Name: Laura McCann
Brand: Adoratherapy
Established: 2015
Hometown: Asheville, NC

What motivated you to start Adoratherapy?

I started Adoratherapy to sell aromatherapy as an alternative to perfume. I have been running the company since 2017 when I became the CEO. In the company’s early years, Laura’s role was purely the business side handling marketing, manufacturing, sourcing and finance. But Laura’s vocation wasn’t just business, her actual calling is teaching people to love themselves. In 2018, I stepped into a new role as Chief Mood Booster, bringing my intuitive healing and brand and product development skills together to become the face of the company.

What would you consider your hero product from your brand?

Our Chakra Boost roll on perfume oils are best sellers. We have a blend for each of the seven chakras. Our aura sprays (we call Room Boosts) are also popular and Clear Away and Abundance are heroes.

What standards / non-negotiables do you take into consideration when thinking about enhancing or developing new products?

Our mission is to create vibrational products - everything from the box’s packaging design to the glass vessels, biodynamic essential oils and clean formulations. It must be breathtaking. It must be healing. And vegan and cruelty-free too!

What do you think are some of the biggest challenges for "beauty / wellness" brands today?

It’s a business which means there are trade-offs. Often the trade-off is in the quality of what’s inside the bottle. We use the best oils, always organic. We hand make everything. It’s like cooking. You can’t have a machine do it and have it taste the same. We prefer to be niche, grow slowly and healthily and find our target audience naturally. We use our own capital. We control our destiny. This makes our decision-making principles grounded in our core belief which is to Adore Yourself. We embody conscious beauty. We just don’t say it, we live it. Alignment, balance and well-being are what we desire for our customers and also for our business. That is a possibility, not so much a challenge.

What has been one of your proudest moments since creating Adoratherapy?

We have been lucky enough to have been nominated for many awards and receive many awards. I love being a Tory Burch fellow. I love that I won a best business award in Asheville. What I am most proud of, however, is our new store in Asheville, North Carolina. The store is magical. We meet people, we heal people, we educate and we share energy. It’s a blessing.

What can we expect in the future from Adoratherapy?

We are thinking about opening a second location. We are always launching new products and I have a bigger vision than what we currently have implemented. I hope to have the energy and desire to continue to build. It requires a growing of oneself to expand and do it in a healthy way, so we are taking our time.

What advice would you give customers who want to make the most out of your brand?

Our products provide you with a toolkit for living. You can create rituals and habits that will empower you to be and feel your best. So spray or roll on. Breathe. And transform. We create the blends but you, your intention and your breath are key ingredients.

How do you start your day?

I wake up around 7:30. I pray and give thanks and ask for protection for my loved ones. I ground myself in my body. My partner and I express our love for each other with touch, words and gestures. We give each other space. I prepare tea and bring it to bed. I read and answer emails and check social media. I take a bath. The bath is my way of cleansing and claiming myself. I use my chakra oils and Aroma perfume before I dress. I think of the day ahead and choose Creativity for days I need to be fully expressed, Vitality for rooting, Clarity for intuition. It’s a ritual I don’t miss. Jim often makes me breakfast. Reading is my everything so by 9:00AM I have completed emails, read blogs, filled and fed myself and I am ready to start the day.

Do you have a morning / evening ritual?

We have a little cat, Cricket. When we get home from work, she wants to be let in so my entry into home is filled with sweet purrs and pets. Caring for a pet is a great way for me to connect with my feminine divine and leave my CEO energy behind. I can’t wait to undress and take a bath again. My feet are always tired and soaking is so helpful. We make a healthy dinner. We relax, making calls to family, reading and watching some fun shows. I moisturize my face and body using our lotion candle melt and lotions. We use essential oils in them so they smell amazing and are beautifully formulated.

What is your daily skincare routine?

I clean my face with micellar water and I moisturize. My go to is a French product called Ephidiane, it is very rich and I have dry skin so it’s amazing. I use sunscreen in the sun always. I am a “less is more” beauty consumer. No trends, no fads.

Do you have a daily wellness routine?

I eat well. I have been vegetarian in the past but find I don’t feel as strong on that diet. Since menopause, my body requires pure energy so I listen. I barely drink. I just don’t like how I feel after a glass of wine. Now and then I use CBD in the evening to relax. I am a driven person, an Aries, so my wellness routine requires alternating between intense productivity and spiritual moments of contemplation. I just listen and try to not mess up my flow. I used to exercise. My day is nonstop so I currently make every day a work out - shipping, packing, making all required heavy lifting and time on the feet. Feeling complete at the end of the day is the best wellness routine I have found.

What is a beauty product or tool you can’t live without?

Am I allowed to say my bathtub? I have to have a bath, can’t live without it. I grew up in Miami and spent days in the pool. I think I just need to feel water all around me to feel happy.

What do you do for R&R when you need to reboot?

I love to read - books, magazines, blogs. My mind absorbs and sifts and curates and comes up with possibilities. My intuition and creativity love to play and so I create many projects that allow me to let those two energies have at it.

What are your must haves when traveling?

I bring Vitality, Motivation and Clarity Chakra Boosts with me. I, also, pack products to take photos of. I love seeing our boxes and bottles and candles in different settings. Everything is a photo op.

What selfcare advice would you have given yourself 5 years ago?

Stop doing. Start being. It took me getting sick to understand I was using my energy in the wrong way. I favored productivity over my own nature which is creative and intuitive. I, also, have learned to have boundaries. I use my Aura to protect myself from negative energy - my own or others’. I understand how drama and people with trauma (which is pretty much all of us) are attracted to high vibration and offer compassion and love without giving away my safe space. All of this has led me to the idea of Adoring Yourself. This is the highest act of love and compassion. Often it is not the one we do best.

Do you have any beauty / wellness advice for our followers?

When we love ourselves, we can stop the incessant negative chatter we all experience. When we love ourselves, we heal.