Founder Feature: Jesrina Arshad of PurelyB

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1:42We knew from every single iteration of trying out a new business model, what the customers wanted. we learned every step of the way and ultimately they were like we want your product other people's products we can get elsewhere like we want your product like when are you going to launch but I didn't just want to launch any product because there's so many in the market for me it's like we have to fulfill a gap that's why I created Purely B there was a gap in the market nobody is doing this we created this we're going to create a product it has to be something nobody else is doing and something people need.

2:19Hey everybody this is Caitlin Bricker, editor at Startup CPG. We are back with another founder feature. Have you ever wondered what happens when ancient Malaysian rainforest remedies meet modern wellness? Well today we're talking with Jasreena Arshad, founder and CEO of Purely Bee. Jasreena is a founder who's using mushrooms in her products that you've probably never heard of let alone experienced before. After her own health struggles led her to ancestral healing herbs, Drisrina turned centuries-old formulations into grown-up pixie sticks that have reached millions of users globally. Now she's looking to tap into the U.S.

2:56market on a deeper level. We'll dive into how she's preserving lost wisdom, supporting marginalized farmers across Asia, and what it takes to bring ancient remedies to today's wellness market. This conversation will change how you think about mushrooms and wellness, I hope. Enjoy.

3:16Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Startup CPG podcast. This is Caitlin, and today I'm here with Jisarina Arshad, founder of Purely B. Jisarina, welcome to the show. Hi, Caitlin. Thanks for having me. Excited to be here. It has been a long time coming. Listeners, we have had to reschedule stuff. We're laughing now, but it was like pressure. Pressure? Violence? I don't know. First I had a concussion and then my family was sick and Jessarina, thankfully, was so gracious and understanding. And here we are finally having a massage. It all worked out. Yeah, this is actually the better timing. So, yeah, everything happens for a reason.

3:57Well, I'm very excited for everybody to learn about Purely B. I am fascinated with your products. I feel like maybe I can't be the only one that feels this way. But sometimes I think mushrooms and products can be a little tiring because we see it everywhere. But your product to me was very refreshing because it had ingredients I had never heard of before. So tell listeners what is Purely Bee. Yes, sure. So at Purely Bee, what we do, I'm from Malaysia. That's my home country. And Malaysia, it's the home of very rich wellness heritage and these ancient medicinal herbs from the Malaysian rainforest that date centuries.

4:43And what we've done is that we revive and preserve ancient natural medicine of our ancestors. So these medicinal herbs have been used for centuries for healing, prevention for many generations, but they have gotten lost amongst today's modern generations. So what we've done is that we work with traditional healers and herbalists from the villages in Malaysia who have that wisdom and that knowledge of these ancient remedies and with modern medical scientists from around the world who had done research on tropical Malaysian herbs and how they're one of the most powerful in the world for healing.

5:21and we've teamed up together to create a range of products that will help optimize the health of today's modern generation, but the natural way. And what we've done is, as you know, we've made them into Pixie 6 format. So the beauty of it is that, okay, we all know natural medicine from generations ago, very powerful, very bitter, doesn't taste good, very difficult to consume. There's a whole process of how to consume it. but what we've done is make it for today's generation so it's like sour candy pixie sticks reminds you of your childhood it's just in sachets you pour it on your tongue it melts in your mouth and it doesn't even feel like you're taking a supplement even though it's just pure herbs and fruits nothing else and it's literally our tagalmushin product three ingredients and nothing else and our pagaga product which is another medicinal herb 2 000 years old is six ingredients, herbs and fruits.

6:20So yeah, that's in a nutshell of what we do. And we really focus on rare botanicals from the rainforest that really have abundance of science proving how it helps with gut health, skin, lung health, allergies, but just haven't been accessible to today's modern generation or the global community. So it's really, it feels like a mission to revive and preserve of ancient wisdom. That pixie stick format is so fun. I was able to sample at a party, a startup CPG party, of course, back at Expo West. And when you gave it to me, I was like, really? I just shoot it back just like that. And our whole team, when we tried it, we were just amazed.

7:06First of all, it tastes really good. It definitely brought me back to that nostalgic childhood pixie stick experience without all the sugar and you're sweetening with dates which was in grape i believe in the elderberry and great great for the title mushroom yes yeah so you had that sour kick when you first put it in your mouth right so delicious in the pagaga are you using yes so we have two pagagas so this one here has green apples and dates so that one you actually mix it in just water you can take it as a pixie stick but it's going to taste more herbal because it's like matcha kind of tasting but a lot of people love that they say it's like a good cup of pagaga in the morning feels like that warmth and that comfort but it's also a pick-me-up so that is for people who love the more herbal but there's a light sweetness of the green apples and dates and that's for gut health and skin but you just need water and that's it so the beauty of it you know a lot of green superfoods you need to put it into a smoothie it still has that strong spirulina taste or wheatgrass or whatever it might be but with this you don't need to just water is fine and it's super refreshing but this one which we're actually launching in the u.s in a few months but it's been in asia already for the past year is lychee and passion fruit pixie stick with the pagaga and the turmeric so again like you just pour in your mouth so it has a slightly different taste notes to the taguil mushroom that you tried, which is like sour candy.

8:40But pagaga chaga is like lychee. Have you tried lychee? I have. To me, it almost has like a fruity, nutty taste, personally. Yeah, kind of. Yes, yes, yeah. There's a slight sourness from the passion fruit, but the lychee taste is more dominant. So it's less sour than the taguil mushroom. But both like melt in your mouth, these two. And the Pagaga Chaga, Can't Help With Gut Health is more focused on brain health, mental clarity, focus, stress, anxiety, and detoxification. All sounds like things everybody could use. I know. Yeah. So I think for us is we're all taking a ton of supplements today and we all know how, you know, after COVID, I think it just ramps everyone's sort of awareness out of how to ensure that you prevent diseases and prevent falling sick.

9:33But it's getting a bit much now, like all the pills and all the powders and everything. And for us, how can we minimize it so it doesn't feel like one of so many that you have to consume and make it more fun and easy? You don't need water. You can pop it in your bag. I really love and appreciate that approach because no shade to anybody that loves their supplement stacks. But when I see those images online and people are sharing their supplement stacks, I'm like, what is your diet like? Why do you need all of these supplements? Can't you get most of this from food? I am very proud to say that I take a vitamin D supplement.

10:15I took your tiger milk mushroom product when I was recovering from the second cancellation. And after fancy food too and prior to fancy food because it was just... You're exposed. You made a boost. Yeah. So I think what's important as well is I think for us, we didn't want to be just a supplement. In terms of, yes, you feel good and that's it. We wanted it to be transforming your health in a life-changing way for people who have issues, who have health issues. So with tiger milk mushroom, it's a 400-year-old mushroom only found in Malaysia, which is why you haven't heard it and you don't see it in the U.S.

10:56We're actually the only ones in the U.S. bringing this tiger mushroom extract. We're actually exclusive, bringing it to the U.S. So with tiger milk mushroom, it has actually been proven to the indigenous communities in Malaysia from over hundreds of years ago. They basically would consume this for lung health issues. So respiratory conditions and abnormal growth like cancer and whatnot and energy, but particularly bronchitis, cocothlo, asthma, sinus, those sort of conditions. So the scientists that we work with in Malaysia had conducted 20 years of research on this. And it's amazing, fascinating the stories that you see of people who have chronic asthma in and out of hospitals using their inhalers all their lives.

11:44and then when they started consuming tiger milk mushroom just over a short period of time like within a month they don't need to use the inhalers anymore they're not reliant on steroids they're not in and out of hospitals they can lead a normal life and this is huge because it's food as medicine it's completely natural and it is from our heritage so in malaysia it's known as our lost national treasure because a lot of people were not aware of it and it took 20 years of scientific research for people to be like, okay, let me try this. And from me particularly, I have allergies to gluten, dairy, egg, wheat, shellfish.

12:23And if I accidentally eat it, I get all fluy, I get like rashes and whatnot. And so I take Zyrtec every now and then. And I hate that I take it because I know it's not good to take it continuously or whatnot. And tiger mushroom was a game changer for me. And that's when I knew we needed to bring it to market. So basically, when I started consuming it every day when I ate like a sandwich because my cousin launched a restaurant and I was supporting him and he had everything I couldn't eat. There was egg, dairy, everything had red meat. I don't even eat red meat like super rare and I ate it and I was all prepared to get all the symptoms but I didn't have Zyrtec on me but I didn't get any of the symptoms.

13:02No rashes and I was like dumbfounded. I was like wait a minute and then I remembered I was taking time on mushroom every day for at least a week at that time. So that was the turning point for me. And I haven't taken Zyrtec since. I just take this every day and I can eat these things. I actually don't react to shellfish anymore. Again, I don't have chronic allergies. I don't get hospitalized. If I do eat these things, it's just rashes and fluy. I start sneezing. It's like mild allergy symptoms. But it has done wonders for me. And then we saw that with our community as well. They don't take Zyrtec anymore.

13:34This is their go-to. So it's things like that. Like, how do we move people away from pharmaceutical drugs and steroids and all of that that have been so reliant in their whole life and food as medicine, something that is native to Malaysia? It's so rare, but it can be life transforming. So that is really important in our mission. Totally. And I feel like a lot of people who do take pharmaceuticals, which no issue if you take pharmaceuticals, but I think that some people might not understand or recognize that a lot of pharmaceuticals are actually based in food or herbal medicines. And you're just basically going back to the basics by giving that whole mushroom.

14:17As cure as it gets. Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. And people tend to get a lot of side effects. They react to the side effects of pharmaceutical drugs. So we try and minimize that by trying to go as natural as possible, as pure as possible without all these unnecessary additives. I love that. And that's actually a good segue into one of my next questions for you, which is, do your products have any contraindications with pharmaceuticals that people might be taking? No, none at all. Because it's completely natural. It's food. It's like consuming. it's a part of your daily life. It's just as you're consuming your lunch or dinner, your breakfast, and you have any pharmaceutical drugs or whatnot.

15:01But what we do always say, especially if someone is on prescription after, let's say, surgery or a certain condition or they're going to chemo, we always say consult your physician, consult your doctor. We say it is safe, but always consult just to take extra caution because we don't know what their doctors might say. Highlight, underline, bold. Always consult with your physician. Yes, yes, yes. Always, always. But we know some people are like, some people always be like, yeah, my physician only wants me to just take whatever they're giving me, but I'm just going to consume it anyway. Well, that's up to you because it is safe, but we want you to consult your physician.

15:42And yeah, great advice. I am also curious too, you did mention that they are rare medicines. So I think a lot of the conversation, at least here in the U.S., is on plant conservation and preserving these rare botanicals. So how do you approach sustainability with herbs and medicinal plants? I love that you asked that. So with tiger-gilt mushroom, this is extremely rare. You will find one, if you're lucky, growing every 10 kilometers. So unlike other mushrooms, it doesn't grow in a school or a cluster. And that's if you're lucky, you'll find one. So it is so rare, we would not never touch that in the wild.

16:23And it's not easy to harvest in natural farmland either. But we actually grow it in a lab through jasmine rice. And we work with the scientists. So it's actually the scientists. So in Malaysia, There's an educational institute and a research institute called University Malaya, which is one of the most renowned research institutes in Southeast Asia when it comes to tropical herbs. They've conducted 20 years of research on this. And the scientists were the ones who started growing it in the lab to properly see how can we bring this medicinal mushroom in a scalable way to the community. But they will not be able to commercialize.

17:02they're just the scientists doing the research, doing the testing and trying to see how can we preserve it and make it accessible. And so that's when they came to us. And I was very lucky. My investor is on the board of directors of that research institute and told me that they had been conducting this research, which is a game changer for a lot of people's health. And he thinks that we would be the best partner to bring this to market. And so we got connected, was it five years ago or so. And it completely transformed my health. So we started working together on R &D and creating this. But they had already conducted 20 years of scientific research and growing this in the lab.

17:41So yeah, we had them to thank for it too. Yeah. Wow. I'd love to know about any reactions that the scientists had when they finally got to taste your product. Yes, they were mind blown because obviously they've tried as raw as it gets. And I think important for me to mention is that they worked five years on patented technology to make this into a special extract called XLR, which just has the highest bioavailability. And this extract, obviously, it's going to be light tasting because it's an extract farm. you're not going to taste much of the mushroom, but it's actually five times more powerful than when it's in its raw form.

18:23So that patented extract is what we use. And with them, and we're the first ones in the world to actually use it, which is probably why it's so effective for people with allergies and asthma and whatnot, because it's like amplified. The potency and efficacy is on another level, but the taste also is lessened. So that's why the elderberry and the red grapes, the taste notes are very prominent because the mushroom in this special extract form. So I think all of that combined, I mean, they didn't expect it to taste like this, but they knew that the mushroom taste wouldn't be that prominent in this extract.

18:59But still, they were mind blown when they consumed it. And they didn't know that we could do a pixie stick format until we came in and we said, this is what we want to explore. And we started working on it together. And they're like, wow, okay i had the same reaction not a scientist haven't worked in mushroom lab but i was mind blown the elderberry and grape in that stick it makes my mouth water in a very good way when i take it i love sour and it really just like satisfies a craving and you get the benefit of it actually doing something good for you yeah yeah exactly and so it's easy for kids because kids hate taking supplements but for them they get like addicted to this you have parents that's They're stealing my whole stash.

19:42So in Malaysia, we've launched like a kid's version that's cheaper. And because they don't need this amount of this dose. So we can do a lesser version for the kids, even though it's safe for them. But they don't need to spend that much on kids. So now parents are like, good. My stash is my stash. My kids can have their kid's version. But yeah, it's quite funny. The kids keep stealing. They want more. They get quite addictive to that sour candy taste. I'm sure my daughter would be in my stash if I left her in it, but I'm keeping it away from her. I like you to wear away if you need to retain yours.

20:17We'll be right back. A few years back when I ran a beverage company, we had to launch using those plastic sleeves to put our designs on the cans. But they looked bad. The sleeves get stretched out. They don't cover the full can and overall they just look and feel low quality. Lucky for you, digital can printing technology has come so far over the last few years that now you can launch your beverage brand or new SKUs with a fully printed look, and it's at similar pricing to those plastic sleeves. Our friends at CanWorks, which is the largest U.S.-based digital can printer, are happy to work with our community at very low minimums, even one pallet.

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21:04So I'm really curious, you started down the path with Tiger Milk Mushroom, from my understanding, from your own personal health journey. How did you get from, hey, I'm having these personal issues to let's create a product. And I'm also curious about the hurdles that you may or may not have faced when going from the Malaysian market to the US market. Yeah, so we're actually 10 years old. We started Purity B back in 2015 in Malaysia, and it was very accidental. So when I started the company, I was in digital marketing. I was in corporate. I was head of digital marketing in the largest broadcast network in Southeast Asia at the time.

21:48It was called Astro. And I loved my job. I was not thinking, oh, I'm going to start business, let alone a wellness business. That was not in my mind. But I wasn't unhealthy, but I wasn't the healthiest person either. I was sort of like in between. I was very normal. But I had a lot of health issues. Nothing chronic. It's not like I'm in enough hospitals. But I had become immune to the symptoms that I was getting. So I would get migraines every two days. So without fail. Every week, I was constantly having a headache. I would have eczema and rashes breakouts every week because I had very poor gut.

22:26health. I had really bad digestion issues. I was very badly constipated. I know it might be TMI, but I would go once a month. It was that. There's no TMI on the show. Can you love a good number four on the Bristol stool chart in my house? Love that. So yes, I would go once a month. It was that bad. But I got used to it. It was for years and I got used to this is how I feel every week, every few days, and this is normal. But it It just meant I felt tired all the time, headaches, nausea, because when you have headaches and you're blocked up, everything. So I thought it's because I was overworked and stressed and not getting enough sleep.

23:06I didn't realize that I had developed intolerances and allergies to gluten, dairy, egg, wheat, and shellfish over the years that was leading to these symptoms as my reaction to all these foods. and it was only when I went to a natural health doctor in Singapore that my sister recommended me to because he helped her son overcome his eczema and identified it was allergic to and through those tests it was a test called NAETS which is like where you hold a glass jar it's non-invasive allergy test and found out that egg was the number one thing that I was intolerant and allergic to and then gluten and whatnot and I was shocked because all my life I never had those allergies and suddenly I'm told that I am and he said your body has developed these sensitivities because your diet and your lifestyle is pretty toxic but I'm not eating McDonald's every day I'm pretty normal but because my body is more sensitive and a lot of the foods I'm eating are processed foods and I don't realize it that it has resulted in this so I had to completely clean up my diet and my lifestyle so it led me down a path of where I was doing so much research and trying to learn on how to cut out all these foods, because I didn't even know what gluten was 10 years ago.

24:22In Asia, nobody was talking about it. And I actually followed Ella Woodard, which is deliciously Ella. She's pretty big in the U.S., actually in the U.K., and how she was able to overcome a chronic condition, going natural, plant-based, cutting out gluten, dairy, and eating foods that I love, chocolate cake, burgers, pizza. And I was like, how is she doing this? So I learned from her. I learned from others. And I adapted it to my lifestyle in Asia, in Malaysia, because we don't have a lot of the ingredients that they were talking about. So I had to look at alternatives. So it took me a while. After about a month, I was able to incorporate all these learnings to clean up my diet, my lifestyle go completely natural and incorporate, go back to my roots, incorporate Malaysian healing herbs into my lifestyle, making these drinks.

25:14In Malaysia, you call it ulam, a Malaysian salad, which are basically these herbs. That's what our ancestors would consume as part of their daily meals and routine. And that's how they were able to keep healthy. So I incorporated all of this. And within one week, all my symptoms cleared up. It was crazy because I had done Kulon's coffee. I had done it all. Nothing worked. And just natural cutting going plant-based, cutting out gluten, going back to my roots and consuming these herbal remedies. My headaches went away. My digestion was regular. My eczema cleared up. I had no rash breakouts that week.

25:51And my energy was at all-time high. So when that happened, I was shocked that one, it was so fast and that was all I needed to do. But two, that not a single brand or platform in Asia was advocating this. Nobody was talking about it. Nobody was guiding people on lifestyle change. You don't need treatment, surgery, all of that. And I needed to be the one to educate and lead the way if nobody was doing it. Like it changed my life. I need it. So if it can help one other person to me, that's worthwhile. That's all I wanted to do. So when I was thinking about creating Purely Be, it was like an educational platform to guide people in a lifestyle way to leading their best health and overcome any health issues.

26:36But I'm not a health expert. So I teamed up with natural health doctors, nutritionists, fitness coaches, medical scientists who were all women. So six women, two founders creating this company. And because at that time, 10 years ago, we were considered a tech startup because it was digital education. We were creating a digital marketplace to promote other brands that had really great natural products. And so we were able to get like venture funding from Silicon Valley-based 500 startups because we were a tech startup. And we were a very rare, six women-founded tech startup in Asia. So we got a lot of press coverage because of it.

27:16And also because we were the first in Asia to do what we were doing. And nobody were like, what are they doing? They're promoting plant-based, promoting gluten. So that was how it started, Caitlin. But products was not on my radar. I did not think to do products because I'm And so many people have great products out there. I want to promote their products. I want to educate more on lifestyle, great recipes, all of that. But actually, the community were the ones who asked us to create the product. So over four years, the challenges we faced was monetization. We didn't know how to make money. We built a strong brand.