It’s in our nature

It all started when we went on a hike together.  To our great surprise, both of us had experienced traumatic spinal surgeries. Even more surprising, both of us had used mushrooms, herbs and cannabis instead of pharmaceuticals as part of our post-surgery recoveries. Pharmaceuticals made us feel “off” with nasty side effects and, at times, be worse than the problem they were solving.

So, we explored the beneficial effects of natural remedies. It became a joint passion – this is where we planted the seeds from which Plant People was born.

Luckily, Gabe’s parents are practitioners of alternative medicine and expertly guided us as we mixed herbs in Hudson’s apartment. Eventually, we perfected our first formulas, blending eastern and western modalities. From there, we gave these formulas to our friends and family.

After an overwhelming positive response from our friends and family, we reached into our humble personal savings and launched Plant People. We opened an office, then went door to door, selling our supplements to cafes, markets, boutiques and to anyone willing to try our products. We quickly gained momentum leading to laudatory write ups in The New York Times, Forbes and Vogue. It was getting real!

We soon developed an ever larger following of plant and health lovers. At the same time, we developed an ever larger plant-based line of products. We nurtured the company with events, activations, collaborations, educational sessions and handwritten notes to customers. Our team went from 2 to 14 to heal the world!

With the pandemic’s impact on the economy in full swing, our business crumbled overnight; with all of our boutique retailers closing, we lost 70% of our business in the blink of an eye. We pivoted, creating products that would support people during difficult times and managed to keep our team on payroll. After 2.5 years of survival mode, we made it through one of the most difficult periods of our professional and personal lifetimes.

In 2023, as part of our pandemic rebirth, we launched our first functional food product, a gummy named WonderDay. WonderDay and other products, such as WonderSleep, WonderCalm, WonderFocus and WonderGreens, were incredibly well-received. Our products now appear in Whole Foods Markets, Sprout’s and REI nationally. Bless them!

All of this is to say, it’s been an adventure and we are very proud of our products, partners, team and our mission. And, we’re just getting started!

Who knows what the future will bring? But we promise to continue delivering the highest quality, delicious, natural solutions that help our most pressing needs. We promise to operate with integrity, heart, compassion, and a commitment to our community; all people on the planet.

Stand tall, stay grounded, root down, branch out. It’s in our nature.

Hudson & Gabe
Co-Founders