Helina, CEO and Founder of Redmint
As a business woman and mother of three young children, the feeling of “there must be a better way” was a recurring thought for Helina as she suffered from illnesses due to stress, exhaustion, and years of intensive out-of-balance work life. Despite years of treatments in physical therapy and pharmaceutical drugs, Helina constantly felt “off-balance” – with low energy, mood swings, aches, pains, and general malaise.
While her symptoms multiplied, Helina was determined to regain her vitality and feel like herself again in a natural approach. Helina explored the ancient wisdom of TCM and began to reclaim her vital balance through acupuncture, herbal remedies, massage and more.
Rooted in the notion that the key to health is the balanced functioning of body, mind and spirit, it became Helina’s mission to help demystify these powerful practices and make them accessible to all. She devoted her energy to building a holistic health and beauty start-up rooted in TCM. Helina’s vision of a TCM inspired skincare line and a range of herbal elixir supplements and an urban wellness sanctuary has come to realization in the heart of San Francisco.
Q&A with Helina Au
Before starting Redmint, you spent 4 years studying to gain a doctorate in Traditional Chinese Medicine. As a longtime business woman, mother of three, and real estate company co-founder, what ignited your interest and passion for wellness and specifically TCM?
I started Redmint shortly after I started my doctor of TCM at ACTCM (American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine). My inspiration for launching Redmint comes from personal experiences a few years back. Just like most highly educated professionals, my career was quite smooth - reaching to the upper middle management rank as a female executive in my early 30’s, with ample disposable income. However, similar to my other fellow female managers, I suffered multiple health challenges in my early 30’s – giving birth, having young kids in addition to years of demanding work life off balance without self-care. I was physically and emotionally off, pain and aches here, stress and soreness there... So I started to try many holistic health systems. After trying everything for more than five years, I come to the realization that TCM is the most comprehensive holistic health system, from ancient history and modern-day studies. Not only did I gain my vital energy back with TCM, I helped friends and families around me get healthier with the little TCM knowledge I had gained. I also saw the different approaches between TCM and Western medicine. Western medicine gives abundant drugs and invasive surgery suggestions with minor discomforts - like dimming a candle with an ocean! TCM, on the contrary, is very different but with long-lasting benefits and root cause solutions. I wish there was a place that focused on TCM in my early career days so I could be healthier all along. If there was a place that offered holistic health solutions in an understandable and convenient approach, people could be so much healthier in their life journey. Then I created Redmint, an urban wellness sanctuary offering holistic services, a clean herbal skin care line and herbal remedy products rooted in TCM.
We are fortunate to live in such a global city here in San Francisco. Many people have heard of traditional Chinese medicine but have never experienced it. How does Redmint demystify TCM as a source of wellness and beauty?
Redmint, as a urban wellness sanctuary offer services and products people are already very familiar with – massage, facial, medi-spa services, social events, skincare products, yoga, movement classes, herbal drinks and herbal remedies. We retool those mainstream services to be rooted in holistic health of TCM, targeting each service and product focusing on underlying health benefits. People come to a wellness place they are familiar with but discover many amazing wellness solutions that suit their health needs. Service modalities that are centuries old but not yet widely known in the US, such as gua sha, moxa, cupping, vibrational sound healing - powerhouse ancient herbal ingredients that offer high efficacy. Redmint is bringing effective ancient modalities and powerhouse herbal ingredients into the modern day living. Our skincare utilizes the power of herbs to deliver effective results naturally, our herbal extracts are in ready to drink format. Redmint is about inner health balances with outer glow, helping you be at your best everyday with vital energy and spirits.
Can you share details about the Redmint bespoke herbal bar?
We developed a full menu of more than 10 herbal latte and herbal shots targeting essential wellness benefits on sleep, energy, detox, guts health, digestive, hormone balancer, stress and calm, based on tried and true TCM formulas. Our herbal bar offers drinks brewed on the spot with delicious flavors paired with almond milk, honey or mulberry extracts. We use herbal granule powder that has been cooked and grinded, and coffee machines brew a drink within 2-3 minutes. Our herbal drinks have ample health benefits to your wellbeing and taste delicious. Currently we are actively negotiating to lease or sublease a coffee shop and hope to open to the public with the first SF Bay Area herbal café once the shelter in place is lifted. We are eager to introduce to the community the fact that herbal drinks can be part of your daily routine as they taste great and give you many wellbeing benefits over time. Redmint believes that the future of medicine is preventative medicine and our herbal café, together with our services and product offerings, will be your first step.
What was most important for you in designing and conceptualizing the products and the physical space?
Redmint product designs are storytelling. In addition to the modern and upscale design of our products, each Redmint product design depicts a story in time. The Redmint physical space will be sleek and modern, with a hint to ancient wisdoms and history which we build upon today. We are looking forward to revealing our spaces and products to you in the coming weeks.
How has Covid-19 affected your business and how have you adjusted?
The pandemic has delayed our launch tremendously and like everyone else, our business has stopped suddenly. We hope to open soon, 2-3 weeks after the shelter in place is lifted.
Can companies offer Redmint services to their employees as wellness benefits?
One of our goals is to establish wellness programs with many companies in the San Francisco Bay Area. Employees are the best assets and healthy happy employees can give so much more back to a company. We look forward to getting that started.
Any plans to go global?
Yes - Redmint hopes to establish a solid foot print in the US first and then expand to China and Europe. China is obviously back to where TCM originated. Even in the mother land, TCM has not been brought to light as a wellness and beauty solution. But with the right messaging and education efforts, I believe TCM can take a significant role in the mainstream wellness and skincare industry both nationally and globally.
