When Hollywood stuntwoman turned naturopath, Annelie Whitfield, met media lawyer turned entrepreneur, Kate Prince a shared idea became a Brave way of living. A whole lot of turmeric lattes and brainstorms later - Ancient + Brave was born.
Annelie spent the last fifteen years treating patients and sharing her dedication to functional and herbal medicine. Five of these years were spent in Costa Rica discovering a back-to-nature barefoot existence in the jungle, studying indigenous medicine and starting a lifelong love affair with coffee and cacao.
Kate’s background as a commercial media lawyer drove a passion for creative business development. She discovered a flair for blending and formulating while launching Prince & Sons Tea and Made by Noble.
Kate and Annelie’s mutual love of wellness and natural therapies resulted in the creation of Ancient + Brave’s range of delicious, nutritionally rich and high-performance products. Their desire to enhance wellbeing, through a change in lifestyle and fasting strategies inspired the Brave Method.
There is always a story behind the brand. What inspired you to start Ancient + Brave? Where does the name come from?
After a career as a media lawyer working on many TV programs (from reality to documentaries) it felt like time for a change which coincided with my husband and I moving to Sussex. We started a tea company called Prince & Sons tea which can be found at hotels such as The Newt and The Pig and we now export around the world - this
started my passion for products, brand and formulation.
Products should provide balance - from the ritual of opening beautiful recyclable packaging, to enjoying amazing ingredients which are not only good for you but taste delicious as well.
As I learnt more about nutrition I realised that there is a compromise with many of the wellness blends and protein powders found on the market - many are in plastic containers and you really need to take as a shot or in a smoothie to hide their challenging taste. We knew we could offer something different and do it better. Ancient + Brave is designed to make lifestyle and wellness strategies, such as fat loss, exercise and intermittent fasting, simple and effective.
Our mission is to position Ancient + Brave at the forefront of nutrition, wellbeing and longevity. Our expert clinical range will deliver targeted benefits in relation to specific health conditions and have a positive impact on quality of life. We deliver easy to use products, which fit with a busy lifestyle and help achieve wellbeing objectives. Our ethos is focused on making ourselves and our earth better with sustainability, purity and potency at its heart.
The name of Ancient + Brave derives from a concept of ancient old meets brand new. So taking ancient knowledge in terms of diet and lifestyle and pairing that with brave innovation to create a new generation of wellness products.
We have combined our expertise in nutrition and formulation to create a new generation of wellness products to enhance brain, body and beauty. We work with amazing ingredients such as collagen, MCT, proteins, adaptogens and beautiful nutrient rich botanicals. We have just launched our collection of vegan Collagyn which are build and protect collagen formulas - Naked for body, Inspired for brain and Radiant for beauty.
We embrace ancestral lifestyle strategies to help our community thrive in a modern world. Our connection to our community is wider than just our products and through our story we promote concepts based on re-wilding. Ideas that are open to everyone, which restore us to our natural rhythms and connect us to our natural environment – such as wild foods, walking barefoot, hiking, wild swimming, fasting rituals and balancing circadian rhythms.