Announcing her new role as the company’s first wellness ambassador at an event in New York City last week, Bündchen said that Gaia Herbs products have been part of her personal wellness routine for over 20 years.
"I'm proud to partner with Gaia Herbs and excited that together, we can help share nature's wisdom with everyone," the Brazilian model said. "I first learned about herbs from my grandmother, who had a tea for everything. She wasn't an herbalist, but she knew about the power of plants.”
Bündchen spoke as part of a health and wellness panel moderated by CBS News’s Michelle Miller that gathered functional medicine practitioner Dr. Lara Zakaria, herbalist Mimi Hernandez, Gaia’s formulation manager Susan Hirsch and wellness coach Melissa Wood-Tepperberg.
A natural fit
Gaia Herbs called the partnership a natural fit given Bündchen’s wellness evolution and her trust in Gaia Herbs' purity, quality, traceability and transparency.
"Gisele is open about how she feels healthier and more vibrant at this stage of her life than she has ever before, and she has been a long-time user of Gaia Herbs products," said Jim Geikie, CEO of Gaia Herbs. "Gisele has a passion for helping others on similar journeys, and we are delighted that she wanted to create a long-term partnership with Gaia Herbs to enable that."
Geike explained that as ambassador, her first role will be as student, learning the importance of knowing how to identify and choose the highest quality and most transparent herbal supplements. Her second will be sharing the other elements of her holistic routine with Gaia Herbs consumers, which incorporates exercise, meditation, nature, rest, and mindfulness about what she puts into her body and invites into her mind.
Bündchen visited the 250-acre Gaia Farm, lab and factory this summer in Brevard, North Carolina, reporting that she learned that not all supplements are created equal.
“When I went to visit Gaia Herbs, it was really incredible because I felt really good about the choices I’ve been making,” she said. “I was inspired by the care – it’s incredible the amount of dedication and attention from planting the seed all the way into making the product.”
Although she noted that people’s supplement needs differ, her routine includes Adrenal Health (a daily stress support with rhodiola, holy basil, ashwagandha, schisandra and oats), as well as Lion’s Mane Mushroom for brain health, Turmeric Supreme Extra Strength to combat inflammation, and Black Elderberry Syrup to support her family’s immune health.
Gaia starting to break out
Gaia has been mostly focused on farming and product production since its founding 35 years ago but has recently ramped up its marketing efforts – taking out a full-page ad in The New York Times, issuing an open invitation to the Food and Drug Administration and airing commercials on primetime to draw attention to the purity and integrity of Gaia ingredients.
“I would say that Gaia’s been one of the best kept secrets in this industry for a long time,” Geike said at the New York City event. “It’s been an incredibly quiet company for too long, but we’re really starting to break out of that now.”
He explained that Gaia founder Ric Scalzo “had real vision on how people, plants and planet could be connected to create health and healing”. The company is on a dual mission to protect the planet's health through regenerative agriculture and sustainability practices and to restore human health, which he said is in crisis mode.
“We’re living longer but we’re living sicker,” he added. “By keeping on doing what we’ve been doing for so long is just not going to work. It’s time that people take agency, which is a big buzzword, for their own darn health these days. That leads me to Gisele Bündchen – she is the embodiment of that agency.”
