We recently connected with Najee Ellerbe and have shared our conversation below.

Najee, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

Everybody’s Juice started as a passion project but was born out of a personal health journey that truly transformed my life. It all began in January 2016, during what was supposed to be a fun birthday trip to Lake Tahoe. I ended up catching the flu and spent the entire week in bed, curled up in the fetal position. That flu lingered for an entire month, leaving me weak and drained. As a way to reset, I decided to go on a six-day juice cleanse. Slowly but surely, I started regaining my strength—I could walk up a flight of stairs without getting winded, and my appetite returned. That cleanse sparked my curiosity about health and wellness.

Growing up in a certain part of DC, there weren’t any juice bars or health shops around. I realized that this type of information—how food and nutrition can really heal us—wasn’t readily accessible in Black and Brown communities, where it’s needed the most. So, what started as a personal passion turned into a business by 2019.

Fast forward to 2021, and life threw me another curveball. I contracted Covid. While the initial bout was manageable, the long Covid symptoms got the best of me. I couldn’t sleep, my stress and anxiety were through the roof, and I was losing weight. After a weekend of only six hours of sleep over 48 hours, I knew something wasn’t right. I went through a slew of tests, including an EEG, which came back fine, but I was prescribed clozapine to help me sleep. While I took the medication, it didn’t quite make me feel like myself again.

I kept pushing—saw different doctors, did all the right things with my diet—no alcohol, no processed foods, vegan diet with fiber, but still, something was off. Eventually, I turned to a holistic doctor who introduced me to ashwagandha. I had my hormones checked, and it turns out my testosterone was extremely low. Ashwagandha changed everything for me. It helped lower my stress, recalibrated my sleep-wake cycle, and naturally boosted my testosterone levels. Over time, I started feeling like myself again, getting solid sleep, having the energy to work out, and just enjoying life more.

That experience reshaped the mission of Everybody’s Juice. We’re here to make people more aware of how stress, anxiety, and hormonal health impact overall wellness. Even when you’re doing everything right with your diet, you can still feel off balance, and it could be your hormones. We’re bringing this knowledge and these tools to the community because we’ve lived it firsthand.

These issues are deeply important to me because I’ve lived through the struggle of feeling like something was wrong, even when I was doing everything “right.” Health and wellness go far beyond just eating clean and exercising; there’s a much deeper connection between stress, sleep, hormones, and overall well-being that most people, including myself, don’t fully understand until they experience it firsthand.

When I contracted long Covid, it was one of the most difficult periods of my life. I wasn’t just physically tired; I was mentally exhausted, anxious, and frustrated because nothing seemed to be working, even though I was following all the typical health advice. I saw doctor after doctor, but none could pinpoint why I was feeling so off. It wasn’t until I started exploring the role of hormones, stress, and anxiety—along with holistic approaches like ashwagandha—that I began to understand the bigger picture of health.

This experience made me realize that there’s a gap in the way we approach wellness, especially in communities like mine. Growing up in DC, I didn’t have access to resources like healthy juice bars or shops. So many people in Black and Brown communities are doing their best to stay healthy, but the information about things like hormone balance and stress management just isn’t as accessible.

I’m passionate about sharing what I’ve learned because I’ve been through the confusion, frustration, and hopelessness of not feeling like yourself, even when you think you’re doing everything right. Everybody’s Juice exists to help bridge that gap—bringing real, practical solutions that address not just the symptoms, but the root causes of stress, anxiety, and hormonal imbalances. These aren’t just wellness buzzwords for me—they’re key pillars to living a balanced, healthy life, and I want to make sure others can access the tools and knowledge to feel better too.

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’m born and raised in Washington, DC, and my journey has taken a few unexpected turns to get me where I am today. I earned my undergrad degree in Public Relations from Virginia State University, then went on to receive my MBA in Business Administration from Georgetown University. Initially, I had big dreams of working in the sports industry, which I did for a short time with Monumental Sports & Entertainment, the parent company of the Wizards, Mystics, and Capitals. But after a year, my path shifted, and I found myself in the health and wellness space almost by mistake.

Everybody’s Juice started as a personal passion but has evolved into something much bigger. Our mission is to provide care for historically stigmatized health issues like sexual health, mental health, and sleep. These are areas that often don’t get enough attention, especially in Black and Brown communities. We focus on natural products—like maca root, ginseng, and ashwagandha—that help manage stress, improve sleep, and support sexual health.

One thing that sets us apart is the personable approach we take with our customers. We understand that topics like mental health or sexual health can be sensitive, so we aim to make our community feel comfortable by keeping it light and approachable. We’re here to provide real, natural solutions without judgment.

In 2024, we’re arguably more stressed than any generation before us. With everything going on in the world—daily traumas, sleepless nights, and testosterone levels at their lowest in 40 years—it’s clear that people need support now more than ever. That’s why we’ve expanded into supplements. Everyone deserves access to tools that help manage stress, improve sleep, and optimize health naturally, and that’s the problem we’re solving for our community.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Building an audience on social media was definitely a learning process for me. Naturally, I’m a bit of a jokester—I like to have fun, laugh, and not take things too seriously. But early on, I made the mistake of trying to be too much like the other wellness companies I saw out there. I thought I had to fit into a certain mold to be taken seriously. After about two years of trying to force it, I realized I needed to inject more of my own personality into my content.

Once I started creating content that reflected who I really am, things began to click. I began mixing in pop culture references, doing funny skits, and using the same kind of humor I’d use in everyday conversations with friends. This approach helped people connect with our message in a more natural, relatable way. It’s kind of like “putting the medicine in the candy”—we’re tackling serious topics, but we’re doing it in a way that feels approachable and light.

Especially with sensitive subjects like erectile dysfunction or vaginal dryness, I wanted people to feel like they’re not alone. By telling stories in an entertaining way, we create that sense of community, so folks know they’re not the only ones going through it.

For anyone just starting out, my advice is this: it’s okay to be inspired by what you see, but don’t be afraid to stand out. Let your personality shine through your content, because that’s the only way to really connect with people and build something unique. Standing out means being yourself, and that’s how you’ll resonate with your audience in the long run.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

A story that really illustrates my resilience happened back in December 2019. I had just signed a contract to start selling my juice in Capital One Cafés across multiple locations here in DC—a huge moment for me and the business. But at the same time, I was facing foreclosure on my house, which I had just purchased in May 2018. It was a situation where I had to make a difficult choice: do I pay my mortgage and stay afloat personally, or do I order the materials I needed to fulfill the orders from this new contract?

I made the executive decision to prioritize the business and order the materials, even though it meant missing my mortgage payments for December and January. It wasn’t an easy choice, but it felt like the right one for the future of Everybody’s Juice. Thankfully, I was able to make up for it with high sales in January and February 2020, which helped me get back on track financially.

This isn’t a dramatic barn burner of a story, but it was a real, pivotal moment for me. I had just become a new homeowner, and I had to gamble on my business to keep it growing. That experience taught me the importance of trusting my gut and betting on myself, even when the risks are high.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://everybodysjuice.com
• Instagram: @everybodysjuice
• Facebook: @everybodysjuice
• Youtube: @everybodysjuice

Image Credits

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