It’s a characteristically chilly Melbourne winter morning and tech boss Tristan Sternson is starting the day by plunging into an ice bath.

Just how icy? A bone-chilling 3 degrees Celsius — for 4 minutes.

Next follows a “strict routine” of exercise, supplements, IV infusions and various treatments like saunas, cryotherapy, hyperbaric oxygen therapy … all in his quest to feel better and live longer.

“Things like cryotherapy, which is minus 165C in a cryotherapy chamber for three and a half minutes, which is quite extreme,” he tells The Business from the longevity clinic he co-founded and where he partakes in many of the treatments.

Super Young co-founder Tristan Sternson in one of the facility’s hyperbaric chambers which he says are designed to increase oxygen levels. (ABC News: Darryl Torpy)

“I do red light in a full body machine where you lie down. Kind of like a cocoon.

“Red light [is also good] for your hair to make sure your hair doesn’t thin as you get older.”

Mr Sternson admits his wellness club, Super Young, is more of a passion project than anything.

“My wife will call it an obsession,” he says.

Red light therapy is a popular treatment those in the biohacking and longvitiy communities use. (ABC News: Darryl Torpy)

Mr Sternson is 45 but says he has a “biological age” of 34 — a metric used by those in the longevity space based on a series of tests.

He tracks 65 different markers via blood tests and completes a range of what he calls more “extreme” treatments every few months, some of which he flies to the US for as they are not available in Australia:

” I will do umbilical cord stem cells and I put that into my body. That’s a really big anti-aging process for me. ”

Cryotherapy chambers expose the body to low temperatures for a short time. This one is minus 165C, according to Tristan Sternson. (ABC News: Darryl Torpy)

Trillions spent on wellness globally

Super Young is one of many health and wellness businesses vying for a slice of what consulting firm McKinsey says is a $2.5 trillion global consumer wellness industry.

It’s driven by a growing demand from (often wealthy) individuals to measure and optimise personal health — and a willingness to pay big bucks to do so.

The “preventative wellness” or longevity movement’s signature alternative health practices have been popularised by US figures including biohackers Bryan Johnson, Peter Attia and even socialite Paris Hilton.

Many longevity treatments involve participants enduring temperature extremes, from ice baths to saunas. (ABC News: Darryl Torpy)

It grew in the wellness heartland of Los Angeles and has since spread to Australia.

The growing popularity of ice baths and infrared saunas Down Under has made them a more common sight in gyms and spas in the wealthier enclaves of many cities.

Doctors urge caution with alternative treatments

The explosion of an industry full of alternative health practices has been met with scepticism by some in mainstream medical fields.

“I think the evidence base for a lot of them is minimal and, where there is evidence, it’s often for particular parts of the population and not for the general population,” the president of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Michael Wright, tells The Business.

” If you are looking for a longevity clinic, actually your general practice is the most ideal place to start. ”

For those who want to dip their toes in the longevity pool, Dr Wright advises a healthy dose of scepticism and careful thought before doing extra tests or investigations clinics might offer.

“I often talk to patients when they are talking about these tests and ask them, ‘What’s the cost of this?’ and, ‘Who is most likely to benefit? Is it you or is it the person who is selling the test?'”

Dr Michael Wright advises patients think carefully before undertaking alternative therapies. (ABC NEWS: Tobias Hunt)

He notes the principle in medicine of “first, do no harm” and questions whether the extensive blood work and diagnostic tests often associated with longevity screening and measurement fit that bill.

“Potentially, if you’re investigating unnecessarily, you’re putting people through stress and also economic impacts if the tests are unnecessary and that’s something we should try and avoid,” he says.

But Mr Sternson says the treatments at his wellness hub are backed by evidence and there is strong demand from consumers willing to pay for detailed analysis of their health and personalised programs.

“Each machine or each protocol that we have, every supplement that we offer, will have some research back behind it,” he argues.

But he does acknowledge the difficulty of establishing evidence given “you haven’t had anyone live to 150 that’s gone through these sorts of protocols”.

‘An evolution of where health care will go’

Another Australian company riding the trillion-dollar wellness wave is high-profile startup Eucalyptus, which launched a longevity app for men last year.

They pulled the pin soon after, with the pricey subscription fee a major factor, but are hoping to relaunch in Australia next year at a lower cost with more automation.

“What we learnt was that patients really had a curiosity about their own diagnostics, were really keen to make behavioural change,” Eucalyptus chief executive and co-founder Tim Doyle explains in an interview with ABC News.

” But [they] probably weren’t willing to pay out of pocket $1,500 a month, which is what we were charging at the time. ”

The company, which is backed by Woolworths and Blackbird, runs a suite of health platforms and has grown rapidly — largely thanks to the rise of its weight-loss service, which enables users to access drugs like Ozempic via a telehealth app.

Mr Doyle says Eucalyptus’s digital platform made the experience of prescribing the drugs to patients seamless.

“People are seeking convenience, quality of care, in a way that suits their lifestyle and so I think what we’ve been able to tap into is the evolving trends there,” he says.

Eucalyptus co-founder and CEO Tim Doyle says the healthcare app can work alongside existing medical models, including general practitioners.

Ozempic and similar prescription weight-loss drugs shot to prominence over the past few years and Eucalyptus has become a major player in the weight-loss market thanks to its provision of those drugs.

“I think we’re an evolution of where health care will definitely go,” Mr Doyle says.

” I think we make things more convenient, raise continuity, provide an array of services on a single platform. That is health care at its best, right? ”

Mr Doyle says more than 100,000 customers globally had accessed the weight-loss drugs through the company.

The dead ‘doctor’ and cancer: Inside Australia’s ozone therapy industry Photo shows Anthony Field and a man with a beard pictured next to clouds Ozone therapy claims to reduce inflammation and even treat cancer, but there is limited clinical evidence that it works. So why are Australians spending thousands to use it?

“I think ultimately these medications are going to change the world for the better,” he asserts.

“We provide a set of services that give you the best chance of hitting your weight-loss goal and maintaining weight loss and I think the reality is that for most patients that are suffering with obesity, there are serious health considerations for that.”

However, medical bodies have been critical of the app’s online prescription model for pharmaceuticals.

“We do have to be really careful of other providers who are potentially fragmenting care, because it’s important that whoever else you see in the health system that they confirm and share information with your usual GP,” the RACGP’s Dr Wright says.

“There’s no substitute for the quality of care that you get from a GP who knows you and your history. So although these other services are available, they don’t replace what you should get and what you can get from your GP.

“I think that’s a fair criticism,” Mr Doyle acknowledges, though he notes that “a lot of patients don’t have a regular relationship with a standard GP that they live their whole lives with.

” A generation of younger people are more mobile than they’ve ever been. I think we can work alongside GPs — and often do. ”

Longevity industry catering to the well

Like Eucalyptus, Super Young’s co-founder says they are not trying to compete with established medicine but offer something different, without adding an extra burden or cost to publicly funded healthcare.

“I don’t think we’re disrupting the current healthcare system,” says Super Young co-founder Tristan Sternson. (ABC News: Darryl Torpy)

“We’re kind of an adjunct. We help out and we can kind of take the strain off it a little bit, because you can help people prevent certain illnesses,” Mr Sternson says.

“I don’t think we’re disrupting the current healthcare system … the current healthcare system is really, really good when you’re sick.

” That’s the most important differential between what we do — we’re looking at well people. ”

He says the industry can cater for well individuals willing to pay money for testing privately to optimise their health, rather than go through Medicare.

“Our medical system can’t support every single person that comes through and says, ‘Hey, I’m feeling 100 per cent well, can you test all my blood markers so I make sure I don’t drop off to 90 per cent next week?” he says.

“Doctors just don’t have the capacity and time for that locally in Australia and fair enough — that’s probably an area where longevity has really come into it.”

I was inverted in the cavelike yoga studio at Hume, the almost alarmingly chic new Los Angeles fitness club in Venice, considering my pedicure, when one of my classmates asked what I was doing after. “A few of us are going to sauna, cold plunge, and then get matchas on the roof,” she said. I told her I’d catch up after my massage. “Ooh,” she said. “Ask about a B₁₂ shot, and then come join.” I might as well—I wasn’t going anywhere.

For as long as humanity has liked to sweat, we have liked to do it together. See: the Greek palaestra, Turkish baths, the YMCA, the contemporary preponderance of workout-minded meetups. And really, all with good reason: Studies have shown that community and social connection are as important for a long, happy, healthy life as diet and exercise. In an era where digital connection remains the assumed norm for everything from professional meetings to dating, the yearning for a third place (a location for social interaction outside of home or work) has never been more present.

So when it comes to the new class of wellness clubs, it’s no surprise that founders are emphasizing social opportunities. For $395 a month, Hume members can chill out together in a minimalist earth-toned space that invokes a remote spa. “I used to do all this wellness stuff with my friends spread around town before we had a space to do it in,” Hume cofounder Roger Briggs tells me; they called it “summer camp.” And I have to say, after yoga, a leisurely green juice with some new acquaintances, and a lymphatic drainage massage from a provider who’s nearly impossible to book anywhere else, I wouldn’t have turned down a friendship bracelet.

Around 45 minutes northeast in Hollywood, Heimat, a five-floor members club ($350 a month) housed in a former record-pressing plant, billed itself as the “world’s first concept fitness club” when it opened in 2022 with decadent Martin Brudnizki interiors. There’s a salon for nail treatments and facials and massages, a Michelin-​chef-​created restaurant, and a coworking level with a library. “I just go and stay all day,” one stylist friend told me. “I take a Pilates class, take a meeting, go to the sauna, get lunch.” She’s made new friends and met new clients there, she says, “and I don’t spend all day in the car.” (In LA, this may be the biggest perk of all.) When I visited in the fall, headphone-​sporting members were taking Zoom meetings; down a level, the pool deck lounge chairs had wait lists. In the marble-​lined dry sauna, a pair of 20-​something friends were trading dating-​app war stories. Faced with all this communal activity, the gym seemed almost beside the point.

Even if the wealthy are content with an average life expectancy, they want to extend their ‘healthspan’, or healthy years / Illustration: Cat Sims

Strange noises are building in a Mayfair basement. There is the whirr of a treadmill, which David Sadkin, an elite running coach, is cranking up every minute by 1kph. There is the pounding of shoes. And then there is me, panting as I try to suck in more oxygen through the breathing apparatus that is clamped to my face.

‘Drive, drive, drive! Come on!’ Sadkin shouts as I enter the 16th minute of a test of my oxygen-consuming abilities. I’m told the results will give me a solid indication of my health and longevity (assuming I don’t have a heart attack right now, which feels increasingly plausible).

[See also: The Spear’s Power List 2024: Who made the cut?]

Sadkin has told me to keep running until I can bear no more. As he ups the machine another notch to 20kph, I decide I’m done and pull my burning legs off the treadmill. My chest heaves as I wait for Sadkin’s laptop to crunch my data.

Related

I’m at Hooke London, a Mayfair health clinic riding a wellness wave that is sweeping through the world’s smartest postcodes and travel destinations. In a marriage of the private healthcare and luxury real estate and hospitality industries, plush new clinics and highly evolved spas are meeting the demands of HNW health nuts.

Hooke carries out a series of health assessments to get a view of the emotional, musculoskeletal, sensory, skin and dental issues that often predate life-limiting illness

‘As a market, it’s just exploded,’ says Kate Woolhouse, CEO of Hooke London, which opened in a stuccoed townhouse just off Grosvenor Square in early 2023. It was founded by her father Lev Mikheev, a Russian-born London hedge fund manager. ‘Even two years ago, I had to explain to potential clientele what longevity is and why they should be interested in it. But now people come looking for it.’

Where wealthy folk were once content to throw money at health problems as they presented themselves, now they want to optimise their every function, collecting data as benchmarks with the goal of enjoying longer and more active lives. Even if they’re content with an average life expectancy, they want to extend their ‘healthspan’, or healthy years.

‘These are people who used to work so hard that by the time they got to the point at which they could do whatever they wanted, their mind and body started to let them down,’ says Harry Jameson, a personal trainer to the stars (as well as Boris Johnson when he was prime minister). Jameson is the co-founder of Pillar Wellbeing, a luxury private health club that opened in 2023 inside The OWO, the new Raffles Hotel on Whitehall in central London.

[See also: Are hyperbaric chambers worth the hype?]

Mikheev, a former physicist who retired from finance in 2017, came to the same realisation 12 years ago after reading the influential 2004 book Younger Next Year by Henry Lodge. It challenged cultural assumptions about ageing and ‘slowing down’ in later life. Mikheev set about transforming his own health, becoming a keen runner and cross-country skier. ‘I’m 61 and my generation has been locked into this reactive medicine model,’ he says. ‘Whether you call it longevity or proactive healthcare, we’re saying you need to invest now.’

Hooke London founder Lev Mikheev

I’ve come to Hooke for a taste of the kind of diagnostic testing that new members undergo. They pay up to £54,000 per year, or up to £15,000 for a one-off full day’s investigation without membership. It includes a nutrition consultation, a full-body MRI (typically performed at the nearby OneWelbeck clinic), a bone density scan, an ultrasound of vital organs and a CT heart scan.

My treadmill torture will reveal my VO2 max, a metric that was until recently of concern only to elite athletes. A measure of the maximum volume of oxygen I can consume, it will effectively reveal the size and efficiency of my engine. The more oxygen I can inhale, the healthier I am and the longer I ought to be able to keep ticking over.

I’ll also have my brain scanned while undergoing fiendish cognitive tests (in one, I must draw a line between numbered dots as fast as I can). And I’ll meet a doctor in a consulting room that feels more like the treatment room of a high-end spa to discuss the results of tests on my blood.

Woolhouse, who’s 40 and quit a law career to run Hooke, expected that most members would be in their fifties. ‘We were targeting people who had had successful careers and were starting to take an interest in their wellbeing,’ she says. ‘But there’s been a real generational shift and younger people are much more exposed to wellbeing coverage and have a more proactive view. Our average age is now about 45.’

She thinks Covid partly explains the shift away from the last pervading trend in high-end wellness, the ‘Goop decade’ of yoga and green juice detoxes. ‘It really highlighted how integrated all of our health systems are,’ she says of the pandemic. ‘You could see that people with diabetes or other comorbidities had worse outcomes.’

Hooke London’s CEO, Kate Woolhouse

Covid also fuelled and coincided with advances in health tech and drug development, as well as consumer appetite for health data. Thanks to tracking and monitoring devices including the Oura ring, which Mikheev is wearing as we talk, as well as the Whoop wristband and the increasingly sophisticated health apps on phones, we now seek to quantify everything from our sleep to our glucose levels.

‘During Covid there was also this big shift towards digital experiences,’ says Jameson. Peloton rode that wave. ‘Now we’re seeing a huge shift back towards this hyper-personalised, one-to-one coaching and healthcare at the luxury end of the market.’

Pillar Wellbeing, which has a second branch at the Fairmont Doha and plans to expand further, is less clinical than Hooke but offers far more than the average five-star hotel spa, including nutrition coaching, talking therapies and an assessment that also includes VO2 max (although I’m rather envious to learn that Pillar’s test involves lying down with a matchbox-sized VentriJect heart monitor on the chest. It records arterial vibrations to estimate oxygen consumption).

Highly sophisticated medi-spas are of course nothing new. But by bringing them into a more urban and aspirational luxury hospitality environment, Pillar is recognising shifting demands, says Jameson.

‘These were places that you would go to once a year for your seven-day MOT,’ he says of traditional medi-spas. ‘You know, “I’m going to eat nothing and have a colonic every day, have a lot of biometric testing, thank God I’m not dying and then go back to rolling the dice every year.” Now we’re seeing it as something I visit three or four times a week.’

Hooke and Pillar (where membership costs up to £25,000) are part of a huge growth in hospitality. In the US, prominent life coach Tony Robbins is partnering with LA hotelier Sam Nazarian to launch The Estate Hotels & Residences. They are pursuing what Nazarian describes as a ‘hub and spoke model’ that will initially combine 10 urban longevity centres with 15 luxury resorts, starting in St Kitts and Nevis in 2026. Membership to the centres will cost $35,000, with hefty hotel rates on top.

‘The urban outposts are where you’ll draw blood or have your cryotherapy or hyperbaric chamber sessions, or whatever you want to continue your longevity journey,’ Nazarian tells me. ‘Then at the properties you can relax or work, but also do some hormone therapy or laser treatment in a luxury environment.’

Nazarian, 49, says an app bridges the experiences and provides clients with a full health portal. The app is by Fountain Life, a Florida-based preventative medicine company that Robbins co-founded in 2019. It also provides the Estate’s diagnostic and therapeutic offerings. In another sign of where the market is going, the app is powered by AI, allowing members to interrogate any aspect of their current health simply by asking a question.

[See also: The best preventative medicine, health screening and anti-ageing professionals 2024]

Nazarian, who is responsible for the Mondrian brand, among others, got an unexpected taste of the new model in preventative medicine while trying out his own product. In October he had a brain scan as part of a diagnostic consultation at a Fountain Life clinic in Orlando.

‘I got called within three days with the news that they’d seen an aneurysm,’ he says. ‘I’d never had a brain scan, which is crazy when you think about the access I had up to that point to all the best doctors.’ He quickly had surgery to remove the bulge. ‘They estimated that within 24 months it might fully rupture. It saved my life.’

Estate, part of Nazarian’s SBE group, has also joined forces with Clinique La Prairie (CLP), the Swiss resort founded in Montreux in 1931. The partnership is part of CLP’s own response to the new wellness wave. ‘For us, it’s a way to be present where the client is now,’ says Simone Gibertoni, CLP’s CEO. ‘Once they go back from the clinic, they have a place where they can go every day.’

Clinique La Prairie (CLP), the Swiss resort founded in Montreux in 1931

Gibertoni is committed to doing more than following the trend. In October he travelled to CLP’s new longevity hub in Dubai to announce a longevity fund, with initial plans to raise €300 million to invest in innovators in ageing and health science. ‘We want to focus not only on medical innovation, but nutrition and movement technology,’ he adds. Whether the global wellness industry is worth a mere $1.8 trillion (as McKinsey says) or $6.3 trillion (as the Global Wellness Instutute claims), there is no question that it is a burgeoning market.

CLP has also partnered with Kerzner International, which in February 2024 opened its first Siro hotel in Dubai, with plans for more across the Middle East, as well as in Mexico and Montenegro. Its fitness and recovery ‘labs’, developed in consultation with AC Milan football club, are stacked with tech and treatments. There are cryotherapy chambers and ice baths to aid muscle recovery and reduce inflammation; an MLX i3Dome, a kind of mobile sauna, uses infrared light to treat sore muscles and boost metabolism.

‘The times when you could build a gym in the basement with air-con blowing at 19°C and three green apples as an amenity are over,’ says Philippe Zuber, CEO of Kerzner, which has also opened a CLP longevity hub in the Dubai branch of its One&Only luxury resort group. He strikes a note of caution on data, meanwhile: ‘For so many years we’ve been in the hands of doctors, but now we know more than them because we’re in control of our data. But that needs a safety check.’ Clinics with doctors on staff help to provide this, he argues.

[See also: The best health retreats, rehabilitation centres and addiction treatment for HNWs 2024]

Back in London, Oliver Zolman, a doctor and longevity researcher who was instrumental in creating the health regime followed by tech tycoon and longevity guinea pig Bryan Johnson, is about to open a clinic in Belgravia. Founders Health pools the skills of four doctors who specialise in rejuvenation and preventative care.

Zolman has developed ‘biological age clocks’ to separately assess and ascribe notional ages to 81 ‘organ types’, including the heart, bladder, tendons and skin. In an advance on the wider trend of calculating overall ‘bio ages’ for people, based on their health and performance relative to demographic averages, he then creates organ-specific protocols, including gene therapy, to try and bring those ages down.

Simone Gibertoni, the CEO of the Clinique La Prairie

Zolman sees a bright future in the use of AI at the diagnostic level. It’s already being used to detect potential abnormalities in heart scans.

At Hooke, my results are coming in thick and fast, and are later sent to me in a 30-page report. My VO2 max turns out to be the highlight, with a 54.9 reading that places me in the ‘superior’ category. It’s a welcome boost to my confidence as I otherwise slightly creak through my early forties.

My strength and balance are less impressive and would require work with Hooke’s trainers. My brain is basically fine, and the almost 70 biomarkers established by my blood test, from iron to haemoglobin, cholesterol and LDH (an enzyme that can indicate the presence of some cancers), are within normal ranges. Except one: vitamin D.

‘The vast majority of the UK population is really low on vitamin D,’ Dr Ummer Qadeer, a GP specialising in longevity at Hooke, tells me in the consulting room. He says my levels will be lower still by the end of winter, when sunlight is too weak. I order a bottle of extra-strong pills as soon as I get home, counting myself lucky that, for now at least, the cost of my own shot at longevity is currently £15.

This feature first appeared in Spear’s Magazine Issue 94. Click here to subscribe.

Ming Yi and Ching Yeh Chen felt like they were “dropped in the middle of New York City’’ when they immigrated to the U.S. from China in 1965— they didn’t feel an immediate connection to American culture and struggled to access traditional items they grew up with in Asia. In 1971, the Chens opened the Asian goods market Pearl River Mart to bridge that gap.

The Chens imported their favorite soy sauces, clothing, kitchenware and more from Asian manufacturers, hoping to provide a place where their Chinatown community could find the products they missed from home, as well as share them with their broader neighborhood, says Joanne Kwong, the Chens’ daughter-in-law and the CEO and president of Pearl River Mart since 2016.

In the 52 years since Pearl River Mart’s opening, the number of Asian American business owners and creatives have grown across the country: In 2024, there were over 3 million AAPI-owned businesses in the U.S., according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

“There is still a need for a store that centers the Asian American experience, but it’s different now,” says Kwong. “As the community grows and evolves, there are more people who can contribute to the movement, and we see ourselves as a place that helps to elevate Asian American entrepreneurs.”

The AAPI community is far from a monolith; it spans numerous cultures, countries and languages. To qualify as AAPI-owned, a business must be at least 51% owned by persons of Asian or Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander origin. NBC Select connected with over 200 AAPI brands to confirm their ownership status. Below, we highlight a handful we think you should know about, many of which, like Pearl River Mart, are inspired by their founders’ heritage and cultivate a sense of cultural appreciation and tradition.

AAPI-owned beauty brands

Before co-founding Glamnetic in 2019, Ann McFerran struggled when applying false eyelashes. To help save time and effort, McFerran, in partnership with Kevin Gould, created magnetic lashes, which at the time was a first-to-market concept, according to the brand. In 2020, Glamnetic expanded to press-on nails, keeping true to its mission of providing effortless and accessible beauty.

In 2012, Charlotte Cho and her husband Dave launched Soko Glam, an online beauty marketplace that helped popularize the 10-step Korean skin care routine. But she didn’t stop there: Cho later received her esthetician license and launched her own skin care brand, Then I Met You. “I wanted to honor Korea’s rich beauty culture while highlighting the country’s incredible innovations in research and development, while infusing my unique point of view as a skin care expert and esthetician,” she says. The brand has essentials like cleansers, toners and sunscreen, as well as a newly launched gel barrier cream.

After a series of unhealthy relationships, Lin Chen turned to traditional Chinese medicine and astrology for healing — to share her learnings, she launched Pink Moon. With an “East meets West approach,” Chen aims to make authentic Chinese practices accessible to U.S. shoppers. “Our products are created to be a part of daily self care rituals and to help people rediscover themselves and love themselves unapologetically,” she says. Pink Moon has moisturizers, face mists, fragrances, cleansers and more.

“Growing up in the south as a first-generation Asian American revolved around assimilation and following the rules, which was in direct contrast to my internal desire to get messy and make trouble,” says Selfmade founder Stephanie Lee. After college, she was a field organizer for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and worked her way up to serve on First Lady Michelle Obama’s White House staff. Then, she became a global product developer at MAC Cosmetics.

Five years later, Lee left the corporate world to travel and reflect on her mental health and self worth. Eleven countries and 16 states later, she created Selfmade. “Belonging is a necessary part of life, and despite our individual uniqueness, it’s our collective lived experience of learning to love ourselves that connects us,” she says. Selfmade sells moisturizers, scrubs and serums based on psychodermatology, which involves the relationship of the mind and skin.

Husband and wife duo Kent Yu and Julie Chung founded T3 in 2003 as a part tech start-up, part beauty venture while Chung was in medical school for ophthalmology (which she still practices today). The duo started the brand to advance technology around hair care, starting with a lightweight hair dryer. Now more than two decades later, the brand has a range of flat irons, curling irons, blow dry brushes and more.

Growing up in California in the ‘90s, Tower 28 founder and CEO Amy Liu was “surrounded by beach culture that idolized blond hair and blue eyes as a typical American look,” she says. Liu challenges that stereotype with Tower 28, a beauty brand for different skin types, tones and sensitivities. “As an Asian American woman, people are shocked when they learn that I’m the founder behind this beachy, L.A. beauty brand because I think they still expect someone who fits the more traditional standard,” says Liu. (Tower 28 was actually a real lifeguard tower in L.A., close to Liu’s office.) “On the beach, you truly do see every kind of person — age, race, socio-economic [status] — but it’s also a place where everyone gets to enjoy a healthy, fun lifestyle.”

AAPI-owned clothing and accessories brands

Bandolier founder Maggie Drake came up with the idea for the brand after seeing how often people lost their iPhones. Her solution: A crossbody bag that makes their iPhone into an entirely new accessory. Each adjustable Bandolier crossbody comes in multiple sizes to fit different iPhone models, ranging from iPhone 6 Plus to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, plus accommodates up to eight cards, including your driver’s license and credit cards. Beyond its signature crossbody, which comes in many designs and patterns, the brand also has backpacks, tote bags and zip pouches to take on the go.

Chunks was created out of founder Tiffany Ju’s basement in 2019. “As a mother and a business owner, I loved a quick easy solution to get out the door quickly but still looking stylish,” says Ju. “I saw an opportunity in hair clips because they hadn’t really been refreshed since the 90’s.” A year after it kicked off, Chunks’ checkered claw clip went viral on social media, and now the brand offers more than 100 hair clips in various colors, patterns and sizes. In addition to small, medium and large clips to fit all kinds of hair types and styles, the brand also has different clip types to choose from, including French barrettes, claw clips, clasps and alligator clips.

Far from an average activewear brand, Forme designs FDA-registered wearables that help correct your posture and help decrease neck and back pain. Dr. Stephen Liu, an orthopedic surgeon, developed the brand after his mother suffered from poor posture and compressed lungs during late stage cancer. The posture wearables are designed to help cancer patients and everyday people looking to improve their own posture issues and spinal and musculoskeletal disorders, according to the brand. Beyond its viral sports bras, the brand also makes posture-correcting shorts, leggings and T-shirts.

Founded in 2018 by Yang Pei and Stephanie Li, JW Pei is all about accessibility in the designer bag space. The brand’s handbags — particularly its Gabbi bag — gained traction during the pandemic when they were seen in the hands of big-name celebrities. Now, JW Pei has dozens of handbag styles, most of which are made from vegan leather and under $100. The brand expanded its offerings to include shoes, jewelry and accessories, too.

Maison Miru founder Trisha Okubo studied industrial engineering at Stanford University before conceptualizing the brand, which came about due to her interest in the sculptural and functional elements of jewelry. Since starting in 2016, Maison Miru is best known for its Nap Earrings with flat backs that make it easier to wear to bed and while laying down (unlike regular ear backs that tend to poke the skin). The brand has options for various piercing types, as well as other jewelry like rings, necklaces and charms.

Verloop is a sustainable solution to the excess waste in the clothing and accessories industry. The knitwear brand repurposes deadstock yarn, which is the excess textile material left over during the production process on-site, to create whimsical clothing and home decor. The yarn comes directly from the knitting factory owned by Verloop founder Ella Lim’s family in the Philippines, which was started by her grandfather in the 80’s. The brand has slippers, totes, throw pillows, dog sweaters and more in colorful patterns and knits.

AAPI-owned food and beverage brands

“Bachan,” a Japanese-American term of endearment for “grandma,” seemed like the only appropriate name for Justin Gill’s condiment company when it launched in 2013. After all, the brand’s Original Japanese Barbecue Sauce is derived from a family recipe his Bachan passed down to him. Today, that sauce is Bachan’s most popular product, and the company makes it in small batches with high-quality ingredients, just like Gill’s family has done for generations. You can purchase Bachan’s line of sauces — which also includes Sweet Honey, Miso and Yuzu — online and at retailers nationwide, including Whole Foods Market, Walmart, Target and Costco.

In 2016, Danny Taing founded Bokksu, a company that sells subscription-based Japanese snack boxes. He was inspired to start the business when he couldn’t find his favorite authentic Japanese snacks in the U.S., but his motivation went far beyond that: Taing also wanted to do something about the racism he witnessed toward Asian Americans. “What better way to do so than by sharing delicious, authentic food people may have never had before?” he says. “If they like it, then they’ll feel closer to that culture.”

Each month, Bokksu ships a box of 20 to 22 assorted Japanese snacks and teas to customers, which are chosen by Bokksu staff during monthly tastings. Everything inside the boxes is directly sourced from Japan and teaches people about Japanese culture through food, says Taing. Boxes also always contain a Culture Guide explaining each type of snack, its story and how to best enjoy it.

Brightland founder Aishwarya Iyer’s ancestors were salt farmers in South India, so it’s fitting that her company makes elevated pantry staples like vinegars, honeys and some of our favorite olive oils. Iyer says Brightland prioritizes partnering with small, family-owned farms in California to produce its oils and vinegars, which helps ensure control over what goes into its products and so it can track where every ingredient is sourced. Brightland also gives back by helping plant trees in coastal California.

Founder Erica Liu Williams left her decade-long tech career to pursue Gr8nola full time after running the company as a side hustle for five years. Her brand’s granola is free from refined sugar, dairy, soy and GMOs, and it’s available in flavors like peanut butter, cacao and cinnamon chai. As a member of the AAPI community, Williams aims to use her platform to help uplift voices like hers. “I feel socially responsible to myself, family and broader community to be a role model … leading by example and showing other young girls and people who look like me that you can achieve success on your own terms, without succumbing to becoming a ‘model minority’ stereotype,” she says.

Ganesh Nair’s family has produced cashew nuts for over 90 years, and he wanted to find a way to combine that legacy with his decades of work in diabetes care. Karma Nuts was the answer. The company sells minimally processed cashews that still have their natural skins, which is where many of their nutritional benefits come from, including high amounts of antioxidants and fiber, according to the brand. Karma Nuts’ gluten-free, vegan and kosher cashews are available in flavors like cinnamon, cocoa dusted and golden tumeric, giving customers an alternative to the oil-fried cashews that Nair says commonly line store shelves.

Nguyen Coffee Supply — which is one of our favorite coffee subscription services — imports coffee beans from its partner farms in Vietnam and roasts them fresh weekly in Brooklyn, says Sahra Nguyen, CEO and founder. You can purchase the brand’s coffee blends online and brew them at home with tools like the Phin Filter, which is a type of pour-over coffee maker.

Nguyen says AAPI heritage month is an important time for her community to share their stories. “Many people don’t understand our community because we’ve been erased and ignored for so long,” she told us. “Taking the time to learn about our community’s unique experiences will deepen our connection and sense of shared humanity. From here, we can effectively work together to build a better world.”

AAPI-owned home and kitchen brands

As an Indian-American, Ajay Mehta always felt a strong cultural tie to astrology and was fascinated with mysticism and horoscopes. But he noticed that there were no quality products for people interested in modern mysticism. “If you or a friend loved astrology, there were apps to use and websites to visit, but not a lot of personal or thoughtful products you could buy, gift or display in the home,” he says. He founded Birthdate to fill that gap. Among its Tarot Candle, Birthdate Candle and Birthdate Pendants, the brand sells its Birthdate Book, a personalized birth chart horoscope made by a professional astrologer and inspired by Kundali in India.

When Paiji Yoo decided to reduce her personal plastic consumption, she quickly realized how difficult it was to do. “Many household items use single-use plastic in their packaging,” she says. “This ultimately is what led me to found Blueland.” The brand makes refillable cleaning products like glass and mirror, multi-surface and bathroom sprays, many of which are certified by the EPA’s Safer Choice program (and highlighted in our guide to eco-friendly cleaning supplies). In recent years, Blueland has expanded into the personal care space with its tablet-based hand soap and powder-based body wash. Blueland’s products have helped eliminate over 1 billion single-use plastic bottles from landfills and oceans since 2019, according to the brand.

Siblings Avani Modi Sarkar and Viral Modi were inspired to start their company while searching for toys to put in their Hindu-American children’s playrooms. They wanted to help their daughters learn about their roots, as well as share knowledge about Indian heritage with kids across cultures. Modi Toys sells plush toys that resemble Hindu gods and sing mantras when you squeeze their bellies, as well as educational books. Since 2022, Modi Toys has exclusively manufactured their products in India, creating jobs for dozens of people in the community, according to the brand.

Outer sells outdoor furniture manufactured using eco-friendly practices and made with recyclable materials, according to the brand. Its founders both have backgrounds in furniture making — Jiake Liu’s family is involved in the outdoor furniture manufacturing industry and Terry Lin is the former head of furniture design at Pottery Barn. They put their knowledge together to make functional, stylish, durable pieces that encourage people to spend time outside, including modular sofas, dining tables and rugs. A key part of the business is Outer’s Neighborhood Showroom program: Using its online directory, you can connect with real Outer customers to learn about their experience with the brand’s products and see them in-person or virtually.

Pearl River Mart carries clothing, kitchenware and home goods imported from Asia, as well as products made by Asian American-owned companies. CEO Joanne Kwong sees the market as “a jumping off point for AAPI entrepreneurs and their brands,” noting how challenging it can be for new businesses to capture shoppers’ attention. “It’s even harder for companies of color to distinguish themselves and get shelf space or media attention, so we take our role quite seriously,” she says. In addition to retail, the Pearl River Mart store has an art gallery and hosts events to showcase work by AAPI artists, chefs and authors. Kwong says Pearl River Mart is heavily involved in supporting its local AAPI community, too. It sells merchandise from businesses in Chinatown and all profits from those items go to the businesses that designed them.

Moving to Brooklyn from Hawaii and California meant Kay Kim and Ryan Lee weren’t surrounded by nearly as much lush greenery. They filled their apartment with plants to feel more at home and say they instantly felt happier. Kim and Lee wanted to share the benefits plants offer with other city dwellers, so in 2018, they opened stores across New York City where people could shop for and learn how to care for plants. Now, Rooted is a fully online operation. It grows plants at its greenhouse in Central Florida and ships them to customers nationwide, and it has education plant care content available through its website and social media accounts.

AAPI-owned wellness and fitness brands

Working in commercial realty, Karen Danudjaja’s days often revolved around coffee meetings and shots of espresso. But the caffeinated, sugary drinks began affecting her health, so she sought out a latte alternative that was actually good for her. When she couldn’t find one she loved, Danudjaja started Blume. The brand sells latte mixes made from superfoods like turmeric, matcha and beetroot, as well as hydrating electrolyte powders.

In 2015, Chrystle Cu, a dentist, and Cat Cu, her sister, launched Cocofloss with one mission in mind: encourage people to floss by making a product that tasted delicious and thoroughly cleaned teeth. The sisters, who were born and raised in the Philippines before moving to the U.S. as young adults, also wanted to find a solution to single-use, disposable dental care products they found wasteful. The Cu’s designed their floss with 85% recycled polyester spun from water bottles, and now offer it in over a dozen flavors like mint, confetti, passion fruit and dark chocolate. You can refill dispensers with new spools of floss once they’re empty, or recycle them instead of throwing them in the trash. Cocofloss also sells toothbrushes and tubes of toothpaste made from recycled plastic.

When Lulu Ge, the founder of Elix, went off birth control, she experienced hormonal imbalances. That’s when she returned to the Chinese herbal remedies and practices she grew up with. Elix has several herbal supplements that target specific concerns, including menstrual cycle balancing, digestion and immune system health. You can also get a personalized formula based on a ~50 question assessment about your cycle and well-being (which involves submitting a photo of your tongue).

Sleep is not one size fits all, but many pillows on the market are. Susana Saeliu’s company takes a different approach with its made-to-order pillows. Customers take a quiz about their material, thickness, length and cushioning preferences, as well as sleep habits and other related factors. The results of that quiz help the company match individuals with one of over 35 variations of its pillow, which gets shipped to the shopper’s home. Every Pluto Pillow also comes with a 125 night trial — if you don’t love the pillow the brand sent you, you can return it for a full refund within that time period.

Meha Agrawal quit her career as a software engineer to build Silk + Sonder, a self-care subscription service. Agrawal says she was directly inspired by the stories of AAPI community members who were living to meet others’ expectations rather than chasing their own calling. But it wasn’t easy. “I needed to overcome those unique challenges around guilt, fear, and doubt that many of us face as children of immigrants,” she says.

Silk + Sonder sends members monthly themed wellness journals with guided prompts designed to reduce stress and anxiety. They’re formatted in the style of bullet journals with habit trackers. You can choose from monthly, quarterly or annual subscriptions, which provide access to the Sonder Club app virtual community for peer-to-peer support, virtual classes and workshops, daily affirmations and other benefits.

Once Ray and Steven Truoung learned how much bacteria and germs live on traditional loofah, they started developing an alternative. The twins started Sud Scrub in 2020, a line of antimicrobial silicone scrubbers that gently exfoliate and clean skin. The scrubbers come in two versions — one for the body and one for the face — and they’re plastic-free, 100% recyclable and last for over a year, according to the brand. For every product sold, Sud Scrub removes one pound of plastic from the environment with the help of its partner, Clean Hub.

AAPI-owned bookstores and educational brands

Founded by Jenny Yang and Chris Capizzi in 2017, A Good Used Book started as a pop-up bookstore in and around Los Angeles before opening up a physical location in Echo Park Village. It specializes in vintage paperbacks, which you can purchase in-store and online.

Arkipelago Books has been a San Francisco staple for over 20 years, and it’s one of the only distributors of contemporary and historical Filipino titles outside of the Philippines, according to the brand. It distributes specialty books about Filipino literature, culture, social sciences, art, poetry and history to libraries, educational institutions and more. You can browse and purchase books through the Arkipelago Books website.

Curio is a subscription book club that partners with bilingual educators and publishers to find books designed to help teach kids ages 0-10 years old a foreign language, including Spanish, French and Chinese. Each language has two subscription boxes: one for kids 0-3 years old, and the other for ages 4 and up. You’ll first answer a short questionnaire to get your box recommendation. Boxes are shipped every 3 months and include three picture books around a specific theme, plus additional learning resources.

For the past 41 years, Eastwind Books has served as a library for AAPI writers and academics and a hub for Asian American literature. Though the bookstore’s physical location in Berkley, California, recently shut its doors in April, it still serves as a publisher and hosts community book events. You can also still shop its collection of books, which include cookbooks, children’s books, fiction and nonfiction literature from AAPI authors, on its website.

Navy veteran Vanessa Nicolle created Femme Fire Books as a way to celebrate the U.S. as a cultural melting pot and give a platform for women writers and authors of color. The bookstore was fully online until 2022, when it expanded to its first brick-and-mortar location in Jacksonville, Florida. Now, you can shop books from diverse authors both in-person or on the Femme Fire Books website.

Reading in Public is a bookstore and cafe in West Des Moines, Iowa. Duke graduate Linzi Murray founded the bookstore after living in New York City during the pandemic shutdown, which led her to realize the community impact of bookstores. On its website, you’ll find fiction, non-fiction, children’s books and more, as well as audiobooks and events.

AAPI-owned travel brands

Edward and Judy Kwon, first-generation Korean immigrants, founded Calpak in 1989, and their daughter Jennifer Kwon has run the company since 2013. “We hope our products can be travel companions that are an extension of our customer, bringing a little more ease and joy to the journey,” says Jennifer. The brand makes minimalist and chic luggage and travel accessories, including duffel bags, backpacks and packing cubes.

Dagne Dover designs bags and backpacks that are stylish enough to transition from day to night; some have dedicated pockets for laptops, keys and water bottles, and others come with detachable shoulder straps so you can choose how you want to carry them. Melissa Mash, Deepa Gandhi and Jessy Dover founded the brand in 2013, and they’ve prioritized eco-friendly business practices since: Most of the brand’s bags are 100% vegan, and the founders created Almost Vintage, a platform that lets customers buy and sell used Dagne items.

Brothers Jan and Derek Lo founded Lo & Sons with their mother, Helen Lo, in 2010. Helen is a frequent traveler, and despite trying dozens of options, she couldn’t find a bag that fit her needs: lightweight, not frumpy and made without complex technology or features. Jan began helping Helen design her perfect bag, while Derek worked on branding, building a website and marketing. Now years later, Lo & Sons offers dozens of products like casual bags, weekender bags, laptop bags and wallets. Being an Asian American family-owned business influences its social impact, too: Lo & Sons partners with nonprofit organizations that support the Asian American community, like Heart of Diner, which delivers food to homebound and isolated Asian American seniors in New York City.

The Japanese concept of “mono no aware,” which centers around appreciating the beauty of fleeting moments, inspired Hubert Chan, Victor Tam and Daniel Shin to name their travel accessories brand “Monos.” The founders believe people are able to take advantage of those moments more if they travel with the right suitcases, bags, accessories and clothing. Monos’ products are simple and streamlined in design, made from durable vegan materials and the brand is Climate Neutral Certified.

With Senreve, Coral Chen Chung aims to redefine luxury handbags to be useful, beautiful accessories people can use everyday, not just on special occasions. She was born in China, grew up in Los Angeles and worked across the world in places like Hong Kong and Paris — Chung uses the unique fashion from each place as inspiration to design her bags. Senreve offers handbags, backpacks, clutches and more made from 100% genuine full-grain Italian leather.

Traveling with kids is no small feat, and no one knows that better than the founders of Wayb — Tio Jung, Michael Crooke and I.S. Jung — each of whom are dads. They started Wayb to sell products that support parents while they’re on the go with their children, including a portable car seat and travel bags. Wayb prioritizes using sustainable materials to make its products, and offers a program that allows customers to recycle the car seats they purchase from the brand if they no longer need them.

Why trust NBC Select?

Mili Godio and Zoe Malin are, respectively, the updates editor and reporter at NBC Select. To write this article, they connected with hundreds of AAPI-owned businesses to confirm that they’re at least 51% AAPI-owned. (To be considered a AAPI-owned business, a company must be at least 51% AAPI-owned, according to the Census Bureau.) Godio and Malin also rounded up notable products from AAPI-owned businesses across shopping categories.

Catch up on NBC Select’s in-depth coverage of tech and tools, wellness and more, and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok to stay up to date.

What the blazes happened to Cool Britannia? The rock chicks, the bad boys, the “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” chorus? It’s now Snooze Britannia: full of wellness warriors, functional medicine doctors and “What’s your sleep stack?” These days if someone leaves a loo sniffing it’s because they have an actual cold.

As quickly as London’s bars and nightclubs vanish (more than 1,100 in the past three years), perky wellbeing spaces appear in their place: biohacking clubs, medical wellness facilities, IV stations. It’s now a cortisol-spikingly competitive market.

However, there is one new membership club that’s head and well-toned shoulders above the rest. It’s called Surrenne, has been birthed by the Maybourne group (mother to the Connaught and Claridge’s), and can be found snuggled between the Berkeley and the newly opened Emory hotel in Knightsbridge (with a sneaky back passage for shy VIPs).

The steam room

Surrenne is the work of Inge Theron, the creative director of spa and wellness at Maybourne, and delivers what she believes members (with £15,000 to spare) want: “A personalised functional health, medical wellness and longevity wraparound service in the most sumptuous surroundings.” It is a place for the lucky few (only 100 members to begin with) who want the best and don’t have time to figure out eating windows, sleep panaceas or which glucose monitor to use; people who want a vagus nerve-support machine and a hyperpersonalised fitness programme for their Kilimanjaro hike. And they want it now.

Most importantly it is science-led, “thanks to our partnership with the scientific advisory board Virtusan”, Theron says. Virtusan is a health platform helmed by the professors Andrew Huberman (neuroscience), David Sinclair (epigenetics) and Shauna Shapiro (clinical psychology). It also has access to academics at Harvard and Stanford “delivering the hottest data and clinical trials so we can continually appraise the current research and adapt our approach to maximise the impact we offer our members”.

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The club has a hyperbaric chamber

Other secret weapons include an in-house physician from 3 Peaks Health, who will run annual diagnostic tests from cardiovascular health and cognition to endurance and methylation to determine nutritional needs. It is low key (no social media, no podcasts, no shouty website) but 3 Peaks Health’s clients are super-high profile, ranging from athletes and film stars to the stinking rich.

What the club can do, according to its medical director Dr Mark Mikhail, a surgeon and longevity specialist (with leading-man good looks), is “get to know our members, their lifestyle and goals, and by combining this with state-of-the-art diagnostics, put together protocols that are supremely bespoke and push them further than they can possibly go alone in their healthspan maximisation journey”.

Theron says that the club is “not about restriction or guilt”

As the first journalist to trial Surrenne, I can tell you: it’s delicious. Gone is yesterday’s chilly marble spa. Instead, the designer Rémi Tessier has infused four floors of nearly 2,000 sq m of space with warmth, joy and money-no-matter finishes. Before you’ve hit the UK’s first Tracy Anderson-sprung studio, got in the hyperbaric oxygen chamber or had a Korean-inspired scalp treatment in the Onyx room, you’re healing without realising. The lighting enhances your circadian rhythm; the walls painted like sun and moon eclipses inspire awe; the scents are mood altering; and the AI soundscapes either encourage focus and productivity or aid relaxation and rest (the beats even play underwater in the 22m pool for meditative laps).

The yoga studio

Theron has chosen to omit cryotherapy (Huberman prefers cold plunges), so there’s a couples’ ice-bath for resilience bonding, a snow shower that covers the body in fat flakes and the Serpentine in Hyde Park for wild swimming, with a collagen-rich bone broth served afterwards from a drinks cart.

The white onyx treatment room

But most impressive was the feeling of a guardian health angel having my back. After my diagnostic tests Mikhail had advised the café staff what I should have for lunch from the nutritionist and model Rosemary Ferguson’s menu according to my food intolerances and blood results (salmon and Camargue red-rice poke bowl, £46, and green boost juice, £14).

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For my “I need it all” massage, my therapist had been told about my aches, pains and need for nervous system downregulation (so she employed fascia release, deep tissue and shiatsu stretching, finished off with hair-stroking). Post treatment, every cell felt alive and tingling. It was one of the best massages I’ve had, which, at £260, it darn well should be.

The pool area

And when my diagnostic bloodwork revealed that a specific cancer marker was slightly elevated, the doctor immediately engaged his oncology team in the US for a multidisciplinary meeting to discuss next steps and a range of no-stone-left-unturned options. It was like being at the centre of a dartboard: the target of laser-focused disease interception by some of the globe’s best and most forward-thinking brains. I felt in the safest of hands.

The club extends over four floors and nearly 2,000 sq m of space

It is not only members who have entry to this health nirvana. Surrenne is also available for hotel guests of the Berkeley and the Emory (I’m considering booking a broom cupboard simply to gain access). And the rumour is … this is just the beginning, with a Stateside club opening next.

While London might have morphed from rock-and-roll to wellbeing capital of the world, at Surrenne the party girl hasn’t completely left the building.

“It’s not about restriction or guilt,” Theron says. “This is a club, so if you fancy a martini by the pool there’s no judgment. We’ll just serve it with a side of electrolytes and a shot of milk thistle.” Make mine a double.

Membership costs £10,000 a year, with a £5,000 joining fee, surrenne.com