02/06/2026
When you’re in your mid 30s and you decide to quit your job…
Jason left pharmacy because he couldn’t stop thinking about this brand. It was something he felt deeply, like it was pulling him in that direction.
The early days looked nothing like The Herbal Zen does now. We were making everything in our home — shower steamers, bath bombs, bath salts, toners — and we hand-stickered every label because orders were small and it was what made sense back then (and honestly, what we could afford).
It was a risk. A big one. But it was also exciting in this weird way, because we weren’t trying to “build a brand” — we were just creating what felt right. We were experimenting, reinventing, and figuring it out as we went.
From day one we had a few things we weren’t willing to compromise on: ingredients had to stay simple, everything had to be formulated by us, and we’d only use pure essential oils — no artificial fragrance, ever 🌿. Jason’s pharmacy background naturally made its way into everything too, from the mortar + pestle logo to the way we thought about wellness and blends.
Looking back now, it’s kind of unbelievable. But it also isn’t, because we were there for every single moment of it. Every small win. Every “are we crazy for doing this?” moment 😅. Every comment like:
“Wait… you’re leaving pharmacy?”
“But you have a degree.”
“How are you going to afford to do that?”
“Isn’t that going to be really hard?”
“Don’t pharmacists make good money?”
“Why would you walk away from that?”
And honestly? We didn’t care. We were both on a mission to build more fulfillment into our lives, even when it was messy, even when it was slow, and even when it didn’t make sense to other people yet.
Somehow, those early days in our home turned into this. And now we’re both full time in the business we built together 🥹. It still feels surreal to say out loud, but it’s also the most real thing we’ve ever done.
