Pretty Well Podcast: Searching for the Perfect Protein Shake?

Have you found yourself in the grocery aisle, overwhelmed by all of the so-called "healthy" foods that leave you questioning what's truly nutritious?

Ever wonder how to find a product that is not only clean, rich in super foods, but also delicious and giving you the perfect balance of protein without junky carbs or additives?

In this episode of the Pretty Well Podcast, we're tackling this dilemma head-on with our very own Cindy Kasindorf, the mastermind of Remedy Organics, as the special guest to discuss this important topic.

Cindy has a profound belief that food is medicine, a philosophy deeply embedded in the brand's DNA

She crafts powerful blends that offer a range of benefits, from elevating energy levels to boosting immunity and brain health, to enhancing strength and stamina.

Together, we'll explore how to decipher true wellness from misleading marketing claims in the food industry, and how Remedy Organics is redefining the standards for those seeking wholesome options in a world where healthy choices can be deceiving.

Don't miss this engaging conversation as we unravel the power of clean nutrition. You are going to want to try these absolutely delicious, protein packed, vitamin rich, super convenient shakes.

00;00;00;00 - 00;02;39;10

Lisa Smith

Hey there. Welcome to the Pretty Well podcast. Do you want to know how to eliminate exhaustion, brain fog and bloating? Do you find yourself up late at night Googling? Why am I so tired? Are you over being told that nothing's wrong with you and your symptoms are just a sign of aging? Hey, I'm Lisa Smith. Functional medicine dietitian with a thriving holistic health practice. And I've been there, overwhelmed in pain and defeated. When my doctors insisted that nothing was wrong with my health. I knew something wasn't right and desperately wanted to find root cause solutions to feel like myself again. But it seemed impossible. So I took matters into my own hands and researched holistic health solutions to my exhaustion, inflammation and got problems. And now I want to share these life changing solutions with you. In this podcast, you will find that radical health transformation comes from small steps in learning the right foods and nutrition for you. Healing your gut and dialing in your mindset so that you will be feeling better than ever. Hey guys, welcome back to the Pretty Well podcast. I'm Lisa Smith. And today I am beyond excited to share our guest with you. Our guest is Cindy Kasindorf. Cindy is the founder of Remedy Organics. If you haven't heard of them yet, you will. But I'm guessing that you've already used seen or tried these products yourself because they are amazing. So a little background about Cindy. Cindy was born with a passion for health and wellness.

She grew up creating wellness shakes for her friends and family. And those folks loved them so much that they really encouraged her to start making those available to as many people as possible. So with that encouragement, Cindy started Remedy Organics, and she started in 2017, and her whole mission was to make functional plant based nutrition accessible for everyone. And she wanted to make a top notch product or products. So today, Cindy leads the product development of Remedy Organics, and she continues to infuse that with the belief that food is medicine. And that goes right into this brand's DNA. She creates powerful blends that give us all a variety of benefits that include better energy, strength, stamina, endurance and mental clarity. Welcome, Cindy. Thank you so much for being here today. I can't wait to talk about this story because I recommended your products to my clients. So I'm excited to talk with you.

00;02;39;12 - 00;02;41;08

Cindy

Thank you so much for having me today.

00;02;41;11 - 00;02;55;28

Lisa Smith

Absolutely. So, Cindy, I am really looking forward to finding out. Tell us your back story. I know you grew up making wellness shakes, but how did you actually make the leap to start Remedy Organics?

00;02;56;00 - 00;05;47;27

Cindy

Yeah. So this started very organically right out of my home kitchen. It didn't start with a business plan. It didn't start in a lab. It started out of my passion for health and wellness. As I mentioned, I had a nutritional counseling practice where I had transformed the lives of many working with them in my practice, and I wanted to bring that and do something bigger and broader with that. With my belief of using food as medicine. And I personally turned to natural remedies for healing and prevention. I wanted to bring something to them that I felt really good about, and it was very hard to find products in the market that I felt were wholesome, nutritious and delicious. Everything was full of sugar or preservatives and there was nothing that I really felt good about. So I decided to create my own for myself, my family, and for them using what I had used daily, looking into what I call, so my medicine cabinet looks very different from the average medicine cabinet because my go-to is natural remedies. So you'll find things like oil of oregano, olive leaf, elderberry, ashwagandha, all of these amazing natural remedies adaptogens supplements, tinctures in my medicine cabinet and in my refrigerator. That's my go-to. But really also a big part of my story is growing up, my father had diabetes. So from very early on, I was able to make the connection between food and how it affects our body. Fast forward a few years later. My daughter was born and she was very colicky, so she would have these nightly crying fits and I didn't know what to do. My doctors said this will pass, just wait it out. And I couldn't take that as as the new mom holding a crying baby nightly. It was very difficult and something inside me. I just I felt like I have to try something and I decided to, I was nursing her, so I decided to look at what I was eating. And I did an elimination diet and and tried different things and realized that at one point I eliminated dairy out of my diet and realized that, that was the culprit. All of a sudden, she was a happy, calm baby. It was immediate. And that was a big moment for me where I realized dairy could have a really bad adverse effect on people. So that was part of it as well. All of this, it was a journey. But again, didn't have a business plan, didn't just just did what I loved. I really did what I loved in my home kitchen.

00;05;47;29 - 00;07;35;13

Lisa Smith

Well, there's so much juice from what you just said that we could talk about for the next half hour. So first of all, I couldn't agree more as a practitioner to find a product that is clean, that is delicious, that provides the right amount of proteins, not too many carbs, no junky stuff. It is a unicorn. And I shared with you earlier that I have I have recommended your products to people because I'm a functional medicine nutrition practitioner, so I am always looking for products that give someone that right amount of everything without the stuff I don't want. So I have recommended your products to people. I, I shared with you earlier one story of when I've recommended Remedy Organics. I had a client who was going on a hiking trip out west in the spring and she said, I need something portable, delicious. Has the right amount of protein is going to keep my blood sugar stable. What can I do? And I said, Here's what you're going to want to use these Remedy Organics. And they come in these flavors and our health food store carries them, and these other stores carry them. And she used them and said they were a lifesaver. So I love it. Yes, I love that you took your knowledge and your passion and you now are impacting people on a larger scale because you it's hard work to start a company. It's a lot of hard work, blood, sweat and tears. And you did that because of your passion to help people. And I love that about you, so I can't wait to hear more about it. But also I'm picturing your medicine cabinet and it probably looks like mine. Mine looks like a pharmacy, but, it's all supplements. And I whenever people come over to visit, I'm always like, hiding the vitamin bottles in the supplement bottles because they overflow into my kitchen.

00;07;35;15 - 00;07;39;13

Cindy

You and I, we know we're part of this food revolution.

00;07;39;18 - 00;07;40;18

Lisa Smith

We are.

00;07;40;20 - 00;08;30;22

Cindy

We have changed the market helping people. People are now demanding better, cleaner, better for you foods in the market and it was very different 15, even 10 years ago. 10, 15 years ago. Yeah, things were very deceiving. And boxes of cereal appear to be as healthy as eating fruit itself. I remember that was the point where I said something is really wrong here. This cereal box that’s full of food coloring, dye number 40 and all these preservatives and so much sugar in it. How can this be healthy? We've evolved. We've come a long way and this is the work we do. So this is, again, part of this story to bring better for you food to the market.

00;08;30;24 - 00;09;29;06

Lisa Smith

Yes. And I love that you said we're changing the market through sharing knowledge and information and wisdom. We're helping people to demand things that are going to be good for them. There's still grain marketing and it's very frustrating when you look at something and you're like, this is pure junk and it's being marketed as a health food and it's our mission to get the word out and then get people alternate lives so that they can live their healthiest lives instead of being duped into what the food industry wants to do to make themselves more profitable. For sure, yeah. So it was a huge undertaking to take us on the journey, started making these shakes and then people were giving you this positive feedback, Cindy, of Hey, you should make this for more people. How did you go from that to the company you are today? Which is just let me take a little side. How many states are you and how many stores are you and what's your reach right now?

00;09;29;09 - 00;10;00;04

Cindy

Yeah, so we're in pretty much every state. So from my kitchen to now, really nationwide, anywhere from, we started in natural food stores. Health stores got us into Whole Foods and then from Whole Foods from the natural channel, my mission was to bring functional nutrition not only to the natural channel, but make it accessible to everyone, everywhere. So you can now also find us in Walmart.

00;10;00;04 - 00;10;00;17

Lisa Smith

Yes.

00;10;00;21 - 00;10;14;10

Cindy

7-Eleven. And people find our products such a premium product on the shelves of Walmart or 7-Eleven, and it's such a delightful surprise to them and they tag us and they're really wowed by that.

00;10;14;12 - 00;10;27;07

Lisa Smith

It's amazing. So how did you do this? That is something people dream about and it does not happen even though they dream about and work really hard at it. So you've done some things differently.

00;10;27;09 - 00;14;04;04

Cindy

Yeah. So how did I do it? It was, as you said, let's put blood, sweat and tears. But it was very hard. It was very challenging. Yeah, very early on, I just I didn't come from the industry, the food and beverage industry. I came from the wellness world, but I didn't know initially where to begin, but had to just throw myself into everything. So I had to, at any event, any trade event, any trade show that was available that I was able to attend, I went, I networked, I met people, spoke to people, just surrounded myself with people to get that knowledge that I didn't have. But from the very beginning, I was I shlepped my products brought it to stores locally, brought it to mom-and-pop stores. Then I brought it to a chain. The people knew me. It was where I shopped. So they actually they happened to have a grand reopening at this one chain store called King’s Supermarket. And they also had Balducci’s. And I brought it in. The buyer happened to be there the next day. So I knew he was going to be there, brought in my products. They had a grand reopening and right there in the aisle, again, not typical. You know, it wasn't like a set up meeting in an office. I just loved my products in a cooler, brought it over it, poured my heart out, shared and did a sampling right there in the aisle with this category buyer. And he loved the story. He loved the passion, he loved the product. He tasted it. It was amazing. And he was ready to roll me out in 26 stores. and at the time, that was how amazing. Wow. But I had to make the decision because it's you can't just from your home kitchen to a shared kitchen can't just roll out in 26 stores. I had to decide I needed more equipment. I needed to do a lot more, and I had to take that leap, that opportunity, which I did. But as far as how did I do it all, another thing that was really helpful, we were selected. I applied to everything I could, all the incubators, and we had to make videos and tell our story. And there was a very prestigious incubator, the Chobani incubator, and we were selected to be part of that. And it was amazing the learnings we got just from that was incredible. They taught us about all the cross functional parts of this operations and food safety and sales, and we spent a lot of time there with them. So that was amazing for us. Then we did a lot of trade shows up until the pandemic. We were doing a lot of trade shows. Another part of this is getting comfortable with being uncomfortable putting yourself out there. I went from nutritional health counselor to all of a sudden now having this company and I had to do things that I hadn't done before. So even like this being on podcasts, I had to get on live TV, but I was spreading and sharing my passion of health and wellness. I was a go-to wellness expert. I had a bunch of segments I had done on live TV, which was a little nerve-wracking at the time very got early on. Yeah, but I really immersed myself in everything that I could at meeting, networking, connecting with people was really what got me started.

00;14;04;06 - 00;14;27;05

Lisa Smith

Well, talk about hustle. You had to hustle. That's a lot. And you're right. I mean, anything that we do that we want to do something bigger. There's that discomfort that we have to just push right through and keep going and not really even give it a lot of thought, like, okay, this is uncomfortable, but it's the way through. So I am so excited.

00;14;27;12 - 00;14;31;09

Cindy

I learned to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

00;14;31;15 - 00;14;58;22

Lisa Smith

That's that's a good way. Yeah. Great way of putting it. You just get you just accept that part of it. I am so impressed. This is amazing what you've done. What are some of the, what were some of the unexpected challenges. Like I hear the whole thing is just outside of your comfort zone, but were there any obstacles you thought, Wow, I didn't see this coming, or what do I do about this one or anything like that?

00;14;58;22 - 00;16;15;19

Cindy

Many and another thing to mention was this is a very capital-intensive industry. It's a perishable product, high velocities. We had to go out and raise money and that is very hard to do. First, it started with friends and family and then we went bigger because well before friends and family, it was self funded and then friends and family. And then we had as we grew you need more capital to help support the business. And so I was out there. It's challenging because it's part of it takes you out from the day-to-day work that you have to do and there's it's endless. So that was certainly challenging. But people believed in us and supported us. And after it was not easy at all. It probably took a good year of going out, meeting, pitching, talking to people, trying to raise funds. And there were moments where I never thought I was, you know, you're like, is this ever going to happen? And there were times where I was like, What did I get myself into? Really tough. And then luckily people really believed in us and they did and we did raise funds.

00;16;15;22 - 00;17;05;10

Lisa Smith

Yeah, that's a part I didn't even think about was that you needed to raise capital. I didn't even I thought about all the other hard things, maybe not all of them. I thought about some of the other hard things that you would have to go through to get to where you've gotten. But that is really a different animal to go out and ask for money, to ask for people to invest. That's even more uncomfortable. What an amazing journey you've made. Let's talk more about the. The actual product. So when you started making your shakes. Did you figure out how to come up with the right combo of ingredients to give the right amount of macronutrients and to make sure it was still healthy? Because so many people, companies in the food industry take shortcuts to make up for the flavor or the mouthfeel. How did you come up with that?

00;17;05;13 - 00;17;10;20

Cindy

Yeah, so for me, initially it was very natural and intuitive.

00;17;10;26 - 00;17;12;03

Lisa Smith

Nice.

00;17;12;05 - 00;19;03;12

Cindy

However, it is a science, but it is also an art, so I'm very creative and I that's, that's the way I looked at it. How do you putting the science behind it, along with the creative side and art creating and looking at the macronutrients, the micro, how do you take an ingredient like algae or spirulina and make that taste good? Yeah, it's not easy because on its own it's it's marine like it's fishy. So that's the art of it of taking that so first of all, I was doing it for myself, for people that I was working with for family, but still taking it from the home kitchen. And then how do you scale it up? Yeah, as far as the nutrients, having my background, the nutrition that was of course helped having the right macro micro.

I wanted there to be antioxidants and nutrients and for superfoods I wanted it to be protein-packed. I wanted a nice balance of everything. I wanted it to be satisfying, fulfilling, delicious, and functional. So as far as ingredients, these are ingredients that I lived with that I had used personally. As far as another amazing thing is color. If you look at our display, we color food with food. We use ingredients to color. We are a big part of what I told people in my practice is eat the right, the rainbow, drink the rainbow. So I looked at, okay, it started with one flavor and then another. So if you look, we have the brown, we have all these phytonutrients from berries, from our matcha, from our blue spirulina, from our golden mind, which has turmeric. So it has this beautiful area of color.

00;19;03;18 - 00;19;04;11

Lisa Smith

Yeah.

00;19;04;14 - 00;19;29;12

Cindy

And that people told us what we had done was really hard to do because we needed it to. I also purposely used a transparent bottle so you could see what's inside. You could see all that goodness. So we had to look good. Taste could be functional, but we set the bar very high. Yes. Throughout all of this, I also discovered that I'm a super taster.

00;19;29;16 - 00;19;39;12

Lisa Smith

Oh, are you okay? So that makes you an even better designer, artist because you're more picky than those of us who are not super tasters.

00;19;39;15 - 00;20;02;24

Cindy

Yes. So I set the bar very high, and I just kept formulating. I did what I love and I do a lot of bench work. And then from bench work we take it to a pilot plans and make sure it's I can mimic what I've done on the bench. It's a lot of work. It takes it takes a lot of time, a lot of formulations, a lot of reformulations.

00;20;02;24 - 00;20;06;21

Cindy

And I am a perfectionist, so.

00;20;06;24 - 00;20;08;16

Lisa Smith

I can hear that. Yeah. Yeah.

00;20;08;22 - 00;20;19;01

Cindy

And, and one of the best pieces of advice that someone tells me, told me in the past is that perfection could be the enemy of progress.

00;20;19;01 - 00;20;20;00

Lisa Smith

Yeah.

00;20;20;02 - 00;20;49;06

Cindy

However, with this you need to have that perfection. You know, it has to do with food safety, food quality. But I think where we are today is a testament to all of that. To why to getting into stores like Whole Foods, Walmart, 7-Eleven. But even beyond that, the things that I hear from our consumers, we get emails, handwritten letters, tags and social regularly.

00;20;49;06 - 00;21;10;28

Cindy

It's a regular thing where it's one of the most amazing things to me and one of the nicest surprises that has come out of it, because in my practice I was getting that one on one. It was very rewarding. I was hearing things directly. People would come from back from their doctors having a blood panel, but now all of a sudden I'm able to do that in a broader way.

00;21;10;28 - 00;21;32;15

Cindy

And I really I hoped for that. I didn't know if I'd actually see that, but I do. I get lots of testimonials. People I get in. I have gotten an email where Thank you for changing My life was the subject of the email. Wow. I have cancer patients that are thankful that have told me that this has helped them.

00;21;32;15 - 00;21;59;17

Cindy

It has been the only thing they can drink. People who are undergoing different types of surgeries, different things. But. But even on a day-to-day usage occasion, people, if it's their go-to breakfast, is their go-to grab-and-go meal replacement or meal supplement, it's nourishing, it's delicious. And yeah, sometimes it's really amazing what we have accomplished and people have told us this this is can't be done.

00;21;59;19 - 00;22;05;11

Lisa Smith

Yeah. And you did it. You did Did you hear that many times. This can't be done.

00;22;05;14 - 00;22;16;19

Cindy

Yeah. Yeah. There was a lot, especially in the beginning, when you haven't proven yourself. Yeah. And it's just your idea hitting on all of this and it's something you don't have. The proof points early on.

00;22;16;20 - 00;22;17;19

Lisa Smith

No.

00;22;17;21 - 00;22;47;17

Cindy

But my proof point where my customers, if it doesn't sell, if it, then how does the retailer take you in? But our we go get on the shelf and we sell through we sell through. Our velocities are strong, our sales. And that's how we actually didn't do a lot of marketing until recently. It was it grew organically with the products with our consumers really organically.

00;22;47;20 - 00;23;05;14

Cindy

We just recently did are doing more with marketing. But as far as how it grew, it's a true testament to what we have done because the customers are the ones that are speaking and telling us and it helps us get into more retail shelf space with that.

00;23;05;19 - 00;23;29;03

Lisa Smith

Yeah, yeah. No, it's your products are fantastic. Tell us. That's I over and over we have a theme like just how much effort and work you've put into this, how it's been your life passion, how Cindy how have you balance that with you have four kids with it being a mom of four kids that talk about adding a layer to the challenges, right?

00;23;29;05 - 00;23;58;24

Cindy

Yeah. So honestly, when I look back, I ask myself, how did I do it? Because it was not easy. My little one was two years old when I started this, even before Remedy Organics, I had another company with cold-pressed juice. And so it actually, Remedy, started in 2017, but my little one was two and my oldest one was 11 at the time, and I had two others in in between.

00;23;58;26 - 00;24;27;29

Cindy

So how did I get through it? I didn't have family nearby, but I had an amazing community and the expression, it takes a village. We helped each other, my friends, the community, a lot of carpooling, a lot of help and support from friends, also really immersing them into the business. So sometimes I had no choice. I would have to take meetings and calls from the car while I'm taking them to soccer or basketball and telling them to quiet down in the back.

00;24;28;01 - 00;25;06;10

Cindy

Yeah, but on the other hand, on the flip side, it's amazing because they had grown up with this. I had immersed them into anywhere from packing boxes, coming to trade shows and helping us. So they grew up seeing what it takes to get to where we are today. Yeah. So as far as how did I do it with four kids, it was definitely crazy times. Yeah crazy times. They are older now. My, then two year old is now 12 and my older ones are in college and they're very proud.

00;25;06;13 - 00;25;39;09

Lisa Smith

And I'm sure they are. And it'll be interesting to see because more is caught than taught. So it will be interesting to see your kids journeys. Are they going to be entrepreneurs or are they going to come back and take the business with you and continue to scale it? I do think that our kids, as they watch us struggle to build something, but keeping them front and center the whole time, I think that they, when they're little, they don't realize it. But when they hit their twenties, they begin to look back and say, Wow, that was amazing.

00;25;39;11 - 00;25;52;18

Cindy

I do think it shapes them. Absolutely and my youngest one is very entrepreneurial-minded and he tries to make and save money and he loves watching Shark Tank with me.

00;25;52;18 - 00;25;55;10

Lisa Smith

I was thinking of you in Shark Tank. I'm like, hmm.

00;25;55;10 - 00;26;33;27

Cindy

Yeah. So actually, Daymond John had tagged us the other day, which was super exciting. His assistant had discovered us. And that's another, another amazing surprise where we're in people's homes in their fridge. My product. And his assistant discovered us. She had tagged us and made tiktoks and loves our products and then had given it to him and then to try and then he went out and bought some and his family. That's what he says on his testimonial, on his social tag. 

00;26;33;28 - 00;27;02;21

Lisa Smith

Girl, That's amazing. It's just you have put forth all this hard work and to see it blossom like this is fantastic. Okay, let's talk a little bit more about your thoughts about ingredients and their impact on our body. You have a belief of beauty from within which I love. Talk to me about how that's impacted your brand, what that belief is, and then how that impacts what you do with Remedy Organics.

00;27;02;24 - 00;27;23;24

Cindy

Yeah. So Beauty from Within is really about nourishing from the inside out, nourishing your gut. You are what you eat from the inside out is the way I see it, that you could do all these, have all these beauty products and that you really have to nourish from the inside, not only to look your best, but to feel your best.

00;27;23;27 - 00;28;10;19

Cindy

There's a connection. If you don't feel your best, you're not going to look your best, but beauty from within. I actually just launched our Super Ube Glow, which was launched at Sprouts Supermarket and yeah, exclusively with them for in the beginning we launched with them. And so this Super Ube Glow is a beautiful purple hue that we use and it has a Ube beauty blend that's high in vitamin C that helps your body support collagen production and synthesis. So it has a nice amount of protein, It has the anthocyanins from Ube and it has other functional ingredients like MCT oil, and we're getting great reception on it. So far.

00;28;10;19 - 00;28;12;26

Lisa Smith

Awesome. Share with our listeners what is Ube.

00;28;13;03 - 00;28;34;23

Cindy

So Ube is typically comes from the Philippines. It's a purple yam that has originated mostly from the Philippines, but other regions of Asia. And it is antioxidant rich and it has the anthocyanins has the phytonutrients from the, the purple color.

00;28;34;23 - 00;28;55;03

Lisa Smith

Always sounds beautiful and delicious. So anyone who shops at Sprouts or is in the vicinity of a Sprouts can get this super exclusive Remedy Organics blend. That sounds amazing. Will it eventually, I know there's exclusivity with sprouts, Will that eventually go to other locations as well?

00;28;55;03 - 00;28;58;21

Cindy

Yeah, the exclusivity. It was a first to market exclusively with them.

00;28;58;21 - 00;29;31;15

Lisa Smith

Nice. I'll be looking for that for sure. Yeah. So let's talk about the ingredients you use, because that's a perfect segue way into other ingredients that you feel strongly for. You mentioned some of them earlier. You mentioned that there's enough protein and no junky stuff, but talk about some of your specific ingredients. You've mentioned spirulina, some adaptogens. What are some of your products and how they've been designed for different …So Super Ube Glow is for beauty from within, but you have different products with different functional ingredients.

00;29;31;17 - 00;29;44;05

Cindy

Yeah. So first of all, our products are not just about protein, as you mentioned. It also has these functional ingredients. So I look at it as a multi-functional protein shake.

00;29;44;06 - 00;29;46;02

Lisa Smith

Yeah, I love that.

00;29;46;04 -  00;30;35;01

Cindy

Yeah. And so we have our matcha, which helps with energy. Our golden mind, which is our yellow shake, which has omega threes and it helps with cognitive function. And we have our berry immunity which has immune supporting ingredients. And so I look at it as trying to hit our different functions of the body. All work in harmony together, so we need it all. But I'm touching on cognitive health, immune support, digestive health. They all have prebiotics for gut health as well. And then we also have our. Little wellness shots, our two ounce wellness shots, which I developed beginning of the pandemic because I was getting tired of taking a handful of supplement foods.

00;30;35;02 - 00;30;36;04

Lisa Smith

Yeah.

00;30;36;07 - 00;31;04;23

Cindy

Throughout the day. And so I developed the shots. There are four flavors with immune supporting ingredients for which have an excellent source of vitamin D, C and zinc along with other functional ingredients. And it's one shot. People take it throughout the day to take it in the morning, in between meals people love it for different and the first signs of cold and flu or any anything sore throat, anything like that.

00;31;05;19 - 00;31;31;02

Lisa Smith

I love that. I didn't know about your wellness shots so I'll be looking for those two. That's you're right. Sometimes we have pill fatigue there, especially for fighting something and someone tends to turn to supplements like you and I do. You can get pill fatigue. So I love that those wellness shots, they sound like they are delicious and they also get the job done. Tell us what has been one of the biggest surprises in your business journey?

00;31;31;04 -  00;32;23;15

Cindy

So one of the biggest surprises, I would say, are our consumers and the love that they show us. As I mentioned in my practice, one on one, I would it was easy firsthand to get that feedback, but it amazes me that someone will take their time and write me a handwritten note multiple times to thank me for what I'm doing, and they're encouraging us to keep doing what we're doing. One of the biggest, most rewarding parts that fuels me when times are tough and when the days get rough. I think back to that I have the stack of my letters right near me. I have a document where I put all the testimonials that people email us or share with us, and we look at that. And as a company I look at that personally and it means a lot to me.

00;32;23;18 - 00;33;09;12

Lisa Smith

Oh, I love that. And it would because we all know how busy we are that if someone took time out of their day to write you a letter or send you a testimonial, I feel the same way when someone goes out of their way to give you good, encouraging feedback. Some days you just get it at just the right time too. You're like, I'm tired, I'm weary, I'm out here slug in this battle, and then you get someone who says, Thank you. That is unbelievably rewarding. That's a beautiful surprise. So you shared we talked to you about one of the best pieces of advice you got, and that is progress or perfection can stand in the way of progress. Are there any other pieces of advice you've gotten along the way that you've thought Hmm, I need to carry that one with me.

00;33;09;19 - 00;33;57;04

Cindy

Yeah. So along with that and first to that point, I am a perfectionist, but I had to let go of some things. But I also have a big part in the marketing of the company. So if it's 80% there. Let it go. It’s Okay. I had to learn that. But as far as other piece of advice is surround yourself with amazing people. Surround yourself with, I can't do it all. I can't do it all myself. So surround myself with the people that will help me get there and people who really care. My team is amazing. We just had a company offsite, so we were able to take a step away, bond, connect, spend time with each other, and head into 2024 really strong.

00;33;57;07 - 00;34;03;02

Lisa Smith

That's awesome. And I bet that was great for your whole team. You all connect together and that's where you go?

00;34;03;05 -00;34;37;15

Cindy

So we were here locally. We took space in a restaurant locally in New Jersey and we had wellness person come in to do some wellness exercises with us and we loved that addition. She came throughout the day and just trying to teach them to incorporate wellness into their day as well as who to take breaks to get up to stretch, to remind themselves to drink more water or tea so that was a big part of it as well. And then we had a dinner and then it was a three day offsite. Oh.

00;34;37;18 - 00;34;41;08

Lisa Smith

That's awesome. You're so good. You really walk the walk.

00;34;41;14 - 00;34;53;15

Cindy

Yeah, I really do. I this is this is what I'm about. This is what I love to do. This is what fuels me. And I want to just continue doing what I love.

00;34;53;15 - 00;35;06;20

Lisa Smith

I can hear your passion, and I love that you give back to your team because they're the most important assets to your company is your team. So to be able to give back to them, that helps them to continue to stay motivated and encouraged too.

00;35;06;22 -00;35;51;24

Cindy

Yeah, I really could not have done it without them and also so I didn't mention my husband four years into all of this, about four years into starting remedy or again starting the company. Henry, my husband, joined me on the journey. We didn’t plan on working together, so throw that into everything it. But we are amazing. We balance each other. So I've taken on product. innovation is what I started with, but also taken on marketing. And he does more of the operations, sales and finance and we balance each other. We didn't plan on working together and I don't recommend it for everyone to do, but it really works well for us and he's been a big part of all of this as well.

00;35;51;26 - 00;36;10;26

Lisa Smith

Oh, it's a wonderful stage of progress that he could step away from what he was doing and join you. And now, because you're working together, you are completely on the same page of doing the right things to grow your business, scale your business, continue to bring on new opportunity.

00;36;10;27 - 00;36;26;02

Cindy

He’s amazing. He's a serial entrepreneur, has amazing, very business savvy and really cares and loves it. He didn't come from the wellness world at all, or food and beverage, but I loved it because I also it was helping him get healthier.

00;36;26;02 - 00;36;32;23

Lisa Smith

That is a win-win for sure. But tell me about the exciting opportunities you have coming up this year.

00;36;32;27 - 00;37;07;18

Cindy

Yeah, so I'm really excited about a launch in March. It's a new innovation that I've been working on for quite some time now. It's what I call the Remedy Power Line. Yeah, and it'll be a little bit higher protein at 20 grams of protein plant-based, it'll have a six grams of fiber and it'll have also functional ingredients, low sugar, low carb, four grams total in the shake. And it's delicious. There are three flavors and we're super excited for that.

00;37;07;22 - 00;37;19;17

Lisa Smith

That's amazing. And how does that differentiate from your current line? Where do you see this more for people who are looking for more protein or what? How do you differentiate between the two of them?

00;37;19;20 - 00;38;09;09

Cindy

Yeah, so definitely leaning into we know our consumers want protein. That's a big reason why in addition to the functional ingredients why they buy, we consumers have requested more protein, although our best-selling flavors currently are our cacao, our matcha, our berry, and our chai, which are different levels. They each have different levels of protein anywhere between 12 to 16. This will have 20 grams of protein. There is a demand, there is from consumer requests and insights and surveys that we put out. And it'll also it will be a little more indulgent health, a healthy indulgence. So the flavor names are vanilla dream,  chocolate fudge, and cold brew latte are the three flavors.

00;38;09;09 - 00;38;15;28

Lisa Smith

Oh, they sound delicious. Ooh, I can't wait to try them. So they will start launching in March. Is that right?

00;38;16;00 - 00;38;19;13

Cindy

Yes. Thanks. Crossed in March. Yeah, that's very soon.

00;38;19;13 - 00;38;24;27

Lisa Smith

And will they be across the country? Are they going to start in specific markets?

00;38;24;29 - 00;38;53;01

Cindy

So we are hoping to have it across the country, but we're presenting it to our retailers. There's a lot of interest. And so we I feel good about it. I think it'll launch very quickly, and we'll have it at one of the trade shows coming up as well. And that's where we'll be able to showcase it and see the reception. But we have presented it to some of our retail category buyers and there's a lot of interest.

00;38;53;07 - 00;39;07;13

Lisa Smith

Wonderful. Well, I will be looking for it. That's that's really exciting. So, Cindy, tell us, how do people find out more about you? Find your products, follow you, connect with you.

00;39;07;15 - 00;39;46;01

Cindy

Yeah. So first of all, you can reach me directly at Cindy, Cindy@remedyorganics.com. I love as I mentioned, love to hear the love from all of you. So feel free to reach out directly but you can find us at Runa Organics on different social platforms. We're on Instagram @RemedyOrganics, on LinkedIn, we're on Tik Tok and Facebook. And of course, you can visit us on our website Remedy or Remedy Organics with an S scam. We're also sold on Amazon, so you can find there as well.

00;39;46;02 - 00;40;00;13

Lisa Smith

That's fantastic. Okay, so also on Amazon and then to to find you in stores, you're in Whole Foods, you're in local health food stores, Walmart, 7-Eleven and as on.

00;40;00;19 - 00;40;04;07

Cindy

Those are just a few. We have a store locator on the website.

00;40;04;08 - 00;40;05;15

Lisa Smith

Oh, good. Okay.

00;40;05;15 - 00;40;21;09

Cindy

Yeah, we're in a lot of independent stores in the Northeast and New York City. We're in all over. We're also in CVS, we're in Sprouts, Wegmans. But yeah, you can go to the store locator and see where we're in thousands of stores nationwide.

00;40;21;11 - 00;41;10;03

Lisa Smith

Amazing. I am so proud of you. You have done, as you said, what you were told you could not do and you have done it. So thank you. So, so proud of you. And I'm very much looking forward to your new line. So, guys, you've heard me say before a lot of the quote unquote, health foods that are marketed to us are anything but healthy. They're filled with artificial colors, artificial sweeteners, artificial flavors, preservatives, GMOs, all of it. So if you are now looking for a good meal replacement, a great way to start your day, a snack, check out Remedy Organics. You will not be sorry. So, Cindy, thanks for joining us today. I loved talking with you.

00;41;10;05 - 00;41;12;15

Cindy

This was so lovely. Thank you so much for having me.

00;41;12;16 - 00;41;18;20

Lisa Smith

Absolutely. And we'll be for all your new exciting avenues going forward.

00;41;18;23 - 00;41;20;02

Cindy

Amazing. Thank you.

00;41;20;02 - 00;41;47;08

Lisa Smith

Thank you. Hey, guys. Thanks for listening. If you like what you hear, please give us a five star review where you listen, whether it's Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere else and also, if you like, what you hear, share it with someone who would love this information to find your remedy organics, and share it also with your friends and loved ones. Hey, guys, we'll talk to you next time. I'm looking forward to it. Until then, stay pretty well.