We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Selina Delangre. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Selina below.
Selina, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?
Our company Selina Naturally has its share of problems and issues. The one that is most recent is when Covid hit. I remember my daughter was in NY and she had just acquired her new Pilates Studio and she said, “Mom, have you heard about this virus that is going around?” I responded with a nonchalant “Oh don’t worry about it”. Within 2 weeks NY was going into shutdown. I thought this will only impact the big cities. To my surprise and millions of others, it impacted the entire world. Talk about uncertainty. Our Amazon orders came in at over $300,000.00 one Monday. This was over a 93% increase. Our lead time to get salt in from other countries was at least 4 to 6 weeks and having staff that had to be 6 ft. apart in production and shipping was almost impossible. I had such mixed emotions, thrilled about the increase in sales but totally freaking out about how we were going to pull this off. Watching for any updates to know what my responsibility was for my employee’s safety and praying none of us would get it. Was putting so much stress on all of us. I kept thinking this would be over soon, but as we all know this lasted over 18 months. I continued to pay my staff if they had to stay home due to a family member getting it or themselves getting it. Praying the salt would not run out which it did, and I paid my staff for staying home since there wasn’t inventory supplied to keep them busy. Every person in every department was on board helping each other out. I felt so much gratitude in the middle of so much fear and uncertainty. At the end of the day, we made it, and we are a stronger company because of it. This experience helped me to recognize the amazing team I have in our company.
Selina, 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?
I was introduced to sea salt at the age of 19 when I met my future in-laws. The stories they shared with me on the importance of having the right salt blew me away. It moved me to know that we are created with a similar composition to the earth. The fact that the earth is 70% water, and our bodies are 70% liquid, and that the elements in the Ocean water are similar to the liquid in our bodies captivated me. I am blessed and honored to now be the CEO of a 45-year-old brand of Sea Salt. “Celtic Sea Salt brand is one of the most recognized minerals salts in the world. I have spent the last 20 years researching the sea salts of the world to find the ones that most mimic our own composition which is balanced with Sodium, Chloride, Magnesium, Potassium, Calcium and other trace elements that are essential for our well-being. I have the intention to provide as much data to assure the benefits of the sea salts that are positioned under the Selina Naturally home of the Celtic Sea Salt brand are what the founder Jacques Delangre intended when he wrote the first book on sea salt “Sea Salts Hidden Powers.” Donna Gates, founder of The Body Ecology Diet says “to receive numerous healthy skin benefits from your daily salt intake pass up the saltshaker and instead use Celtic Sea Salt, a pure, chemical free, and it’s biologically active to give your body the essential minerals that it’s craving.
Jordan Rubin author of the “Patient Heal Thyself” and founder of Garden of Life says Celtic Sea Salt brand sea salts contain a high percentage of minerals and dense natural brine (sea water). This high moisture content is bioavailable.”
Dr. Thomas Cowan M.D. “Those imbalances must be corrected and maintained for the life of the patient. In practical terms, this means following the diet recommended in Sally Fallon’s book “Nourishing Traditions” with its emphasis on traditionally prepared whole foods, and the use of mineral-rich Celtic Sea Salt.”
David Wolfe author of the book “Superfoods” writes “Add a little Celtic Sea Salt (not ordinary salt which is a drug.”
John Salley “I love Celtic Sea Salt so much I don’t leave home without it.”
What I am most proud of is the confidence that these influential leaders trust in me to provide the best sea salt from all over the world.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
Celtic Sea Salt brand started in 1976. This was before the internet. This was before natural products were even considered to be better for your health. But this doesn’t mean we didn’t build relationships with influential people to build this brand. This is when education was through books and newletters. The first audience was the audience of Dr. Bruce West, Dr. Julian Whitaker MD, Dr. William Campbell Douglas MD, Sally Fallon Weston A Price, Donna Gates Body Ecology, and Dr. Christiane Northrup MD.
I remember recognizing how these leaders had so much power sharing the word that not all sea salt is the same and that they are recommending our brand in their newsletters and in their books. They would contact me and ask if I would pay them to write about Celtic Sea Salt in their books and we were so small then I didn’t have the means to do that. But what I did have is a newsletter called the “Grain of Salt” that went to over 80,000 subscribers and members. I would have these amazing professionals write for our newsletter and share so much valuable information on health and well-being. This was the way we built the brand and also gave a platform for them to reach more people.
These are just a few of so many that still to this day recommend our Celtic Sea Salt brand. I don’t take these relationships lightly. Every Christmas I send hundreds of large gifts to all of these amazing professionals to show them my gratitude for putting our name as a worldwide pantry essential. There is nothing that can replace authentic relationships with authentic people that really care about what they tell their audience to do or use. I pray on these people every morning in my prayers for their expansion on sharing the truth about ways to obtain health and happiness.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I was 20 years old when I had my first child, I was so confident I would give birth to a thriving healthy baby. But I was gifted with a son that was born with Cerebral Palsy and epilepsy. Little did I know this experience was to shape me into who I am today. Even though my son never spoke a word in the 28 years he was alive, he taught me more about being a person with compassion and empathy than anyone I have ever met. He taught me that there was no option to give up. Resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties and toughness.
When you are faced with the daily needs of a child that you have absolutely no experience with and no internet to search on the how-to’s that we have at our fingertips today, you tap into a supernatural resource that comes from God. And to do this and maintain happiness comes from the ability to surrender and trust that each day will offer solutions. I built this company with the intention to provide for my son and my two daughters. And to do this with as much integrity and gratitude as life would allow me to.
I extended this intention to provide for my employees and my customers. I learned so much from reading books and listening to tapes on how to better yourself every day. That the competition was to be better than I was the day before. I feel most resilience comes from the desire to be better and do better no matter what life has to offer. There are leaders that influence us to make more money and grow your company. But at the end of the day, my force came from spiritual leader Wayne Dyer, with quotes such as “You cannot always control what goes on outside, but you can always control what goes on inside.” Eckhart Tolle “All negativity is caused by an accumulation of psychological time and denial of the present. Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry, all forms of fear are caused by too much future, and not enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness and all forms of Non-forgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence.
Joe Dispenza “A memory without the emotional charge is called wisdom” and “To be empowered to be free, to be unlimited, to be creative, to be genius, to be divine this is who you are.”
Deepak Chopra “Every person is a God in embryo. its only desire is to be born.”
Rumi “Everything that is made beautiful and fair and lovely is made for the eye of one who sees.”
These are some of the words that I would put up in my attention as much as possible to remind myself that I am not alone and that there are people with words that can help you to see all experiences in a different way.
I wake up every morning and I pray to see the world through God’s eyes. And I pray to be a reflection of God’s power.
So, it is in the power of surrender that I find resilience. like the teacher Michael Singer shares about living from a place of Surrender. Not the surrender that is described as “cease to the resistance to an enemy or opponent and submit to their authority, but the surrender in trusting that God will always be there for you, you just need to get out of the way.
Find a method of meditation that will connect you to your higher self. This has proven to me to be the best form of resilience.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.celticseasalt.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/celticseasalt
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/celticseasalt
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/celticseasalt/
- Twitter: @CelticSeaSalt
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/celticseasalt