Today we’d like to introduce you to The Herb Girls Eileen & Amy.
Hi Eileen & Amy, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Eileen: We met when I was still in herb school in Asheville. My now husband kept telling me about his friend Amy who was also really into herbs. Obviously, I had to meet her. I came to Athens for a show at Live Wire and that was the first time we met! I remember being mesmerized by Amy’s energy and we even talked about her idea to start a custom spice blend business.
Amy: Soon after we met, Eileen moved to Athens and we found not only did we have so much in common, but we both loved talking about holistic healing. At the time, I was working at an acupuncture clinic and we decided to start hosting workshops. From there, we started making products, got into local stores, and now we’re most excited about our online course offerings.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
We’ve had a lot of support from our community, friends, and family – however, it hasn’t always been easy. While trying to market our products, we’ve had a steep learning curve on the FDA regulations and how inaccessible reliable information is in the United States. So we’ve made it a mission to educate our community on the foundations on herbalism that can get lost in Google searches. Another challenge is sourcing high-quality herbs in the US, unfortunately, we don’t have the reverence as other countries for these powerful plants. Lastly, you probably guessed it, Covid. We were doing primarily in person workshops, conferences, and classes but after lockdown people have been slow to come back. So we had to adapt and found ourselves absorbing all the information we could on how to educate online. We persevered and created our signature course, Dump The Detox. We offer this a few times and year and will be launching it again this Spring!
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We are known for our down-to-earth & accessible approach to health. The education and training we share is unique in that we apply the foundations of herbalism with prometabolic nutrition. Since dysregulation caused by stress sits at the root of so many issues today, our ultimate goal is to improve our community’s resiliency to stress while also restoring connection to our body’s design. It’s so beautiful to see things fall into place when our start slowing down and listening to their body’s needs.
On the business side of things, our focus has been on our tasty herbal product line (loose leaf teas, adaptogenic powders, matcha, etc.) and online courses. Our online course platform, Herb Girls Academy, has been such a gift to create and we are having so much fun building it out to provide even more class offerings. Additionally, we’ve already begun planning more in-person classes and workshops in 2022!
We are most proud of our adaptability and perseverance through so many changes over the past few years. Also, mastering reels, because keeping up with the latest dance trends is not for the faint of heart!
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
In a time where people are fighting to be heard, our most important characteristic is the ability to listen. Listening to our community and clearing up any confusion around misinformation. Listening to individuals feeling fed up with less integrated ways of thinking and how to better serve them. Listening to each other and speaking openly. That last one might be the true ticket to our success. A mentor once told us the ships that sink are partnerships, but that we took that and turned it into motivation. Being in a partnership is both incredibly rewarding but also requires a lot of time, communication, and diplomacy – especially with two different but complementary people. But there’s no other person we’d rather be sailing the entrepreneurial seas with.
Contact Info:
- Email: getting.herby@gmail.com
- Website: herbgirlsathens.com
- Instagram: @herbgirlsathens
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HerbGirlsAthens
Image Credits:
Nancy Evelyn,UGA
