This week's guest is Kylie Bensley, MS, RD, the Sulinu Founder. She tells us how the LORD led her to create clinically-backed NutriSurgical Powder and dietitian-curated meal plans for surgery recovery.
Connect with Kylie below!
MEDIA: https://www.sulinu.com/pages/press
IG: https://www.instagram.com/sulinu.nutrition/
Hey y'all, this is Ginger DeVries, guest number 56 of the podcast encouraging you today to use your position to broadcast God's love. God's word says, whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. We pray this episode is an encouragement to you to go out and use your position to broadcast His love. From Scotto Albritton Studios, here's your host, Ricki.
Hey, everyone, and welcome to Broadcast His Love. This is a podcast where we talk about what life looks like when we decrease our name and increase God's name, because it's all about Jesus living life on purpose with Him. And I'm so excited for today's conversation. It feels like this conversation is a seed that was planted about five years ago that is now budding and it has petals and it's a beautiful color of flower. And now we're just going to get to enjoy God's goodness of what he's grown.
Kylie Bensley is on today. She's been a friend of mine for a while. We met at a Dave Ramsey conference with Christy Wright with the Business Boutique. She is the founder and CEO of Suli Nu, which is a nutrition-based company for cosmetic surgery. And so we're going to learn all about this company that she has founded and she's the CEO of and just what the Lord is doing through it.
So how are you, Kylie? Ricki, it's so great. So wonderful that we get to chat because this has been, you are one of the few people that you've seen the whole journey of this. And so it's interesting that now we get to talk five years later.
Yes, I mean. Five years later, like what is the Lord doing through your business? Oh, my goodness. Well, I have to say, I always say entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart because I always thought motherhood was the hardest. And I feel like entrepreneurship trumps that because you're challenged every single day in your character and in every single way, shape or form, you're challenged every day. So it's just been like this amazing journey of trying to, you know, figure out yourself, right? While you're trying to be successful.
Yeah, I definitely get refined doing business. The wording that I use about entrepreneurship is entrepreneurship is not for wussies. There's no way that you can. Oh, man. And the refinement that takes place in owning a business that the Lord just every single day is like refining and taking off large chunks. Like he's, you know, the whole, the John 15 story about I'm the vine, you're the branches and he's taking out the dead vines to grow new vines. Like that is every 15 minutes when you run a business, right?
Every day, every single day. And I always, I'm always, I tell my husband, now I'm not crying every day. I'm just crying every other day, you know? And then, and then I just talk about the resilience that you, you learn, you learn such resilience. Things don't bother you as much. You learn how to bounce back. You learn how to fail every day. Yeah. You know, you just learn all these skills that really no, nothing else teaches you, you know? It's true. So it's, yeah, it's incredible.
Okay. Tell us about what you do. Like what is Suli Nu? Yeah. So Suli Nu, so what we say is, you know, every woman wants a beautiful recovery from plastic surgery, but they never know what to eat or what supplements to take in order to have a beautiful incision and a beautiful recovery. And they're always overwhelmed as to what to choose. But SuliNu gives you all the tools you need from nutritional tools in order to have a beautiful incision and a better recovery from cosmetic surgery. With our meal plans, our dietitian curated meal plans, and our clinically backed supplement, we are giving women a stronger, faster recovery from surgery.
Okay. So it's like a kit, correct? So we get, so yeah, so we have a kit, which is, we have, it's two bags of our before and after, which is our Nutri-Surgical vitamin powder. And that is everything you need. It's eight products in one. So you're not vitamin stacking, and you're not having the risk of vitamin overdosing. Everything is in one simple scoop. And you start taking that one simple scoop before and after surgery. And then we pair it with what you eat because everything that you eat in your perioperative period is going to affect your skin, your incision, your healing, how fast you recover. And so we give them meal plans about what to eat and what to eat before and after surgery.
Okay. And so we sell them in kits and we have two of them. We have three of them actually, but we have it for facial surgery. So anything neck and above and then neck and below low for body surgeries because those are two different type of surgeries. And so we have different meal plans for the two different types of surgeries. I just love how, how many, if you go to Kylie's Instagram, there's like doctors all over this. I mean, and you're a dietician too. So, I mean, you're no spring chicken to eating healthy and what people need and don't need, right?
Yeah. I mean, everything we put in our body is going to affect our skin, our teeth, You know, our digestive system, it's going to affect everything we do. But we've never learned like how that works for, surgery outside of being in the hospital, right? In the hospital, we have a whole team. We have a whole team of dieticians and nurses and surgeons who are making sure that you're having all the nutrition you need for surgery. That's in the hospital. But when you have cosmetic surgery, people look at it like it's an elective surgery and it's not as important. But we know that it is just as important and you're paying cash, right? Most people are paying cash. You have a lot of money on the line. It's very important. There's still a lot of risks involved. It's just as risky as other surgeries, right? And so we have to take that into account when you go home. We have to make it just as serious and treating you just as seriously as if you're in the hospital having surgery, which is, I think, what we've called it equity for elective surgeries. So they demand, And we like I just have a kind of my soapbox is women deserve and should demand equal care for any type of surgery outside the hospital, including cosmetic surgeries.
Yeah, because there's a lot of risk involved. I mean, I've never seen anything like this online. I mean, I've known you for five years and I remember when you wanted to launch this. So we I feel like we should share the story about being at the business boutique and both having dreams in our hearts of like wanting to do something and just like waiting for the Lord to really chisel down what that thing is. And I mean, this was it. This was it then. And this is it now. Right.
Yeah. It took five years. It definitely took it took a solid five years to launch it. And but I don't regret it because you know right right before we met then I had a contract with a surgeon and we were going to be partners COVID shut that down and that was the first of like thousands of dollars that I lost because I lost four thousand dollars just in that breaking agreement but um but he broke which is fine because we're friends and it was fabulous but he broke off from that agreement and so I was on my own and then I was a friend of a friend and said, Hey, you could call her and she can give you advice. So I called this woman. I had no idea who she was. I, after she spent an hour with me, I sent her a thank you card and a gift card. I found out that she had been a part. Oh my goodness. MTV, Dr. Wells, Martha Stewart, Condé Nast Day, Travel, New York Times. Like she had been involved in all of those companies. And then once I sent her a thank you note, she sent me an email and basically sent me like three names of these very high level designers.
Yeah. And people who knew how to launch big businesses. So they came. So then these women came from Nutrafol and Lady Gaga and. J-Lo. And that's where they came from. And they wanted to help me launch my business. And so it's amazing. And so all of that, like the failure of the surgeon had to happen in order to reach out to this woman. And, and then the floodgates just opened after that. And so that's why it took so long is because these women really just loved the concept of it. And they just invested in it as if there was their own company. And so that when you deal with that level of team, It just takes a really long time. And manufacturing. I mean, manufacturing probably took me two and a half years, like just to find the right manufacturer, you know? So I mean, this is your product.
Yeah. I mean, I wrote the formula and then I pass it on to a dietician and he does this for a living. Like he develops formulas for big companies. So he does a lot of big names as well. And so I happened to find him like through four other people. And he is just like this, you would just never guess it. Like you would just never, ever, ever guess that he does this for big companies. So he refined it. And then he helped me find, and then we added in patented. We wanted it to be as clinically solid as possible. So we added in five patented ingredients, which patented ingredient for a supplement to me has been, it just holds so much more weight than third party testing. Now, that's what I professionally believe. So we, he got these, these patented products and then he found a manufacturer and it was from there. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Long ride. Long ride. But so worth it. Because I mean, this is so put together. It's so great. And I love what you're doing. I mean, it's very niche. You know, this is yeah, meal planning. This is post-op, you know, this is plastic surgery, nutritional focus. So it's very
Very niche. And I'm just really happy for you for starting it and doing it and sticking with it. I really want to know, like, if, you know, God, I mean, I know he's brought you great relationships from it, but I would love to hear a little bit more about maybe some of the, you don't have to say their names, obviously, but like any cool God stories from the people you've been able to work with.
Yeah, I probably have. I actually started a journal. And if anybody's listening to this and they're starting a company, start a journal because you are going to need it when you want to give up. And so I have like two or three journals and I just write down like when cool things happen, when I just feel like all is lost. But, you know, every single time, like there's been so many, honestly, I can't remember, but I can tell you the last one, the latest one.
Yeah. So we have just prayed that nothing is lost. Like we pray that every package gets delivered, that nothing gets lost, that God is not a waster of anything, that we do not want to waste anything in our company. Yeah. And so when you are shipping out, right, you know, an expensive package, that takes a lot of faith as a business person, right? Because you don't, you're hoping mean that it gets delivered. And so there was specifically a package that was supposed to go to Beverly Hills. And it was like, it was a, it was a very expensive package. And.
It was in, it was floating around New York City, like some got shipped to New York City, and it was just floating around. And this has happened before. And it was just floating, floating, floating. And so the girl is was going to Saudi Arabia, going back home to Saudi Arabia. And she said, you know, what do I do? I need this package. And I said, I don't know what to tell you here, your three choices, you know, you can do A, B, and C. But we prayed over that package. We just said, God, this is God. It's just show up. It went from New York City to Beverly Hills within 12 hours. It was in her hands within 12 hours. And she texted, she emailed me and she goes, I got it. Thank you so much. It was great. I'm so grateful. And I just remember like, and that has happened multiple times, like multiple times. And so it just was like this reminder of like, he cares, right? He cares about a package. He cares about silly things. I just pray about everything with it. So I have one of my favorite people in the business. She was actually, she is, I think, I don't know what she believes now. She was Christian for a while and then she's into other things. But she says that I have a direct line. She says, I know, Kylie, you've got a direct line. So you need to be thinking about this. so we talk about it all the time because she's like you've got a direct line you're gonna be fine and so and she's walked through it this with me for like four years and so I know that she you know I don't know where she's at in her faith but it's been interesting to see that it's not been really like what I've said or done I just tell her my God stories all the time you know and and she's like yeah you've got a direct line you're gonna be fine you know just you figure out you know you just so anyways little stuff like that has just been great And then meeting people that you thought. Had, you just make these assumptions. I've made so many assumptions in this business about what I think people are, what I think people believe. You would be so surprised how many big names I've talked to. And when I mean big names, I mean, like they work for big people and they're, you know, they're faith followers. And there's so many in the business that you, that you don't think are there. And they are, they are. I love that. Well, and something really huge that we didn't talk about to start with, but your company gets highlighted by Forbes, which, I mean, how huge is that?
Yeah. I mean, we've been like right now, I think I've been quoted in about 50 to 60 magazines. I would even say, well, like it gets I read it. I'll help. I'll contribute to an article and then it'll get picked up and then it'll go to like 100 other news outlets. So it kind of it gets picked up. But but Forbes was something that was probably on my bucket list in like 10 years. You know? Yeah. I mean, it's beautiful. beautiful bucket list. Yeah, it was not on my bucket list within six months, but it got picked up. And, and, and the writer, I think, was going through her own stuff. So like, she just kind of related to it, you know, she just related to what was going on. So that was, that was really, I feel personally, I feel like that is what got me really in the doors of people. And I, I put that everywhere because I was like, if someone from Forbes can say that I see you and this is really cool, then I was able to get to the door. I feel like in so many ways, you know, and with Vogue and Glamour and all the other things. Mostly for just like my quotes and stuff. But yeah, it's been, it's been way beyond my dreams, way, way, way beyond my dreams, you know?
Yeah. Vogue, glamour. I mean, that is a big deal. Would you accredit that to God's favor in your life for bringing those opportunities? Or, I mean, it's kind of an odd question to be like, do you think the Lord provided that? But I, I, I do. I think that he gave you that promotion. I think when I, you know, I don't want to say like I had no expectations, but when you really, truly are just like, I can't even, I mean, I can kind of have a plan, God, but I just know that I have to give this to you because I cannot, I'm not smart enough. I'm not talented enough and I don't have the, I don't have the connections, you know? And so when you, I don't know if I say like have favor, it's, and it's not that I don't think that, I just think like when you, I feel like he just speeds things up. When you need, the way that he's working, he just speeds things up, right? And like, there's like this urgency that I have with my company. And I know that he has given me that urgency. And so when I see things play out, I'm like, I know this is God's urgency on my company. Exactly. And so I just kind of see that play out. I mean, okay. So I just looked up the article from Vogue. I'm going to put all these articles in the description of this podcast. It's just really cool, girl. I mean, it just started as an idea. I mean, can you speak more into how the Lord has had a way in all the details of your business?
Yes. So 2019, we go camping with some of our closest friends. One is a plastic surgeon. Another one is an orthosurgeon. And I want to first kind of preface this that, you know, plastic surgeons are still very normal people. I mean, they are, they call themselves surgeons first and plastics just kind of happens to be what they go into. But if you're listening to this and you are, and let me tell you why I'm saying this is because I was one of them, is you're immediately like, I want to say judging, but more, you're not judging, you're just assuming what people who are getting cosmetic surgery look like. And I am constantly saying, listen, I can guarantee you that people, there are women getting things done all the time because of self-esteem issues. So we are not talking about the big boobs and the big But we are talking about women who've had no self esteems, because of they had diastasis recti because of babies, or they have, you know, like their nose is crooked, and they hate it, or, you know, just something like that, where they are given back self esteem. So you need to understand that that is probably 80% of the population that's getting surgery. They're not the women that are in the bikinis. they're the women who are just like age and life and kids have taken my body and I just want it back. Right, right, right, right. That's 75%. And I got to say, I can tell you that like half of my clients are from
