ABOUT US
Shakira Niazi
Founder
I reversed diabetes and obesity, reduced my medications, and even reversed my biological age — while doctors had only one answer for me: more meds, more painkillers, and even surgeries for my back and knees.
No shortcuts. No Botox. No powders. Just whole food, fiber, and truth.
Because I live by one rule: I am my customer number one.
My obsession isn’t customers. It’s customer healthiest obsession.
I’ve walked both sides of the system.
I left the banking machine behind — the very one that fueled the 2008 crash. Financially, I was in the top 2%. But when profit came at the cost of people’s lives, I walked away. Painful, yes — but necessary.
Then I launched a bottled water brand. It was a success: sold nationwide in Whole Foods, Safeway, and even tech offices. But when I learned how liquid stored in plastic was wrecking metabolic health — and quietly robbing women of their fertility — I walked away again. Painful? Absolutely. Especially watching competitors scale to billion-dollar exits. But my conscience wouldn’t let me keep going.
🌱 My Basil Seed Journey
Ten years ago, I began the journey to bring basil seeds to America — when no one had even heard of them.
3 years of R&D led to my first launch: basil seeds with organic juice concentrate. It hit 300 stores and sold out often. But juice concentrate is just sugar in disguise. Sugar fuels cancer, fattens livers in children, and drives chronic disease. They call it “clean label.” I call it diabetes in a bottle. I walked away.
Next, I launched Zen Basil Electrolyte, sweetened with organic monk fruit. It looked like a win — but science proved “sugar-free” sweeteners are another clean-label lie. Obesogens. Highly processed chemicals that disrupt gut health and drive weight gain. Investors love them — because sugar + sweetener + salt is the perfect formula for addiction and repeat customers. A perfect flip to Big Food. But I refused to play that game. So I walked away again.
And here’s where I speak directly to young entrepreneurs:
⚠️ Investors will tell you they believe in your mission — but their game is not your customer’s health. Their game is scale, flip, and profit. They will not let you keep your product whole. They will force you to process it, slice it, extract it, and turn it into powders and flavored “me too” versions. If you think you’re fighting Big Food, but your endgame is flipping back to them — you’re not fighting. You’re feeding the same system.
One of my earliest investors said to me: “What you’re doing is noble, but you will never make it. Real food isn’t scalable. It’s too expensive to educate. I’m out.”
I remember that conversation. And I’m here, 10 years later, to say: Sir, you were wrong. I was right. It’s worth it. And I would do it all again.
⚡ What No One Asks
How did pea become a powder?
Do you know any farm that grows “pea protein powder”?
Where did the 7g of fiber in a real cup of peas go?
Powders are made in labs, stripped, heated, chemically engineered. Not real food. Just fragments. Investors love them because they’re profitable. But our bodies don’t need fragments. We need food whole — as nature made it.
That’s why I refused to be “investor-friendly.” That’s why I kept going back to the drawing board. Ten years. Three rebrands. Walking away from profits to make my product healthier, not more scalable.
🌱 And Then… Sprouts
After all the tears, all the sacrifice, something extraordinary happened: Sprouts called me.
That’s rare. Almost unheard of. Usually, brands pay just to get a buyer’s ear. But Sprouts rolled out the red carpet — not because I paid them, but because their customers asked for it. And when I stood in those stores, hearing real employees share their tearful stories of health and family, I knew: this was proof that real food still matters.
🌸 My Truth
I’ve watched countless “good-for-you” brands raise millions, scale fast, and sell out to Nestlé, Pepsi, Coke, Kellogg, even Pfizer. They weren’t built for health; they were built for exits.
And I’ve seen the silent victims behind the curtain — founders and executives with money but no peace. Psychiatrist after psychiatrist. Medication after medication. Smiling for investors while dying inside.
That could have been me. If I hadn’t chosen differently, I’d still be sick. On meds. Facing surgery. Trapped like the 93% of Americans who are metabolically unhealthy and the 95% who are fiber deficient.
Instead, at 54, I have the energy of a 20-year-old. I can slip back into my extra-small wedding dress. I reversed diabetes. Healed obesity. Avoided surgery. No Botox. No fillers. No gimmicks. Just whole food, fiber, and truth.
I can’t change my mother’s story — she’s been in hospice for five years. But I can change mine. And I can help change yours.
Because this isn’t just a health crisis. It’s a food crisis.
The solution isn’t another pill, powder, or clean-label scheme.
The solution is whole food. Raw truth. And the courage to walk away.
So when you see me today — with my health, my two sons standing with me, Zen Basil nationwide in Sprouts and Vitamin Shoppe — don’t just see survival.
See proof. See persistence. See the power of 10 years of customer-healthiest obsession.
There is a better path. It’s not easy.
But it’s worth it.