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What if the product you needed didn’t exist so you created it yourself? Mari Llewelyn, co-founder of Bloom Nutrition, a health and wellness brand, had this experience.“I felt like I wasn't reaching my full potential and felt like I had more to offer” Llewelyn said when describing the wakeup call that led her to founding this million dollar company. 

Growing up in the UK until around 10, she later moved to the US. After dropping out of Drexel University in Philadelphia and moving back to her father’s home to recover from mental health issues, Mari Llewelyn later established herself in New York City. Llewelyn, unconfident and unhappy, decided it was time to take charge and regain her life back. Llewelyn began her health and fitness journey in around 2017. She took up weight training and began paying attention to nutrition to make this change. Greg LaVecchia, her boyfriend at the time, was a hard working body builder and became her number one supporter throughout this journey. Nutrition and health practically took over her life as she was trying to find what worked best for herself while also losing weight and overall becoming a happier person. 

Starting from the ground up, one of Mari’s first jobs out of college was being an employee at Orange Theory Fitness, a group workout class that is a combination of strength training and cardio, designed to maximize fat burn. She spent her days cleaning bathrooms and checking clients in. She maintained this constant routine until she peeled off to begin her own business. Mari Fitness- an online workout routine that was sold through PDF’s was her first big hit. Initially sold for $5 each on Facebook, viewers would DM her and send her a Venmo in return for the PDF. Selling around 1 million of them, Mari and Greg saved up and got the opportunity to finally create their dream company Bloom Nutrition. Bloom, the popular female founded wellness brand is known for supplements for gut health, de bloating, and boosting energy drinks.  

Being the only influencer posting about Bloom on social media, Mari said “I know it sounds silly but if I didn’t post everyday, Bloom would not get awareness.” You may know Bloom for their semi-new energy drinks but they initially started with just pre-workout followed by the powdered greens right before Covid. C4 Energy bought about 20% of Bloom two years ago and partnered to get in touch with suppliers and manufacturers. After partnering with C4, they quickly worked to produce an energy drink that contains 180mg of natural caffeine that provides the perfect amount of energy without a sugar crash. Bloom launches new flavors as much as possible and usually drops a new one every two months or so. Although energy drinks are now the leading product of the brand, “Anytime a product or flavor doesn't perform well, we immediately take it down,” Llewelyn said. Many obstacles were endured for example “for the first six years I was the only influencer posting about Bloom.”

During this process she wanted to create something “I would have loved during my journey”, Llewelyn said. That became the mindset of Bloom- creating products that are accessible and effective. Rather than following every trend, Mari and Greg try their best to keep in constant touch with their audience, building more of a trusted community rather than just another brand. Despite the challenges of entering the market alone and with no instruction, Bloom is a key example of driven persistence. Llewelyn did not find her success overnight. Constantly coming up with new products, posting stories on Instagram, and sharing her lifestyle, Llewelyn did not give up until she reached success. 

Today Bloom Nutrition continues to grow even larger, spreading to a wide range of consumers across the country. Llewelyn credits a lot of her success to her mindset and her biggest supporter LaVecchia. Llewelyn said “I am very competitive with myself and self motivated.” What all just started as a personal health journey has transformed to one of the most popular energy drinks and overall thriving businesses. No matter how hard you can hit rock bottom, Mari Llewelyn’s story is a reminder that this can be the starting point for something much bigger.