Today we’d like to introduce you to Xeba Zareie.
Hi Xeba, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
In 2020, I was diagnosed with a gut illness that was persistent and debilitating. My list of symptoms was long, and despite living a generally healthy lifestyle, I felt handicapped. It was not until I started working with a functional medicine doctor that I realized, not only how fortunate I was to afford this, but also how much my GI medical doctors’ care and prescriptions had been keeping me sick.
While I worked with my functional medicine doctor, Dr. Juliana King, DACM, who is AMAZING, she put me on a limited Low Fodmap diet; which asked me to make a stove top oatmeal every morning. And every morning, I’d crave an alternative. Something more luxurious and refreshing than oats! I missed the carving of creamy Greek yogurt and the ability to just reach for something ready-to-eat from the fridge. But I also wanted something functional in the ways that holistic, root-cause medicine had been informing me.
I began experimenting in my kitchen and developed our preme breakfast puddings. It has been a gift, not only to enjoy preme myself, but also to hear how the puddings have supported our customers. Especially those who witnessed long lasting results after feeling like their insurance-covered healthcare professionals had failed them.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No way! When I first started, other founders warned me that “whatever can go wrong will go wrong.” And it is so true. We can only control what we can control, and the rest tests our patience and ability to be resourceful.
But in all honesty, I have loved every minute of these growing pains and look forward to more: bring it on! I say this because the moments where the road gets unbelievably bumpy, seem to be the moments that I grow in ways I never thought I could or would. They have taught me the following:
1. Always have a backup plan and a backup to that backup plan. Imagine what could go wrong and have a plan for that inevitably happening. Move fast, but take time to reflect on how you can avoid future mistakes and be even more efficient.
2. No one is coming to save you; your company only grows if you grow it, so building emotional resilience, especially in the face of inevitable adversity will empower you.
3. If you don’t build it, someone else will. If someone already has their go-to favorite, it will be harder to convert them to what you’re offering. I treat my workdays like a race to the finish line.
4. Return to your WHY: why are taking all of this risk, with very prolonged and uncertain returns? Remembering why I am putting in literal blood, sweat, and tears has pushed me further than I ever knew was possible for me.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Preme?
Preme is a functional Food & Beverage Company on a mission to make holistic luxury healthcare deliciously accessible. We have a line of gut-supportive breakfast puddings and an upcoming launch of our gut & skin health drink powders. Preme is functional-medicine informed and was created with sensitive stomachs top of mind.
A lot of brands tout gut health, yet they are still made with disruptive, inflammatory, and hard-to-digest ingredients. I love that Preme is, first and foremost, deliciously light, but also that it is safe and supportive for customers who often feel overlooked in our snack aisles. Especially people like me who are living with chronic illnesses such as IBS, acid reflux, autoimmune. I understand the struggle to find anything to indulge in, that won’t set off the alarms in your body. So, hearing how supported customers feel after they eat just one Preme means the world to me.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I’ve spent my whole life in and out of hospitals because I was born with a skeletal defect that impacted my heart, lungs, and stomach. I had two surgeries by the age of 12. One surgery left me with nerve damage. It is still so shocking to me that I was not even prescribed physical therapy in the aftermath.
I have felt betrayed by the Western medical system on several fronts, and I know there are a lot of people who feel similarly. But this is the reason why I have such a sensitive gut and what drives me to explore and offer clinically proven healing avenues beyond ‘the system.’
Contact Info:
- Website: www.premefoods.com
- Instagram: @eatpreme
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xeba-zareie-0931b0b0/
- Other: @x_eba
Image Credits
Mack Breeden
Joe Duarte
