Episode 14 - Mckaila Egan - founder of Medicine Ghippsy

In this week's episode of The Realtor Who Wines, we're brewing up a conversation about wellness and holistic living. I sit down with the radiant Mckaila Egan, founder of the holistic lifestyle brand Medicine Ghippsy. We share a cozy cup of  Mckaila's custom herbal tea blend (spoiler: no wine today!) and chat about her passion for holistic living, from creating skin-nourishing face creams and oils to teaching community herbalism classes for both kids and adults.  Mckaila opens up about the gut health journey that led her to study herbal medicine at Vital Ways Institute, and how what started as handcrafted holiday gifts turned into a thriving business and beautiful retail space.

In this episode, we explore:

• The origin story of Medicine Ghippsy (and what the name really means)
• How rose and raspberry seed oils support aging skin naturally
• What it’s like to teach kids to make “potions” from earth-grown ingredients
• Mckaila  process for creating teas, body creams, and clean tween makeup
• The behind-the-scenes of markets, production cycles, and seasonal selling Real talk on fear, trial-and-error, and learning as you grow
• Why community and collaboration are non-negotiables in small business

Whether you’re a curious consumer, a fellow creative, or just herbal-curious, this episode is full of inspiration, laughter, and grounded wisdom about staying connected to the earth and to each other through intentional living.

Grab your favorite mug, hit play, and get ready to feel seen, supported, and maybe even a little enchanted.

Thank you for listening! Connect and collaborate with Realtor Rashelle on any of her social media platform pages > https://linktr.ee/RealtorRashelle

Transcript

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Welcome to the Realtor Who Wines podcast. I'm Rashelle Newmeyer, your hostess with the most as a student of life, a connector, a passionate wine enthusiast, and your local favorite guide. Join me as we explore the vibrant Pacific Northwest. Savor the finest wines and champion the spirit of entrepreneurship. Each episode, I'll sit down with inspiring guests, supporting business ownership and uncovering the stories that make this community unique. So grab a glass of wine, settle in, and let's embark on a journey of discovery and connection together. Cheers. Hi, everyone. Welcome back to the Realtor Who Wines podcast. I I'm Rachelle Neumeyer, your host. And today I have with me Mikayla the Medicine Gypsy. I cannot wait for her to share her products and stories with you. But first I'd like to cheers you. Cheers, Mikayla. Thanks for being on. Thank you. Yeah. Tell we're not having wine today. Spoiler alert for anyone that's listening. Tell everyone what we're drinking today. So I made a special tea for us. I have some rose petals, burdock root, ashwagandha, and lemon verbena. It's delicious. And a little peppermint noise. So call mine earthy and then some. Rose. Yeah, I like it. It's, like, not overpowering. It's like the perfect blend. Tell everybody a little bit like, just introduce yourself. Let everyone know who you are. Okay. My name is Mikayla Eagan, the creator of Medicine Gypsy. And, it's all about my company business is about holistic living for body and home. So I really want to incorporate body products that I make and herbal teas that infuse the body. And also making your spaces in your home or your office comfortable and really peaceful. So, all my body products I make are really good for sensitive skin. Herbal teas. I have blends that I make all the time. Or I can do custom tea blends for you. What made you want to start a company like this? It kind of just came accidentally. Yeah. The best idea is to. Yes. So I was, probably most of my life having a lot of gut issues. And finally, I wanted to do something about it on my own and looking more holistic ways. And I went back to school for herbalism. I found a school, and I've always been interested in holistic medicine. And so I found a school, and I took their two year program at Vital Ways Institute in Portland, and I was making teas and medicines for myself, after I graduated. And then I made Christmas presents. Oh, yeah. And then everyone wanted more. And then it just developed into started to make labels and a business license. And, now, five years later, here's my business. Yeah. We're actually in her shop today. Thank you for having me. Talk a little bit about what made you go from just making, like, gifts to, like, actually having a full on shop. It's really important for me, you know, learning about my body and what I learned in school. But I want to share it with the rest of the world, or, like, can friends and family. So it started with friends and family. And then I saw the importance of it, not only for myself, but how my family and friends loved the product, how it was helping them, for their skin or the herbal teas when they were sick. And I really wanted to put myself out there and show the world and let people know, teach people. And that's why I love teaching classes, because I really want people to know what they're drinking, what they're eating, what they're putting on their skin is so important. Oh, absolutely. And you teach classes here locally, and then do you do any online classes or is at all like in-person? I don't do online right now. But I do in-person here at my studio. I do adult tea classes and learning about the herbs. And then I teach at the Shalem Cultural Center, a kid's class every week. Yeah. Rylan. My daughter. Thinks you're a good witch, I love it, yes, I am, yeah, because you use, like, like in her mind, you're putting together a potion, which really you are. And you're showing the kids, like, how to use different things provided by earth to, like, create medicines and things to make you feel better. Yes. What, what kind of stuff do you teach in that class? Like to give a little bit more insight to that, the adult one. And then we'll also talk about the kid one, too. Okay. The adult one, we meet here, and we, I already have a plan of what herbs we're going to work with. And so I have some snacks, and I have tea for us, and we get around and talk about, what they're looking for, what they're interested in, why they're here. Their favorite kind of herbs. Have they worked with herbs before? And then we I usually, always have a document that goes over every herbs so they can take home with them. And we go or by herb, what we're going to be working with and how it helps medicinally with your body, what it's used for. And then after we go through all the herbs we, go around and they get to see the herbs, touch the herbs, and they get a bowl, and then they get to mix their own tea and put it in a jar to take home with them. Friends, do you grow a lot of your own herbs or what do you source your best from? I do for myself, but I don't have a lot of land so I am not able to sell it. But I order, locally. So mountain Rose Herbs and Eugene and also Shiloh Farms there in, I believe, Grants Pass. Okay. So I order from them and then if someone were to call you and ask, like, where should I get herbs? Would you just refer them to those two places? Where would you say, well, Fred Meyers has a good source of this, or so-and-so has a good source of that. I would probably refer to the farms you can buy online. Okay. From them. So if they're looking for a specific herb, unless I have it, I can make it for them or give it to them. Sure. And then you have more products in your teas when you talk a little bit about those. Yes. My first product I made was for myself, and that's how it all started, was a face cream. And I learned about face cream, how to make it in school, and I played around with it because it is very tricky to get it right. And I would give it as Christmas gifts and then people wanted more. That was my hottest item. And then I started making body creams to go along with it. And I have a real, rose face oil, lip balm, tinted lip balm. And then I started making, because teenagers are tweens, they want makeup. Also, I have found and I wanted to make something more natural. So I have highlighters in different colors you can put on your cheeks, your lips, your eyes, and it has a little iridescent to it. Oh, nice. So it's safe and nourishing for your skin to what does the rose oil do for your skin? So rose oil? I put it on at night and it's very nourishing and hydrating. Soaks in so it doesn't leave your skin oily. It has, raspberry leaf oil and plum oil. So those are really, good for fine lines and aging, helping the skin stay nourished. So I really think it's important to put that on at night and then the morning, the skin cream. Nice. And I know, like, so you had mentioned that you went to school for this. But also, what have you learned along the way just by like, making different products and things? I've learned so much, trial and error. What works? What doesn't work? I have also been like Ocala Farm. I've gone to their herb camp and learned from different teachers there and different herbs that they grow. So that's been important. And I feel keeping my education because everything changes or you learn new things and, learning from other herbalists too, you know, I don't know everything. And I'm not gonna say I know everything. So what do you mean? I know I wish they did that, but it's really fun to learn from other people, too. Are there any products that you have in the back of your mind that you'd like to be working on, or hope to come out with? Yes, I really want to make a face cleanser. I think that's really the only thing I'm missing from my line. Yeah, and it's just trying to get the ingredients to work right together without having harsh chemicals in it or other things I don't want in it. But I am making a face mask. So I tested it during the holidays and it went really well. And so I hope to get it the spring summer rolled out perfect just in time for the next holiday. Yes I love it when you were thinking about when like you're making gifts for your family and friends and people really wanted it, and you were toying with the idea of maybe starting your own business. What were some things that were stopping you from pulling the trigger moving forward, and then what actually made you move forward? I would say fear of not knowing. Sure. And talking to enough women in business and local people, was important. And also, if I want to share this information and share with people how to take care of their bodies and skin, how else am I going to let them know I needed to start a business? And you know, I just took the first little step about, getting my business license and then figuring out the next step and talking with other women. And I think little steps at a time. And sometimes you'll take a big step, but just keep going. Yeah. And how did you come up with the name Medicine Gypsy? Well, I wanted like, Medicine Woman, and I just people have always called me in my whole life a gypsy or a hippie. And so the gypsy is spelled gypsy and hippie mixed together. So I see, and so I was like, well, I'll do that. It's a little fun. Not so serious, I feel like. Yeah, adds a little bit to the name. And when you first started, obviously you didn't have your shop right away. So what was one way that you were getting your product out there to the community doing market? And just little by little, it did take a while to do bigger markets and get online. But just googling what markets around or word of mouth like, hey, can I help? Like, I even, a friend was doing a market, so I shared a table with her one time to do my first market and it it I was like, what do I do? But it worked out and I was like, okay, I can do this. Yeah, absolutely. How do you decide, like how much product to have on hand? Like as far as, like, when you make something, do you make a bunch at once? You make it made to order because I know people can order from you online. Yeah, it I think the season really affects it. So winter time I definitely make more teas. Probably spring now. Summer more body products. Then some iced teas. I do, so I would say depending on how big the market I'm going to do really shapes of how much product I want smaller markets, I kind of gauge it and what do I want to keep on hand. Larger markets and coming into summer or holidays, then I really, you know, make production a little bit bigger. Yeah. What's the shelf life for a lot of your products? I would say the creams are about six months. The oils and teas I would say probably about a year. Okay. And have you ever had that be an issue like things like not selling or is the turnover good enough that like you don't have to worry about things being on the shelf. I really don't have to worry about things being on the shelf. When I do start to worry, all of a sudden things start selling. Yeah. So I just for it, I think that I'll put the good vibes out. Yes. Like, I need these teas to go just in time for new flavors. Yes. Yeah. What, is something that you would tell someone that's just starting to get into business for themselves? Like, what's a piece of advice you would give them? I would say keep going. And community. Being a part of networking, networking has been huge for me. Yeah, I've heard of women. Women and, the people I've met you, how I met you. And, it community is so important. Yeah. I agree to start being an entrepreneur. It can be very, well. And even a a person in business, it can feel siloed a lot. And so I feel like community is so important because it helps you want to be able to celebrate the wins, but then also talk about the not ones, you know, and like what's going on. And like, hey, if you have this problem, I'm having this problem, or who do you use for bookkeeping or whatever, you know, just collaborating on any kind of pain point that a business might have. And there's so many. Yeah. Like that you don't even think about. Yes, like just random stuff. What has been something that's been surprising to you getting into business for yourself? Oh, that's a good question. Let's see, I guess, how difficult things are, with different areas. I didn't think like, labels, labels or products. I thought you could just, you know, make a label or. Yeah, have someone do it for you. And. No, it's a lot more harder. What size and what company and what kind of label and. Sure. Well, not that just made me think of how did you decide what kind of containers to put your product in, since you try to not have as many chemicals and certain things, and depending on the container, I'm sure it could change. Yes. The chemistry of what you're putting in there. I did research, but definitely glass. And my face creams have the darker amber glass, so it protects from sunlight. But definitely want glass. Sometimes with travel, it's a little bit harder for glass with people traveling. But I think it's best to keep them pure and last longer. Yeah, well, if you're traveling, you could just get a little travel container for, like, that one off, like a glass container at home. You know, what kind of advice would you give someone that's traveling that wants to, like, have teas or make a little bit better choices while they're on the road? Do you have any tips and tricks? Make a little pack. I do individual tea bags, so if you want some tea, but you only need 3 or 4 and you don't want to take a large bag or, box. I can make individual teas that you can use for your long weekend. And then I would say, you know, do your routine for a morning and night and pack just a special little bag for your tea, your lip balm, your, you know, your face cleansing your, lotions for the night, in the morning. Just a little, holistic routine. Okay. Yeah. When you are out shopping and looking at other products or even, like, food items and stuff, what are some words that you look for intentionally to stay away from not trying to get anybody in trouble? Please don't compress big corporate America. Leave us alone. But like, are there certain things I can try and avoid this as much as possible? I definitely look at different oils that are in products, sugars, words that I can't read for sure. And then ingredients, that only needs two items and the labels have 20. I definitely watch for that. Yeah. There's certain products that you, I'm not wanting to name names but like certain ingredients that you're seeing in products more and more. By chance. Okay. I'm just curious. Yeah. Well just seemed like for a while, like something like high fructose corn sirup all of a sudden was, like, in everything, and everybody was talking about it. So that's what I was alluding to is like, do you see something like that? That all sounds like, what the heck, why is this? And everything all of a sudden? You know, because I always find something new that helps products last longer. I'm a chef or whatever, and I think those are the words that you can't say. Yeah, totally. Totally. We kind of skipped over the children's classes. I kind of want to go back to that. What kind of things are you teaching the kiddos at the Cultural Center? We definitely make lip balm. So at the beginning of class, we take herbs and infuse them in an oil, and then we let it sit in the window until the last day of class, which is usually six week class. So we have the oil infused or the herbs infused in the oil. So that's really fun. And you know every week they go to the window and look at the oil and want to smell it and see if it's changed. And then we make bath salts, we make sleepytime tea. We make a daytime tea and, potions, lots of arts and crafts, tea with herbs. This time of year, we've, made, camomile and lavender a little pot. So they paint the pots and then plant the seeds. I definitely want them to experience because I don't know what they do at home, but I want them experience dirt and herbs and flowers and, yeah, touch the earth. And then we go and round and walk outside to point out what herbs may be growing around us. Oh, nice. And what age groups are you normally working with? It's the classes, 7 to 15 year olds, but it's usually 7 to 11. Okay. I guess the average. Yeah. So we got to figure out how to get more teenage. Yes. Because I think it's so important. But they're so busy or. Yeah. Or I wonder if like a different class, just like 14 or 17 maybe they don't want to be at the center or something, but I don't blame them. Yes. My daughter, like, is obsessed with teenagers. She thinks they're like the coolest. I could see a teenager mainly get out of here I know, so I we did try that one time, but I think it's just trying to get them to come. Sure, maybe if you like, marketed it like the prom night kit you need or something where it's all, like, face creams or like how to get ready for prom all year long. There's something fun, and you might get some girls in there. Or at least I don't know what we'd have. We'd have to come up with something for boys like the T that grows muscles, and also not that the T, the girls facial hair. All the teenagers would come running like, oh, I need the mustache too. I know you find the hair growth. Yeah, yeah. What about. Yeah, like shampoos or anything. Have you thought about that? No. You're like no, no, I have it. Not. Yeah. Maybe in the future. And then what. Like essential oils, things like that. No, I don't make them. I use them in my products. I don't make them. I do. There's farms around us that I buy from. Yeah. So lots of lavender farms. Yes. Specifically like in this area, which is amazing. Also, so do you have any I know, like, you have some events coming up, the summer markets, anything that we should be looking out for you? Yes, I next, actually Mother's Day, I'll be doing the Stoller Winery event, so I'll be there. And then the Lavender Festival at the Shalem Cultural Center. That's a really great festival. If anybody is on the area during the time, it's in July. Normally, yes. It's in downtown Newburgh and there's tons of markets and like local farmers, artists, all sorts of stuff. It's a fun one. Yeah. And then the lavender is everywhere too, which is great, which means no mosquitoes, by the way, because the mosquitoes hate lavender. So this is nice. It's a nice break from the mosquitoes. And then what about in the fall? Do you have any markets already on the horizon? Yeah, that will be probably looking around in June to do that. But there are usually holiday events I do every year. So and you're at First Fridays a lot to here in Newburgh as well. Yes. You can find me first Friday. Yeah. And then your products are available online as well as in person. They just go to your website to find you. And then, you're also on Instagram where you tell everybody your Instagram name. Yes. Medicine gypsy. So med e I c I and e g h I s y. Felt a little different. Yeah. We'll tag you in all the videos and the audio too, so people can follow you and connect with you. Thank you. about consultations? Like, I know that you do your classes here, but then do you also meet with people one on one just to like, go over, like their needs or what might work for them? I do, so we sit here in my studio and I'll make a pot of tea and people will ask about, you know, gut issues, headaches, sleeping hormones. And we sit and we go over everything. Sometimes we'll do meditations together. But we'll find out the root cause and what's going on, and we can meet, you know, one, two, three times. Or it could be a year long. We meet every month, and we make a special tea, and we work together to, just go over what's happening in the body. Everyday life style, evening routines and, how we can work together. Well. And everybody's body is different. So that's what's nice about the one on one consultation is like, you're really helping that person get, like you said, to the root of what's going on specifically with their body. Yes. And then is that normally like a 30 minute session or an hour? It depends. Usually it's about an hour. I start with a consultation over the phone. So I have an idea of what we're discussing. So I have some ideas when we meet. And so usually 15 20 minute on the phone. And then we'll meet for about an hour and then go from there and see how many times we need to meet what they're looking for. And just make a plan tailored to them. Yes. That's so nice. And then you get to spend time with you and enjoy delicious tea, which is a benefit for sure. Thank you so much for being on the show today and for my delicious tea. I just like snacks for my Excedrin listeners. The tea was delicious and I appreciate you being on and sharing your gypsy wisdom with us. Cheers to you and thank you everyone for listening and I hope you tune in next time. Cheers, cheers.