Behind the Brand: The House of Botanicals
Meet House of Botanicals' Founder, Sindy Wise
1. What is the name of your company?
The House of Botanicals
2. What is your title?
Founder and Formulator
3. Where is your company located?
Longmont, Colorado
4. Whats your current obsession?
Ceviche! Trying as many recipes as possible.
5. How did you hear about Naturally Colorado? What made you become a member? Has Naturally Colorado helped you in any way?
I’m on the board.
6. What size is your company?
1 employee!
7. What inspired you to start your company?
I come to this as an herbalist first. Over the years I became especially fascinated by the aromatic compounds in botanicals — the aromatherapeutic and aromacological ways scent actually affects the body and mind. Alongside that, I fell deep into a love of incense and the art of incense-making. That’s really where The House of Botanicals began: with the plants humans have burned in ceremony for thousands of years, and a question — how do we bring those same sacred, medicinal botanicals into everyday life? Not just for ritual, but woven into the ordinary moments of a day. So the brand is really the meeting point of all of it — herbalism, the medicinal benefits of the plants themselves, and the aromatic traditions of ceremony, translated into something you can live with daily. I’d spent five years working for a brand when it finally clicked that I already had every tool I needed to build my own. I just had to find the courage to do it. What motivates me, in the business and in life, is the same thing: we get one life, and I believe you’re meant to maximize every bit of it. Living to your full potential, telling the people you love how much they mean to you, being genuinely grateful just to be here — we’re all on a timeline, and that awareness is what drives me. In a way, that’s what the scents are for too — helping people be a little more present in their one, precious life.
8. Why did you choose to focus on the natural and organic industry?
This really goes back to my values as a person. I’ve spent my entire life in the natural products industry, and I wholeheartedly believe that clean ingredients matter — for the health of our bodies and the health of our planet. To me, that principle transcends every part of the natural products world: what we eat, what we breathe, what we put on our skin. It’s all connected. When we make cleaner choices across all of it, those choices add up — and ultimately, that’s how we keep this planet around for the long run. Focusing on natural and organic was never a marketing decision for me. It’s simply an extension of how I already live and what I believe.
9. Can you describe the biggest challenge you faced during the early stages of your company, and how you overcame it?
The biggest early challenge was holding to my standards when the easy, cheaper path was always right there. Sourcing with integrity is genuinely harder than sourcing conveniently — but it’s the whole point of what I’m building.
Two examples I’m proud of. For the base of my sprays, instead of a generic alcohol, I partnered with Dry Land Distillers here in Colorado, who reclaim alcohol that would otherwise be discarded and redistill it — so my foundation is clean and part of a circle, not waste. And with the botanicals themselves, I’m careful about the ethics of every plant: I only use cultivated white sage, never wild-harvested, because true white sage has been badly overharvested. That kind of conscientious sourcing takes more effort and often costs more — but overcoming the temptation to cut those corners, again and again, is exactly what makes this business what it is.
The way I got through it was simple: I decided early that I’d rather grow slowly and do it right than grow fast and compromise. Every sourcing decision since has been an extension of that.
10. What keeps you up at night regarding your business?
Honestly, what keeps me up isn’t fear — it’s care. I’ve built something I believe in deeply, and what occupies my mind is wanting to do right by it: to keep every standard intact as I grow, and to get these botanicals into the hands of the people who’d genuinely value them. When you make something clean and intentional in a world full of shortcuts, the challenge is always reaching the right people and never compromising what makes it special along the way. That’s the thing I turn over at night — not whether it’s worth it, but whether I’m doing everything I can to honor it.
11. What strategies can you share that have been effective?
The most effective strategy has been leaning into what makes the brand different rather than trying to compete on everyone else’s terms. As a small, premium, clean brand, I can’t win by being the cheapest or the loudest — so I focus on the things that are genuinely mine: single-origin botanicals, ethical sourcing, and real aromatherapy expertise, shared with the people who actually value them. Local collaboration has been huge, too. Building relationships within Colorado’s natural-products community — from sourcing partners to commercial collaborations — has opened doors that no ad ever could. This feature is a perfect example of that. And maybe the most important strategy is staying adaptable: trying things, paying honest attention to what’s working and what isn’t, and being willing to pivot without ego. I’d rather learn quickly and adjust than cling to a plan that isn’t serving the business. Growth, for me, has come from listening — to the data, to my customers, and to my own values.
12. How important is networking, and what strategies do you use to build and maintain professional relationships?
Networking is everything — and it always has been for me, long before I became a business owner. I spent most of my career as a buyer in the natural grocery and wellness space, and what I learned is that every relationship you build genuinely comes back around, often in ways you never expected and right when you need it most.
I believe deeply in the pay-it-forward part of it. The energy and care you put out into the world has a way of returning to you. So I don’t approach relationships as transactions — I approach them as connections, showing up for people and industries I care about, and trusting that it comes full circle. It always has.
13. What is one piece of advice or knowledge that has changed your life and why?
It really comes back to how I was raised. My parents instilled a mindset in me that’s stuck with me my whole life: you don’t give up. You stay relentless about your passions and your goals — but you stay smart about it too. Being relentless doesn’t mean being blind; it means refusing to quit on the things that matter while still moving wisely.
And underneath that is something simpler: live your life to the fullest. If you’re passionate about something and you’re doing good in the world, then do it — fully, now — because none of us is promised tomorrow. But if you’re going to do a thing, give it your whole heart and soul and commit to being the very best at it. That’s the belief that’s shaped everything, including this business.
Connect with Sindy.
Learn more about House of Botanicals.
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