Earlier this year Zea Relief was selected as one of five finalists in the Naturally Good Expo Pitchfest for 2018. This gave Hayden, Managing Director of Zea Relief, the opportunity to share his journey and the journey of Zea Relief over the last few years.

It was an incredible, howbeit nerve-racking, experience that really gave Hayden the chance to reflect on what the Zea Team has achieved as a business and as a family in a short period of time It gave Hayden the chance to be completely vulnerable and open up on a stage in front of 200+ people in the natural health and wellness industry.

This was Hayden's pitch:

"We have unearthed one of Tasmania’s best-kept natural secrets! 

Hi, I’m Hayden Brass, Managing Director of Zea Relief, a family business that has developed the world’s very first product range to contain the natural benefits of Australian Kunzea Oil - an oil that has the potential to be one of the most effective to exist in Australia. 

Our story started a decade ago when our family moved to Tasmania.

While we were working at the local markets, selling the full range of our own essential oils, local Tasmanians kept asking for one specific oil we had never heard of - Kunzea Oil.

One gentleman Dad was speaking to exclaimed, “It’s a miracle oil!!” - so naturally, we had to know more! 

So, we did some digging and discovered over 20 years of research on the Kunzea species and the components within the oil - the locals were definitely onto something. It's very rare organic composition and high level of antioxidants makes it very safe for the skin and effective for a range of different ailments - particularly at relieving pain and inflammation. 

This got us excited and we couldn’t believe nobody else was doing it! So, as a family project, we started testing, investing, promoting and learning about Kunzea Oil. We worked with a pharmacist who helped us compound our Original Kunzea Cream, and mum to used it in her naturopathic clinic on clients with various chronic and debilitating conditions. The customer feedback and remarkable results we started to see - particularly around relieving pain and inflammation - were very exciting! Not to mention everyone loving the clean, fresh aroma of the oil.

At the same time, I studied marketing at university and applied my learnings directly to improving our products. I quickly realised what a truly exciting opportunity we had been working on.

The therapeutic potential of Kunzea Oil is vast, however, at this early stage, we decided to focus on arthritis and pain management market. With one in four Australians suffering from arthritis or some other musculoskeletal condition, there is a high demand for natural and effective pain relief products.

In 2016 I was at a point in my life where I was ready to go all in - and turn our family project into a scalable business. So I started a new company - Australian Kunzea - and set out on truly unearthing one of Tasmania’s best-kept secrets.

Sadly, Dad passed away within the first 2 months of launching the new startup. Losing my Dad and one of my business partners was very hard, but to be honest it put me in a position where I was more motivated than ever to make it work and make Dad proud.

The next 18 months we spent a majority of our time putting the foundations in place as we prepared our company for rapid growth. With a particular focus on getting our products recognised by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).

At the end of last year, we finally saw our hard work come to fruition, with our products being listed. This was a huge milestone in the life of our business with us now being able to make formal claims around the benefits of our products.

We are also starting to get noticed more and more in the public arena. With features on Channel 9 news, receiving daily emails from happy customers and getting testimonials from users.

If that’s what we can achieve now, imagine what we can achieve when we put even more resources into our business.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are only at the very beginning of unearthing Tasmania’s best-kept natural secrets. It is our vision to learn the full medicinal benefits of Australian Kunzea Oil and help millions of people throughout the world.

We are looking for people to join us on our journey. If you would like to support us, we would love to hear from you."