We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nola Nicole Cremeans a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Nola Nicole, thanks for joining us today. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

I fell into cooking by accident. I ended up staying for the simple love of food and what it does for our souls. Feeding people became a passion and a joy. The ultimate expression of love.
Then I got sick and was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I struggled to maintain life’s pace in a body that seemed to be failing. I tried several job changes within the culinary field prior to giving up. My husband asked me to retire to become a stay at home mom. I spent a few years devastated that I had to be someone else. Someone fragile. Broken.
Fast forward to a couple years of being almost bedridden, very very miserable and desperate for a change or solution to feeling so sick all the time. I started cleaning up our diet as best I could on our small budget. My husband struggled to support our whole family on his own. We replaced one item at a time with organic/chemical free/dye free. We tried this and that. Eliminated things we knew weren’t optimal for our bodies. I’m by no means perfect! I’m still in this process.
Tempestuous Roots was born of that struggle to make things I COULD use without reactions. Things that wouldn’t cause a flare. I experimented and toiled and tested and remade until I made things that actually WORKED without chemicals and pharmaceuticals. If you can’t afford them, craft them!!! And so I did just that and when friends and family started telling me I had something to share. I did just that too.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m just a regular person teaching myself the art of herbalism and you can too! Don’t let people scare you away from herbs. Education is the key. Read. Research. Study. We need to rely on ourselves for our care! I learn. I make. I use. I share if it’s successful! I spend a lot of time reading and educating myself about how these things work and affect the body.
I already knew my way around the kitchen and had years of experience with fermentation and small scale food manufacturing for an organic company. I utilize the knowledge now to do things right. Small batch. Carefully crafted. Rigorously tested each batch to make sure it WORKS.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Tempestuous Roots started as a hobby to keep me busy during the “bed rot” years. Just a side gig to keep me from going insane. I started with wrapping stones in wire. I was absolutely horrible at it and had zero patience for it. I spent a whole year making that horrible stuff. And my friends kept buying it. I greatly appreciate them for that. 😂

Can you open up about how you managed the initial funding?

My husband lost his job last year in August while we were trying to buy a house. Out of the blue, barely any warning the company shut its doors. He paid all our bills up and handed me $454 and said “shoot your shot” and here we are a year and almost a half later.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.tempestuousrootsmarket.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tempestuousrootsfarms/profilecard/?igsh=MXhvbjdjdTQxZmpzMw==
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/NaB3PZKSxpYJgYpN/?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Image Credits

At Pete Is Super Cool-St Pete Sunday Market