As you may have seen on my Instagram stories, I had the opportunity to go to Expo East again this year. Expo East is the fall natural products show from New Hope Network (and the “kid sister” to Expo West.) It’s about half the size of Expo West, but it’s still an awesome opportunity for healthy finds. Plus, they have a conference for “influencers” so I always meet great people and learn new things. Check out some of the trends I noticed here and on my Instagram stories highlights “Expo East ’18.”
Day 1 – Wednesday
Despite the state of emergency, I arrived in Baltimore on time on Wednesday. I had time to check out the Harvest Festival – an outdoor festival with emerging products (and new stuff from great brands). I met Marissa and we reconnected and checked out some great new (and favorite brands.)
We tried Lone Star Botanicals’ Good Vibes Only tea to put us in the mood. We checked out the new coconut oil skin care line from Nutiva. I professed my love for Living Intentions‘ Activated Superfood Popcorn. We checked out the new Forager Project cashew yogurt with show fave coconut. It’s so creamy! I saw my friends from Kuli Kuli Foods and Sejoyia. We both snacked on some GimMe Organic Seaweed Thins which are surprisingly addictive. We also got all the new things from Made in Nature. I can’t wait to try the Veggie Pops!
We noticed a trend in beverages – lots of water with add ins like Vitamin D (Shine) and caffeine (Avitae). [In the show there was even one with CBD oil it!]
I tried out some new flavors of meat sticks from Vermont Smoke and Cure. There were fun seeds from CB’s Nuts and Patagonia Provisions. We got a full line of samples from Better Life to clean with and My Magic Mud’s activated charcoal line. We chatted for a while with Beekeeper’s Naturals. I’m pretty obsessed with their Immune Support throat spray. I need this for my travels as winter approaches. They also had honey with CBD (another trend we quickly spotted).
We headed over to the Press Room and happily found a ton of samples there. The samples included Perfect Bar’s new Perfect Kids line. We also grabbed Creation Nation’s Paleo Energy Bite Mix, Lenny and Larry’s new crunchy cookies, Restorative Botanicals’ Bolder Caramels (with yup – CBD!), Justin’s Maple Cashew Butter (LOVE!), O My goat milk soap and more! So fun!
Day 2 – Thursday
Thursday morning started off with a 5K “race” with my friends from SOS Rehydrate. We also got to try their new ready to drink line. It was so much fun to see James and Danielle and to run with a nice big group in the Inner Harbor.
After a quick shower and coffee break, I went back to meet Marissa to check out some of the “Hot Products.” I saw a bunch of companies I’ve “found” before like Pan’s Mushroom Jerky, Truth Bar, Caulipower, Humm Kombucha and Farm and Oven. I chatted with the folks from Kize Bar (who I found in Overland Park, KS last year.) I met the folks from Pop Zest and tried their yummy nutritional yeast seasonings. I saw my friends from I Heart Keenwah (who were a trendsetter in the “puffs” space. Lots of new puffs this year.) I chatted with This Bar Saves Lives and learned about their new kid’s bar (with less sugar and hidden veggies!)
We showed Christy from Whirlybird Granola some social media tricks and grabbed some on the go pouches (with a collapsible spoon inside!) We grabbed some Nooma to stay hydrated and then mugged with Justin from Justin’s nut butter. He was such a good sport! And we got the 411 on new products in development but we’re sworn to secrecy. We chatted with my friends from Norm’s Farms and I was reminded of how much I love their Elderberry wellness syrup.
We chatted about all things Aussie with Loving Earth and tried some delicious vegan chocolate. I grabbed some organic candy corn from my friends at Yum Earth, too. We checked out Drink Simple’s new Watermelon Water. I tried a mini corn dog from Field Roast. It’s vegan and really tasty. We checked out Primal Kitchen’s new keto protein bars. (Keto is definitely big over Paleo this year!) We sampled Wild Friends’ new Collagen Almond Butter (another huge trend – or two – collagen and almond butter.)
I was excited to see that Cece’s Veggie Noodle Co. now has some sauce options new noodle shapes. I love them! I noticed some updates from Path of Life, too. They had a delicious riced cauliflower blend. (Cauliflower is still IN!) We stopped at Biena Snacks to try the coated chick peas. I tried these at the Sweets and Snacks Expo. They’re very tasty. Last up before the summit, we headed back to the press room to check to see if the Hu Chocolate samples were in – they were!
Influencer Summit
The Influencer Summit was entitled “Influencers for Good” this year. The focus was on being authentic and leveraging your strengths for more success.
The first session was led by Michelle Poler from Hello Fears. Michelle took a school assignment to do something for 100 days and turned it into a livelihood. She tackled one fear per day for 100 days and documented her exploits on YouTube. She talked about (and showed) her process and progress and how this evolved from an assignment to a movement. Her energy and enthusiasm was contagious. Check out her site here.
There were several workshop sessions including one on vulnerability and one on honing your elevator pitch. The vulnerability workshop was started with an incredible hard question. Write down 5 – 10 sentences that begin with “I am remarkable because…” You guessed it, we had to share them with a partner. There were some great panels including one on “knowing your audience” and one on “reinvention.”
The session concluded with a happy hour with some of the great brands in the press room. I chatted with Chicagoland’s NOW Foods, Creation Nation and my friends from Justin’s.
Here’s the Haul from Day 1:
Here’s the Haul from Day 2:
I’ll be back with Day 3 and 4 and giveaways soon!
Which products or trends do you want to see in more detail on the blog?