Women In Wellness: Lauren Abelin of Kiki Milk On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Less blue light and more ‘red light’. Blocking blue light or limiting it to certain times of the day is beneficial for our circadian rhythm. Seeing sunrise and sunset daily is beneficial for our brain and sets the tone for our sleep and wake cycle, allowing for better quality rest each night and improving mental health and immune system functioning.
As a part of my series about women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Lauren Abelin, Co-Founder Kiki Milk.
Lauren has dedicated her life to researching and developing human-centered solutions to problems impacting mental and physical well-being. Previously she worked in the non-profit sector as an emotional learning specialist, implementing programs in school districts which helped thousands of children develop stress management skills. Her 10+ years of experience in the field and her own healing journey managing a chronic illness have inspired her to address the issue of toxicity in our food and the state of children’s health. She co-founded PlantBaby and created Kiki Milk alongside her husband after their son was born. She is committed to empowering others in their journey to attain mind-body wisdom, adopt healthier lifestyles, and live the most enriched lives possible. Lauren brings to the company the vision, a health and nutrition background, and experience designing products as a Mom.
Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?
I’m from Pennsylvania, outside of Philadelphia, where I grew up as an only child of an incredibly strong mother who broke through glass ceilings in finance and a terminally ill father who survived brain tumors, strokes, and multiple surgeries. He passed away when I was 17. I studied psychology with a focus on early childhood development. I worked in early intervention services and then helped build a non-profit that delivered trauma relief, stress management, and social-emotional learning programming in schools. It was beautiful work. Personally, from the time my father passed all throughout my 20’s, I focused on healing my own trauma, PTSD and anxiety. I had witnessed a lot during my childhood through my dad’s illness. I helped save his life multiple times. It was an incredible amount of responsibility and grief. I found immense healing through breath work, meditation, and therapy… which ultimately led me to teach similar modalities in schools through the before mentioned nonprofit. I left the East Coast for Hawaii with my then fiancé, now husband and co-founder, Alex, when I was 30 for our wedding, and we quickly found out I was pregnant. We had our son Alakai on the island, and our lives were changed forever. We stayed in Kauai to raise him there, on an organic farm initially, and found career purpose alongside becoming parents. Alakai has a dairy and soy intolerance, and right before he turned one, we needed to find an alternative to breast milk; as I could no longer solely breastfeed, we needed to substitute something nutrient dense enough for him that was dairy and soy free. This is when we developed Kiki Milk. I originally made it in our kitchen for Alakai from raw local coconuts, coconut water, local bananas, sprouted pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds, and oats. We saw a white space in the plant-focused children’s market and had many families share this was also a product they had been looking for. This is the genesis of PlantBaby and our launch product Kiki Milk.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?
I would refer back to the story I began to touch on in the previous question. The reason I have my current career and the reason we built this company is because of that issue we faced with our son, Alakai. An issue so many parents face, navigating their children’s overall health or food allergies, chronic illness, etc. 1 in 2 children now has a chronic illness.
When I had Alakai, I thought I would solely breastfeed until he began to eat solids. My breast milk supply dropped around nine months postpartum. We had to look for a plan B, an infant formula for Alakai, who has a dairy and soy intolerance. The only FDA-approved infant formula on the US market is cow dairy or soy formula. We were left without any options to feed our son at that moment. Thankfully, he was old enough to start trying solids, and we live on an abundant island where we could utilize the fresh coconut meat and coconut water as ingredients in a ‘milk.’ We worked with a pediatrician and naturopath to develop something that would work for Alakai. We also had to look abroad at very expensive goat milk formula options. Dairy wasn’t ideal for him, but making a formula was time-consuming and challenging. We couldn’t believe, at this time in history, there was no plant-based infant formula option in the United States for the millions of babies that share the same issue as Alakai, a colicky baby with resistance to dairy and soy. As he quickly grew from 9 months to over a year, we realized there was also no suitable, nutrient-dense, totally clean label plant-based milk, made with children in mind, on the market either. So we decided to launch with that product — a delicious and organic milk made specifically for kids that we now call Kiki Milk.
Can you share a story about the biggest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I lead with my heart and often innately trust others. I believe this to be a beneficial quality. However, I have learned to practice discretion and discernment when sharing innovations and product ideas with others. Those in the same space of CPGs are often very supportive; however, it is ultimately a business, and there was a moment early on where I shared our vision and idea with another plant-milk company. We were on a call, set up by a friend who knew the CEO of this other company, as a gesture of support or even founder support. Nine months after this call, where we excitedly shared our vision and welcomed any guidance as we were new to the space, they released a very similar product. There wasn’t any mention during that call around this which led me to believe our call is what inspired them to rush a similar product out and be first to market, trying to capitalize on this white space made apparent during our call. Early-stage visions do need to be handled with care and sometimes kept close.
When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?
We aim to make a positive impact in any way we can from multiple areas. We source sustainably and regeneratively. It’s very important to me that farming practices are ensuring the health of our soil. I believe the health of our soil directly impacts the health of our bodies through the quality of our food. I also feel strongly about only using whole foods in our products, ensuring there are never any preservatives, fillers, gums, artificial flavors, etc. Beyond that, I believe the conversations we’re inviting around health are making an impact. I believe we have misunderstood what health fully encompasses and how it’s all intrinsically connected. Our environment can support or hinder our health through a toxic load. Our mental and physical health are undeniably linked — what we eat supports our mental health. Nothing is isolated. I’ve navigated chronic illness for over a decade, as well as mental health. I know that rates of chronic illness in children, as well as adults, are on the rise, and so are mental health diagnoses. We must have more conversations around this and offer solutions and support where we can. I believe one factor attributing to this is how disconnected we are from nature and the source of our food. Children especially can benefit from getting involved in growing their own food. Our hands in the soil benefit the microbiome as well as our mental health. Growing our own food is not only healthy but empowering.
Can you share your top five “lifestyle tweaks” that you believe will help support people’s journey towards better wellbeing? Please give an example or story for each.
- Breathwork. I’m partial to the style I learned over 10 years ago, a 30-minute practice I have used every day since called Sudarshan Kriya. Breathwork boosts the immune system, benefits the lymphatic system as well as supports our parasympathetic nervous system. And it’s FREE while being readily available every second of the day. It just takes commitment.
- Less blue light and more ‘red light’. Blocking blue light or limiting it to certain times of the day is beneficial for our circadian rhythm. Seeing sunrise and sunset daily is beneficial for our brain and sets the tone for our sleep and wake cycle, allowing for better quality rest each night and improving mental health and immune system functioning.
- Walk slowly in nature for at least 10 minutes a day. Our society tends to rush everywhere and sit indoors for the majority of the day. Ideally, walking barefoot or ‘earthing’ is best because it can boost immunity and lower inflammation.
- Drink remineralized and filtered water with high-quality magnesium. Many people are chronically dehydrated and lack essential minerals. This can cause anxiety and fatigue.
- Slowly remove toxic ingredients from your packaged food and body products. Ingredients like artificial coloring agents, titanium dioxide, artificial flavors, endocrine disruptors, etc. Focus on whole-food eating and simple ingredients.
If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?
This is a toss-up between the immediate benefit of learning to utilize the breath to regulate the nervous system, build vagal tone, increase immunity, etc. It is the most important tool we can utilize for our health.
However, the health of our planet and our bodies also relies on a food system that has more integrity around food production and sourcing. I would like to see regenerative farming methods used widely so the use of pesticides can greatly decrease. This movement would take many years. Part of this movement would include reconnecting to our local farmers as well as learning to grow our own food.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
We honestly received so much support and incredible advice from our community of entrepreneurs that we are now just living out the scenarios they advised us on. We’re very grateful for this advice from experts with far more time and experience in this field than us.
- You can usually find a way around a ‘no’
- When something gets flagged in production, there usually isn’t anything to be concerned about
- The system is pretty broken and needs to be reinvented
- Your relationship with each other and your family is most important and will always be more important than the company
- Building a company doesn’t have to be grueling. It can actually be earful in ways and fun.
Sustainability, veganism, mental health, and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?
“When the mind ceases, love dawns.” Mental health is the most important. For anyone who has experienced a mental health crisis, they know the world stops. I believe the better our collective mental health is, the better we can regulate our emotions, make better decisions and lead from a place of compassion, honesty, and heart. This will translate in business, at home, etc.
What is the best way for our readers to further follow your work online?
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Thank you for these fantastic insights! We wish you continued success and good health.
Women In Wellness: Lauren Abelin of Kiki Milk On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.