An Incredible Week: Simple Mills, VeeCon, & Erewhon

I just got back from an amazing week of traveling. I met incredible people: content creators, followers, motivational speakers, and some of the faces behind one of my favorite brands: Simple Mills.

Simple Mills
The week started off in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with Simple Mills. I was invited to go on a brand trip with them to tour A-Frame Farm, which is where they source their sunflower seeds and buckwheat for their products.

I’m sure many of you can relate to this, but before this trip, I assumed that Simple Mills was a huge brand with thousands of employees. It turns out they have around 105 amazing employees, some of whom I met this week, who work hard, care about people and the planet, and create high-quality, nutrient-dense products. I respected this company before this past week, but experiencing what they go through to go against the norms in the ‘big food’ industry is incredible. They are so passionate about food quality (and, of course, taste).

I feel so lucky that I was able to sit next to Katlin Smith, the founder and CEO of Simple Mills, at two of our meals and got to learn more about her founding story, family life, and the future of Simple Mills. Being surrounded by content creators who truly care about the health of others was so inspiring for me, and it made me so grateful to be in this space.

VeeCon
On Friday morning, I flew to Los Angeles, California – one of my favorite places – to attend VeeCon, hosted by Gary Vaynerchuk & VaynerMedia. This was a three-day convention focused on business, wellness, pop culture, and social media (right up my alley). I went with my friend Kyle from @CleanKitchenNutrition, which made it so fun since we share so many similar passions… one of which includes Erewhon (more on this below 😂).

I was able to attend lectures, seminars, keynotes, and conversations with content creators, musicians, artists, celebrities, and Gary Vee himself, where I learned so much:

• Each speaker’s story

• How they grew to where they currently are

• What they envision for the future of AI, health, and social media

• How to grow your platform and keep your followers and network interested and engaged

• …and so much more.

The moment that made my week feel complete was the minute of one-on-one time I had with Gary, where I was able to thank him for giving me the courage, strength, and motivation to pursue my passion for health & wellness full-time. His content across social media has motivated me for years, but when it came time to focus on health coaching and content creation as my full-time job, nothing pushed me more towards following my passion than deep diving into Gary’s videos. Telling him how much he changed my life was so special to me, and although he spent time with thousands of his fans, it was such a surreal moment for me. He put his hand on my shoulder, smiled, told me how proud he is of me for taking this leap, and said how this is only the beginning.

Erewhon
Erewhon… where do I even begin? If you don’t know, Erewhon is a natural grocery chain throughout Los Angeles that has a “normal” grocery section with thousands of high-quality products, along with a tonic bar and hot bar.

Let me break this down for you: Erewhon is not cheap; however, it is not as expensive as some make it out to be. For example, a salad I’d make at Sweetgreen costs around $23, whereas a combo plate from Erewhon (protein source and two sides) costs anywhere from $15 to $25. It’s all about perspective! A drink out at a bar can cost $20, while Erewhon smoothies cost ~$19.

Erewhon’s tonic and hot bars focus on using clean ingredients and the highest-quality products. I could not get enough of it…

We ate almost all of our meals at Erewhon! There is nothing like this in New York (or anywhere else, for what it’s worth)… smoothie collabs, delicious coffees, grass-fed steak, orange chicken, buffalo cauliflower… I could go on and on. If you find yourself in LA, you have to check out this grocery store.

What’s Next?
I’m writing this on my flight back to New York, where I’ll be able to settle in for two days until I am back on the road. August is the busiest month of my life, and I am so excited and grateful for it. I’ll be going to Michigan with my family on the 15th to move my sister into her senior year of college. ROAD TRIP! Then, I’ll be flying to Colorado on the 24th with my health and content creator friends, who are absolutely amazing and so much fun to hang out with. I can’t wait to take you along with me on these adventures!

My short-term goal is to become consistent with my YouTube channel. I post a YouTube short on my profile every day, but I want to film some longer-form content as well. I’m thinking an “About Me” video will be my next project for my channel.

With all that being said, this wraps up my second newsletter… I hope you enjoyed all I shared in Minnesota and California – there is much more to come!

I appreciate each and every one of you!

– Hunter