Meet Jewell Swetman | Sweet Fuel Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jewell Swetman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jewell, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Risk is scary. Taking risks and getting out of my comfort zone has made the biggest impact on my life. I took a big risk when I applied for my first “real” job. I had no experience and asked the manager to take a chance on me, I told her I would learn and grow with the company. She hired me, that NEVER happens! I grew so much at that job and am so grateful for the opportunity but I am so proud of my past self for having enough confidence to speak up about the potential I knew I had deep down. I took another huge risk when I decided to leave that same job of 10 years to pursue my own company. I left comfort and safety for an unpredictable path of learning and growing and a lot of unknowns. I had become really good at my previous job, and decided I would leave something I excelled at already to start to learn something completely new. I told myself I would be an expert again, eventually. Now I have employees, I have a brand, I have new knowledge, confidence and understanding that I couldn’t have predicted.

What should our readers know about your business?
I come from an amazing community. We have created a culture that supports creativity, strives to bring good people together, and aims to create a healthy environment for everyone. When you are surrounded by health conscious people, and your talent revolves around making yummy food, you naturally start a protein bar company right? I came from a family that was not educated about healthy eating, we ate what tasted good and we ate what was easy. I was very overweight all throughout my childhood into my early 20’s. I tried to lose weight so many times and failed over and over again. In my mid 20’s, I started to have health issues and they couldn’t figure out what it was. I was in pain for over a year, I needed to figure it out.
I started to make small habitual changes, and eventually got medical answers. I had made so many small changes over time, before I knew it I had dropped a significant amount of weight. I finally felt like I had what it takes to get healthier and today I have lost over 100lbs naturally through diet and exercise.
I have always loved baking and cooking, I found out how to make some of my favorite meals in a healthier way. I also discovered new foods and recipes that I fell in love with. Eventually I became a nutrition coach and a trainer. I had resources to help others do the same. After becoming more and more busy, I found myself relying on protein bars and quick snacks and realized how many just don’t taste good at all or are pumped full of terrible ingredients or are simply unbalanced in macro nutrients.
I decided I could do better and started creating protein bars and selling them at my gym on the weekends. I experimented recipes, some did well some were epic failures. Now Sweet Fuel by Jewell is a brand and I hope to share my protein bars and future products with everyone!
One of my first big challenges was learning about food safety and shelf life. I had never made a product to be packaged and sold before, food is tricky. Learning about water content in food was huge! I remember trying to ship a product to a family member to see how they travel in the mail, let’s just say that it was not good! Now through trial and error and proper packaging, we have a refrigerated product that does well outside of the fridge for about a week but will stay fresh for months in the refrigerator!
Another huge challenge was packaging, I have learned that even when you look over a design, you almost always miss something. Whether its a typo, or the wrong barcode, or it’s missing some element. It takes time to perfect.
I want the world to know that Sweet Fuel holds our ingredients in our products to a high standard, we make products with your health in mind. We want to fuel the world through good food that tastes amazing. Healthy food made with clean ingredients without sacrificing taste and time!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live in Ventura, CA. I would first take them to a workout with me at Persistence Culture, then we would head to Harvest Cafe to get a post-workout protein smoothie. We could stroll downtown Ventura and check out the shops like Tiki Girl, Plum boutique, Buffalo exchange and the Findings Market as well as the fun thrift stores scattered up and down mainstreet.
We would get coffee at Humblemaker, head to the beach with a picnic and play some beach volleyball.
Head up to Santa Barbara on the train for some drinks in the Funkzone and catch dinner at Brophy Bros on the pier.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My partner, Joseph Kelly. Thank you for supporting me, and being there for me through this crazy and fun journey. We still have so much to do!

Website: www.getsweetfuel.com

Instagram: @getsweetfuel

Facebook: Sweet Fuel