November 16, 2023 • 61 mins
In this episode of The Startup of Human Potential, co-hosts Victoria and Clifton drop in with the founders of Kefir Lab, power couple, Erika and Dario 👫.
We discuss the benefits of probiotics, gut health, and the connection to overall well-being. Erika shares her background in experimenting with probiotics and how her family's work in microbiology inspired her to start Kefir Lab 👩🏻🔬.
And Dario shares his passionate love of food and taste as an Italian 🍝, his discoveries about blending probiotics to create a unique, delicious flavor for their product, and the importance of gut health on your energy levels.
This power couple takes us through their journey of meeting, developing a passion for fermentation, starting Kefir Lab as an experiment at a farmer’s market and growing it into a successful business! 📈
They also address the importance of prioritizing balance in their personal and professional relationship, while managing their business and ensuring any decisions and actions they take, align with who they are and their company's values.
This is an enlightening discussion that touches upon nutrition, the entrepreneurial journey, relationship dynamics, and work-life balance ⚖️ that you don’t want to miss.
Get 10% off your Kefir Lab purchase with code: FOTF10 at https://kefirlab.com/
Connect with Dario & Erika on IG: https://www.instagram.com/kefirlab/
Check us out at FacesoftheFuture.io and IG: @FOTF.io
This podcast is sponsored by the Foundation for Human Potential.
If you are enjoying this podcast and want to support us in continuing to bring great content and conscious expanding interviews your way, please make a donation here!
Thank you for tuning in :)
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Victoria (00:00):
Welcome back to The Startup of Human Potential.
(00:02):
We're your co-hosts.
Clifton (00:03):
I'm Clifton, And I'm Victoria.
together we are Faces of theFuture.
Faces.
of the Future is a venturestudio with a personal
development platform at theintersection of consciousness,
connection, innovation, andwellbeing.
We're excited to have you joinus on our show.
Victoria (00:23):
Today's episode is brought to you by Kefir Lab We
have our, first Power Couple onthe show here with us today.
Erika and Dario co-founders ofKefir Lab.
Welcome.
Clifton (00:36):
Hi guys.
Victoria (00:37):
Erika and Dario I'd love to get a into a little
background about Kefir lab.
First of all do you guys wannabecome a trillionaire?
That's one of the taglines thatKefir Lab uses to refer to the
amount of probiotics that is inthe product.
Third party tested andverified., Their company has won
several awards
Clifton (00:57):
they each have an incredible list of
accomplishments from TVappearances to speaking
opportunities, includingEntrepreneur of the Year Award.
And when they combine, theycombine to create their
beingness based business that'sa byproduct of their own
individual journeys as well astheir relationship.
And that is Kefir labs.
Victoria (01:19):
Yes, and in today's episode we'll talk about Erika
and Dario each individually andKefir lab and how it's a natural
byproduct of who they bothorganically are, and of course,
gut health.
We love gut health, so welcome.
Dario (01:35):
Thank you.
Thank you for the invitation.
Love to be here, love to be partof the show.
Erika,
Erika (01:41):
Yeah, I love to be here.
fotf---clifton_3_10-13-2 (01:43):
Dario, let to get our listeners up and
running in terms of how you cameto meet
Clifton (01:50):
the lovely Erika.
What's that story?
Dario (01:53):
Kefir Lab, Kefir Love.
So the lovely story behind uswas that I moved to the States
over 10 years ago.
I am from Italy.
You can kind of get it from myaccent that I will never be able
to.
Talk a smooth.
And working in foodmanufacturing, always in food,
(02:15):
love, passion about food,nutrition, food science.
I got dived into this differentconception of uh, making food
from the art of making food thatwe have in Europe to the making
food.
The more industrialized, moreprocessed, slightly less
(02:37):
nutrition now for our bodies.
And I didn't change my habits inhaving mostly wheat and flour
products and here too muchrefine, these products kind of
make me, I don't wanna say sick,but I start to feel the
difference.
when I start to dive and diginto the probiotics, the gut
(02:59):
health, food science.
I met my lovely wife that shemoved from Toronto.
I would, I would always say thatshe moved from me, but I would
never know that story and beingfrom a family of
microbiologists, we were able tolink exactly what we were more
capable of.
Passion and food manufacturingon my side and the science
(03:22):
behind food and the sciencebehind probiotics, and gut
health from her.
And we merged this bothincredible power into a new
category, a trendy one actuallythat is rising and hot on the
market, aisle and shelf that isfunctional food.
So why do we need to.
(03:42):
Get sick and only rely on pharmaor supplement or medicine.
Why?
We can just heal ourself andfeel ourself the best every day
and thrive through food, throughproper food to pure, natural,
organic, wholesome form food andthat's the value of Kefir Lab,
and that's what we're doing.
Try to teach, educate, mentionour customer and everybody that
(04:06):
to have a beautiful, joyfullife, we just need to stay
healthy through food, nutrition,proper exercise, mindfulness,
Victoria (04:16):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (04:17):
proper Proper sleep, and all these thing combine.
There's no way you won't be ableto enjoy, smile, and be happy
every single day, evendepression or whatever make you
send that moment goes awaybecause your brain get nourished
from the energy of food and allthis kind of other energy
combined.
Victoria (04:36):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (04:37):
And here we are working and sharing our life together
since 2019 regarding Kefir lab,that's when we started.
And since couple of, earlier,since the day we met in San
Francisco,
Victoria (04:51):
Amazing.
Wow.
Thanks for sharing Dario.
There's a lot in what you justshared.
And did I hear you say that youworked in the restaurant
business with your family and itimpacted like the gut health or
the microbiome or something.
I remember you sharing in aprevious time we met with you
that you had to do likegluten-free eating.
(05:11):
Is that something that you'redoing now or is like the
probiotics helping?
Dario (05:18):
let's say that I was born and raised in Italy with mostly
of our energy coming fromstarches and carbs rather and
fat.
Something that here peoplewouldn't even understand and
say, how can you get sugar?
All your best carbs all daylong?
But that's our, so it's adifferent plant.
(05:38):
It's a different livingorganism.
It's a completely different typeof wheat we're talking about.
Victoria (05:42):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (05:42):
People sometimes get, even like, cannot even imagine
that you can get a whole pizzaby yourself in Italy when here
you, you split a whole pizza, awhole pie between two to three
people.
It's really the food itself,it's completely different.
So I was able in Italy to beraised with wheat.
Victoria (05:58):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (05:59):
And once I moved here 10 year ago, I didn't change my
kind of diet.
I was, while instead I wouldsuggest people to get local.
So if you move around the globe,try to eat local.
So I didn't do that 10 year ago.
I start to develop someautoimmune disorder, some gut
(06:19):
digestion issue, brain fog, ofcourse, some weight gain that
you get.
You don't really understandwhat's happening.
I knew I wasn't even 30.
I was still in my beautifultwenties and I said, there's no
way I feel like this.
I feel like crap.
Victoria (06:35):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (06:36):
Just having food, so eating, it was making me sleepy
right away.
I say food should make youplenty energy.
You should eat food and go outthere and run and be energetic.
You know, it can be theopposite.
make you all, sometimes make youeven upset that you're angry
because you need food.
You know, the consequences wouldbe under productive, sleepy, and
(06:57):
So that what happened on me.
I don't wanna say I becamegluten intolerant, but became
gluten fear.
I was try to stay away from it.
And currently I Try still enjoygluten, but I'm more selective
type of gluten, on the sorts ofcarbs where are made.
(07:21):
If it's organic, how it's grownlike biodynamic because the
processing of food is whatdeprive the food the from its
nutritional value, so the lessthe better that's my motto.
Clifton (07:35):
Gotcha.
And I love what you said about,the probiotics just instantly
helping you feel good.
And the process that happens,you know, is similar to what
it's like to hang out with youand Erika together as a couple
to couple.
We just feel good in yourpresence.
And on that note, Erika, youknow, we'd your story and of
(07:57):
connecting to Kefir Labs andwhat your perspective is on how
you created Kefir Labs.
Erika (08:06):
Yeah, of course.
I'd love to share that.
And uh I guess my story came tobe generations behind.
My grandma used to be a renounedprobiotic researcher and she
used to cure people through theGod.
And she was studying from thisguy, his name is Ilya Mechnikov.
He was a Russian, but he wasliving in uh, France.
(08:27):
In France.
And so my grandma studied fromhim and end up receiving a Nobel
Prize for discovering probioticsand its impact on anti-aging.
Victoria (08:38):
Mm-Hmm.
Erika (08:38):
he discovered that as long as people have probiotics
in their guts, they stop aging.
And the reason people age isbecause their microbiome
changes.
So my grandma was all about it.
And she was curing people.
She was making people that wouldgo, that would lose hair.
She would make the hair to growback just from probiotics.
(08:59):
And so I guess my dad is abiomedical doctor, so I have the
whole family background of beingmore like a functional medical
practitioners rather than just ageneral doctor.
So I grew up drinking a lot ofprobiotic since I was, a little
infant.
And the problem happened is whenI moved to Canada when I was 15,
(09:21):
I, as of a sudden, I stoppedhaving this probiotics that my
body was so used to.
And I started a little bit sick,like a little bit fatigue.
Like, I just stopped beingmyself in a way.
And then I had to startlearning, making it myself.
You know, I'm person that if Imiss something, I'll figure out
how to get it, how to do it.
(09:42):
So I started making it myself,and I start sharing with
neighbors, I had all my Kefirjars, like my cottage cheese and
then I would share withneighbors.
They would notice a difference,then they would start making it.
And then always people wouldencourage me to create a
company.
I was doing so much stuff when Iwas living in Canada.
I was, I had my fashion startup.
(10:02):
I was doing modeling, I wasstudying into universities at
the same time.
So I had a lot going on.
It wasn't really a good time tocreate a company.
And also I didn't know anybodyto create it beside me, and I
probably wouldn't done it bymyself.
So back to when 17, I went toSan Francisco as a tourist, was
just traveling, you know, I justdecided to take a cool trip by
(10:25):
myself when I finished mybachelor's and I met Dario at
his restaurant.
I was just looking for someItalian food just because I, I
know that it might be a betterquality in US, you know?
And I was staying in a hotel.
And I met him at his restaurantand We start chatting, you know,
and then, we had a conversation,you know, then I left of course,
(10:49):
how it happens.
And then back when we starteddating and then we started being
together, I moved to SanFrancisco, not because of him,
but
Victoria (10:57):
Mm-Hmm.
Erika (11:00):
that aside.
Fast forward to 2019, we createda company just because I was
doing a master's degree and Icreated the project as part of
my master's degree and so that,Dario was having his own job.
But then he saw the amount ofsuccess that we're getting with
Kefir Lab.
The demand was high, the demandwas higher than he can produce,
(11:20):
so he had to quit his job andhad to make some serious
decisions.
Had to be an entrepreneur.
Victoria (11:27):
Wow.
Yeah.
So I love how, Kefir is a bigpart of your, upbringing and
background as a Russianimmigrant.
And I myself am a Ukrainianimmigrant, so I grew up drinking
Kefir products and I have to saythis tastes the best out of any
I've ever tried.
And I've had my share of themwith my, my family for sure.
(11:48):
And for some of our audiencemembers who may not know what
Kefir is, can you explain whatit's a, probiotic, it's a dairy
product you guys have ones thataren't even dairy products.
So,'cause I know a lot of aredairy intolerant.
Could you dive into that alittle bit, please?
Erika (12:04):
Kefir is a fermented milk, and it could come from any
base, and it's similar toyogurt.
It's just more drinkable.
It's something that can be, haveon the go rather than yogurt.
You have to have it with aspoon.
And how our Kefir is different.
How Kefir Lab is different fromother Kefir in the market is
that we use a different,completely different kind of
probiotics.
It's not it's not just theyogurt cultures that are just
(12:26):
meant to ferment milk and theydon't reside in our gut.
They're just like culture milk.
And that's it.
You know, We use scientificbased probiotic strains that I,
thanks to my family generationof biomedical doctors we
formulate in our own lab.
That's why we call Kefir lab.
And our kefirs and probioticshots are particularly effective
(12:46):
and people usually can feel thedifference right away.
And people are able to curedifferent diseases, different
autoimmune disease.
Usually people see Really greatimpact from having Kefir and, or
at least some mood boost, as Iremember.
Clifton
Victoria (13:02):
Yes.
Erika (13:03):
in one of our dinners together.
Victoria (13:05):
Uhhuh Yeah.
For our listeners uh, the fourof us got together at Erewhon,
which sells Kefir lab products.
And I think we had this coconutone that I'm drinking right now.
Or a sample.
Erika (13:17):
First ever version of that?
Yeah.
Victoria (13:19):
And Clifton.
Erika (13:21):
Yeah.
Victoria (13:21):
So it's the first ever version of it.
I think you had a mockup labelor something.
It wasn't even manufactured,you're like, here guys, here's
some samples.
And Clifton got blissed out.
Basically just
Clifton (13:33):
I did, it was most potent food as medicine
experiences.
I just drank some of it and Iwanted to save some so I could
continue to ferment it at home,but I'm not sure it lasted'cause
it was so good.
And we walked around Venicecanals here in Southern
California, in Venice Beach.
And I just kept getting all thisinformation excitement about
(13:55):
what these probiotics could do.
And, there's a difference whenthe probiotics are in a drink or
in a form like this versus, um,I've taken probiotic capsules
and there to be a difference.
And Dario really, I'd love foryou to share with our listeners
the science behind why I wentthrough such a profound shift
(14:17):
compared to taking it in capsuleform.
Victoria (14:20):
Yeah.
I believe the quote Dario saidis, you have to wake the
sleeping probiotics in hisamazing accent.
Dario (14:28):
I remember something like that.
Yeah.
Probiotics in a food form islike considering the vitamin C
and having a full orange.
You don't get just the benefitof one single strain, two or
three from a powder that isdefinitely highly processed,
encapsulated, sterile, shelfstable.
(14:50):
Outside from the fridge.
You get a more potent becausehere what we're looking for,
effectiveness, potent, somethinglike really that you can make
you feel the difference.
And here we're talking aboutfermentation, the power of
exponential growth.
So you can add like someprobiotics in the base and you
can achieve uh, doubling in sizeevery 20 to 30 minutes.
(15:13):
that's how bacteria replicatenaturally So once you ferment
for a few hour or overnight someproduct, you see that you were
able to reach not million orbillion but trillion of
probiotics
Victoria (15:25):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (15:25):
in addition to our expertise in proper matching
probiotics strain, acidity, pH,and uh, minerals, everything
that help and aid thefermentation.
But what I'm saying is that aproper fermented food can
definitely, cannot even beconsidered similar to a
encapsulated freeze, driedprocessed pill Also because the
(15:48):
bio product of fermentationisn't just.
A multiplication of theprobiotic by itself, by, it's a
multiplication of so manydifferent enzymes and other
microbiologic uh, moleculars,bio fermentation that they come
along with fermentation and theyget absorbed from our body and
(16:12):
they you a boosting of benefit.
So when you get an orange,you're not purely having a
vitamin C.
Of course you're having fiber,vitamin C enzymes, nutrients,
hundreds of different stuff.
Then some vitamin C powder toput in your water and drink it.
cannot compare it.
Maybe it's the market.
Maybe they want to market in theway.
(16:33):
Maybe it's the industry thatthey wanna push for supplement.
But if you're aware of nutritionand how food is medicine act in
your body, you need completepicture.
You just a single element,sometimes even because of bio.
Bio ability, we're not able,we're not even able to absorb
that nutrient without somethingelse that act along with it.
(16:57):
Like some enzymes or some otherIngredients.
So the whole form of anything innature is always better than the
supplement form.
That was trying to explain To cClifton that walk saying always
go natural whenever there's nomarketing, go walk in a store,
(17:18):
whatever is no billboardmarketing or nothing related to
ads.
That's the food you want.
So go in a produce section.
I don't have to market somelettuce.
That's the food you want foryour health.
Clifton (17:28):
That's a really great
Victoria (17:29):
I love that
Clifton (17:29):
love that.
Yeah.
You don't see carrotsthemselves.
Buy me You just know that.
Victoria (17:37):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And what you're describing,Dario we're very familiar with
Clifton, and I went to a seminarfrom Dr.
Schultz a little while ago, notthe foot doctor, the super food
green and super C and all of hisproducts are also made from like
the peels of the oranges andacerola cherries.
Rather than getting the likeascorbic acid, which comes from
(18:00):
China and just like the isolate.
And he talks about how there's alot of different like
micronutrients in that orangethat support the absorption of
vitamin C.
Like you're talking about that.
Some of them we haven't evendiscovered them in a lab yet.
Like we know some of the Bvitamins, but maybe there's like
vitamin B 49 that we haven'tfound yet.
(18:20):
But the orange has nature'sintelligence in it, like you
said.
So it already knows what'sneeded as like co absorption
nutrients.
I love that.
Clifton (18:31):
Erika, I really wanna just anchor in that this has
been a lineage you've beenstewarding so there's deep
science to it.
And instead of going to a doctorto get prescribed.
Some sort of remedy
Victoria (18:43):
Yeah.
Clifton (18:44):
You
fotf---clifton_3_10-13-20 (18:44):
know, they can either intentionally or
unintentionally
Clifton (18:48):
grab the Kefir, in a supermarket.
Right.
And what has been some uniquefeedback that you've gotten
Erika, about the people who'veused Kefir.
Erika (18:58):
Well, let's not forget the pleasure that we receive,
drink like Kefir, and thanks toDario Italian expertise and food
that he was able to formulatethat it's pretty, it's very
tasty.
Or again, like having an orange,as we discussed earlier, versus
chugging some pills.
In my opinion, everything inlife has to be pleasure.
So I guess that definitely addsan element.
(19:21):
Personally, I'm not againstsupplements.
I think that there are some verycool supplements and they're
necessary, but just an act ofswallowing a pill makes me feel
like I'm sick, even though it aprobiotic pill or whatever.
That might be for me, but just,I prefer food as medicine.
feel like it's more, theprobiotics in food has been
(19:42):
studied in generations, whereaslike encapsulating probiotic,
it's something very new.
Like we don't really know.
And so I guess that's a bigelement of that.
And particularly about thefeedback that we're able to get.
I know there is a lot of Redditposts.
There is a lot of stuff on theinternet that people write about
Kefir Lab.
There was a lawyer famous lawyeractually, he's a lawyer of Elon
(20:03):
Musk and Jay-Z And that
Victoria (20:05):
Wow.
Erika (20:05):
he created a Reddit, that he was able to cure SIBO within
four weeks after havingprobiotic.
Whereas he try everything for 10years, he had an access to the
best doctors out there andnothing would ever help.
He tried all of the antibiotics,he tried all of the medicines
and nothing would ever help.
He said that the celery juiceand Kefir Lab together help him
(20:25):
to cure his SIBO in, in a matterof four weeks.
And I know that there are otherpeople that would replicate his
kinda like protocol it would besuccessful.
So I guess that's one of themost recent feedback that we
got.
But have a lot of amazingfeedback of people fighting
different sorts of autoimmunediseases, depression, anxiety
(20:47):
fatigue, sibo, ibs, leaky gut.
There is numerous benefitsacross all the roads, and we did
receive feedback from all ofcustomers that was, we're
grateful for that.
People always reach out to usevery single day, open my email,
and I'm just um, smiling all thetime because people are just so
nice and sharing everything thatthey been experiencing.
Victoria (21:09):
Mm-Hmm.
Erika (21:09):
And so this is just a number of them.
Clifton (21:12):
Wow.
Victoria (21:13):
Wow.
Amazing.
Clifton (21:15):
How are you taking all of this feedback and where are
you taking Kefir Labs now?
know it's available in Erewhonand a few supermarkets.
Where can our listeners find itand what's in store for the
future of Kefir Labs?
Erika (21:28):
Our products are available online, nationwide,
and we do ship worldwide.
After that Reddit incident, weto open up our shipments so that
it's more accessible foreverybody in the world.
So we do ship to Europe, we doship to UK, we do ship to
Australia pretty mucheverywhere.
and so the best way to get it isonline through our website.
(21:51):
We do sell it in a number oforganic grocery stores.
I guess it's hundreds to 300stores.
I don't know Dario would know itIt's mostly the organic grocery
store, like Erewhon, Lassens inCalifornia.
There is Central Market inTexas,
Victoria (22:05):
Mm-Hmm.
Erika (22:05):
different organic stores.
Hopefully soon we might sell inWhole Foods and Sprouts.
Victoria (22:10):
Mm-Hmm.
Erika (22:11):
Everything's getting there, But online is the best
bet and we do offer freeshipping for everybody ordering
in US
Victoria (22:19):
Amazing.
And we'll drop a link for wherepeople can get a subscription or
their first box of Kefir Labs inthe show notes all this
publicity a around like Redditand celebrity endorsements for
how it's helped them andwhatnot.
I know Dario you were mentioningyou've been contacted by other
organizations to help with a dogfood or something as well.
Dario (22:41):
Being Italian, I love to chat with every customer,
regardless of question theymight ask, may ask something
about the shipping, might be aconcern, not start a
conversation that sometimesdoesn't even end.
Just like keep going.
Like, Italian grandma talk, talkfor hours and hours.
But I love relation with mycustomer and sometimes the
(23:01):
phone, the text.
And it ended up that one of ourcustomer were using probiotics
as a meal topper for their catsand dogs.
And that was interesting for me.
I'll share with Erika.
Oh, you know, they also give itto dog and cats and she was more
informative than me, she said,of course.
What do you think?
They have this very similarmicrobiome as us as a human, so
(23:25):
makes sense they gave it totheir dog and cats.
It was like, wow.
And this guy ended up to haveone of the biggest pet food
company in the United States,
Victoria (23:35):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (23:36):
they'd like to develop a meal topper with us and supply
their 3000 stores along thestates.
And that's a huge opportunityfor us and also a big
opportunity to share the valueof gut health and probiotics
with the, with the world BecauseI believe that we just need to
keep educating people and ourcustomer.
I think it's a trend and all nowit's a niche, gut health
(23:58):
probiotics, but I see in 10years from now, everybody like
be conscious of what does itmean, taking care of their gut.
It's like,
Victoria (24:07):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (24:07):
how long being fit you, you know that exercise, proper
exercise is important for your
Victoria (24:13):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (24:14):
brain health and your physical activity.
So taking care of your gut willbe something normal in the
future.
Even if now it's still, you wantto get some questions, like
question answers, and why isthat important after it wouldn't
be the why.
You are just aware of it.
And this for dog food and thisalso for so many other different
product that they are out there.
(24:34):
They use preservatives orcontaminant that they.
Are artificially made, andinstead through the power of
fermentation, you can get rid ofpreservatives and extend the
shelf life in the most naturalway, thanks to the lactic acids
or the probiotic, living in it,and extend the product shelf
life without addingpreservative, why do you need to
(24:54):
add preservatives.
You can ferment the product.
So something very nice is thaton a store shelf, you start pay
attention Here.
Over here, the store, the spacein the store dedicated to
probiotics is little by little.
Growing, growing, growing,growing.
So it means that the consumersare more aware of it.
(25:15):
So consumer demand.
So we just need to be there andsupply to the consumer.
So I'm happy to see this spacegrowing.
It means people are gettingaware, educated on it
Victoria (25:26):
Yeah.
Education is a big piece forsure.
And you guys do a great amountof that, and I love that you're
helping animals too.
You know, this podcast is calledThe Startup of Human Potential.
And one of the reasons we haveyou on here is because one way
to optimize your human potentialis to optimize your gut, right?
That affects your performance.
It affects your mood, as yousaid, and your functioning as a
(25:49):
high performer.
And we're talking about dog andcat potential here too.
Optimize animals.
Dario (25:58):
It's cool to mention also that artisanal made kefirs are
made out of a SCOBY.
It's a complex, combination ofyeast and bacteria.
Victoria (26:11):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (26:11):
some people may be concerned about the presence of
yeast inside the SCOBY becauseyou replicate yeast it can
damage the gut and also petswanna stay away from yeast So
what make us unique also that wefound a way to extract the pure
probiotic strain or the speciesof that bacteria removing the
(26:33):
yeast part.
So we don't use any SCOBY.
We inoculated the base with ourown formulated probiotics
extracted from the Kefir crane,there's no yeast in it.
So our product is yeast free,and that's very important.
That's a key to lots of peoplethat might suffer of some
gastrointestinal disorder orpets that you don't wanna feed
(26:56):
them with yeast, because you cando the opposite effect in their
gut.
So that's why they really loveour product because It's also
yeast free
Victoria (27:03):
Wow beautiful mm-Hmm.
Clifton (27:04):
And I know we can dive into science on science on
science and what's nice to knowis that Kefir Labs has the
science and, Erika said, Youalso have delicious taste,
right?
Like you make that, because Iknow that it really is almost
like chemistry or something interms of the balance of sugars
(27:24):
and fats and things and thatnature to, to grow them and then
also for it to taste good andlike the right texture or
consistency.
Can you help walk through thatprocess and how your background
really helped?
Dario (27:37):
That, that little started on me thanks to Erika, because
once I met Erika and we startedliving together, she's, she was
just replicating her staple foodthat's Kefir at home without
buying the commercialized one.
She never liked the one thatbought on store, so she was
making her own.
I mean, I was very, I'm a verycurious guy, very interesting,
(28:00):
everything, and I like to tastefood.
I like to try, I like to playwith it.
And was looking at these weirdjars with something going on
inside.
said, what's going on on thosejars and she introduced me to
Kefir, to fermentation.
It's something more on annorthern culture of Europe, but
not the Italian.
Definitely we know about yogurtbut not kefir.
(28:21):
So I said, lemme try.
But my first experiences withKefir was kind of off, I felt
high acidity.
I didn't like it wasn't really apleasure experience.Was more the
experience now, you know, like,okay, I need to eat healthy.
I need to eat sugar free.
I need to eat.
Something good for your gut,something good for your health,
but you are already aware thatthe food tastes awful.
(28:45):
Why food needs to taste bad andbe good you.
Can't you really find acombination a balance and be
healthy and good to taste at thesame time?
So one was my job.
I said, Erika, listen, I'm gonnamake the thing taste good
somehow.
I don't know how now, but I'llmake it good.
And
Victoria (29:05):
You put the ingredient of passion into it.
Dario (29:08):
yeah, and I start basically learning on.
So I start taking classes offood science fermentation.
I mean I kind of get some ideaalso from the wine industry in
Italy that were very big aboutalso aging process fermentation.
And I came out with a selectionof some probiotic species that
(29:29):
can either increase the acidityor not and give a taste profile
to the base.
as a bio product tofermentation, you also get a
flavor.
So depending on the species youuse, you get as a result, a
taste.
So you play also with the strainthat you innoculate the base to
(29:53):
receive a taste.
So it took like one year evenmore in try, different
combination of species, and thenI was to find that nice.
Probiotic actually highlyprobiotic because we can reach
above a trillion mild tasteflavor of that solution.
(30:14):
So start giving to Erika to tryand say, this is mine.
Try.
And she was like, what?
I love it.
What is this?
still kefir, improved better.
And that's, don't wanna say myjob, but that's my passion.
Food, it's art.
Art Has to be beautiful and inthis case has taste great.
(30:37):
So I'm happy that you enjoy andappreciate the taste of our,
because I feel like a gratefuland accomplished for that part
Victoria (30:48):
Wow.
Clifton (30:48):
That's awesome
Victoria (30:49):
it sounds like, complete food alchemy.
It's like food science, but foodalchemy as well.
Pouring the, love into it.
The hours of research, thecombining or mating the
probiotic species.
Dario (31:01):
yeah, blending them.
Victoria (31:03):
Okay.
Clifton (31:04):
sacrificing or just at the science, but making it a
full spectrum enjoyableexperience.
And
Dario (31:12):
Yeah.
Clifton (31:13):
My question to you Erika, is did you imagine that
this was how your company, wouldgrow, coming from a family of,
microbiome, researchers,,oftentimes there's a very
traditional, approach towardsbuilding a business and finding
a business partner.
But like you just followed yourgut literally your taste your
(31:36):
desire for great food.
How has this kind of unfoldedand is that sort of a natural
philosophy that you have towardsbuilding a business?
I.
Erika (31:44):
I guess I could never imagine the exponential growth
that we got with Kefir Lab.
I could definitely imaginemyself being an entrepreneur
because that's the only thing I.
I wanted to do in my life.
I'm actually a very bad personto work for someone, and I guess
they're gonna fire me the firstday because you tell me to do
something, I'm gonna do exactlythe opposite.
So I knew that my way is to bean entrepreneur because I'm
(32:07):
more, I'm a protagonist and knowif, you know, the Myers Briggs
personality test.
So I like to create things.
I like to make things happen.
And Kefir was something that Iwas so passionate about, like I
was making it every single day.
And I guess Dario saw my passionthat I was really excited about
making it.
Then when we just released it onthe market in 2019, we, our
(32:28):
first was at the farmer's marketin San Francisco, and when we
just came there, we were like,you never believe you have this
idea that something that youmade kinda like in a home
kitchen that anyone is gonnawant it.
And we put a very high price onit, like the first bottle
costed, I think$9.
There was no organiccertification, there was no
(32:48):
label, nothing whatsoever, whichwas like a glass jar and there
was like something sticked onit, like, okay, it's Kefir And
yeah, we got sold out in thefirst two hours and then we did
a pilot test a very location.
And then again, like we run outof all the product in one hour
and then everything would kindof like show the success.
(33:11):
So we decided to invest in itand to make it a business.
And I would never imagine myselfbeing what I am right now
without Kefir Lab.
I guess it's because you neverimagine the exponential growth
that something can have
Victoria (33:27):
Mm-Hmm.
Just like the probiotics in yourproduct exponential growth
Erika (33:32):
Yeah.
I guess only one thing that I,know for sure is that doing the
right thing.
We haven't done any marketing upto date.
Everything has grownorganically.
And not to say that I'm againstmarketing, but I just felt that
it's gonna dilute into thinkingthat you have a great product
without you having a greatproduct.
(33:53):
So it's important to receivethat feedback from people.
And for me, it was alwaysimportant to do something that
brings value to people.
And I always thought that themoney will follow the successful
following everything willfollow.
Kind of like just after that sofor me, that was primal goal,
and I guess I kind of knew thatbased on the amount of value
that I give people, there wouldbe an equal return in that.
(34:16):
So.
Victoria (34:18):
Yeah, absolutely.
And as we mentioned earlier inthe episode, Erika was awarded a
Female Entrepreneur of the Yearaward, so congratulations on
that, Erika.
Erika (34:29):
Thank you.
Victoria (34:31):
Yeah, it's so cool.
And what Clifton's question wasalso alluding to is how, when
we're aligned to our passion,when we're working on a business
that's a natural byproduct ofwho we are.
Like you were cultivating thekefir in jars, right?
Creating like a home lab, Dariocomes along, brings in the
passion and the taste buds andthe food science, and it just,
(34:52):
it grows, and it becomes anatural byproduct of who you
are.
And like you said, the moneyflows as a natural byproduct of
providing that service, ofcreating that value for
humanity.
Erika (35:02):
Mm-Hmm.
Victoria (35:04):
I love that.
Clifton (35:05):
so so now I feel like our listeners understand Kefir
labs if they haven't alreadygone online to buy it.
amazing.
And, wanted to spend the nextsegment kinda diving into the
dynamics, you know, of the powercouple of working on
Victoria (35:22):
Hmm.
Clifton (35:23):
a project together.
Wearing different hats.
You know, sometimes you have touncomfortable or challenging
conversations as businessleaders, but business partners
and you're also living togetherand, all of the, this fun and
wanted to see Victoria.
Where should we start on thisvery juicy, juicy topic of.
Victoria (35:44):
Yeah.
I mean, this is an interestingdiscussion for the four of us to
have, because each of us are inbusiness with our partner.
We wear the hat ofrelationships, we wear the hat
of you know living together.
We wear the hat of businessco-founders and like, how do you
guys stay balanced in managingall the different hats?
I know you have, a lot of goodrole differentiation in Kefir
lab.
(36:05):
So how else do you guys navigatethat multi hat nature?
Dario (36:10):
I want to begin saying that it's not as simple, it's
not as simple as you said.
I think we're here today talkingand the universe is here because
of the balance of everything.
Because of the balance.
We are where we are.
So if we want to keep ourrelation going as a married
(36:36):
couple and also see our companysucceed, we always need to
prioritize the balance of twoenergy and priorities together.
If you give too much attentionto work, you might see a boost
in the work, but for the shortterm, because whatever you are
(36:59):
lacking and missing from theopposite side, that's your
private life would interfere andplateau and drop drastically the
performance of the job.
Mm-Hmm.
And same would happen reversedif I stop even thinking about
work.
And from tomorrow, we only thinkabout ourselves rather
beautiful.
(37:20):
We probably see a drop in a workperformance and maybe also in
our relation because the workperformance and the financials
that drop may bring consequencesto our private life.
So I feel that you always needto balance whatever you're
(37:42):
doing.
And because we are not going ina straight, smooth, linear way,
your car during this adventurealways tend to shift right and
left.
is your job, your duty, yourresponsibility to keep going
back to track like a train,sometimes tend to one side, you
(38:06):
wanna put it back and then youwanna put it back.
And being in balance withregular up and down, that the
downside of it does notnecessarily.
Means bad, but it means as aboost a footer growth.
Is that the trend need to bealways uptrend.
Victoria (38:26):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (38:27):
And beside this up and down, both in work and private
life, you want to see the bigpicture of the long run.
And I believe in a balance.
So you should be a super humanin this case.
And able not to do one thing,but two things that both are
(38:48):
your priority.
So you cannot say one or theother one, but both of them to
keep them on track so you don'thave to focus on performance,
but you have to focus on keep itin balance together because it's
the balance of it that build theperformance of both of them
(39:09):
combined.
Victoria (39:10):
Yeah.
Dario (39:11):
believe in a balance of work and private life,
especially in a married couple,
Victoria (39:16):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (39:17):
to be able to grow both side of the business and our
life together.
Victoria (39:23):
Yeah.
Absolutely.
And something Clifton and I talkabout a lot too, because we talk
about entrepreneurs and livingtheir total life of joy.
Total means you're notsacrificing the other areas of
life for business success.
And in a relationshippartnership like this, it's
especially crucial, right?
Because like you said, you'reworking on that uptrend and
(39:47):
having awareness and balance ofwhen things are falling out of
alignment, going off track.
So yeah, Erika, I'd love to knowlike, how do you guys know when
things feel out of alignment orhow do you guys have the
awareness when things might needto be shifted more into balance?
Erika (40:04):
Gut feeling.
Victoria (40:06):
Yeah.
Erika (40:09):
Well, it's challenging.
I won't lie.
It's still challenging to thisday.
And I guess going more topractice, we decided to put
boundaries on when the work dayfinish I know Clifton taught us
something fantastic.
I don't know, or maybe it wasyour idea initially, but I
remember when we met, he had uh,gratefulness alarms.
(40:31):
that's a really nice, a reallynice practice to have.
And for me personally, I believethat investing in yourself since
the morning, like poweringyourself up for the day with
energy.
I, we, I have a very strictmorning routine, getting into
the flow.
I guess that's the mostimportant.
(40:52):
That would affect my performanceduring the day.
then knowing when to stopworking.
Also, it's important like whenit's, when it's done.
Everything until the next day.
And because especially forfemales, I think it's way more
challenging than for a manbecause we have to balance, in
order to be a great partner inthe relationship, we have to
(41:12):
express our feminine energy.
And that's, in my case, it's mydominant energy.
I do have a pretty, pretty tightbalance.
I do have a lot of masculineenergy too, but in order to
excel in work, we do need toexpress our masculine energy.
And knowing when to switch itmight be challenging.
So it's really challenging toknow.
So putting some boundaries justas like timing.
(41:34):
For example, for us, we finishour work day at 5:00 PM and then
it's done.
And then I'm a wife.
Victoria (41:40):
Yeah.
Erika (41:40):
Sometimes you still have that.
Usually I like to do some sortof a meditation or something
just to kind of like, or goingfor a walk, you know, just to
have that break in between Dariodoesn't do that most of the
time, but I know he stays morein a masculine energy, he can
stay working until like midnightBut for me it's important.
And as we know, usually thewoman brings the energy in a
(42:02):
family in a house.
Usually it's like, I don't wannasay the woman job, but the main
influence usually comes from awoman.
So I think it's an importantwork that a woman should do.
Getting the energy right.
Victoria (42:16):
Yeah.
There's several interestingthings in what you just said,
Erika.
One, I wanna hear about yourmorning routine some more.
And two the whole balance thatyou're talking about.
The, masculine and feminineenergetics of being the CEO,
boss lady, co-founder withDario, your partner.
You know, there's a lot ofmasculine energy you have to
bring into work.
And Clifton and I navigate thatas well.
(42:37):
And then Like shifting into thatfeminine, more receiving, more
nurturing, cultivating thefamily, setting up the right
container.
Right?
Like the masculine's moredriving and the feminine's more
of that container.
Yeah.
Clifton and I talk about thistopic quite a lot too, because
you wanna create some of thatpolarity in the relationship, so
we're not both like masculinedriving energy.
(42:59):
So yeah, maybe I'd love Cliftonif you'd chime in on this too.
Yeah
Clifton (43:04):
I would love, because we have both of you here, Dario,
if you could share your
Victoria (43:08):
Yeah.
Clifton (43:08):
reflection on what Erika said, like do you notice
this shift?
Do you stay in your masculine?
How does her conscious choice at5:00 PM to switch.
Roles and switch your energy.
How do you feel it and do youfollow the same kind of pattern
or do you have something thatworks for you as well that's
different?
Dario (43:30):
I think that it's important to, I don't wanna say
that it's like acting, but onceyou are doing your business
hours and you are anentrepreneur, an employee, or
you're like in your work mode,you're like the, your iPhone
switch to on, you have to remindyourself that you're working.
Victoria (43:56):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (43:56):
Of course, you always keep the attention to your other
half that can be next to youworking remotely or somewhere
else because you still areresponsible of your, you still
are responsible, whatever it isabout your family.
But can bring uh, stress,anxiety, sometimes joy can be
(44:18):
any type of emotions.
So that emotions need to remainin a work hour because of course
I don't mind to bring joy athome.
But sometimes work, we know,especially when you have your
own company, might keep youbeing outside so you can be
(44:39):
physically there, but your braincan be somewhere else.
And that one take out time fromyour family time.
So you should be able really to.
dIsconnect with work once youget inside home because now you
have a different job that youcannot prioritize again.
But if I have to choose familyfirst.
Victoria (45:00):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (45:01):
So keep your work mind outside the door.
Bring your family energy as ahusband, as a dad.
If you have kids at home, youcan't have both at home because
they will look at you withsomeone physically there.
Victoria (45:22):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (45:22):
No mentally there.
So you're doing your jobhalfway.
So for what Erika said, I'mstill learning because with
word, it's easy, with fact isdifferent.
I'm still learning, but I wouldrecommend to.
on your commute.
If you're driving from work tohome or from walking or taking
(45:46):
the elevator up home to closeyour eyes.
Feel breathing, remind yourselfnow I'll be a different person.
Now.
I'm a dad, now I'm a husband.
Now I'm in the nest
Victoria (46:02):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (46:02):
of love.
Work is outside this door.
Don't mix them both because willdamage your relation.
So that's what I still learning.
Life is learning, but try toimprove myself.
Victoria (46:20):
Yeah.
Dario (46:20):
hours, other work hours, pleasure.
Let's say work.
Sometimes people can associatewith a, with workout with
physically, like mentally, likehard, no it's a
Victoria (46:34):
mm-Hmm.
Dario (46:34):
pleasure, but let's say, let's call it work.
Once you get home you haveanother job to do.
The first one, family.
Victoria (46:44):
Hmm.
Clifton (46:45):
That's beautiful.
Victoria (46:46):
And it's a practice.
Yeah.
It's beautiful.
It's a practice, navigating thatbalance and each time you maybe
make a mistake or step out ofalignment, it just brings more
awareness to how to do it betternext time.
Right.
You're kind of build, measure,learning the relationship and
the multi hat nature of thispartnership.
(47:08):
What about if you're workingfrom home, both of you guys,
Erika, do you work from homemostly?
Erika (47:16):
Most of the time, yeah, I like to, sometimes I go to, um,
Erewhon
Victoria (47:21):
of course.
Erika (47:23):
but honestly, to be honest with you I do most of my
meetings while I walk,
Victoria (47:27):
Mm-Hmm.
Erika (47:28):
so I don't know if you call it from home,
Victoria (47:30):
Okay, got it.
And Dario, you're mostly workingat the manufacturing space or.
Dario (47:39):
I really work from everywhere.
I cannot stay.
I'm very like energetic person.
I move.
I need to feel the freedom Ineed to, if I feel to be home, I
like to be home, but I cannotlong time home.
So I move from the manufacturingfacility to like a common area
(48:00):
where you can work co-workingspace
Victoria (48:02):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (48:02):
home.
Meeting with other people.
I like to move.
Victoria (48:06):
Yeah.
Dario (48:07):
I want to feel that I'm working from anywhere I feel
that day.
Victoria (48:11):
Mm-Hmm.
Got you.
Yeah.
Clifton and I both work fromhome.
He's in one room, I'm in theother room.
And it takes a lot of awareness,understanding which hat we're
approaching a certain topicfrom, and like, you know, trying
to.
Maybe compartmentalize isn'treally the right word, but
allocate the feelings.
Like if we're feeling some kindof frustration or resentment,
(48:31):
it's like, oh, I'm feeling itfrom my business partner role.
Or, oh, I'm feeling it from myrelationship partner role.
And making sure, like we havethat conscious awareness about
which item we're addressing whenwe're talking about any tension
and coming to
Clifton (48:45):
Yeah.
Victoria (48:46):
resolution.
Clifton (48:46):
Yeah I love what you said Dario, it's almost like a
play.
'cause we teach a quantum view,a quantum perspective of
reality.
And we talk about you'recreating a morphic field or a
morphogenetic field that you canjust imagine like
Victoria (49:00):
Mm-Hmm.
Clifton (49:01):
of energy that you're stepping into that represents
you in your relationship Erika,you in your family life.
when you step into it, you'reinteracting with it, you're
cultivating it, you're nurturingit, you're building it.
And then when you're inbusiness, you're stepping into a
whole different field of energythat has different results.
(49:22):
And so what we talk about is tobe very clear on who you are as
an individual, so that way whenyou enter into these different
containers or these differentenergy bubbles, you can operate
in a way that's in alignmentwith who you are and what you'd
like to see.
And just building these mentalframeworks and perspectives can
(49:43):
help create differentiation ofwhat.
Conversations need to happenwhere, what emotional processing
needs to happen when, and justto be able to build a greater
sense of discernment as to, whatto say, what to do, and where to
go.
Because you guys havedemonstrated very well, it
(50:05):
sounds like, is the, theboundaries between, kefir labs
and family that you're creating,right?
And so those boundaries existnot just in time.
And that's a really greatstarting point is mark it off.
But there's also energy and andsaid it beautifully, Dario about
your mind might be in work gottato present.
(50:26):
how do stay present steppinginto roles and feel you two, as
couple, at least from ourperspective.
And course we know in ourrelationship we.
We're presented to the outsideworld in a certain way, but
that's not necessarily the fullstory of your go-to, Erika you
(50:46):
mentioned you have that morningroutine that gets you in the
flow.
What are some things that havereally worked in those
situations where there might nothave been harmony and there
might have been a messiness, youknow, some people go to a nice
restaurant, some people, do abubble bath, some people go on
vacation.
What are some of those toolkitsthat you two use in your
(51:07):
relationship when you need toreally nurture it
Erika (51:11):
is the question to Dario, I guess, right?
Clifton (51:13):
to either, yeah.
Victoria (51:15):
Yeah.
Clifton (51:16):
Erika what comes to your mind?
Yeah.
Well, I'll just point out,Erika, what comes to your mind
that you nurture therelationship from your feminine
perspective?
Erika (51:26):
I guess in my opinion, the best thing for me to do is
just to go for a walk or I justdrive to the ocean.
Victoria (51:34):
Mm-Hmm.
Erika (51:35):
I go to swim.
Usually that's what I do to befully honest with you.
We don't do much.
We should do more like of abonding activities.
Things along the line, I guess.
Dario likes being productive,
Victoria (51:50):
You say Dario wants to be productive?
Erika (51:53):
I mean, I wanna be transparent.
I don't wanna create things upthat don't exist.
But other than that, the way Itry to keep the harmony at home,
it's, I think the most importantis when there is Kinda like a
fire.
You don't put you don't make itbigger.
You know, Like when I see himbeing upset or when you see a
(52:13):
person being upset, that's notthe right moment to kinda like,
gravitate the situation more.
The best moment is to just stayquiet, you know?
And then you can still insertyour opinion or whatever, like
if you're unhappy withsomething.
But I don't feel like the rightsituation in the right moment is
just in a moment because thenit's gonna create like a mess
and then, and you're gonna beunhappy.
You know?
And like your energy is gonna bealso involved into that.
(52:36):
So I guess that's on my personallevel, that's what I found.
It's useful for me,
Victoria (52:42):
Mm-Hmm.
Erika (52:43):
but to be honest with you, yeah, I cannot think of any
bonding activities.
We do go for vacations usuallyquarterly.
That's important just to likeGet ourselves out of the
situation we're in the placethat we're in the house, you
know, everywhere.
And we usually go for longervacations, about a month.
It's usually in Italy.
So I guess we always come backwith fresh ideas and fresh
(53:05):
energies.
Dario (53:07):
I want to believe that the first bonding activity is to
bond with yourself beforethinking too bond with the other
one.
you, since the moment you wakeup, everyone can have a
different routine that are onlymade to balance, boost, or
(53:27):
amplify your feeling at themoment.
Erika mentioned about me seekingfor performance'that what my
body need.
I wake up.
I'm happy to be alive.
I'm happy to do something newfor me, for the world.
And I can't wait that energylike to come out from my, from
every single part of my body.
(53:47):
What trigger more energy to meis sun and sweat.
So the idea of waking up and gooutside under the sun, having a
run.
It's what bring me like theenergy to set that standard for
the rest of the day, for me tokeep being energetic, chatty,
talky, like energy, bringenergy.
(54:09):
So even the first meeting youcan have at 9:00 AM if you're
ready for it with the, not withcoffee or the long line at
Starbucks, like, oh, I need acoffee to wake up.
No, no, You just need some sunon your skin and some sweat
Victoria (54:23):
and an gut.
Clifton (54:23):
maybe
Victoria (54:24):
gut
Clifton (54:24):
some probiotics.
Dario (54:24):
An optimized gut to be able to do your first meeting in
a day with that so much energythat at the end would be
remarkable.
People Wouldn't believe it, thatyou have so much energy in the
morning.
So the goal is to be remarkable.
First impression is the mostimportant.
So that's what trigger myenergy.
(54:46):
I see on Erika a routine basedon yoga, meditation something,
more spiritual, breathingexercise.
I would do definitely that typeof routine myself, but I feel
maybe it's more whatever, bringme outside from the work hours.
(55:06):
So I'm maybe that wouldsomething that I would do after
5:00 PM instead of the beginningof the day.
just like a reverse.
And I don't want to say that'swrong.
That's good.
You should listen to yourselfand see you need.
And bonding activities aredefinitely the routine of the
couple can be cooking together,having food together, go for a
(55:27):
walk, go grocery shopping.
So everything that make you feelpart of something together.
Vacation, anything.
Victoria (55:39):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And what you're saying about,bonding with yourself first, and
understanding what routine youneed to optimize yourself so you
can show up as the best versionof yourself.
You're saying how Erika'sroutine looks different from
your routine and, you knowClifton and I just talk about
it, like, whatever brings youjoy.
Erika (55:56):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (55:58):
Yeah.
It's a little disconnected fromwhat we are talking, but I
believe that you are thereflection of your business to
your consumers.
So founders are the culture ofthe business.
So whatever you are, it'sreflected on your business.
(56:18):
So if you're organized,disorganized, a friendly,
chatty, shy.
That's also the brand.
That's your business.
It is just the reflection ofyou, just the middle of you.
So creating Be yourself.
Always help because make thingsalways easy.
(56:38):
you want to be someone else thatyou not naturally are you
wouldn't be even believe fromothers because you cannot lie.
So as we are chatting with you,talking with you, sharing our
opinion with you, how probablyyou can see from our landing
page.
If you go on our landing page onthe website, you'll see like
smiling people chatty saying thetruth and talking about gut
(57:00):
health story.
That's us.
That's us.
That's Kefir Lab.
That's Dario, that's Erika.
Whatever values mission,everything we aim for is what we
really believe.
Not just what the business it'smeant to be there to be
profitable or getting clients orattention.
No, that's us.
(57:22):
So always stick to truth andstick to your belief first
because the business will beyour exact reflection
Victoria (57:29):
Yeah.
Dario (57:30):
and build your culture and, stick with it.
Be yourself.
Victoria (57:35):
Yeah, yeah.
What you're talking about, Darioisn't off topic at all.
It's actually what Clifton and Italk about with our clients
about how what, whatever isgoing on with you is gonna show
up with your business and it'sgonna reflect how you operate.
And when you know people have anissue maybe in their like
emotional self, they might havean issue connecting with their
customer or with theircolleagues, with their
(57:58):
co-founders, with their clients.
Like whatever, how it's likecross-linked to it.
It maps perfectly in ourproprietary framework.
It's exactly what we talk about.
So you're spot on in what you'resharing
Clifton (58:12):
We love that.
We love that you have come tothat yourself.
Right?
'cause that's what thisframework is.
It's an observation of whatsuccess is.
From more heart-centered andauthentic place of
quantumpreneurs, of changemakers here, making incredible
businesses take off in their ownway, you know, that faster or in
(58:34):
a different way than you couldeven imagine, because you are
aligned to yourself, because youare aligned to each other and
aligned to the business and thebelief of what the business
stands for.
so as we move wrap up, I knowwe'll definitely have you two on
in the future.
I just wanted to say, wherecould our listeners connect with
(58:55):
you?
What's the best way for them tointeract with you because you
have so much wisdom yourselves.
Dario (59:01):
I say the best way to connect that could be definitely
through our contact page and ourwebsite.
We like to be there.
Sometimes it's even like weirdreceiving emails from founder,
COO, Erika, but that's us.
I don't have to delegate thecustomer service from some
outside third party company.
Logistic.
we are the face of our companyand I'm there to reply your
(59:23):
answer and most of the time, andI'm thankful for it, it's Erika,
that she always take care of thebackend of our email and
contacts with customer.
And that's probably also whatmake us unique.
I mean, can send it, but I don'twant that from tomorrow.
Any type of topic come out.
But you can just say hi and I'llreply to you Hi.
(59:44):
Even through an email.
I don't, listen to you.
I'll reply to you.
We are always there for ourcustomer and, I will be there
replying.
So emails, website, first.
Instagram, we take care ourselffor our page.
Victoria (59:59):
and that website is Kefirlab.com and Instagram is at
Kefir lab.
Dario (01:00:07):
Yeah.
Victoria (01:00:07):
Yeah.
And we have a code for 10% offyour purchase with the FOTF 10
linked below in this episode.
So I just wanna say how much Ireally enjoyed this time with
you both and sharing the airtimewith, Clifton, my partner,
hearing about your partnerships,your dynamics together in
(01:00:28):
business.
I loved hearing a lot about therelationship dynamics actually
too.
And What, gut health andboundaries is a whole separate
topic that we can talk about onanother podcast about just
planting a seed there about howhaving good boundaries with
relationships and with oneanother comes from having good
gut health.
So just planting a seed for afuture episode with you guys
(01:00:49):
that would be an interestingtopic for me to cover.
And hopefully you guys as well.
Thank you both so much forjoining us today.
Thank you listeners for tuningin.
And as we mentioned the contactinformation for Kefir Lab is
below in the show notes.
Clifton (01:01:05):
Awesome.
Thanks for listening, and we'llsee you next time.
Welcome back to The Startup of Human Potential.
(00:02):
We're your co-hosts.
Clifton (00:03):
I'm Clifton, And I'm Victoria.
together we are Faces of theFuture.
Faces.
of the Future is a venturestudio with a personal
development platform at theintersection of consciousness,
connection, innovation, andwellbeing.
We're excited to have you joinus on our show.
Victoria (00:23):
Today's episode is brought to you by Kefir Lab We
have our, first Power Couple onthe show here with us today.
Erika and Dario co-founders ofKefir Lab.
Welcome.
Clifton (00:36):
Hi guys.
Victoria (00:37):
Erika and Dario I'd love to get a into a little
background about Kefir lab.
First of all do you guys wannabecome a trillionaire?
That's one of the taglines thatKefir Lab uses to refer to the
amount of probiotics that is inthe product.
Third party tested andverified., Their company has won
several awards
Clifton (00:57):
they each have an incredible list of
accomplishments from TVappearances to speaking
opportunities, includingEntrepreneur of the Year Award.
And when they combine, theycombine to create their
beingness based business that'sa byproduct of their own
individual journeys as well astheir relationship.
And that is Kefir labs.
Victoria (01:19):
Yes, and in today's episode we'll talk about Erika
and Dario each individually andKefir lab and how it's a natural
byproduct of who they bothorganically are, and of course,
gut health.
We love gut health, so welcome.
Dario (01:35):
Thank you.
Thank you for the invitation.
Love to be here, love to be partof the show.
Erika,
Erika (01:41):
Yeah, I love to be here.
fotf---clifton_3_10-13-2 (01:43):
Dario, let to get our listeners up and
running in terms of how you cameto meet
Clifton (01:50):
the lovely Erika.
What's that story?
Dario (01:53):
Kefir Lab, Kefir Love.
So the lovely story behind uswas that I moved to the States
over 10 years ago.
I am from Italy.
You can kind of get it from myaccent that I will never be able
to.
Talk a smooth.
And working in foodmanufacturing, always in food,
(02:15):
love, passion about food,nutrition, food science.
I got dived into this differentconception of uh, making food
from the art of making food thatwe have in Europe to the making
food.
The more industrialized, moreprocessed, slightly less
(02:37):
nutrition now for our bodies.
And I didn't change my habits inhaving mostly wheat and flour
products and here too muchrefine, these products kind of
make me, I don't wanna say sick,but I start to feel the
difference.
when I start to dive and diginto the probiotics, the gut
(02:59):
health, food science.
I met my lovely wife that shemoved from Toronto.
I would, I would always say thatshe moved from me, but I would
never know that story and beingfrom a family of
microbiologists, we were able tolink exactly what we were more
capable of.
Passion and food manufacturingon my side and the science
(03:22):
behind food and the sciencebehind probiotics, and gut
health from her.
And we merged this bothincredible power into a new
category, a trendy one actuallythat is rising and hot on the
market, aisle and shelf that isfunctional food.
So why do we need to.
(03:42):
Get sick and only rely on pharmaor supplement or medicine.
Why?
We can just heal ourself andfeel ourself the best every day
and thrive through food, throughproper food to pure, natural,
organic, wholesome form food andthat's the value of Kefir Lab,
and that's what we're doing.
Try to teach, educate, mentionour customer and everybody that
(04:06):
to have a beautiful, joyfullife, we just need to stay
healthy through food, nutrition,proper exercise, mindfulness,
Victoria (04:16):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (04:17):
proper Proper sleep, and all these thing combine.
There's no way you won't be ableto enjoy, smile, and be happy
every single day, evendepression or whatever make you
send that moment goes awaybecause your brain get nourished
from the energy of food and allthis kind of other energy
combined.
Victoria (04:36):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (04:37):
And here we are working and sharing our life together
since 2019 regarding Kefir lab,that's when we started.
And since couple of, earlier,since the day we met in San
Francisco,
Victoria (04:51):
Amazing.
Wow.
Thanks for sharing Dario.
There's a lot in what you justshared.
And did I hear you say that youworked in the restaurant
business with your family and itimpacted like the gut health or
the microbiome or something.
I remember you sharing in aprevious time we met with you
that you had to do likegluten-free eating.
(05:11):
Is that something that you'redoing now or is like the
probiotics helping?
Dario (05:18):
let's say that I was born and raised in Italy with mostly
of our energy coming fromstarches and carbs rather and
fat.
Something that here peoplewouldn't even understand and
say, how can you get sugar?
All your best carbs all daylong?
But that's our, so it's adifferent plant.
(05:38):
It's a different livingorganism.
It's a completely different typeof wheat we're talking about.
Victoria (05:42):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (05:42):
People sometimes get, even like, cannot even imagine
that you can get a whole pizzaby yourself in Italy when here
you, you split a whole pizza, awhole pie between two to three
people.
It's really the food itself,it's completely different.
So I was able in Italy to beraised with wheat.
Victoria (05:58):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (05:59):
And once I moved here 10 year ago, I didn't change my
kind of diet.
I was, while instead I wouldsuggest people to get local.
So if you move around the globe,try to eat local.
So I didn't do that 10 year ago.
I start to develop someautoimmune disorder, some gut
(06:19):
digestion issue, brain fog, ofcourse, some weight gain that
you get.
You don't really understandwhat's happening.
I knew I wasn't even 30.
I was still in my beautifultwenties and I said, there's no
way I feel like this.
I feel like crap.
Victoria (06:35):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (06:36):
Just having food, so eating, it was making me sleepy
right away.
I say food should make youplenty energy.
You should eat food and go outthere and run and be energetic.
You know, it can be theopposite.
make you all, sometimes make youeven upset that you're angry
because you need food.
You know, the consequences wouldbe under productive, sleepy, and
(06:57):
So that what happened on me.
I don't wanna say I becamegluten intolerant, but became
gluten fear.
I was try to stay away from it.
And currently I Try still enjoygluten, but I'm more selective
type of gluten, on the sorts ofcarbs where are made.
(07:21):
If it's organic, how it's grownlike biodynamic because the
processing of food is whatdeprive the food the from its
nutritional value, so the lessthe better that's my motto.
Clifton (07:35):
Gotcha.
And I love what you said about,the probiotics just instantly
helping you feel good.
And the process that happens,you know, is similar to what
it's like to hang out with youand Erika together as a couple
to couple.
We just feel good in yourpresence.
And on that note, Erika, youknow, we'd your story and of
(07:57):
connecting to Kefir Labs andwhat your perspective is on how
you created Kefir Labs.
Erika (08:06):
Yeah, of course.
I'd love to share that.
And uh I guess my story came tobe generations behind.
My grandma used to be a renounedprobiotic researcher and she
used to cure people through theGod.
And she was studying from thisguy, his name is Ilya Mechnikov.
He was a Russian, but he wasliving in uh, France.
(08:27):
In France.
And so my grandma studied fromhim and end up receiving a Nobel
Prize for discovering probioticsand its impact on anti-aging.
Victoria (08:38):
Mm-Hmm.
Erika (08:38):
he discovered that as long as people have probiotics
in their guts, they stop aging.
And the reason people age isbecause their microbiome
changes.
So my grandma was all about it.
And she was curing people.
She was making people that wouldgo, that would lose hair.
She would make the hair to growback just from probiotics.
(08:59):
And so I guess my dad is abiomedical doctor, so I have the
whole family background of beingmore like a functional medical
practitioners rather than just ageneral doctor.
So I grew up drinking a lot ofprobiotic since I was, a little
infant.
And the problem happened is whenI moved to Canada when I was 15,
(09:21):
I, as of a sudden, I stoppedhaving this probiotics that my
body was so used to.
And I started a little bit sick,like a little bit fatigue.
Like, I just stopped beingmyself in a way.
And then I had to startlearning, making it myself.
You know, I'm person that if Imiss something, I'll figure out
how to get it, how to do it.
(09:42):
So I started making it myself,and I start sharing with
neighbors, I had all my Kefirjars, like my cottage cheese and
then I would share withneighbors.
They would notice a difference,then they would start making it.
And then always people wouldencourage me to create a
company.
I was doing so much stuff when Iwas living in Canada.
I was, I had my fashion startup.
(10:02):
I was doing modeling, I wasstudying into universities at
the same time.
So I had a lot going on.
It wasn't really a good time tocreate a company.
And also I didn't know anybodyto create it beside me, and I
probably wouldn't done it bymyself.
So back to when 17, I went toSan Francisco as a tourist, was
just traveling, you know, I justdecided to take a cool trip by
(10:25):
myself when I finished mybachelor's and I met Dario at
his restaurant.
I was just looking for someItalian food just because I, I
know that it might be a betterquality in US, you know?
And I was staying in a hotel.
And I met him at his restaurantand We start chatting, you know,
and then, we had a conversation,you know, then I left of course,
(10:49):
how it happens.
And then back when we starteddating and then we started being
together, I moved to SanFrancisco, not because of him,
but
Victoria (10:57):
Mm-Hmm.
Erika (11:00):
that aside.
Fast forward to 2019, we createda company just because I was
doing a master's degree and Icreated the project as part of
my master's degree and so that,Dario was having his own job.
But then he saw the amount ofsuccess that we're getting with
Kefir Lab.
The demand was high, the demandwas higher than he can produce,
(11:20):
so he had to quit his job andhad to make some serious
decisions.
Had to be an entrepreneur.
Victoria (11:27):
Wow.
Yeah.
So I love how, Kefir is a bigpart of your, upbringing and
background as a Russianimmigrant.
And I myself am a Ukrainianimmigrant, so I grew up drinking
Kefir products and I have to saythis tastes the best out of any
I've ever tried.
And I've had my share of themwith my, my family for sure.
(11:48):
And for some of our audiencemembers who may not know what
Kefir is, can you explain whatit's a, probiotic, it's a dairy
product you guys have ones thataren't even dairy products.
So,'cause I know a lot of aredairy intolerant.
Could you dive into that alittle bit, please?
Erika (12:04):
Kefir is a fermented milk, and it could come from any
base, and it's similar toyogurt.
It's just more drinkable.
It's something that can be, haveon the go rather than yogurt.
You have to have it with aspoon.
And how our Kefir is different.
How Kefir Lab is different fromother Kefir in the market is
that we use a different,completely different kind of
probiotics.
It's not it's not just theyogurt cultures that are just
(12:26):
meant to ferment milk and theydon't reside in our gut.
They're just like culture milk.
And that's it.
You know, We use scientificbased probiotic strains that I,
thanks to my family generationof biomedical doctors we
formulate in our own lab.
That's why we call Kefir lab.
And our kefirs and probioticshots are particularly effective
(12:46):
and people usually can feel thedifference right away.
And people are able to curedifferent diseases, different
autoimmune disease.
Usually people see Really greatimpact from having Kefir and, or
at least some mood boost, as Iremember.
Clifton
Victoria (13:02):
Yes.
Erika (13:03):
in one of our dinners together.
Victoria (13:05):
Uhhuh Yeah.
For our listeners uh, the fourof us got together at Erewhon,
which sells Kefir lab products.
And I think we had this coconutone that I'm drinking right now.
Or a sample.
Erika (13:17):
First ever version of that?
Yeah.
Victoria (13:19):
And Clifton.
Erika (13:21):
Yeah.
Victoria (13:21):
So it's the first ever version of it.
I think you had a mockup labelor something.
It wasn't even manufactured,you're like, here guys, here's
some samples.
And Clifton got blissed out.
Basically just
Clifton (13:33):
I did, it was most potent food as medicine
experiences.
I just drank some of it and Iwanted to save some so I could
continue to ferment it at home,but I'm not sure it lasted'cause
it was so good.
And we walked around Venicecanals here in Southern
California, in Venice Beach.
And I just kept getting all thisinformation excitement about
(13:55):
what these probiotics could do.
And, there's a difference whenthe probiotics are in a drink or
in a form like this versus, um,I've taken probiotic capsules
and there to be a difference.
And Dario really, I'd love foryou to share with our listeners
the science behind why I wentthrough such a profound shift
(14:17):
compared to taking it in capsuleform.
Victoria (14:20):
Yeah.
I believe the quote Dario saidis, you have to wake the
sleeping probiotics in hisamazing accent.
Dario (14:28):
I remember something like that.
Yeah.
Probiotics in a food form islike considering the vitamin C
and having a full orange.
You don't get just the benefitof one single strain, two or
three from a powder that isdefinitely highly processed,
encapsulated, sterile, shelfstable.
(14:50):
Outside from the fridge.
You get a more potent becausehere what we're looking for,
effectiveness, potent, somethinglike really that you can make
you feel the difference.
And here we're talking aboutfermentation, the power of
exponential growth.
So you can add like someprobiotics in the base and you
can achieve uh, doubling in sizeevery 20 to 30 minutes.
(15:13):
that's how bacteria replicatenaturally So once you ferment
for a few hour or overnight someproduct, you see that you were
able to reach not million orbillion but trillion of
probiotics
Victoria (15:25):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (15:25):
in addition to our expertise in proper matching
probiotics strain, acidity, pH,and uh, minerals, everything
that help and aid thefermentation.
But what I'm saying is that aproper fermented food can
definitely, cannot even beconsidered similar to a
encapsulated freeze, driedprocessed pill Also because the
(15:48):
bio product of fermentationisn't just.
A multiplication of theprobiotic by itself, by, it's a
multiplication of so manydifferent enzymes and other
microbiologic uh, moleculars,bio fermentation that they come
along with fermentation and theyget absorbed from our body and
(16:12):
they you a boosting of benefit.
So when you get an orange,you're not purely having a
vitamin C.
Of course you're having fiber,vitamin C enzymes, nutrients,
hundreds of different stuff.
Then some vitamin C powder toput in your water and drink it.
cannot compare it.
Maybe it's the market.
Maybe they want to market in theway.
(16:33):
Maybe it's the industry thatthey wanna push for supplement.
But if you're aware of nutritionand how food is medicine act in
your body, you need completepicture.
You just a single element,sometimes even because of bio.
Bio ability, we're not able,we're not even able to absorb
that nutrient without somethingelse that act along with it.
(16:57):
Like some enzymes or some otherIngredients.
So the whole form of anything innature is always better than the
supplement form.
That was trying to explain To cClifton that walk saying always
go natural whenever there's nomarketing, go walk in a store,
(17:18):
whatever is no billboardmarketing or nothing related to
ads.
That's the food you want.
So go in a produce section.
I don't have to market somelettuce.
That's the food you want foryour health.
Clifton (17:28):
That's a really great
Victoria (17:29):
I love that
Clifton (17:29):
love that.
Yeah.
You don't see carrotsthemselves.
Buy me You just know that.
Victoria (17:37):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And what you're describing,Dario we're very familiar with
Clifton, and I went to a seminarfrom Dr.
Schultz a little while ago, notthe foot doctor, the super food
green and super C and all of hisproducts are also made from like
the peels of the oranges andacerola cherries.
Rather than getting the likeascorbic acid, which comes from
(18:00):
China and just like the isolate.
And he talks about how there's alot of different like
micronutrients in that orangethat support the absorption of
vitamin C.
Like you're talking about that.
Some of them we haven't evendiscovered them in a lab yet.
Like we know some of the Bvitamins, but maybe there's like
vitamin B 49 that we haven'tfound yet.
(18:20):
But the orange has nature'sintelligence in it, like you
said.
So it already knows what'sneeded as like co absorption
nutrients.
I love that.
Clifton (18:31):
Erika, I really wanna just anchor in that this has
been a lineage you've beenstewarding so there's deep
science to it.
And instead of going to a doctorto get prescribed.
Some sort of remedy
Victoria (18:43):
Yeah.
Clifton (18:44):
You
fotf---clifton_3_10-13-20 (18:44):
know, they can either intentionally or
unintentionally
Clifton (18:48):
grab the Kefir, in a supermarket.
Right.
And what has been some uniquefeedback that you've gotten
Erika, about the people who'veused Kefir.
Erika (18:58):
Well, let's not forget the pleasure that we receive,
drink like Kefir, and thanks toDario Italian expertise and food
that he was able to formulatethat it's pretty, it's very
tasty.
Or again, like having an orange,as we discussed earlier, versus
chugging some pills.
In my opinion, everything inlife has to be pleasure.
So I guess that definitely addsan element.
(19:21):
Personally, I'm not againstsupplements.
I think that there are some verycool supplements and they're
necessary, but just an act ofswallowing a pill makes me feel
like I'm sick, even though it aprobiotic pill or whatever.
That might be for me, but just,I prefer food as medicine.
feel like it's more, theprobiotics in food has been
(19:42):
studied in generations, whereaslike encapsulating probiotic,
it's something very new.
Like we don't really know.
And so I guess that's a bigelement of that.
And particularly about thefeedback that we're able to get.
I know there is a lot of Redditposts.
There is a lot of stuff on theinternet that people write about
Kefir Lab.
There was a lawyer famous lawyeractually, he's a lawyer of Elon
(20:03):
Musk and Jay-Z And that
Victoria (20:05):
Wow.
Erika (20:05):
he created a Reddit, that he was able to cure SIBO within
four weeks after havingprobiotic.
Whereas he try everything for 10years, he had an access to the
best doctors out there andnothing would ever help.
He tried all of the antibiotics,he tried all of the medicines
and nothing would ever help.
He said that the celery juiceand Kefir Lab together help him
(20:25):
to cure his SIBO in, in a matterof four weeks.
And I know that there are otherpeople that would replicate his
kinda like protocol it would besuccessful.
So I guess that's one of themost recent feedback that we
got.
But have a lot of amazingfeedback of people fighting
different sorts of autoimmunediseases, depression, anxiety
(20:47):
fatigue, sibo, ibs, leaky gut.
There is numerous benefitsacross all the roads, and we did
receive feedback from all ofcustomers that was, we're
grateful for that.
People always reach out to usevery single day, open my email,
and I'm just um, smiling all thetime because people are just so
nice and sharing everything thatthey been experiencing.
Victoria (21:09):
Mm-Hmm.
Erika (21:09):
And so this is just a number of them.
Clifton (21:12):
Wow.
Victoria (21:13):
Wow.
Amazing.
Clifton (21:15):
How are you taking all of this feedback and where are
you taking Kefir Labs now?
know it's available in Erewhonand a few supermarkets.
Where can our listeners find itand what's in store for the
future of Kefir Labs?
Erika (21:28):
Our products are available online, nationwide,
and we do ship worldwide.
After that Reddit incident, weto open up our shipments so that
it's more accessible foreverybody in the world.
So we do ship to Europe, we doship to UK, we do ship to
Australia pretty mucheverywhere.
and so the best way to get it isonline through our website.
(21:51):
We do sell it in a number oforganic grocery stores.
I guess it's hundreds to 300stores.
I don't know Dario would know itIt's mostly the organic grocery
store, like Erewhon, Lassens inCalifornia.
There is Central Market inTexas,
Victoria (22:05):
Mm-Hmm.
Erika (22:05):
different organic stores.
Hopefully soon we might sell inWhole Foods and Sprouts.
Victoria (22:10):
Mm-Hmm.
Erika (22:11):
Everything's getting there, But online is the best
bet and we do offer freeshipping for everybody ordering
in US
Victoria (22:19):
Amazing.
And we'll drop a link for wherepeople can get a subscription or
their first box of Kefir Labs inthe show notes all this
publicity a around like Redditand celebrity endorsements for
how it's helped them andwhatnot.
I know Dario you were mentioningyou've been contacted by other
organizations to help with a dogfood or something as well.
Dario (22:41):
Being Italian, I love to chat with every customer,
regardless of question theymight ask, may ask something
about the shipping, might be aconcern, not start a
conversation that sometimesdoesn't even end.
Just like keep going.
Like, Italian grandma talk, talkfor hours and hours.
But I love relation with mycustomer and sometimes the
(23:01):
phone, the text.
And it ended up that one of ourcustomer were using probiotics
as a meal topper for their catsand dogs.
And that was interesting for me.
I'll share with Erika.
Oh, you know, they also give itto dog and cats and she was more
informative than me, she said,of course.
What do you think?
They have this very similarmicrobiome as us as a human, so
(23:25):
makes sense they gave it totheir dog and cats.
It was like, wow.
And this guy ended up to haveone of the biggest pet food
company in the United States,
Victoria (23:35):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (23:36):
they'd like to develop a meal topper with us and supply
their 3000 stores along thestates.
And that's a huge opportunityfor us and also a big
opportunity to share the valueof gut health and probiotics
with the, with the world BecauseI believe that we just need to
keep educating people and ourcustomer.
I think it's a trend and all nowit's a niche, gut health
(23:58):
probiotics, but I see in 10years from now, everybody like
be conscious of what does itmean, taking care of their gut.
It's like,
Victoria (24:07):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (24:07):
how long being fit you, you know that exercise, proper
exercise is important for your
Victoria (24:13):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (24:14):
brain health and your physical activity.
So taking care of your gut willbe something normal in the
future.
Even if now it's still, you wantto get some questions, like
question answers, and why isthat important after it wouldn't
be the why.
You are just aware of it.
And this for dog food and thisalso for so many other different
product that they are out there.
(24:34):
They use preservatives orcontaminant that they.
Are artificially made, andinstead through the power of
fermentation, you can get rid ofpreservatives and extend the
shelf life in the most naturalway, thanks to the lactic acids
or the probiotic, living in it,and extend the product shelf
life without addingpreservative, why do you need to
(24:54):
add preservatives.
You can ferment the product.
So something very nice is thaton a store shelf, you start pay
attention Here.
Over here, the store, the spacein the store dedicated to
probiotics is little by little.
Growing, growing, growing,growing.
So it means that the consumersare more aware of it.
(25:15):
So consumer demand.
So we just need to be there andsupply to the consumer.
So I'm happy to see this spacegrowing.
It means people are gettingaware, educated on it
Victoria (25:26):
Yeah.
Education is a big piece forsure.
And you guys do a great amountof that, and I love that you're
helping animals too.
You know, this podcast is calledThe Startup of Human Potential.
And one of the reasons we haveyou on here is because one way
to optimize your human potentialis to optimize your gut, right?
That affects your performance.
It affects your mood, as yousaid, and your functioning as a
(25:49):
high performer.
And we're talking about dog andcat potential here too.
Optimize animals.
Dario (25:58):
It's cool to mention also that artisanal made kefirs are
made out of a SCOBY.
It's a complex, combination ofyeast and bacteria.
Victoria (26:11):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (26:11):
some people may be concerned about the presence of
yeast inside the SCOBY becauseyou replicate yeast it can
damage the gut and also petswanna stay away from yeast So
what make us unique also that wefound a way to extract the pure
probiotic strain or the speciesof that bacteria removing the
(26:33):
yeast part.
So we don't use any SCOBY.
We inoculated the base with ourown formulated probiotics
extracted from the Kefir crane,there's no yeast in it.
So our product is yeast free,and that's very important.
That's a key to lots of peoplethat might suffer of some
gastrointestinal disorder orpets that you don't wanna feed
(26:56):
them with yeast, because you cando the opposite effect in their
gut.
So that's why they really loveour product because It's also
yeast free
Victoria (27:03):
Wow beautiful mm-Hmm.
Clifton (27:04):
And I know we can dive into science on science on
science and what's nice to knowis that Kefir Labs has the
science and, Erika said, Youalso have delicious taste,
right?
Like you make that, because Iknow that it really is almost
like chemistry or something interms of the balance of sugars
(27:24):
and fats and things and thatnature to, to grow them and then
also for it to taste good andlike the right texture or
consistency.
Can you help walk through thatprocess and how your background
really helped?
Dario (27:37):
That, that little started on me thanks to Erika, because
once I met Erika and we startedliving together, she's, she was
just replicating her staple foodthat's Kefir at home without
buying the commercialized one.
She never liked the one thatbought on store, so she was
making her own.
I mean, I was very, I'm a verycurious guy, very interesting,
(28:00):
everything, and I like to tastefood.
I like to try, I like to playwith it.
And was looking at these weirdjars with something going on
inside.
said, what's going on on thosejars and she introduced me to
Kefir, to fermentation.
It's something more on annorthern culture of Europe, but
not the Italian.
Definitely we know about yogurtbut not kefir.
(28:21):
So I said, lemme try.
But my first experiences withKefir was kind of off, I felt
high acidity.
I didn't like it wasn't really apleasure experience.Was more the
experience now, you know, like,okay, I need to eat healthy.
I need to eat sugar free.
I need to eat.
Something good for your gut,something good for your health,
but you are already aware thatthe food tastes awful.
(28:45):
Why food needs to taste bad andbe good you.
Can't you really find acombination a balance and be
healthy and good to taste at thesame time?
So one was my job.
I said, Erika, listen, I'm gonnamake the thing taste good
somehow.
I don't know how now, but I'llmake it good.
And
Victoria (29:05):
You put the ingredient of passion into it.
Dario (29:08):
yeah, and I start basically learning on.
So I start taking classes offood science fermentation.
I mean I kind of get some ideaalso from the wine industry in
Italy that were very big aboutalso aging process fermentation.
And I came out with a selectionof some probiotic species that
(29:29):
can either increase the acidityor not and give a taste profile
to the base.
as a bio product tofermentation, you also get a
flavor.
So depending on the species youuse, you get as a result, a
taste.
So you play also with the strainthat you innoculate the base to
(29:53):
receive a taste.
So it took like one year evenmore in try, different
combination of species, and thenI was to find that nice.
Probiotic actually highlyprobiotic because we can reach
above a trillion mild tasteflavor of that solution.
(30:14):
So start giving to Erika to tryand say, this is mine.
Try.
And she was like, what?
I love it.
What is this?
still kefir, improved better.
And that's, don't wanna say myjob, but that's my passion.
Food, it's art.
Art Has to be beautiful and inthis case has taste great.
(30:37):
So I'm happy that you enjoy andappreciate the taste of our,
because I feel like a gratefuland accomplished for that part
Victoria (30:48):
Wow.
Clifton (30:48):
That's awesome
Victoria (30:49):
it sounds like, complete food alchemy.
It's like food science, but foodalchemy as well.
Pouring the, love into it.
The hours of research, thecombining or mating the
probiotic species.
Dario (31:01):
yeah, blending them.
Victoria (31:03):
Okay.
Clifton (31:04):
sacrificing or just at the science, but making it a
full spectrum enjoyableexperience.
And
Dario (31:12):
Yeah.
Clifton (31:13):
My question to you Erika, is did you imagine that
this was how your company, wouldgrow, coming from a family of,
microbiome, researchers,,oftentimes there's a very
traditional, approach towardsbuilding a business and finding
a business partner.
But like you just followed yourgut literally your taste your
(31:36):
desire for great food.
How has this kind of unfoldedand is that sort of a natural
philosophy that you have towardsbuilding a business?
I.
Erika (31:44):
I guess I could never imagine the exponential growth
that we got with Kefir Lab.
I could definitely imaginemyself being an entrepreneur
because that's the only thing I.
I wanted to do in my life.
I'm actually a very bad personto work for someone, and I guess
they're gonna fire me the firstday because you tell me to do
something, I'm gonna do exactlythe opposite.
So I knew that my way is to bean entrepreneur because I'm
(32:07):
more, I'm a protagonist and knowif, you know, the Myers Briggs
personality test.
So I like to create things.
I like to make things happen.
And Kefir was something that Iwas so passionate about, like I
was making it every single day.
And I guess Dario saw my passionthat I was really excited about
making it.
Then when we just released it onthe market in 2019, we, our
(32:28):
first was at the farmer's marketin San Francisco, and when we
just came there, we were like,you never believe you have this
idea that something that youmade kinda like in a home
kitchen that anyone is gonnawant it.
And we put a very high price onit, like the first bottle
costed, I think$9.
There was no organiccertification, there was no
(32:48):
label, nothing whatsoever, whichwas like a glass jar and there
was like something sticked onit, like, okay, it's Kefir And
yeah, we got sold out in thefirst two hours and then we did
a pilot test a very location.
And then again, like we run outof all the product in one hour
and then everything would kindof like show the success.
(33:11):
So we decided to invest in itand to make it a business.
And I would never imagine myselfbeing what I am right now
without Kefir Lab.
I guess it's because you neverimagine the exponential growth
that something can have
Victoria (33:27):
Mm-Hmm.
Just like the probiotics in yourproduct exponential growth
Erika (33:32):
Yeah.
I guess only one thing that I,know for sure is that doing the
right thing.
We haven't done any marketing upto date.
Everything has grownorganically.
And not to say that I'm againstmarketing, but I just felt that
it's gonna dilute into thinkingthat you have a great product
without you having a greatproduct.
(33:53):
So it's important to receivethat feedback from people.
And for me, it was alwaysimportant to do something that
brings value to people.
And I always thought that themoney will follow the successful
following everything willfollow.
Kind of like just after that sofor me, that was primal goal,
and I guess I kind of knew thatbased on the amount of value
that I give people, there wouldbe an equal return in that.
(34:16):
So.
Victoria (34:18):
Yeah, absolutely.
And as we mentioned earlier inthe episode, Erika was awarded a
Female Entrepreneur of the Yearaward, so congratulations on
that, Erika.
Erika (34:29):
Thank you.
Victoria (34:31):
Yeah, it's so cool.
And what Clifton's question wasalso alluding to is how, when
we're aligned to our passion,when we're working on a business
that's a natural byproduct ofwho we are.
Like you were cultivating thekefir in jars, right?
Creating like a home lab, Dariocomes along, brings in the
passion and the taste buds andthe food science, and it just,
(34:52):
it grows, and it becomes anatural byproduct of who you
are.
And like you said, the moneyflows as a natural byproduct of
providing that service, ofcreating that value for
humanity.
Erika (35:02):
Mm-Hmm.
Victoria (35:04):
I love that.
Clifton (35:05):
so so now I feel like our listeners understand Kefir
labs if they haven't alreadygone online to buy it.
amazing.
And, wanted to spend the nextsegment kinda diving into the
dynamics, you know, of the powercouple of working on
Victoria (35:22):
Hmm.
Clifton (35:23):
a project together.
Wearing different hats.
You know, sometimes you have touncomfortable or challenging
conversations as businessleaders, but business partners
and you're also living togetherand, all of the, this fun and
wanted to see Victoria.
Where should we start on thisvery juicy, juicy topic of.
Victoria (35:44):
Yeah.
I mean, this is an interestingdiscussion for the four of us to
have, because each of us are inbusiness with our partner.
We wear the hat ofrelationships, we wear the hat
of you know living together.
We wear the hat of businessco-founders and like, how do you
guys stay balanced in managingall the different hats?
I know you have, a lot of goodrole differentiation in Kefir
lab.
(36:05):
So how else do you guys navigatethat multi hat nature?
Dario (36:10):
I want to begin saying that it's not as simple, it's
not as simple as you said.
I think we're here today talkingand the universe is here because
of the balance of everything.
Because of the balance.
We are where we are.
So if we want to keep ourrelation going as a married
(36:36):
couple and also see our companysucceed, we always need to
prioritize the balance of twoenergy and priorities together.
If you give too much attentionto work, you might see a boost
in the work, but for the shortterm, because whatever you are
(36:59):
lacking and missing from theopposite side, that's your
private life would interfere andplateau and drop drastically the
performance of the job.
Mm-Hmm.
And same would happen reversedif I stop even thinking about
work.
And from tomorrow, we only thinkabout ourselves rather
beautiful.
(37:20):
We probably see a drop in a workperformance and maybe also in
our relation because the workperformance and the financials
that drop may bring consequencesto our private life.
So I feel that you always needto balance whatever you're
(37:42):
doing.
And because we are not going ina straight, smooth, linear way,
your car during this adventurealways tend to shift right and
left.
is your job, your duty, yourresponsibility to keep going
back to track like a train,sometimes tend to one side, you
(38:06):
wanna put it back and then youwanna put it back.
And being in balance withregular up and down, that the
downside of it does notnecessarily.
Means bad, but it means as aboost a footer growth.
Is that the trend need to bealways uptrend.
Victoria (38:26):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (38:27):
And beside this up and down, both in work and private
life, you want to see the bigpicture of the long run.
And I believe in a balance.
So you should be a super humanin this case.
And able not to do one thing,but two things that both are
(38:48):
your priority.
So you cannot say one or theother one, but both of them to
keep them on track so you don'thave to focus on performance,
but you have to focus on keep itin balance together because it's
the balance of it that build theperformance of both of them
(39:09):
combined.
Victoria (39:10):
Yeah.
Dario (39:11):
believe in a balance of work and private life,
especially in a married couple,
Victoria (39:16):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (39:17):
to be able to grow both side of the business and our
life together.
Victoria (39:23):
Yeah.
Absolutely.
And something Clifton and I talkabout a lot too, because we talk
about entrepreneurs and livingtheir total life of joy.
Total means you're notsacrificing the other areas of
life for business success.
And in a relationshippartnership like this, it's
especially crucial, right?
Because like you said, you'reworking on that uptrend and
(39:47):
having awareness and balance ofwhen things are falling out of
alignment, going off track.
So yeah, Erika, I'd love to knowlike, how do you guys know when
things feel out of alignment orhow do you guys have the
awareness when things might needto be shifted more into balance?
Erika (40:04):
Gut feeling.
Victoria (40:06):
Yeah.
Erika (40:09):
Well, it's challenging.
I won't lie.
It's still challenging to thisday.
And I guess going more topractice, we decided to put
boundaries on when the work dayfinish I know Clifton taught us
something fantastic.
I don't know, or maybe it wasyour idea initially, but I
remember when we met, he had uh,gratefulness alarms.
(40:31):
that's a really nice, a reallynice practice to have.
And for me personally, I believethat investing in yourself since
the morning, like poweringyourself up for the day with
energy.
I, we, I have a very strictmorning routine, getting into
the flow.
I guess that's the mostimportant.
(40:52):
That would affect my performanceduring the day.
then knowing when to stopworking.
Also, it's important like whenit's, when it's done.
Everything until the next day.
And because especially forfemales, I think it's way more
challenging than for a manbecause we have to balance, in
order to be a great partner inthe relationship, we have to
(41:12):
express our feminine energy.
And that's, in my case, it's mydominant energy.
I do have a pretty, pretty tightbalance.
I do have a lot of masculineenergy too, but in order to
excel in work, we do need toexpress our masculine energy.
And knowing when to switch itmight be challenging.
So it's really challenging toknow.
So putting some boundaries justas like timing.
(41:34):
For example, for us, we finishour work day at 5:00 PM and then
it's done.
And then I'm a wife.
Victoria (41:40):
Yeah.
Erika (41:40):
Sometimes you still have that.
Usually I like to do some sortof a meditation or something
just to kind of like, or goingfor a walk, you know, just to
have that break in between Dariodoesn't do that most of the
time, but I know he stays morein a masculine energy, he can
stay working until like midnightBut for me it's important.
And as we know, usually thewoman brings the energy in a
(42:02):
family in a house.
Usually it's like, I don't wannasay the woman job, but the main
influence usually comes from awoman.
So I think it's an importantwork that a woman should do.
Getting the energy right.
Victoria (42:16):
Yeah.
There's several interestingthings in what you just said,
Erika.
One, I wanna hear about yourmorning routine some more.
And two the whole balance thatyou're talking about.
The, masculine and feminineenergetics of being the CEO,
boss lady, co-founder withDario, your partner.
You know, there's a lot ofmasculine energy you have to
bring into work.
And Clifton and I navigate thatas well.
(42:37):
And then Like shifting into thatfeminine, more receiving, more
nurturing, cultivating thefamily, setting up the right
container.
Right?
Like the masculine's moredriving and the feminine's more
of that container.
Yeah.
Clifton and I talk about thistopic quite a lot too, because
you wanna create some of thatpolarity in the relationship, so
we're not both like masculinedriving energy.
(42:59):
So yeah, maybe I'd love Cliftonif you'd chime in on this too.
Yeah
Clifton (43:04):
I would love, because we have both of you here, Dario,
if you could share your
Victoria (43:08):
Yeah.
Clifton (43:08):
reflection on what Erika said, like do you notice
this shift?
Do you stay in your masculine?
How does her conscious choice at5:00 PM to switch.
Roles and switch your energy.
How do you feel it and do youfollow the same kind of pattern
or do you have something thatworks for you as well that's
different?
Dario (43:30):
I think that it's important to, I don't wanna say
that it's like acting, but onceyou are doing your business
hours and you are anentrepreneur, an employee, or
you're like in your work mode,you're like the, your iPhone
switch to on, you have to remindyourself that you're working.
Victoria (43:56):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (43:56):
Of course, you always keep the attention to your other
half that can be next to youworking remotely or somewhere
else because you still areresponsible of your, you still
are responsible, whatever it isabout your family.
But can bring uh, stress,anxiety, sometimes joy can be
(44:18):
any type of emotions.
So that emotions need to remainin a work hour because of course
I don't mind to bring joy athome.
But sometimes work, we know,especially when you have your
own company, might keep youbeing outside so you can be
(44:39):
physically there, but your braincan be somewhere else.
And that one take out time fromyour family time.
So you should be able really to.
dIsconnect with work once youget inside home because now you
have a different job that youcannot prioritize again.
But if I have to choose familyfirst.
Victoria (45:00):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (45:01):
So keep your work mind outside the door.
Bring your family energy as ahusband, as a dad.
If you have kids at home, youcan't have both at home because
they will look at you withsomeone physically there.
Victoria (45:22):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (45:22):
No mentally there.
So you're doing your jobhalfway.
So for what Erika said, I'mstill learning because with
word, it's easy, with fact isdifferent.
I'm still learning, but I wouldrecommend to.
on your commute.
If you're driving from work tohome or from walking or taking
(45:46):
the elevator up home to closeyour eyes.
Feel breathing, remind yourselfnow I'll be a different person.
Now.
I'm a dad, now I'm a husband.
Now I'm in the nest
Victoria (46:02):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (46:02):
of love.
Work is outside this door.
Don't mix them both because willdamage your relation.
So that's what I still learning.
Life is learning, but try toimprove myself.
Victoria (46:20):
Yeah.
Dario (46:20):
hours, other work hours, pleasure.
Let's say work.
Sometimes people can associatewith a, with workout with
physically, like mentally, likehard, no it's a
Victoria (46:34):
mm-Hmm.
Dario (46:34):
pleasure, but let's say, let's call it work.
Once you get home you haveanother job to do.
The first one, family.
Victoria (46:44):
Hmm.
Clifton (46:45):
That's beautiful.
Victoria (46:46):
And it's a practice.
Yeah.
It's beautiful.
It's a practice, navigating thatbalance and each time you maybe
make a mistake or step out ofalignment, it just brings more
awareness to how to do it betternext time.
Right.
You're kind of build, measure,learning the relationship and
the multi hat nature of thispartnership.
(47:08):
What about if you're workingfrom home, both of you guys,
Erika, do you work from homemostly?
Erika (47:16):
Most of the time, yeah, I like to, sometimes I go to, um,
Erewhon
Victoria (47:21):
of course.
Erika (47:23):
but honestly, to be honest with you I do most of my
meetings while I walk,
Victoria (47:27):
Mm-Hmm.
Erika (47:28):
so I don't know if you call it from home,
Victoria (47:30):
Okay, got it.
And Dario, you're mostly workingat the manufacturing space or.
Dario (47:39):
I really work from everywhere.
I cannot stay.
I'm very like energetic person.
I move.
I need to feel the freedom Ineed to, if I feel to be home, I
like to be home, but I cannotlong time home.
So I move from the manufacturingfacility to like a common area
(48:00):
where you can work co-workingspace
Victoria (48:02):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (48:02):
home.
Meeting with other people.
I like to move.
Victoria (48:06):
Yeah.
Dario (48:07):
I want to feel that I'm working from anywhere I feel
that day.
Victoria (48:11):
Mm-Hmm.
Got you.
Yeah.
Clifton and I both work fromhome.
He's in one room, I'm in theother room.
And it takes a lot of awareness,understanding which hat we're
approaching a certain topicfrom, and like, you know, trying
to.
Maybe compartmentalize isn'treally the right word, but
allocate the feelings.
Like if we're feeling some kindof frustration or resentment,
(48:31):
it's like, oh, I'm feeling itfrom my business partner role.
Or, oh, I'm feeling it from myrelationship partner role.
And making sure, like we havethat conscious awareness about
which item we're addressing whenwe're talking about any tension
and coming to
Clifton (48:45):
Yeah.
Victoria (48:46):
resolution.
Clifton (48:46):
Yeah I love what you said Dario, it's almost like a
play.
'cause we teach a quantum view,a quantum perspective of
reality.
And we talk about you'recreating a morphic field or a
morphogenetic field that you canjust imagine like
Victoria (49:00):
Mm-Hmm.
Clifton (49:01):
of energy that you're stepping into that represents
you in your relationship Erika,you in your family life.
when you step into it, you'reinteracting with it, you're
cultivating it, you're nurturingit, you're building it.
And then when you're inbusiness, you're stepping into a
whole different field of energythat has different results.
(49:22):
And so what we talk about is tobe very clear on who you are as
an individual, so that way whenyou enter into these different
containers or these differentenergy bubbles, you can operate
in a way that's in alignmentwith who you are and what you'd
like to see.
And just building these mentalframeworks and perspectives can
(49:43):
help create differentiation ofwhat.
Conversations need to happenwhere, what emotional processing
needs to happen when, and justto be able to build a greater
sense of discernment as to, whatto say, what to do, and where to
go.
Because you guys havedemonstrated very well, it
(50:05):
sounds like, is the, theboundaries between, kefir labs
and family that you're creating,right?
And so those boundaries existnot just in time.
And that's a really greatstarting point is mark it off.
But there's also energy and andsaid it beautifully, Dario about
your mind might be in work gottato present.
(50:26):
how do stay present steppinginto roles and feel you two, as
couple, at least from ourperspective.
And course we know in ourrelationship we.
We're presented to the outsideworld in a certain way, but
that's not necessarily the fullstory of your go-to, Erika you
(50:46):
mentioned you have that morningroutine that gets you in the
flow.
What are some things that havereally worked in those
situations where there might nothave been harmony and there
might have been a messiness, youknow, some people go to a nice
restaurant, some people, do abubble bath, some people go on
vacation.
What are some of those toolkitsthat you two use in your
(51:07):
relationship when you need toreally nurture it
Erika (51:11):
is the question to Dario, I guess, right?
Clifton (51:13):
to either, yeah.
Victoria (51:15):
Yeah.
Clifton (51:16):
Erika what comes to your mind?
Yeah.
Well, I'll just point out,Erika, what comes to your mind
that you nurture therelationship from your feminine
perspective?
Erika (51:26):
I guess in my opinion, the best thing for me to do is
just to go for a walk or I justdrive to the ocean.
Victoria (51:34):
Mm-Hmm.
Erika (51:35):
I go to swim.
Usually that's what I do to befully honest with you.
We don't do much.
We should do more like of abonding activities.
Things along the line, I guess.
Dario likes being productive,
Victoria (51:50):
You say Dario wants to be productive?
Erika (51:53):
I mean, I wanna be transparent.
I don't wanna create things upthat don't exist.
But other than that, the way Itry to keep the harmony at home,
it's, I think the most importantis when there is Kinda like a
fire.
You don't put you don't make itbigger.
You know, Like when I see himbeing upset or when you see a
(52:13):
person being upset, that's notthe right moment to kinda like,
gravitate the situation more.
The best moment is to just stayquiet, you know?
And then you can still insertyour opinion or whatever, like
if you're unhappy withsomething.
But I don't feel like the rightsituation in the right moment is
just in a moment because thenit's gonna create like a mess
and then, and you're gonna beunhappy.
You know?
And like your energy is gonna bealso involved into that.
(52:36):
So I guess that's on my personallevel, that's what I found.
It's useful for me,
Victoria (52:42):
Mm-Hmm.
Erika (52:43):
but to be honest with you, yeah, I cannot think of any
bonding activities.
We do go for vacations usuallyquarterly.
That's important just to likeGet ourselves out of the
situation we're in the placethat we're in the house, you
know, everywhere.
And we usually go for longervacations, about a month.
It's usually in Italy.
So I guess we always come backwith fresh ideas and fresh
(53:05):
energies.
Dario (53:07):
I want to believe that the first bonding activity is to
bond with yourself beforethinking too bond with the other
one.
you, since the moment you wakeup, everyone can have a
different routine that are onlymade to balance, boost, or
(53:27):
amplify your feeling at themoment.
Erika mentioned about me seekingfor performance'that what my
body need.
I wake up.
I'm happy to be alive.
I'm happy to do something newfor me, for the world.
And I can't wait that energylike to come out from my, from
every single part of my body.
(53:47):
What trigger more energy to meis sun and sweat.
So the idea of waking up and gooutside under the sun, having a
run.
It's what bring me like theenergy to set that standard for
the rest of the day, for me tokeep being energetic, chatty,
talky, like energy, bringenergy.
(54:09):
So even the first meeting youcan have at 9:00 AM if you're
ready for it with the, not withcoffee or the long line at
Starbucks, like, oh, I need acoffee to wake up.
No, no, You just need some sunon your skin and some sweat
Victoria (54:23):
and an gut.
Clifton (54:23):
maybe
Victoria (54:24):
gut
Clifton (54:24):
some probiotics.
Dario (54:24):
An optimized gut to be able to do your first meeting in
a day with that so much energythat at the end would be
remarkable.
People Wouldn't believe it, thatyou have so much energy in the
morning.
So the goal is to be remarkable.
First impression is the mostimportant.
So that's what trigger myenergy.
(54:46):
I see on Erika a routine basedon yoga, meditation something,
more spiritual, breathingexercise.
I would do definitely that typeof routine myself, but I feel
maybe it's more whatever, bringme outside from the work hours.
(55:06):
So I'm maybe that wouldsomething that I would do after
5:00 PM instead of the beginningof the day.
just like a reverse.
And I don't want to say that'swrong.
That's good.
You should listen to yourselfand see you need.
And bonding activities aredefinitely the routine of the
couple can be cooking together,having food together, go for a
(55:27):
walk, go grocery shopping.
So everything that make you feelpart of something together.
Vacation, anything.
Victoria (55:39):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And what you're saying about,bonding with yourself first, and
understanding what routine youneed to optimize yourself so you
can show up as the best versionof yourself.
You're saying how Erika'sroutine looks different from
your routine and, you knowClifton and I just talk about
it, like, whatever brings youjoy.
Erika (55:56):
Mm-Hmm.
Dario (55:58):
Yeah.
It's a little disconnected fromwhat we are talking, but I
believe that you are thereflection of your business to
your consumers.
So founders are the culture ofthe business.
So whatever you are, it'sreflected on your business.
(56:18):
So if you're organized,disorganized, a friendly,
chatty, shy.
That's also the brand.
That's your business.
It is just the reflection ofyou, just the middle of you.
So creating Be yourself.
Always help because make thingsalways easy.
(56:38):
you want to be someone else thatyou not naturally are you
wouldn't be even believe fromothers because you cannot lie.
So as we are chatting with you,talking with you, sharing our
opinion with you, how probablyyou can see from our landing
page.
If you go on our landing page onthe website, you'll see like
smiling people chatty saying thetruth and talking about gut
(57:00):
health story.
That's us.
That's us.
That's Kefir Lab.
That's Dario, that's Erika.
Whatever values mission,everything we aim for is what we
really believe.
Not just what the business it'smeant to be there to be
profitable or getting clients orattention.
No, that's us.
(57:22):
So always stick to truth andstick to your belief first
because the business will beyour exact reflection
Victoria (57:29):
Yeah.
Dario (57:30):
and build your culture and, stick with it.
Be yourself.
Victoria (57:35):
Yeah, yeah.
What you're talking about, Darioisn't off topic at all.
It's actually what Clifton and Italk about with our clients
about how what, whatever isgoing on with you is gonna show
up with your business and it'sgonna reflect how you operate.
And when you know people have anissue maybe in their like
emotional self, they might havean issue connecting with their
customer or with theircolleagues, with their
(57:58):
co-founders, with their clients.
Like whatever, how it's likecross-linked to it.
It maps perfectly in ourproprietary framework.
It's exactly what we talk about.
So you're spot on in what you'resharing
Clifton (58:12):
We love that.
We love that you have come tothat yourself.
Right?
'cause that's what thisframework is.
It's an observation of whatsuccess is.
From more heart-centered andauthentic place of
quantumpreneurs, of changemakers here, making incredible
businesses take off in their ownway, you know, that faster or in
(58:34):
a different way than you couldeven imagine, because you are
aligned to yourself, because youare aligned to each other and
aligned to the business and thebelief of what the business
stands for.
so as we move wrap up, I knowwe'll definitely have you two on
in the future.
I just wanted to say, wherecould our listeners connect with
(58:55):
you?
What's the best way for them tointeract with you because you
have so much wisdom yourselves.
Dario (59:01):
I say the best way to connect that could be definitely
through our contact page and ourwebsite.
We like to be there.
Sometimes it's even like weirdreceiving emails from founder,
COO, Erika, but that's us.
I don't have to delegate thecustomer service from some
outside third party company.
Logistic.
we are the face of our companyand I'm there to reply your
(59:23):
answer and most of the time, andI'm thankful for it, it's Erika,
that she always take care of thebackend of our email and
contacts with customer.
And that's probably also whatmake us unique.
I mean, can send it, but I don'twant that from tomorrow.
Any type of topic come out.
But you can just say hi and I'llreply to you Hi.
(59:44):
Even through an email.
I don't, listen to you.
I'll reply to you.
We are always there for ourcustomer and, I will be there
replying.
So emails, website, first.
Instagram, we take care ourselffor our page.
Victoria (59:59):
and that website is Kefirlab.com and Instagram is at
Kefir lab.
Dario (01:00:07):
Yeah.
Victoria (01:00:07):
Yeah.
And we have a code for 10% offyour purchase with the FOTF 10
linked below in this episode.
So I just wanna say how much Ireally enjoyed this time with
you both and sharing the airtimewith, Clifton, my partner,
hearing about your partnerships,your dynamics together in
(01:00:28):
business.
I loved hearing a lot about therelationship dynamics actually
too.
And What, gut health andboundaries is a whole separate
topic that we can talk about onanother podcast about just
planting a seed there about howhaving good boundaries with
relationships and with oneanother comes from having good
gut health.
So just planting a seed for afuture episode with you guys
(01:00:49):
that would be an interestingtopic for me to cover.
And hopefully you guys as well.
Thank you both so much forjoining us today.
Thank you listeners for tuningin.
And as we mentioned the contactinformation for Kefir Lab is
below in the show notes.
Clifton (01:01:05):
Awesome.
Thanks for listening, and we'llsee you next time.
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