We recently connected with Kimberly Smith and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Kimberly , thanks for joining us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?
I love telling the story of our name. It just came to me in such an organic matter. I was trying to think of descriptive words that described myself and my Mom (she and I launched U + R together).
What kept popping up was upbeat, since my mom and I tend to have a positive outlook on things and are very peppy! :) We changed the spelling of beat to beet so that it played on our vegan brand.
We chose the word Rooted for many reasons. We are rooted in our beliefs of veganism, rooted in our family, rooted in our community, and rooted is also in the ground, so it symbolized feeling grounded and always staying true to who we are.
That’s how Upbeet + Rooted was born!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I became vegan many years ago and became super fascinated with finding new vegan brands on the market. The vegan market is changing every day and more and more products are coming out that are plant based/vegan and it’s exciting because I can eat them!
Being vegan is very important to me and it’s also super important to my mom. We decided to create a community where vegan, plant-based, and cruelty-free lifestyles come together to live out our mantra “do no harm” through thoughtfully hand-picked foods, products, and goodies from small businesses across the country.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
I hope that all of the brands I have worked with or corresponded with could feel my passion and excitement for whatever their product may be. I worked with brands I believed in and loved. I was authentically myself and love spreading the vegan word!
How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?
I try to stay in touch with different brands, founders, etc on social media, mostly. I feel like I made a TON of new friends on social media from starting this business.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.upbeetandrooted.com
- Instagram: @upbeetandrooted
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/upbeetandrooted
- Linkedin: www.LinkedIn.com/kimberlysmith
- Twitter: @upbeetandrooted