Maternal Love and Nutrition from Mamala Organics and Rebecca Smith

If you’ve ever been called a Mamala, you may not have known what it meant, but hopefully you felt the love of the endearing term that reflects so much affection. Now, Rebecca Smith has turned that word into a point not only of emotional offering, but nutritional care and support, too, with Mamala Organics Support Snacks™, functional snacking for women's health.

Originally from Connecticut and raised in Colorado, Smith is currently a Miami Beach resident. While her mother was the head of athletics and Smith has always been generally athletic, she went a different route and went to college for journalism. After a year living and backpacking South America, she landed in NYC and ended up interviewing with a PR firm blending her love of writing and fashion. This led to a decade of agency and in-house PR/communication work, launching and supporting the growth of fashion brands.

Over the course of COVID, she had her daughter and then son, and it was in early postpartum where she became acutely aware of a pain point that she later realized was ubiquitous: an inability to properly nourish herself. She was taking supplements, but realized the prioritization of necessary nutrients from whole foods was key. She wanted a great snack option that could deliver the functional, nutrient-dense whole foods her body needed during this nutrient-critical life stage. So, she created it! Read on to learn more. 

SBS: What are Mamala Organic’s current offerings?

Rebecca Smith: With Mamala Organics we are pioneering functional snacking for women’s health, taking a food-as-medicine approach to nutrient-critical life stages. Our first collection supports postpartum healing and recovery, an up-to-10-year chapter that extends far beyond lactation. Unlike balls, bars, cooking, our shelf-stable pouches address the full spectrum of postpartum needs: hormone regulation & balance, tissue repair & muscle function, restful sleep and balanced energy, immunity, digestion and microbiome health, milk production and supply. 

Formulated with a dietitian and food scientist, our first flavors include: Mamamellow – Relax + Restore – vanilla, pumpkin seed, and dates for calm and sustained energy. Mamamind – Refocus + Recharge – pomegranate, blueberry, and quinoa sprouts to sharpen focus. And, Mamalive (coming soon) Replenish + Revive – coconut, sweet potato, and spinach to replenish and renew. At its core, Mamala is built for women’s biology in a world where most nutrition is built for men. And yes, they’re as delicious as they are functional.

SBS: Mamala is such a beautiful name: For those that don't know the meaning, can you explain it, as well as why you chose it?

RS: It literally translates to ‘little mama’ in Yiddish. I get so many messages like ‘That's what my mom calls me,’ or ‘That's what I call my mom.’ And that's because it is a term of endearment that communicates a maternal love, which can come from anywhere. Mamala Support Snacks is not only about taking care of the Mamalas, but also giving anyone the opportunity to show up for another Mamala and provide a bit of that maternal love. 

SBS: What skills did you take from your other work into your work at Mamala Organics?

RS: It's one thing to make something excellent, and another thing to let the people know you exist. So perhaps that is what I am taking into this new venture. The goal is to Nosh Well and to catalyze a cultural shift wherein we, as a society, are showing up for women in a tangible way by investing in their recovery and helping women prioritize themselves…our health, our nourishment, our healing.

SBS: How did you land on the pouches?

RS: There were/are a lot of balls, bars and cookies on the market focused on lactation. As I mentioned, we are after full spectrum postpartum symptoms. We wanted to prioritize minimal nutrient degradation and convenience, the best whole foods and great flavor, mess-free and shelf stable. Also, I kept seeing moms all over the place reluctantly sipping on their kids pouches because they were famished but the pouches were a great format: You don't even need clean hands to eat them. So…pouches!  

SBS: What surprised you on your path to creating Mamala?

RS: I get a new surprise every day. Sometimes it's a great one! Like the other day, I got two messages: A woman with older kids purchased because she just loved Mamala Support Snacks as a clean nutrient dense snack to have during her kids' soccer games, and I also got a picture from the hospital bed from a freshly postpartum mom. 

Other days, it's a production delay. The ideation to commercialization stage was different from now being in market, and truthfully it is all encompassing. Building this has required so much mental fortitude, a healthy dose of delusion, and the strongest commitment to get up every day and build, push through every insecurity, and focus on the bigger picture to serve the sisterhood. 

SBS: What are your top tips for starting your own company?

RS: Have a great support system because it will test you mentally, physically, and emotionally every day. ‘Grab a helmet’ is something a very wise wellness founder told me the other day: If you can put on a helmet and take the hits day in and day out, you will be successful. And then more tactically, make a great product, have strong production and manufacturing partners, keep a circle of smart people you can call, and don’t fear reaching out to anyone. Have a talent for following up, a desire and willingness to truly connect with people, help people, and serve your customer. We are in service to the woman, and without her we have no business. She comes first. 

SBS: How has your own view of wellness changed along your journey?

RS: When I was in my teens it was about looking a certain way, and as I've aged it has become about feeling a certain way. On a macro level, there is a lot of ‘wellness’ that is about selling a lifestyle, which I get. What I'm interested in is the tools that enable an individual to actually feel their best internally, physically, and mentally. That comes from putting good things into your body, moving your body, and surrounding yourself with good energy, which comes from community. In many cases, if you're doing the first two, you're likely in the right space energetically to find the people that create the third. 

SBS: What was the path to having your own business? Any practical tools and tips to share for opening a business?

RS: Conviction, hard work, endurance, and faith. We have literally just arrived at the starting line, and I wouldn't be here without the aforementioned. So much of starting something is getting used to being comfortable with being uncomfortable. Beyond that, surround yourself with smart people, know your numbers, and be ready to hustle constantly. 

SBS: What's your personal wellness approach/routine?

RS: Transparently, I need to make time to work out more. But daily I wake up, pray, jump around a bit, do a facial massage, drink warm water/lemon, have a Mamala Support Snack (Mamamind for cognitive support) and supplements. Then I have a hearty breakfast, always take a walk (even if it's just around the block), dry brush, and I have a full nightly skin routine. I have Mamamellow for my sweet treat fix without the sugar and with the added functional benefits, read (even just a few pages), more prayer, and a minimum of seven hours of sleep.

The best, zaniest part of being Rebecca: I don't know if this is zany, but I'm a fairly kooky person. I will leave you a five minute voice memo, and I will skip the small talk and we might cry together in our first meeting.  

Rebecca’s SBS Mantra: Be Kind, because kindness is the thread that ties all the other ‘Be’s’ together. You can be brave, bold, or fearless, but if you’re not kind, it won’t land the right way. Sure, you can be strong and still be an a-hole, but karma won’t be on your side.

Rebecca’s Miami Faves:

Healthy Restaurant: Maman, Sushi Yasu Tanaka, Sweetgreen, SunLife Organics 
Splurge Restaurant: Cote, The Joyce, Hillstone (forever), Double Lucky Chinese, Carbone 
Nightlife Spot: Ray's Bar 
Yoga Studio: Ima Yoga Studio 
Fitness Studio:  Jet, Fuze House, or MWH (Melissa Wood Health) at my gym.
Fun Activity: Swimming in the ocean
Calming Activity: Laying on the beach with my kids 
Books: An Inside Job by Daniel Silva, The Art of Seduction by Robert Greene, East of Eden by John Steinbeck, and A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Mass