Wellness Growth Ventures: Rachel Hirsch on the Intersection of Investing and Wellness

Rachel Hirsch is the founder and General Partner of Wellness Growth Ventures, a seed fund dedicated to investing in transformational wellness companies. She brings over 15 years of experience across finance, operations, and entrepreneurship. She previously held roles at UBS Investment Bank and Tiger Global Mangement and has advised numerous high-growth consumer companies. In addition to her work as an investor, Rachel has also co-founded a series of wellness studios in Los Angeles, serves as a Lululemon ambassador, and is the co-founder and host of “The 2% Club”, a leadership platform powered by Wellness Growth Ventures that supports women building the next generation of health and wellness companies. Her insights and expertise have been featured in Poosh, The LA Times, Bustle, and more. Her career uniquely bridges the worlds of finance and wellness, and she’s built authentic, value-driven communities every step of the way.

 Lauren Stenger: So before we jump in, I want to start from the beginning and hear a little bit more about your upbringing. I'm curious to know if you had a passion for health and wellness and business at an early age, or if that's something you kind of developed as you got older.

Tell me a bit about your upbringing and background. In your early years, were wellness and investing already on your radar—or did those passions unfold later in life? What first sparked your interest in each?

Rachel Hirsch: Well, thank you for having me here. I think part of me was always like a crunchy hippie to some degree. I always had an interest in health and wellness, and when I was growing up, there weren't so many resources for it. There weren't a lot of resources for the more hippie side of it. It was if I was interested in running like marathons and that kind of hard fitness. I actually always wanted to work in finance when I was little, so I had two very separate, or they felt like two very separate, parts of me.

 Lauren Stenger: It's really cool how you've been able to marry these two separate sectors together. For me, I also am passionate about wellness and I'm curious about business. When did you kind of realize you could merge the two and that they weren't so mutually exclusive, and they could actually work together harmoniously?

When did you kind of realize you could merge investing and wellness and that they weren't so mutually exclusive and could actually work together harmoniously?

 Rachel Hirsch: I don’t know that I ever knew for sure that they could be, but I wanted to figure it out. I loved what I was doing on Wall Street. I'd drink my kombucha on the trading floor, like compared to everyone else, I was a crunchy hippie. I went to business school to try to figure out if there a world where they could be merged. Because there aren’t that many people that have a similar path, at least that I was aware of, and so I spent those two years really trying to explore it. I did a lot of internships. I had coffee chats with everyone under the sun who would speak to me, and it made me realize that I have to figure it out myself if I want these two to be one world.

 Lauren Stenger: It seems like these days, there's a rise in VC firms like yours that have a wellness niche, and I think it's really cool to watch and see. I feel like the wellness space has become so saturated and there's so much opportunity in it.

 Rachel Hirsch: I think it's still early days. I think there's so much saturation and there's been such a proliferation in this space, and yet still, I think we're in like stage one, stage two at most. I think that wellness is going to infiltrate our lives in so many ways, and it will feel super normal to have a career that is both finance and wellness or business and wellness because it will just be part of our world.

 Lauren Stenger: I feel like a lot of people, maybe especially in their early career, feel like they have to kind of pick in between what they're passionate about or what makes more sense. But, I think it's exciting that you've been able to work in all your passions into a really interesting and fun and cool career.

Rachel Hirsch: Let me tell you though, people still tell me all the time that I have to pick one lane. Even for example someone, who has plenty of authority in the space, was trying to help me in saying you have to put a category down for Spotify for my podcast, and it has to be either wellness or business. My algorithm is going to be hindered because I'm not picking a lane. So it's still there, just maybe less so.

 Lauren Stenger: Well, you're definitely navigating it.

I don't know if this is a hard question because maybe every day for you is different, but could you maybe walk through a typical or a recent day in your life and what that looks like?

Could you walk through a typical or a recent day in your life?

Rachel Hirsch: Yeah, they are all different for a variety of reasons. One, I'm crazy ADHD. So I will focus where my brain allows me to focus, and that's part of the beauty of getting to do what I do. There's always a million things on my plate and I have to prioritize. Normally I'm in LA and I will wake up super early, and people in LA don't wake up super early, so I get to do some deep-thinking work, which is my favorite. Then, after probably like 10am or 11am, I'll do a quick little workout just to get my body moving after I've been sitting all morning. And then I dig back in the middle of the day. Typically, I'll take like two hours of meetings, and then the end of the day I go back to deep work.

I always end the day writing. I work alone a lot, and so writing is a way for me to play devil's advocate with myself to flesh out ideas. That's how my Substack came to be, I was just writing extensively. The beauty of doing what I do, there's definitely a double-edged sword, but we're zooming while I'm in Thailand having a similar day, but just in a totally different location.

 Lauren Stenger: When you say that you do a lot of writing, does that take form in journaling or more so brainstorming? Like what does that look like for you?

Does writing take form in journaling or brainstorming?

Rachel Hirsch: This is the least appropriate way to describe it, or the least lovely way to describe it, but I call it my “word vomit”. I literally just open a page and I just write. There's no intention, no nothing. I'll go down these rabbit holes of thought, and sometimes it will turn into a thesis. Sometimes it will be a really interesting hot take where I'm like, I should double tap into this and start asking around. Sometimes it will lead to an idea and I wonder what the data is to support or to override that. So yeah, I don't have any rules around it. It's just quite literally word vomit and it's fun. I get to be creative in a way that I don't normally in my day to day.

Lauren Stenger: Yeah, totally. I love doing the same thing. You can have a lot of realizations just through a blank page and seeing where your mind can take you. Similar to that, what are some of your wellness non-negotiables, wellness hacks or rituals that you just can't go without?

What are some of your non-negotiable wellness practices?

Rachel Hirsch: I will always have like six drinks in front of me at all times. My mother from a very young age was a big believer in hydration. I might even say that I overdrink now, they’re in front of me right now. I think you've seen two of them already.

Lauren Stenger: So what are the six drinks?

Rachel Hirsch: I always have a bubbly water. I will have a coffee, decaf a lot of times. I'll have like a Cure Hydration in regular water. I might also have a kombucha. They seem duplicative to some, but each sip has a different feeling.

Lauren Stenger: I know exactly what you mean because I'm the same way.

Rachel Hirsch: And then sleep is super important. If I haven't slept well and I have a workout the next morning, I'll skip the workout and prioritize sleep every time. I also think joy, happiness, giggles are so healthy, and that comes in different ways and in different formats. I'm giggling all the time and maybe in places where it might not be appropriate or it might undermine me as a woman. My voice is really high. I am quite short. I work in a male-dominated space and so probably doesn't help me, but I think it makes me healthy and it makes me happy, and I think that that is so important to longevity.

Lauren Stenger: Totally. Those are definitely really important and that's refreshing to hear. My other question is more about this intersection for you between finance and wellness. I'm curious to hear about how those two spaces influence one another. How has your wellness journey influenced your investing career and vice versa?

How has your passion for wellness supported you alongside your investing career, and vice versa, how has your investing experience influenced your own wellness journey? 

Rachel Hirsch: I actually remember, I was so annoying looking back at it, when I was an intern at UBS, like a million and a half years ago, you might not have even been alive, but I would raise my hand every time we had a guest speaker and I would ask questions that are health and wellness related. I think at the time seemed just bizarre. “Why is this little girl asking these questions?” But my hand would shoot up each time. So I think that that mindset a hundred percent was important to me. And then I think health and wellness really started in consumer. I think it won't end with consumer, but really where it hits so much of the market is even just like better-for-you CPG. I think my intrigue in those spaces definitely stemmed from wellness and my, call it my gut for what would do well and what wouldn't, definitely came from my obsession and my deep dives into wellness.

I remember one of my first thesis when I was on the trading floor was about Monster Energy. I was brand new to the trading floor and I think that UBS had a buy on it, which these research analysts spent so much time with the company, they knew everything about this company. They knew if it was going to do well or not in the market. I had a hot take on it and I was loud about it, and it caused so much discourse. I think that came from my perspective from health and wellness rather than the market in totality. The same goes on the other end of that.

I think there's so many incredible wellness companies, opportunities, white spaces, but you have to have a proper business model to make it work. It can't sustain forever being unprofitable or not having the right structures in place. I think sometimes the best wellness ideas come from those crunchy hippies who maybe don't prioritize that and that's okay. That’s a beautiful thing. But I think that's the opportunity to marry the two and how we have sustainability and longevity and growth and evolution in this space.

Lauren Stenger: Yeah. So you are very involved in lots of different spaces. I saw you area Lululemon ambassador. you own and run your own yoga studio, you're obviously a venture investor, podcast host, and more. How are you able to be a leader in all of these differing spaces?

You are a leader in numerous spaces, as a Lululemon ambassador, venture investor, yoga studio owner, podcaster and more. How do you juggle all of these leadership positions? 

Rachel Hirsch: I really view them all as one. I know they may not seem that way to everyone, but to me they are. Transparently, there are a bunch of people who help me on the yoga studio side. They're brilliant and much better operators than I. I have people on the fund side who help me infinitely, who I couldn't do this without. Even with the podcast, I mean, I have people all over who are just incredibly supportive partners who really do help me get to do everything. But it's so fun getting to have it in my hand in all of those things, and I think they're all additive to one another.

I started as a Lulu ambassador on the yoga side and just the other day I was on the phone with them from a business perspective. To have that growth and that evolution, and to bring in my perspective from what I see is such an honor. They all play together for me.

Lauren Stenger: I bet they all, like you said seep into one another. It's kind of like a web.

So it seems like for you, community is really important, and you've built lots of different communities. Why is community something that you value, and how has that played a role in your own personal life and in your professional life?

Why is community something that you value, and how has that played a role in your personal life and in your professional life?

Rachel Hirsch: This a good one. This is a good question because it's something I'm talking about all the time and I care a lot about, but I don't think anyone's ever asked me the why behind it. I wouldn't be where I am without my community throughout the years, whether that's my family, my friends. I moved to London knowing no one, and I almost stayed there. I moved to LA barely knowing anyone, and now I can't imagine living anywhere else. My community has helped me infinitely and that doesn't go unnoticed and unrecognized in my mind and in my heart.

And I think that so much of our lives are like this, on Zoom, and there are so many benefits to that, but also so much that's lost. I think it's a really interesting opportunity because of that to have community, like real sticky community who is going to show up, who makes you feel less alone, and then what that builds beyond that is pretty special. There's infinite opportunities for what that builds. So yeah I think, not that we've lost sight of community, but I think if you think back to like when before, way before tribes, no one raised a child by themselves, but today we do. And there's so many pieces to human nature that community is a huge part of, and I think it's integral for us as humans and for how we grow and evolve, not just our life, but our businesses.

Lauren Stenger: I think there's a lot of research on the importance of people feeling like they belong and the health effects of isolation and loneliness. And so I think that's really important, especially like as you said now more than ever to really emphasize and curate those communities.

So I am 22 years old. I guess selfishly, I would like to ask you if you could go back in time to my age, what would you want to tell your future self? I know that's kind of a corny question, but I'm genuinely curious.

If you could go back in time to your 22 year old self, what would you want to tell your future self?

Rachel Hirsch: No, it's such a good one. I think my biggest thing was I never believed I was good enough. I mean, I still struggle with it, who doesn't, but it didn't matter what room I was in, what job I had, I just assumed everyone around me was smarter, better, and I was just lucky to be there. If you can figure that piece out as early as possible, that is not just good for your soul and for you, but it will take you so much further. I feel like every door opened up the moment I realized I could do things, and that was really hard for me until I was in my mid-thirties. So don't wait that long.

Lauren Stenger: What do you think it took for you to realize that? Do you think it was just getting older, or from the rooms you were continually putting yourself in? What do you think caused that transition?

Rachel Hirsch: I think I was pissed, to be honest with you. I think I wasn't in the place that I wanted to be. There were so many things. I was like, how are these people doing this? I was just annoyed, like, I want to do that. Why can't I do that? And so I went to business school really to do what I wanted to do. And then I found myself after business school, not where I wanted to be, and I got angry. I was like, all of these incredible people that I went to school with, they're doing the thing. What is holding me back? And I think it's really scary to let go of a really good salary, health insurance, to let go of the title and the respect. And you don't know, like every day I could still fall flat on my face. I was pissed. I didn't want to get to 80 and be like, why haven't I taken the risk? Why haven't I done what I wanted to do?

Lauren Stenger: Do you think that led you to start Wellness Growth Ventures, or was that a different journey?

Rachel Hirsch: I think that's all one and the same. I remember where I was when I had I almost quit. There were so many times I've almost quit and there are a lot of people in my community and mentors who have pushed me to keep going and I'm incredibly grateful for them. But I remember one time when I had my first investor in Wellness Growth Ventures that I had never met in person. She just found me and wanted to give me money to invest, and I was like, I feel like I was, yeah. Hannah, and the person I was with was like, you can do this, if this stranger believes in you, of course you can do this, let alone the people around you telling you can do this. So yeah, I think it was, again, a lot of self-doubt and also a lot of delusion that led me here.

Lauren Stenger: But it's so cool to see this portfolio you've built of all these amazing companies. I mean, I know so many of them, it is such a well-rounded, great portfolio. I mean, if I could have a dream job, I feel like it would literally be what you're doing. So it's just really cool to see you in all these cool spaces and you're building this awesome life.

Rachel Hirsch: Thank you. I appreciate that. I'm very lucky. But there's still so much more I want to do.

Lauren Stenger: Where do you want to see your VC firm in the next five years or so? What do you think is on the horizon?

Where do you want to see your VC firm in the next five years or so?

Rachel Hirsch: We have so much growth ahead. There are so many more places within wellness sector's, niches that I want us to invest in. There's so much growth for the platform that lies ahead. I'm incredibly lucky to have a small team right now, but that will inevitably grow. And I have been incredibly lucky to have brilliant people who are good people, who live their lives morals first. I'm incredibly grateful to have found them. I hope that we just continue to build in the same way. I wouldn't change a thing, but I know we're going to get bigger, stronger, and better with every day. We'll have multiple funds on the platform and yeah, maybe we'll hire you sometime.

Lauren Stenger: Yeah, I would love that! Well, thank you so much Rachel, for your time. I loved hearing all about your career journey and I'm wishing you and your team all the best.

Rachel Hirsch: Thank you for having me. This was so fun!