Stepping into The HAO Life’s Preview Event was such a magical moment, that it literally took my breath away! The sultry, moody, romantic and antique three-story townhouse that was used for the event, is owned by a very fashionable mystery woman, but I thought to myself, “MTV welcome to my crib,” as I explored the space!
I started off my holistic journey on the ground floor with specialty cocktails that were made with some of the alluring plants used in the supplements themselves – a dose of health mixed with alcohol? Yes please! I continued my interior design fascination across the entrance, where I discovered The Hao Life’s Formulator, David Melladew, performing bespoke traditional Chinese medicine readings, by using your pulse acu-points from both arms to gain insight, and then prescribing and gifting guests with personalized supplement fits for their individual health goals.
The party continued upstairs in the kitchen area with a gorgeous spread of colorful plants, moss, and mushrooms next to the products on the main wooden table. The menu also featured The HAO Life-inspired ingredients just like the specialty cocktails, and offered, Lions Mane “Chili Crab,” Tuna Tartare, “Bak Kut Teh” Carnitas, Peekytow Crab Dumplings, Lobster Roll, and Chrysanthemum and Honey Panna Cotta, which were created with Chinese herbs, ginseng and reishi mushrooms, Goji Berry Compote and more! The exploring continued upstairs to the rooftop, with a water tower that was transformed into a gorgeous and peaceful meditational seating area, and views that overlook downtown New York.
Founders Danielle Chang and William Li provided the following inspiring information about their products and Chinese herbal medicine itself.
William Li: “What you see here, and on that table is…what we’ve tried to do is kind of demystify what herbal nutritional Chinese medicine is and herbal medicine, and what it really is, is stuff that we eat on a daily basis in Asian diets and things that you guys eat, like for instance there’s cinnamon on this table…that’s a key ingredient in one of our men’s formulas. You know, just to show the world that it’s not scary…it’s plant-based…these are remedies that our grandparents, our great-grandparents, our ancestors have used for thousands of years to heal and maintain our wellness, and we wanted to just make it easy for a contemporary customer.”
Danielle Chang: “Welcome! We want to as William said, really just share the wealth and wellness that our ancestors gave us because Chinese heritage has so much richness to wellness. As you can see here through the fringes, flowers, seeds, herbs…all vegan, plant-based products here. We named the product HAO, which means “good” in Chinese culture. It’s made up of the radicals for women and child, and together that represents harmony, so everything that you see here is about harmonizing…balancing your body. We have five base formulas that treat the five main organs, according to the whole Chinese philosophy.”
