The questions I get asked the most...
Who is the face behind Tiger Butter?
Why was it created?
And well what the heck are tiger nuts?!
I'll answer all of these questions in this post, this first ever blog post. You would think it would be easy talking about yourself, right? Wrong...because how do I unpack 24 years of beautiful life into one blog post?! Well I am here to do my best so sit back, grab a cup of tea, and lets chat.
I am Kristen Waters the CEO and founder of Tiger Butter, thats what it says on my business card. I really am just like you, a 24 year old with BIG dreams. I always knew I wanted to start my own business, but never exactly knew what that was. It ranged from my own wellness practice to owning a gym. I never in my life thought I would manufacture my own food product and create a business out of it. Want to know how I did this? Went through a terrible time and made something good out of it.
I had digestive issues for a year and a half, and let me tell you it was terrible. I live on an island and the beach is 5 minutes away from me. I LOVE the beach, but I was barely there last summer because who wants to be in a bathing suit when they are bloated AF. These digestive issues took over my life, and I can only notice that by looking back at it. I tried anything and everything, but things didn't start getting better until I finally took a few functional medicine tests. These included a SIBO breath test, GI map test, and DUTCH test (all from a functional medicine R.D., don't do this on your own!!). These tests told me I was too stressed, needed to prioritize sleep, birth control messed me up, and that I had small intestinal bacterial overgrowth and slight candida.
So this sounds like a total hot mess, right? It wasn't at all because during the year and a half that I had all these problems I couldn't digest any nuts or seeds. I loved to snack on nut butters and fruit/vegetables, so I started to get creative! I turned my snack of tiger nuts into Tiger Butter. I was eating this myself for about three months before it clicked. Other people could enjoy this who were going through similar situations as me, have an autoimmune disorder, or those who are allergic to nuts and seeds!
I called up Alex Mazzurco (@almazzurco) and dove head first into her Build Your Brand program (best decision of my life). I have no background in business, marketing, sales, etc. I have a B.S. in Exercise Physiology and am currently finishing up my Masters in Nutritional Sciences. I needed Alex and she helped me with every back bone my company needed (who knew there were so many back bones...). I may have created this beautiful company, but I have people like Alex, my family, boyfriend, and friends to thank for keeping it afloat when I thought I was drowning.
xo,
Kristen