S9 Ep15: How Functional Food Breakthrough Is Revolutionizing Menopause Management Gita Vellanki
Part of the success of an entrepreneur is owning your story and taking control of that journey. So you have to put yourself out there.” —Gita Vellanki
Cha Cha Cha Changes Mini Series
Menopause can be a challenging transition for many women, marked by a range of uncomfortable symptoms that can significantly impact daily life. While often overlooked, finding natural solutions to manage these changes is crucial for maintaining overall health and wellbeing. Functional nutrition offers a promising approach to addressing menopause woes, empowering women to take control of their hormonal balance.
Gita Vellanki is the Founder of Neeshi, a CPG company dedicated to creating innovative functional food products that support women's health. With a background in corporate operations and a lifelong passion for holistic wellness, Gita is committed to destigmatizing conversations around women's health issues and providing natural solutions.
This week, Justine and Gita discuss Gita's holistic approach to women's health, her mission to destigmatize conversations around menopause, the invaluable support of her entrepreneurial community, her meticulous research and development process, and the strategic vision driving Neeshi's growth. Tune in.
Connect with Gita:
Gita Vellanki is the Founder of Neeshi, a CPG company that creates functional food products to support women's health. After struggling with her own and her daughter's painful period symptoms, Gita was inspired to develop a natural solution using high-quality, nutrient-dense ingredients.
With a background in corporate operations and a lifelong passion for holistic health, Gita has leveraged her expertise to build Neeshi from the ground up. She is committed to destigmatizing conversations around women's health and empowering others to take a proactive approach to their well-being.
Under Gita's leadership, Neeshi has developed a loyal customer base and received validation from healthcare professionals. As the company continues to grow, Gita remains dedicated to creating innovative products that seamlessly integrate functional nutrition into everyday life.
Episode Highlights:
03:15 Unique Challenges and Mindset Required in Entrepreneurship
08:26 Support Needed
14:08 Bootstrapping and Marketing Strategies
19:31 Family Involvement and Product Development
23:36 Product Line and Market Positioning
29:13 Research and Development Process
33:39 Expanding Retail
Resources:
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Get 15% off when you shop at: http://neeshi.com
Tweets:
Menopause and period cramps got you feeling like a hot mess? Join @jreichman and Neeshi Founder, Gita Vellanki as they share a delicious way to manage those pesky symptoms naturally. #podcast #entrepreneurship #socialgood #inspiration #impactmatters #NextGenChef #EssentialIngredients #Season9 #Neeshi #Ayurveda #HormonalBalance #menopause #periodcramps #funcctionalfoods #naturalremedies #healthyindulgence #nutrientdensetreat
Inspirational Quotes:
04:24 “Every time something minor was wrong with us, my grandmother would go to the kitchen first, not the pharmacy. Every food has a healing property.” —Gita Vellanki
11:26 “There are so many resources out there, you just have to know how to find them or where to look for them.” —Gita Vellanki
13:11 “Part of the success of an entrepreneur is owning your story and taking control of that journey. So you have to put yourself out there.” —Gita Vellanki
13:47 “Running your business is like an on-the-job MBA, learning how to build something out. how to market something, how to brand something— it's a process.” —Justine Reichman
30:01 “At the end of the day, it's the high-quality vitamins and minerals that your body's able to absorb from the ingredients that we source.” —Gita Vellanki
30:43 “You can use food as a way to mitigate symptoms.” —Justine Reichman
Transcriptions:
Justine Reichman: Good morning, and welcome to Essential Ingredients. I'm your host, Justine Reichman. With me today is Gita. She is the Founder of Neeshi. So Gita founded this product as a way to help her daughter. Her daughter was struggling with heavy, uncomfortable period cramps. So this product is meant to help those that are dealing with heavy period cramps and menopause challenges. So we're going to chat with Gita today to learn more about her journey and how she is helping people that are dealing with these kinds of symptoms. I know firsthand because I, too, had really bad period cramps, which is why I've been on the pill for a very long time. And now, I'm coming around to the other end of it where I want to get off the pill, and I'm a bit fearful of how I'm going to feel.
So Gita, if you would just introduce yourself and maybe tell us a little bit about Neeshi so that we have some context as we dive into this conversation.
Gita Vellanki: Yeah. Well, thank you for having me, Justine. I'm very excited to be here. So I'm Gita Vellanki, as Justine said, Founder of Neeshi. Basically, we take superfoods, and we transform them into delicious chocolate options. So we have dark cacao spreads, we have protein powders, we have some brownie bites and brownie batter, which are more local because they ship cold. And really, the goal was to help my daughter who is struggling with really heavy, really painful periods at the time, and we'll go into what she was dealing with and sort of what she saw. But my goal was to help her more from a natural perspective. I was the same way when I was her age. My mom eventually put me on birth control, and I felt terrible for years. Headaches, stomach aches, GI issues, you name it, and I still think it's had a lasting impact on me even though I'm off the pill. So I didn't want to pay that tariff. I didn't have to, and so here we are. I'd love to share more of the story as we chat.
Justine Reichman: Gita, thank you so much because I think this is so important for so many people. It connects with so many people. There's so many women out there that deal with these issues. I know when I had my period, or I may still do, I'm just on a pill. But the month, the week before, the week during and after, I was nauseous, tired, cranky, not very friendly, and all sorts of things. But three weeks out of the month is a really long time to not feel it right. So now, you're talking about GI issues, all those things which I feel like I have, and so I'm curious, and I'm eager to learn for myself as well so that everybody else can make more important choices. How this can help those both in menopause, in dealing with periods and a little bit more about what it's rooted in. So let's kick this off before we get going. Have you been an entrepreneur before? Is this your first?
Gita Vellanki: My dad had his own business growing up so we would always help him, and I've helped other businesses within businesses scale throughout my career. But this is my first solo entrepreneur journey, and it's been quite a learning experience, that's for sure.
Justine Reichman: Being an entrepreneur, I think it takes a special kind of I don't want to say special, but I think it takes a different kind of person than one that, it's a leader versus a follower, or an innovator versus somebody that's just doing a job. And there's nothing wrong with either one. We need both in the world, right? But I imagine that when you kick this off, it might have been a little scary out of your comfort zone.
Gita Vellanki: 100%, all of the above.
Justine Reichman: Especially creating a product. So there's a whole list of things you had to learn. So when you decided to do this, what was like the first thing you did?
“Every time something minor was wrong with us, my grandmother would go to the kitchen first, not the pharmacy. Every food has a healing property.” —Gita Vellanki
Gita Vellanki: Never with the intention of launching a brand. I created these for my daughter, right? So it was, let me help her in a more holistic way. And I thought back to when we were kids, we would visit my grandmother in the village of India, and every time something minor was wrong with us, she would go to the kitchen first, not the pharmacy. And so my mom took the same approach. I've always grown up around that concept of functional foods. Every food has a healing property, and how do you best leverage that? And as my kids were growing up, we've dealt with allergies, food intolerances, things like that. So we've had to put them on restricted diets. We've had to closely monitor how they react. As I've gotten older, I've experienced some intolerances and things that have developed. And so in my mind, as a mom, if I was going to go down this path, it had to be very nutritionally balanced. So all of our products are plant based, they're gluten free, they're refined sugar free. They have really good macros. So you're getting five grams of protein, you're getting fiber, you're not having a ton of carbs.
But then, from the kids perspective, it had to taste good. Mom's going to want to argue every day to get them to eat it either. And so we started researching ingredients, talking to doctors to make sure there were no adverse reactions, and all the doctors were like, you know? Well, we looked through our databases, but we couldn't find anything. But at the end of the day, you're using such clean ingredients. We don't see a concern. We're talking about almonds, and pumpkin seeds, and cacao, and coconut sugar, and flax seeds, and things like that. And so our first product was a brownie bite. And when we hit the right formulation, we did a lot of testing. My daughter's skin cleared up pretty quickly, and then her period went from 8, 9 days, super heavy flow, such painful cramps, acne all over, to three and a half days. I would say maybe four, such light flow, no cramps, super balanced mood. It was just amazing to see the transformation. And my periods had gone back to my miserable old teenage self as well, but with the caveat that I was getting them every 14 to 18 days for 10 days.
So to your point of feeling miserable for three months, three weeks out of the month, I was miserable as well, but my cramps had become so debilitating. I was just stuck in bed for two days. Couldn't do anything. And with three kids, that's really hard. And so what I noticed is, not only did I see that same period transformation of it becoming so light, so mild, so unnoticeable, my perimenopause went away. I wasn't waking up in a pool of sweat every night. I wasn't having hot flashes. My energy levels were back. My cravings had been minimized. I was just feeling back to my energetic, balanced self. And so we also tried stopping using the products, and then both of us would go back to difficult periods. Perimenopause would come back, and then we'd start again, and we'd notice the difference. So then I started sharing all these products with friends and family. And in the first month, everybody was like, oh, my gosh, Gita. I never thought I could feel this good. And they started reporting all of these benefits that we had seen, but we didn't tie back to the Neeshi products themselves. So it was just really cool to see, and to your point of it being something different. I left my day job, which was running M and A and global operations teams for tech companies to now run a CBG company. It's a new learning every day where you're talking about packaging and licenses, and booth setup and marketing. Very, very different.
Justine Reichman: It sounds like your experience and your foundation was rooted in food from the beginning. From your grandmother's house, from your mom's house, and that you solve problems using food, and food becomes the medicine or the way to heal yourself, right? Which also makes me think that maybe food is the problem.
Gita Vellanki: 100%. Just think about what we are eating nowadays that we didn't eat 20, 30 years ago. It's definitely, impacting our gut health, or so much that's going on in our body.
Justine Reichman: So did you imagine yourself opening the CPG company originally? I know you didn't plan on it because you were just playing with it. But did you say, I always wanted to be an entrepreneur.
Gita Vellanki: No. I had reached the point in my career where I really wanted to give back. So in my corporate jobs, I would spend a lot of time working with the foundations of different companies that I worked with, just helping them scale from an operational perspective, and use their funds more efficiently. So in my mind, I wanted to shift over to that nonprofit world to give back. I kept thinking, maybe I'll go volunteer for some nonprofits. Eventually start one, and that would be the path to giving back and helping women, or helping people. And then I realized that I have something right here in front of me that can do that. And so that's where that next step kind of formed and kicked off.
Justine Reichman: But it's a big deal to go from making something for your family and friends, then starting this is going to be a CPG product. Obviously, without having done this before, you lack the experience. Doesn't mean you can't do it, because everybody that's an entrepreneur probably never did it before. So what were some of the things that you thought about as you started to do this that you're like, okay, I really need to make this a business. What am I doing first?
Gita Vellanki: So I reached out to a lot of people, because my entire, or network was folks in the tech space, or coming from in the world of investment banking before that. And so just networking, understanding what other founders went through. I was lucky enough to stumble upon a small business community that is just so helpful, and so I think that really made a change. And then just through that networking, growing those mentors and those people that you can rely on for feedback and questions, advice on how to move forward was really helpful as well.
Justine Reichman: Of course, being part of that community, I always say that I grew up in New York. And to me, it was like a village. I think it sounds unfriendly many times. But living in New York, growing your business in New York, there's just such a tight community around you. And to that, I think people in CPG are also a really tight community that are willing to help one another, share resources. I think that unless you're doing that, you don't really know that, or expect that.
“There are so many resources out there, you just have to know how to find them or where to look for them.” —Gita Vellanki
Gita Vellanki: I would say the biggest surprise was actually women who are running similar companies. Normally, you would say, oh, you're a competitor. I'm not going to share information with you. They have been the most supportive people, so it's definitely been great to meet people who are going through some struggles, willing to talk you through it and share. There's so many resources out there, you just have to know how to find them, or where to look for them.
Justine Reichman: What would you recommend to those founders looking for those resources? Are there three tips you could share?
Gita Vellanki: So I would say startup CPG now has a much larger presence than it did two years ago. It's an amazing community,but it's great. They are so supportive. People are really helpful for, let's see, for founders of color, there's a group called (inaudible), which is similar to startup CPG, but just focused on founders that are from the bipoc community, which is also amazing. And then I would say more than that, find a local network. Right to your point, New York has so many CPG founders. Same thing in the Bay Area and LA. All these cities have groups. It is naturally networked, which is in different cities. So I would say joining a group like that and connecting with people is definitely going to make a difference.
Justine Reichman: I agree. I'm now in the Bay Area myself, and I think that it's a little bit awkward for some people, not everybody's an extrovert. It doesn't always come naturally to putting yourself out there. I don't know if you're an introvert or you're not, but I'm really great in small groups. In bigger groups, I find it a little bit more intimidating. So for those folks, are there any recommendations you might make for them? Because there's lots of people that would find that really intimidating.
Gita Vellanki: It is definitely intimidating. I would say, take a friend even if they're not in the CPG space. Buy them a drink at the event, and make an evening out of it. It definitely helps to not go alone. But yeah, I think part of that success of an entrepreneur is owning your story, and really taking control of that journey. And so you have to put yourself out there. Do it in the way that you're going to find some comfort along the way. But every day, you're going to be in uncomfortable situations, whether it's in a public environment, or it's because you're dealing with a problem you've never dealt with before. You're trying to tackle some solution, right? I think that has to be something you're prepared for.
“Running your business is like an on-the-job MBA, learning how to build something out. how to market something, how to brand something— it's a process.” —Justine Reichman
Justine Reichman: I would agree. I didn't go for my MBA, but I feel like running your own business is like an on the job MBA, sort of learning how to build something out. You're learning how to market something. You're learning how to brand something. And it's a process.
Gita Vellanki: And once you figure it out, something changes, and you have to figure a new problem out again.
Justine Reichman: So now, you've been at this for how long?
Gita Vellanki: Two years.
Justine Reichman: Two years. When you initially started, were you bootstrapping it? Or did you decide to raise money originally? Can you tell me a little bit about that process for you?
Gita Vellanki: We're still bootstrapped. I have had investors reach out to me. I've considered raising money, I just don't think it makes sense right now if I were to take money from someone. It would have to be somebody who's really willing to be a mentor versus just writing a check. Just not coming from the world of CPG. I feel like that would be the most valuable thing outside of just the check that I'm taking.
Justine Reichman: So it must be challenging to be doing this, bootstrapping it, doing the marketing, building the product, figuring out where you're going to get, processed and co packed. I know that in the very beginning, you're probably reaching out to people and asking them to share with them what they did. Can you share with us what worked for you, and how you managed to be able to do these things?
Gita Vellanki: Trying to solve a lot of those problems. So we started off very small with a CFO permit, which gives you permission to take food safety exams, follow certain protocols, and you can make products in your house and ship within the state of California. And then we started getting interest outside of the state, so we moved to a commercial kitchen in Oakland. And now, I've been down the path of trying to find a co manufacturer so that I can remove myself and the kitchen staff from that whole process just to self manufacture, fulfill and run with the business, and figure out everything else. It's a lot, and so I hope we're getting closer to finding some good co packers. That's really the next step for us. But whether you're bootstrapped or that initial seed funding, I think you're still going to run into those same challenges of having to be very cautious where to spend your money. And there are a couple of the bigger investments I've made are more in the marketing side, so hiring some different marketing firms along the way, and it's so hard. It's so hard to find somebody who's good. And the problem is they all want to retain for six months and more, which I understand why.
“Part of the success of an entrepreneur is owning your story and taking control of that journey. So you have to put yourself out there.” —Gita Vellanki
But unfortunately, none of them have fit the bill and are worthy of that six month retainer. So I was very gun shy about finding the next firm, and so I went through a lot of due diligence with the folks who we're working with now. Did a lot of calls for referrals, things like that. And the other firms previously were all referred, which made it a lot harder. But knock on wood, so far, this firm that I found has been amazing. Actually, they came to me and said, we love your product. We'd love to work with you, and it's definitely been an extension of having an in house team. And so far, it's been really good. But to your point, it is hard. It's hard to pull that trigger and to write these checks every month to all of the different people that you need involved.
Justine Reichman: It's true. So when you started this, you were making some larger investments in marketing, how did you go about deciding what were those big investments that you were going to make, that were going to take your product to the next level, or help you take that product to the next level?
Gita Vellanki: So we started very small with that approach. Initially, it was just an outreach. For me, having that medical validation was important. So we started doing outreach to doctors, dietitians, nutritionists, some who have an online presence and some who don't. All of our healthcare specialists that we work with have fully tried our products. Some of them still use it on a regular basis, and they've seen a huge benefit, which I think is just that extra validation stamp that's amazing to have, definitely. And then we reached out to some influencers. One of my friends is an influencer so she would post just here and there. She'd run into me at events or things like that, and I started realizing how much that's resonating with people. So then I started doing micro influencers, some larger influencer outreach, and that's been really helpful. We don't have the budget yet to pay somebody, but we've done some revenue share affiliates, and that's been really helpful because it's not a small price point like a lipstick. It's a larger order value. They're also seeing the benefit in partnering with us. And then now, this new marketing firm that we've brought on board is focusing more on email marketing, social media. Hopefully, we'll start running ads soon, maybe listing on Amazon, and just seeing where these things take us.
Justine Reichman: It's super exciting. So right now, you've been doing this for a couple years. How many people are on your team?
Gita Vellanki: I fully believe in child labor, so my girls.
Justine Reichman: Very, very involved.
Gita Vellanki: It's me and then my girls. And then I have some staff at the kitchen that helps older girls, 17, 13, and 9. They all have their little spot. They play in my older one and my middle one, make reels, they'll help package up orders. They do a lot of pop ups, manning in person events. They've taken pictures on our website. They'll do graphic design work. So from that perspective, it's fun to bring them along. It's made their public speaking skills just advanced 20 years, which I think as a mom, is really hard to do unless you're putting them in these situations. But getting a kid to stand up in front of a room full of people and talk about their period is just teaching skills you wouldn't ever have before. They're so comfortable doing it, which is amazing.
Justine Reichman: When you first said my daughter, I was like, I wonder how she feels. How does your daughter feel about being the inspiration for this?
Gita Vellanki: Very proud. She's there with me. She owns it, and it's really nice to see.
Justine Reichman: She is young, 17. So when she was a little bit younger, she might have been embarrassed to have focused on her.
Gita Vellanki: So this all started when she was 13, and just trying it for her, then sharing it with people, then slowly growing. She was always very open. When I told them when I was a kid, and growing up in Wisconsin, we would shove our pad under our sleeve hoping it wouldn't make any noise, and we would walk down the hallway, and you were so embarrassed to talk about it. And I said, one day, I hope you guys will just hold your pad or your tampon and walk down the hall and not be bothered. And the two older ones were like, mom, we already do that. Nobody cares. And I was like, oh, my god. Theythey will yell across the hallway like, hey, do you have a pad? And their friend will chuck one at them. It's just so different, and it just makes me so happy because it is not a taboo topic, and it's not something that people should feel ashamed about. Because without it, none of us would be here.
Justine Reichman: It's very, very true. It's so nice to hear that your daughter wasn't because it is a challenging topic. The girls don't necessarily want to talk about it in front of the boys. It is part of life. But I think somehow, either the kids are growing up more mature these days, or they're realizing that things are just part of life and it's not something to be embarrassed about. Maybe it's just the education that we're throwing around things. I don't really know the answer to that question, but it is nice to see that.
Gita Vellanki: It is, for sure. I was at a women's health event in LA a couple months ago, and I flew down for the day, super busy the whole time. Flew back, and I came back to my daughter and her boyfriend creating a recipe of this chocolate peanut butter protein bark using our Neeshi protein powder. And they filmed this adorable TikTok reel. So they created the recipe, filmed it, edited it, and did everything. Had it ready to go by the time I got back and I was like, this is so cool. And the fact that he was so comfortable doing it with her, letting me post it to Instagram and social media, was amazing. I was so proud of them. And the recipe is awesome. So if anybody's listening to this and order some protein powder, definitely look it up. It's so tasty.
Justine Reichman: I love that it's starting at home, and you're instilling those values in your children to be part of it. It's like a family business. Obviously, your daughter is probably going to go to school and she's not staying home to make a product. You get what I'm saying? It's part of being involved in different ways. I remember when my mom started her business at the dining room table when I was a little girl, I used to help. I worked in every aspect of that business. I was the vice president. But the point was, I started with yellow pages.
Gita Vellanki: But that's amazing. It definitely left an impact on you. It's having an impact on the girls. So you just tried our Neeshi Dark Cacao Spread. It has become our hero product so I will say, women who are menstruating love it. Women who are in perimenopause love it. And one great thing about this product is it has a two to one ratio, which is really, really hard to find in sweet treats. And what that means is, if you look at the fat and the carbs, they're pretty much equal, and then you have half or more of that in protein. So it's 9 grams of fat, 9 grams of carbs, and it's 5 grams of protein in one tablespoon. It's refined sugar free, so it gives you a hint of sweetness. I feel like it's just enough, and it's satisfying. But it's not like Nutella where it's like crack, and you have to keep going back.
Justine Reichman: Just for those that are watching the podcast, you saw that, I just tasted it, then I went back for seconds. I literally just put it on the knife, and it tastes really good. I don't like things that are too sweet. That's just not my thing. But this is nice. It's a little bit sweet, it's a little bit salty. I think that there's a lot of different ways that you can eat this product, not just with a spoon.
Gita Vellanki: Absolutely. So people will do toast or waffles with bananas or berries on top, tap it on a fruit bowl, a parfait, and ice cream. You can put it in your smoothie to make it a little extra creamy. It's really good stirred into tea or coffee. And it's funny, at a lot of my pop up events, women will ask, how do I incorporate this? And so I'll give them all those examples, and I was like, you know what? I'm at the point where I just eat it with a spoon. I like it that way. If I happen to run into them later, they're like, you know what? I started out with this fancy toast, or this, and that. And they're like, I eat it with a spoon too..
Justine Reichman: I think that that's a testament to the product that stands on its own, for sure. Always interesting to hear your favorite ways as the founder to how you like to eat it. So you like it best with a spoon. Now, when I first was listening to these, they sounded amazing, but what came to me was like an apple.
Gita Vellanki: Oh, it's really good on an apple. I do that often too with the green apple, it's really tasty.
Justine Reichman: I think that they're so many, it'd be fun to actually ask people to send their recipes and how they eat it. See what their favorites are. You probably do that, but I think it'd be fun to see that, and how that helps the product get evolved even further.
Gita Vellanki: So I do ask people, and the most interesting one I got was somebody uses our vanilla protein powder in their salad dressing. And I was like, that's really interesting. I'm gonna do that. Very unique.
Justine Reichman: Maybe if you're doing creamy dressing, like a ranch.
Gita Vellanki: I don't mind. I haven't gone there yet, but yeah, it could work.
Justine Reichman: Well, I'm thinking of a dessert, like strawberry, heavy balsamic, and a little of that. You never know. That's the chef in me, the home chef in me. That's what I think. So you've grown this product. It's been a few years. You've wrangled the family, they're all participating. You have some people in your kitchen that are helping to create products, and you've grown this, and that's a lot. What is your hope? How many SKUs are out right now?
Gita Vellanki: We've minimized it. We have four different products. Cold shipping is a struggle. So we've taken our brownie bites and our brownie batter, and just done local delivery for those. And then we're shipping the Dark Cacao Spread and the Protein Powders. We have four different flavors of that.
Justine Reichman: And before we go on, when you say local, is that local to the East Bay? Is that local to the Bay Area?
Gita Vellanki: So right now, it's sort of a 20 mile perimeter around Fremont. I'm trying to see if we can find a delivery service that can do same day delivery with the ice packs. And then at least within the Bay Area, we could kind of ship all over. So there are some options that I'm exploring.
Justine Reichman: Look like with Instacart, so to speak.
Gita Vellanki: That's definitely an option because we can pack it in gel packs, we do all of that. The problem is just with the shipment process, things get thrown around a lot, and so it makes it hard. There are local delivery services that will do, it costs x dollars to go from here to there if you drop it off by a certain time, like a messenger service. Those are things that I'm exploring right now. So currently, we're shipping the Protein Powder and the spread all over the country, and then I've had to take a step back on our cold shipped items.
Justine Reichman: So just to digress, you have four products at this moment, four SKUs at this moment. And as you built out these SKUs, I know that you've spent a lot of time in the kitchen, both with your mom and your grandmother. I got to hear more about what you're doing, and you're talking about the proportions, sounds like there's a lot of science behind it, a lot of culinary education that needs to go into it, and even maybe thinking about them because you incorporate the medical aspect of it. I don't want to say medical, but food as medicine in helping the health aspect of it. How did you begin to figure that out? Because if you're not a food scientist, where do you start to begin to know the proportions to make these in a meaningful way for people that are dealing with those symptoms?
Gita Vellanki: That's not easy to answer. There's a lot of research involved there to get to that point. It was a lot of late nights, a lot of digging, a lot of reading. And really, just learning about different ingredients, different vitamins, different minerals. Because at the end of the day, it's the high quality vitamins and minerals that your body's able to absorb from the ingredients that we source. We're not using minimum quality cacao powder, for example. It's sourced based on a certain vitamin and mineral profile. Same thing with the nuts and seeds, and different things that we use. So that's all working together to then give your body that support that your hormones need, so it's a lot. Vitamin E plays a role, magnesium plays a role. There's all of these things that we're getting from the food that then your body's taking advantage of and using.
Justine Reichman: Yeah, super smart. And I love the idea that you can use food as a way to mitigate symptoms. Really smart. And of course, the research that goes into it must be very in depth. You mentioned previously that you had doctors that you sent it to, and so what were some of the questions that they asked in order to vet it, and make sure that this was something, not just tasting it, but understanding the product? What did they ask you, or need to know?
Gita Vellanki: So what was interesting to me is some of the doctors, the part that they found the most helpful, and that made them feel really comfortable was the fact that the benefits go away when you stop using the product. So it's not altering your body, right? It's not doing anything massive, but it's supporting you while you're having it, which is like a vitamin. And they really appreciated that, but they were looking at the ingredients. If there's any known interactions with commonly taken drugs, what are we using? Where were we sourcing from to make sure it was good quality? We buy organic. My goal was really to check as many boxes as possible to make sure that I would feel 100% comfortable with my kids eating it, and I would want other people to feel the same way, whether they're feeding it to their daughters, or they're buying it for themselves. And what I found is most people are buying it for themselves, women in perimenopause that are looking for help. I wanted them to feel as comfortable as possible, that what they're putting in their body is healthy and good quality, and good for you at the same time.
Justine Reichman: So what category would you put this in?
Gita Vellanki: That is a hard one. We did a survey, and it was amazing. We got 300 responses in like 18 hours, which tells me that people really are interested in a product like this, and most people said they would expect to find it in a functional food aisle. Say, where you find protein powders, or if possible where the menstrual products are. They wouldn't want to find it with nut butters or things like that. So I think in a functional food area, or in a specialty location like a wellness clinic, or a doctor's office, or a spa, things like that.
Justine Reichman: That's super interesting, because that was one of the first things I thought. Where would I go to find this for support for perimenopause or my period? I would go to the aisle that has the supplements, or I'd go to the aisle that has support for that issue because you would not know that a CPG product is necessarily just on its own, standing there by itself.
Gita Vellanki: There are vitamins and supplements in the menstrual health aisle, so I think that would obviously make the most sense. Or I would say, I'm thinking in my local Target, if you go on the other side of that aisle, you have protein bars, protein powders and things like that. So that might make the most sense as well. But this is one reason that I haven't rushed to retail. There's so much education involved that we stay direct to consumer for the most part, because I just feel like those little kinks need to be worked out. We need to increase brand awareness. Then when you're like, oh, Neeshi. I saw that online, let me pick this up. But that connection still has to be made.
Justine Reichman: I think that a lot of people, if we think about COVID, started direct to consumer, and did really well. It gave them an opportunity to build a foundation, grow an audience. People get curious. They feel like they're more connected because it's a smaller community. So I love that. I think that's amazing. Do you have an idea when you expect to expand and be available to people outside of direct to consumer use?
Gita Vellanki: So I would say, maybe that's something we'll tackle next year because the retail process is very different right now. You're talking about meeting huge minimums and free fills, that's a different world from direct to consumer. So we'll see if an opportunity comes up. And it's really interesting that we might get out there sooner, but it's not my top priority at the moment.
Justine Reichman: So what are your top priorities for the next year?
Gita Vellanki: I would really like to explore Amazon before we explore retail. There is such a market there for perimenopause supplements, and it's kind of the best of both worlds. People are coming to look for that. You could do a little more education by having your Amazon landing page. You can run ads, and so you can educate your consumer in a place where they're looking for these products. Once we get our co packers squared away, I think that's going to be the next step.
Justine Reichman: Yeah, that's exciting. Because once you investigate Amazon, you create a whole new world. How does that potentially impact a small business on what you're creating? So I think maybe the co-packer has to happen first.
Gita Vellanki: We're rebranding right now. So the rebranding has to happen. The co-packer has to happen. And so Amazon actually reached out to us, which to everybody's like, that doesn't happen. Are you sure it's Amazon? Are you sure it's not a scammer? I was like, no, they actually reached out. It's an amazon.com email. And so they have a team that's been super excited about getting us on board, and so we'll see. I told them where we're at, and the fact that we need to check a couple of these boxes, which they completely understood. So hopefully, that happens sooner.
Justine Reichman: That sounds great. So thank you so much for joining us, and I'm just wondering if you could share with us a little for those folks that want to go direct to consumer where they can find you, and how they might go about buying your product.
Gita Vellanki: You can find us online at neeshi.com. There is a chat box there, so if anybody has any questions, feel free to ask, and I will get back to myself. We also are on Instagram at Shop Neeshi, Facebook at Shop Neeshi, so that's our social handle. You can find us on all the platforms as well.
Justine Reichman: So Gita, for those guests that tuned in and watched, or listened to the whole podcast, is there a discount we can offer them for the product?
Gita Vellanki: Absolutely. So if you were to sign up directly on our website, you'll get a code for 10% off. But for your viewers, if they want to use essential15, that'll give them 15% off.
Justine Reichman: Thank you so much, I really appreciate that. We are gonna follow along and make sure to catch up with your journey as you grow and expand. And I can't wait to see what else you come up with, and where else you're going to be. Keep me posted as I'm in the Bay Area.
Gita Vellanki: Yes, I will. Thank you so much for sharing about Neeshi with your viewers and listeners. This has been great.
Justine Reichman: Yeah. I loved how you incorporated your whole family, and how this was a new endeavor for you, and how you just bootstrapped it, got it done, incorporated your team, and you're making it happen. It's really inspirational.
Gita Vellanki: Thank you.
Justine Reichman: So for those of you that tuned in today and watched our podcast, I want to thank you, and you can find out more about Neeshi by going to our website. Thanks so much for tuning in today at Essential Ingredients. For those of you, please know that we have a new episode that drops every Tuesday, and we hope you'll tune in and follow us on Instagram at essential.ingredients. Thanks so much.
