Real Housewives of Dallas star D’Andra Simmons joins Chelsie Overocker from House of Hallmark to talk about how she kept her two businesses, Hard Night Good Morning and Ultimate Living, afloat during Covid-19.
Ultimate Living was originally created by your mother [Dee Simmons] in 1996. Can you tell us more about the company and how you go involved with the business?
“Yes! So my mother is a cancer survivor. She had breast cancer in 1987, the year I was going to college. She has been cancer free. She had a discectomy and after that, she wanted to find out why she became ill.” Simmons explains, “she went on this spiritual journey of not only looking at allopathic medicine but complementary medicines. She then created Ultimate Living International which is a natural health and wellness supplement company. I took that over about two years ago. We have been in business for 25 years and at one time we were making 80 products. I decided let’s go back to our roots and let’s go back to what we do best. Which are proprietary blends that I formulated with my mother.”
It’s great that you took the time and learned about the roots of the company to formulate the best natural products. With Ultimate Living how did you stay aloft during Covid?
“During Covid what I decided to do was go on Instagram live and Facebook live and talk about the research, science, and the knowledge I have gained over 25 years. I also went to naturopathic school and I thought it was really important because a lot of the times you see celebrities attached to products that they really don’t know that much about. The revolution or the product ingredients and it gave me a time during Covid to talk to consumers and talk to people that may be following me for one reason or the other but didn’t really know about my business. It worked, so Ultimate Living has thrived! We just launched a new product called Liver Kidney Bladder because so many people have problems with detoxing after a stressful year of 2020. I had Covid and it’s important to detoxify your three major detoxing organs.”
That’s impressive that you went to naturopathic school and really did your research to make sure you are creating the best supplements for our bodies. Can you walk us through your experience with getting diagnosed with Covid?
“I was shocked that I got Covid.” Simmons explains after her ankle replacement is when she started showing symptoms.“ I must have picked it up in the hospital system at some place, that’s the only thing I can figure out. I left the hospital thinking what do I do? I thought I was doing everything right. I was following the nutritional scientist on how to prevent this virus. I didn’t get it right because it didn’t work for me. Out of all people if you watched Real Housewives and you see my sprays and vitamins and my B-12 shots. I should be the last person.” [laughs]
We’re sorry that you got Covid but after having the virus that must have helped you on how you want to continue to formulate more supplements for our immune systems. What many people don’t realize is that the aftermath of a virus can be the hardest on our bodies.
“My mission is to continue to make nutritional projects that feed the soul, feed the body, and overall wellness that have preventative properties for future diseases. Gives you the fruit and vegetables and oxidants that you need. So that really is my desire and also I have invested interested because I’m the only one in my family that hasn’t had cancer.”
You have an authentic point of view of why you want to stay healthy because not only have you been affected with Covid but your family members have been diagnosed with cancer.
“Viruses are something you can’t really make a vitamin supplement for. A disease is a different thing but a virus is something that replicates and has different gene pathways. There are all kinds of things that happen. There is no supplement that will stop the virus.” Simmons explains,” this year I decided to just streamline, and with streaming that meant taking products out where I don’t need to make vitamin B and vitamin D. There are 50,000 companies making those things. But I do need to make specific formulas that are unique to us.”
That’s a great strategy and you make a good point. When our immune system gets attacked by a virus, how our bodies react is differently. People who are fortunate might only have a virus for a couple of weeks and we are back to normal. While others might suffer from complications that can have a big impact on our health down the road.
Not only is D’Andra formulating specific supplements that are unique to us but she also pays close attention to who she hires. She firmly believes we all can grow together if we have different backgrounds. She welcomes people who come from a different upbringing to be a part of her team.
She encourages women empowerment and purposely hires women who have different religion, political views, and lifestyles. She acknowledges that each woman can bring something unique to the company.
“What I love about this company is every woman that works with me, not for me is very unique in their own way and very different from me. We do discuss all issues that are happening in the world and we don’t agree. But guess what, I get to hear their point of view and that’s what’s amazing. So I’m hoping to add more diversity.”
We commend you for adding more diversity in the workforce and it’s so important to discuss issues that we all don’t agree on but that’s how we learn from each other.
“You learn something from every walk of life and every experience that you have,” Simmons adds.
You also have learned a lot from your second company Hard Night Good Morning. What inspired you to start another business?
“Hard Night Good Morning was developed once again after my mother had cancer. I knew because I was in naturopathic school that the skin was the largest body organ. So I thought it’s really important that she’s careful for what she puts on to her skin as well as what she puts into her body. When you think of aging, aging is obviously on the outside of your body but also on the inside. So we have an internal and external cosmetic. The internal would be the vitamins and the nutrients with the green miracle and the antioxidants and other anti-aging things. It’s very important to add oils to your routine because oils will really help you with aging.”
We agree it’s not only important to have good nutrients that we are putting into our bodies but also using good products on the outside. What do you believe is the best ingredient to put on our skin?
“Aloe Vera is my delivery system and in my opinion, Aloe Vera is a much better delivery system than water. So if you have water as the first ingredient, water evaporates and Aloe penetrates. Now we drink Aloe on the inside of our body to heal. It’s a silent healer. It’s also the healer on the outside of your body. If you only took an Aloe Vera plant and cut the leaf and put it on your skin you’d probably have a really good anti-aging product.”
What is your best-selling product that you would like to highlight?
“My products are extremely effective. I’ve had amazing reviews from people who have tried it. My best products in the line and my most popular would be my eye cream because it has ingredients for dark circles, happiness lines, and wrinkles.”
We will definitely have to try your eye cream. The skin around our eyes is always the first to start aging and it’s important to use a good cream. When our skin is at its best then we feel more confident within ourselves.
Speaking of confidence, De’Andra opens up about her insecurities on The Real Housewives of Dallas and how she is still learning to be more of a confident person.
“I haven’t learned it. I’ll be honest I’m still learning it every day. In fact, I was horrified last night when I saw the episode and I was 30 pounds heavier and that’s all I could focus on. I just knew the entire internet was going to be a picture of my stomach in a bathing suit [laughs] but people aren’t as worried and focused on those things as I am. Women understand and they like when you have imperfections and you say, ‘yeah you know I gained 30 pounds. I’m human. I went through quarantine like everybody else and affected me in a different way.’ But I’m working on that Chelsie and I hope in the next five years I can really get to a place in my life that I’m so confident that people don’t rattle my cage.”
Thanks for being vulnerable about your insecurities and we totally agree that women can relate to other women who aren’t afraid to show their imperfections. We hope you are able to continue growing your confidence throughout the show.
“Being on the show for four years, I’m more confident this year that I’ve ever been so that’s a good thing!”
That’s a great thing! It means you are growing and your audience will be able to connect with you more.
One of your goals for season five is to be able to get in touch with your sensitive side and become more of a forgiving person. All that is put to the test with a few of your interactions with Kary Brittingham. Are there any situations you can recall where you had a conflict with Kary but were able to grow from that experience?
“Definitely! Kary really pushed my buttons this year [laughs] so I was very hurt because I felt it was unfounded that I was called selfish. My hairstylist said, ‘the one thing I say to everybody when they ask me about you is that you’re the most generous person in the world. You open your home, your time, you serve, and do all of these things. You necessarily don’t talk about it. It’s just who you are.’ It really did hurt me and I felt like that wasn’t fair.”
Have there been any other life lessons that you had to learn the hard way with being on the show?
“I have a big problem with my mother and made some bad mistakes and of course, there was too much tequila involved that night [laughs] but I learned from that too. The funny thing is usually you’ve seen me with all of us drinking on Housewives. I really didn’t do that this year and so the one night that I decided not to drink everybody’s like, ‘oh come on it’s a vacation D’Andra let’s party. Let’s have fun.’ I went kind of overboard and my mother was there and we got into a fight. But I made serious mistakes, it was hard but it was a life lesson.”
Between Kary and your mom were you able to go back to your goal and be forgiving?
“It was a lesson that I learned on my side asking for forgiveness on her side and how do we move forward? How we navigate our relationship after and at that moment. So there’s gonna be people probably upset about what happened but I hope people will give me some grace and room for improving and seeing that I’ve learned lessons.”
We are looking forward to watching your journey unfold on The Real Housewives of Dallas. Make sure you all tune in on Tuesday nights at 9/8 c on Bravo.
Follow De’Andra on Instagram and Twitter @dandrasimmons to keep up with The Real Housewives of Dallas and her two businesses; Ultimate Living and Hard Night Good Morning.
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Twitter:
“Chelsie I love Hallmark..that’s my dream is to move on from Housewives to Hallmark [laughs] putting it out in the universe.”
It’s out there in the universe and we would love to see you on Hallmark someday. Fingers crossed.
Watch the full interview here:
