IAM095 – Nutritionist Creates Superfood Blends with the Same Formula that Healed Her

Ashley is the CEO and Co-founder of SUTRA, healing superfood latte powdered blends. Prior to running SUTRA, Ashley suffered from a chronic disease that left her bedridden. In her quest for health, Ashley became a Certified Nutritionist, and create SUTRA blends using the same healing superfood formula that brought her from sickness to remission.

• CEO Hack: Morning routine balancing diet (green juice and SUTRA), body (yoga & meditating) and mindset (gratitude list-10 things grateful for without repeating)
• CEO Nugget: Cool your jets. Stop pushing so hard.
• CEO Defined: Solving a problem. Remember you created your business to help people.

Website: https://www.sipsutra.com/
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/ashleystrommen/

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Transcription:

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:27

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO Podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Ashley Strommen of SUTRA. Ashley, it is awesome to have you on the show.

Ashley Strommen 0:37

Thank you so much. I'm happy to be here.

Gresham Harkless 0:38

No problem, and happy to have you here. And what I wanted to do was read a little bit more about Ashley so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. And Ashley is the CEO and Co-founder of SUTRA, a healing superfood latte power food blend. Prior to running SUTRA, Ashley suffered from a chronic disease that left her bedridden. In her quest for health, Ashley became a Certified Nutritionist and created SUTRA blends using the same healing super formulas that brought her from sickness to remission. Ashley, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

Ashley Strommen 1:08

Absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 1:09

Awesome. Let's do it. So the first question I had was just to hear I guess a little bit more about your CEO story. And what led you to start your business?

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Ashley Strommen 1:15

Absolutely. So, as you read in my bio, I was very, very sick. I had a chronic condition, which I found out years later was Lyme disease as well as Heavy Metal Poisoning. But I lost brain function. I wasn't able to speak or understand words, people were saying to me, and I was in so much pain that I couldn't physically walk anymore. And it was really, really bad. I said 30 Plus specialists. If not more, nobody could give me any answers. And I finally found a naturopath that ran the correct tests and told me what was wrong.

So, at that point, I started studying and realizing the correlation between diet and lifestyle, and disease. And I realized I was getting everything wrong, everything I'd been doing. And so I cut out gluten and dairy and sugar and caffeine. And once I did that everything started to change, I got a lot better. I still wasn't 100%. And so that's when I started to dig a little bit more.

And I started to become a nutritionist myself, and I found superfoods. And once I started integrating superfoods into my diet, I was at 100%. And like I am right now, but you know, and so I was really great. And when I looked at the market, there were a lot of products out there. But they weren't healing. They weren't restorative and they weren't energizing. And mostly they were terrible. So, I knew that I needed to create it, but I couldn't find it.

Gresham Harkless 2:25

There you go. So, obviously, in a true entrepreneurial form, you created kind of something that not only helped you out but also sounds like I can help out some other people that might be going through something similar. So, I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper and hear a little bit more about like what you're doing with SUTRA.

Ashley Strommen 2:38

Yeah, so these are my sutras specifically becoming an independent individual packet. So, they're super easy to use. We have two different flavors, but they're basically just blends of superfoods. So, instead of saying maybe cacao is right, for me, I blend it all up, so it's a lot easier to use.

So, our first one is our cacao latte. And it tastes like hot chocolate or cookies and cream depending upon how you make it. And it works to detox the body and give you natural energy. And then our second one is gold. And it tastes like a chai latte or Tumeric milk. If you've had that before, it's actually incredible, a little bit spicy, and it works to lower inflammation and boost your immunity.

And you can make both of them either hot or iced or even throw them into smoothies, which I do all the time. But really the point is, we wanted to make it really convenient and on the go. So, if you're at work, you can use it. If you're on a flight, you can use it. If you're sitting at home, something is just really delicious. Instead of heading to Starbucks and getting something that is super terrible for you. We wanted to provide something that's a lot better.

Gresham Harkless 3:36

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And I imagined like we even talked about before we started to do this interview that a lot of people are always on the go, I myself am always on the go. So, sometimes we end up at Starbucks or ended up at places that we don't want to end up. So, it's great. It sounds like having that kind of like on the go packet so that you're able to kind of be healthy, but at the same time get the energy boost that you need.

Ashley Strommen 3:57

Exactly. It's one thing to say I want to eat better, I want to drink better. But if you don't have something to actually do, so you can't help yourself, you're just at the mercy of what's around you.

Gresham Harkless 4:08

Right, it makes perfect sense. Awesome, awesome, awesome. Now I want to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. And this might be something that you feel kind of distinguishes you or sets you apart. But do you have an example for you or your organization that kind of makes you unique?

Ashley Strommen 4:20

I do for SUTRA. Yeah. So, when I first started looking at what's on the market currently, first of all, I know that everybody needs energy. That's our reality. We live a crazy, crazy, lifestyle that's super busy. So, we need energy, but we can have natural energy instead of stimulant-driven energy that is actually fake and doesn't help us work really well. And so that's what superfoods give you.

So, that's kind of number one. And then number two, most of the drinks out there, even if they're healthy coffee alternatives, and I'm using quotes here because it's just complete crap. They're filled with sugar. And so we use stevia which is a natural plant-based sweetener. That's super good for you and it's safe for diabetics. People with Lyme disease like me who can't have sugar. As well as people that practice keto and Paleo Diet vegan. And so those are really the two things that make us completely different than anybody else out there.

Gresham Harkless 5:06

That makes perfect sense. And I guess for a lot of people that are always on the go, there's more of those other products out there. Is that correct insane or is it kind of like the opposite? It's kind of like whatever you grab, you think will actually help you, I'll give you energy. But in most cases, that's not the case.

Ashley Strommen 5:22

You think that it's going to give you natural energy, even the term natural sometimes is overworked, like Matcha, for example. A stimulant type of energy, and as well as usually, most Matcha is packed with sugar. So, even if you think that you're doing your body good, you're not. And so it's very confusing when you look at the marketplace stinks. But that's really why we wanted to bring SUTRA to people to give them something that is healing and restorative and delicious.

Gresham Harkless 5:48

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And I know I'm just like probably anybody else who probably is looking at different labels, and they see all these quote-unquote, buzzwords. Now I'm using air quotes of what can attract people, and a lot of times that isn't actually what's in line with what's in the products. That's what you're saying.

Ashley Strommen 6:02

Exactly, it's unfortunate, but it's true.

Gresham Harkless 6:04

Right, right, right. Well, I appreciate you for creating that for us. And now I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app, a book or a habit that you have, or something that makes you more efficient and effective as an entrepreneur, or business owner.

Ashley Strommen 6:18

Absolutely. So, one thing for me that I can't live without is my morning routine. It's if I don't do it, I'm not thinking correctly, and I'm not productive. And I'm just kind of going, going, going putting out fires, which really doesn't work. And so for my morning routine, I balance diet and kind of body and mindset. And so for my diet, I wake up every morning and I have green juice fresh, fresh that I make myself. I actually bring my juicer everywhere with me because I'm a nutcase. But that works really well, as well as obviously one sutra or two sometimes. And then for the body, I like to do yoga every morning.

And also for the body and mind, I like to meditate at least for five minutes. And then lastly, the thing that I think is most important that most people don't do is a gratitude list. And every single day for the past, I think three years, I've been writing 10 things that I'm grateful for. And I try not to repeat it ever. And sometimes it's difficult. Sometimes I wake up and I'm like, I'm grateful for this one hair, I'm grateful for the second hair because I just can't think of anything. But it's completely revolutionized how I look at my business. Because some days we wake up, and there are so many things to do. And we feel so overwhelmed and alone. And this really kind of sets us back on track and helps us remember why we're doing this. Why we're proud, why we're thankful. So morning routine, you gotta have it.

Gresham Harkless 7:32

Yeah. And I love that, especially, you know, the gratitude list? Because I think a lot of times, and definitely kudos to you for being able to not repeat for the last three years. That's amazing. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Because I think there are just so many things that sometimes he forgets for you to be grateful for, and to be able to have that opportunity to kind of, you know, look at one hair and say, Hey, I'm great for this hair, but also that a hair too, or that blade of grass, or I'm able to, I'm happy that I woke up all those little small things start to add up and you start to really appreciate all the awesome things that they are going on in the world.

Ashley Strommen 8:03

Absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 8:03

Yeah. And now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO, nugget. And this might be a word of wisdom, or a piece of advice, or something that you might tell your younger business self.

Ashley Strommen 8:11

I would say cool, your jets stop pushing so hard, everything happens. It's in its natural rhythm in time, I think we're so focused on, I'm this age, and I should have accomplished this. And we get really, really hard on ourselves. And social media makes it even more difficult. Because as an entrepreneur, you're friends with a lot of other entrepreneurs, and you see what they're creating and what they've done.

And so we have all this pressure just mounting on our shoulders, we need to do this. And that's not how life works. We are meant to achieve our successes and meant to do our things whenever the time is right. And that time may be now it may be when we're 50 60 90 it doesn't matter. Just give yourself a break.

Gresham Harkless 8:49

Yeah, I love it cool. You just enjoy the ride, because we're all running our different paths. So, you kind of has to respect that and understand and just enjoy the ride, so to speak. So I love that CEO nugget. And now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different, quote-unquote, CEOs on this show. So I want to ask you what being a CEO mean to you.

Ashley Strommen 9:10

For me, it means solving a problem. And I think every CEO should keep that in mind. Once again, we're so busy, we have a billion things on our do list that we forget that we created the company to help people, and the moment that we forget that we focus on the product, or the marketing, or the budget and all these things that mount on us, we forget why we really did this. So, take a step back and realize you create this product or service to help somebody and every day should be focused on, how can I help more people. How can my product or service get to the right people so it can solve their problems and make them feel happier, more successful, and more vibrant, whatever it is that your product or service does? It's supposed to help people so we have to bring back that original formation of why we created the company in general and work on that every single day.

Gresham Harkless 9:52

Yeah, that makes perfect sense that a lot of times you know, it's just because you know, you start looking at Instagram or these other news feeds and things and we start to say oh, I need to hit a million dollars in three months or something like that. And you forget that the reason I started this is that I had an issue, and I wanted to help solve this problem. And then you kind of lose sight of that in the beginning. So I think that's a phenomenal CEO definition.

Ashley Strommen 10:14

Thank you.

Gresham Harkless 10:15

You're welcome. And I truly appreciate you again, for taking some time out of your schedule, what I want to do is pass the mic to you, so to speak, to see if there's anything additional that you want to let our readers and our listeners know and how best people can get a hold of you.

Ashley Strommen 10:26

I think that being an entrepreneur can be lonely sometimes. And we're cranking away our personal business, and we kind of had these blinders on with other people. And I think it's really about connecting with other people and hearing their problems and hearing their solutions and sharing yours. And I think the moment that we step outside of ourselves, and we start speaking to other people, the better that our companies are going to do it, the better everybody else's is. So let's just keep staying in communication with people and keep sharing and everybody's gonna win.

Gresham Harkless 10:56

I definitely agree with that. So again, I truly appreciate you and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Ashley Strommen 11:01

Thank you. You too.

Outro 11:02

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co

I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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