Meet the GlowgetterZoe Lind Van’t Hof at Wunder Workshop

What led you to setting up a wellness business?

My mum was vegetarian. I grew up in a very alternative family in the sense that all the food and vegetables were from organic shops. I was born in Australia to a Dutch mother and grew up in the Netherlands and Germany. My mum was a holistic beautician. Together we would make weird potions.

Throughout my upbringing my natural approach to life was very normal.

I was the odd one out when it came to my friends. There were no Kit Kats or Haribos in our house.

In 2008 I wanted to go to an English speaking country so went to Manchester University. I studied political science and criminology and then I moved to the Netherlands to do a Masters in International Relations. I started to think about investigative journalism which stemmed from an idealistic way of thinking I could make a difference. I quickly realised that the NGO or United Nations path wasn’t for me. I decided to try interior design. Then I realised I’m not being creative but just fulfilling other people’s designs.

When I was 26 I realised I wasn’t happy and I read The Power of Now by Eckhart Toll. I wanted to do something that would make me happy on a daily basis. So I put everything together- I wanted it to do with health and wellbeing, with the Ayurvedic retreats I’d visited with my mother in Sri Lanka where I’d learnt so much about the herbs that they use. And I also loved making concoctions.

What happened next?

My mum was with her sister having treatment in Germany. I flew over every eight days to stay for eight days and then the other times I was working on our business. I was her carer. In January 2016 my mum died.

 I dived into the business and used all my energy to channel into my work. I feel led by my mother’s passion and it pushes me to always be courageous.

Two years ago my boyfriend left his job to help me grow the business. Since then we have grown to 11 products.

We had to let go of the fresh product as it was impossible to sustain.

When I left my job I was terrified I couldn’t pay the bills. It took 3 years of random freelance jobs like freelancing in social media for other smaller brands, reviewing for a travel blog, and random translations but enough came through every month. I stopped worrying about the money because I knew it would come. I also let out my room on Air B n’ B or to the Dutch ex-pat community.

You have to move past the fear and if it doesn’t work then you can go back and get a job. There is always a solution.

My boyfriend Tom is now full time and in charge of sales. I went to lots of startup talks at the British Library business centre. They had all the Mintel reports about the consumer market which helped me write a business plan. I went to talks at Soho House about setting up a food business. The best was learning from other startups. I needed help with the daily struggles. I enjoyed learning from the people around me.

Today I still support and help others who are starting out.

What are the highs and lows of the wellness scene?

The high is that Wunder Workshop is quite a new industry in London and still niche which gives room for lots of opportunities and people are interested.

Lots of things are seen as a trend and turmeric wasn’t trendy when we started. three years ago. It became trendy and now people are asking what next? This trend approach can be frustrating.