Emma Heming Willis and Helen Christoni are prioritizing women’s brain health.
The Make Time Wellness founders discussed what sparked the idea for the brand, the importance of brain health and its lineup of products and new podcast at WWD’s second annual L.A. Beauty Forum.
“Years ago, I was experiencing an incredible amount of brain fog,” said Heming Willis, adding that doctors continuously dismissed her, crediting the fog to factors like stress and a lack of sleep. “I just felt like this can’t be right.”
When the fog didn’t go away, Heming Willis visited a specialist who introduced her to a term that would eventually lead to Make Time Wellness.
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“He spoke of brain health, which was something I’d never heard before,” she said. “With lifestyle change and a fistful of pills, I started noticing a difference and the fog started lifting.”
With serious pill fatigue, Heming Willis tapped Christoni, a beauty industry veteran, asking if it would be possible to create an alternative, specifically a drink supplement. When Christoni began researching brain health supplements, the offering was bland and hypermasculine. Heming Willis and Christoni recognized an opportunity to create something specifically for women, who comprise about two-thirds of those living with Alzheimer’s. In addition, women’s brains begin declining at age 30.
“I was dumbfounded when we started peeling back the layers on brain health, how missing this conversation was,” Christoni said.
Make Time Wellness launched as a female-centric brand that addresses brain, body and beauty, with a lineup of powder drinks and gummies that support brain health, as well as key life stages such as prenatal and menopause. Key ingredients include omegas, curcumin and rhodiola.
“Our mission is to get the world thinking seriously about brain health and to be able to speak to our consumer in laymen’s terms,” Heming Willis said. To that end, the duo launched the Make Time podcast, which features short 15-minute episodes with experts talking about brain health and how they “make time.”
Aside from new products, the brand is also gearing up for brain awareness and Alzheimer’s month in June, during which it will double down on education. Make Time also donates five percent of all proceeds year-round to Hilarity for Charity, which supports families and caregivers impacted by Alzheimer’s and supports brain health research.
At the end of the presentation, Heming Willis and Christoni implored that the audience get behind this movement. “Just make time. It’s your brain,” Christoni said. “Let’s think about it.”
