We met on the internet.

On our first date, I fell for him when he talked about acupuncture. Not because I loved acupuncture, I’d never even had it, nor was I sure I even “believed” in it- but he just lit up with passion and excitement when he talked about it, and I thought that was awesome. 

The other thing that lit him up like that? Talking about starting his own business. Another one. He’d done it a few times before…. Hobbs Health Foods (after his favorite comic strip hero, Calvin & Hobbs) or his skincare company, Yellow Mountain Herbs- natural skincare infused with Chinese herbs. He was always ahead of his time.

Less than a year later we were married.  I covered my wedding shoes with over 2000 Swarovski Crystals, by hand. It took over 18 hours, but my shoes were my second favorite highlight of the day. 🙂 (This was clearly a foreshadowing of what was to come…)

18 months later our oldest daughter Molly was born, beautiful and healthy. We owned a home in NJ. Elie had a successful Acupuncture practice. We were living the suburban dream. 

But I was still working a j.o.b., commuting, exhausted to Manhattan, to sit at a desk, wondering silently why this all just wasn’t enough for me. 

Elie continued his acupuncture work while building all sorts of digital businesses centered around helping other acupuncturists grow their practices. The TCMDirectory, TryAcupuncture.com, Practitioner’s Websites, SEO- The man didn’t stop dreaming up ideas and making them happen.

Then, our second pregnancy. 

Identical Twin Daughters. We were thrilled. Shocked, but thrilled. 

The twins were due when Molly would’ve been just 18 months. I wondered how on earth I’d cope.

Until the complications…  the placental imbalance, fluids aren’t looking right, TTTS… and at nearly 24 weeks we lost one. Her forever nickname was Daisy. And days later, her sister, Sunshine, was gone too. 

And our world just fell apart. 

Life on the other side of such devastating loss was complicated and heartbreaking. Everything in our world shifted as I looked for ways to help myself just make it through the days. Ultimately, I learned that climbing out of the darkest nights can sometimes reveal the brightest light you couldn’t have seen before.

I found my healing in sparkle. Literal, physical sprinklings of light —sequins, glitter, Swarovski crystal- whatever I could cover myself with on the outside that would help me tap into my light on the inside. 

And I also found my healing in helping other moms in grief find their inner light too. 

We were a community and I called that inner light our “Muchness.” We’d all, at one point or another, been so much muchier. But now, we’d lost our Muchness. And creativity, self-expression, living bold, big, colorful lives true to ourselves and our gifts – with lots and lots of sparkle- was the path that helped us heal. And in that empowering healing journey, we’d be honoring the babies we’d lost as well.

Then Elie hurt his back shoveling snow. He asked me to put him on some Ear Seeds and his back pain disappeared and he got sparked: Ear Seeds were awesome! They should be way more accessible so more people could benefit from them! 

Initially, I rejected the idea- I mean, no one had ever heard of these things- how could we build a market for something people didn’t even know existed? Plus, I was focused on The Muchness!

But Elie put some on me for my chronic stress and I was sold. I agreed to design some products and test this ear seeds concept with him.

Within weeks, our Condition-Specific Ear Seeds Kits were up on our makeshift website and started selling. Fast. 

I needed to make a choice. Putting aside The Muchness and the rewarding work that I was doing helping others was an almost impossible decision for me. It was like letting go of my twins all over again.  

But then I started to experience all the powerful ways that EarSeeds too were helping people. Empowering them with self-care, bringing them healing and calm. I began to feel inspired and excited to bring my creativity and positivity into this new endeavor.

Whether it’s embedding sparkle, color and joy into our products, or finding ways to sneak empowerment messages throughout our packaging and marketing materials, when you know it’s there, you can see how The Muchness constantly weaves its way into the EarSeeds story. 

And so rewarding for me is connecting to the heart-powered healers and business owners who use our products in their practices. Helping to teach them tangible marketing tools they can employ with our products to help them connect to and help more people, while Elie teaches the in-depth auriculotherapy education that helps them help others more effectively. 

Since our modest launch in 2014 we’ve continued to meet and exceed our goal of bringing Ear Seeds and Auriculotherapy to as many people as possible. We’ve propelled this virtually forgotten – yet highly studied and proven- modality from the shadows to the spotlight, through passion, creativity, and determination. 

When our EarSeeds, in the hands of our community of practitioners, show up on the news, at celebrity events, or at veterans centers, or addiction centers or are used at humanitarian efforts world-wide, it’s so powerfully rewarding and meaningful for us.

We’re super proud of what we’ve built and we’re excited to continue to grow. We know that when we bring our Muchness to the forefront, there’s nothing we cannot do.