About the Founders

The Haunted Hearts Behind Emerald Coast Alternatives

Some people start a business because they saw a gap in the market.
We started Emerald Coast Alternatives because we saw a gap in care.

A gap for the overwhelmed.
The anxious.
The neurospicy.
The haunted-but-functioning.
The people who don’t need to be “fixed”, they need to feel safe again.

Emerald Coast Alternatives was born from the belief that tea isn’t just something you drink.
It’s something you practice.

A pause.
A ritual.
A moment where your nervous system finally stops bracing for impact.

We don’t sell perfection in a cup.
We sell permission to exhale.

Our Mission (a.k.a. the Spell We Brew Every Day)

At Emerald Coast Alternatives, our mission is simple and a little rebellious:

To turn everyday tea into ritual, research, relief, and rebellion.

We create flavorful, functional herbal blends designed to support anxious minds, ADHD brains, tender bodies, and overstimulated nervous systems... without shame, pseudoscience, or joyless “wellness” rules.

Our teas are:

  • Approachable (even if you “don’t like tea”)

  • Ritual-forward, not rushed

  • Science-informed, without losing magic

  • Neurodivergent-friendly and family-inclusive

  • Spooky-soft, because comfort doesn’t have to be boring

This isn’t about fixing yourself.
It’s about befriending yourself...one cup at a time.

The Origin Story (or: How Two Haunted Humans Built a Tea Shop)

Emerald Coast Alternatives started in 2022 with $300, a handful of herbs, and a lot of lived experience.

What began as a way to help ourselves regulate stress, anxiety, chronic overwhelm, and burnout quickly turned into something bigger. We started sharing tea rituals online, not as “experts on a pedestal,” but as real humans saying:

“Hey… this helps. Maybe it’ll help you too.”

Then something wild happened.

A single, organic TikTok video, created during a time of national ADHD medication shortages, went viral! People saw themselves in the message. Orders flooded in. Reviews poured out. Stories were shared. A community formed almost overnight.

Today, Emerald Coast Alternatives has served 12,000+ customers, earned 500+ five-star reviews, and generated over $500,000 in sales, all through organic, community-driven storytelling.

No ads screaming at you.
No fake urgency.
Just resonance.

Meet the Founders

Katarina “Kat” Scott

Co-Founder | Herbalist | Mindfulness Guide | Professional Tea Cryptid

Kat is the heart, voice, and resident haunted librarian of Emerald Coast Alternatives.

With a background spanning herbalism, mindfulness education, trauma-informed practices, and nervous system regulation, Kat brings a rare blend of science, intuition, and storytelling to everything ECA creates.

Diagnosed later in life with AuDHD, Kat is deeply passionate about making mindfulness accessible for brains that don’t thrive on silence, stillness, or “just breathe” advice. Her work centers on validation before regulation, meeting people where they are, not where wellness culture thinks they “should” be.

You’ll often find Kat:

  • Teaching haunted mindfulness meditations

  • Designing ritual cards and tea spells

  • Dancing emotions out instead of repressing them

  • Turning heavy topics into soft, spooky comfort

Her belief is simple:
Every feeling belongs. Every monster has a message.

Kyrstyn Scott

Co-Founder | Operations Wizard | Chaos Coordinator | Calm in Human Form

Kyrstyn is the steady hands keeping the cauldron from boiling over. She manages operations, logistics, and behind-the-scenes systems that allow Emerald Coast Alternatives to grow without losing its soul. With a gift for organization, problem-solving, and grounded leadership, she ensures that the magic actually makes it to your doorstep.

She is the balance to Kat’s creative storm, the anchor that created ECA's voice turning ideas into reality and keeping the business sustainable, ethical, and human-centered.

Together, we believe businesses can be:

  • Profitable and compassionate

  • Structured and whimsical

  • Weird and deeply trustworthy

What We Believe

We believe:

  • Tea can be a sensory anchor, not just a beverage

  • Ritual creates safety in the nervous system

  • You don’t need to earn rest

  • Healing doesn’t have to be serious to be real

  • Spooky can be soft

  • Community is medicine

  • Being “too much” usually means you were never supported enough

An Invitation

Emerald Coast Alternatives isn’t just a tea shop.
It’s a place to land.

A haunted little apothecary for people who feel everything, think fast, love deeply, and need reminders to slow down without being shamed into it.

If you’re tired of wellness spaces that feel cold, rigid, or unattainable, welcome home.

Put the kettle on.
The monsters are friendly here. 

Online Community

Kat and Kyrstyn are actively growing their community on TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube, sharing the power of plants, self-love, acceptance, and sober living. The shop frequently sells out as they rapidly expand.

Join FB Group!

'Care Packs for Recovery' Program

We are COMMITTED to offering those in recovery effective and safe remedies, providing relief during a critical period. Sending Herbal Tea Essentials Care Packs to Recovery/Detox Centers nationwide, nominated by customers. Make a difference and choose from donation options for a positive impact.

Donate Today!

Kyrstyn Scott – Co-Founder, Operations Queen, Brand Alchemist

Kyrstyn Scott is the co-founder of Emerald Coast Alternatives and the artistic force behind the brand’s hauntingly unforgettable aesthetic. A tattoo artist with a passion for bright, bold, and beautifully weird art, Kyrstyn brings color, character, and creativity into everything she touches, from herbal tea blends to spooky sticker sheets.

Originally a correctional officer in Nevada, Kyrstyn moved across the country to Florida in search of a new beginning. Just weeks later, she met Kat and their love story became a tea-sipping, spell-crafting business venture that now serves thousands of haunted and healing humans across the country.

At ECA, Kyrstyn is the engine behind the operation. She formulates most of the shop’s tea blends, designs all of the product art and packaging, and oversees every step of production from crafting each small batch by hand to managing warehouse operations and shipping logistics with precision and care. While Kat is the voice and face of the brand, Kyrstyn is the one who brings the vision to life, physically, visually, and magically.

Her work ensures that every ECA order is more than just a package, it’s a potion of purpose, beauty, and intention. Her art and behind-the-scenes mastery give Emerald Coast Alternatives its distinct identity: a place where weird is welcome, magic meets science, and plants help the living thrive.

  • 10+ years sober
  • Tattoo artist & branding visionary
  • Creator of ECA’s tea blends
  • Oversees all product creation, fulfillment & shipping
  • Designer of all ECA artwork, branding, packaging & spooky visuals

Based in Gulf Breeze, FL

Katarina Scott – Co-Founder, Mindfulness Expert, Ritual Creator, Tea Fairy

Katarina Scott is the co-founder of Emerald Coast Alternatives and the creative mind behind its signature blend of mindfulness, magic, and herbal rebellion. A certified mindfulness and meditation teacher, positive psychology practitioner, and lifelong neurodivergent, Kat helps haunted and healing humans reclaim their nervous systems through intentional tea rituals, mocktails, and science-backed self-love.

Kat is the creator of all ECA’s tea rituals, mocktail recipes, and wellness resources, each one carefully crafted to blend function, flavor, and folklore. She is also the head of all things tech and marketing, designing the entire ECA website, building email and SMS campaigns, and producing every piece of content; from viral TikToks to weekly YouTube meditations (coming soon!).

With years of experience leading retreats, guiding workshops, and working with high-level clients, Kat’s approach to wellness is deeply grounded, radically compassionate, and defiantly magical. She specializes in emotional regulation, mindfulness for neurodivergent brains, and transforming overwhelm into ritual.

At ECA, Kat is the face and voice of the brand - writing every caption, casting every tea spell, and building a community for the weirdly wired, the overstimulated, and the chronically misunderstood. Her work makes nervous system care feel accessible, empowering, and just a little spooky...in the best way.

When she’s not teaching or brewing potions, she’s raising four wildly magical sons, dancing through her emotions, and reminding people that healing doesn’t have to look pretty, it just has to feel real.

  • Certified mindfulness & meditation instructor
  • Certified positive psychology practitioner
  • Creator of all ECA tea rituals, mocktail recipes, and mindfulness resources
  • Head of ECA Tech & Marketing

Based in Navarre, FL

500+ 5-star reviews & a thriving, haunted community