We were lucky to catch up with Yvonne Mwaniki recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Yvonne , thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Listen, when my kids were younger they used to come home from school, either with symptoms that they picked up from someone being sick at school, or with a note to the parent, explaining that a kid in their class has a communicable disease or sickness. This always alarmed me and prompted me to take extra precaution with them, hence the birth of the tonics. I started with the immune support tonic, which at the time involved whatever citrus, herbs and honey we had at home. I made this for them, every single week, as part of their wellness regimen. That, with our healthy eating habits, kept them from getting sick. Soon my friends and coworkers started asking to buy some of that tonic, which helped them and their family members. Word got around in the community, and so i turned into a business.

Yvonne , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m Kenyan, born and raised! In 2001, a few days after 9/11, I moved from Kenya to Maryland to live with my mother and help her with the family business. Using herbs and eating healthy have been a part of my lifestyle since I was a child. My mother was an herbalist and a wholistic doctor, who made sure that our foods and drinks were all natural, organic and mostly plant based. When I moved to the U.S.A, though, I noticed that a lot of the popular foods and drinks were mostly processed and have added chemicals and preservatives that are unnecessary and not good for the body. Making the tonics helped improve what I felt that we were missing in our daily nourishment, and also made me feel closer to home, especially since i was incorporating what I grew up learning. All the tonics are named after the specific health boost that they target. They range from, skin tonic, detox tonic, energy tonic, immune support tonic, joint support tonic, sexual health tonic, sleep tonic, weight loss tonic, and weight gain tonic. They are specifically made with fruits, vegetables and herbs from Kenya that enhance the body’s overall health. The community has benefited from knowing that buying these tonics makes it convenient for them to get nourishment without having to compromise healthy eating, and/or get on the right track towards better health.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

In 2020, during the pandemic, the whole world came to a halt. Business included. It was scary, trying to navigate and having to pivot, and adhere to the new normal. Everyone’s health was supposedly at risk, and people were frantic and in shock. As far as business goes, it took quite a few months to get organized, so that I could do curbside, no contact tonic deliveries, and also figure out how to get shipment started, so that customers from all over the country could get their tonics safely. I did not give up, it was challenging but now more so than ever, people were starting to get even more serious about their health. The immune support tonic orders were coming in at a high rate. Despite not having enough inventory, because all the grocery stores were empty from people stocking up in fear of the worst, I made it work. I was not giving up on the community.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

When I started my business in late 2016, I was still considered an immigrant. Legal, yes, but still an immigrant. Meaning that some of the perks of being a business owner in America were not easily, if at all, available to me. It was a longer process applying for grants, which I didn’t even get. Also, banks and credit unions were more hesitant to loan me money for capital. This was discouraging but did not steer me away from moving forward, brick by brick, until i became successful. I used some of my minimal savings and started buying inventory, slowly, in small amounts, until i could make enough money selling those initial tonics, to buy more inventory. I had to scale back on any extra activities or shopping, just so that i can have a little extra saved from my part time job, to purchase all the items I needed. I also had help making tonics, running errands, doing inventory and deliveries, from my amazing children, Amu and Khaliqa, and that kept the profit rotating in-house.

Contact Info:

• Website: vonnatonics.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/vonnatonics
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/vonnatonics
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/vonnatonics

Image Credits
delenguyen.com