I met Rosie and Alice in a healthy café in Chelsea. Together they founded supplement brand Equi, born from their own experiences with city living. Their brand is refreshing, mainly because it actually makes a difference to people’s lives, and when used daily – you’ll feel healthier in three to five days!
I don’t know what I expected, but the girls are lovely, they bounce off each other perfectly, often finishing each other’s sentences and making jokes at each other’s expense. Their attitudes about health are eye-opening and motivating. Admitting to a burger and a drink every now and again, they sat down to chat with me about how it all began and how we all struggle with symptoms that we don’t even know we have.
The backstory behind the business:
“Alice and I are very old friends, we’ve been best mates for over twelve years and met at University, which is giving our age away there haha, I studied economics at Uni and went straight to working at big investment banks and hedge funds, primarily client facing worlds. The work week was pretty insane and I was always trying to be as healthy as I could. And, I was still starting to really feel the side effects of that crazy lifestyle.” – Rosie
“I studied biomedical sciences and wanted to be a doctor, but ultimately decided that that approach wasn’t really right for me. Having always been interested in nutrition, I wanted to go and learn more about the nitty gritty science behind why it can help your health so much. So I went and did that, after University, doing another three-year degree and then set up my clinic in Harley Street. I’ve been practicing there ever since, seeing people for a variety of reasons. Though diet always does come first, I have witnessed the power the right supplements can have on people’s health and I’ve also seen what works.” – Alice.
Why they chose supplements:
The story behind the supplements, Rosie explained, came from her decision to come off the pill in order to start a family. When she stopped taking the pill she got bad acne, and she knew she didn’t want to go to the doctors and be prescribed medication. Luckily, having Alice as a best friend meant that they could sit down together and Alice could prescribe her some pretty hefty supplements.
The supplement regime really worked, helped clear her skin but also gave her more energy than she’d had in years, kept her mind focussed at work, her digestion was great, she was sleeping better- she felt amazing. But Rosie found they were a lot to take around with her, and quite expensive, and even though they really worked, both Alice and Rosie wondered if there was an easier way to bring prescribed supplements to people who might need them.
“The products that I’d recommend come in white boxes with an indiscriminate label, you wouldn’t know what you’d need to take or even have access to them without having seen a practitioner and buying from a specialist website, but they work. There are ingredients when in the right form, really make a difference. We wanted to bring these effective ingredients to the market, brand it beautifully and make it understandable for people so it takes all the confusion out of supplementation. So they can just buy it and know that what they’re getting is all they need in one scoop and crucially, they work. There are so many products on the market that have big claims but often don’t deliver and we knew there was a gap for products like ours.” – Alice.
How it works:
“When you open up the body, everything’s connected. Everything works together. So your hormones are linked with your digestion. Your immune system’s linked with your adrenals or stress levels, your immunity is linked, your mental health has a huge impact, as does your detoxification. All these systems need to be in balance for you to look and feel your best, and skin, for example, is a big indicator of how you are functioning internally. So what the products do is they go in and work to support absolutely everything on a really deep level.” – Alice.
“And what’s so interesting is though we all have these internal systems and they’re all interconnected, as Alice said, imbalances in one will have a knock-on effect on the others and cause further imbalances – which, because we all have our own different biological makeup, will manifest on the surface in different ways for each of us. So for me it was acne, for you, it could be migraines, or it could be bloating, or frequent colds, or low energy, or poor concentrations…you know we’re all different. That’s why these products work for everybody, they kind of go below that manifestation and feed you at your core.” – Rosie
There are two supplement packs available, both of which give you your daily multi-vitamin and minerals, probiotics and digestive enzymes, therapeutic superfoods, powerful nutritious herbs, and omegas, so they are all-in-one products meaning you don’t have to take any other supplements when using them.
Beautiful which contains collagen, resveratrol, hyaluronic acid, silica and zinc to give you a clear and glowing complexion, and Fundamental is a general wellbeing blend but has extra support for busy stressed out people. Both will give you a massive energy boost and help you feel well again (even if you didn’t know your symptoms were because of a deficiency).
On how to find balance:
“We’re all about balance, Equi does mean balance and not in a namaste way, it’s about having a perfectly balanced supplement but also a balanced life. You can grab the salad at lunch rather than the burger, but these products almost give you that insurance, knowing that if you knowing that if you do have a couple of glasses of wine with friends, you’ve done everything you need from a supplement perspective and have got something to give you a good hit of nourishment the next morning.” – Rosie.
“Ultimately we are not about restriction or depriving yourself. Rosie and I are not like that, we work hard, go out and enjoy ourselves and don’t feel bad about it.” – Alice.
Use the code EQUICGD20 on Equilondon.com to get 20% off!
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