Why We Built Sēkwl: A Founder’s Journey Into Functional Mushrooms

By Matthew Eaton
Chief Beverage Officer & Founder

Sēkwl wasn’t born out of hype.
It came from lived experience, unanswered questions, a changing planet, and a deep desire in me to build an honest and responsible business.

This isn’t a story about discovering a miracle ingredient or chasing the next wellness trend. It’s a story about curiosity – the kind that shows up when the answers I was given didn’t quite explain what was happening in my body, or the world around me. But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself.

The Moment That Sparked All the Questions
In early 2020, I attended a wellness retreat that was supposed to be restorative. Without going into much detail, it unfortunately turned out to be one of the most stressful moments of my life. 

Later that week, the same week the world shut down at the start of the pandemic, I started experiencing hearing issues out of nowhere. My ears felt full, my hearing dropped dramatically, and tinnitus set in almost immediately.

If you’ve never had tinnitus or experienced a symptom of it, imagine a constant ringing that never fully turns off. Sometimes it fades into the background. Other times it’s impossibly loud. Either way, it was fueling anxiety in me every single day.

I was honestly terrified. Not just for myself, but because a close friend had experienced something even more severe a few months prior. I did what most people would do. I went to the doctors, sat through countless tests, followed care plans, and took the medications I was prescribed.

My hearing returned, though it kept fluctuating. Some days I’d have perfect hearing. Others it felt like everything was lower volume and I could hear the persistent ringing, which really impacted my mental health. The tinnitus had obviously stayed. And my anxiety was through the roof. What really made it difficult to endure was the lack of clarity about what was going on in my ears. I felt like I had the best possible plan for care, yet I couldn’t shake the feeling that there had to be more I could do.

When “Healthy” Still Isn’t Enough
Before all of this, I genuinely thought I was doing everything right. I practiced yoga, worked out regularly, and my husband, Ryan, and I paid close attention to what we ate. I even went vegan for a while, thinking that it was the healthiest choice for my body and for the planet.

Despite my best efforts, I was still dealing with autoimmune-related inflammation, skin issues, and digestive problems.

One of the most frustrating parts of navigating autoimmune health is how incomplete the conversation can feel.

Western medicine excels at diagnostics and acute care, but when it comes to chronic or autoimmune conditions, guidance often stops at symptom management. You’re treated as a collection of isolated issues instead of a connected system.

When I asked my doctor what I could do about an autoimmune condition, the response was essentially, “There’s nothing you can do.” Manage the symptoms. Monitor it. Learn to live with your new normal.

As you can imagine, that answer didn’t sit well with me.

At the same time, I began to notice that parts of the wellness world swung to extremes. They often presented overly simple answers or miracle cures that don’t respect how complex the human body actually is.

I absolutely realized that what works for one body doesn’t work for everybody.

So began my self re-education about health and wellness…

I started unlearning a lot of the wellness “truths” I had consciously and unconsciously absorbed over the years, and I began exploring beyond conventional Western medicine into functional and Eastern approaches. Not as replacements, but as complementary.

I wanted to understand the body as a system. I wanted to understand balance and resilience, and what I learned was how small daily inputs shape long-term well-being.

As part of that process, I started reading scientific studies. Not influencer summaries or marketing blogs, but actual research papers. That’s when I came across a study related to my condition that referenced functional mushrooms, particularly Turkey Tail (Trametes versicolor).

From Consumer to Investigator
At first, I approached medicinal mushrooms the way most people do – as a consumer.

I bought supplements and tinctures, read labels, and listened to anecdotes. But the more I learned, the more I wanted to know.

I wanted to understand how these ingredients were studied, where they came from, and what the research actually showed – and, just as importantly, what it didn’t show.

Turkey Tail was my starting point. I sourced high-quality supplements and took them consistently at a relatively high dose. Over time, I noticed subtle but meaningful improvements.

Nothing dramatic. Nothing overnight. Just a gradual sense that my body was responding.

Now, I want to be clear here. I’m not a doctor, and this isn’t medical advice. This is simply my personal experience. But I’m confident this forest friend played a big role in my healing journey – not as a cure, but as support.

More importantly, functional mushrooms changed how I approached wellness altogether. I stopped chasing quick fixes and started asking better questions.

Why Drinks Made More Sense Than Pills
One thing is clear for sure: I’m not a fan of taking pills and would much prefer getting nutrients through my diet. This is a major reason I had eaten a whole food plant-based diet for so long.

What was new was that I needed to take this supplement daily - and I didn’t like it. I found tinctures instead and learned that high-quality turkey tail extracts made the healing properties more bioavailable - and before long, something I actually began to look forward to.

Drinks made the most sense to me because they can feel so social, ritualistic, and easier to habituate. What we do consistently matters more than what we do occasionally. Sustainable change doesn’t come from extremes. It comes from small, repeatable behaviors that fit into real life.

That idea would eventually shape everything about Sēkwl.

Creating Sēkwl With Intention
When we began talking about building a business, my husband, two best friends, and I first aligned around values. None of us was interested in creating another hype-driven wellness brand. We wanted to build something thoughtful, grounded, and crafted with intention.

That decision guides us today - research leads marketing, not the other way around. That means being conservative with claims, respecting both tradition and science, and being willing to message with restraint when the evidence isn’t there.

What’s Next
In the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing more about how my curiosity for a better way to approach my health not only brought me to functional mushrooms but also encouraged me to take on new challenges – pivoting a career and pursuing a research-based master’s degree program at the University of Cambridge in England.

My education taught me the importance of researching, analyzing, and evaluating. And I took that curiosity and dedication and focused it on the functional mushroom space. It’s what continues to inspire me every day.

Sēkwl didn’t start with a product idea. It evolved over time from a series of events: health scare, curiosity, environmental concern, and then the product idea. I believe strongly that businesses need to do better, and I can’t wait to share more of this journey with you.

- Matthew 🍄❤️