Jade Nikaylah Built Medula for an Overstimulated World
The model and designer on building a functional mushroom brand shaped by overstimulation and lived experience.
Jade Nikaylah arrived in New York City in 2019, the way many ambitious twenty-somethings do: freshly graduated and ready to hustle. Fresh out of college, she signed with her first modeling agency and, within months, landed major campaigns with brands like Gap, Ralph Lauren, and Saks. The work came fast and often — and so did the pressure.
Photo credit: Colville Heskey
“I had a lot of fire and drive to just be signed and get out of my hometown,” she shares.
New York City rewarded that pace. Days were filled with castings, creative work, and long hours on the computer. Life became a series of constant momentum. Even the practices she leaned on, like meditation, journaling, and visualization, stopped feeling effective.
Nikaylah was balancing full-time modeling with design work for clients, and the overstimulation began to show up physically.
At the time, Nikaylah was vegan and deeply committed to what she believed was a disciplined approach to health. She avoided white sugar, cooked from scratch, and followed a diet that many would associate with peak wellness. Still, it didn’t resolve what she was experiencing.
Photo credit: Colville Heskey
“I learned that it was actually more of a mental thing,” she says. “And when I started to get into herbs and studying herbs and adaptogens, I learned that it’s a tool. It can’t solve everything.”
The real change didn’t come until she left the city.
Stepping away from the Big Apple forced a pause she hadn’t allowed herself before. Without the constant motion, she began paying closer attention to how her body responded to food, stress, and rest. She started researching nutrients more in-depth, adding functional mushrooms to her routine, and slowly reintroducing eggs, fish, and dairy.
“That kind of started to ground me again, Nikaylah shares. “My gut started functioning properly again, and my skin started coming back to life as well.”
The experience reshaped how she thought about wellness entirely. Restriction gave way to balance. Mental health and physical health couldn’t be separated. What she consumed, mentally and physically, had to work together.
Long before Medula existed as a brand, people were already coming to Nikaylah for advice. Friends, family, and peers would reach out with migraines, fatigue, stress, or vague symptoms they couldn’t quite explain. She would pull herbs from her kitchen, make blends, and suggest small adjustments.
Photo credit: Colville Heskey
“I’m a studier naturally,” she admits. “Anything that I get into, I really get deep into it.”
At one point, she even built a hydroponic garden in her apartment, growing fresh herbs that became part of her daily practice. Her curiosity was driven by trial, error, and attention.
As she began transitioning from modeling to more design and brand work, she found herself collaborating with health and wellness companies that used functional mushrooms in their products.
Functional mushrooms weren’t new, she knew that. But the way they were presented felt disconnected from how people actually lived.
“I was inspired by brands where the two worlds meet. Where it can still be transformational and cool and interesting,” she shares.
That intersection of science and design became the foundation for Medula, the wellness brand she founded with a clear point of view. Drawing from her background as a designer and brand strategist, Nikaylah approached Medula visually first, letting nature guide the aesthetic.
Photo credit: Colville Heskey
“I like to use God’s design as my biggest inspiration. When I’m hiking, when I’m traveling, my biggest inspiration comes from being in nature and seeing different patterns, spirals, even studying the different mushrooms and how they’re designed,” she says.
Medula’s tagline, It Starts in the Mind, reflects the belief that mental clarity is not abstract; it’s foundational.
“You have more control than you think over your thoughts. Your mind is what’s going to get you to that next place,” says Nikaylah.
Photo credit: Colville Heskey
That philosophy shows up in Medula’s newest launch: Focus + Energy Functional Mushroom Gummies, released February 9. Designed for everyday use, the gummies are made to support clarity and sustained energy without caffeine. Instead, they work by reducing stressors in the body, allowing people to operate more efficiently on a cellular level.
Nikaylah takes them in the morning, before workouts and long stretches of creative work.
“They get your mind in the zone,” she said. “They help you lock in.”
The formula combines lion’s mane for focus, cordyceps for stamina and endurance, and reishi to help balance the nervous system so the energy doesn’t feel jittery. The format was intentional, too. Powders required routine and slow mornings. Gummies fit real life.
“They’re on the go,” she said. “You just pop it and go.”
Photo credit: Colville Heskey
Now balancing roles as founder, designer, and model, Nikaylah no longer sees her many identities as competing.
“I used to struggle with that,” she said. “I always wanted to be taken seriously.”
Today, she sees each role as reinforcing the other.
Medula isn’t built on trend cycles or internet wellness language. The functional mushroom brand is built from lived experience, curiosity, and a refusal to ignore what her body was telling her. For Nikaylah, paying attention became the blueprint.
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