In these challenging times, I find I’m constantly coming back to Kurt Vonnegut's quote: “We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.”

My start up journey - launching the world’s first 100% natural vitamin tea - has not always been graceful, and many times I have learned the detailed meaning of growing wings on the way down. But it has been an incredible adventure trying to prove that innovation based in ethical business is a winning combination, and it still keeps me going through the late nights and uncertain circumstances during Covid-19.

My story of becoming an ethical entrepreneur is not the usual one. I met my now business partner, Nicole Lamond, at a Writers Group about a month after moving to Melbourne, and we bonded over a love for healthy, ethical products. Five years later we decided to go into business together chasing a wild idea - to create a delicious and fairtrade natural vitamin tea.

During the two years of R&D that Eloments needed, the word “can’t” left our lexicon. So many people told us we were going to have to compromise on our vision, but we really did believe it was possible to make Eloments without the binders and fillers that you find in most supplements, and so we just kept searching for different solutions.

We were never shy about asking for help and we certainly had no illusions that we had all the answers. There were so many people who contributed their knowledge and enthusiasm during this phase, from our families to our business mentors and our brilliant manufacturing partners.

In the end, our two-woman business created a patent-pending method that allowed us to blend 9 organic nutrients with fair trade teas in what became Eloments Natural Vitamin Teas.

Our mission at Eloments is to speed the transition to a fair wage for all workers. In 2018, we estimated that only 3% of tea sales in Australia were Fairtrade certified.

My motivation always comes back to proving that business can be done more ethically and with more innovation. I think because of this core value we’ve been so fortunate since launching Eloments. Woolworths truly backed us as a Melbourne-based innovative company, and put Eloments on shelf in 75% of their stores within 6 months of our launch.

After just over a year, we’ve now launched in Holland & Barrett in the UK, have an agreement with a USA chain, and alongside our other brand that we manage, Qi Teas, have fair trade teas in almost 4000 stores worldwide.

Through all the hard work we know that every cup of our tea is helping someone not only improve their wellbeing, but also has a huge impact for the Fairtrade collectives we partner with around the world.

I’d love to share a cuppa with you, even if it is via Australia Post, in these times of self isolation. Feel free to sign up for a complimentary sample of Eloments here: https://universalvillage6517.activehosted.com/f/47

Julie Hirsch is the Cofounder and COO of Eloments Natural Vitamin Teas and this year’s winner of Telstra’s Victorian Business Woman of the Year.