Why I Became a PharmD and Then Built a Tea Company

Why I Became a PharmD and Then Built a Tea Company

People ask me that question a lot. Usually with a look that says: those two things don't go together.

And honestly? A few years ago, I would have agreed with them.

The Version of Me That Pharmacy School Built I was drawn to pharmacy because I love understanding how the human body works and how the world of pharmacy impacts those functions. Not just the surface-level "take this, feel better or fix this" explanation, but I wanted to learn the deep mechanisms. Why does this medication or supplement produce this outcome? Why does this dose matter and not that one? Why do two people take the same medication and have completely different outcomes?

That curiosity drove me through pharmacy school, through a fellowship, through a master's program where I spent years analyzing, studying and researching. I loved it. I still do.

And even though I loved it, somewhere along the way I stopped taking care of myself the way I was learning to take care of everyone else.

What Burnout Actually Looks Like When You're Too Busy to Notice

It didn't happen all at once, and I think it rarely does.

I saw it waking up already tired. Running from one thing to the next: school, work, family, repeat. I kept telling myself I'd slow down after. I'd slow down after the test. After pharmacy school. After finishing a home project. After the thesis. After the next milestone.

I don't think I noticed for so long because from the outside, I was actually doing really well. I was achieving goals and accomplishing so much that I'd set my mind to. But I constantly felt behind, overworked and tired. And the feeling of constantly going was quietly exhausting me.

I don't think I'm unique in this. I think a lot of people are living that same experience.

The Experience That Changed Things

I wish I could tell you there was a dramatic turning point in my life where I had a life altering experience, but it wasn't that way. It was so small.

I made myself a cup of tea one evening. Nothing fancy, just something warm and simple. I sat with it. I didn't check my phone. I didn't open my laptop. I sat and drank while reading a book.

I started doing it on purpose after that. A cup in the morning before the house woke up. Something slower at night. Sometimes a quick pause in a busy afternoon. It became such a powerful part of my day because it belongs entirely to me. No to-do list stress, no work, just presence.

The ritual itself was doing something. I knew that from what I'd studied about the nervous system, about what repetitive intentional acts do to the brain's stress response. I was just finally living it, not just reading it.

The Problem I Couldn't Unsee

After living with this new ritual, the pharmacist side of me got curious.

I started really reading the labels on the teas and wellness blends I was buying. And what I found was underwhelming. Proprietary blends with no disclosed amounts. Ingredients listed in quantities too small to do anything clinically meaningful. Ingredients that lack scientific research and backing.

If the ritual mattered, as science has repeatedly shown us that it does, then what you put in that ritual should matter too. Real ingredients. Real doses. Formulated the way a pharmacist would formulate something: with evidence, with intention, with respect for the person taking it.

That's the gap I couldn't stop thinking about.

What I Built Instead

The Apothecary Blend started as a question I kept asking myself: "What would this look like if a pharmacist made it?"

Not a wellness influencer. Not a supplement company optimizing for margins. Someone trained to care about what a compound actually does in the human body, at what dose, and why.

This brand is truly the intersection of everything I am: the science I spent years studying, the burnout I quietly survived, the health and longevity that I am passionate about, and the small act of sitting with something warm. It reminded me I was worth slowing down for, and I think you are too.

Our blends are formulated from scratch, with ingredients I chose because the research supports them and at doses that are clinically significant. Designed around the ritual, because the ritual deserves to be filled with something real to help you in whatever journey you are currently in.

Where We're Going

We're in production now. And I'd love for you to be the first to know when we launch.

If you've ever felt the pull of wanting something that actually works and was made with care, backed by science, being built for the life you're actually living, this is for you. We are so glad you're here.

The Apothecary Blend is a pharmacist-formulated functional tea brand rooted in the belief that intentional daily rituals, backed by real science, are one of the most underutilized tools in modern wellness.