Ashley: It was pretty traumatic and terrifying. We knew we had a product that was perfect for the moment: People were more stressed, and they were starting to redefine what wellness meant to them and take a more proactive role in their health. So we knew heywell was right for the moment, but we had to pivot hard from in-store retail because people weren’t going into the store. They weren’t picking up and looking at products and reading about them, so anything new wasn’t gaining any traction. We had to pivot to e-commerce, which worked well for us.

Ashley: Britt and I were the two senior women at our company, and we supported each other and were very close at work. Britt was leading futuring work and my background is in developing brands and innovation. Britt and I were at lunch one day and we just started talking about how awesome it would be if we had our own brand and worked for ourselves. We kicked the can for a little bit because it’s daunting to leave your job and launch something new, and we had a lot to learn. But we had a lot of confidence in the mission and in what we were hearing from friends when we talked about the idea.

Britt: We’ve worked in industries that are very male-dominated, and we leaned into the opportunity to bring others along with us on our journeys as two women rising to the top of a corporate environment. We know that a rising tide lifts all boats, so we wanted to make sure we were carrying that practice through in our own endeavor. 

Britt: Heywell is meant to be a simple invitation to wellness. It ties back to our mission about making wellness more accessible, and we wanted it to be a place where everyone is welcome. We try to do that in other ways, too, like talking about our adaptogens in a plain-speaking way on our cans. They’re herbs, or berries, or leaves from the mint family, rather than hard-to-understand ingredients. In everything we do, we’re trying to have a welcoming tone and we want to create a place where everyone can see themselves here. 

Ashley: I think something that’s enabled us to move forward at a good pace is knowing where our strengths are, and knowing where they’re not. No one should be expected to know everything because it’s a lot. You can’t be afraid to reach out for help. We’ve surrounded ourselves with some amazing, smart, talented people who are better in certain areas than we are, and we seek out diverse business partners to support us as part of our mission. We’ve found that the entrepreneurial community is much more welcoming and helpful than we expected. They know how hard it can be because they’ve been through it, and they want to share their learnings.

Britt: Ashley and I have gotten really good about celebrating the wins because entrepreneurship is a roller coaster that you ride every hour of every day, and there are so many ups and downs. Celebrating the highs and, when you hit the lows, pivoting quickly to a problem-solving mindset, helps smooth out the journey. Preserving that sense of joy over what you’ve built is really important.

Britt: I think it comes back to what Ashley said: Say yes to the community. When people reach out to us for help, we always say yes because, in the act of helping, we’re helped in so many unexpected and delightful ways. You never know where something will lead. Making time for those moments has created a lot of joy around our journey.