We recently connected with Yasmin Donkor and have shared our conversation below.

Yasmin, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Covid has brought about so many changes – has your business model changed?

When the covid pandemic first occurred in the United States two years ago, I had just entered into my 5th year of being the CEO of Essence Of Vitality, which was originally founded by my father, Dr, Harry J. Quao Donkor in 1996. At the time, I did have some concerns on how the pandemic would impact our business, as most of our suppliers and distributors are small business establishments. Many similar to ours, are mom and pop shops that are owned by second generation family members. Fortunately, in amidst of all the uncertainty and change that occurred in all businesses throughout the pandemic, we experienced an extreme influx in customer demand with our line of products. Thousands and thousands of people in this country became more interested in homeopathic remedies to maintain a good immune system during all the variant spikes of covid from your apple cider vinegars, elderberry extracts, echinaceas, sea mosses, etc. This not only drove up the demand from the existing clientele, but also attracted new clientele to all of our distributors’ health food stores and wellness establishments. We even had a few celebrities and influencers randomly do videos on Instagram and Facebook about how much they loved our products and what all it has done for them, which also was another factor into our demand going up. Although this was a huge blessing for our business, we had to pivot our existing business model in a new direction to keep up with the customer demand that was growing at a substantial rate. This also introduced a small imposing issue – our main packaging suppliers had extended lead times (anywhere from 9-18 months) on the bottles, jars, and lids that we would purchase from them to pack and distribute our liquid tonics and capsules in. This was due to many of the supplying companies within the medical fields trying to obtain the same packaging containers as we used for their industry – looking back, I chuckle at the thought that little me was going neck and neck with some big wolf companies in a bidding war over bottles, but that was the reality I was facing. I immediately started researching on other container and packaging companies that I could purchase from until my regular go-to’s were back in stock. Fortunately, I found a few who I could purchase our bottles and packaging supplies from, however, to cut down on the cost of having these goods shipped to us – which were astronomical numbers that would have cut into our profits a good bit, I would make solo trips out of state, sometimes up to 12 hours round trip, a few times a month in my car to pick up our supplies. At times, this would be extremely draining on my body, however, like my dad, I take huge pride in our business and our work ethic in terms of ensuring high-quality in everything that goes into and on every particle of our products – I believe that characteristic keeps me going at 100 % for our business and has helped with the change in our business model in these times especially.

Yasmin, 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 Yasmin Donkor and for many who do not know about me, I am the current CEO of Essence of Vitality, manufacturer of 100% all organic herbal detox tonics and capsules. Essence of Vitality was founded originally by my father, Dr. Harry J. Quao Donkor in 1996 when we had moved to Atlanta, GA. What sets us apart from many other detoxes in the health and wellness industry, is that the formulas for our line of products, have been in our family for several generations, originating from my dad’s home country in Ghana, West Africa. However, it was my dad who turned it into the business that it is today because of his vision of helping all of humanity into a greater path of health and wellness. I grew up with this company as I was barely five years old when my dad had founded Essence of Vitality. I was under my dad’s wing constantly when it came to our business, and I am a proud daddy’s girl through and through. I remember doing administrative work for him before I was even in fifth grade and attending many business meetings and demos where I was quietly observing the interactions and environments that we were in. My dad was always adamant about me being present and watching every transaction performed with our business, as he knew one day I would be in charge and would need to the fluid in the ins and outs. As a child, this felt like a lot to me but the older I became, I began to appreciate this blessing and opportunity to work under one of the greatest teachers and influencers of my lifetime. I learned so much because of my dad – I take his teachings and apply it into everything I do with our business from the behind the scenes with manufacturing and production to delivering to our distributors’ and interacting with our clientele. What makes me proud the most is continuing his work and our family’s legacy by providing the best quality and maintaining good ethics.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

What helped build my reputation within our market, was all because of my dad. As a child and into my adulthood, he always made sure that I was right by his side and involved in all of the activities in our business, including deliveries to our clientele. When I took over as CEO in 2015, it was a smooth transition for the most part since majority of our suppliers and distributors had known me from my childhood.

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

Despite Essence of Vitality being around for over 20 years, our social media platforms are still very new. This is because Essence of Vitality was founded in a time where social media didn’t exist and being that my dad was of an older generation, it never seemed like a necessity for him to have social media platforms for the business aside from the website in his 19 years of being in charge. In 2013, I had created Essence of Vitality’s first facebook business page, which is still current and has a great audience. In 2018, after rebranding the appearance of our business (products and ingredients still remain the same to this day) I had then created an Instagram business page under Essence of Vitality which on there, we also have also have a strong audience. I find in the health and wellness industry, especially with ours that you do not always have to post flashy images with cool captions all the time like many other industries in clothing, retail, food and beverage do since it is a separate domain where the needs for customers are also different. Word of mouth is a very powerful tool, and that is what continues our growing reputation and demand. I would advise anyone who is just starting to build their social media presence to know their audience first, whether it be for their own personal brand or company’s products – knowing who your audience is and what they are looking for is the best guide for proper marketing and advertising.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://eov4.me
• Instagram: _eov4me
• Facebook: Essence of Vitality LLC
• Twitter: eov4me

Image Credits
Kimberly Simone Leslie Orta Akeem Hill