Kailo Nutrition Marks Mental Health Awareness Month With Influencer Ellie Gonsalves and an ‘Anxious Girl Elixir’
The perfect mocktail for anxious girlies has arrived.
Australia-based Kailo Nutrition, which recently launched in the U.S. at Neiman Marcus, this month is celebrating Mental Health Awareness Month with a new campaign and its Anxious Girl Elixir in partnership with influencer, model and now brand ambassador Ellie Gonsalves.
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Through campaign imagery, social media content, in-person events and the promotion of the Anxious Girl Elixir, the duo will be looking at the many components that can impact mental health, most notably nutrition and gut health.
“Our entry into the U.S. market and collaboration with Ellie Gonsalves during Mental Health Awareness Month, just ahead of Mental Health Action Day, is a pivotal step toward demystifying the gut-mind axis for the general public and solidifying Kailo as a leader within the wellness space,” Kristy Morris, cofounder of Kailo, said in a statement. “We’re dedicated to providing products that not only support optimal physical health, but also foster mental wellness, and this campaign is a testament to that commitment.”
The Anxious Girl Elixir, which is a complimentary follow-up to the viral sleepy girl mocktail and the latest “sexy water” trend, is made with one scoop of Kailo Nutrition Feel Well, $119, a gut health boosting collagen powder infused with L-glutamine, magnesium glycinate and chamomile; 12 ounces of cold alkaline water; two springs of mint leaf, and a half cup of ice.
“Understanding the connection between what we eat and how we feel mentally is a game changer in the world of wellness,” Gonsalves said in a statement. “I’m so proud to partner with Kailo, a brand that truly understands and leverages this connection to help people feel their best. The Anxious Grl Elixir is more than just a drink; it’s a statement about taking control of our mental health through mindful nutrition.”
While the campaign is centered around the drink recipe and Mental Health Awareness Month, Gonsalves’ involvement as a Kailo Nutrition user and mental health advocate was crucial. Here, the influencer shares more about her experience using Kailo Nutrition, her mental health journey and the importance of gut health.
WWD: What has your journey with mental health looked like?
Ellie Gonsalves: One of the biggest things that was such a challenge for me in my mid-20s was losing my dad. I lost my dad to suicide. Navigating that was an extremely, extremely difficult time in my life. I was 25. I was living in the U.S. I was working in L.A. and a 14-hour flight away from my dad and my family, and that was something that I got through by taking care of my wellness and my health: my physical health [and] my mental health.
WWD: What did wellness look like for you at the time?
E.G.: I’m up most mornings training. I am eating all the foods I should be eating. I’m on my supplements. I am having counseling sessions, at that point it was three times a week. Also a really big challenge was when my dad passed away, I actually cut off my family, so I wasn’t just grieving the loss of my dad. I was also grieving the loss of a family dynamic that I had my whole life.
WWD: What role does Kailo Nutrition play in your mental and physical health routine?
E.G.: I’ve actually been reminded of the importance of gut health and the connection between gut health and your mental health. I went through a really stressful work time two years ago. My gut health quickly began to suffer. I ended up going to every single doctor I could find and I did every test under the sun because I had chronic bloating. I actually had a lot of symptoms that were mimicking reproductive cancer, so I was really struggling. Every doctor I went to, they were like, “No, you’re perfectly healthy”…[My naturopath said,] “Let’s have a rundown of everything that’s going on in your gut” and that was where the problem was coming from. It affected my mental health, my physical health, my skin. That was my introduction to Kailo. My naturopath was like, “You need to start taking this product. It helps repair the gut lining.”
WWD: What did you experience when you started using the products?
E.G.: When I started taking Feel Well by Kailo, this was two years ago, I noticed such a huge difference in my bloating, which was probably my main thing that I wanted to fix because of how painful it was. Then I just started realizing how much of a difference it was making to my mental health. It was helping with my anxiety. It was helping with my depression.
WWD: After noticing these changes, you are now partnering with Kailo Nutrition this May to celebrate Mental Health Awareness Month with the Anxious Girl Elixir. How do you incorporate it into your routine?
E.G.: I have my Feel Well, as soon as I wake up first thing before I have any food, any coffee. It sets the tone of my day. That sets the tone for the day with my gut health. It’s almost like how great a cold shower makes you feel afterward. It actually just feels like a cold shower going through your body and just setting the tone for the day.
WWD: Aside from the Anxious Girl Elixir, what’s one wellness ritual you can’t live without?
E.G.: I love to just hit the reset button. I love taking really long baths, like maybe two hours. It’s a full reset. I’ll exfoliate my skin. I’ll put a face mask on. I’ll do a hair mask. Depending on what time of the day it is, I’ll have my Feel Well or my Sleep Well. I’ll laminate my eyebrows. It’s the full clean girl routine. I like to do that once a week and that’s my nonnegotiable.
WWD: What is the significance of the campaign and the Anxious Girl Elixir?
E.G.: I’ve always been very open about discussing mental health. I’ve been very open about talking about my dad’s story [and] my story of how I really navigated that loss. I find that mental health now is a bigger topic than ever. It’s a bigger struggle than ever, so being really sensitive to the fact that a lot of people are really going through it. I think our Anxious Girl Elixir is definitely a door that opens that conversation in a light fun way, respectfully as well.
