Good Neighbor Podcast: Rochester
Bringing Together Local Businesses and Neighbors of Rochester
Good Neighbor Podcast: Rochester
EP#137: Fresh Rootz with Fatima Tekko
What if you could revolutionize your health journey with inspiration from a personal mission turned community-focused business? We had the incredible opportunity to have Fatima Tekkko, the trailblazing founder of Fresh Roots Incorporated, share her story on the Good Neighbor Podcast. Fatima's endeavors began with a heartfelt mission to support her family through health crises and have blossomed into a thriving woman-owned, black-owned juicery and vegan café. Rooted initially in Midtown Detroit and now flourishing in Rochester Hills, Fresh Roots isn't just about juices and vegan food; it's about empowering the community with wellness education and services to preemptively tackle health issues like diabetes and high blood pressure.
Listeners will be captivated by Fatima’s insights as she debunks myths surrounding the juicing industry and emphasizes Fresh Roots' commitment to integrity and authenticity. She candidly addresses the challenges of maintaining pure, toxin-free products and her passion for making health both accessible and enjoyable. From engaging in yoga and fit clubs to offering support through community engagement, Fatima and her team are dedicated to nurturing a supportive environment for everyone on their wellness journey. This episode is a must-listen for anyone eager to prioritize their health with genuine, community-oriented inspiration.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Lisa Swiftney.
Speaker 2:Hi everyone and welcome to episode number 137 of the Good Neighbor Podcast. Today we have with us Fatima Tico, with Fresh Roots Incorporated, and we're going to learn all about her new endeavor in Rochester and Rochester Hills. So thank you so much for being a guest today, fatima.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having me, lisa. I'm really excited to get to know the neighborhood in Rochester and Rochester Hills.
Speaker 2:This is great. Why don't we first tell us a little bit about your business? Great.
Speaker 3:Why don't we first tell us a little bit about your business. What do you do so? Fresh Roots is a woman-owned, black-owned, minority-owned juicery and a vegan cafe that has been around just a little bit over six years. So our original first location is in Midtown Detroit, on Wayne State University's campus, and we have founded a home here in Rochester Hills, just across the street from Rochester High, a few lights down from Oakland University, and not only do we provide juices and wellness shots and amazing vegan foods, but we also provide health and wellness services and education on health and wellness, designated to each and every one of our customers. So detoxes and cleanses, you know, just some life-saving tips.
Speaker 2:So tell our listeners about your journey. How did you get into this?
Speaker 3:Wow. So it is a very long story, but I'll keep it very short. I actually have a younger brother who is in need of a second heart transplant, kidney transplant and liver transplant. At the time, I took on the role of being his caretaker just a little bit about five years ago. While I was getting into this, however, I've had other family members, such as my grandparents or my own child, that had some health conditions that were going on, and it was a place for me to learn about health and wellness and how we should tackle our health and wellness before it gets to us.
Speaker 3:So a lot of people will come to Fresh Roots and say you know, we were newly diagnosed with diabetes or high blood pressure or things like that. So we try to get into the communities and educate before those things become a problem. Our motto is deeply rooted, and it's more than being deeply rooted in the product that we provide, but it's also being deeply rooted in the community and highlighting some things that you know we can offer in terms of, like I said prior to this interview in our conversation. We do things outside, on the field. We get into meditations and Pilates and yoga and fit clubs, and it really excites people about getting onto their journey when they know that they have a whole team support system here for them, and that's what we offer at Fresh Roots.
Speaker 2:That is amazing and I want to try one of those. So I will have to come by soon.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'd love to have you.
Speaker 2:Can you tell us about any myths or misconceptions that you hear about in your industry?
Speaker 3:Oh, lisa, this is a really good question and it's ironic because there's the approach where, in terms of like our labeling and things like that, that we have to have presentation wise labels because fresh produce is raw. When it's pressed, we'll say things like it can contain bacteria, things like that, and it tends to scare people away rather than bring them closer. So we have to explain to them that, just like any other food raw food, dry food all food can contain those things, and you know we have a very good process on making sure we don't have to deal with those things. The other thing is just the accessibility to it, right? So a lot of people.
Speaker 3:Well, I could just juice at home, and I am huge on sure. I'll provide you the resources, I will help you with some recipes and two weeks later they come back and visit us, because it's not that easy to do this at home. And then again there's the highlight of other businesses that have really came to the forefront, which I call the quote unquote fast food of health and wellness, where they sell the idea of health and wellness, but then you look up and find that there's so many powders and sugars and sweeteners and 1200 grams of everything you're not supposed to have inside of what you're drinking and while it might taste fun and flavorful, we have found a way to do fun and flavorful without all those toxins.
Speaker 2:That is amazing. I know I interviewed a couple weeks ago a gentleman who wrote a book called there's a Food for that all about how you can stay healthy and heal yourself through eating the right foods.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I have a book by Jill Hamilton and it is I call it my juicing Bible because it has all the different kinds of different master cleanses and remedies for everything you could think of under the sun and it has helped me with my personal journey.
Speaker 3:It has helped a lot of my customers and, while I don't know the author, have any affiliation with the author, I speak on her very highly because a lot of the items that she has listed in there have worked. You know, one thing that has been really big was the talk of sea moss, and we carry sea moss. We actually have an amazing, amazing berry juice that has sea moss in it and a lot of people don't understand that, just like any other fruit or vegetable or any type of produce, things like sea moss, which it's a type of seaweed, it's a holistic type of seaweed that is used, can be pool grown, home grown, farm grown grown, and a lot of people are just into like the trend of having it and don't understand how to get like the quote-unquote organic version of it that's very interesting.
Speaker 2:Well, let's switch it up a little bit here. When you're not working on your business or educating, what do you like to do for fun?
Speaker 3:I have always been an outdoorsy girl.
Speaker 3:I grew up between two brothers and you know, I just have always been into sports and all of that kind of stuff. So outside of this business I also own a few others. One of them was is a resourcing agency and we I've done sports and entertainment for over 15 years, which also is a part of my journey leading up to here. So I sincerely love going to sporting events, let alone like community events, and then the obvious being with my, my brother and my boys and really just enjoying family and embracing family.
Speaker 2:That's great, and I'm sure you're. This past weekend was full fun with the Lions and everything. Oh my goodness.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. And with our other location being so close to the arena, down there we get an abundance of some of those athletes which has also transferred over here, because a few of them actually live out this way, so it's closer to them. But it allows us to attract the fangowers on their way to the games, because they don't have these items available in the arena, so they're either able to eat on their way to the game or on their way home from the game.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. Can you describe one hardship or life challenge that you rose above and can now say because of that challenge that you're better for it and or stronger?
Speaker 3:Oh, is this on a personal level or a business level?
Speaker 2:Whichever you'd like.
Speaker 3:Okay, so I guess I can kind of bring the two together. Being that I got into this business because of family members having issues with health, one of my biggest things that I had to learn was having patience and putting faith in God's hands and just letting things be. When we first opened up our first location, it was in the cusp of the pandemic and all I could think about is what are we going to do? We couldn't open doors, we couldn't have customers in, we couldn't do any of that, and it was also right at the time that my grandmother was getting really ill and a lot of these people recipes for things that she has suggested, and so I kind of was becoming impatient, like I really want to get things going, I want to show her that I can do it.
Speaker 3:But I learned that you know, sometimes, when you just put that faith in God and just sit back and let things happen, they all come into fruition. Hence being deeply rooted in a tree growing from roots. You have to water it, you have to give it enough sunshine, you have to give it enough love, and then it's going to be exactly what you want it to be.
Speaker 2:That is an amazing story.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 2:What is one thing you wish our listeners knew about your business?
Speaker 3:That it is probably going to be one of the most fun experiences that you have, let alone educational Fresh Roots. At this location in Rochester, rochester Hills, we have a phenomenal bar area where you can sit and watch sporting events or TV or whatever we have going on, and then we also have a creative station that we're building at this location.
Speaker 3:We also do have one at our Detroit location where individuals who are into different types of fine arts or social media influencers can come in. They can film their TikToks, their YouTube videos, podcasts. So we're working on getting that finalized here and really just creating a space for the college students where they can come study, hang out. We'll be finalizing some books for our little library and some games, some game boards that you can come and have fun. So the diversity in age range is amazing, so everybody is going to have a good time here.
Speaker 2:Sounds like it, so our listeners want to learn more, so tell us where exactly you're located and how they can stop by and visit you.
Speaker 3:All right. So we are located on Walton 1322 Walton Boulevard, right across the street from Rochester High School. The cross streets are Walton and Livernois. If you're familiar with the restaurant Luckies, we are in the same plaza as them. You can find us on all social media, at Fresh Roots, with a Z, r-o-o-t-z, and it will be either Detroit or D-E-T Great.
Speaker 2:Well, Fatima, thank you so much for being a guest today on our Good Neighbor podcast.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having me, Lisa. It's such a pleasure.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor podcast, rochester. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnprochestercom. That's gnprochestercom, or call 248-988-9640.