Wellness entrepreneurs fuel a food revolution

This story appears in the spring 2024 issue of RED Magazine.

As a child, Keisha Mathes worried a good deal about her mother, who spent years in and out of hospitals for ulcerative colitis. But it wasn’t just the colitis that plagued her mother. The suffering was compounded by treatments doctors prescribed, many of which caused allergic reactions.

While her mother has been in remission for 20 years, the experience left a lasting impression on Mathes, leading to her path of study and, ultimately, her own business. Mathes, who has a degree in Integrative Therapeutic Practices from Metropolitan State University of Denver, created Herbal Honey in 2018. She whips up healing herbal solutions that help customers maintain wellness.

“My philosophy is that these formulas don’t replace traditional medicine but complement them,” the 2014 graduate said. “There are benefits to each, and this is a marriage of the two.”

Herbal Honey is representative of a growing food-as-medicine movement, as is GoodLove Foods, a company that specializes in frozen, gluten-free, ready-to-bake items. GoodLove founder Chennelle Diong is also an MSU Denver graduate, having attained a degree in Hospitality in 2016. Both alumnae credit their experiences at the University with allowing them to launch their thriving companies.

Turning an idea into a business

Mathes’ journey to business owner began at MSU Denver, where she gained a deep well of knowledge about herbs and botanical formulations. Prior to that, however, she was already tinkering with healing formulas for friends and family members. “I developed my first formula in 2008, and from there, more people started asking about them,” she said.

Most of Herbal Honey’s products are loose-leaf teas, made from standard formulas — one for men and one for women. But Mathes also customizes blends for customer needs and offers herb-infused honeys in season, as well as herb-infused body products.

As with Mathes, the germ of Diong’s business began in response to a loved one’s health struggles. In this case, Diong started toying with gluten-free baking because her then-boyfriend, who is now her husband and business partner, suffered from celiac disease.

“I grew up in a Filipino American home that was very food-based, but I had no idea how big of a deal it was for people with celiac to find safe foods,” she said. “It’s mentally and physically draining.”

Diong began baking gluten-free concoctions and along the way noticed she felt better eating gluten-free. She got tested and learned she also had the markers for celiac, thus planting the seeds for GoodLove Foods.

“I wasn’t all that serious about the business to start and had no idea it would grow into what it is today,” she recalled. After completing an MBA to further her business acumen, Diong “got the itch” to formally launch, and GoodLove was off and running.

Fostering entrepreneurship

Rachel Sinley, department chair and professor of Nutrition at MSU Denver, defines food-as-medicine as “the concept that nutrition and access to healthful foods, and foods specific to a condition, are rights we have as part of health care.” Too often, Sinley said, access to good food and education is considered a privilege rather than a public health issue.

MSU Denver’s Nutrition program includes courses to help students deliver medical nutrition therapy. “They learn community nutrition to apply these principles to larger groups and populations,” Sinley said. “We’re arming them with the tools to develop tailored nutrition.”

Sinley sees the businesses developed by Mathes and Diong as illustrative of the food-as-medicine movement because they create access to affordable food products that make a specific health impact.

“Herbal Honey is a great example of taking foodstuffs that we don’t think of as therapeutic and creating an opportunity to integrate them into a broader healthy lifestyle,” she said. “GoodLove is a great example of taking initiative with celiac and creating food that tastes good because it doesn’t become nutrition until you eat it.”

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Sinley noted that MSU Denver encourages an entrepreneurial spirit, providing a lens through which students of all strokes can think about gaps in society and turn potential solutions into businesses that serve the public.

Becky Prater, senior lecturer in Entrepreneurship at MSU Denver, added that the University’s Entrepreneurship program is specially designed to teach the nuts and bolts of business ideation and feasibility. “We ask them what their ‘why’ is and whom they are serving,” she said. “Then, we look into whether there’s a market for their idea, where the money for it comes from and what the business structure might be.”

The Entrepreneurship track is available as a minor and a major and soon as a certificate program, too. Prater emphasized that students with dynamic business ideas from a variety of majors take entrepreneurship classes.

A pitch for health

In addition to teaching students in MSU Denver’s College of Business, Entrepreneurship professors coach students in the annual Denver Startup Week pitch competition.

Mathes and Diong successfully participated in the contest last year. Mathes made it to the semifinal round, while Diong took home the grand prize, a $48,000 package to help grow her business.

“It’s because of my time at MSU Denver that I was able to realize my full potential,” Diong said. “I want to think my story is unique, but really what I noticed at the University, especially in the School of Hospitality, is that we were all there to find our purpose.”

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When Mathes looks back on her time at MSU Denver and its role in shaping Herbal Honey, she feels appreciative, especially for the school’s flexibility. As a working mom of eight children, her options were limited, but the University accommodated her tight schedule.

“I stumbled onto my herbal healing class, and I was hooked,” she said. “If I had known then that I would be a business owner one day, I would have definitely taken additional courses in entrepreneurship.”

Even without that enhanced learning, Mathes is poised for big things. She sells Herbal Honey through her website, at local markets and also through big retailers such as Amazon, Walmart and Kroger. And she has done it all without hiring anyone except for her kids.

Diong is looking ahead to business growth as well and is gearing up to widen her product distribution. “The business traction is really steady and compounds every month,” she said. “When I can finally use my pitch-week prize, I’m hoping it will get us to the next level.”