“Balls in the Air with Charlie Rymer” Podcast Episode 34: Staying Hydrated with Biolyte CEO Jesslyn Rollins

Summertime is here, and the key to playing great golf is staying hydrated! We all know how important it is, including Charlie. In this podcast, he catches up with Biolyte CEO Jesslyn Rollins to talk about “the IV in a bottle,” how it started, and how it can help you during your round of golf.

You can also enter a special sweepstakes for your chance to win a Myrtle Beach golf trip courtesy of Biolyte by clicking here!

 

Balls In The Air Podcast · Ep. 34: Staying Hydrated with Biolyte CEO, Jesslyn Rollins

 

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Charlie Rymer (00:08):

Hi, and welcome in to the Charlie Rymer Podcast. I’m your, most of the time, friendly host, especially friendly today, Charlie Rymer, and we’re going to talk hydration today, not the kind of hydration you do on a Friday night but the kind of hydration you need to do all the time, especially in the summertime when you’re getting out on the golf course, you’re playing golf in the heat of the day. And we’re thrilled to be joined by Jesslyn Rollins who is the CEO of Biolyte, which has a super cool product, sometimes referred to as IV in a bottle. Jesslyn, welcome to the show.

Jesslyn Rollins (00:43):

Thank you for having me, Charlie. I’m excited to be here.

Charlie Rymer (00:46):

My only issue, Jesslyn, I’m a Georgia Tech grad. I know you’re a proud Georgia grad and, as long as we don’t talk about football, we can talk about whatever it is you want to talk about.

Jesslyn Rollins (00:57):

I think the interview’s over.

Charlie Rymer (01:01):

[inaudible 00:01:01] I.

Jesslyn Rollins (01:01):

It’s been really nice to meet you, Charlie.

Charlie Rymer (01:04):

Even though I’m a Georgia Tech grad, I lived in Athens for about 10 years. I love Athens, but it’s just so hard for me to pull for the University of Georgia, but I think you guys are doing just fine without my support, for sure. What a great school and not only academic side but with the football program as well. I know that pulls everybody together, and I know you got to be proud of your school.

Jesslyn Rollins (01:26):

I am extremely proud of my school right now. Just give us a year to gloat, just give us the year.

Charlie Rymer (01:35):

Okay. You got it.

Jesslyn Rollins (01:35):

We’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting. And I mean, oh my God, when we kept losing in the National Championship, I couldn’t go to work. I literally would have to take the day off. So just give us this year to gloat and bark at you and then we can start over-

Charlie Rymer (01:55):

I understand.

Jesslyn Rollins (01:55):

…work it out.

Charlie Rymer (01:56):

Maybe we’ll catch you guys sleeping one November. That Georgia Tech Georgia game, I’ve gone to a lot of them and only a few of them have gone my way, but I gloated for a year after the occasional win, so we’ll give you one year to gloat.

Jesslyn Rollins (02:10):

Thank you, much appreciated.

Charlie Rymer (02:13):

All right. Let’s talk about Biolyte. Your dad is an anesthesiologist, and this is a product that he developed. Is that correct?

Jesslyn Rollins (02:22):

Yes.

Charlie Rymer (02:23):

So tell me about the product. There’s so much in the hydration space now, and I know how important hydration is both when I was a PGA Tour professional. In fact, when I was a kid, it was like, “Oh, you don’t want to over hydrate. You’ll get to cramps.” And they would give us salt tablets, which is the worst thing to do and don’t drink water. And it was crazy and, of course, I always had dealt with cramps. And then the other thing is I had a ton of kidney stones.

Jesslyn Rollins (02:52):

Because you were taking all those salt packets and no water.

Charlie Rymer (02:54):

Right. Exactly. And I’m telling you what, a kidney stone is not much fun. And my youngest son was in the football program at the University of Missouri, and they would hydration test, or I guess that’s what they call it, hydration test the entire football team every day. And if you weren’t properly hydrated, they would call you out in front of the whole team. And so they would have them pushing liquids, pushing liquids. And for my son, I know water just didn’t do it. He had to have something added in there because just the water, it’s almost like it doesn’t stick. It doesn’t do enough. So I know that a product like Biolyte really does what it’s supposed to do which is get you properly hydrated. And I know just how important it is, but I think a lot of people may not understand it.

Jesslyn Rollins (03:36):

Yeah. Well, that’s what I’m here to do is help people understand it. So to give a little bit of background, so yes, my dad is an anesthesiologist and pain specialist. My mom had breast cancer a few years ago. And when she was going through her chemo treatments, she was extremely dehydrated, very nauseous, very dehydrated. And she kept having to get IV bags to keep up with chemo treatments. And my family was trying everything, sports drinks, children’s re-hydration products, electrolyte powders, and nothing was working. So when my family was really struggling to keep mom hydrated, my dad and my oldest sister, Sarah, joined forces and wanted to create a product that put the IV bag in a bottle. And that’s why Biolyte, the IV in a bottle, the first recovery drink with the same amount of electrolytes as an IV bag, was born. So to explain what that means, Biolyte helps relieve headache, fatigue, and nausea due to dehydration. And that can come from being outside in this hot Georgia heat. It can come from having one too many alcoholic beverages. It can come from coming through cancer. It can come from the golf course. It can come from so many different avenues, not just the medical side. And that’s what we’re trying to do is help people feel better when they’re putting themselves into potential states of dehydration.

Charlie Rymer (05:13):

You really caught my attention. I’m sorry that your mom has had to battle cancer. I didn’t tell you, I’m actually dealing with colon cancer right now, and I’m on chemotherapy and it is brutal. I don’t know any other way to put it and it’s brutal. And until you mentioned it, I hadn’t thought, because I’m dealing with nausea. Not currently, I’m on the meds for it, but the way you feel is absolutely horrible. And I’m going to reevaluate. I’ve got an infusion coming up next week. My prognosis is great, but I’ve got to get through a total of three months of chemo, but I’m going to really evaluate my hydration because when you’re nauseous, it’s hard to find something that tastes right and you can get down and keep down. But I’m certainly going to take a look at that. And I didn’t realize, and I’m glad you brought it up, how important hydration is, because my oncologist hasn’t brought it up. So I’m definitely going to look into the product for-

Jesslyn Rollins (06:09):

I’m going to-

Charlie Rymer (06:10):

…the infusion I have coming up. I’m not hawking getting free product, but I’d love to try it.

Jesslyn Rollins (06:15):

I legitimately just pulled out my pencil to take a note to send you some.

Charlie Rymer (06:19):

Yeah, I-

Jesslyn Rollins (06:21):

I’ll send you all four flavors. You can try them, see which one you like the best.

Charlie Rymer (06:24):

Well, I hydrate well, in particular, the summertime, living in the Myrtle Beach area, getting out on the golf course. And if you wait till you get out there to hydrate, I know that’s too late. You got to get hydrated before you get out on the golf course. And it just seems like when you get finished with a round, I don’t know, you’re less stressed. You have more energy. To me, it’s wearing the brim cap, the sunscreen, some sunglasses, proper hydration, and you have a round of golf and it’s 90, 92 degrees and there’s some humidity up, a lot of people like it. It’s a little hot for me, but I still get out and do it because I love the game and love playing at the beach. But without the hydration, it’s hard to get much done that night after a round of golf.

Jesslyn Rollins (07:15):

It wears you out. You mix it, you mix a sport, and sunlight maybe even a couple of… I don’t know if you’re with your friends when you’re playing golf, but maybe a couple of beers or drinks, that is a recipe for severe dehydration right there. And that’s why you feel crummy or like, “I feel like I’ve been kicked in the stomach here. What’s going on?”

Charlie Rymer (07:39):

Yeah. And I know a lot of people, especially when they come to the beach, they’ll have a few too many beers. And yeah, I’m 54 now. That hangover feeling is the worst, but along with taking, for me, it’s always a little bit Advil if I need to… I try not to over enjoy myself very much… but having something that very quickly gets you feeling back to normal on a tough morning makes that whole vacation seem to go a little bit better or the weekend go a little bit better.

Jesslyn Rollins (08:09):

Well, and that’s the thing, you don’t even have to over indulge, have one too many. You might just have a glass of wine or a beer. My dad calls it the other side of 25. Once you hit that point, things just don’t work as well. You don’t feel as well. And that’s where Biolyte comes in to help you feel your best, especially when you mix sunlight, exercise, and alcohol.

Charlie Rymer (08:41):

Talk to me a little bit about the contents of the product in terms of what’s in there, in terms of electrolytes, and then a lot of people when they see new drinks, they just think it’s sugary. “I’m going to take on 2,000 calories if I drink that.” So talk to me a little bit about the details of what’s actually in the product, if you can.

Jesslyn Rollins (09:02):

Yeah, I definitely can. I should not be in my position if I can’t.

Charlie Rymer (09:07):

Well, I don’t want to get in any trademark secrets. That was why I-

Jesslyn Rollins (09:10):

Oh no, no, no, you’re fine, you’re fine. Okay, so electrolyte profile. So Biolyte has as many electrolytes as an IV bag. What that translates to is you would have to drink close to seven sports drinks to equal one bottle of Biolyte, and it’s 16 ounces. And what that translates to on the children’s re-hydration product profile, you would have to drink a jug and a half of the leading children’s re-hydration products to equal one bottle of Biolyte. And what that translates to on an electrolyte powder standpoint, you would have to drink two of those powder packets to equal one bottle of Biolyte. Biolyte is very concentrated, and it is made to help you feel better. Now, that’s the electrolyte profile, but dad added other ingredients in Biolyte that help you feel better, help relieve headache, help relieve nausea, fatigue when you’re dehydrated. Some of those ingredients help clean out the liver. We’ve got three ingredients that help clean out the liver. Charlie, you mentioned going through chemo. Your liver is trying to push out toxins.

Charlie Rymer (10:30):

And it feels like it.

Jesslyn Rollins (10:30):

And it feels like it. And chemo is essentially poison. So it’s trying to push out all the bad stuff. And the three ingredients that help clean out the liver can help with that, can help with any type of bad stuff that goes into your liver. Too much alcohol, too much pesticides, whatever, it can help with that. And then you’ve got the other ingredients help with nausea, ginger root. I don’t know if your mom, whenever you got sick, told you to drink ginger ale. Mine was go to Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup, ginger ale, and some saltine crackers. Biolyte has ginger root in it. And-

Charlie Rymer (11:13):

Let me just stop you for a second there because I believe that, especially going through the chemo right now, my tastes have changed, and what my body tells me I want to consume is very different than before I went on the chemo. And it’s almost like my body a few times has said, “Get some ginger.” So I told my wife, I said, “Get some ginger ale and some ginger snaps.” And sometimes in the afternoon, when I know I need to eat something, I go for the ginger ale, and then I’ll grab a ginger snap or something. So, I mean, that really is a key ingredient. My body’s yelling at me to go get some ginger. And I know, with the nausea, that’s something that’s really, really effective.

Jesslyn Rollins (11:57):

No. And I remember my mom saying the same thing. Your taste buds completely change and hot and cold is a weird thing as well.

Charlie Rymer (12:08):

You can’t do anything colder than room temperature.

Jesslyn Rollins (12:10):

And spicy… My mom likes salsa. It was just out of the question when she was going through chemo. Yeah. It’s just really tough. And here’s the thing, Charlie, when I do send you the Biolyte and if you’re like, “You know what, I’m not really like digging these flavors, all the things,” mix it with water.

Charlie Rymer (12:31):

Yeah, [inaudible 00:12:33]-

Jesslyn Rollins (12:33):

That will not only give you the electrolytes and the ginger and the nausea and the other ingredients, it’ll also keep up with the hydration as well. So just cut it… because I don’t know where you are on flavors and stuff, so know that you can do that.

Charlie Rymer (12:52):

Yeah. You mentioned four flavors. What are those four flavors?

Jesslyn Rollins (12:57):

So the four flavors are citrus, which tastes like a saltier lemon lime sports drink. That was the original flavor. All Biolyte is going to be salty, but citrus is the saltiest. Berry is raspberry strawberry. That’s the sweetest flavor profile. That’s our number-one seller currently. And you’ve got tropical, which is like a flavorful beach smoothie, more like a Piña colada profile. It’s got coconut, mango, and pineapple, so great for down at the beach, great for golf down at the beach, all that good stuff. And the last flavor, which we’re thinking is going to overtake berry, is melon. So here in the south, I don’t know if your family ever put salt on watermelon-

Charlie Rymer (13:49):

Yeah. Sometimes.

Jesslyn Rollins (13:51):

…because Biolyte is salty, the melon mixes super well-

Charlie Rymer (13:55):

Oh, wow, that’s great.

Jesslyn Rollins (13:56):

…with salt. I’ll send you all four. You’ll get to try them.

Charlie Rymer (13:59):

Oh, I’d love to try it, and it sounds like that would help me a ton right now. I’d appreciate getting a shot at trying it. What I’m hearing you say is it’s highly concentrated. There’s a lot packed in there. Is there an issue with on a hot day of having too much of the Biolyte? I mean, do you recommend, “Hey, one or two of these a day and then drink water the rest of the time,” or does your body flush out what it doesn’t need?

Jesslyn Rollins (14:28):

So we recommend no more than three a day, simply just because it’s not needed. Biolyte was not meant to have with your cereal or your sandwich or your something. There is a purpose behind the product, so it’s just not necessary to have more than three.

Charlie Rymer (14:49):

Mm-hmm. I can remember when I covered a lot of live golf, I went to Congressional in Washington, DC, and I had a morning show and Tiger Woods teed off about 10 o’clock. My morning show was over at 9:00. It gets really hot in DC. And it’s so hot up there, it’s unbelievable, but I walked 18 holes with Tiger, and he sweats as much as any human I’ve ever seen in my life, more than me, and I sweat a lot. And you couldn’t say it, but I can. The product that he would use on the golf course is Pedialyte, the children’s hydration product. And I’m telling you, he had at least 12 full bottles of that during the round. And it sounds to me like if you’re someone who, especially walking 18 holes, competing on the PGA Tour, getting what you need in a couple of bottles, and then you just have a little bit of water here and there, that sounds like a lot better day to me than guzzling 12 sports drinks.

Jesslyn Rollins (15:49):

Barf, God. So here’s the thing, do you have his number, because I can change his world right now?

Charlie Rymer (16:00):

No-

Jesslyn Rollins (16:03):

But so, yes-

Charlie Rymer (16:05):

…he yells at me when he sees me. And normally, it’s not anything flattering, which I take is a compliment, but no, I don’t have his number.

Jesslyn Rollins (16:12):

Well, and Charlie, here’s the thing, I was talking about the average individual. I’m not talking about a professional athlete that is doing 18 holes or even more than that. That’s where, for the average person, we just don’t recommend three a day because it’s just not needed. But even still, even in that environment, Biolyte is so concentrated that you just don’t need as much as you do other products because it is literally a better product than those products. You don’t need as much.

Charlie Rymer (16:50):

One more thing I wanted to ask you about the product and its uses. I’m fortunate that I haven’t struggled with it, but my youngest son had debilitating migraines and that on the top of the list of things to do for migraines is hydration. And I learned a lot when he went through it. And I know this isn’t a medical product, but have you found that folks that struggle with headaches that this is something that can be effective for them as well?

Jesslyn Rollins (17:22):

Absolutely. I mean, you can go to our Amazon reviews or Facebook reviews, just comments, and that is… Biolyte helping with headaches has… We’ve never done any type of science behind it. There’s no study or anything. It’s simply what customers are telling us. And that is something that I did not anticipate. I didn’t anticipate for Biolyte to help with headaches, and I definitely didn’t anticipate for that… This is very different, but I have a bunch of friends that have recently had babies and they’re breastfeeding, and Biolyte has helped with milk production because it’s so hydrating. It’s almost like light bulb, but those two things I did not anticipate when I took the job.

Charlie Rymer (18:13):

Hmm, it just shows how important hydration, in general, is.

Jesslyn Rollins (18:16):

Yeah. And proper hydration, not just any liquid.

Charlie Rymer (18:21):

Right. Well, Jesslyn, I can’t wait to try the product. What’s the best place for folks to go to find Biolyte right now?

Jesslyn Rollins (18:33):

So I am very proud to say that we are in over 15,000 locations right now.

Charlie Rymer (18:40):

Hmm, that’s the best you can do.

Jesslyn Rollins (18:41):

You can go to-

Charlie Rymer (18:41):

That’s the best you got.

Jesslyn Rollins (18:43):

I know, right? Well, and to be honest with you, VP of sales, he’s thinking that right now. That’s why he’s really good at his job. So we are in Publix, Kroger, QT, Racetrack, Angles, a ton of independent pharmacies, a ton of independent convenience stores, at grocery stores, things like that. And if you can’t find it, then you can… Oh, and Lowes Foods, because I know you’re in the Carolinas, but if you can’t find it, for whatever reason, you can always go to Amazon.

Charlie Rymer (19:25):

Well, I know you’re excited about the product. Congratulations on the success of it. I know it’s an important product, especially for the audience of this show, which is primarily golfers. This time of year, even if you’re up north and it’s a cool day, you got to hydrate because you’re going to be going through the hydration that you’ve got. It’s really important. I think you’ll play better golf if you’re hydrated. You’ll function better. You’ll be less grumpy if you [inaudible 00:19:52]-

Jesslyn Rollins (19:52):

Yeah, I tell that to my husband all the time. He’s the sweetest, grumpy man you’ve ever met, and I’m always asking him, I’m like, “I bet you’re dehydrated. I bet you’re dehydrated.”

Charlie Rymer (20:04):

Probably is. I think most-

Jesslyn Rollins (20:05):

“And you slept. Are you dehydrated or just [inaudible 00:20:10] babies?”

Charlie Rymer (20:10):

I think most people just don’t place importance that they need to on hydration. And a lot of times they’re grumpy and they don’t realize why they’re grumpy or they feel bad, and it’s just because they don’t have enough fluid in the system.

Jesslyn Rollins (20:23):

Well, and that’s where Biolyte comes in. That’s why we say Biolyte helps relieve headache, fatigue, and nausea due to severe dehydration because it’s when you’re in that state of need, we can really help out. When you’re grumpy and you can’t put on why, give Biolyte a try.

Charlie Rymer (20:43):

Well, that’s a great place to end. Jesslyn Rollins’ the CEO of Biolyte. Appreciate your time. I know it’s a great product. I’m looking forward to giving it a shot myself, and I know thousands and thousands and thousands of people are real happy with it right now. Thank you very much, Jesslyn.

Jesslyn Rollins (20:59):

Thank you so much for having me and best of luck. I know you’re going to beat cancer’s butt, but best-

Charlie Rymer (21:05):

Oh, [inaudible 00:21:06]-

Jesslyn Rollins (21:05):

…luck with those tough chemo treatments.

Charlie Rymer (21:07):

We got it. There’s no other choice, so appreciate it. Thank you, Jesslyn.

Jesslyn Rollins (21:11):

Absolutely. Thank you.