Women In Wellness: Jenn Thatcher of ZEBRA On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

Question everything. The so called experts do not usually have a vested interest in your wellness. A sick patient who is healed is no longer a customer.

Today, more than ever, wellness is at the forefront of societal discussions. From mental health to physical well-being, women are making significant strides in bringing about change, introducing innovative solutions, and setting new standards. Despite facing unique challenges, they break barriers, inspire communities, and are reshaping the very definition of health and wellness. In this series called women in wellness we are talking to women doctors, nurses, nutritionists, therapists, fitness trainers, researchers, health experts, coaches, and other wellness professionals to share their stories and insights. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Jenn Thatcher.

Jenn Thatcher is a former Wall Street executive turned international artist. She is married with three children and when each of her children was diagnosed with non-genetic illnesses in succession, she decided there was no coincidence. She started her non-toxic company ZEBRA as a solution for the dirty, tricky and deceptively marketed products that made her family sick. Today, she prepares to launch her product line with a commitment to clean ingredients that consumers can actually trust.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?

My professional journey has taken many twists and turns as my path and purpose came into focus. I went from being a single mom of two working as a regional VP for a Wall Street firm, to a married mom of three pursuing an accidental art career which turned into an international art business. Then my life changed overnight.

One after another, my children started suffering from serious health challenges. My oldest daughter was diagnosed with autoimmune disease. A few months later, my youngest was then rushed into emergency surgery for an ovarian cyst at four years old. Doctors were shocked to see this in such a young child and later mentioned that research shows she is the only known case of an ovarian cyst that young. 8 months later my son Jack was diagnosed with a brain tumor. According to the doctors, Jack’s tumor was one of 24 in the world — these illnesses were not genetic and two of them were incredibly rare. This was a shocking and disturbing pattern that — as a mother — I just couldn’t ignore. The time frame in which all three of my children got extremely sick set off my intuitive alarm bells inside. Something was very, very wrong and at that moment, I realized my life would be dedicated to fixing it.

It’s hard to describe what a mother goes through when a child gets sick. First you feel helpless — you’ll give anything in the world to make them feel better and make the illness go away. You wish you could switch places with them and take all the pain and illness away. You retrace your steps and beat yourself up over it. Could you have done something differently that would have protected them? These feelings of helplessness, guilt, and fear are a mental and emotional rollercoaster you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy. I dealt with it three separate times. The probability of 2 of my children acquiring these rare, non genetic medical anomalies is next to impossible — unless there was something very specific causing these illnesses. By grace of God, one by one, each of my kids recovered. In my son Jack’s case, he beat unbelievable odds that I can only understand as God’s will for him to live a full, happy and healthy life. Once my children were well again, I vowed that I would pour my time and energy into finding out exactly what had caused all this.

Since the time my children were very small, I had always read product labels and tried to use the very best, and healthiest food and products in my home and for my children. Despite this, I believe that all of my kids’ health issues were caused by toxins in the environment or products we had been using. Why? Because companies lie. Why do they lie? Because it increases their profit margins and they can get away with it. It’s a nasty truth about the reality of the consumer-driven world we live in today. Since I had always done my due diligence before selecting products for my family, but now the desire to research was more intense than ever before. The level of digging I was doing for each and every “healthy, natural or organic” product was intense. It was shocking what I had discovered. Among the layers of marketing deception and fraud, I was simply devastated to discover the dangerous chemicals and additives that are legally used in products we use every single day without so much as a second thought.

Because health-oriented brands work so hard to earn your “trust” as a consumer, I was so saddened and frustrated to find how tricky these labels actually are. For example, a dental care line we were using which was constantly recommended by natural and holistic influencers and dentists has ingredients in it that are really surprising. “Vegan wax” sounds nice and healthy right? It’s actually petroleum-based. And recently, many of these so-called healthy oral care brands have added an ingredient called nano hydroxyapatite to some of their products which is about to be banned in the EU. The non nano version is just as questionable in my opinion but is being pushed as a “healthy” alternative to fluoride.

This process made me wake up to the shocking reality that most companies are trying to capitalize on the brand equity of marketing themselves as a “healthy product” while inserting tricky and questionable ingredients, and ultimately not caring about the health effects of their consumer. Many ingredients in this line did not meet the ingredient standards for what I consider non- toxic and clean, and it made me so upset that yet another brand I trusted was not as clean as I had hoped. On this research journey of each and every product we were using I was never able to find products that met my ingredient standards but were effective.

Consumers shouldn’t have to choose between products that are safe for their families and products that are effective. If I had to go to these great lengths to find effective yet safe products, only to come back disappointed, this was something others must be experiencing as well. Who has time to spend 20–40 hours per week researching ingredients? We should not have to do this, but this is how time consuming it can be if you are doing the due diligence necessary to decode whether what is on the market is safe enough for you and your family. This is when it hit me — , if I was going to find products that met my standards, they were going to have to be created by me. And that’s how ZEBRA TM was born. My desire was not only to do this for my family, but ultimately create a company that others could trust, knowing that a mother whose children had been harmed by this broken system, is the one who has done the work for them. Nothing tricky, nothing toxic — simply highly effective products, ZEBRA TM has only the most thoughtful “Ingredients that are BLACK AND WHITE TM”

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?

Every day is interesting, I feel like I am going up against a huge system…an industrial complex of suppliers who are used to brands who do things “a certain way”. I question the standard practices, I ask why and I do not compromise on anything. I have never developed a personal care line before, just like I had never taken an art class before launching my art business. I feel like because I do not know the standard practices, I am not stuck in the “this is how it’s done” box. I feel completely free to build this brand the way I think it should be built. Just like in the animal kingdom, a zebra is so very different, and so is Zebra TM.

It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about a mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

When I first started my own business I wanted to make a product for everyone, but if you do too many things, you will never be excellent at anything. I am constantly having an internal battle of trying to create something for everyone. Ultimately, staying true to your product and your standards is what is most important, and the customers that align with that vision will find you.

Let’s jump to our main focus. When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?

I am creating a brand that has a customer’s best interest at heart. We are truly transparent and want everyone to feel like they don’t have to spend hours researching the ingredients or the products from ZEBRA, we have done the work, so our customers can take the worry about products off their plate. We also don’t answer to investors. We are a company that derives our brand ethos from being Black and White in all we do, like the Bible. All of our decisions are made with that in mind.

Can you share your top five “lifestyle tweaks” that you believe will help support people’s journey towards better wellbeing? Please give an example or story for each.

1. Question everything. The so called experts do not usually have a vested interest in your wellness. A sick patient who is healed is no longer a customer.
2. Trust your gut. When navigating health and wellness if something is making big promises or seems too easy, it probably is. The solutions that take time are usually the best solutions, a quick fix or one size fits all product or system that works for everyone should be a red flag.
3. Start small. Small steps in health and wellness can add up to big changes. Whether it be incorporating exercise, sunlight, cleaner water or less toxic products, start with one thing and keep going. Doing a lifestyle overhaul can be overwhelming but changing one small thing at a time is a big step in your overall health.
4. Sleep, hydration and sunlight are all medicine. So often overlooked in our fast paced society, Incorporating those first can be an instant wellness boost.
5. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be? I would encourage people to take charge of their own health. To look outside of the traditional medical system for alternative solutions, to look for a root cause versus using a traditional approach of a drug treating symptoms. Be conscious of your environment and the products you use and consume. Make your health,and your family’s health a priority.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?

It is going to be hard.
Don’t be afraid to do it differently, a true market disrupting product or brand is always different from the so- called competition.
It always takes longer than you think, but progress every day is imperative to get to the end goal.
Don’t share everything with everyone, keep your circle small. Not everyone’s opinions are helpful for your business, and not everyone can see your vision.

Sustainability, veganism, mental health, and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?

I would say sustainability, but true sustainability comes when we realize that God gave us everything we need to survive and we steward those resources appropriately. Sustainability does not come from government directives, but realizing that the eco system was designed perfectly by our creator and the more we lean into natural solutions versus the solutions of man, the more sustainable we will become, with products, with the earth and with life in general.

What is the best way for our readers to further follow your work online?

www.yayzebra.com and https://www.instagram.com/zebra.usa/

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We wish you continued success!