom without the judgment or without, you know, that sort of thing.

Sometimes if we're like, I'm going to do this now and then everyone checks in on us and we tried it and it wasn't for us. There's like all that pressure. So my advice is take baby steps. Don't be afraid to try different things. It was not a clear path for me. Like literally I started and I was like, and now I'm here. It was so murky. It was like so, so, so, not a clear path. You know, started with my experience with bees in 2012, really started my company like for real in 2017. it took me a lot of years to figure out what my calling is. And I think give yourself the time because most people, I mean, unless you're really lucky, like most people don't just like wake up inspired and know exactly what their whole calling is. Like let life show you a little bit and take the pressure

off and don't be afraid to try weird things like me keeping. I love that. No, I think it really comes down to curiosity. And I ask people a lot who come on my show because so many people say, like, well, I get it. Like, follow your passion, you know, find your purpose. But there are so many people who don't have that so, like, overtly. And by the way, that can feel really jarring. Yeah. Yeah. It gave me so much anxiety. Just I felt like so lost because I had this good on paper job. And by the way, I was really fortunate of a good on paper job. But I had this like thing and I was like, I should be happy. What's wrong with me? And so I know we're all huge critics of ourselves, but the other thing I just want to remind everyone is like take the pressure off, be really curious

and like let yourself play with it a little bit. Like try different things and without, you know, the expectation or the focus on the outcome. Yeah. Yeah. I think curiosity and open-mindedness are like the core, I don't know, the tenets of that. Okay, the other thing I wanted to ask you, let's see. I had two more big questions. So we'll start. with products. I'm going to ask you to pick your favorite product. I have a feeling I know what it is, probably. Like, I'm sure it's like picking your favorite child. Yeah. But why don't you tell us a little bit about each one and what your favorite is? Yeah. Okay. So I mean, I can't not with the propolis. I literally spray it like all day every day. I'm on Zoom calls and people are, people sometimes will be

like, how many sprays did you just do? And I'm like, don't worry about it. Stay focused. But I use Propolis every day, it legitimately transformed my immune system. I was getting sick so regularly and just so vulnerable. Yeah, it really transformed my immune system in the way I live my life. So Propolis is something that I very much love. And then this one, this actually has Propolis in it. I am so obsessed with this product. I don't know if we've sent this to you or if you've had a chance to try it. I don't think I've gotten it yet. No. I remember seeing it on your Instagram and I was I need that. I know you care a lot about gut health, as we all should.

So I'm really excited for you to try this. So this is a really innovative product. It's called B-Biome, and it's a complete gut health product. So it's a pre-pro and post-biotic. So it's, you know, prebiotic. We used Propolis. Propolis is an excellent prebiotic. It's also really good for inflammation.

It's really great for any sort of inflammation in the gut in the intestinal tract. And then our probiotic we used, we used a spore-based. probiotic. So we used a really high quality, we used the highest quality probiotic that one can possibly get on the market. We worked with an really incredible team for that. And then the postbiotic is this compound called tributrate. And it's actually absorbed by the colon. And so this product has really helped me because I used to get bloated really easily. And, you know, especially because I have so many food allergies going out to dinner is always like, oh my God, how puffy am I going to be after this? And this has total game changer. Like,

such a game changer for me. And I'm looking at it. For me, my gut issues are mostly like vanity things, like being bloated. But when we were doing the trial of this, some of our medical advisory board are gastrointestinologist. And so we had them do like a beta with it in their clinic with people with different pretty serious gut issues, things like alternative colitis. And we actually like did colon scans. And you can see the difference of pre this product in post. So it's a really cool product. The one that I'm thinking of, I think it was two months. But you should, like, I noticed a difference taking that product in about a week. Wow.

Yeah, like pretty quickly. I'm starting tonight. I'm letting everyone know. I'll report back to you when this comes out. Yeah, no, you actually have to let me know how you like it. Yeah, I will. Yeah, I'm excited. Okay, what else?

Okay, so we mentioned these. I know you like these are B-smart shots. I love those. Yeah, these are great. I feel like everyone loves those. Everyone does love this. We are so aggressively sold out right now and I'm sad about it. I mean, I'm happy about it, but then I kind of get like, our customers are like, I need this. What happened? So we're making more. But this is a really special product. So it's a brain shot.

It's got Royal Jelly, which of course is focused memory concentration. And then it's got two other plant-based science-backed ingredients. One of them is Bacopa Monnieri, which is an extract from a leaf. It's traditionally used in Ayurbedic medicine. It's an adaptogen. So, helps you. helps the body to modulate the stress response. It's known for promoting long-term memory. It's a neuroprotective agent. So to the extent you're exposed to carcinogens or just like the damaging effects of stress, it will help to sort of insulate your body and protect your brain. And then the third ingredient, and I love simple formulas, by the way. I hate these like products that have two million ingredients. And then you look at it and there's like point.

Trace amounts. Yeah. Come on. So yeah, and this product, too, we're dealing in the three to 500 milligrams per active ingredient. So it's intense. A lot of people actually will take half a vial. I just take half, put the cap on, leave it on their counter of the rest of the next day. I can't really function without these. I love these. But yeah, and then the third ingredient is ginkobeloba, which people have probably heard of. It's really big in traditional Chinese medicine.

It's an extract from a tree, also an adaptogen. It helps to promote circulation in the brain, reduce inflammation. So this trio is really great because, again, it will help with helping you be more in the zone, supporting your energy levels, cutting through the fog, you know, helping you just kind of support your memory, get your work done. But it's also an adaptogenic formula. So it's going to help the body with overall stress response. It's really nourishing for the brain. It will help with circulation, reduce inflammation. It helps protect our brain from, you know, our brain's a very important organ. It helps protect our brain from the carcinogens and just sort of toxicity we're exposed

to on a regular basis. So this is a really important one for me. I didn't bring it for you because, as you know I walked here and it was too heavy, but our B-powered honey is one of my faves. That's the only actual honey that I really use. I'll eat our cacao honey too, actually, and I cook with our wildflower, but on a daily basis, I use the B-powered honey. And what that is is it's basically a medicinal-grade honey. So it's a raw honey with therapeutic-grade dosages of royal jelly pollen impropolis. And so that's kind of like a high volon one. And so I do a scoop of that in my smoothie every single morning. I also put that all over my face. So, you know, I mentioned that honey helps to strengthen the moisture barrier. Royal jelly has anti-aging effects, promotes collagen. Propilus is anti-inflammatory. So it's

really great for redness. It's also antibacterial. So any sort of like blemishes, that sort of thing. And then pollen's full of protein, vitamins, minerals. So just a really good thing to put on your face. But I also eat that every day. And then we, of course, have bee pollen. And we have these, which I'm also obsessed with. So these are our lozenges. So for anyone who's had like hauls or recola, this is a natural version. So there's, we made this product. This product was like so hard to make because typically people will use cane sugar as a binding agent. So every single person who was like a hard candy manufacturer who I spoke to was like, yeah, no, no, no, no, we can't do it without cane sugar. And I was like, well, we don't know. No, no, no. When I tell you, by the way,

that I have searched high and low before I was aware of your company, obviously, for sugar-free, like all-natural lozenges, you cannot find them. They don't make them. I know. I know. I mean, I searched everywhere. It took me so long to make these. I literally had to like create it with this like contract chem facility. But these are lozenges and they of course have propolis. This is our elderberry flavor. So we have our regular. flavor that's flavor. Our regular one, elder berry is not just a flavor. Elder berry is also something that's an immune support. It's full of antioxidant. There's a lot of reasons to include elder berry in your life. But these lozenges, they have propolis, zinc, and vitamin D, which are, you know,

three amazing things on a regular basis that one can take to support their immune health. So I actually use these every day to get my vitamin D and my zinc as well. And we used zero refined sugar. So there's some raw honey in there. There's some monk fruit. And then we worked with chicory root as well. So it's a totally natural formula. It's one gram of sugar per lozange, unrefined sugar. Literally, yeah, this one's really amazing. I suck on these all day. They're really great. And yeah, it's also, especially as a woman, we tend to be a little deficient and living in New York and vitamin D. And so I use those all the time. And then we also have cough syrups. And we have a kids line. So I just think it's so interesting that you built this incredible company out of a personal need.

And like I'm just thinking about I had Annie Lawless on my show last week. And she of course had Suja and then Lawless Beauty. And she kind of said a similar thing to you. She's like, I have no business background. I never started a business with like an official business plan. She's like, I just made things that I needed that I couldn't find anywhere. And it's like that seems like the best business model ever. Yeah.

I mean, I think it is because you just have such a clear vision. Like you know exactly what you want, right? Yeah. And it's from such an honest place. You're solving your own problems. For me, I have such a need for these products to exist in the world. And for a long time, I was making them just for myself with like no intention of starting company because I didn't think I could.

And basically what motivated me was like, oh, these help other. people and like other people deserve to have, you know, the healing experience and the health experience that I have. And so like, I guess I should share them. And just really being honest about what they are and how they've helped me and, you know, other people were kind enough. I mean, this is a brand also that really was championed by our customers, like a hundred million percent. I had no marketing budget. Zero marketing budget. I didn't even, I mean, now I know, like, a few things about marketing. But I was like a nerdy. researcher, trader. So I had no formal business background. Like, I understood finance, could look at a

balance sheet, like, had that down. And I understood product engineering, and I understood the general, like, health and wellness ecosystem. But I literally had zero marketing budget, and it was a thousand percent my customers that took a chance and tried these products. And then were very vocal about how they affected their health. And so I think, you know, you find your community. And if you're making great things, people will share them. Okay, one last thing I want to touch on. I know that we are kind of technically out of time. But I know that sustainability and like the wellness of the bees is also very important to you.

So can you just tell the listeners a little bit about that so that when they go to purchase, they can feel good about it. So important. I had a vegan person one time tell me that they're vegan, which means they only eat sustainable bee products, even though they're vegan, which I thought was really cute. Yeah, that's cute. So they like our products. But I'm a beekeeper first, and the issues affecting the bees right now are obviously incredibly

important to everyone. So first of all, bees pollinate one-third of our food supply. So if we lose the bees, we would have a radical change to our entire ecosystem. You know, first of all, the inflation on things like avocados, apples, and then we could potentially not be able to grow a lot of the natural foods we rely on. So many things are bee pollinated. Berries, avocado, almonds, apples, coffee is partially be pollinated. So many of the things that we use in our day to day are made possible really by the bees. And due to a few, a lot of factors, but one of the main ones being pesticides,

in my opinion, the bees have been really struggling over the past few years. So we've seen a global bee decline. And in 2006, remember, like there was all that stuff with DDT and you'd see like pictures of birds dying and everything. And so in 2006, DDT was taken out of the game. And it was replaced by a class of pesticides called neonicotinoids. And neonicotenoids, they have a neuroactive effect on the bees and they distort their spatial reasoning and basically are incredibly harmful for the bees. This is the most common class of pesticide used in the U.S. today. In other parts of the world, in parts of Europe, it's been banned. In parts of Canada, they've instituted a partial ban. So there are places in the world that are neonic-free or at least using less of it, but it's the most common class of pesticides used in the U.S.

It's water-soluble, so it's getting into our soil, getting into our water. It's a really harmful substance and it's really hurting the bees. So one thing we do at beekeepers naturals is pesticide-free beekeeping. So all of our raw products before, you know, we put our propolis in the bottle or our honey in the jar or our pollen and royal jelly, we send it to a third-party lab. Canada, and we test for every pesticide toxin and pollutant in accordance with health Canada, which is more rigorous than the U.S. And so that's how we know we're really creating a pure product because, as I said, organic doesn't really mean anything with the bees. And so it helps us create something that's really great from a product's quality standpoint. But from a

sustainability standpoint, what we're doing is we're creating a clean environment for the bees. So we're creating a pesticide-free habitat for the bees. And in doing that, we've actually seen year over year. Our hives have grown like crazy. So it means that we can only practice beekeeping in pesticide-free zones. So we need to make sure there's like a five-mile radius of no pesticides. Because even like this is why organic doesn't totally work. Because just because your hive is sitting on certified organic land, the bees can fly. You can't like put a leash on them or fence them in.

So if the next door neighbors are spraying pesticides and the bees fly over and the bees will forage for five miles, which is like some distance, they can, you know, bring those pesticides back to the hive. And then you're, you're, one, poisoning the hive, but two, ending up with beautiful products that have trace amounts of pesticides. And trace amounts of pesticides are in a lot of things. Unfortunately, we consume and won't, you know, necessarily harm someone. And B products are so nourishing and beneficial that, you know, if you're buying a non-organic or, like, imperfect B product that isn't pesticide tested, I still, you know, I still really believe in the power of B products and it's such a small amount. but I like basically can't ingest pesticides.

So I'm like very intense about it. And what that means also is we're geographically restricted. So a lot of our apiaries are in Europe. We get our pollen mostly from Spain at this point. We work in Brazil. We work in Canada. We kind of work all over the globe looking for like very remote location. So our apiaries are all in like super remote geography.

So like in the Rockies in Canada, places where there's no like industrial agricultural stuff. happening and people aren't spraying and that sort of thing. So yeah, that's how we practice sustainable beekeeping. We have a lot of different practices, but the big one that I like to make people aware of is pesticides. And, you know, also if you guys want to create a bee-friendly habitat in your own environment, which I highly recommend, be really careful with the pesticides around your lawn. If you can eliminate that, it's important. Hot tip. Now, it is so important, though. Well, thank you so much. Where can everybody find you, find your products? all of that. Yeah. So my Instagram is Stein. Carly. My company is Beekeepers underscore naturals. That one's

way cooler, obviously. Our website is beekeepers naturals.com. And you can buy all of our products there. They're also available at Whole Foods across the country, at Target, Amazon, most natural stores, you can find them. We would love to hear from you. So anybody who's trying our products, using our products has feedback or wants to learn more about the bees and how important they are. come check us out, interact with us. Amazing. Thank you. Thank you. I hope you enjoyed that episode.

If you liked it, and if you like the show in general, please take a second to rate, review, and subscribe. It goes a long way, and it's actually the best way to support the show. Also, if you want to see more about each episode, you can head over to The Blonde Files podcast on Instagram. I'm always posting about each episode there or over on my personal page at Ariel Lori.