Who am I?

My name is Claire Rachel Zohara, but Rachel or Zo will do; and I forged this platform from the raw, exhausting, and deeply frustrating reality of navigating a life-altering autoimmune diagnosis without a proper roadmap.

In 2023, when I sat in that sterile London clinic room, my gastroenterologist gave me this very sound advice, “just don’t eat gluten" and to be completely honest, I really thought that was all I had to do. No one warned me that healing a damaged gut from accidental exposure takes up to a few years, not weeks. No one handed me a manual on cross-contamination, and no one told me that my daily skincare and beauty routine was a silent exposure hazard.

I created We Are Coeliacs under the master brand, We Are Collective, to strip away the corporate marketing filters, challenge barely existent medical advice, and replace automated consumer habits with highly conscious choices.

By profession, I am an advanced esthetician and cosmetic ingredient auditor. This training allows me to look past corporate greenwashing and lifestyle marketing fluff to analyze the deep science of what we actually put on, and inside, our bodies.

But I am also a diagnosed coeliac who has lived the exact reality of this disease. I am not a medical professional, but I am an industry insider who has navigated the grueling multi-year timeline it takes the small intestine to truly heal. I know the steep learning curves because I have walked them myself.

Let’s becompletely honest: navigating this disease is a massive psychological and physical rollercoaster. It is an entire rewiring of how you exist in a world built on wheat.

The Lows: I know the total headache of those first few months of grocery shopping, where trips take three times longer because you are forced to decipher every microscopic line on the back of a package. I know the heavy physical tiredness, the intense brain fog that disconnects you from your own mind, and the sudden weight gains that happen as your gut finally begins to absorb nutrients again. I know the heavy anxiety of eating out in restaurants, shifting from spontaneous pleasure to a high-stress interrogation of waiting staff to ensure the kitchen isn't being lazy about cross-contamination.

The Highs: But this journey is also full of unexpected, primal wins. Nothing beats the absolute joy of discovering a safe culinary haven or a new coeliac-safe snack. I still remember the pure relief ofrealizing that traditional French macarons (hello Pierre Hermé) are naturally made with almond flour and entirely wheat-free. And in rare, beautiful moments, you discover that the gluten-free version of a food is actually vastly superior to the original, if you’ve ever snapped a certified gluten-free Matzo cracker, you know the texture and taste blows the standard wheat version completely out of the water.

But let's be real, you are going to make mistakes along the way, we all have, and I certainly have. I built this space so that the newly diagnosed don't have to face this steep, overwhelming, and expensive learning curve entirely alone. Welcome to the tribe. I have your back.