The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
117. Loren Ridinger: Turning Pain into Purpose – How Grief Became My Greatest Strength
26 Nov 2024
Chapter 1: How did Loren Ridinger transform grief into purpose?
Chapter 2: What challenges did Loren face in her early career?
I'll tell you all about it. The number one thing, and Jer and I lived our life with this, is...
Welcome to the Ultimate Human Podcast, where we explore the stories and strategies behind extraordinary individuals who push the boundaries of human potential. And today we're joined by my personal and close friend, the incredible Lauren Redinger, a trailblazer in the world of e-commerce, beauty, and entrepreneurship.
As the co-founder of Market America and Shop.com, Lauren has built a global empire that continues to shape how we shop and how we live. But beyond her business accomplishments, Lauren's personal journey of overcoming adversity from health challenges, personal loss is just inspiring millions, including myself.
Today, we're diving into her new book, Scrambled or Sunny Side Up, her powerful outlook on life and what it takes to truly live your greatest life. Hey guys, welcome back to the Ultimate Human Podcast. I'm your host, human biologist, Gary Brekka, where we go down the road of everything anti-aging, biohacking, and everything in between. And today we have our first live studio audience. Yay!
We're going to try it like a game show. And I am so excited to have this guest on. She is a close personal friend of mine. I'm very close with her family. I knew her husband very, very well. He was an inspirational mentor to me, an iconic force in the health and wellness industry and built an absolutely incredible company that's changing a lot of lives. So welcome to the podcast, Lauren.
I am so happy to be here with you. You know how much I love you and how much Dara loved you. And you are the ultimate human. The real truth of the matter is like, I know that people love you and they see you, but I know you on such a deeper level and your whole life is about helping other people live their best lives. Oh my gosh, thank you so much.
That is such a beautiful, come on audience, right? That's such a beautiful, that is so beautiful.
Like, who does that? I know.
No, we have a real live... This is your first real live audience.
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Chapter 3: What was the impact of JR's passing on Loren?
We did the blood work and the gene testing to get you guys on the program. And we're going to talk about your husband on the podcast today because he's such an incredible human being. And he changed so many lives. And he's still continuing to change lives with what people do in the dash, as he would call it.
And, and I remember that, um, we met on your boat, beautiful, beautiful yacht and I boarded your boat and your husband was, was like immediately became my science spirit animal because I realized that he had a background in biology and he was sitting there doing, um, sorting through research on his computer, just trying to make your supplements better and more effective.
And he was looking at these pathways to get things into and out of the cell. So I struck up a conversation with him and rarely have I ever had outside of my ultra woke biohacking community as in-depth and inspiring a conversation with anyone as I had with your husband that day. And we became instant friends.
Chapter 4: How did Loren's belief system evolve?
Well, you made him think. even bigger if that's possible. Because I remember he was doing research that day and you started talking about the type of vitamin B and how it needed to be. It was a game changer.
And I remember he got your whole team on the phone and he was like, why do we have this type of vitamin B12?
He was like, I want this changed. And he he's never really shut everything down from like listening to one person. He was like, that's it. You know, he just felt so connected to you and and saw that your purpose was so much bigger than any one thing.
Yeah. And, you know, I like to say that I I got to know J.R. in a really unique way. I mean, I think so many people were inspired by his stage talks and they were they've been they're obviously inspired by the number of lives that you and your company have touched. And we're going to talk all about their company in a few minutes. But I got to know him in a really special way because.
I knew the childlike curiosity that he had, this intellectual curiosity where, you know, here's a guy sitting on the back of a big, beautiful yacht running a multi-billion dollar company. And he's spending his time still so curious about what is the next thing that I could do to make this better? How can I get this nutrient into the cell in a better way?
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Chapter 5: What is the significance of 'Scrambled or Sunny-Side Up'?
How can I actually eliminate waste from the cellular activities? And we had just a very inspiring conversation. And I remember leaving the boat that day and I was just struck by how childlike his level of curiosity was. It was like the first day that he found a new toy. I'm like, you've been at this for 30 years.
I think he wrote like 10 emails to everybody this long with you on it. I was like the most hated guy in the company for a few days. He was so inspired and so moved and just felt like I've never met anybody like Gary before.
Yeah. And that was true. And you guys have such an inspiring story. You know, I spent some time looking at some of the other podcasts of you, Don, and I know lots and lots about your story. I know your family very well. I know, you know, the folks that you have in your inner circle at your company. My community. They love you. Community. But...
I think there's so many things to, there's so many angles to Lauren Redinger, aside from the company that you built, is that when you were starting, let's rewind the clock like 30 years. You got it. Right. I found a really fascinating secret about you that you worked at Eastern Airlines.
It's funny. It's funny. It's a game-changing story, actually, because, you know, I was 18. My dad was like, you've got to go get a job. You're going to be a flight attendant for Eastern Airlines.
By the way, we're dating ourselves with Eastern Airlines. The audience is like, what?
By the way, don't worry about it, guys.
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Chapter 6: What role does community play in personal success?
Chapter 7: How does one stay at the top of their game?
Went out of business 30 years ago.
They went out of business when I started. But mom worked for Eastern Airlines. Well, you get it. So my dad was like, this is what you're going to do with your life. And I was like, I don't want to do that. I'm afraid to fly. Don't make me do this, Dad. And he was like, you've got to be something. I was like, I just met this incredible boyfriend of mine.
And he says, we're going to change the world. And we're going to start something called the World Wide Web. And it's the internet. And, you know, internet explorer back then. And he was like, that's, you know, a pipe dream. You can't do that. You're going to go get a job. And so I remember I got... to the interview place and there was like 300 people online.
And back then you had to have like legs, red lipstick on, you know, the long hair. I was fitting the bill well for that position, which it would be an embarrassing thing today as a very me too type of treatment for women. And when I got up to the front of the line, I gave him all the wrong answers. They were like, why do you wanna be an Eastern Airlines flight attendant?
Welcome to the friendly skies. I was like, I don't wanna fly with Eastern. I don't even like Eastern Airlines. I would say anything I could not to get the job. Sure enough, I got the job. Crazy enough, I got a letter four weeks later. You've been hired. You got to go to Atlanta. You got to go through training. And here's this guy I just met six months before who I'd fallen in love with already.
He was telling me about one day people are going to buy everything they want from their water bottles to their vitamins, to their shoes, to their clothes online. Wow. And people thought we were crazy. And so, including my father. That was crazy. And it was crazy. That's, you know, 1989, 1990. And he said, I went to the training and I told my dad, I don't want to do this.
And I told my mom, you got to help me get out of this. And Jer called me. And he, you know, just my boyfriend at the time, he said, if you don't come home and tell your dad that you don't want to be an Eastern Airline flight attendant, you're going to become a version of yourself that you never meant to be. Wow. That was a big moment in my life.
And I didn't understand it then until after I lost air.
Because...
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Chapter 8: What lessons did Loren learn from JR?
Well, here's the thing in a weird way. I was like, let it happen. I wanted people to remember that we had one leader. And it was my leader is their leader. And that's how we became who we were. But then I was like, come on, Lauren, you got to get in there.
And I decided to do exactly what you did with your own pain, with the community of why you went off on your own and, you know, didn't stay working for the government going in the court, you know, courtroom and, you know, dying, diagnosing people after they're gone.
Right.
Right. That's because that's what you did.
Yeah. That's exactly what I did. Mortality.
Yeah. Mortality. And so for me, it was like, how many more people have to go before we get in and do something. And I wanted to do something and I did, and I went right to work. And every day I'm working really hard at doing the best version of me and not trying to fill somebody else's shoes, but still have so much to look up to.
So let's back up a little bit because, again, there's so many people, there's so many things to unpack with your journey. I mean, you know, it's obviously been a journey of struggle and the pain came at the end. But before that, there's this tremendous... level of success. And it's not just a tremendous level of success.
You know, I always marvel, not just at great athletes or great actors or inspiring people. It's when somebody can dominate an industry for a long period of time, like a LeBron James. You know, he didn't just make a few great layups. I mean, Michael Jordan or, you know, Lance Armstrong, seven back to back. Serena Williams, you know, John Jones, who's a client of mine.
He's getting ready to fight in the UFC on November 16th and never lost a heavyweight fight. And what's super inspiring to me is how some people can keep that level of success and commitment over such a long period of time. And you've done it for three decades.
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