How Wildling Beauty Built a Cult Brand for $40K, and Why That Became a Problem

Consumers don’t just buy products. They buy rituals, identities, and stories. Wildling Beauty helped bring Gua Sha into the mainstream, but building a category-defining brand turned out to be the easy part. Gianna De La Torre is the co-founder of Wildling, the wellness brand that transformed an ancient skincare practice into a multimillion-dollar business. In this episode, Gianna shares what happened after Wildling exploded in popularity, the challenges of scaling a bootstrapped brand, and the tools that have helped her navigate entrepreneurship, parenthood, and burnout. Hosted by Robyn Nissim.Presented by Social Snowball. --- KEEP IN TOUCH 👋 📲 Follow Gianna De La Torre (https://www.instagram.com/gianna.delatorre/)📲 Follow Robyn Nissim (https://www.instagram.com/igobyrobyn/)📲 Follow Word of Mouth (https://www.instagram.com/wordofmouth.pod/)☃️ Learn more about Social Snowball (https://www.socialsnowball.io/?utm_source=wom)💌 Join our community (https://wom.beehiiv.com/) --- CHAPTERS 0:00 — Preview1:21 — The chance encounter that sparked this conversation3:44 — Becoming known as “the gua sha girl”8:03 — From acupuncturist to Wildling co-founder10:02 — Educating consumers before gua sha was mainstream12:04 — The pandemic growth boom14:05 — Scaling a business faster than infrastructure can keep up17:19 — Why Wildling had to reinvent itself beyond gua sha20:16 — Influencer marketing and creator partnerships that actually work24:59 — Evolving from a beauty brand into a wellness brand27:08 — Neuroplasticity and learning as a founder28:12 — Psychedelics, grief, and personal healing33:14 — Rewiring thought patterns and building resilience35:33 — Applying healing practices to entrepreneurship37:03 — Burnout, motherhood, and finding recovery in micro-moments40:50 — Signs of a dysregulated nervous system42:43 — Meditation, yoga nidra, and modern stress44:17 — Navigating cultural appropriation conversations as a founder47:54 — Community, growth, and lessons learned along the way