We recently connected with Andrea Dershin and have shared our conversation below.
Andrea, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
Meet the woman who traded late nights in Beijing bars for early mornings with a cold-
pressed juicer – and never looked back. A lifelong wellness junkie with a knack for turning good
ideas into thriving businesses, she’s built a juice empire on Vancouver Island, one bottle at a
time. Equal parts entrepreneur, nutrition nerd, and community builder, her story is a wild,
globe-trotting adventure packed with resilience, hustle, and a whole lot of heart. Grab a green
juice and get ready – this one’s a goodie.
“At that time in my life, I was deep into studying nutrition, eating vegan, and living in NYC –
where the most glorious health foods were literally at your fingertips. I was drinking fresh juice
like it was my job and honestly, I’d never felt better. My energy, my motivation, my gut health…
I was thriving.
I bought myself a cold-pressed juicer and started making juice for my family, friends, and yoga
students. Before long, people were asking to buy it. Meanwhile, I was watching the health and
wellness space explode – this was back in 2012 – and I knew there was serious potential for
a business. It felt like one of those rare moments when timing, passion, and opportunity all
collide. And I thought, why not me?”
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’ve been obsessed with health, wellness, and figuring out how to feel my absolute best for as
long as I can remember. I grew up all over B.C. but eventually landed in Nanaimo, where I
finished high school and university with a business degree in hand.
After a year of traveling, I somehow ended up in Beijing, China – where I spent almost six years
running my first business: a café, bar, and events company. From there, I moved to NYC to be
with my now-husband and made a serious pivot from nightlife to wellness. I worked as the AGM
at Equinox Soho, studied nutrition at Cornell, and became a yoga teacher.
During that time, my husband was DJ-ing late nights and I was making cold-pressed juice early
mornings – basically my not-so-subtle way of getting him up, energized, and hanging out with
me and our kids. Soon I started bringing juice to my yoga students, and it didn’t take long to
realize I had something special on my hands.
When the time came to move back to my hometown of Nanaimo, I sold my shares in China and
was ready to pour my energy into something new. There wasn’t a single cold-pressed juice
company on the island, and the timing felt perfect. And here we are.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Ooooh – two come to mind.
First, back in Beijing, running a business as a twenty-something foreign woman took daily
resilience. I was navigating an entirely different culture, a very “wild west” business climate, and
doing it all on very little money. Most of the other entrepreneurs in the scene were guys. But I treated the whole thing like an adventure because honestly – what else could you do?
I had to learn Mandarin, carried around a cheat sheet of phrases (the first full sentence I mastered
was “please go clean the bathroom!” – priorities), and taught my team recipes through a combo
of miming and the handful of verbs I knew. We eventually opened a pizza place with live music
and beer pong (because balance) and had to have a brick oven custom-made. The day it was
delivered, we realized it didn’t fit through the doors. The delivery guys shrugged and left.
So, naturally, we knocked out the doorframe, took out bricks, hauled the oven in with a crew of
random workers we rallied off the street, and rebuilt everything in a matter of hours. Then bribed
the corner store guy to keep it quiet from the landlord. Very different business world.
Second – fast forward to Good Life and the pandemic. COVID was terrifying, but also the busiest
and most successful year we’d ever had. People wanted to stay healthy and shop local, and we
were ready. We already had online sales and delivery dialed in. But it was 2023, when consumer
spending shifted and sales dropped, that nearly broke me. I had to face my financials head-on,
get leaner than ever, and make some really tough calls.
There was a moment when I almost gave up. The stress was unreal. But I didn’t. I did the work,
learned what I needed to learn, and turned things around. And it felt so good.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
Connection and collaboration,.
From day one, we’ve had the best customers – people who genuinely care, show up for us, and root for us. Connecting with them, listening to them, and making them feel like part of our world has built the most amazing community. And we always aim to keep things real, honest, a little vulnerable, and a lot of fun.
And honestly? Collaboration over competition is my love language. I’ve made a point of building relationships with other like-minded business owners over the years. We lift each other up, partner on projects, and hype each other’s wins. It’s made the journey so much more joyful, and it’s good for business too.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.goodlifejuice.com
- Instagram: @goodlifejuice
- Facebook: @goodlifejuice
- Linkedin: Andrea Dershin
