Meet Hayley Steiner

Today we’d like to introduce you to Hayley Steiner.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
For a very long time, I have been interested in health and nutrition. Coming out of high school, I decided to study nursing at university. I ended up not completing a nursing degree, but switched to graphic design. While I have always loved health, I also have always been a creative person as well. This was really meant to be because although I loved the idea of helping people in the medical setting, I started to realize that I am better at educating through design.

I have always been fascinated by how well visualizations can help educate people. Due to this, I decided to go into graduate school to study how to incorporate technology with design. My program focuses on different types of interactive media such as augmented and virtual reality, mobile application programming, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. These are just the skills I was looking for in order to help educate people in a better way through technology. The reason I say this is because I have always wanted to create real-time solutions to educate on specific topics.

I am currently working on making a virtual reality game that shows access to water throughout the world. I also have already worked on making an augmented reality application that shows ride-sharing and road safety information. While I was able to gain all these skills, I have also always wanted to become an entrepreneur. The desire that I have to open my own businesses has always been a driving force behind my decisions and what I do. I am so happy to be able to create my first company and many more in the future.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I have always known that I have a passion for health, nutrition, fitness, design, and technology. But while that is true, I have always felt that going to work for another company was not where I felt like I thrived. I always hoped one day I would be able to create something where I could help people in the way I wanted to.

Additionally, to be able to give the most transparent information I could. It took a while to figure out what my life purpose was. But now that I have found it, I plan on trying to reach as many people’s lives as I can. The process of learning how to become an entrepreneur has also been an obstacle.

I do not have anyone in my family who is an entrepreneur and have not made many friendships with people who are entrepreneurs neither. I have had to do my own research and figure out how to make a business on my own. While it has been a long process, it has definitely been worth it to put in all that time and to find a way to change the world.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
While in graduate school, life has been busy and almost two years ago, I wanted to make a way to get high amounts of nutrition and protein fast. I remembered making protein balls before in the past and thought about how that could help with my busy life in graduate school. I worked on different measurements and what ingredients would work best for quite a while. Eventually, I came up with the perfect recipe. I started sharing them with coworkers and my school peers and people loved them.

I always wanted to be able to do something with visualizations in my career, but also always have been interested in entrepreneurship. When I started receiving such high praise from people who loved my protein balls, I decided this would be just another great way of helping people when it came to health and nutrition. I figured giving people an option of having high protein nutrition in a grab-and-go type meal situation would benefit so many people in a world where life is becoming busier but people are also becoming more aware and health-conscious.

This is when I decided I wanted this to be a business. I dabbled around in different names for my business and eventually thought of a name that says it all – The Protein Lab. This name was perfect because it embodies my goal which is to find ways to create high protein meal replacements and desserts in many different ways. Being a lab implies that there is an element of the unknown and eventually there will be discoveries. Right now, the business is focusing on protein balls and there are about 6 flavors being made. However, we plan on rolling out more than 20 new flavors throughout the next year.

Eventually, I would like to focus on making other products such as desserts, take and bake options, shakes, coffee, and even ice cream. The goal is to find ways to turn foods that people love into a healthier and high protein alternative, but with the same great taste that people are used to. Adding high amounts of protein does not mean flavor has to be sacrificed. Plus, the protein balls that are available also have high amounts of collagen in them – 20 grams in one serving! One serving also has 10 grams of protein. We are currently also working on getting the protein balls to have 20 grams of protein in one serving. Currently, we are selling the flavors – Chocolate Chip, Birthday Cake, Coconut Matcha, Pumpkin Spice Latte (autumn only, not selling at this time), Chocolate Superfood, and White Chocolate Macadamia. The flavors are sold in packs of 14 for $25 per pack.

The balls can last for over 2 weeks and can even be frozen. I would say that this is like a healthy food restaurant but instead of sitting down and eating, people can get what they need easily. Eventually, once I have a storefront, I want to be able to have a cafe feel. I want to have seating and coffee for people to buy. This will make it not only a quick way to get fuel but can also be a place to hang out and meet people and stay as long as you want. The importance behind providing collagen in the balls is because collagen is an essential protein in our body. A lack of collagen can negatively affect blood vessels in the body.

Without collagen, there is room for someone’s body to have skin issues, loss of memory and brain function, and also digestive issues. Collagen helps support hair growth, decrease fine lines and wrinkles, improve skin elasticity, support nail growth and improve joint and bone strength. Many people hear about collagen and think of it as something that is only for women.

Women are not the only ones who benefit from it. Men also can benefit from having collagen. As collagen is basically a building structure of the protein in our bodies, it is beneficial for anyone to have more of it. This is why we wanted to make sure we could provide a very high amount in our products. With that, on top of the protein in the balls, they make for a very essential nutrient to take in to support the body on a daily basis.

What matters most to you?
I have always been the kind of person that wanted to make a difference for people in the world. I really love to bring people together or to be able to help people. This is why I have been working on the things I mentioned in graduate school and also why I wanted to create a business.

While it might have been a journey to find my passion, I finally found a way to make a difference in people’s lives. I am passionate about helping people and recognizing how to educate people on the importance of nutrition and wellness. It matters to me that I am able to provide an efficient way of getting high protein for people.

I want people to have easy access to nutritious and beneficial food. This is The Protein Lab’s mission.

Pricing:

• $25 for a pack of 14 balls
• $14 for a pack of 6 balls
• $10 for a pack of 4 balls
• $8 for a pack of 3 balls
• $4 for a pack of 2 balls

Contact Info:

• Email: theproteinlabstore@gmail.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/theprotein_lab
• Facebook: facebook.com/theproteinlabstore