Archive:
Today we’d like to introduce you to Rynda Laurel.
Rynda, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Thanks Voyage LA! Since this is about LA I wanted to start with the fact that I am a native Californian, having been born in San Francisco and grown up in Southern California. I’ve been influenced by the Summer of Love, Punk Rock Fullerton, Hollywood and the Sunset Strip, Sunny Santa Monica and Huntington Beaches, Green Valley Lake Mountains and most recently the calm of Joshua Tree! I’ve lived in all of the Southern California counties but would consider Hollywood the place I spent the most time, first moving there from Fullerton in 1987 and last living there full time in 2016. I still visit monthly and although I’ve lived in NYC, Paris and now Joshua Tree, I consider LA home.
I consider myself a Catalyst, Strategist, Speaker and Entrepreneur! Whew. I’ve had long career in the music, entertainment, brand, and online space where I still consult for a select number of clients and I just launched a wellness brand for mental health called VRYeveryday. Catalyst- I like to help people turn ideas into reality, sometimes that means taking a seed of an idea and helping to make it happen, and sometimes that means going to a person/brand etc with something they never thought of and helping them develop it. As a Strategist, I like to help existing projects expand reach by taking the core idea and finding new outlets for growth. As Speaker, I’ve spoken on a multitude of subjects and international events such as SXSW, MIDEM, DigitalLA, NYC Veg Fest and more. It’s important for me to give back so I am on the board for a number of non-profit organizations including Alliance For Addiction Solutions, Sweet Relief, and Charity Bomb. As for Entrepreneur, along with my consulting company, VRYeveryday has become my entire mission. We’ll talk more about that below!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The struggle is real. Early in my music business career I struggled with addiction and alcoholism. Working in the music industry made it more acceptable as a lifestyle but at 24, I hit a bottom and started on the journey of recovery. I was immediately supported by my family, friends and musical community and have been able to remain clean and sober since July 10, 1992 – over 27 years as I write this! I also struggled with clinical depression for many years and tried multiple modalities including medication to help figure out the solution. In the constant search to feel better, I have read a copious amounts of books and sat through a gazillion online courses (plus a few certifications), consulted with multiple doctors and therapists and health practitioners and 12 step sponsors and nutrition coaches and the list goes on and on…. and finally by using specific supplements and understanding how my diet was affecting my moods and modifying it, I was able to recover from my own mood and depression issues.
Of course, I continued to do all the things that kept me sober (community and spiritual connection) and mindful (yoga, meditation and breath-work) but with the addition of detailed functional medicine lab work, a fine-tuned nutrition plan and mood-balancing supplements, everything finally changed. It’s been three years off of medication and per the doctors (and even more importantly, my own day to day life) my clinical depression is in full remission and has been for over three years. I share this not only to help smash the stigma of addiction and mental health issues but also to explain what led me to launching a new company that addresses natural solutions for mental health. Enter- VRYeveryday.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the VRY everyday story. Tell us more about the business.
In January of 2018, I launched VRYeveryday, a wellness brand with a mission to help support emotional wellbeing, mental health, and biochemical recovery using nutrition supplements and various wellness modalities. We launched with five all-natural, vegan non-gmo formulas to support various body systems using amino acids, herbs, minerals, and vitamin co-factors to help with issues such as depression, anxiety, insomnia, “the hangrys” and overall mood balancing. It is important to understand this– everything we do works better if our bodies and brains are fed properly. It is my mission to help more people learn about all of the additional natural ways we can supplement the body and brain to become happy, joyous and free truly. It is now my life’s purpose.
I’ve been very thoughtful on our brand and my company. I wanted the product itself to be top-notch. I worked with a manufacturing company that has been around 50+ years. We created with formulas informed by the innovators in Mental Health Nutrition and Amino Acid therapy, Herbalists and Health Practitioners… I also wanted the product to look good and have a combination of scientific FDA compliant language mixed with bright desert colors, fun names and “the feels” on each formula (Feel Happy, Feel Alive, Feel Calm, Feel Relaxed, Feel Balanced) for simplicity.
We are dedicated to formulas that focus on mental health and emotional wellbeing. It’s an honor that the wellness and recovery communities specifically have embraced our mission. We work with a lot of people searching for natural solutions instead of pharmaceuticals and a number of Doctors and Certified Health Coaches have started to use the formulas in their practices!
VRYeveryday can be purchased directly from our website or found in Southern California at these great locations: Liberate Hollywood, Siesta Yoga (Hollywood), My 12 Step Store (West Hollywood) Brat (Santa Monica), Earths Elements (Encinitas, Hermosa, Big Bear) The End (Yucca Valley) and Grateful Desert (Joshua Tree).
If you’re reading this and own a business that might want to carry our products, or are a Health Care practitioner and would like to get trained and added to our recommendation page reach out!
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I call luck “the synchronicity gene mixed with magnetization” and yes, I have been REALLY lucky a number of times. Right place right time with a bit of what my friend Greg Dulli coined #SpookyBeingMe – but with the gumption and smarts to back it up. Here is my favorite:
In 2000, I was working for the kid’s division of Sony Music and I had an idea to do a children’s album with David Bowie. I was a department coordinator (low level in the company!) but none the less I put together the concept and asked my boss at the time if I could send it to David Bowie’s team and she said sure, why not? Neither one of us was expecting to get a call the next day from David Bowie’s manager saying he was just in the office the day before and mentioned wanting to do a children’s record and wanted to meet me. Is that Luck? Synchronicity? David Bowie magic!?! Fast forward and I did end up having a meeting with this creative genius, who during the meeting asked ME my creative ideas – what? It was a meeting I will never, ever forget! He ended up signing with Sony Music but alas, I didn’t get my kids record. I got some amazing moments with the incredible David Bowie, a great story, a raise, a bonus, a promotion and the satisfaction knowing I pretty much helped sign him!
There are many more stories like this, I have it happen all the time. My advice is if you have an idea – GO FOR IT. Be prepared, listen to the universe and you never know what you may magnetize.
Contact Info:
- Website:www.VRYeveryday.com. & www.AtRynda.com