Going West to Find the Best: My First Expo

I walked into my first NatuHeadshotral Products Expo with wide eyes…searching for safer alternative products with my team thanks to the Isenberg School of Management support. Besides feeling the warm California sunshine for the first time, Expo was a new level into the natural products world I thought I was already familiar with.

Over a year after adopting my own natural-holistic lifestyle, I was fortunate to walk the floor and witness the industry pushing to fill the needs of the conscious consumer. It was inspiring listening to companies explaining their missions and the pillars of sustainability they strive to balance. It was also encouraging to hear their enthusiasm for what we are doing at Protect Our Breasts.

Sprinkled between our time walking the floor with 77,000 other attendees, we listened to educational sessions lead by some of the industry’s greatest minds. These people included a few of our own advisers: Jessica Rubino, Sylvia Tawse and Maryellen Molyneaux, and our own Executive Director Cynthia Barstow. They spoke on the topics of Influencer marketing, the Good Food Movement, Natural Product industry trends, and chemicals migration from packaging. Throughout the talks at Expo, there were many themes about the industry such as trust, authenticity, mission-driven, passion, action, inclusivity, empowerment, and credibility.

Other themes emphasized at Expo were the power of Millennials -their values and storytelling. It was not long ago when we were told stories that taught the morals which are boldly seen as themes throughout the industry. Through storytelling we want to hear, know, and experience the entirety of the food we eat, the products we put on our bodies, and the impact left behind.

When I started my journey into organic and naturals, I never thought it would lead me to California to visit the Natural Products Expo West. Through this experience I do not have the same feelings of being in it alone or afraid of everything that is out there. I now have the encouragement from not just an industry, but a whole community where there are safer alternatives and endless opportunities.

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