Community Highlights: Meet Brandon Darnell and Courtney Miller of Superbloom Collective

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandon Darnell and Courtney Miller. They and their team shared their story with us below:

In the Summer of 2022, Brandon Darnell and Courtney Miller were each starting their own community wellness projects. Courtney, an ex-pro and collegiate lacrosse player turned personal trainer and fitness studio manager, had a dream of hosting fitness classes that were fun, challenging, and, most importantly, helped people connect. To follow this dream she started hosting donation-based fitness classes in the park, with a challenging 30-minute workout, free coffee, and a biohacking recovery lounge so people could stay after class and meet each other. She called this experience Connect & Move and hosted every Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, Brandon, who had worked on a community wellness project during the pandemic, had started his own project, bringing his passions of breathwork and music to the beach. 

The two started loosely collaborating towards the end of 2022 and after attending a retreat together in January 2023, they decided to partner up and form Superbloom Collective (a 501c3 non-profit) with the shared mission to make wellness and connection more accessible through free/donation-based classes and community events at parks and beaches around LA! They formed their 501c3 with the belief that their efforts will help end the loneliness and mental health crisis. 

Over the past 14 months, they have hosted over 100 community events and classes and have served over 3500 people on the Westside of LA. With most of their events being donation-based, they have helped 100s of people find access to self-care practices and amazing community events they might not have otherwise been able to afford. 

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
There have definitely been some struggles along the way. We are both new to the non-profit world and neither of us has started a business before, so we have been pushed and challenged in many ways, but the one thing that has remained smooth is our friendship and business relationship. We are dedicated to open and clear communication, which has allowed us to stay focused on learning and growing without getting caught up in disagreements and conflict. 

That said, our biggest struggle has been promoting and getting attendance for our events. The Westside of LA is filled with amazing wellness communities and events, so sharing our offerings and standing out in the crowd has been difficult, but we’re learning, and we understand that community building is a long road that involves patience and trust. 

As new entrepreneurs, we’ve also struggled with some back-end business strategy, accounting, and other operations elements. 

Ultimately, we are still struggling to create the right formula of events and offerings to support ourselves financially, but we hope that press like this and word of mouth will help us reach the people who we know will love what we offer. 

As you know, we’re big fans of Superbloom Collective. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Superbloom Collective is a 501c3 non-profit whose mission is to help end the loneliness and mental health crises by making wellness and community more accessible and by supporting a culture shift away from alcohol-based events towards social wellness events. 

We have three prongs to our business: 

1. Public Classes and Events – We host a monthly beach wellness festival in Santa Monica – Superbloom Beach Club – with various activities like yoga, breathwork, meditation, educational workshops, community art, and music. We have also hosted a series of wellness classes in the park and have a vision of transforming local parks into public, donation-based wellness studios. Part of our public offerings includes providing wellness and music programming for other non-profits and underserved communities. We hosted a fundraiser for the Maui Fire Relief Fund, supported Venice Beach Games, and hosted a mindfulness and painting workshop to support the Alcott Center, an organization that uses art classes as a way to support individuals with higher needs.

2. Social Wellness Events – We’ve hosted a series of social wellness events that bring people together for a night out to connect with new people, play, and listen to music without alcohol. Our most recent and most successful event is called Tea & House. It’s a pop-up tea lounge/club vibe with a full-service tea bar, lounge chairs and cushions, live house music DJs, and a vibrant dance floor. We have hosted dozens of similar experiences around LA (primarily Westside). We also host a semi-annual wellness and music camping retreat called LISTEN.

3. Corporate Wellness – We believe that to create a real culture shift, we need to influence and support shifts within corporate America. We offer amazing corporate wellness packages, including a Beach Wellness Happy hour, where companies can bring their teams to the beach for field day games, yoga, tea, mocktail bar, and music – instead of taking everyone to get drunk at a bar (been there, done that).

What sets us apart from other wellness brands and social clubs is our dedication to service. We are mission-driven, and we are constantly looking for new ways to support connection and accessibility. With the right structure and team, we are excited to share our offerings with underprivileged/underserved communities, at-risk youth, and other groups who have the least access to these services. 

We are most proud of the community we have built! Our members are so connected and so full of love and appreciation for each other and what we’ve built. We’ve held space for many financially challenged people to take care of their mental and physical health AND connect with new people to find the support to get back on their feet. In a recent focus group with some of our core community members, they all shared excitement to get involved in our efforts to support underprivileged and at-risk communities! 

We want your readers to come hang out with us at the beach! Our Beach Club event is often the first stop in joining our community. We feature a diverse range of amazing facilitators and performers, and we always give a community address to share what our mission is and how folks can get involved. 

We want your readers to know that there is a safe and inclusive space for them to practice self-care, have fun, and meet new people. Our community is founded in the spirit of DISCO – Diverse, Inclusive, Safe, Compassionate, and Open. We hope to inspire connection, self-love, gratitude, and giving. 

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you.
For us, Luck equals Fate, and for us, it is everything. The series of events that have aligned for us to get to this point is a miracle – from chance encounters to family and community support and plenty of closed doors that led to open ones. We are grateful and proud to be on our path. We aren’t sure where it is taking us, but we are actively listening to ourselves and our community and responding with experiences and offerings that support their needs. 

Contact Info:

• Website: www.superbloom.love
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/superbloom.collective/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/superbloomcollective

Image Credits
Muita Muthee Photography
Nick Hughes