Today we’d like to introduce you to Ariana Caparelli.
Hi Ariana, 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?
I had struggled with anxiety issues for years and turned to natural remedies as a last resort. While working in a sales job that clearly wasn’t right for me, I experienced one too many days of watching my emotional and mental health deteriorate. I realized that using medication to help ease my stress and anxiety was just as bad, if not worse, than the environment I was working in. It then hit me like a ton of bricks – the medication I thought was once helping me was the reason my nervous system was screaming for help. I dove into understanding and researching the harmful effects of those medications and how they affected my central nervous system.
Through this research, I realized that the anti-anxiety medications and stimulants I was taking to perform in Corporate America were actually causing a vicious cycle of anxiety, overwhelm, and total burnout. I wanted to find a long-term, sustainable solution to help me take back control and knew that it needed to be something natural and plant-based. My mother being the holistic guru she is, recommended that I try Kava to help balance my nervous system for a few days. I began to put Kava in my coffee in the mornings followed with a concentrated kava shot and that’s exactly how I felt – balanced. I began to feel like myself again – free from my anxiousness, able to socialize and crush a 5-hour interview that landed me the job I have today, all while feeling calm, at ease, and able to regain control of my life.
About a year before this, I had lost my brother to suicide and knew that in some way, somehow, I wanted to share his story and do something valuable in this world to help other people who might be suffering too. My passion for starting this business stems from my desire to help others who might be struggling just as badly as my brother was and to help provide not only a natural alternative to help manage their well-being, but a safe space to feel seen, heard, and understood. Our mission is to help normalize mental health conversations and we do so by giving back to non-profit organizations that are breaking the silence and helping to spread suicide prevention awareness.
I knew I needed to marry my two passions together (1: kava as a natural, long-term solution to ditch the drugs and booze and gain control of my stress/anxiety & 2: speaking up about mental health and making others feel supported, understood, and heard). That is how the vision for Dew Wellness began. Now, I’m passionate about building a brand that empowers others to take control of their emotional well-being by providing them with natural remedies and solutions to manage stress and anxiety, all while making a lasting impact in our community and normalizing the conversation around mental health.
Our commitment to empowering others to take control of their well-being and shattering the silence around mental health taboos is what gives Dew Wellness its meaning. “Dew” symbolizes the calm, stillness you feel in the early morning when there’s dew drops outside and everything quiet before the rush and chaos of the day begins. That’s the feeling we hope people feel when using our product. On the other hand, the way it’s pronounced sounds like “do” wellness, which symbolizes our commitment to making an impact in the community and donating to mental health non-profit organizations. We’re “doing” all we can to help others because we all deserve to be well.
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?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road, but it hasn’t been one that’s been too bumpy either. Ever since I started to take the idea of starting a business seriously, it seemed that everything fell into place very easily in the beginning. I found the perfect manufacturing company, perfect branding company, website designer, copywriter, social media manager, and the list goes on. Where there’s been a struggle, there’s also been growth. Learning how to get out of my comfort zone and show up as the face of the brand took a lot of courage, vulnerability, and self-compassion to allow myself to make mistakes, mess up, and try again. Learning how to juggle building your own business while working in a corporate job demanded a lot of self-discipline but has also been extremely fun at the same time while having the ability to work from home. I’m still learning new things to this day, figuring out the best way to give my brand a voice that’s loud and that can be heard in an impactful way. We’re only beginning so I’m sure there will be many struggles along the way but I’ll be taking it in stride and using my Dew Drops kava oil to help with the stress. 😉
As you know, we’re big fans of Dew Wellness. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Dew is for the modern woman who wants to take control of her well-being and is looking for a natural way to de-stress and calm her body, mind, and mood that allows her to live peacefully in the moment and feel at ease in her own body.
Our product is an organic, vegan, all-natural Kava oil tincture called Dew Drops (cute, we know 🙃). It’s formulated to bring balance to your body and nervous system so you can remain calm & handle sh*t life throws at you. Unlike others on the market, our Kava-based blends are pure with the perfect potency, don’t taste bitter, alcohol-free and balance the body to help promote healing and a sense of renewal.
What sets us apart from other brands is the quality, potency, and the taste of our Kava oil tincture. Other tinctures on the market are using an alcohol base for the tincture which is a huge no-no. Just like you wouldn’t mix alcohol with an antibiotic or other medications, you don’t want to mix alcohol with Kava either. Dew Drops has 70 mg of kavalactones, the active ingredient that makes Kava work its magic. This is about 2.5X stronger than other tinctures you can find online or in your wellness stores like Whole Foods, Sprouts, Mother’s Market and so on. We use certified Organic Sunflower Seed Oil and unlike many other products using seed oils, we use a manufacturing process that involves no grinding and never heat the seed oil above 88 degrees Fahrenheit, which makes It a great fat to consume without the harmful or Inflammatory effects.
Most importantly, our product remains to be Certified Organic, sustainably harvested & Noble certified Kava, Vegan, Made In USA, Third-party tested, Alcohol-Free, Non-habit forming, Non-intoxicating, and made in a GMP and ISO 9001 certified facility.
What do you want our readers to know about your brand, offerings, services, etc?
We get what 21st-century culture does to our stress levels and nervous systems (it’s not good). We’re expected to be connected 24/7, work evenings and weekends, answer emails like 911 calls, and never burn out. We can’t change your job, but we can change how you manage stress.
So, why did we choose Kava? Because you’re probably wondering why not just down a glass of wine after a stressful day? Or jet off when we’re burnt out? Because finding relief in escapism isn’t sustainable. We need ways of finding relief in the midst of stress. Kava is how we like to *dew* it. It’s like a yoga class to start your day—without the 5:00 a.m. wake-up call.
The best part is that you can take Dew Drops with you on the go, to social events, on your desk at work, before a yoga class, and simply keep on you at all times of day for when you need it most. It’s tasteless and easy to mix into your favorite hot or cold beverage and has fast absorption within 15-20 minutes for relief. My favorite is adding 1-2 full droppers into my matcha lattes for a nootropic effect before hopping into a workday full of Zoom meetings.
What are you most proud brand wise?
I’m mostly proud of our mission to give back to mental health. With every purchase of Dew Wellness, you’re helping your fellow Americans be well. We donate 1% of our profits to The Jed Foundation—a nonprofit that normalizes conversations about mental health conditions like anxiety and depression by giving our nation’s teens and young adults the support and skills they need to prevent suicide and thrive. Because we all deserve to be well.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
My Co-Founder, best friend, and life partner – Tynan Mason. Tynan is the person who has inspired me the most, pushed me to not give up, and is the reason I’m standing here today with a business and brand that’s changing the wellness industry and making a huge impact in the mental health space today.
Tynan is very much a part of my personal story, as well as an avid Kava user himself. We met at the beginning of the pandemic when I was that girl who was overstressed and overworked, downing wine at night because it was cheaper than therapy and miserable in my corporate life.
My story about hitting rock bottom with my anxiety and feeling crippled with it before the interview that landed me my job today is a story he was very much a part of. Over that weekend when I had my ‘ah-ha” moment with Kava, he had talked me through my anxiety and my panic for the super intimidating 5-hour interview I was facing that Monday morning. At the beginning of that weekend, I was an anxious ball of racing thoughts, paranoia, and fear. By the end of that weekend, and many doses of kava, I was the most calm, confident, and well-spoken version of myself I had ever seen.
Long story short, he was a witness to my personal story with Kava and he is the person that believed in me enough to inspire me to create my own Kava product and share it with the world. As the true entrepreneur he is, it all started with his comment one day that “you should sell your own kava”. Back then, he wanted to call it moon drops and here we are with a product name so similar! Anyways, at first I said no but still wrestled with his idea for months and months because I couldn’t quite feel connected to it just yet. He might say this is in true Ariana fashion because I always say no to new things first but once given a little more thought, I always change my mind. Once I took that vision and realized we could connect it with the loss of my brother and make it something so meaningful, we expanded the vision with a purpose to make a true impact in helping other people’s lives and giving back to the mental health space. This is when my fire was lit. Now I feel unstoppable in our mission. All thanks to my love, Tynan.
Pricing:
- $46.00 per bottle (code ARIANA15 for $15 off)
Contact Info:
- Website: www.dewwellness.co
- Instagram: instagram.com/dewwellness.co
