We recently interviewed Irene Moore of Light Garden and what a fantastic interview it is. Irene’s passion for dealing head on with burnout and anxieties lead her to launch her CBD wellness company whilst combating many personal hurdles. We have the pleasure of letting you find out about Irene through this wonderful insight into her life, career, future plans and wellbeing journey.

Tell us more about the path that led you to launch your brand Light Garden…

Like most ambitious women, I climbed the corporate ladder in my 20’s with determination and focus. I got the promotions, the pay rises and used to pride myself on being able to take on more and get great results. Even if it meant neglecting my own self-care. I carried most of these bad habits into entrepreneurship when I started my branding agency and subsequent coaching company SavvyStartupClub.com I soon realised that myself and many of my peers in this space were struggling with serious burnout.

Home life was challenging as I cared for family members with disabilities so for me sustained stress, unexpected emergencies and having to juggle multiple projects was the norm. So was anxiety.

It was like I was living a double life, killing it at work and struggling behind the scenes CBD played a huge role in helping me manage my anxiety (and related hormone pain!) so I was already recommending it to anyone who would listen.

After launching over 100 brands throughout my career and working with some of the biggest names in beauty & luxury I always dreamed of starting my own brand, but I’m no Kylie Jenner haha!

I found that the CBD world felt very underground at the time and the go-getting women I spoke with about it almost felt embarrassed or ashamed about their struggles with anxiety. To me launching a CBD brand that would not only help women like me practically, but also provide me with a platform to normalise the conversation about high functioning anxiety was the perfect brand to launch.

Light Garden was born!

In your website video you talk about helping people that live with high func-tioning anxieties, can you tell us what you mean by high functioning anxieties?

Thanks for bringing this up as it’s an important question.

Even though high functioning anxiety isn’t an official medical term I feel it’s important that we acknowledge that people experience anxiety and burnout in different ways.

Not everyone can’t leave the house or has constant panic attacks. There are a lot of women out there who appear to have everything put together and still achieve amazing things yet are struggling with anxiety behind the scenes, especially in business.

CBD wellness products like CBD gummies, CBD capsules or CBD oil can help these women find inner calm, more focus and enjoy better sleep, which are often some of the biggest struggles they face.

High functioning anxiety can look like the person who appears to effortlessly juggle a million projects but secretly struggles to unwind or is irritable with loved ones at home.

It can look like being the most organised person in the board room, but spending an unnecessary amount of hours planning, triple checking, perfecting work than is truly necessary because you simply don’t trust yourself.

It can look like being the picture of calm in super stressful situations, but when things are ‘calm’ feeling deeply unmotivated or unable to process the trauma.

I’ve personally experienced all of these things and so have many of our customers. To an extent I think society actually encourages some of the more toxic behaviors in certain workplace hustle cultures.

Take it from me, it’s not sustainable and is definitely not good for your mental and physical health.

The sad thing is that most women don’t even recognise their high functioning anxiety until it starts to negatively impact their work performance or health. I’d love for this to change through raising more awareness.

CBD products can be found all over at the moment, what differentiates yours from others in the marketplace?

The market has grown substantially and it’s exciting to see CBD becoming more mainstream.

Light Garden is all about helping our customers ‘find the light in their day’ so we are centered as much on the lifestyle shifts that our customers can make to help manage their burnout as well as creating fun CBD products.

We also pride ourselves on CBD education and offer a wide range of CBD strengths (the lightest not just the strongest) so that those who are new to CBD world can confidently navigate it and find the relief they need.

We want our customers to feel seen and heard and their struggles not dismissed as ‘as just an off day’ is often the case with high functioning anxiety.

When you are usually the strongest person in the room, people expect you to stay ‘shiny’ and don’t know how to handle difficult times, we often forget that that sometimes the carer also needs to be cared for.

What’s been the biggest challenge you’ve faced and how did you overcome it?

The biggest challenge building this brand has definitely been the stigma that some people have when it comes to cannabis-derived products.

Even though our CBD is independently lab tasted for potency and purity and contains ZERO THC (the psychoactive stuff that gives you the munchies!) I think that some people still have a perception that CBD will make you high when it just doesn’t!

I find the best way to overcome most problems in business to stay focused on the bigger picture. We’re not here to convince people to buy into CBD, but to create an aspirational brand that supports those who are ready to prioritise their own self-care as much as their success.

I’m blown away by all the new research emerging about the many ways that CBD helps a number of different ailments, and I’m excited to help educate in this space with our marketing, social communities and wellness workshops.

If you were to describe your business mantra in three words, what would they be?

Badasses Banishing Burnout

Talk us through an average business day in your life…

I recently moved to the Caribbean with my husband, so most days start with a long walk to clear our head, get the blood moving and get clear on our priorities for the day before the onslaught of emails and meetings.

I’m originally from the UK so most my client meetings take place over zoom in the mornings, then I usually spend some time over lunch engaging with our Instagram community at @LightGardenShop before heading outside for another walk. If I’m particularly busy I’ll sit outside in our fruit garden and do a 5min mediation to get recentered.

The rest of the day could be doing anything from working on new product development for Light Garden, reaching out to new collaborators and retail partners or doing anxiety awareness on other people’s platforms. I have a 20 year career in brand marketing, so I also mentor other new product based entrepreneurs who are building purpose driven brands at SavvyStartupClub.com a couple of times a week, which I absolutely love!

I’m all about helping founders realise that they can build a successful brand without the burnout.

Business can be an upward struggle at times, what do you do to stay positive?

Firstly, I lose the attachment to staying positive haha! I think every emotion is valid and some days you just need to have a little pitty party with some chocolate in front of Netflix all day and allow yourself to feel whatever you’re feeling. There’s nothing wrong with that at all!

However, if that’s not an option, I find that on days I am in my head too much, finding a way to get back in my body can help change my state really quickly.

It doesn’t have to be a huge workout either, sometimes a quick private dance party to my fave track or phone call to someone I love as I take a brisk walk around the block is enough.

More long-term I find having a daily gratitude & journal practice, mediation and managing my energy levels with good sleep hygiene, EFT and regular healings really help me.

What is your go-to quote when lacking motivation?

“The happiest people don’t have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything.”

I’m not sure who said it, but it’s stuck since the first day I read it.

How much has social media played a role in the success of your brand?

Social media provides a great playground to connect with our ideal customers, share our brand story and even educate and entertain our community so for us it’s pretty important, especially on Instagram & TikTok (both @LightGardenShop).

The reality is though that it’s just one part to building a brand and the activities we do offline, such as our wellness experiences and emailing our community special surprises is what really keeps them engaged.

It’s more intimate and I think our community feel like there can share their struggles more openly in these environments too.

How do you want people to feel when they first purchase one of your Light Garden CBD products?

We always want our customers to feel empowered by making the powerful decision to prioritise their self-care. That’s the most important thing.

Then we want them to feel excited about trying something natural and finally finding the relief that they need from their anxiety, lack of focus or poor sleep.

Finally, we want them to feel like they are part of a community of ambitious humans who know that their success relies on their self-care, which ultimately drives their self-worth.

Everything is linked and there’s no shame in putting yourself first when you need to.

Our readers love to travel, what destination is at the top of your bucket list and which of your products would you take in your travels?

Ooooh now were are talking! I feel a little smug saying this, but I already feel like I’m lucky to now live in paradise out here in Jamaica and we moved not too long ago when the country was pretty locked down, so I feel there is still so much more to explore of this beautiful island.

That said, I have Bali and Ghana on my bucket list too though.

My travel buddy from the brand would be the Light Garden CBD Gummies – they are just a simple, tasty, and fun way to enjoy CBD on the go.

Do you have a personal favourite from your CBD wellness collection?

I don’t have a favourite child haha! I guess if I had to choose it would be the Light Garden Dream Big CBD Oil Drops as poor sleep is one of my biggest tell tale signs when I’m approaching burnout.

I tried so many natural and over the counter sleep solutions before discovering CBD and I love that with Dream Big I feel completely rested and refreshed, not groggy, when I wake up the next day.

What’s next for you and your brand?

So many exciting things planned! We’re introducing new wellness workshops with some of the best health & wellness experts in the business and also some new, non CBD offerings to support our customers with self-care in alternative and fun ways.

We also have some new skincare in the pipes and a pop-up store in NYC to look forward to this year.

Where can people find out more about Light Garden?

Head to www.LightGardenShop.com and also come join the party over on Instagram @LightGardenShop

Author

A veteran in global travel, Rachel also loves to explore hidden gems on home turf. She’s a writing connoisseur of Britain’s best hotels, luxury beauty products, and UK food and drink launches.

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