Lunapads

About a month ago I attended the Natural Products Expo West trade show in Anaheim CA, and what a trip it was! The last time that we were there was 6 years ago, and my, how things have grown. I am still feeling a bit overwhelmed by the sheer volume of creativity, energy, magic and madness of it all. For the most part I feel excited about the stunning growth of the industry over the past couple of decades, although there is definitely room for debate. The recent acquisition of Wild Oats by Whole Foods is a case in point - better, worse, or just bigger? Many small manufacturers will have trouble keeping up, but is that outweighed by spin-off growth to other smaller players and a greater draw of mainstream customers away from conventional grocery (not to mention pushing mainstream grocery to get more natural)? At any rate, I had a great time, spent time with some fabulous people, and would like to tell you a bit about them.
First and foremost I must tell you about our esteemed compatriots, Brenda Mallory and Sara Miller (pictured above - that’s me on the left, Sarah in the middle and Brenda on the right, hamming it up with our new EcoLips lip balm) from GladRags and Francine and Carinne Chambers, mom-and-daughter DivaCup owners . The wonderful term “compatriot” (as opposed to the rather negatively loaded “competitor”) was coined by Brenda in reference to the respect and kinship that we all feel for one another in this, shall we say, niche industry. It’s particularly apt in this case as we all share the abundance-based perspective that rather than competing against one another, we are in fact fighting the same fight (and fighting it well, with great elegance and determination, I might add!) We have also had the good fortune to meet Gloria Starita of Sea Pearls, who is one of the kindest, most sparkling souls I have ever come across anywhere.
Some other amazing integrity-based companies/people I spent time with include Lisa Levin’s Pharmacopia collection of natural bodycare products (the lavender hand cream is an office staple here at Lunapads), Jody Weiss’s Peacekeeper cause-metics (seeing Jody is such a pleasure and inspiration!), and Deb Luster’s Can Do Kids healthy snacks for active kids.
Nice to know that in the midst of some downright weird products and overly revved people, there are some real, honest-to-goodness gems out there. Look for them at your local Health Food store!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 10th, 2007 at 9:48 am by Madeleine and is filed under Inside Lunapads. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.