I was so thrilled to recently have the opportunity to interview one of my idols, MaryRuth Ghiyam – the founder of the vegan supplement brand MaryRuth Organics. MaryRuth and her mother, Colleen, founded the brand in 2014 to create wholesome, non-GMO, and plant-based supplements.
MaryRuth is a woman of many talents; she is a Certified Health Educator, Nutritional Consultant, and Culinary Chef. She first discovered the need for wholesome supplements when she worked as a nutritional consultant. After working with many clients, she realized there wasn’t a single liquid multivitamin on the market that checked all of the essential boxes, so she set out to embark on a bold journey: to create one herself. Her brand now offers liquid multivitamins, kids gummies, human and pet probiotics, and more. Check out our full interview below!
Q: First, I’d love to know more about your path from becoming MaryRuth the person to MaryRuth the brand. Can you talk a bit about your journey? What inspired you to get into the health space?
A: Whew, has it been a journey! I’ll start by saying that every person has a gift. If they’re thinking about what makes them happy, it’s usually related to their gift. My gift was that I always loved taking care of people, and I tuned into that gift as much as possible. I allowed my gift to guide me, and it led me to become a nutrition consultant.
With my counseling practice, I would work with people using the liquids until lunch method. One of the most common pieces of feedback I received from my clients practicing this eating methodology was that they were nauseous and couldn’t take capsules. This was how I discovered the need for liquid vitamins.
One massive piece of advice for anyone aware of their gift who wants to take it to the next level is to listen to your community. It will always guide you. My community guided me to give them what they wanted – the first liquid multivitamin. That wasn’t my original plan, but I listened to what people needed, and it ended up being super successful.
The liquid multivitamin has a little bit of everything that someone would need if they were doing the basic blood panel. It’s sugar-free, bioavailable and absorbable, and recommended for individuals aged two years and up. It’s super convenient because families can buy one product and share it.
When I started my business, I was in significant debt. I somehow knew that if I followed my passion, everything would turn out okay. I knew what made me happy, and I was following this path regardless of being in debt.
My private practice started in 2013. I had a sample of the liquid multivitamin in 2014. 2015 was when we put it on Amazon, and that’s when the business started taking off. We are now into over 800 Targets, and in April, we got into Whole Foods!
What’s the most important part of your business to you?
Giving back is a huge part of my business for me. I am always looking for ways to give back that may not be conventional. I built a team that has a high employee retention rate, and I’m very proud of that. And I think a big part of that is because I love giving back to my employees.
In my company, we do anonymous culture climate surveys. It consists of 54 questions on topics ranging from diversity, equity, inclusion, to compensation and benefits. We have anonymous suggestion boxes, and I try my best to implement every suggestion we receive. I’m so proud of the internal part of our team, and it’s what I invest in the most. As we grow, I hope that more of my team will become part of our branding because I’m incredibly proud of them. A high-quality product is essential, but a great team culture is the most important aspect of the business to me.
There are SO many supplements on the market these days. What makes MaryRuth’s stand out from all of the others?
MaryRuth’s organics is a unique supplement company offering over 120 products. Almost all supplements are USDA certified organic (or on their way to be), and everything is vegan and gluten-free. Our herbals also don’t contain alcohol, which is uncommon, and it makes them taste delicious!
Many of my clients are confused about which supplements can be trusted. Does a third-party organization test MaryRuth’s supplements?
Yes! All of the supplements are rigorously tested. That is something I take extraordinarily seriously, and it’s an aspect of the brand in which I take significant pride.
I’m so obsessed with the minimal ingredients of your supplements. Can you talk a bit about where you source your ingredients from and what makes them so unique?
The ingredients for our liquid probiotics come from a small farm in Texas. We ask for feedback from the community about each product we make, and we fine-tune the ingredients and flavor based on that feedback.
This may come as a surprise to some people, but my number one goal as a supplement company is not to be the most “pure.” The biggest problem I’ve noticed in the past is that vitamins are not delicious enough. If they’re not delicious, people will not take them. They will sit on a shelf. If people aren’t taking their supplements, their blood work will suffer. In fact, that’s why I went to culinary school – I believe that flavor is the way to people’s hearts. So having a high-quality product that tastes great is a major priority for me.
What is your best-selling supplement?
Overall, our best-selling supplement is the liquid multivitamin. During Covid, the liquid zinc and the liquid probiotic were super popular. Right now, we’re working on accessing a high-quality vegan vitamin D spray that meets all of my standards.
What supplements do you recommend that people take every single day?
I recommend at least four supplements be taken daily: the Liquid Morning Multivitamin, the Liquid Nighttime Multimineral, the Liquid Probiotic, and one omega (either the Vegan Liquid Omega-3 Liquid Drops or Omega 3679 made from seaberry that’s a sugar-free gummy).
Do you personally take any of the MaryRuth supplements and, if so, which one? Why?
All of them! Whenever I realize I need to be taking a supplement that’s not in the MaryRuth line, I figure out what might be missing from the one I am taking, and we add it to the list of supplements we want to make.
Are there any new supplements currently in the works? If so, can you share any details about them?
We’re working on a toddler iron supplement. According to pediatricians, iron is one of the top deficiencies in children, so we are coming out with this one. I’m super excited about it.
Can you ever imagine expanding the product line beyond supplements?
I’d love to create healthy culinary snacks like gummies without vitamins, nutritional treats, and pre-workout snacks.
Where do you see the MaryRuth brand in the next five years?
I would love to see my company in the stock market in three years.
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I hope you enjoyed this interview with MaryRuth as much as I did! If you have any questions about adding supplements to your diet, I would love to work with you one-on-one! You can learn more about booking a session with me here.
