Sierra Brask, owner of The Well Juicery, launched her business after enduring a complicated personal health journey. The mother of two and a native resident of Bozeman, Brask learned food is an integral part of healing.
A neon pink sign catches my eye upon arriving at The Well Juicery: Eat Well. Live Well. Be Well. It’s the first time I’ve been here since the opening weekend in November 2021, when I bellied up to the counter with other locals who were equally excited to taste free samples of vibrant juices, smoothies, and soups.
Owner Sierra Brask is speaking with a customer as I enter— someone it seems she knows well—and I see her smile from beneath her black baseball cap. As I wait for them to wrap up their interaction, I hear her say, “It was so nice to meet you. Thanks for coming in.” Their connection had, in fact, just begun today, and I would soon learn that these intimate, personal relationships are at the forefront of Brask’s mission and fulfillment as a new business owner. We sit down at a booth near the south entrance of the café and start building our own connection, a conversation as easy and natural as would be with a lifelong friend.
Born and raised in Bozeman, Brask, 32, started experiencing inexplicable health complications when she was a freshman in high school. She was a star soccer player, on track to play in college, but as her health deteriorated her options narrowed. Brask sat out her entire senior season because she was having problems with her leg muscles. “They felt like they were in concrete slabs,” she says. As a student, she remembers thinking she wouldn’t graduate because the brain fog had gotten so thick that retaining information long enough
to pass a test became difficult. From ages 17 to 23, she navigated nursing school at Texas Christian University, a high-speed job in finance, and the death of several close family members, all while continuing to search for answers for why she felt so unwell. Diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, chronic fatigue syndrome, restless leg syndrome, and chronic stress, Brask was put on steroids, IVs, thyroid medicine, muscle medications, and more. Some doctors suggested her symptoms were simply psychological, a deep wound from navigating a childhood with divorced parents, perhaps.
None of these diagnoses felt right to Brask, but she continued living the way she always had: pushing through the discomfort and packing in the calories through fast food, milkshakes, and the standard American fare that she was raised on. A naturally tall, thin young woman, she appeared healthy, which made it even harder for her condition to be taken seriously. “Constitutionally, I have a very strong body and mind, so I kept going, but I wasn’t thriving by any stretch of the imagination,” she says. “I was eating a lot, but nutritionally I was starving to death.”
A TIME FOR CHANGE
Eventually, her body gave out on a trip to Europe in 2017—she couldn’t walk or complete her sentences, and she knew it was time to make major changes if she wanted to survive. What followed were several more years of naturopathic doctors, Lyme disease specialists, nutritionists, heavy metal detoxes, intravenous vitamin C, ozone therapy, saunas, lymphatic drainage, biological dentists, suitcases of supplements, health coaching, and restrictive diets that cut out many things like gluten, dairy, sugar, and carbs.
“I fully made my body a science experiment,” Brask says. “I tried everything, learning a little bit with each new treatment or modality, but nothing felt like the golden ticket— until I started focusing on food as medicine.”
After stumbling across Anthony William’s book, Medical Medium: Secrets Behind Chronic and Mystery Illness and How to Finally Heal, she began flooding her body with fruits and vegetables: 64 ounces of cold-pressed juices per day plus smoothies, lemon water, salads, and herbs. Miraculously, albeit slowly, her vitality returned.
“When I stopped trying to cut things out of my diet and instead focused on adding in nutrient-packed foods, flushing out toxins, and hydrating on a cellular level, my health really shifted. I’ve learned that food is our strongest ally in helping our bodies heal themselves, and when we get into a restrictive and constricted state, our body holds onto chemicals and viruses, perpetuating the stress and inflammation cycles.”
At age 27, Brask underwent surgery to remove the breast implants that she’d had for six years, a decision that catapulted her to a new level of well-being, as the silicon was poisoning her already struggling body from the inside out. “As women, we are incredibly susceptible to the beauty standards we see in media and entertainment, and we’re not told the dangers—direct and indirect—of chasing that image,” Brask says. “I grew up really identifying with whether people liked me and whether others thought I looked good enough or pretty enough. Now, none of that matters to me. It’s so freeing to embrace my scars and my body the way it is. What does matter is how I feel on a daily basis and making decisions that support my health on a mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical level.”
Six months after her surgery, Brask became pregnant with her first child, a miracle she didn’t imagine would come easily after all she had been through. It was around that time that she started thinking she had been put through this journey for a reason, so she began brainstorming how to help others who might be struggling.
Brask used to dream of a place where she could go to buy fresh juices, a café where she trusted the ingredients to be organic and fresh and provide an easy way to get nutrients to her cells. Those who have incorporated juicing into their health regimens understand that it’s a big undertaking, especially for people who are already fatigued and low on energy.
“I kept waiting for something like this to pop up in Bozeman’s growing restaurant scene, but it never did,” Brask says. “So, I figured I’d open one myself. That’s how The Well was born.”
PAYING IT FORWARD
The Well Juicery is a 22-seat brightly lit organic café that sits on the corner of Valley Commons Drive. Pothos, snake plants, and ferns line the wooden shelves above the booths, and muted, earthy design tones create a crisp and clean atmosphere. The shop’s top-of-the-line Goodnature cold-pressed juicer runs nearly every day, packing three to five pounds of produce into each 16-ounce bottle, and an open-faced refrigerator displays dozens of glass bottles in greens, pinks, yellows, and oranges.
Staple juices include Be Bold: cucumber, kale, spinach, apple, and jalapeño; Party Punch: pineapple, apple, lemon, and chia seeds; and the classic Celery Juice. Made-to-order smoothies are filled with organic fruit and super foods such as wild blueberries, dates, bananas, dragon fruit, cacao powder, coconut milk, and hemp seeds. The café also offers salads, daily soups, overnight oats, hot drinks, protein balls, chocolate almond butter cups, and other delicious snack items. “Every single ingredient is organic and always will be,” says Brask. “I’m committed to sourcing the most nutrient-dense produce I can find and using as many local products as possible during Montana’s growing season. Quality is the top priority.”
Brask cherishes the opportunity to meet customers and hear their stories; many of them open up about their own health journeys while they’re shopping or checking out at the register. “The feedback we’ve gotten from the community has been so positive, and every day I’m meeting like-minded people who are openly thankful and excited that we are helping to make nutrition quick and easy,” she says, adding that over half of her customers come in once a week. “That means they’re building this food into their routine.”
With no formal training in restaurants or entrepreneurship, Brask has learned on-the- fly about branding, costs, sourcing, design and building, workflow and hiring, and more. She credits her husband and high school sweetheart for his unwavering support throughout her personal health journey and now in this new business venture. “He has taught me what it means to love someone through all phases of life,” Brask says. “He loved me as a young party girl and now as a mom of two and this new health-nut version of me. His journey looks much different than mine, but he has been with me every step of the way, and that’s a true gift.”
FINDING BALANCE
For Brask, health is a living, breathing, fluid state of being that she chooses to commit to each day. It hasn’t been easy opening a business and raising two young children. The Well is truly a passion project all her own, and her body is always communicating what it needs as life ebbs and flows.
As for what she hopes this new business can bring to her beloved Bozeman community: “I want people to feel great about what they’re putting into their bodies and realize that food can be medicine, both preventative and a means of healing,” she says. “I also want this place to empower people to take health into their own hands and make nutrient-rich meals at home. Sometimes, all it takes is for one seed to be planted and that seed can grow into an entirely different lifestyle that serves you better than you imagined.”
