St. Albert-based natural health product company From the Earth Naturally sticks to what it knows best.
“We wanted to start with something that was important to us as women,” said founder and CEO Anita Dyrbye. “I’m menopausal, my peers are peri-menopausal; together we thought, well, if we’re going to make something we believe in, let’s start with ourselves first.”
The female founding trio developed a natural health product targeting menopausal women in the 40 to 65 age category. The product, Vivaca, is a blend of four herbs in a ready-to-consume beverage aimed at diminishing common menopause symptoms.
“It helps to mitigate hot flashes, mood swings and mild fatigue,” Dyrbye said.
The product is already available south of the border but has yet to reach the Canadian market. She said she expects the product to be launched here in about three months, pending completion of Canada’s National Health Products Directorate regulatory requirements.
Following positive feedback from consumers and retailers in the United States, she said she expects the company’s momentum to blossom into a full series of natural health products.
The idea behind the company came to light in 2001, with the founders continuing to monitor the market for the following six years. In 2007, the trio decided on the debut product.
In 2007, there was $4.2 billion in supplement sales south of the border — $337 million of which were menopausal supplements.
“We really watched the trends in the marketplace and we felt that Alberta and western Canada had a wonderful opportunity to step up to the plate,” she said.
One of the original founders has since retired from the company, leaving Dyrbye and Lori Tansy-Willis at the helm.
Prior to starting From the Earth Naturally, Dyrbye was a professional grower who transitioned to culinary arts with a focus on herbs and health. Tansy-Willis is a biochemist and has experience working in quality assurance with pharmaceutical and food and beverage industries.
Other individuals vital to the company’s success include a team of organic scientists, medical researchers, neuropaths, herbal industry professionals and professional growers.
“We’ve done an amazing amount of science and research behind it and we’ve really tried to keep it in Canadian borders,” Dyrbye said, adding the supplier of the main ingredient – rhodiola root – is an Alberta grower.
She said the quality of the product, from start to finish, is extremely important to the company.
“It is sometimes very difficult to get food-quality raw materials, so we saw the opportunity and decided we had a connect to all the growers and we could ensure purity and authenticity of all the botanicals,” she said.
The company was able to kick off the research and development stage of the business as a result of government and investor funding. This allowed the company to keep production in Canada.
She said a lot of businesses struggle to set up capital infrastructure in North American due to inflated costs, leading many to head to countries where the cost to manufacture products is significantly less.
This was something the company wanted to avoid and has accomplished. The product is currently developed in central Alberta.
Dyrbye said it is important for women to take control of their health and let menopause be a positive experience.
“Typically this is an age where they have raised their kids and now it’s time for them,” she said. “We encourage them to start living the things that they’ve always wanted to do in life.”
She said, essentially, she wants women in the 40 to 65 category to chase their dreams and cross off the items on their bucket list.
“I really encourage other women to follow their dreams,” she said. “It’s quite a ride.”
