On this episode of Shop Essence Live in Partnership with the New Voices Family we feature CEO & Founder of Good Dirt, Lynn Callaway. She's a long-time advocate for food transparency and sustainability, has worked in urban and community agriculture and was an early promoter of the farm-to-table movement. Her decade-long career in digital marketing spans both the tech and CPG industries, giving her a unique perspective on branding, consumer behavior, and product innovation.
Lynn's struggles with gut health, brain fog, and post-pregnancy exhaustion, Lynn turned to mushrooms, fiber, and botanicals to create a beverage that truly supports overall well-being.
Unlike many functional beverages, good dirt® is high in fiber, free of stevia and sugar alcohols, and carefully formulated to balance function and flavor- without the bitterness, twangy, or earthy flavors often found in functional drinks.
good dirt® is committed to ingredient transparency, sustainable sourcing, and ongoing efforts toward certification to ensure both people and the planet benefit.
Watch the video for more!
Lynn's struggles with gut health, brain fog, and post-pregnancy exhaustion, Lynn turned to mushrooms, fiber, and botanicals to create a beverage that truly supports overall well-being.
Unlike many functional beverages, good dirt® is high in fiber, free of stevia and sugar alcohols, and carefully formulated to balance function and flavor- without the bitterness, twangy, or earthy flavors often found in functional drinks.
good dirt® is committed to ingredient transparency, sustainable sourcing, and ongoing efforts toward certification to ensure both people and the planet benefit.
Watch the video for more!
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hey friend, are you at a phase in life where you are concerned about your gut health?
00:09What about brain fog or a little post-pregnancy exhaustion?
00:14What if there was some kind of miracle, some entrepreneur that put everything in a can
00:19to help you with all of these things?
00:22Well you know you're tuning in to Shop Essence Live in partnership with New Voices Family
00:25and I'm going to bring you the solution right here.
00:27I'm so excited to introduce you guys to CEO and founder, Lynne Calloway of Good Dirt.
00:35Hello, hello, hello.
00:37Hey Lynne, I'm so excited to have you on.
00:43Please tell us a little bit about your journey before we get into this amazing line of products
00:48and how you came up with Good Dirt.
00:50Yeah, oh wow.
00:52Two things really stick out with our journey and our story is my personal health journey,
00:58my personal health struggles, and our, when I say our, my husband and I, because he's
01:02also a co-founder, our community and agriculture work.
01:07This is, we spent over a decade traveling throughout the U.S. creating community gardening
01:15and farming spaces.
01:16That was really our first foray at having access to the freshest ingredients.
01:22These were botanicals, herbs, we even dabbled a little bit in foraging for wild mushrooms
01:28and edibles and all the wonderful things that heal our bodies.
01:32And so those are really two things that really stand out in terms of the inspiration behind
01:38the brand.
01:39But getting into a little bit more detail around my own health journey, I would say
01:44about six months after giving birth to my son, I really started to experience a ton
01:49of gut health issues.
01:50I also experienced brain fog and just exhaustion from just being a new mom and having a kid
01:59and all the things that are hormones and all these things that are just kind of going on
02:03all at once.
02:04And I went to specialist after specialist, doctor after doctor, and really couldn't get
02:09down to the root cause of honestly what was going on.
02:12So I started to do a ton of research to see if there was other folks that are suffering
02:15from this, like what could it be?
02:17And I really came across some crazy statistics out there around the fiber intake or deficiency
02:24that Americans lack.
02:26And I am also someone at the time that just wasn't getting enough fiber in my diet.
02:31There's also this misconception that fiber intake is something that only older folks,
02:36the older generation should really keep an eye on.
02:39But honestly, at every stage of life, it is something that we all should make sure that
02:43we're getting an adequate amount in conjunction with the high over-consumption of sugar.
02:49And so I lean back on those years of experience of having access to the freshest ingredients
02:55and decided to go in my kitchen and concoct this beverage.
02:58And after many variations is what you see now, which is our sparkling beverage, Good
03:04Dirt.
03:05My goodness.
03:07And then what did that timeline look like for you from the time that you started to
03:10the time that now we have this in the can?
03:12What was your timeline looking like?
03:16It took us like two years almost to R&D, where we literally were starting in our own studio,
03:23tinkering around, getting feedback from family, friends, just drinking it, seeing how I felt,
03:30my husband felt afterwards.
03:32And then taking that, we did a friends and family round to raise the money and all that
03:36stuff.
03:37And then we were able to scale from just in our kitchen to, okay, we can take this to
03:42a contract manufacturer.
03:43That entire process took two years.
03:45Wow.
03:46Wow.
03:47Okay.
03:48Okay.
03:49Let's get into these flavors and these products.
03:52And now you guys know I always try everything.
03:54I just so happen to be allergic to mushroom.
03:56So I'm going to be over here modeling the cans as Lynn takes us through these incredible
04:01flavors and their ingredients.
04:03Yes, for sure.
04:05So we have three, we have three flavors.
04:06We have our Chaga Cola.
04:08We have pear ginger, and then we have orange.
04:12Thank you, Stephanie.
04:13So we're going to start off with our Chaga Cola.
04:17So Chaga Cola is a very unique flavor of ours and one of our best sellers.
04:21It is our take and our twist on the classic vintage cola flavor, right?
04:26We've included obviously function to it.
04:29We've added Chaga to it.
04:30Chaga is technically not a mushroom.
04:33It's kind of that label, so to speak, because it's typically included with other mushroom
04:41products, but it is essentially a canker that grows on a birch tree.
04:46But it has so many different health benefits.
04:50And so we definitely want it to be intentional when creating this.
04:53The flavors that you're going to get is the hints of the vanilla, the cloves, a lot of
04:58similar flavors that you typically get from your traditional cola, but still with the
05:02element of a little spice, and that Chaga that's seeping in.
05:08And so it's definitely sparkling or bubbly, we like to say.
05:13And it's delicious.
05:14It's delicious.
05:15If you've ever had, I'm going to show you all the color.
05:18You hear the pop?
05:20You see that color?
05:28The color, right, with all of our flavors, the natural hues, it's not coming from artificial
05:35orange, 100, red, 40s.
05:40You're not going to get any of that.
05:41The natural hues is from the ingredients themselves.
05:45With our orange, we're using a beta carotene, which comes from carrots.
05:49But with the cola, the ingredients like the mushrooms, the Chaga is giving it naturally
05:54that cola look, right?
05:57So yeah, you're going to get all the, so delicious, you're going to get the cloves
06:02and all that.
06:04And then pear ginger.
06:07I love, love ginger.
06:11Yes.
06:12So pear ginger is my favorite.
06:15See the color, see?
06:17Still the natural hues.
06:20So with pear ginger, it's a very subtle ginger.
06:24Again, not the jacked up artificial flavoring.
06:27It's going to taste like a pear.
06:30And then the end of the notes is a very kick.
06:34You're going to get that kick from the ginger, spicy at the end.
06:37So this is one of my favorites.
06:40Very nice.
06:41Because it's so smooth just going down.
06:43And I see so many benefits on the back.
06:46So fiber supports brain health, promotes gut health and boosts immunity.
06:53Now for anybody at home that is watching and they're like, gut health, what are some of
06:57the symptoms that people should be watching out for if they do not have good health?
07:03Because there might be someone sitting at home that does not know that this is something
07:07that could actually benefit them.
07:08What are some signs that people should look out for, for things like brain fog, gut health?
07:13For sure.
07:14I just want to start out by saying I am not giving any medical advice.
07:17I highly recommend you always reach out to your practitioners regarding any symptoms
07:24that you have.
07:25But for my own personal journey, bloating was a huge one.
07:29I'm just not feeling good overall, just feeling down, fatigue, all these things that typically
07:35we think are other things.
07:37And it's typically dehydration or just not getting enough fiber or not having the micronutrients
07:42that you really need.
07:43One spectacular thing about fungi, right?
07:46Fungi isn't our only, like we talk a lot about mushrooms being, when I say fungi mushrooms,
07:52we talk a lot about mushrooms being in our product and how important it is, but really
07:55it's the entire package, it's the entire blend from the botanicals to the two types of fibers
08:00that we have that all play a part.
08:02But I do want to point out with mushrooms, you have your beta-glucans and your polysaccharides
08:07that specifically target things like inflammation, right?
08:10So when you're hearing these products and these brands out here saying, oh, I have mushrooms
08:14in my product and it's going to give you mental clarity, which we do talk about, or it's going
08:20to make you feel a certain type of way, they're really talking about bringing down that inflammation
08:25and bringing down these things that mushrooms are known for doing.
08:29And across cultures, whether that be Japan, whether that be China, Eastern medicine, whether
08:35that be through Yoruba cultures in West Africa, Latin America, indigenous tribes and cultures
08:41have been using and leveraging fungi from food to medicinal purposes for forever.
08:48So it's a very important ingredient that I just want to call out how it all plays in
08:53together with our formula.
08:55But we also have orange, right?
08:57This is the last one, you see the flavoring there, and again, we're using beta-carotene
09:04to help color that, to give that, so you're getting extra nutrients from that as well.
09:08Nice, we love an orange, this is so, so dope.
09:13All right, so we know that this show is in partnership with the New Voices family.
09:18As an entrepreneur, how has it been being a part of a community like the New Voices?
09:23Oh, wow, beautiful, just a beautiful group of people.
09:27I walked into the community through the Madam CJ Walker program, just being open and just
09:38wanting to learn so much from so many of the other women who, oh my God, they are bosses,
09:43they are doing so many different amazing things.
09:46And I really left the program with lifelong friends, I feel like.
09:50There's a few that I'm still in contact with, bouncing ideas off of, giving feedback to.
09:57I would say that that's just kind of a priceless piece that I walked away from.
10:01Obviously, the mentors and all the different folks that you all brought in to assist us with so many
10:06different things and pushing us and forcing us to really think about our brand, our product,
10:11everything from pricing to positioning, all these wonderful things that people don't really
10:16consider when they see a product on the shelf, like all the hard work that goes behind that.
10:20You all just did such a great job with pushing us on that.
10:24So I'm forever grateful for that opportunity.
10:27So good, Lynn.
10:28So you guys heard her.
10:29Go to newvoicesfamily.com.
10:31If you're watching and you are an entrepreneur, you never know, no matter what stage you are in your
10:36business, you could always use the help in the community to take it to the next level.
10:41So bet on yourself and go to newvoicesfamily.com for more information.
10:46Lynn, you have a special going on on your website right now where people can get 25% off until
10:53the end of April.
10:54So you guys, make sure you go to drinkgooddirt.com.
10:59You see it scrolling right here at the bottom.
11:01You go purchase it directly from Lynn and get 25% off now.
11:07Wow, this is so good.
11:08And then if you want to talk a little bit about the price point.
11:11Yeah, so each can...
11:13So I will back up.
11:14I want to say that last year we were offered and we launched with Sprouts Grocery Stores.
11:18We're getting word that most folks are going to the stores and they're seeing that we're sold out,
11:23which is a great thing.
11:25But they were selling our cans individually, but on our site, we sell them as a six-pack.
11:32So we're currently running the 25% deal.
11:35So you're going to get the six-pack for $19.30.
11:39After that deal, you're going to be paying about $25 and some change on that.
11:43But you're going to get wonderful benefits.
11:46It's going to taste great.
11:48I know mushrooms and kombuchas and all these different traditional products typically get a bad rap around the flavor, right?
11:56It can be too bitter, that can be twangy.
12:00You know, we were very intentional with this formula to make sure that it's approachable.
12:04You could just incorporate it into just your everyday life.
12:06And so thank you all for having us and be sure to find our product on our website.
12:11Thank you so much.
12:12I love this.
12:13I will be bringing this to Black Girl Magic headquarters when I'm in the office.
12:16So I'll make sure I film some taste tests for you, Lynn, of people in the office trying them out.
12:22Thank you so much for joining us this week on Shop Essence Live.
12:25I look so forward to what happens with good dirt.
12:30And yeah, thank you for creating such a great intentional product.
12:35So, so good.
12:36Thank you so much.
12:37Thank you for having me.
12:39Yep, thank you guys at home for watching.
12:40Make sure you tune in weekly for more Black-owned products to shop right here with us at essence.com slash shopping.
12:46I'll see you guys next time.
12:48Bye.
12:50Lynn!
12:52I'm so bummed.