Well with Arielle Lorre - 298: Manifesting Your Goals, Overcoming Adversity to Create Your Purpose, and the Power of Community & Relationships with Durana Elmi

Episode Date: February 21, 2024

Durana Elmi is the COO and Co-Founder of Cymbiotika, a company whose mission is to empower people to take ownership of their health and live with intention, one healthy habit at a time. A graduate of UCLA, Durana was instrumental to Cybiotika’s rapid growth from $1 million dollars in 2019 to ​​over $250 million in net sales today. Durana’s experience growing up in a traditional Afghan household and immigrating to the US at a young age inspired her to achieve beyond the confines of her cultural norms and upbringing, and she credits her mother and grandmother as some of her biggest inspirations. As a result of her experience, Durana developed a passion for service and empowering communities of women that inspire them to create opportunities and achieve their goals in business and beyond. She joins the show to discuss how to make a healthy relationship work, what to look for in a partner, authenticity, finding your purpose, prioritizing self-care things that make you feel good, manifesting, how to create a successful business in a crowded sector & tips for other entrepreneurs, her early cultural boundaries and father’s alcoholism, why your 40’s are the new 20’s, the power of female community, and so much more.This episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct, or indirect financial interest in products, or services referred to in this episode.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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would auto-houres under-sorgue. Go to your Reisadviseur or SunnyCars. The following podcast is a Dear Media production. Dear Media IRL is back, and we're showing up bigger, better, and louder than ever.

Join us on May 4th in Austin, Texas for the ultimate live podcasting experience. Watch and learn from your favorite Dear Media hosts as they bring their insightful discussions from your headphones to the stage. Get ready to be inspired, entertained, and watch audio get a makeover. Tickets are on sale now at DeerMedia.com slash IRL. you on May 4th in Austin, Texas. Welcome to the Blonde Files podcast. I'm your host, Ariel Lurie, 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's so much information out there, so I'm bringing on expert guests and sharing my own experiences to help

you sift through all the wellness stuff without the BS. Enjoy the show. Hi, everybody. Welcome to the show. I have a great episode for you today. I'm talking to Durana Elmi. She is the C-O-O-O- and co-founder of Symbiotica, a company that I'm sure all of you are familiar with. I love symbiotica. I take products from symbiotica daily. I take the magnesium L3 and 8. I take the vitamin C. I take the glutathione. I take the sleep. It's like this cacao sleep concoction that I absolutely love. I take a few pumps before bed. It's like my bedtime dessert. And so many others, depending on what is going on in my life, they are the best. And the growth that they've had at symbiotica is pretty astonishing. They went from making a million dollars in

2019 to over $250 million in net sales today. So over the course of four years, that is just insane growth. And as somebody who is beginning to think about going into product, I wanted to know how they did that. But what I actually found to be more interesting is Duranah's upbringing. So she's really open about growing up in a traditional Afghan household and immigrating to the U.S. at a young age and having an alcoholic father. And you guys know that this is of particular interest to me because I am a former alcoholic. And it's always really fascinating and, you know, sometimes hard to hear about how other people are affected by somebody's alcoholism. That's close to them because, you know, when you're in your disease, you think that, you know, you're only affecting yourself, but really you are affecting everybody around you. And she took that

adversity and turned it into something really beautiful. She credits her mom and her grandmother as some of her biggest inspirations and they really helped to guide her. And I think that people can either experience adversity and go down the wrong path, but she used it to her advantage. And she just has such an inspiring outlook. She has a passion for service and empowering communities of women that inspire them to create opportunities and achieve their goals in business and beyond. So we get into all of that today. We also talk about her relationship, what to look for in a partner. We talk about finding your purpose, prioritizing self-care. We talk about manifesting, of course, how to create a successful business, tips for other entrepreneurs, why your 40s are the new

20s, and so much more. So please enjoy Durana Elmi. Welcome. Thank you. Really excited to have you here. I'm going to have a hard time concentrating because you're so pretty. You're very sweet. Thank you. Well, there's so much that I am excited to get into with you today. But I really wanted to kind of go back to your upbringing because I listened to you on other podcasts and you talked a lot about your alcoholic father. And that was something that I found to be really fascinating because I'm a former alcoholic. I've been sober for 10 years now. Congratulations. And I think it's so interesting, like just hearing from people who have experienced that on the other side of it. And I think that for you, it sounded like it was such a formative thing because it really shaped who

you are today, which is this incredible, powerful woman. So can you talk about that a little bit? So this is a really sensitive topic because my father is really sick right now. And I think from the time that I talked about it to now, I obviously get like there's a little bit of guilt, right? Because he's ill. But it wasn't easy growing up with a father who was an alcoholic. I don't think that my dad had ill will now that I'm older. And I have really tried to identify like, why was he like this? It's just he had a lot of life pressure on him. And so he, he would lean to alcohol in the evenings. And I was the only girl in the

family and in the Middle Eastern community. Most young girls are what they, they hope for their young daughters is that, you know, you're pretty traditional and you want to, you know, have an arranged marriage or hope that your parents pick the guy you want to marry. And I just was not a very traditional gal. Like, I wanted to go to college. I wanted to go party. And my dad was just like, no. And he was aggressive at nights, but it shaped me to be who I am today. And I'm incredibly grateful for my childhood. I think that he would wake up and not realize like the things that he had said that would be hurtful. But it was those words that have made me who I am today. And so today he, as I mentioned, is very ill and, you know, I try to be there for him. And interestingly enough, about six months ago,

he was in the hospital. And when I got the call, I was like the first one to head over to the hospital. And he, when he woke up, he said, I'm really sorry for everything that I've done. And I felt so liberated when he said that. And I really, I kissed his hand and his face. And I said, it's okay. And my mother has been my rock and she's the one that's taught me that you've got to kind of unpeal who your father was and how he was raised. And he, what your expectations are, he never was raised that way. And so just culturally, he's kind of a byproduct of the culture and traditional. And so he never meant to be harsh towards you or, and I think he only wanted the best for me. It was tough. It made me a tough cookie.

And I think that most everyone will say that I'm pretty aggressive. And I'm aggressive because when you had a tough childhood, you have no other option but to survive. And so that's like still kind of my mentality is like I'm going to survive. And then when I conquer my dreams, I'm going bigger and I'm going to keep going after it. But then I'm a total girl's girl. I feel like it can go both ways, though. You know, when you have that kind of experience when you're younger, you can either use that adversity to your advantage, which is obviously what you did, or you can go the other way and you can get

into trouble. And what kept you from going down that path, do you think, from like partying and numbing out and kind of rebelling against that? Well, A, I was like Cinderella. I couldn't leave my home when the streetlights came on. And so I couldn't go out even if I wanted to. I would cry every night in my room, but my mom. My mom was my rock, my foundation. And when I would sit in my room and cry, she would just tell me, like, just look within, like, when you go to college, when you're on your own, what do you want out of life? Put your focus there. Don't think about the things that make you sad. Think about things that make you feel good. And I think that at that time, like, I didn't know it was called manifesting. I didn't know it was like, but I would just sit

and like really like, like, almost like storytell and collage. I mean, my era was like, watch a lot of, you know, you read a lot of magazines. I was, you know, you read a lot of magazines. I would like cut out pictures and I would create a collage of like the life that I wanted. And so I really would just kind of go in my own world. I listen to a lot of music. I never knew that how healing music can be, but it really just changes your, you know, your energy and your spirit. And, but my mom, my mom has been my rock until this day. She's my best friend and she's always guided me. And I know she always has my best interest in mind and she's my toughest critic. but my mom was the one who kept me grounded.

I've also heard you talk about how our thoughts become things. Our thoughts essentially determine our lives. So what were some things that you did to maintain kind of a positive, you know, motivated outlook versus falling into that victim mode? Was it just your relationship with your mom and the guidance that she provided you and the things that you were, you know, just telling us about like the visualization and all of that? or do you think that you inherently have this positive attitude? I think it's probably a combination.

One, I read a lot of self-help books, which I think can be deemed as like, oh, do you have problems? But I did. I love books that would like make me kind of rethink perspective. And so I read a lot of books. I listen to music. And the one thing that I would do, so my friends would come over and they'd borrow my clothes and I would do their makeup and hair.

And I realized, like, in this moment, what I'm going to do is when they leave, I'm going to do my makeup and hair. And so taking care of yourself and to whatever capacity that means, like, you know, hair and makeup is the thing for everyone. But for me, when I was young, like, I loved doing makeup. And that made me feel really good. So I think it's really about figuring out the triggers that do make you feel good and then really leaning into that. I also had really amazing girlfriends. And so I think as a woman surrounding yourself with other women and young girls that make you feel good, that inspire you, that tell you, it's okay. That's really important. But yeah, self-love. Again, I would, you know, collage and create a

visualization of like the life that I wanted. I would cut out pictures of the home. I wanted the cars that I wanted. And I also created a little card. It's like the size of a credit card. It had one side my three-year plan and the back side my five-year plan. And I'm proud to say that I hit all goals that I had on. So I think that when you're going through a tough time in life, try to refocus your energy, your thoughts on the things that you would want to see change. And then really just take the time and align with a plan. And then, you know, for me, like I could visualize something to the extent where I crave it. And I'm like, God, I'm like, I'm consumed by it until it becomes mine. And so I think you just have to re-remind yourself that, you know, life for many is tough and

things happen in life, but you have to just have perspective to know there's something greater that's going to come out of it. Does your life today look like everything that you were manifesting when you were younger? Yes. Or better. And more. Yeah. And more. That's amazing. And more. I feel incredibly enriched with the relationships that I have in my life. I have the most incredible network of women at work who every single day I show up and I'm inspired by them. They are brilliant, beautiful, smart. And I'm like, God, like they make me better. They make me think differently. And then in my personal life, I've got incredible girlfriends where we've got no drama, no conflict, just easy relationships.

And so I feel very fulfilled in life. And my best friend is my husband. We've been married for 25 years and two beautiful daughters together. And we're really building life together. And we have the same values and same dreams and same goals. And neither one of us are afraid to work hard and go after them. So he's like my safety net in terms of supporting me for who I am. And I'm all about women empowerment.

I love women. I love working hard. And he's like, go after your dreams and I'm here. And in the process, you be you and I'll take care of the rest, which is like one of my favorite quotes that he always says. Say it again, you be you and I'll take care of the rest. Yeah. I love that. Yeah. Because he's always like, you know, if someone really gets to know you, they learn to love you, you know, if you ignite their insecurities, like that's not your problem. And I'm such a girl's girl that I want to empower every woman that I'm around. I think that we all are all. so different. And, you know, women are so beautiful, each and every one of them in their own ways. And we need to feel confident in ourselves to say to another woman, like, you're stunning, you're gorgeous. For me, I like to know, like, everyone's playbook. And I feel like if I was to share mine, like, we don't compete. Yeah, absolutely. Okay. So we were talking before. I'm newly single. I know a lot of my listeners are single. What should we be looking for in a relationship to make it a successful relationship? First, I'm in disbelief that you are single because you're gorgeous.

So all of my single friends, please call this number. I'm just joking. You DM me. DM, yes, please DM her. I'm going to be your agent. Amazing. I'll run everything by you. Yes, please. Okay. So I think that the most important thing is finding someone that fills your cup. So what do I mean by that? I think that as women today, all of us women, we are hard, working, independent, successful. And so we don't need a man or, you know, and I'm speaking for you, but you're already successful. What you need is a man to give you something you can't give yourself. And that's love and respect. I believe in just meeting you and I was telling the gals in the car, everyone's got a superpower. My superpower is my intuition. So just getting to know you in the few

minutes that we've chatted, like you come off as someone that is not afraid to work hard. You're going to go after your dreams. So what you need is a man that's going to fill your cup where it's like, I no longer have to do the things like when I was in college, I love going to the clubs. I love to dance. And when I met my husband, like, I no longer felt the need to go to a club because he just filled my cup, like he just fulfilled me. So I think it's a man to give you something that you can't give yourself. My definition of that is love and respect. Because for everything else, you're willing to work for that. You're willing to go after that. And I think. that today because of social media, there is this like perception of like, give me the lifestyle

and the flowers. And again, being married 25 years, I sometimes order myself flowers. And, you know, when the running joke, you'll come home and he's like, who's that from? And I'm like, Cheston Beaver. I don't know why he's not doing it. But I'm like, they're from me. Like, I wanted flowers today. And so I think it's okay to do things for yourself and to teach someone that you're with that you're compatible with. But yeah, for someone like yourself where you're stunning, you're independent, you're gorgeous, give me love and respect. For everything else, we will work towards together. We'll build it together. And as long as he can respect you for who you are and embrace you and empower you to continue being who you are, that's all you need. I love that. And I have

had a lot of people say to me, like, aren't you scared being single in your 30s? And I'm like, no, I have a career. I have money. Like, I don't need anything from anybody and I've never been in that position before, I don't think. And that's probably why I chose certain people before because I felt like I needed them to fulfill something for me, if that makes sense. That really bothers me. Yeah. Someone would make that comment to you. Yeah. Like, I'm fueled. But I think because other people feel that. I think so many women feel like, you know, we expire after like, I don't know, 35, right? and I mean, I don't want kids or anything, so it's different for me. But I think it's like such an empowering thing to be single right now.

I'm like, I feel like I'm in my 20s, but with money and like purpose and fulfillment and all of that. I would say 40s only because I'm 40. I'm not 40. I'm actually old. But 40s is the new 20s. And so I think the fact that society puts this pressure on women like, you need to be married, you need to be married. Well, I think it's much worse to be married and have children with the wrong person and are being a relationship that doesn't fulfill you, that doesn't make you feel good. I think you need to, and as you are, embrace.

Like, you need to be with the right person, not just be with a person. Yes. So good for you. I think that that's all noise. And sometimes you got to just quiet the noise and align with what makes you feel good. and if someone doesn't make you feel good that's in your life, you've got to say, sorry, like, this isn't going to work out for me. But the right person ignites you, inspires you, and it gives you passion and purpose for everything that you do. Yeah. So you and your husband had

successful businesses prior to symbiotica, right? Were your purposes aligned from the beginning? Or how did that first successful business come to fruition? To be quite honest, at that time, we did not have children. And so it was like, it was just, the goal was just to make money. So we were both, you know, young, no children, and we were trying to really accumulate wealth and build life. We both worked in corporate America. We did the whole corporate thing. It worked out again, because we had no children, we had no work-life balance. But it was okay for us at the time. We accepted it. After having children, my daughters gave me a greater purpose to life. They gave me perspective. that I never had. And we both aligned on the fact that it actually happened on the day that my

husband was going to school. It was like dads had to show up and talk about like what they did in their career. And it was that moment where I'll never forget. My husband Shahab called and said, man, this like, this sucks. Like, A, I feel like a shitty dad because I'm always traveling. I'm never really home. And like, what's the story? I'm just like this big executive. And he said, this has got to change, especially as they get older. And philanthropy work is something very close to us personally, being able to give back. And so we said, listen, eventually, we, A, we reflected on our lives. We've accumulated a lot of wealth. And that's been great, but it's not everything. We don't own our time. How do we regain our time? And then, lastly, how do we align our purpose,

our own personal purpose with our passion and then do something where we're thinking outside of ourselves and we're doing something with like intention and giving back to the world. And five companies later, Symbiotica just kind of fell into our laps. And what I love today is my daughter Yasmin is 10 and my other daughter, 10 and a half and my other daughter Ariana is 9, but they understand what Mommy does. And the story is so much greater than I just make money. It's like mommy's helping out people. Mommy and daddy are making a difference in the world. And it's a really, it's what inspires me every day. And I want to teach them to be able to think outside themselves and be able to leave the world in a better place in which they came and took from. Well, symbiotica enhances my

life. Just want to throw that out there. It's my favorite. And you guys have had massive growth over, what is it, four years? Four years. That's insane. So tell us a little bit about that. trajectory from when you guys came on to where you are now. So from day one, I mean, 2019 was when Shahab and I joined and what I call like a symbiotic, a 2.0. So there's three of us. It's my husband Shahab and I, our partner, Sharveen. Sharveen is great on the science side of things. You know, he's incredibly passionate about the formulations, products, the alternative of health community, and he does that incredibly well. My husband and I come from a background of business, scaling companies, people, culture, operations, marketing. So it's a really nice kind of,

you know, marriage between the three of us. When we started in 2019, we built the company. We had one skew at the time, the Omega. We took it from one skew to seven, from a company that wasn't profitable to a million dollars in net sales. And, you know, I would attribute symbiotica. So, you know, we started with $1 million in 2019. And then fast forward four years later, we're, you know, doing over $250 million. I would attribute 100% of symbiotica success to our team. We've got the most talented people in the industry who come into work every day with passion, with purpose. They believe in the mission. They're part of this ethos where every single, where every single day, like, we have a culture where people want to be there and they want to,

they have the flexibility to be creative. There isn't, no one's micromanaging them. So Somatica's success was really based on the people and the culture. And I'm incredibly proud of what we've been able to build. It was, we've never chased the money. We've never been like, oh, this product's trendy. Let's go after it. It's about really building a community and an ethos of how can we have our community and our folks

live a healthier, better lives for their loved ones. Everything that we do now at this point for my husband and I and Cherveen, it's like this is a passion project. And the fact that it became successful and, you know, it's a company where we're thriving, we're very, very fortunate, but that was never really the intention. It was just doing the right thing and make great products with incredible ingredients and service a community where we can have everyone living healthier lives. I think that idea of service is so important. And I feel like that's something that people overlook a lot when they're building a brand and purpose as well.

That's something that I keep hearing you come back to. I think in this time where like everybody is becoming a mini brand, the ones that really connect. are the ones that have purpose and that are in service of somebody else instead of just like what's the quickest way that I can make money. And that seems to be something that you drew from your upbringing as well, right? Like you just seem like you've always had this very clear sense of purpose. So do you have any advice for people who don't feel that? Because that's a question that I get from people all the time. And I feel like I kind of came into mine sideways just from trying a lot of different things. We all hear about how important it is. And so many people

people are like, well, I don't have purpose. There's nothing that I feel that I'm passionate about. That's interesting. That's a good question. It's a loaded question. So I would first say, for entrepreneurs, don't be afraid to fail. Because I think when you, we have such social pressures on us that you go into social media and everyone's life looks like it's thriving and it's everyone's so successful and you go on there and you're like, God, I feel like shit about myself. So I think it's about trying a lot of things, not being afraid to fail, and then really embracing failure. Like, I always say fail and fall forward, and that's okay. And then be okay to share the failures and then reflect on it. Like, I think there's something to be said about failing. Like,

you're supposed to grow from it. And I think that following your passion and if it's like, I don't know what I'm passionate about, well, what are the things that excite you? What are the things that you love doing? Like, do you love talking to people? do you love learning from people? Okay, great. And then I think it's also about aligning yourself with people that are already in that position and learning from them and building this mentee, mentor relationship where someone's mentoring you and guiding you and really listening to your inner self of what it is that excites you, ignites you, and that you feel like passionate about. I think that's really important. And spending time with yourself is okay because in that journey,

you learn about the things that that make you feel good. And then there's things where you're like, oh, that didn't make me feel good. I don't like that. And then, you know, just aligning with your inner self and the things that, you know, what it is you feel. How do you work with your husband? Back to the husband stuff. No, I love this. Because you're very much like you are, I can tell it like you're very powerful, but you're also very

feminine. So how do you maintain that and how do you like navigate that dynamic with your husband when you guys are working together and how do you, I'm asking you like multi-part questions. No, it's okay. How do you overcome like when you guys have challenges as well? Because I would imagine it would be so hard. Working with my husband. That's a good question. So we have a lot of respect for one another and what he brings to the table I could never ever do. He said, this guy's like a walking calculator. He's brilliant. So we have respect for one another's talents. and it's actually pretty easy to be quite honest with you.

So our routine is we go to the gym after we drop off the kids. I think that helps because there's like this, like you have your time with yourself or there's like a release. And then we head into the office together. And I respect the direction in which he wants us to go. And he will, he respects my opinion on things. I think we have a good balance because we come home and we know how to turn it off and be husband and wife and be parents. We don't have

that like struggle of like power or look at me. I mean, we we don't lead with with ego or we're both really passionate about what we do. We have a lot of love for our team. And so we know the importance of our synergy and what we bring to the table every day in the office. And our team always says, like we love the chemistry that you guys have together. So if we're having a bad day or if we don't align on something, which of course it happens, I go into my office. He goes into his. And I just re-remind myself that at the end of the day, this is our fifth company. And we've done, we've had four very successful companies. So I'm going to lean on him and he's the CEO. And I have that level of respect for him to know that at the end of the day, I'm going to take his lead. And I'm okay with that.

He makes me feel very, very empowered with the things that I, you know, run, oversee, and operate in the office. And I want to support him just as well. And so he hasn't, you know, swayed me wrong thus far. And he's an incredible leader. And most important, he's an incredible human being. And so I trust him entirely. And like I said, if we have a hard day, I'm okay with going home and having a glass of wine and just turning it off and knowing that tomorrow is a new day. Yeah, I want to get into some of your wellness habits because you're a mom, you're a business leader, you're a wife. You wear so many different hats. So how do you make time for yourself without getting burnt out? So one is that I go to the gym every day. I just do a 30 minute workout. What do you do? I do a hit workout. So I use a lot of gliders, bands. I like that like long lean look. And so for me, weights bulk me up.

so I don't like using weights. I love, I just recently started doing P-Bolve, which I love. I love P-Bolve. Shout out, Rachel. Yes, shout out, Rachel. It kept my ass. I mean, I went in there, like, with my sports brawn. I was like, I got this.

Ten minutes in, I was, like, huffing and puffing, and I was like, God, I hope like. It's like different muscles that you don't normally use. It's incredible, incredible. One of my favorite workouts. So I work out every single day. I kick off my day in the mornings with, like, a quick meditation. And how quick? 10 minutes.

Just like what is it that I'm trying to conquer today? What are my goals? And then, well, I first started off with just thank you. I think it's important in life to have gratitude. So I'm thankful for everything in my life, the people in my life, my teammates, which they're my work family, my internal family, my kids. And then it's like, what do I want for today? Like I have a very clear vision of what it is I'm going after.

And then I feel like what I do is I put it out in the universe. Then I go out and I start my day, drop off the kids at school, which for me makes me feel like check. I'm a good mom, right? I dropped off the kids. They're at school. And then it's my time before I go into the office. And I think when you go to the office, you obviously have to be present for your teammates and bring a certain level of energy. And so I feel going into the gym makes me feel like I've done something for myself.

That's like the way I kick off my day. I also love my first morning. rituals. I love having water and lemon. I also make a green juice and that's where I break my fast. At what time? So it depends on my day, how many meetings I have, but probably around 12 o'clock, 12, 30. Yeah, I'm not a big, like, booty. I always have like 15 drinks around me. It's like my coffee, my water, there's like, how many drinks do you need? And then when I go home, I love listening to music, having my glass of wine, that's also a little bit of my time. The other thing I do is I love my facials. I'm really big on that. I think that's like my self-love. It's what makes me feel good.

It's my one, one-a-half hours, sometimes two hours of just like my time where I feel like I just go into like such a zone. My aesthetician says, I didn't wake you up because you were snoring and I felt so bad. You were so tired. Where do you go? I go to Leclair skin. Down in San Diego. Yeah. I wish we had. had a BR there. I love BR. Yeah. We were just talking about this off mic. My new favorite thing, everybody who's listening, is the Biologique remodeling facial. It's bananas. I did it at the four seasons in Miami, like last year maybe, but I had Botox at that time, so I couldn't tell what was what. And now that I don't have any, I did it. And it was like a facelift, like instant facelift. But yeah,

it's amazing. Yeah, I love like, so Dr. Diamond's my favorite person after my husband. I always say, I love you, but my husband and him are friends, so he doesn't get offended by that. But Dr. Diamond's incredible because I think that he takes your own natural beauty and enhances it without making you look like a character. And then Ivan, we talked about Ivan, the beauty sandwich. I haven't done it yet, but I met him and I'm incredibly inspired by his like snatched look that he does with his facials. Yeah. It's a facial with like radio frequency to give you that snatch look. The other thing that I do is on Sundays, I love being.

in my robe and not doing anything. You're speaking my language. I'm a robe person. I'm in my robe all the time if I'm home. Yeah. Like not in clothes. Yeah, I don't want to do anything. I want to be in my robe.

Yeah. I don't even want to cook. I just want to just like just lounge around. I love doing light therapy on my face. Mm-hmm. I own a saluma. Okay. Amazing.

And so I do that every night. And when I do my red light therapy with like a mask on, I love the BR masks. I love listening to positive affirmations, just, you know, YouTube, because those are the last thoughts that you go to bed with. And so you need to like empower yourself. And again, have alignment with like who you are, your passion. And, you know, sometimes hearing these things kind of gives you like the aha moment. Like, yeah, I am powerful. I can't do this. And my skincare regimen I'm really big on. Like I love, I'm a skincare junkie, but I love BR products. Love Lauren's face roller. think it's a very, very hefty, made with a quality. So yeah, I love doing my skincare regimen. That's

part of my, like, self-love and, you know, working out for my, just for myself, not for the aesthetics of how I look, but just it makes me feel good. It's like I've showed up today for myself. And Sundays, yeah, Sunday's my Sunday, fun day where I don't want to do anything. And I just, like, decompress. I don't want to like put on any makeup. I want to just not really, you know, care. I just want to just sit around and just chill, listen to music and eat good food. And yeah, you seem like you're really balanced in that you have like spiritual fulfillment, emotional fulfillment. You have mental stimulation, obviously, with your career. And then you also have like the physical part where you take really good care of yourself. Were you always like that? Yes. I used to joke in college.

I would like save up my last like few dollars and be like, can I get a facial with this? At that time, Was it CBS at that time? No, it wasn't CBS. Long's drugs. I think I just gave up my age. Long's drugs was like the former prior CBS. But yeah, I would go there and look at skincare and makeup. But yeah, I've always been that way. I think that you've got to figure out what it is that makes you feel good. And for me, like skin, right? Like when you see yourself and your skin looks glowing, that's like your inner confidence right there. And my mom's mom, my grandma, she's amazing. very young, vibrant, lives in Germany. One time she said to me, like, I just, I didn't look good.

And she said, your soul isn't happy. And I was like, what is she saying? And she said, like, when you take care of yourself, it's like your inner self. It's like, it's your confidence. So my like secret thing, secret sauce, like wake up in the morning and like dress for success. Wake up feeling good about yourself. And it's irrespective of what you're going into, whether it's you're going into the market, you're going into the office.

Just like feel good within your own skin. And I think you've got to figure out. what it is that makes you feel good. And for me personally, it's the skincare. It's getting, you know, hair treatment. It's working out. And when you identify the things that make you feel good aesthetically or from the inside, do it and make it important. And whatever you focus on and whatever is important, you're going to make time for it. So I make time for the facials. I make time to come see Dr. Diamond. And those things are important for me because the end of the day, it's how I feel. I love it. And I love that you're so unapologetic about it because I think, you know, some people think at least the feedback that I get is like these things can be trivial. But when you feel like you're the best version of yourself, then you show up for everybody else as the best version of yourself. Very true. Yeah. Yeah. And so I, like you said, I'm okay. I'm not, I'm not perfect. I've never claimed to be. And I think that as women, we have so much pressure on us. And there are so many beautiful women. So.

So I think it's okay to do a little something for yourself and figure out what that something is. And like you said, not be apologetic about it because at the end of the day, everyone does a little something. And if that's what makes you feel good, then do it. And who cares what people think? At the end of the day, it's about how you feel. It's your energy and your vibrations at the end of the day that you put out there in the universe. And so I think the most important thing is how you feel about yourself. Are you always getting tips from Chervine? Because I feel like, I would imagine you're around him all day, getting the inputs from him. I feel like he's always, he has something new all the time, some tip. Like, how do you navigate all of the wellness stuff in the world that you're immersed in?

Right. There's so much out there, right? And so, yeah, when I'm around Sherivine, I think I'm doing all the things wrong, right? Because he just loves to, he just eats so well. And I remember one time we're at Javier's. and there I am, like, dipping into the chips. He's like, do you know how bad that is for you? And I'm like, after I chew on this, all the once I can. You know, I think that you've got to figure out your own truth. And for me, I have to be authentic to myself. Like, alcohol is terrible for you. But I like to have my glass of wine.

And I think that if you can do whatever it is you're doing in moderation and do something that you can be authentic, like, I can't get on these like hardcore detoxes. I just can't. And it's tough, especially as a mother. It's tough when you're going to work and there's 111 of your teammates. Like no one's got that patience to deal with you because you haven't had a carb. So for me, I just try to be true to myself. Like I don't overindulge in anything. And, you know, I'm around a lot of people who eat overly healthy and I'm okay with that. I really admire their lifestyle that they have. But I have to be be true to my lifestyle. I love it. Do you guys have any plans for any more businesses, do you think? You mentioned

earlier that when you were building your businesses before symbiotica, you felt like you didn't have time. And there's the saying that I was thinking of that I heard that was like when you're young, you trade time for money. And when you get older, you trade money for time. So do you feel like symbiotica once you get to wherever you want to get with that, that's going to be your last business? Or you just don't know yet? You know, we say that it will be our last business and we're going to return. retire for a while, but you got to know Shahab, he and I are very, very driven and passionate. And I don't foresee us retiring for a long time. I love working. I love creating an environment where people can come, thrive and feel good and feel supported. So I don't think somatica will be the last thing

that we do. But I would like to take some time off because right now, I mean, we've been working five to six days a week for four years straight. And I guess, you know, I would say I love what I do so it doesn't feel like work. So yeah, I think for a little while I'd love to take some time off. I always say to my husband, I would love to like not feel like I, yeah, obviously we don't have to go into the office, but I feel responsible, right? I feel responsible to show up and be a part of the movement and the ethos of what we're doing every day alongside my team. But yeah, I would love to just sleep in. So I think that when we retire

for a little while, I don't mind it. But yeah, I don't foresee myself. I'm too driven, too passionate to just stop. And I love doing philanthropy work. So the more that I can build in terms of myself financially, the more I can give back. And I love giving back. I love that. Do you have any advice for women who are like not feeling driven or motivated or anything right now. Yeah, I would say surround yourself with women that inspire you that are already in the place that you want to be and be okay with listening to the self-help and the things that change your thought process because your thoughts are the most powerful thing that you own. You are a byproduct of your thoughts.

And then every day, do just one thing towards whatever it is that your goal is. is. And don't be disencourge, meaning thinking like, oh, my God, it's so far away. Every day you do one thing that makes you feel good about yourself and you're doing some one little thing that's getting you closer to your goal, you're winning and feel good about yourself. And I think we're just such hard critics of ourselves and we're like overachievers and be okay if you have a tough day. But, you know, again, have a community of women that support you and inspire you and ignite you to say like, Keep going. You got this. Amazing. Well, thank you so much for coming on. Thank you. I wait to see what you do next. You're an amazing podcast guest. Oh, my gosh. Incredible. I thank you for the gift of your time

and giving me an opportunity to get to know you. It's been beautiful. Thank you so much. Pleasure. I hope you enjoyed that episode. And if you liked it, and if you liked 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 show. Also, if you want to see more about each episode, you can head over to The Blond Files podcast on Instagram. You can go to Arial Lori.com, and I'm always posting about each episode over on my personal page at Arial Lori. Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.