Behind the Brand with Nikki Warren, Naturopath & Founder of NaturoBest

Keen to find out more about the innovative Aussie brand making pure and potent supplements designed for the parenthood journey, we went behind the brand with Nikki. She takes us back to where the NaturoBest journey began, reveals what sets her supplements apart from the rest, and gives a peek into what goes on behind the scenes.

1. What set you on the path to creating the NaturoBest brand and what was the first ever product you developed?

For my last pregnancy, I designed my own pregnancy multivitamin and had it made at a compounding pharmacist.  I was disappointed with the poor quality of prenatal multi’s available on the market at the time and I also wanted to design formulas specific to each trimester.  The trimester one formulation worked so well for me in reducing morning sickness that I started using it with my clients with similar results.  It was this success that inspired me to take this multi to the market and Prenatal Trimester One was born.

2. What would you say sets NaturoBest apart from other prenatal and pregnancy vitamin brands?

Without a doubt, quality is what sets us apart.  We use capsules rather than tablets as tablets are full of excipients including colourings, binders, fillers, disintegrants and none of these need to be declared on the label.  People who are discerning when it comes to what food they eat, would be horrified to see the list of excipients that go into a tablet.

My other top priority is the type of raw material used for each ingredient.  I’ll go to great lengths to make sure they are the most well absorbed and well tolerated vitamins and minerals available.  For example, we use activated B vitamins in our products and the type of iron we use is far less likely to cause constipation than other cheaper forms of iron.  

The other thing that sets us apart is that I wanted to design a unique range.  There’s no point in putting a product on the market that is already available.  We are the only prenatal vitamin on the Australian market to have a different formula for the unique requirements of trimester one of pregnancy when most women have a sensitive stomach.  As a regular supplement user myself, it’s annoying when you have a lot of different supplements to take.  In addition, that has an impact on the environment with all that packaging.  NaturoBest products are very comprehensive, so they actually provide a lot of value for money and are far more convenient.

3. How has NaturoBest evolved since it began?

Well for starters our packaging has changed four times in the last six years!  We went from plastic bottles to glass bottles but had issues with breakages in transit, so we moved to blister packs and now we have 100% recyclable blister packs.  We want to minimise our carbon footprint as much as possible.

My focus from the beginning was expanding to overseas markets as soon as possible.  We now have distributors in the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, New Zealand and are about to expand into Vietnam.

4. How do you begin each morning to set you up for success?

I would love to say I started each morning with some meditation or exercise, but the reality is that I love mornings and find this is the best time for me to power through my work without disruptions.  I like to get up around 5am when it’s nice and peaceful and start my day with a huge cup of tea while I do my bookkeeping and respond to emails in bed.  My 8-year-old son usually wakes up around 6am and comes in for a big cuddle which is always a great start to the day.

What I think really sets up my day for success is what I do the day before to make sure I sleep well.  I always go for a walk in the afternoon, switch off from work at 5pm and then start my wind down routine which includes an early dinner and reading before lights out at 9pm.  I avoid socialising and alcohol during the week because that interferes with the quality of my sleep.

5. What does a day behind the scenes at NaturoBest look like?

I’m usually at my desk by 8am making my way through my to-do list for the day.  I never know what the day is going to bring with unscheduled meetings and solving problems as they arise.  I oversee all areas of the business, so my days are pretty jam packed.  It could involve anything from IT issues, logistics, marketing, regulatory affairs to liaising with my manufacturers and supply chain partners.

I’m often told by my marketing team that I should do a behind-the-scenes video for social media, but I don’t think a video of me sitting at my PC for 9 hours is particularly riveting!  I do try to do video’s when I go to conferences and expo’s though because that’s much more interesting.  Covid put a stop to any travel for a couple of years of course, but we are heading to two conferences next month and then we have quite a bit of travel planned next year so we should have some great content coming up on Instagram and Tik Tok!