Episode 91 – Showing Up in Your Business – Yasmin Nouri and Kaya Purohit, Beeya Wellness

[00:00:00] Yasmin: Welcome to Building While Flying, a Sasha Group podcast where we interview business leaders about how they tackle challenges, stay resilient and navigate ever-changing skies. 

[00:00:12] Maribel: Welcome to Building While Flying. My guests today are Yasmin Nouri and Kaya Purohit, co-founders of beeya, a wellness company, helping women overcome period problems and hormonal imbalances using natural food-based solutions.

They started beeya because many women struggle with hormonal imbalances and are told that birth control, pain medication, or just waiting it out are the only solutions. Their own seed cycling journeys led them to create beeya, a simple way to support hormones and help to end the epidemic of hormonal imbalance because everyone deserves happy and healthy hormones. So welcome, welcome, welcome. I don’t always have the opportunity to meet our guests in person, but we have had the opportunity to meet in person and so I know how wonderful your energy is and how it fills a room, and I am very excited to give our listeners a little taste of that. So let’s start off with briefly, cuz we’re gonna ask a bunch of questions, but let’s start off briefly with what is beeya.

[00:01:13] Kaya: Yeah, and I love that intro too. Thank you for reading that and you covered so much of it in there. But beeya is our brand. It’s our baby, it’s our company that’s dedicated to all things women’s health, and we really are here to empower women to revolutionize their own health. And it really came from a place of seeing that so many women, I think over 80% of women are struggling with some sort of hormonal imbalance, but they don’t really even know what that means sometimes, they just know that they feel bad.

And so we wanted to offer them a place to come to understand, Hey, what’s going on in my body and what can I do about it? And so much of the research and so much of the health advice that’s out there is really targeted towards men. Yeah. So we wanted to be a safe space for women, and the foundation of beeya is really that food is medicine.

So we know that if you’re not doing the foundational, the pillar, things like sleeping well, if your stress is through the roof, if you’re not eating well, if you’re not nourishing your body, you can’t really take your health to the next level and your health is often gonna struggle. So we wanted to target all of those things, but mainly we wanted to focus on providing women with a food as medicine approach.

So that’s really where it all started. 

[00:02:29] Maribel: Thank you for that. I wanna say something at the beginning and it’s because I interview a lot of women for Building, While, Flying, and there’s a reason I interview a lot of women and it is very much aligned with the reason you started beeya, right? And it is because for so long, women’s stories haven’t been told.

And so I’m incredibly passionate about using platforms that I have access to, to share some of those stories. And I know that that aligns with both of you as well, and Yasmin you specifically, and we’ll talk a little bit about that. But I want people to understand, right? I want all of our listeners to understand that we don’t talk to more women, I don’t talk to more women or more people of color because it’s trendy, right? I talk to them because these are stories that for too long haven’t been told to nearly the same extent as other stories. Right. Like I was reading something yesterday and the post about the first woman who ran the Boston Marathon came up.

We are not talking about a crazy amount of time. Right. 1966. Wow. It’s really not that long ago that the first woman ran the Boston Marathon and did it because she snuck into the race because she was told she couldn’t do it. Right. So you see more businesses being created by women for women, by people of color, for people of color, because for too long we’ve been left out in the creation of solutions for fundamental needs. And so there is a real need that is being filled by businesses like yours. So I felt like that was important to say because I want people to really pause and digest that and think about that and listen through that lens. 

[00:04:06] Yasmin: I so appreciate that. Yeah. Excuse me. Kaya and I wanted to create a company that we personally wanted. We didn’t see it out there. We wanted to serve women like us and even outside the health aspect. One thing, and I know, you know, we’re probably all passionate about this and why I have my personal mission and podcast is only 2% of women’s businesses break the million dollar mark and that stat, you know, outside of just like fundraising stats just blows my mind. You know, hopefully we can break those barriers and be an example for so many other women as they go on their own journey in building a business and making a massive impact.

[00:04:40] Maribel: Yes. All right. So let’s, let’s talk specifically about beeya. You have mentioned that it almost wouldn’t have happened if the two of you hadn’t, or it wouldn’t have happened if the two of you hadn’t come together. So how did you come together? 

[00:04:53] Yasmin: Yes, so Kaya and I are actually sister-in-laws, so we’re part of the family, but I don’t think we ever thought that we would ever partner up and create a business together until I was going through my own hormonal issues.

So just quick, high level. I’ve always dealt with horrible PMS from the age of 13, 14. Was on birth control for most of my life. And as you know, I wasn’t educated about birth control at the time, but it really shuts off your hormones. So for a good 20 years I felt good because I wasn’t really getting a period, everything was shut off and it wasn’t until I got off birth control, and this is when I knew Kaya.

Where my hormones went completely out of whack. Honestly, it came back with a vengeance even worse than how I was when I was 13. And I was going through my own health journey of figuring out how do I get to the root cause of making myself feel better and getting my hormones back into balance.

Because I think we, as women, we forget it controls every aspect of your life. So like how Kaya was mentioning, when you’re feeling off, you cannot show up to be that woman you wanna be to show up in your job, to show up in your career, to show up as a friend, a wife, a partner. And I wanted to make sure that I got to the root cause cuz I didn’t wanna live like this for the rest of my life.

So I met with different MDs and one of the things that she mentioned was seed cycling. And at the, I literally thought she was crazy. I listened to her and I was like, she’s literally telling me to eat seeds at different parts of my cycle. Like I completely didn’t even listen to her. I didn’t do it for two years.

Kay and I were on a drive to San Diego to see some family. I remember this day vividly, of course, time of the month. I’m complaining again, but I thought it was normal still at the time. I was like, Ugh, I’m on my period. I have horrible cramps. And she’s like, did you ever try that seed cycling thing?

Cuz she was in her masters learning more about it. We were in Covid. I had no excuse. I was home all day. I was like, you know what? Let me try this. I’ve heard about it enough, and long story short, it was literally game changing for me and both Kaya and I, you know, as you’ve seen so far in the interview, we’re just very passionate about helping women be their best selves.

And so much of that comes from health. So we’re like this magical protocol works, but how do we make it easier and accessible to women? And even above that, how do we educate women that they have the tools available to them to make an impact even if they don’t wanna use our product? So we’re both just so passionate around the education because we’ve both gone through our own journeys of not knowing what to do, and we don’t wanna rely on a pill or ibuprofen every month. So there’s just a different way to do stuff, and we just wanna be the voice for women out there that you don’t need to live like this and there’s so much you can do to just completely change your life and your hormones.

[00:07:37] Maribel: Well, and we are three women and three examples of women who say like, I just didn’t know, nobody ever talked to me about this. Right, I’ve shared with you that I was really excited to try beeya because I’m perimenopausal and I didn’t even know that was a thing, right? Like I remember my mom going through menopause.

But I don’t ever remember having a conversation with her about what that meant. Mm-hmm. and what I might expect when I went through it. It’s certainly not a conversation I’ve had with a broad spectrum of people, but once you start having that conversation, you realize how different it is for everyone and like mm-hmm.

the crazy array of impact that it could have on your body from like, just thinking clearly. Mm-hmm. , right? Like thinking clearly has an impact on your ability to do your job and just do things day to day. So we’re not just talking about typical symptoms that everyone’s heard of.

We’re actually talking about big things that happen in how you function and operate that nobody’s prepared you for.

[00:08:41] Kaya: Well, it brings up a good point that I don’t think most people, I certainly didn’t know that your hormones control every part of your health, your temperature regulation, your ability to gain weight or put on weight, your mood, how you show up day-to-day. We just always think of hormones like you said, oh, my mom’s going through menopause. Something with hormones, right? Mm-hmm. . Yep. But it’s actually, nope. We have hormones flowing in and out of our body day-to-day from the moment we’re born until the moment we die.

It’s very important. 

[00:09:11] Maribel: We have to normalize the conversations about it. Right. Exactly. With everybody. So going back to the core of beeya, which is seed cycling you didn’t invent seed cycling, right? Nor were you the first company to talk about the product. How did you yourselves in the landscape?

[00:09:29] Yasmin: We did see a few smaller companies create this protocol, but I think can K and I always had this vision of how do we continue to make it better? How do we continue to make it easy and accessible and create the best quality product? So something as simple as, as I was going down, as we were going down the research of how do we even ground these seeds cuz it’s essentially grounded seeds that you eat every.

Sounds very simple, but the process of freshly grounding seeds is not something that comes very easily. And why that’s important is because when you freshly ground the seeds, you have the oils in there which have the most potent nutrients, which ultimately can impact. Hormonal imbalances. So a lot of people are sourcing cold, milled, grounded seeds.

I know I’m getting a little technical, but that essentially strips out the oils and you don’t get that impact. So it was really important for us. Can I to really think about operationally, how do we create. This high quality product that is easy for women to do and make sure that we are creating a product of just so much integrity when somebody gets it.

So there’s a lot of love that goes into creating the product. And also we’ve optimized a protocol, so we’ve added additional ingredients like hemp seed and chamomile powder. And Kaya can go into some of the details of why, but just to make it more of a more optimal experience. And I think, again, like taking it one layer.

We wanna be outside of just our product because seed cycling is one element of what we wanna bring into this world. We just wanna be the hub for women to come to be able to learn about their bodies, learn about their hormones in a digestible way. Cuz as we all know, you know, I’m not in the medical field, there’s some things that d don’t resonate with me and we wanna just make it easy for people to digest.

So we just wanna be the one stop shop. For women everywhere where it comes to just learning about your bodies and education is really the pillar of beeya and why we’re doing what we’re doing. 

[00:11:21] Maribel: I love talking to entrepreneurs because it’s educational for me, right? Like whatever field you are in, whatever product it is that you developed and you sell even in the short conversation, right?

You’ve given us a fraction of the knowledge you had to garner to decide what path you were gonna take with the business and the product, and. A fraction of what I’m sure you read and went through and sampled. Right. And researched and explored. And so I think it gives people a really good sense of if this is a path you’re gonna go towards, so much time has to go into the research and education process at the beginning, before you’re even ready to establish what the business is gonna be and what it is you’re.

[00:12:01] Yasmin: Yeah. I love that. And one thing that comes to mind, is when we launched beeya, we weren’t sure if seed cycling was gonna resonate with women, right? It’s a little bit of a complicated process.

It’s more of a uphill product. There’s a lot of education involved there. A lot of women don’t know they’re dealing with hormonal imbalances. But we weren’t so tied to this product. We’re like, you know what? We’re gonna launch, we’re gonna do it very minimally. We did a very simple website just to see how it resonates, and if it didn’t work, we weren’t tied to that product because our mission was always in place of how do we serve women?

How do we get them to feel healthy? And if this doesn’t, We’ll figure something else out because there’s so many other ways we can support them. So I think when you’re launching a business, there can be so much pressure on you to get that product right, but it’s all about testing, putting it out there, listening to your customers, and pivoting along the way, which we’re always thinking and talking about from a business perspective, 

[00:12:49] Maribel: you mentioned, right, that you started building the community really first.

That was your first step. Was that partly because. You had the idea, you knew it was going to be time before you actually had production or would you have done it regardless? And, and what did that look like? . Yeah. 

[00:13:07] Kaya: I think as much as we are a company that sells a product, we are equally, if not more, an education hub.

And that was also always important to us, that we wanted to, we said, okay, eventually down the line we’re gonna provide this seed cycling product for women. But in the meantime, we have so much information that can help women right now like this. Second, I can go online, post something and this might be able to help someone.

So a big part of it was, Let’s get a newsletter out there. Let’s start a social strategy. Let’s start putting out, I think we were doing maybe one to two graphics a day in the beginning. Not as much video as we do now, but we just wanted to essentially be the education hub for women’s health. And there’s so many layers that go into it.

Seed cycling is one part of that, and it’s an impactful part of it. But at the same time, we just knew there’s so much more that we can offer women and we wanted to build that community. As soon as we could, and community is so important to Yasmin and I, mm-hmm. . We also wanted to build like a group of besties that were like all talking together and we all are like-minded and interested in the same things and we can bounce ideas off of each other.

So from the jump building a community was very important to us. What 

[00:14:18] Maribel: do you say to anyone who’s just like, no, why do you put all of that information out there before you even launch your product? Somebody can steal it. Somebody can go and they can start sharing it. Cuz I’m sure you’ve gotten that reaction.

[00:14:30] Kaya: Well, I tell ’em to go listen to Gary because we learned from him that more is more, is more like the more that education you put out there. And I’ve even applied this to. Full-time day job and it’s been transformational. The more that you give to people, the more they trust you, the more they wanna be a part of what you’re doing.

So I don’t wanna be a gatekeeper of anything. I want everybody’s health to be amazing. And at the end of the day, I think the more that you give to people, the more they just wanna be a part of what you’re doing. 

[00:14:58] Maribel: It’s also right a perspective on like how. There is out there, and really if you function from a place of there’s enough for everyone, you work against that fear of like, no, if I share that, somebody’s gonna take it and they’re gonna share it. It’s like, no, there’s enough. Right? There’s enough success. There are enough people that need to hear this message that we can’t possibly tackle it on our own. And it is great for all of us that more people are having this conversation.

So operating from a place of abundance rather than a point of 

[00:15:28] Kaya: scarcity. Absolutely. And also if they, if they take it great, take it like that’s wonderful. Maybe they’ll put their own perspective on it. But what they don’t have is me and Yasmin and we don’t have what they have. So the right people will find the right people.

[00:15:43] Maribel: my biggest piece of advice and most frequently shared piece of advice is just that. And along the same lines you’ve talked about the being a reflection of your personalities. And again, that sort of speaks to you something I hear all the time, which is like, I don’t want my face anywhere on this, like my.

Who I am personally is completely different from what this business is, but it is you. I can’t separate the business from the two of you. So talk to me about that. Was that an intentional decision? What do you think are the benefits of that? Are there hindrances to it? 

[00:16:16] Yasmin: like Kaya mentioned earlier in the interview, this is our baby.

It’s an extension of who we are. It’s not like this is a company and then a life like it’s so integrated in our day-to-day. And I think especially as a brand, and especially as a brand in wellness and health, customers wanna trust who’s behind it. All right. And Kaya I are so genuinely passionate about the mission.

That. I think when we show up on video camera podcast, our customers feel that it’s genuine and we’re ultimately here to only help them. So I think, at least for me, when I look at other brands, I’m like, who’s behind it? Is it a male running a business that’s supporting women? And you know, there’s nothing wrong with that, but I think I resonate more.

When I see a woman who I connect with, who’s gone through my journey and I wanna support them, and I’m all about supporting other women owned businesses. And I think actually a lot of women-owned businesses don’t show up and put their face forward. And I think that’s a disservice to showing what’s possible to inspiring other women to take the leave in the business and being the face of the brand.

And, you know, I think he and I, luckily we enjoy it. I think again, connecting with the customers is something. that Fuels us in what we do day to day. And you know, as we all know and people who are listening to the podcast, running a business, there’s a lot of highs, a lot of lows. And truly, every time I am questioning anything, I go back to our incredible community.

So when we show up as ourselves, we just continue to foster that relationship. And I think we even do that outside the business cuz we just, we truly care about people. . 

[00:17:41] Kaya: when it comes to health, you want to know if the person who’s giving you advice is walking the talk.

Yeah. Because. If they’re not, why the heck would you ever trust them? And I think it was always really important for us to show our community, Hey, we don’t have it all figured out, but we’re figuring it out now. We’re sharing what’s worked for us. We’re sharing what’s worked for people we know and we’re in this together.

And also on top of that, yaman, and I love talking about this stuff. Even when. It’s family time and we’re hanging out. We’re talking about beeya because we love it. We’re sharing tips with each other, wellness advice, and for me, I would just feel, I would feel FOMO if I wasn’t involved, if I wasn’t putting my face out there and connecting with the women who were a part of this.

Because I just, I absolutely love it. It’s what I think about 24 7. 

[00:18:29] Maribel: Love it. In what ways are you still building, and what ways do you feel like you are Flying. 

[00:18:34] Yasmin: Yeah, I can take a lead on that.

There’s so many, it’s such a good question. You. every day. And I feel so fortunate because we are a growing business, that when we set up even the operational systems, which is kind of what I’ve been so focused on starting out, because as we all know, as you scale, as your community builds, as you begin to sell, it can get very tough to support that.

And if you don’t have the right systems in place, it’s just not gonna be as enjoyable of an experience as an entrepreneur, and you won’t be able to make the larger impact that you want to make. Just thinking about, you know, how we’re still Flying and building. That is literally us every day.

And the system, I will say breaks all the time. , like for example, this past year, you know, we’ve only been around for a little over a year. The first year was like, all right, let’s see if this product works. And you know, we noticed mid-year, this is really resonating with women. And then it was like, how do we put the right systems in place to support it?

There was only so much that we can do as two people, right? To fulfill, to market, to grow, customer service, email. So it was all about how do we set up the right systems in place and hire, and now we’re at a point where, you know, everything was set up and we were building, but now we’re Flying again because we’re thinking about, all right, what’s the next phase of the business for us?

You know, that’s why we came to four Ds with your amazing team, we met you and so many other people, and Gary cuz now we’re thinking about. We’ve built, we’re Flying now. What’s the next step that we need a place to support that next growth. And you know, we need to also grow as individuals because there’s so much that we don’t even know that we’re learning all the time.

Building and Flying us doing this for a year and a half, I just feel like it’s gonna be the name of the game every single day. And it’s a beautiful problem to have cuz that means you’re growing. I don’t think we’re fearful of it. We just show up and try to do the best we can and learn from amazing people like yourself and the community around.

[00:20:24] Kaya: I also think, you know, Yasmin, you spoke about Pivot earlier, the idea of pivoting. We have a goal, we wanna help women feel their best. However that looks, if it changes in a year, we’re open. So even when it comes to our content strategy, everything Yasmin and I are both down. We’ll get on the phone and say, Hey, so it looks like this isn’t working anymore.

But I did see. , Gary talking about something else, this other strategy. What if we scrap everything we’re doing and then focus all on this and she’s like, I’m game. Let’s do it. So I think we are both down to pivot at any point. If one day we see women are not resonating with seed cycling, or there’s a better option, or there’s something else out there that’s more helpful, we’re gonna pivot to that thing. We just wanna do whatever’s working best for women in that moment. And so I think we’ll be Building While, Flying forever.

Perfect. 

[00:21:14] Maribel: Perfect takeaway. Right? So set a bigger objective, right? Set an objective that is bigger than. The product, the service, right? The combination of the product or service because it leaves room for pivoting. And then also if you are growth-minded, you will always be Building, While, Flying because you have to be thinking about what the next stage of growth looks like, and it is very rarely doing more of the same thing you’ve been doing.

Absolutely. Thank you both. This has been wonderful, a really great way for me to, to cap off this year. Cause I think this is the last interview I’m recording this year. But wonderful conversation. I look forward to continued conversation. I’ll tell you in a few months how I’ve been doing. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. 

[00:22:00] Yasmin: you. Thank you so much, much for having us. This was great. Such an honor to be here. Thank you for showcasing stories of entrepreneurs and everything that you do. It truly makes an impact, so we’re honored to be a small part of it with this show, and it was so much fun.

Thanks for joining us for Building While Flying today. I hope you learned as much as we did. We’ll meet you right back here next time for another flight.