What My Master’s Has Taught Me About Mushrooms, Wellness, and Asking Better Questions

By Matthew Eaton
Chief Beverage Officer & Founder

In order to understand why Sēkwl exists, you have to first understand something pretty important…

I am an unlikely CPG founder. I founded a functional mushroom-infused beverage company with no experience in the beverage industry and no expertise in mushrooms. (but don’t worry, I am surrounded by experts in these areas).

I went back to school, but what inspired me was curiosity about the systems shaping our world – from wellness to business to climate – and a realization that they weren’t working the way I thought they were. 

And once you see that truth, it’s really hard to unsee it. Come with me on this journey, and it’ll all make sense! 

More Than a Credential
To explain why I went back to school, I need to take you back to 2020, long before Sēkwl launched.

I was experiencing several ongoing ear issues, which led me to blend both Western and Eastern remedies. I then discovered Turkey Tail mushroom, soon followed by the other functional mushrooms. I read studies about their magic and dug deep into the mechanisms at play. I took loads of supplements and tinctures and truly saw them as medicine.

During this same time in history, our country was rocked by the murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and many other unarmed Black Americans, which deeply affected me. Soon after, it was Pride for our LGBTQ+ community, and I gave a talk about allyship and the responsibility we all have to stand up for all underrepresented communities. It was only after my talk that I really sat down and began to realize this truth that shook loose inside of me because of the pandemic, the murders, and then celebrating Pride during such a tumultuous time.

I started asking bigger questions, not just about myself and my health, but about the world –

• Why are our systems producing such inequitable outcomes?
• Why does profit outweigh the well-being of people and the planet?
• Why are we so reactive instead of proactive?

I was already exploring continuing education programs, but these questions I was struggling with pushed me toward social and environmental justice work. I excitedly enrolled in a Sustainable Business Strategy certificate program through Harvard Business School Online.

It was truly an incredible program and absolutely eye-opening. And left me wanting to go deeper in this work.

Why Cambridge and Why Systems Thinking
Most sustainability programs I looked into in the U.S. were deeply technical and heavily focused on things such as atmospheric science, water and soil conservation, or technical environmental modeling. Those are critically important disciplines. But I wanted to understand something different.

I wanted to understand systems.

The University of Cambridge, founded in 1209, is one of the oldest universities in the world. When I first stepped onto the grounds of Madingley Hall in July 2022 – a 16th-century estate in the English countryside – I remember thinking it felt surreal. It looked like something out of Harry Potter or Downton Abbey.

Beyond the aesthetic, the intellectual rigor was undeniable.

The Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) focuses on sustainable business leadership and systems change. It asks the harder question: how do we transform the economic systems driving climate change and social injustice in the first place?

That was exactly what I was looking for.

While I completed my postgraduate certificate in August 2023, I knew I wasn’t done yet. I took another step further and applied to continue in the research Master’s program. As of today, I’m currently in the peak of my dissertation research and will officially complete the degree this summer.

I can honestly say that my Master’s education reframed how I think about growth, accountability, and responsibility. This has truly been one of the most rewarding and motivating experiences of my life - not just professionally but personally.

Learning to Question Everything
Education certainly didn’t turn me into an expert overnight. I am also not a natural academic… I prefer to be in the thick of solving problems, not analyzing them. Cambridge hasn’t handed me answers. But it has given me the tools to slow down, zoom out, and ask better questions.

I think the number one thing I have learned is that you can’t accept a statistic (or even a study) at face value. You have to ask –

• Who funded this study?
• What methodology was used?
• What assumptions were embedded in the research’s framework?
• What is being measured, and what isn’t?
• When you slow down and look at it this way, you find that science is a step-by-step process of slowly building on evidence – it is not about big discoveries.

I strongly believe that people should “do their own research” but the problem is that most of us have not been taught what that means. Doing research really means thoroughly investigating sources and challenging yourself to think about why you should trust them.

This blog post wasn’t meant to be a dissertation on critical thinking, so I’ll leave it there. But it fundamentally changed how I evaluate wellness claims.

I do know when to trust the professionals, and I know how to think critically before accepting anyone’s conclusions, including my own. That lens has shaped how I approach functional mushrooms and wellness more than anything else.

I also know where my own expertise lies and where it doesn’t. I am not an herbalist. I am not a mycologist. I am not a doctor. I have a deep respect for those professions, and I would never try to own them because they aren’t who I am.

Having said all that, I do know who I am and what my superpowers are. So, let’s wrap this up and get back to why Sēkwl exists. 

When the System Becomes Visible
In the middle of this journey, I was laid off from what I considered my dream job.

I loved my company. It treated employees like family. It was highly profitable. It had year-over-year double-digit growth. By most business metrics, it was highly successful.

But it was also a public company.

Another, larger company acquired it. And what I witnessed next was sobering. Despite strong performance, the business was gutted. Benefits were cut. Teams were slashed or eliminated altogether. And all in the name of shareholder returns.

That moment crystallized something for me.

No matter how profitable or purpose-driven a company appears to be, if the system rewards short-term shareholder gains over long-term stakeholder well-being, the system wins.

I began to strongly believe that sustainable development can’t occur within a system built solely on shareholder supremacy. And let’s be honest. A public company, under the current model, will rarely make decisions that do not positively impact the bottom line, even if those decisions are better for people or the planet.

Seeing that system at play fundamentally changed me. And once you see greenwashing everywhere, it’s hard to ignore it.

Why Words Matter, and Why We Avoid Them
There’s also a word I can’t stand in sustainability marketing: “strive.”

•  “We strive to make ethical sourcing decisions.”
• “We strive to reduce our environmental impact.”
• “We strive to support communities.”

"Strive” may sound good. But it’s like nails on the chalkboard to me. It often means nothing.

If a company isn’t willing to pay even 1% more for a less harmful option or sacrifice a fraction of margin to reduce their impact, then “strive” is just branding.

You will never see that word at Sēkwl.

We’re not perfect, and we’re never going to say or pretend that we are. It’s because I’ve learned that language can hide inaction. And once you study systems long enough, you start to see how easily marketing can outpace reality.

How All of This Shaped Sēkwl
When my husband, two best friends, and I decided to build Sēkwl, we aligned on one core principle: research and actions lead marketing, not the other way around.

That means conservative claims.
It means ingredient transparency.
It means thinking about sourcing and scale from day one.
It means refusing to overpromise.

We don’t want to sound impressive. We don’t want to “strive” for greatness. We want to behave responsibly. As part of that transparency, we’ll be sharing more about how we are different and how we are prioritizing the hard decisions from the beginning.

Looking back, the path to Sēkwl’s launch feels crystal clear – it feels inevitable (little Thanos reference for us Marvel nerds).

My health scare.
My curiosity about mushrooms.
My education in systems and sustainability. My experience witnessing corporate decisions driven solely by shareholder returns.

All of it converged and led to the founding of a business to be different from the beginning.

I can’t wait to share more about this part of Sēkwl with you.

– Matthew 🍄🌎❤️