A short TV interview (Focus TV's The Pitch) in which Andy Hnilo, founder of Alitura Naturals, recounts his recovery from a severe vehicle accident and describes how that experience and his background in acting/modeling led him to develop a natural skincare line. He explains early grassroots product testing, how Dave Asprey and Bulletproof supported and amplified the brand, and the company's emphasis on natural, food-like ingredients (no synthetic chemicals, fragrances, or preservatives).
Welcome to the Pitch. I'm Rachel Wallace, and today from our West Hollywood Focus TV studios, we're honored to have on the show founder of Alatura Naturals, Andy Nilo. Andy, hi and welcome to the show. Thanks for being here.
Thank you so much for having me.
So you have a really interesting story. You started out as an athlete and a model and an actor. So why don't you tell us the inspiring journey that led you to developing this amazing skincare range.
So, yeah, this is. It's pretty cool for me because right down the street at Cedar Sinai is where I woke up after getting hit by a westbound heading SUV on Melrose, head into the eastbound lane and run over by another suv. Lost consciousness after the first point of impact. Very lucky to be alive. But, yeah, right down the street at Cedar Sinai in a hospital is where I woke up on morphine. My chin was to the bottom of my mouth, sticking through as a compound fracture. I had seven broken ribs, a collapsed lung, and I'm very lucky to be alive. But what that led to is my. My purpose and my passion, which is skincare.
So it's interesting that, you know, that awful trail of events led you to your passion.
Absolutely.
But how does that happen? Obviously you're, you know, wanting to get yourself back to, you know, tip top condition, but how did it come about that you end up creating this whole range of products from there?
So I had been interested into just taking care of myself. Health, wellness, nutrition, and ultimately skin care back when I was acting and modeling, because it was something that I could control. Going into any audition or casting, it was just if I had an audition to prepare for on Monday, going into the weekend, I just took every single day into preparing for that role or preparing for that, you know, that, that job, so to speak, because it was something I could control and I like to do it. So I would eat well, I'd work out well, I would take care of myself. And that's what I had that passion for, skincare. Because going into that room looking like your pictures is a way to set yourself apart from other actors and models.
So how did it go then from being obviously this, this whole healing process for you that you developed to. To what is now a global product that's being offered?
I would try. I mean, so many things didn't work. I mean, the whole beta testing on myself was essentially my formulation of the product, but I never had an intention to create it. I just. The people who saw me in the icu, in the hospital rooms were so blown away with My scarring being significantly reduced, the swelling gone down, and the abrasions completely gone very quickly after the accident. So they were wondering what I did. So as hard as it was to admit that I was wearing a clay mask as whatever, an ex athlete or as a guy, I'm so glad I did, because here we are. But they wanted to know, they wanted to try it. And I would go over to their house with my little backpack, little bottle of apple cider vinegar, and some of my favorite essential oils. I'd mix it up in a little wooden bowl, and all I would ask is just for their feedback and if they liked it, and just a little picture if they would, you know, take it. But so they. They fell in love with the product. They started telling their friends, their friends started telling their friends. And a lot of my friends in the industry were asking about it as well. So that about a year and a half, two years of just driving around town, never charging anybody, I was. It was my little creative outlet. I just wanted to see if people loved it as much as I did.
So in terms of kind of pulling the right people in to help you launch this, who was involved?
Oh, yeah. So Dave Asprey, who is the CEO of Bulletproof Nutrition, he. I troubleshooted his email address. So I finally found one that worked. I knew the info at, like the contact email you can find on some websites, infoiletproof Exec at that time is what it was. And so I figured, well, his name's Dave. His name's Dave Asprey can be that much off that. So I just found about 10 different combinations in my head of what I just copy pasted the same email and attached a picture of me in the ICU and a picture of me in a magazine that I shot after the accident, said, hey, thanks so much for creating these products. Because I was using his products, like his collagen protein, his brain octane, which is a concentrated form of coconut oil, just to get me back on my feet, to motivate me to get back in shape. And I loved his attention to detail with ingredients. So one of those emails went through, and he had me on. He brought me on board not only as an ambassador to bulletproof, but he had me on his podcast, which is one of the top podcasts on itunes at the time, Bulletproof Radio. It had millions of downloads. So he had me on to talk about my accident and how I recovered quickly through using a lot of his bulletproof products. But towards the end, I told him about this mask that I'VE been using. And he had millions of people from all around the world asking how they get a hold of this mask. He invested in my brand and took my product onto his site as his first bulletproof approved skincare product. And we just. I mean, I've never experienced anything like that. I mean, because I didn't. Yeah. I had to come up with a price really quickly.
I see.
Package it properly. It was just. Believe me, that's a long story made very short.
So it sort of snowballed from there.
I assume based that little snowflake turned into an avalanche. Seriously.
So, Andy, can you tell us a little bit about some of these products?
Absolutely.
So dying to hear.
Yeah. So it's. It's alloter. As I said, it's Latin for feeding, nourishing. And your skin, being your largest organ, I feel like it responds best to just ingredients that are as close to nature as possible. So no toxic chemicals, no synthetic ingredients, artificial colors, fragrances, preservatives. I want it fresh. I want it like food. So, I mean, everything in here, that's what it stands for. It's just we don't use any of those. We use everything. I don't have the big corporate overhead, so I'm able to use nice, fresh, fresh beeswax freshwater pearl powder just above and beyond with my ingredient decks.
Andy, thank you so much for being on the show.
Thank you for having me.
Amazing to have you and to hear the story. Please join us each week to hear the journey of another entrepreneur. I'm Rachel Wallace, and this is the P.
