Carolyn Yachanin was inspired by her own health journey and eventual healing with holistic medicine to found Copina Co. She started her business because she fundamentally believes that the focus of beauty needs to be on internal health. Years of harsh acne treatments like oral antibiotics and 2 rounds of commonly prescribed medication left her skin dry and depleted and her gut health in shambles.
She turned to holistic and herbal medicine out of a search for something better and it changed her life. She saw the power of plants to heal us from within and became inspired to use plants to bring something fundamentally new to the wellness space: an edible beauty product that focuses on internal health as the building block of beauty.
Carolyn brings the best of plant medicine to all with Copina Co. She started her company out of her apartment in 2020 and worked with holistic health professionals to create her products from scratch. All Copina Co. blends were formulated by herbalists, are 100% vegan, and help to support your body’s natural collagen production, all from plants. Carolyn lives in sunny San Diego and can be found cooking up new plant-based recipes in her kitchen, surfing at the beach, or exploring new hiking trails with her rescue dog.
Have you always been into wellness or did you one day realize the importance of it?
My parents got really into plant-based cooking and healthy living in general when I was young, but I didn’t connect with this on a deep level or understand how intertwined our food and health are until I was older. I spent years as a teen and young adult having pretty terrible cystic acne and gut health issues. The medications that I was prescribed included things like oral antibiotics and harsh pills that really did a number on my internal health and didn’t solve the fundamental reason why I was getting acne. I remember walking around all the time feeling sluggish, bloated, and also feeling the physical pain that my deep acne caused me.
Finally, I decided I deserved a better quality of life. I learned about Ayurveda, started reading books on it, and learned that our skin is a reflection of our internal balances and imbalances and that to heal our skin, we have to look within. This lesson changed my life! I started seeing a holistic doctor who worked with me using herbs and plant acids and healed me from the inside out over the course of the next year. This opened my eyes to the power of plant medicine and inspired so much of what Copina Co. is now, but also taught me how everything in our bodies is connected.
What does wellness mean to you?
Wellness to me means listening to your body and doing right by it. It means different things to different people based on their needs and can even mean different things to the same person at different times! Lately, I’ve been focused on resting and building strength so my wellness has meant lots of early wakeups, tea, journaling, prayer, meditation, walks, superfoods, stretching, dry brushing, cold showers, DIY lymphatic massages, and all that stuff. You name it, I’m all about it right now!
Other times, I’m focused on striving or building, so my wellness moreso means finding 1-2 small things I can do in my day, even when I’m catching planes and sleeping in hotels during business travel that make me feel at my best. That can mean bringing my Copina Co. Matcha Beauty stick packs with me on the plane with me so I can cut down on caffeine and get a vegan collagen boost to start my day. It could also mean taking a moment to share something funny with a friend or my husband because I need a quick laugh.
What advice would you give your younger self around wellness?
That balance is an illusion! I used to hear people talk about “finding balance” so often that I felt something was wrong in my life if I felt at all off balance in any moment. I’ve gotten more experience in life and now don’t believe balance is a thing. I think we make choices and prioritize accordingly and that’s okay.
Someone once explained it to me as having 4 buckets present, but you can only carry 3 at once. Something always got to give, and that’s okay. For example, I’ve been focused on growing my company in exciting ways for the last few months, so I’m focused on work, family, faith, and health, but am putting my social life on the back burner for now… and that’s okay!
