Well with Arielle Lorre - 318: Building an Iconic Brand, Navigating Success and Putting Wellness First with Elizabeth Stein

Episode Date: May 27, 2024

Elizabeth Stein is the Founder & CEO of Purely Elizabeth, a certified holistic nutrition counselor, and host of the Live Purely podcast. Elizabeth founded Purely Elizabeth in 2009, a leading health food company with clean, wholesome products now sold in over 100K stores nationwide. In this episode, Elizabeth takes us on her business journey, from selling muffins at marathons to bringing products into Whole Foods, Target, etc, and leading a team of 50+. We discuss developing products in a saturated market, scaling, and how to start from the ground up. We also talk health and wellness; work-life balance, morning routines, SIBO, gut-friendly foods, and staying sane through tremendous success.Visit purelyelizabeth.com and use BLONDE for 20% off your first purchase. Subscribe to Patreon for exclusive weekly content: patreon.com/ArielleLorreThis 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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or Sunnycars. The following podcast is a dear media production. Welcome to the Blond Files I'm your host, Ariel Lori, 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 really fun episode for you today. I was fan-girling because I'm talking to Elizabeth Stein, also known as Purely Elizabeth. I'm sure pretty much everybody listening is familiar with Purely Elizabeth. I start almost every day of my life eating something from purely Elizabeth. I mean, I honestly love everything that she makes so much. So it was so fascinating for me to hear the story of how her brand came to fruition and how her own wellness journey influenced the start of her brand, Peerley, Elizabeth, and vice versa, how her business affected her life and her wellness journey, for lack of a better word. So Elizabeth is a certified holistic nutrition counselor.

She is also the host of the Live Purely podcast. She founded Peerly Elizabeth in 2009. And of course, it is a leading food company with clean, wholesome products now sold in over 100,000 stores nationwide. It is crazy, especially when you hear how it began. So in this episode, she's taking us on her business journey from selling muffins at marathons to bringing products into Whole Foods, Target, and more, leading a team of over 50 people. And we discuss the development of products in a saturated market.

We talk scaling, how to start from the ground up. And then, of course, we talk health and wellness, work-life balance. We talk about morning routines, SIBO, gut-friendly foods. and how she keeps her sanity throughout her tremendous success. So you guys know that I always start my morning with my protein yogurt bowl and I always have granola on it. I have been loving purely Elizabeth for a number of reasons. First of all, they're made with organic oats and nutritious ancient grains and superfood seeds

like chia, quinoa, and amaranth. They have delicious, crunchy clusters. They have this kind of unique, salty sweet. taste and of course they're organic gluten-free vegan and non-GMO project verified there's no artificial flavors they're baked with coconut oil and sustainably sourced coconut sugar which is an unrefined sugar so good for you so delicious so i make my protein yogurt bowl and then i add some berries and then i add some purely elizabeth ancient grain granola and it is chef's kiss so elizabeth was kind enough to give us a code to use. You guys can go to purelyelisabeth.com and you can use the code

blonde at checkout for 20% off your first purchase. Again, that's purelyelisabeth.com. The code is blonde for 20% off your first purchase. Trust me, you are going to want to try all the flavors and please enjoy Elizabeth Stein. Welcome, Elizabeth. Thanks so much for having me. I was just telling you, I ate your granola this morning. It's like a daily thing for me. But today I had the oatmeal cookie granola. That's what it's called. Oatmeal raisin cookie.

Yes. So good. Thank you. I'm so particular about consistency of granola. And I love that it has like a little bit of the chewiness. It's not just crunch. It's so good. Thank you so much.

Just wanted to throw that out there. It's dangerous. Yes. Yeah. But you know, I do my yogurt bowl always with the protein powder. and then I mix in a little granola and I get that crunch that I like and just like the sweetness and amazing. I love it.

Yeah. So I'm really excited to talk to you about your story and how you built this empire, really, this lifestyle brand. But I heard you in a different interview, you were talking about how you kind of had this shift in your mindset when you completed nutrition school. And you had learned about how there's kind of primary and secondary nutrition. and we think of nutrition as the food that we eat. But you really learned that that's secondary to what do our lives look like and what does our

lifestyle look like. So can you talk about that a little bit? Yeah, absolutely. So I did the Institute for Integrative Nutrition back in 2007. And at the time, you know, they were so ahead of everything that we're talking about today as food is medicine and what I really loved about the program. was this idea of primary food and secondary food. And there's so many dietary theories and different trends and fads. But at the end of the day, the food is one part, which you can make it very simple and simplify.

But then that other piece is so complicated. And what really resonated for me so much of it was that you could be eating the best foods, you could be exercising, but if you aren't happy, you're never going to be truly healthy. And that ultimately, I think, is just something that's so key and really felt for me as I was in my 20s and going through searching what I wanted to do in my life. It was all about finding the thing that made me happy. And that's what has led me here today. What was your wellness practice like in your 20s?

So I was definitely someone who was always relatively healthy. I say relatively. Like as I think back in high school, I hated to run. But I play lacrosse and I would like hide in the woods during the cross practice and smoke cigarettes. Me too. East Coast. Yes. But I ate relatively healthy and then went to college and definitely had my fair share of

partying in college, I went to Boston University, and I definitely balanced the going out and partying with starting to go to yoga for the first time. And I think that's really where things started to shift for me, is that even though I would have these crazy late nights, I found myself Sunday morning going to yoga and really finding and discovering this more spiritual side of me and something that as I then went into my 20s and moved to New York really found that that was more of where my calling was leading me and eventually ended up actually doing yoga teacher training alongside doing the nutrition program. I was definitely finding my way but certainly had my crazy 20s as well. So funny, the lacrosse thing. I mainly did lacrosse because I wanted to wear

the outfit. They were cute outfits. They were very, very cute. I still have my skirt. Do you? I try it on from time to time. Oh my gosh. Yeah, lacrosse, field hockey, like, whatever had the cutest outfits, that was what I was doing. Where did you grow up? In Rhode Island. Okay. So that was our thing. I don't think it's as big out here. Maybe it is now. But it's so interesting. I feel like, especially when you make the move to New York, like, you need something to offset that lifestyle because it can be so unforgiving. Totally. And, you know, I have times where I go to the city and I feel really energized by it. And then I have times where I go and I find it so depleting. And if you are just in that and that's your environment, like you need to have practices that are counteracting

that. So is there anything else besides yoga? Like as you went down that journey of kind of discovering the more spiritual side of you that you incorporated? Well, I also, started to do marathons and triathlons, so it was not on the side of being like relaxed and zen doubt. It can be meditative. It can be meditative in a different way. And ultimately that was sort of what landed me into starting the company. But again, as I said, I was hiding the woods during lacrosse practice. I was not into running. Yeah. But at the time I met my boyfriend and he was a big triathlete and marathon runner and convinced me. that mindset was so key in being able to do a marathon and triathlon. And that was the real trigger for me that changed things because I thought, you know, there's no way I could ever run 26 miles. But he was like, no, it's mindset. It's so important and so key. And so I did start training to do marathon, my first marathon. And I ultimately ended up going to Montana for my first marathon. I, I thought I might as well go to somewhere that's beautiful.

And high elevation? It was the worst idea. It was high elevation. There was nobody there cheering you on, which like half of the mindset is also the people who were helping cheer you on. And it was off road. It was crazy. But I certainly proved to myself about doing hard things and that mindset is so key. So where did the beginning of your company?

Like where did that come to fruition in this phase of your life? Yeah. So as I was doing these marathons and triathlons, and I started to do a lot, like I was doing 20 in a year and really getting into it. I wanted to find something career-wise that was more aligned with this new passion that I had. And this passion really, I think it was both a health passion, but also this idea of like pushing myself out of my comfort zone. And so I ended up, I don't know what I put into Google, but I stumbled to Institute for Integrative Nutrition, I did that program, and then in that program learned about these unknown superfoods at the time, chia seeds, coconut oil ingredients that were not known back in 2007. And as I started to work with clients, many of whom were gluten-free and I was eating gluten-free, and it was really hard to find recommendations of products for them to buy at the store. Things were either not healthy or if they were gluten-free, like terrible ingredients and they didn't taste great. And so I definitely sell an opportunity subconsciously to have a better for your alternative.

And, you know, it was a trickling thought percolating in the back of my mind, but it wasn't as though I, like, sat down and wrote a business plan to move forward with it. And ultimately, I had gone to a local triathlon to promote my nutrition practice and to try to get clients. And on a whim the night before, I debated, like, do I hand out a kale salad recipe, which again, this is 2008. So the idea of a kale salad was not the sexiest thing. Or do I make this batch of blueberry muffins and hand that out instead and get people to come and chat with me? So made the blueberry muffins and went to the race the next day and nobody cared about my nutrition practice. Everyone just wanted to buy the muffins. Wow.

So that was really the aha moment. And I really listened to what people, you know, asked and what their feedback was. And I think people were just so amazed that something could be this healthy and delicious at the same time. It was like very unique. And so I left that race and, you know, thought for a minute about what am I going to do here? I gave people my email. I told them to sign up for my newsletter and I'd tell them when the products would be available. But like, I have no idea how to start a CPG company.

And I put the idea on a back burner for several months because I didn't know how. And then I decided I was going to go back to the race for my nutrition practice. but I figured I had a captive audience and that's put together some muffin mixes to sell and like, we'll see what happens and this will be my side hustle. Just like in Ziploc baggies or how did you put? No, it wasn't that way. Okay. But that's a good question. I did have, I went to a big trade show that year.

And so I went and I looked at packaging and I knew I wanted my packaging to look very clean and not very very much more aligned with beauty. products and that was more of the aesthetic I was going for. And my cousin was my graphic designer. So she put together the packaging. She had never done food packaging. So she was looking at it from a very different angle. I was going to just use my phone to take a picture for the image on the front. And this is 2008. So you can only imagine like an iPhone. Then she didn't have the best imagery. She's like maybe you could spend like $200 on a photographer, which I thankfully did. And put together. three muffin mixes and a pancake mix to sell at the race. We ended up selling out at the race. And then several days later was contacted by Daily Candy, which back in the day, for those who don't know,

it was like the idea of going TikTok viral today is what Daily Candy was and really put so many people on the map. And they had found my site because a friend of mine had posted on Facebook on my website that I somehow knew how to make a website. I don't know. know how and their email blast went out and within three hours I had $10,000 of orders and that was how the business was born. What does $10,000 of orders equate to in muffin mix? I mean, how much was that? Were you like, how am I going to possibly deliver this to these people? Absolutely. I mean, I vividly remember being on the subway down to my sister's apartment and just seeing on my phone and like order after order coming through

and starting historical crying both out of this feeling so deep in my gut that my life was about to change and that I knew like this was real and this wasn't just a flash in the pan moment but also historical crime because I had no idea how I could possibly fulfill these orders

and it ended up taking about three weeks to fill the orders. We had tractor trailers coming to my mom in the suburbs dropping up pallets of product and we, you know, had no idea what to do whatsoever. So unfortunately, as I look back, you know, our phones weren't what they were then, that I don't have any pictures of these moments, but it was incredible to think about. How did you package all of that? Did you have enough packaging or did you have to make more of that as well?

Yes. So I had, I mean, I went to sleep the night before saying I hope I get 20 orders was what I was manifesting out in the universe and had only enough packaging for probably 50 orders. And this was hundreds and hundreds of orders that I had to get packaging for. Everybody that I've had on the show who has a very successful brand, I feel like has made it out of a kind of a personal need. I haven't had anybody on who's like, you know, I sat down and I made this business plan. I'm sure they're out there. But I think that there is something about that where you know, you're just making something so authentically that it's going to find the right people. But I'm curious, like how you knew,

like you said, in that moment you knew that your life was about to change. What was it about that moment that you just knew or did you just have an intuition that you were on the right path and that you had created this thing that you kind of needed and other people seemed to be enjoying and you thought that it would do well kind of universally? Yeah, I think that's such a good point. and I think it's probably all of those things combined. You know, I certainly had no idea what the size of the muffin category was or granola category. I had no concept of what a distributor was, how to get into Whole Foods. Like, none of that mattered, but I had this feeling that this was going to be life-changing and this was going to work.

And so I think it really was a combination of feeling so, in alignment with what I was meant to do. And this conviction of I knew that there was something that people were looking for, something that I was personally looking for, and that it was helping people's lives. And so it just felt so radiant. I feel like that service part of it, that helping other people's lives, I feel like that is really like the piece that takes brands so far. because I think when people go into it just, you know, trying to make a lot of money, like, that's only going to get you so far.

I mean, I never even thought about making money. Yeah. Interesting. That was never part of. It was just like this feels like my passion. Do you have advice for entrepreneurs now because I feel like, you know, the landscape in 2024 is so different from 2007. I'll use myself for an example. You know, I've been thinking about like moving into product and I have these two things that I'm like, I really need this. There are other things on the market because it's so saturated now and so many people have products. And, you know, do you feel like you can do the same thing? You just have to do it better or, you know, to what we've been talking about, make something that's authentically you and what you need and that you feel aligned with and then just see if it resonates with other people because it just feels like there's just so much competition now.

Yeah, it is so different. And I think it's a combination of both those things, like, certainly making something that's truly authentic to you and feels like in that alignment. But it still has to be better than whatever else is out there. And as I think about like specifically in CPG, you know, if you think about the buyer of a store is going to stand there, be like, why do I need this another drink? There's so many drinks on the market, right? Why do I need another drink? and what is really truly unique about that product. So thinking about what's that conversation that you would have with the buyer of a store to try to sell it in and offer something that's different. That's a great tip. Something that you said before too about the packaging. I mean, I feel like that's such a big part of it too because obviously the product needs to be great,

but I was at the grocery store with a friend on Saturday. And he was watching me and watching what I reached for and everything that I grabbed. He goes, packaging. It's the packaging. Like those chips are no different than these chips, but it's the packaging on them that's going to get your attention if you are not already using that product itself, you know, when you're discovering something new. 100%. You can innovate with product, but you can innovate with packaging.

And that's so key. And I think that was a big thing for us in the beginning, and continues to be, but particularly in the beginning, if I think back to my first trade show that I ever went to, we were selling muffins. We weren't even selling granola. And the amount of people that came up saying, oh my God, I love your brand and I love the packaging because it was innovative. And now, again, with it being saturated, everything is about aesthetic for Instagram. And so packaging is even more competitive today than it was back then.

It was like people were throwing things in a paper bag and calling it a day. So how did you go from muffin mix and having these $10,000, orders to then getting into like whole foods and you know you you transition from just muffin mix to granola so what was that like how long did that take and what were some of like the key steps it was about a year and a half of having the muffin mixes and really that first year was just selling online and trying to focus on keeping up with production which i was living in new new york city and using commercial kitchen in Philadelphia, so driving back and forth to make product, which was absolutely crazy. And then granola came about because I was actually never a granola eater.

I was sitting on my couch in the winter in New York. It didn't want to go to brunch. I wanted some other activity to do. Had just gotten a sample of Kniewa, which is K-N-I-W-A, which is K-N-I-W-A. How do you spell that? K-A-N-I-W-A. And I thought it was going to be the next big. ingredient it never did take off but I got a sample of puffed kinewa and I couldn't exactly use it in a muffin mix and so I was like thinking about how could I utilize this and decide to make granola which I had never baked a batch of granola before this day and my mom happened to be in town she was a big granola eater and she tasted this batch of granola that I whipped up and thought it was the best

taste in granola she'd ever had and like a good daughter I listened to to what she was saying. And she's like, this needs to be your next product. And so I really took that recipe and went to my co-packer. At that point, I finally had a co-packer and they also could bake. And so ended up making the granola. And that's our original, which is our number one skew. And I never changed the recipe from that first time that I made it, which is crazy. And I never write down recipes. So it's also crazy because I actually wrote down, which I'm sure that there was the intention behind it that day. And I, again, being in alignment, like, knew that this was going to be a thing. How do you not get in your own way? Or it sounds like it almost happens just naturally. But I would

imagine that when you're so close to something, you would start to have these plans and visions and things like that that may not be the best thing for the growth of the brand. I'm not used. specifically, but like anybody, I just know that for myself, even on other projects, I'm so close to it. Sometimes it's hard to see the forest, you know, in the trees. It's hard to zoom out, essentially. So do you feel like you've just always had this intuition when it comes to your brand? Do you have good people around you who are helping guide you? Or have there been times where you have gotten a little too close and you do start to kind of get in your own way? I think in the beginning, I certainly was guided a lot by my intuition. And I think a lot of that honestly had to do

with also doing the nutrition program and just being in this great state of feeling confident and going after fears and just being like in the flow. And so much at the beginning was guided that way. And so many moments of the business of being the right place, it happened to be like at the right time. And as that has evolved, certainly having now people on my team to help with the guiding and being able to zoom in and zoom out appropriately. That being said, there's certainly been times where, as I think about, like, innovation that we've launched that I've just been so close in. For example, we had a cauliflower oatmeal that we came out with, which in retrospect tasted like disgusting. cauliflower was huge.

But it was night of cauliflower. And I just thought like this would be a really cool product. And it was an answer to people who didn't want grains for oatmeal. But that was certainly being way too close in and not being able to take a step back. And being a smaller nimble team where we didn't have a process of testing products. And it was really a different phase. I came up with a recipe. We sent it off to Whole Foods.

like a week later, they accepted it, and that was kind of the process. Wow. Yeah, so what is the process like at that time? At what point did you go from, you know, partnering, right? You said you partnered with kitchen essentially to like mass distribution. Probably when we came out with granola, which was 2011, is where we started working with an outsource sales team and distributor to start getting into a couple of Whole Foods regions. And it got to the point where we were in five Whole Foods regions. There's 11 throughout the country. And at that point, and this was about a year in, and at that point, Whole Foods had reached out and said, we're putting you in to Whole Foods nationally because we're losing sales by not having you in the other regions.

And that was really the pivotal point of the business. And the second time that I cried on the subway, reading that email. And again, was like, this is going to now change the trajectory of the business. Yeah, I wanted to ask you about any of those moments that you remember along the way that have just been kind of monumental in your life because, you know, I'm sure starting out, you never could have imagined this. No, never. I mean, I think really starting out, I thought, you know, at the time it was like the raw food movement was the most trendy health and wellness movement. And I thought we'd be probably with the raw foods

at the bottom of like the health food store shelf and not ever be a nationally known brand that was in Target and Walmart and have the acceptance from so many consumers where I think that's the amazing thing is to really see the shift in health and wellness that we have seen in our country where it was, you know, 50,000.

years ago, there was only such a small amount of people who were interested in chia seeds. It's true. How have you survived? I feel like the last few years, there's been a little bit of a PR attack on like oats and granola and sugar and all of that. So how have you weathered that? Yeah, great question. I think first, you know, we can only listen to so much.

But oats, you know, it is, there's certainly validity in some of the, the oat conversation. We use organic oats, which do not have, and I always forget how you say, chlormaquot is the newest one, if you've heard of that. Okay, so that's a new one. New fear. Chlormaquot. Anyway, so organic oats inherently do not have those pesticides in them. And so I think that's the big thing for consumers. When you hear these headlines to listen to the story of, it's not just a headline of oats are terrible, but it's, and it's also, it's not just So if you think about any conventional farmed ingredient that has pesticides, and so thinking about it like that. What are some of your wellness philosophies now, are like your pillars of wellness now that you're at this stage in your life?

Are you still doing running, triathlons, marathons? Are you still doing yoga? How has it changed? Because I would imagine you're extremely busy now with your company. So what does wellness look like to you today? Yeah, great question. It's very different. I'm not doing any of those things.

So I lived in New York for 12 years and then moved to Boulder about 10 years ago. And Boulder is the mecca of triathlons. And I moved with my bike box and my triathlon bike. And I never once took it out of the box. So as the business began to really scale and my life got even crazier than it was, the idea of all the time on a triathlon and a marathon just was too much training. So really today, I'm focused on doing a lot of strength training. And Peloton is my favorite. From a eating perspective, I'm very into protein as I know you are.

Yes. And that's definitely been like life changing this year. Yeah. Are you laughing because my inventor of protein? Some people's comments. Oh, I did see your inventor of protein. That was so funny. Some people did not get that I was joking.

I thought it was really funny. That's the internet. Thank you. Somebody was like, wow, the cocaine really did a number on your brain. I was like, yes. Oh, my God. Okay, so yeah, protein. So all about protein and really incorporating that into my diet as much as I can.

I had just gone through a lot of gut health issues. I had SIBO, and so I was completely cutting out gluten and dairy. So the protein thing was hard trying to incorporate. I was eating like so much cottage cheese. I think I overdid the cottage cheese thing. And that was before the SIBO? That was before. And I was like, did this cause my SIBO?

That's not the headline. And then really so much I think has changed in the beginning of where I was, you know, working 90% of my day and not necessarily waking up and working out and really focused on just working as much as I can because I think I thought that that was the mentality of I'm an entrepreneur, I'm a founder, this is what I should be doing to having so much more balance in my life today. And so for me, like, I can't show up and be the leader that I want to be if I'm not taking care of myself. And so, and I'm an introvert. So I also know that I need like the most amount of downtime possible to nourish myself. Same. So my day, I actually get up at like 5.30. I like to

have a lot of time in the morning before getting to the office on the days that we're in the office or just getting on calls starting at 9. And so I have a really slow morning. I play with my dogs. I take a long workout, have a slow breakfast, sometimes go on the sonnet in the morning, sometimes read like I just really relish that time and that is my time to feel centered and really just set me up for the rest of the day. Yeah, I could relate to a lot of that because I'm the same. Like I recharge by being alone and I feel like this phase of my life like it's just been so crazy in so many good ways and I have not been alone like at all. I feel like I'm burning the candle at both ends because I kind of am but I also don't have that recharge time and in the morning I'm recharged time and in the morning I'm

for my phone at six in the morning because I have to catch up on things before the workday starts. So you just inspired me to have more downtime, at least in the morning, like, at least in the morning. I mean, I'm sure you have felt like this because I'm sure you're way busier than I am, but you feel like there aren't enough hours in the day, but there really are. And you have more by creating that space. And it feels counterproductive and kind of counterintuitive, like when you feel like you don't have enough time to create time for nothing, you know, but then that to your point makes you able to show up for your business, show up for your friends, family, whatever your responsibilities are in your life. Yeah, absolutely. And obviously, it's a luxury to be able to take all of that time in the morning. Like I realize most people

can't take like four hours in the morning before work. I don't have kids. So I realize that that's not typical. But I think for anybody being able just to identify like, okay, I can take an extra half an hour to do whatever it is that you need to feel grounded and centered. And for me, in the mornings, it's my time because I'm not getting a phone call. I'm not getting emails coming in. And so it's like the least distracting time and whatever that is for you. And for some people, that could be nighttime. I like to go to sleep at nine. So that's definitely not me. I want to go back a little bit because you mentioned. And SIBO, what did you do to heal your gut? I'm curious because I feel like SIBO is so common now and just gut issues in general.

For sure. I think that probably so many of us have SIBO and we don't even know. I was definitely surprised. I was having some just being uncomfortable and then ended up doing a bunch of testing, including stool testing and all of that. And we kicked it off with taking an antibiotic, which sounds counterintuitive, but it's a good antibiotic that really kicks. started all of it and then was completely gluten-free, dairy-free, no alcohol, and took a series of other supplements for about three months. After three months, it actually came back, which I learned is like very easy for Zeebo to come back. And I had to do that antibiotic round again, along with some additional herbs that I don't remember what the herbs were. But I was taking probably like 16 supplements in the day. Wow. Which was a lot.

But six months later from the start of this, I am now feeling like I have no signs. And for me, one of the big things was just feeling bloated. And it was one of those things where I think so many of us live with that uncomfortable bloat that you think is normal. is normal. And then after I started this protocol, I was like, wow, I didn't, and I say this to people. And then I was finally feeling it for myself. And I was like, wow, I feel so much better. And I had no idea that I was living that way. So I think it's a great thing for people just to take a moment to really realize and be more in tune with how they're feeling. Was it affecting your life in any other areas? Because I know for myself, when I had really bad gut issues, it was affecting like

my anxiety, my skin, my sleep, like a lot of different things. I definitely think my sleep. I think my hair growth was interesting one that I noticed. Those are probably the two biggest ones. Oh, there may be anxiety as you're saying this. I mean, there's a lot of other things that were happening at the same time. Yeah, it's hard to isolate. But I don't feel as anxious. What are some trends if you have heard of any or seen any coming down the pipeline in the food world. Well, we just got back from Expo West. That's why I was asking. And unfortunately, I didn't get to walk around too much. But I think it was probably a lot of the same trends. So still a lot of gut. I mean, to me, gut health isn't going anywhere. It's our foundation. And people are just seeing

more ways in which that can be incorporated into products. And then a lot on mood and brain health, which I love that idea. Anything coming down the pipeline for purely Elizabeth? Any new products that we can know about? Well, we're starting to work on stuff for 2026, which is wild. So as I said, before we were working on a product and I would send it to Whole Foods a week later and like that would be that. And now we're working on a really long timeline. Why is that?

So this is a little bit more of a complicated product. This wouldn't normally be our time. timeline, but having some rigor behind testing it with consumers and making sure that like the functionality of the product can work, which, you know, is hard because on the one hand, you want to be quick and scrappy and bring something to market as we talk about trends. By 2026, something could totally be different. But at the same time, as we're bigger, those jumps and those risks become so much bigger. And so it's a fine balance that I'm personally having a hard time wrapping my head around and balancing those too.

Is there anything else that you're struggling with currently? There's so many things to be struggling with. You know, I think as we're growing, it's just growing pains of the company. I think it's probably a lot around like process and how we've gone from. from being a team of five to being now a team of 50. And what those complexities, like you can't just hop on a call with one person and solve the problem.

And so not that it's a struggle, but it's just a growing pain. And I think it's a growing pain for a lot of people to work through. Yeah. How do you get the infrastructure to support that? I mean, was it just kind of a gradual thing? And did you learn along the way?

because obviously going into this, like you didn't have a background in any of them. Yeah. So how do you then know how to, you know, manage this team of 50 people? Or do you not so much manage and you are in your role and then somebody else or the infrastructure is there to kind of keep things going?

I think for one, we didn't grow overnight. So it'll be 15 years in September. And so you look at a lot of companies that they might go from literally five to 50 in like a year or two. And that, to me, would be insane. And so the great thing is that it has been a gradual increase of that infrastructure. And over the years, just bringing on incredible people on our team, many of which have been here for a number of years that have really helped to set up that infrastructure.

So, yes, I didn't know. anything about leading. I didn't know anything about managing. And that's been probably my biggest struggle and area of growth for me personally is not knowing how to do it and trying to, you know, figure it out as you go and just really, I think relying on my leadership team who are all really experienced and have been in their roles before to help the rest of the company and help me. Well, I think it's amazing. So inspiring. What are you most excited about right now? I'm most excited about the fact that it is our 15 years in the fall and just trying to really enjoy it. I've had my head down for the last 15 years and been so laser focused on every detail.

and it's hard to step back and really enjoy and appreciate where we've gone. And so really just wanting to be excited and like enjoy every moment of it and know that we're at a really exciting phase. And this is just the start of an even more exciting part of the business. Amazing. Well, I'm sure everybody knows where to buy it. but we'll also link it in show notes. And you also have an amazing podcast and tell everybody where they can listen to that, follow you, find everything, all the things. You can find us at Purely underscore Elizabeth.

The podcast is Live Purely with Elizabeth. And you can find us at grocery stores nationwide. Amazing. Thank you. Thanks so much. I hope you enjoyed that episode. And if you liked it, and if you liked the show and Jail, 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. You can go to Arialore.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 direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.