At age 19, Tess Finkle dropped out of college. Three years later, at 22, she started a public relations agency in Hollywood without investors, industry connections, or a safety net. Her first client was Angela Kinsey, who played Angela Martin on “The Office.” In those early years, Finkle visited the show’s set, sometimes joking that she went there simply to eat for free, as her young company began finding its footing. A longtime Bea Arthur fanatic, she also loved that one of the line producers on “The Office” had been a stage producer for “The Golden Girls.”
Twenty years later, the agency Finkle built from scratch with her longtime, same-age business partner, whom she met at 23, has become a global business. But in 2023, while Hollywood endured six months of strikes and the entertainment industry faced another period of instability following the pandemic, Finkle began questioning how much longer she could operate under the relentless pressures of work and a deteriorating personal life
“For the first time in my career, I felt completely disoriented and disheartened. I lost my footing, and my thoughts became remarkably dark,” Finkle says. “I kept wavering between wanting to tap out of the entertainment industry entirely from acute fatigue and feeling a deep responsibility to the people who rely on me professionally. Plus, I was at the tail end of a divorce and injected to the brim with hormones following a round of IVF. It was all very heavy and bleak.”
Finkle started looking into methods that could help her regain a sense of balance and groundedness. At first, she rejected advice from several friends to start microdosing mushrooms. Her only memory of the category was an episode in the early 2000s when she spent the better part of an evening chasing a fly around her apartment, only to finally capture it in her hands and discover that the fly had never been real. Finkle ruled out anything she believed might inhibit her ability to run her PR firm.
She eventually eliminated the other suggested pathways toward regaining her mental clarity and skittishly defaulted to microdosing
The experience changed her life. In true PR form, Finkle began evangelizing about it to her closest circle. She slowly started encouraging women she knew to introduce a mushroom protocol into their lives for balance, focus, clarity, and elevated vibes
Finkle officially teamed up with her longtime friend Billy, a leading formulator in the space, to create a product that would be subtle, effective, and made for exceptionally busy women, with the goal of empowering their productivity and supporting their mood
That product becameBESTIES, a functional+ mushroom supplement company that wants to reshape the definition of self-care
The company launched in early 2026 with three products: Job Interview, Work From Home, and PTO. Each features lion’s mane, reishi, and a proprietary blend that elevates the experience beyond traditional grocery-store mushroom products
“I didn’t want the products to sound intimidating or clinical,” Finkle says. “I wanted someone to look at the names and instantly understand where each one might fit into their life.”
Finkle secured investment for BESTIES while continuing to run her PR agency full time. The decision meant starting over in an entirely different industry while still managing the responsibilities of the company she had spent 20 years building
It also placed her in the unfamiliar position of becoming the client
After decades behind the scenes shaping other people’s narratives, Finkle is now telling her own story, appearing in content, introducing the products to retailers, and building a consumer community from the ground up
BESTIES currently ships nationwide and is available in stores across 12 states
Each pouch contains two heart-shaped tablets. It is a small packaging decision that captures the larger business strategy. Finkle believes the next generation of wellness brands will not succeed solely because of their ingredients. They will grow by creating rituals, conversations, and communities that people want to share
The name BESTIES refers not only to the relationships surrounding the product but also to the kind of connection Finkle wants customers to have with the brand: familiar, honest, dependable, and free from judgment
“It’s all about saying, ‘I know what you’re going through because I am you. I’ve been through it, and I’m still going through it.’”
That distinction matters in an industry that often markets products by identifying a perceived flaw or insecurity, or panders to women in ways that can feel tone-deaf, too aspirational in a climate of survival, and overly political. Finkle wants BESTIES to acknowledge that modern life can be overwhelming without suggesting that the women navigating it should feel any degree of shame
Finkle has spent her career identifying unconventional ideas before they became widely accepted
She helped bring digital creators into mainstream television, championed the rise of male beauty personalities, and worked to move LGBTQ+ entertainment and events further into popular culture. She also helped place the first man in People magazine’s historically female-focused “Most Beautiful” issue
Those experiences taught her that changing public perception is often less about changing the underlying idea than changing how people are introduced to it
With BESTIES, she is applying that lesson to mushrooms
Rather than leading with scientific language or niche wellness terminology, the company leads with humor, friendship, relatable experiences, and heart-shaped tablets. It presents mushrooms not as an extreme lifestyle choice but as one possible component of a modern wellness routine
Finkle’s larger goal is to build a brand for women who want to feel supported without feeling numbed, altered, or taken out of their lives. She sees BESTIES as an alternative to the idea that unwinding must involve alcohol, an expensive appointment, or an unrealistic amount of free time
After two decades spent helping other brands find their place in culture, Finkle is building one around an experience she needed herself
The first company proved she could build something from nothing. BESTIES will test whether she can do it again, this time in public, in a new industry, and with a product designed to make the weight of modern life feel a little easier when shared with someone close
And, of course, she says to anyone with whom she shares her BESTIES pouch, “Thank you for being a friend.”
