Hands That Heal: New Women-Owned Wellness Brands

by nancylee bouscher, Wellness Manager

Unfortunately, I found myself in urgent care the morning of my birthday with the smallest sliver of glass nestled in the ball of my right foot. I had tried to retrieve it, but even in the prime of my youth, my spine never twisted like that. I enlisted the help of my kid, lent him my magnifying readers, and held the flashlight. He could see it and even feel it, but ultimately, he could not get a purchase on it to pull it out. So, off I hobbled to have a professional with fancy tools and a steady hand help me out.

Because it was my birthday, I pondered the gift of this experience. Immediately, I vaguely remembered a story from my childhood about a lion and a mouse. The lion had a thorn in his paw and he needed the help of the mouse to get it out. The mouse was frightened that the lion would eat him, but ultimately was convinced to help. Turns out having a lion in your debt is a pretty cool thing. I dove deep trying to find the exact source of this story in my memory—and found many variations from Aesop’s Fables to Little Golden Books. One of my takeaways (as a Leo) is that sometimes even big old cats with fangs and claws need help with simple things to find relief.

Every day, much of my job is helping folks with some type of issue they haven’t quite been able to solve. Whether it’s finding a remedy for rosacea, hoping to find a bone support tablet that isn’t the size of a horse pill, or just avoiding buying online—folks come to Wellness to get a helping hand. 

Another large part of my job is hand-picking which products wind up on our shelves, and these customer interactions are one way I figure out what our shoppers need us to carry. Anytime we don’t have a solution or the specific item to hand over, I get busy. Most of the time my main tool in finding items is my computer. I email and google, but other times my quest is more hands-on.

Recently, I traveled to a trade show in Denver focused on natural wellness and grocery items where I was able to do product selection the old fashion way: by meeting the makers, face to face. For me, there is nothing quite as rewarding as being able to hear the story of a brand, ask questions, and say “YES!” to a product that maybe has never been sold in a retail store before. 

This is one of the ways that our community-owned grocery store is different than our corporate-owned competitors. We don’t have as many hoops to jump through, we can respond quickly to trends, and we can support brands that align with our values.

One area that has always been a challenge for me is to find brands that reflect our shoppers. Spoiler alert: most wellness shoppers are women, but women-owned brands can be very difficult to find. However, I was thrilled at the many great new women-owned brands I was able to connect with at this recent trade show. 

Specifically, I was delighted to find women developing products that addressed real-life issues that had personally impacted them and their loved ones. From skin sensitivities to hormonal rollercoaster torture, I have to hand it to these gals for creating innovative products that I know our shoppers will enjoy.

The Cycle

Anastasia Sartan is founder and CEO of The Cycle, a delicious beverage line with four options, each made with fresh Sea Buckthorn Berry juice and herbs designed to support hormonal balance, soothe inflammation, and address women’s cyclical needs. She developed these beverages after decades of struggling with PMDD, a severe and debilitating form of PMS. Look for these products in our Wellness fridge.

Rif Care

Rebecca Caputo co-founded Rif Care, hemp and organic cotton period products with her long-time friend, Val Emanuel in 2022. Both have experienced hormonal issues and wanted a clean option for menstrual care. Their pads and tampons are free of plastics, bleach, fragrances, and harsh chemicals. They are a 100% BIPOC woman-owned company that also offers size inclusive period underwear from XS to 3XL.

Bloom 5.5

Bloom 5.5 creator Mary Morales decided to go into business with her son, Tommy, after she retired from the military. Tommy has a disability that limits his job options and has struggled with skin sensitivities. So, this clever mom developed fragrance-free formulas using prickly pear seed oil to support the skin’s natural pH of 5.5 while also creating a rewarding job for her amazing kid. This is a small-batch brand out of Edgewater, Maryland. Hand mixed and poured.

🌸🌸🌸

In my attempt to refresh my memory, I stumbled across the story of “Androcles and the Lion.” It first appeared in the writings of Aulus Gellius in the 2nd Century CE. In this story, Androcles is a Roman slave that escapes and hides in a cave in North Africa. He finds a lion in the cave with a thorn in his paw and helps him to remove it. Years later Androcles is recaptured and condemned to fight beasts in an arena. However, the beast he is paired to fight is, of course, the lion he saved. The lion remembers him and refuses to attack.

Now, there are a couple different endings. One is that the emperor sees the kindness between man and beast and releases them both. The other, made popular by George Bernard Shaw’s 1912 play, is that the beast attacks the emperor and they both escape. Either way, a kindness shown to a stranger resulted in freedom. So, that’s my second birthday lesson I chose to take away: when we offer a helping hand to a stranger, we never know when or how it may come back around to bless us. 

To bring this full circle, our goal in wellness is simply to offer kindness and share resources in the hope that it improves your life. The kindness that returns to us is YOU.  You join the Food Co-op. You shop locally instead of online. You tell your friends about us. And these hundreds of small businesses that we host on our shelves grow and thrive. 

Co-ops are so handy like that.