Aishwarya Iyer

Aishwarya is the Founder & CEO of Brightland, a modern pantry essentials company with extra virgin olive oils from California.

On the first hour of her day.

Most days, I’ll wake up around 6 and take my two dogs for a quick walk.

My dogs and my husband are really the foundation of my life. They’re my priorities every day and also act as a form of self-care, especially as my dogs force me to be present and disconnect from tech.

After that, I’ll come home for 20 minutes of yoga, play with my dogs a bit more, feed them breakfast, and hang out with my husband. He drinks coffee and I’ll usually have green tea. 

I’ve started craving food from my childhood so lately, I’ve been eating Raisin Bran almost every day for breakfast. Pre-COVID, I went into our office in DTLA, but now I walk over to our dining table and use a standing desk contraption to...stand. 

On her eating habits.

For me, it’s all about less is more and keeping things simple. I think we’ve overcomplicated a lot more than we need to.

We’re adding way too many dehydrated snacks and jerkies and new bars.

The best thing you can eat is fresh, organic, high-quality food where you know the ingredients in everything you eat.

That’s where Brightland comes into play.

After I learned that olive oil is the foundation of our food but most oils we find in this country are rancid or rotten, it dawned on me that this was an opportunity for me to inspire people to get back to basics.  

Many of us are cooking more than ever right now — I certainly am — and I have been enjoying our farmer’s market CSA boxes quite a bit. 

On silencing her inner critic.

Everyone has an inner critic - a voice inside that may stop you from doing things. For a lot of people, I think it stems from a fear of the unknown or something new, whether that’s career-wise or elsewhere.

It’s a voice inside that’s saying, “How dare you to try something new, there’s no way you’ll be able to do it.” 

To be honest, I had to spend a lot of time unraveling what that meant for me before starting Brightland.

In my mind, I worried that people wouldn’t take me seriously because I didn’t go to some elite business school or didn’t have a history as a restauranteur.

To put it bluntly, you need to put in time doing the work.

I highly recommend going through a process where you force yourself to be vulnerable and honest and push yourself to realize that most stories you’ve told yourself all along are just wrong.

Those stories shape your decision making and appetite for risk every day. While it took a while for me to go through this process, it was incredibly transformative.

On her immunity protocol.

I drink ginger tea every day and make sure to drink hot water in the morning (usually 2 large mugs) for a baseline immunity.

Hot water is something I got from parents when I was little — it jumpstarts your metabolism and digestive tract.

I find that it’s especially helpful and comforting when it’s a bit chilly outside. I also take Vitamin C tablets and eat spoonfuls of honey. It’s healthy for you — and I have a bit of a sweet tooth.

On winding down at night.

About an hour before bed, my phone goes into a separate room. I’m usually wearing a fluffy bathrobe and have a glass of hot water next to me, reading two to three books at any given time.

I can automatically download books from the LA public library, which I’ve been loving so far in place of hard copies. 

I also keep a journal next to my bed if I have sparks of ideas or Brightland-related tasks that I want to jot down before bed.

The most important thing for me is that screens are put away so I can actually sleep with a clear mind and wake up with a clear mind. 

If I’m on Instagram or Twitter before bed, I’m absorbing other people’s thoughts — both good and bad.

By absorbing those thoughts you’re taking them with you to bed, and I refuse to do that.