This week, Harakh Mehta sits down with Justine Reichman — founder of nextgenpurpose.com and host of the @essential.ingredients podcast — a champion of regenerative food, food equity, and diversity with purpose at the root of everything she does.

In this conversation, Justine shares the unexpected Mexico City origin story of her entire movement (it starts with a hair blowout), the surprising thematic bridge between regenerative food and natural diamonds, and the story behind every piece of jewelry she’s wearing — each one a thread connecting her to someone she’s loved and lost.

Plus: transparency, trust, family business, and the challenge of calling your mother something other than “mom” in a corporate meeting.

Justine’s gem of an insight: it’s better together.

Gems With Harakh — Episode 7. New episodes every week. Subscribe and follow @gemswithharakh | Learn more at harakh.com

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

01:33 Meet Justine Reichman

02:21 What is regenerative food?

03:20 What is Next Gen Purpose?

04:00 The Mexico City origin story

06:26 The Jain diet & compassion toward the earth

10:13 "You know what's next, right? Jewelry."

13:28 Natural diamonds vs. lab grown

15:28 The jewelry stories — mom's earrings & the sapphire ring

17:09 The Harakh sunlight collection

20:18 How HARAKH started

25:18 Gandhi & the service of others

26:46 Rough moments & the entrepreneurial journey

29:03 Working in the family business

32:32 What's next for Justine

36:02 Gem of an Insight — "It's better together"

This week, we sit down with a true gem of a person — a man who's spent his career making people feel lighter, brighter, and more connected. Mark DeCarlo is a three-time Emmy Award winner, comedian, and TV host known for ABC's Windy City LIVE, Travel Channel's Taste of America, and voicing Hugh Neutron in The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius.

But long before the Emmys, Mark learned a lesson most people spend their whole lives avoiding: fear is never the reason to stay where you are. Two brushes with his own mortality as a teenager rewired how he thinks about risk, happiness, and what it actually means to live without regret.

In this episode, Harakh and Mark dig into risk, fear, and chasing the life you actually want. Mark makes the case for spirituality without the middleman, shares the story behind his grandfather's ring and a deathbed promise to God, and leaves us with maybe the simplest, most useful gem of an insight all year: tell your fear to take a hike.

00:00 Precap — "Fear is always and only bad for you"

00:49 Introduction — Gems With Harakh

01:33 Meet Mark DeCarlo

02:32 Born funny or built that way? Mark's path into comedy

04:40 Discovering Second City as a teenager

07:07 The childhood events that shaped his entire outlook

07:46 250 pounds in eighth grade — and the public bet to change it

10:55 The shot put accident that nearly killed him

12:01 Life is short: chasing joy over wealth

12:35 Harakh — what his name means and his higher purpose

14:02 A life with no schedule — corporate speaking and travel

16:35 Risk: Mark's bet vs. Harakh launching his own brand in 2017

18:18 Failure as the real teacher

19:46 Mark's mantra for fear and unhappiness

22:05 Find the diamond in the rough

27:14 Spirituality as the soul of the HARAKH brand

28:14 Eastern vs. Western spirituality — removing the middleman

34:32 The grandfather's ring — a deathbed promise to God

38:06 Gem of an Insight — tell your fear to take a hike

40:51 What's next for Mark — corporate events and new projects

42:07 Closing and outro

Julie Feldman is the founder of Orenda, a line of yoga towels and apparel rooted in chakra science, mantra, and compassionate design. The towels are made from recycled plastic bottles. The colors are mapped to the chakra system. And every hoodie carries words of intention on the inner sleeve — just for you.

In this episode, Harakh Mehta sits down with Julie to explore what it means to build a business from the inside out — why self-worth is the foundation from which everything blooms, how a single piece of jewelry became an act of self-reclamation, and what happens when two founders discover their brands were built on the exact same frequency.

Gems of insight you won't want to miss.

00:00 Precap

00:35 Introduction — Julie Feldman & Orenda

01:12 Chapter 1: What is Orenda and how was it born?

02:40 Chapter 2: The name, the logo, and the infinity connection

04:35 Chapter 3: Harakh's name means joy — the Drops of Joy collection

06:45 Chapter 4: Compassion as a core value — it's in the genes

08:30 Chapter 5: The Feldman Family Foundation — wealth as a tool for good

10:18 Chapter 6: How intention elevates a product beyond what you can see

12:00 Chapter 7: Chakras, colors, and building the Orenda product system

14:45 Chapter 8: Unlocking the throat chakra — finding your voice and worth

17:25 Chapter 9: Growing up between two worlds — luxury, struggle, and identity

19:40 Chapter 10: Choosing your own path

21:55 Chapter 11: The crown necklace — jewelry as self-reclamation

23:25 Chapter 12: Jewelry as talisman — grandmother's earring worn close to the heart

24:55 Chapter 13: Quiet luxury — what jewelry really means to those who collect it

26:24 Chapter 14: HARAKH artisans break for yoga — intention in every piece

27:55 Chapter 15: Recycled bottles, Reiki on every box — building with responsibility

30:15 Chapter 16: Gem of an Insight — know your worth; choose your 'I am'

32:08 Closing — I am Harakh. I am joy.