Inspiring Conversations with Mrs. Vicius

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Mrs. Vicius.

Hi Mrs. Vicius, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
My name is Mrs. Vicius. I am a mother, wife, business owner and advocate. I was born and raised in metro Detroit.

I graduated from Central Michigan University with B.S. in Journalism and a minor in advertising. I am the founder of Mrs. Vicius, a plant medicine-focused integrative wellness service. We help people find realistic ways how to replace their pharmaceuticals with plant medicine alternatives.

Let me tell you about my story. I was diagnosed with major depression and suffered from postpartum depression in 2017. My husband and I suffered back-to-back pregnancy loss in 2015 and 2016. I finally gave birth to my firstborn child in 2017. I should have been over the moon with joy and excitement,

Instead, I became extremely paranoid, my anxiety increased to fear, and it soon became burdensome. I didn’t want other people touching me or my baby. I had a severe fear of germs and sickness. I hate to say this now, but I didn’t even like my husband holding our baby. I forbid all family members from holding her for fear of germs.

It got to the point where I didn’t leave my house for months, I was almost 60 pounds heavier than I currently am today. I was lost. Disconnected from community, alone and nursing a newborn by myself. I was miserable. My husband recognized that I was completely drowning. I thank G*d for a partner who saw me, and tried his best to help me. We both agreed that I needed to seek outside help.

So I did what any other middle class, college graduate, metro Detroit born and raised suburban wife would do, and I told my doctors about the paranoia, the anxiety, the sleeplessness, the suicidal ideations. My doctor ended up prescribing me a few different types of antidepressants and anxiety medications.

I started to feel like a shell of myself. The medication made me feel like I was just an observer in my own life. Unable to fully express anything. I was still having suicidal ideations, I was still having anger outbursts, I was still breaking out in tears over trivial things, like my husband not putting the cap on the toothpaste… I had no one else to take my anger out on – an anger that truly came from inside. I was leaking my negativity on him the most. So, we went back to my doctor.

I had treatment-resistant depression. I was almost like a robot after a year of trying different prescriptions to no avail, my husband approached me again and this time, suggested giving natural remedies a try. that’s when I discovered the ability to use naturally occurring psilocybin mushrooms in a microdose form to combat my anxiety and depression.

John Hopkins University was doing a very public study using psilocybin mushrooms at the time, from using them for smoking cessation to eating disorders and anxiety and depression. The details of the studies were available on their website for free. I began to follow their work and soon discovered many other platforms and leaders in the psychedelic science space. I used their suggestions and created my own micro-dosing schedule.

By Fall of 2018, I had been microdosing on and off for about nine months. Then one day, I realized wow – I’m not having episodes anymore. I had to tell others about my experience. I started using my social media platform to show other mothers and just the world how much mushrooms had saved my life. Some people LOVED me showing this truth, other threatened to call CPS on me and trolled my socials with death threats, racist names, and other not so nice things. My social pages have been deleted 10 times!!

People have paid to have my page banned! But I continue to press on, because people need to see the truth: that regular mom and regular people with an integration plan CAN use plants to heal themselves. I am just the messenger. Slowly, I began to integrate the use of many other plants, mushrooms, and herbs into my daily wellness routine and shared this with my social world as well.

I then began attending cultivation courses, meeting other members in the space and joined Decriminalize Nature Michigan. I dove in head first, advocating, speaking, educating and holding space for others in metro Detroit. DNMI successfully decriminalized Ann Arbor and Detroit in 2021. I later started the chapter Decriminalize Nature Hazel Park and we successfully decriminalized on 3/22/22. Since then Ferndale and Ypsilanti have also passed decriminalization resolutions.

Since 2022, I have been traveling the US speaking and advocating for ALL plants. I won 1st place in the 2021 Entheofest Cup, for the microdosing category. I also placed 15th/64 in the Oakland Hyphae Cup in 2021. I’ve spoken on dozens of panels, presented at many conferences, including the Detroit Psychedelic Conference in 2022, The Miami Entheoplex Conference in 2023, The Oakland Hyphae Conference in 2023, The Denver Convergence Conference in 2022, and have attended many meet-ups, pop-ups, classes, etc. Over the years in the space.

The Mrs. Vicius brand has a product line of holistic mushroom infused products that include vegan gummies, herbal teas, capsules, dark cacao chocolates and other confectioneries. The product line includes lionsmane, Cordyceps, Reishi, turkey tail, chaga, tremella and other seasonal mushrooms.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The biggest challenges I’ve had would be funding. Although we have had lot of success in our small market, my goal is to bring Mrs. V to a broader audience with a retail front. In order to do that, more professional packaging is needed, more money for sales trips are needed, more marketing materials are needed. It takes money to make money!

The second struggle has been overcoming imposter syndrome! Sometimes, I actually believe my haters (for just a sec.), and it shakes me out. But I’ve worked hard to get here. I always try to maintain my inner G by following my own integration steps!

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Mrs. Vicius is known for infused mushroom products such as Teas, Gummies, dark chocolates, and capsules. Mushrooms include turkey tail, lionsmane, Reishi, chaga, Cordyceps and a plethora of herbs and other naturally occurring plants.

All of our products are vegan and gluten free. All of our mushrooms are sourced from Michigan foragers and cultivators. I also do Tarot Card readings, future readings, crystal energy healing, and ancestral work.

Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
If you are looking for a mentor, I suggest attending their speaking engagements, conferences and public opportunities to engage. Join their public platforms and engage with them if you can.

Also, realize that mentors are people too, and they may not have one on one time for you, but you can still benefit from their work. You can join groups and attend meetings that are related to your speciality and possibly even a meet a mentor in those spaces as well.

Contact Info:

• Website: Mrsvicius.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrs_vicius_/