They have been so helpful and if everyone in the outdoor industries is like this, all I can say is wow! I have finally found where I belong! My experience with Pitchfest and with the Outdoor Industries Women’s Coalition has been a breath of fresh air and I have to admit that I have never felt so supported and guided as I have since being selected as a Finalist. I usually just keep my head down, work harder than anyone else, provide the best product I can and show as much care and compassion as I can to my team and customers. I was the only female founder out of the ten finalists selected. Last month ten companies were selected as finalists and invited to pitch to pitch to a panel of judges in Denver (at Bronco Stadium!). Case in point, ENERGYbits was recently selected as one of the Top 50 Most Innovative Global Sports Startups in a Competition for the 2016 Summer Olympics. My entire 25 year career has been spent in industries led by men and even startup-competitions are usually run by men. It’s always a challenge to be a female Founder/CEO and I wasn’t expecting the outdoor industry to be any different. Building ENERGYbits has been an unbelievable journey and the best is yet to come! What has your experience been like, so far, as a female entrepreneur in the outdoor industry?
We are proud to be the first to introduce algae to the outdoor sports community and to provide them with a convenient, sports nutrition product that improves their performance and health while also supporting the health of the earth since algae is an eco-friendly, sustainable crop.
#Katherine energy bits professional
We’re the first to provide algae as a sports nutrition product and word about us is quickly spreading to Olympic athletes, professional athletes and now outdoor enthusiasts. Since then, thousands of runners and endurance athletes have contacted us to thank us for our algae because it gives them energy, doesn’t upset their stomach and doesn’t contain chemicals, caffeine or sugar. Next, I figured out that if you swallow our tabs, you don’t taste anything green but you get all the benefits of green! Mission accomplished! Our chlorella algae is called RECOVERYbits because chlorella algae helps you and your muscles recover from anything, including sports. Our spirulina algae is called ENERGYbits because spirulina gives you mental and physical energy.
So, I put my creative hat on and gave algae a makeover! The first thing I did was brand my algae with names like ENERGYbits and RECOVERYbits to make them easy to understand. In fact, algae is a nutritional superstar and a multibillion dollar industry in Asia where it has been used for fifty years. My research led me to algae which is endorsed by NASA and the United Nations as the most nutritionally dense food in the world, and is green! I just needed to find a way to make algae easy to take and easy to understand because everyone thought it was pond scum. I realized that if I was going to make a difference in people’s health, I needed to find something that gave them the nutrition of greens but didn’t taste green.
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After graduating, I gave free nutrition workshops at companies, encouraging their employees to eat more greens, but discovered most didn’t like greens! I thought others would want to know about it too so I gave up my 25-year corporate career to return to school to study nutrition. I helped her figure out what foods she should eat and in the process, learned about the health benefits of a plant-based diet. I started ENERGYbits seven years ago after my younger sister was diagnosed with breast cancer and was advised by her oncologist to change her diet to an alkaline, plant-based diet since it would help her heal. We can’t wait to see her take the stage at Pitchfest. And, as you’ll see, Catharine’s energy comes through even in an interview.
Now she’s a finalist in the Outdoor Industry Women’s Coalition’s Pitchfest, and the latest interviewee in our #WomenofPitchfest series. No, when she set out to create an energy-boosting product, she knew it had to be “fast, simple and super easy,” it had to “give you all the greens, protein, vitamins and minerals you need each day,” it had to “recharge your immune system, remove toxins, supercharge your energy and give you back your health.” What is this miracle ingredient, you ask? Algae!Ĭatharine was so dedicated to this discovery that she quit a 25-year career in the corporate world to get ENERGYbits-tiny algae tabs so nutritionally dense that they eliminate fatigue and hunger-into the hands of everyone from Olympic athletes to everyday outdoor enthusiasts. But not because of caffeine, sugar, or the chemicals hidden in so much of our food these days.
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Interviews Read 0 Comments Catharine Arnston, the founder of ENERGYbits, is full of-you guessed it-energy.
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