This triumphant memoir of guts, family and bucking the establishment traces a fifty-five-year journey that mirrors not only a movement but the nation. Beginning in a time when Wonder Bread® was health food, Gaye and Hartley Anderson left security to pursue a crazy idea they could not ignore. Their friends snickered and the U.S. government bullied them, but they inspired each other through poverty, disasters, and the trials of family business. Starting at the kitchen table, they and their contemporaries grew into a multi-billion-dollar industry. Every Essential Element is the true story of the author's parents: a quirky, lovely reminder of how two people can make it—in marriage, business and life.

Rhonda Lauritzen is the youngest of seven in the Hartley and Gaye Anderson family, and the only girl. The Andersons founded Mineral Resources International (MRI) before she was born so she had great adventures scampering around the natural health movement, taking naps under their booth table and sampling all carob-tofu delights a kid could enjoy. During her teenage years she watched the industry mature from mom-and-pop operations into the likes of Whole Foods.

At age 23 she became general manager of the company, working alongside her big brothers and working on her degree in the evenings, followed by a stint away for an MBA. Upon return she took the helm as CEO for three years.

In 2005 she branched out from the family to work in the state’s system of higher education as a technical college vice president.

When her father passed away in 2007, she felt a tangible nudge to write what she felt was a story worth telling.

Rhonda currently lives in Utah with her husband, who shares her love of the outdoors and beautiful food.