Please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about Wholyme.
I'm Celine, founder and CEO of Wholyme. My curiosity about the human body started early, watching someone I loved struggle with chronic pain and learning, as a child, that the body is always in conversation with its environment.
That curiosity led me to study Human Biology and Genetics of Human Disease, and then worked in medical education within major pharmaceutical companies. But the deeper I went into science, the more I saw how often we treat the body's signals as inconveniences to silence rather than information worth listening to.
Wholyme was built on a different premise. We create natural and organic remedies, formulated with real scientific rigour, to help people respond to those signals without compromising their long-term health. Our Relief Balm and Salts, our Pregnancy range, our Micro Needle Patches; everything we make is designed to work with the body, not override it. Care is powerful. It starts with you, but it ripples far beyond measure.
You've said your vision is to make care a powerful daily act. What is one morning ritual or habit you never skip, no matter how busy life gets?
My morning routine is non-negotiable because it genuinely brings me back to myself before the day has a chance to pull me in ten directions.
It starts in bed with the Five Minute Journal from Intelligent Change. Just a few minutes of gratitude before I've looked at a single message. Then I apply our Relief Balm to wherever my body is holding tension that morning. It's a small act but a meaningful one, I'm already listening before I have even stood up.
Then movement. Breathing exercises, lymphatic work, stretches, ten minutes of cardio and core, and then I just sit. Quietly. Scanning how my body actually feels. I shower and finish with our Soothing Oil all over my body. It eases any residual muscle tension and nourishes the skin. It's become one of my favourite moments of the day.
When I do the full routine, I show up with so much more clarity, presence and groundedness. Less urgency. More intention. Because I already tended to myself, I can show up from overflow for everything else.
Was there a specific moment that inspired you to leave the pharmaceutical world and create Wholyme?
It was a calling I couldn't ignore. I kept noticing how quickly people reach for a medical solution to something that's actually a lifestyle problem.
From the age of nine, I watched my mother live with chronic pain and arthritis, and I saw doctors reach quickly for invasive solutions while the lifestyle factors underneath it all went largely unexamined. Then, as a teenager, I herniated a disc myself and was told I needed a back brace, surgery, antidepressants. I chose a different path instead: movement, a more holistic approach. It worked. I went from barely being able to sit in a car to running half marathons.
As a natural caregiver with a background in science, that experience pushed me to formulate something different, a product that was genuinely effective but also natural and healthy, not one or the other. So I made the Relief Balm in my kitchen. It's the same formula we use today, clinically tested with a 95% effectiveness rating, yet completely natural.
That was the moment it clicked: natural and effective were never supposed to be a trade-off. I wanted to prove that, and share what real care could actually do.
You've noted that chronic pain is hitting younger people more than ever. What do you think we're getting wrong about rest, recovery, and how we treat our bodies day to day?
We have medicalised pain without humanising it. We treat tiredness as weakness, tension as something to push through, and rest as laziness. And we've built an entire culture around that idea. But the body doesn't work that way.
Take something as basic as exercise: you don't build muscle during the workout. You build it during recovery. The workout is just the stimulus. The repair happens when you rest. That principle holds everywhere, physically, mentally, in your work, in your relationships.
What I see most often is people who have stopped listening to their bodies entirely because the pace of life makes listening feel indulgent. It's not. It's the baseline. Without it, you're just managing decline.
Small, consistent habits matter far more than the occasional big reset. Carve out a moment every day to actually listen to what your body needs. That's where recovery really begins.
What is one piece of advice or guiding principle that shapes how you approach both your work and your life?
When we care for ourselves, there's a ripple effect.
That's not just our brand belief, it's the thing I come back to in both business and life. When you are genuinely well and regulated, you show up differently for the people around you, for your team, your family, the people you serve.
Self-care isn't selfish. It's the foundation everything else stands on. In practice, that means I try to make decisions from a place of clarity rather than urgency. It doesn't always work. But it's the north star.
If someone is in pain right now and reaching for the nearest quick fix, what's the one thing you'd want them to know first?
That your pain is information, not a malfunction. Your body is not betraying you. It's communicating.
Quick fixes aren't wrong, sometimes you genuinely need immediate relief and that's valid. But if you never ask why the pain keeps coming back, you'll keep reaching for the same fix. The real question isn't "how do I stop feeling this?" It's "what is my body trying to tell me, and what does it actually need?"
Start there. Everything else follows.
