COMMUNITY TALKS / The Founder and CEO

                               

For founder, CEO, and certified health coach Alina de la Vega, @alinadelavega  Dote is not just a company that produces sustainable CBD products; it’s a community that empowers women to live their best lives. “I created Dote because I want to give women the tools to live a happy, healthy, and active lifestyle,” says de la Vega. “I want women to feel like badasses, and know that they can have everything they want in life.”

De la Vega discovered the life-changing effects of CBD during the height of the pandemic—a time when society was in desperate need of anxiety relief. She created a brand that did just that, and then some. Dote is a full line of clean CBD products that provide stress and pain relief, maximize energy, and improve concentration. Every product empowers women to feel incredible from the inside out.

Here, we chat with de la Vega about her own wellness journey, and why she launched the Dote community.

 

Why do you think natural methods of healing are so important in today’s society?

We come from a culture that just wants to prescribe medication instead of getting to the root of the problem. Medication helps, but only temporarily. And it comes with a lot of side effects. CBD helps reduce inflammation, which is the root cause of many health-related issues. When you don’t have inflammation in your body, you respond better to everything.

 

You’re a certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. What made you decide to pursue your certification?

I enrolled after we created Dote. I was talking about my wellness journey to one of my friends, and she said to me, “Alina, you love and believe in this so much, why don’t you follow your passion and take this course to continue your education?” And that’s when I decided to do it. I love to learn, I love to better myself, and I’m so glad I did it.

 

You’re also someone who believes deeply in intuitive eating. What does that mean to you?

Growing up, I tried all the fad diets and diet pills. I would restrict and workout a lot. But then I looked inside, and asked myself why I was eating this way. I figured out my own personal eating habits and tendencies. I finally realized that food is fuel. If you don’t eat enough and put the right things into your body, you’re going to feel sluggish, tired and be in a bad mood. In order to workout, you need fuel. Especially as a woman. As women age, we start losing muscle mass. If you don’t have the right caloric intake, you’ll lose muscle. It finally all came to me and made sense: you need to eat intuitively, and listen to your body and give it what it needs.

 

How does incorporating CBD into your lifestyle help you become a more present parent?

CBD calms you. As a parent, you have to juggle so many things, especially as a mother. Whether you’re working or not—there’s so much going on in your day-to-day life. When you incorporate CBD into your routine, and you have those moments to chill and feel that relaxation, you can be a better parent.

 

What products would you recommend for someone who is new to CBD?

It depends on your needs. If you feel anxious throughout the day and are searching for something to calm you, I would recommend the tincture. If you’re having trouble sleeping, try combining the tincture with Dream. They are amazing for sleep. If you’re having muscle pain, the Relieve cream combined with Calm is a real game-changer. I’ve had people try that combination and call me to tell me their knee or shoulder pain went away. Power and Focus have a unique blend of bioactives and adaptogens.  But if you want to try CBD on its own, I’d recommend the tincture.

 

The Dote packaging is beautiful, but it’s also sustainable. Why is that important to you?

Sustainability is really important to me. There are a lot of people in my house, and I started to notice the amount of waste we were throwing away daily—water bottles, packages, etc. That’s when I knew that I wanted to create a high-quality product that looks beautiful, but with packaging that produces very little waste.

 

Why does producing a line of clean CBD products matter to you?

I was always looking for something that would give me energy and help me live an active lifestyle. I couldn’t find anything that was both clean and sustainable, and that was also made without harmful ingredients. That’s why I created Dote. I wanted to be able to give women the tools to feel amazing long-term. Dote is so much more than a brand, it’s a community.