We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Chelsee Joel a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Chelsee, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

I’m someone who’s always struggled with mental health. In creating Conscious Seed, I sought to aid the mental health of myself and others. As I discovered how incredible plant medicine is, I just had to share what I learned with every page I turned. So I set out to create tinctures and other consumable remedies, first testing them on myself and my partner. But having them potent and pure wasn’t enough. I had taken tinctures in the past and always hit the same roadblock; even if they worked very well, they tasted awful. That made it hard for me to appreciate the effects. So, my tinctures, my herbal remedies? They had to be delicious, too. No shivers up the spine, no wincing faces, just delicious, powerful medicine.

Chelsee, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Chelsee, and I’m a 30-year-old herbalist and entrepreneur in the wild world of wellness. I’ve studied herbalism, nutrition, and alternative healing modalities for over 10 years. Over this time, I’ve wanted my life’s work to intersect with people, the planet, and plants. I entered my line of work to offer herbal remedies that emphasize the importance of mental wellbeing and empower people to nourish their nervous systems. I wanted to create products that bridge the gap, allowing herbalism to be easy, accessible, and potent. There are so many products out there these days, so as a squiggly-brained person who gets overwhelmed easily, I wanted to create remedies that taste delicious, are easy to use and travel with, and deliver quick results. With my focus in herbalism being on nourishing the nervous system, nervines are the primary plants we use in our formulas here at Conscious Seed.
I’m most proud of my commitment to growing Conscious Seed. Keeping up with industry standards and wearing all the hats as a woman-owned business is exhausting. Still, I’m committed to growing my brand because I get to connect, share, teach, and immerse myself in the realm of plants. Knowing the remedies and my countless hours of work and study can help many people is super rewarding.
My dream with Conscious Seed is to support people in feeling good mentally, emotionally, and spiritually with the support of plant allies. The plants in our herbal remedies will help you slow down and become more mindful of the things that matter most.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Around the age of 21, just after marriage, I took on the challenge of co-owning and operating a busy little cafe that my mom had established as a sister location to her full-fledged Italian dinner restaurant. We discovered my younger sister had developed cancer, so my mom needed serious help. I had always been around environments and businesses like this, so I wasn’t uncomfortable- until about 6 months passed, and my brain started buzzing. My sister showed improvement in her diagnosis, and I became enamored with an idea. I would take this traditional cafe serving coffee, pizza, and sweets- and change everything. No more bad ingredients, no more filling, fruitless carbs. It would become an organic Juice Bar/Cafe with proper, nourishing food, fantastic espresso, amazing smoothies, raw vegan treats, cold-pressed juices- the works. Working with my mom and my partner, the three of us successfully transformed the cafe into what I had been dreaming up. Ultimately leading me to the next great pivot- discovering my love for helping people nourish themselves.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

My whole life, I’ve wanted to become a creative entrepreneur, like my parents and grandparents. My first few jobs were with small women-owned companies- when I wasn’t working with my parents in one of their creative endeavors. In a sense, “making your own way” is all I know. All the examples in my life have been like this, business from the ground up. Early in my life, I put in long hours with no breaks and said yes to every opportunity. Quickly adopting unhealthy, capitalistic work habits. I understood that working long and hard equaled success, and like others before me, I took it a little too far.
After my burnout in 2018, when I sold my first business (we practically gave it away due to a horrible lease agreement), I promised myself to do the hard work of unlearning these habits, or whatever you call them- the behavior which inhibits our innovation. It’s taken me years to overcome patterns of overworking/stressing about every little thing, and it’s still a process in motion. The older we get and the more we learn about ourselves, the more we can tend to. As a result of diving into this, however, this business was born. Conscious Seed embodies my desire to support my body through everything life presents.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.consciousseedapotheca.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conscious.seed/