Day: December 13, 2021

Female Founders: Matti Perilstein of Eternally On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed As a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

You gain more respect by being vulnerable. Opening up helps me develop great relationships. I keep the one-on-one time I have with my team as a priority on my calendar.

As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Matti Perilstein.

Matti Perilstein is the co-founder of Eternally, a healthcare tech company. Her company partners with healthcare organizations across the country to facilitate advanced care planning conversations. Prior to starting the company, Matti’s career as a healthcare management consultant uncovered a gap in end-of-life care resources which she found to be a devastating recurring theme and a point of opportunity to help millions of Americans.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

Growing up, my mother was the director of a home health care business. I watched her help our community and be a resource that people turned to when their loved ones’ health declined.

The care and coordination involved during this period of life does not have to be a surprise. I have seen how loved ones in my own family were able to pass peacefully because they were able to communicate their goals of care with us before their health worsened. Throughout my career in healthcare, I saw the lack of time and resources dedicated to capturing a patients’ future goals of care. I knew there had to be a better way.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

We were connected to Anne Wellington at the Cedars Sinai Accelerator in early 2021 through an investor who initially turned us down. When we spoke to Anne, she really believed in our novel approach to reaching patients in need. After several rounds of interviews, and on the week of my wedding, we were notified that we were one of eight companies to be accepted to the program out of over 400 applicants!

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

One product offering we initially tested was a SMS text-only product to support patients. While the data told us that Seniors are more tech savvy than ever before, the product was a failure. We quickly realized that for the most vulnerable conversations, it would be a disservice to not pair a patient with one-on-one compassion and support from a clinician. We failed fast, pivoted quickly, and can laugh about it all now.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I am incredibly grateful for my husband, Max. He’s smart, driven, and patient. I’m most grateful for his ability to help me celebrate. The emotional rollercoaster of start-up life is challenging. Max doesn’t just check in; he challenges me to insert some fun however and whenever I can each week. This lifestyle can be crazy and it’s not worth pursuing if you’re not having fun. Some things we’ve tried: Friday pickle back shots, hiking, or treating ourselves to a raspberry amandine.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this EY report, only about 20 percent of funded companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from founding companies?

The statistics show that sixty-six (66%) percent of caregivers of family members are women and that women, on average, spend about 20 hours a week on unpaid caregiving. Since about sixty-five (65%) of family members who need assistance rely on their family for help, this places an undue burden on females. (https://www.caregiver.org/resource/women-and-caregiving-facts-and-figures/). As we know, females usually also bear the brunt of “traditional” household duties and tasks as well as child-care and child-related obligations. This does not leave a lot of time for women to consider pursuing their passion, forming a business plan, creating a pitch deck , and securing investors. Much has been written during the pandemic about the additional increases in gender inequality of these burdens, even with a spouse or significant other working from home during covid.

Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?

There has been a lot of talk post pandemic about “the great resignation” and how the pandemic has caused people to re-evaluate their professional lives. A positive of the last year and a half is that companies have realized if they do not improve the work-life parameters and culture that have afforded employees to spend more time with family or engage in self-care during covid, that these employees simply will not return. In households where there are two caregivers of children, there have also been changes and discussions around more equitable childcare solutions. But a lot more can be done. My hope is that such issues stay at the forefront.

This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?

Women bring a different perspective into identifying and solving unique business problems as founders. Of the 442 companies that went public in the US in 2020, only 4 of them were founded and led by women. In 2021, there are only 3 of them. (https://news.crunchbase.com/news/the-market-minute-a-historic-year-so-far-for-women-led-ipos-but-theres-a-ways-to-go/) As more women become founders, they will identify, address and solve problems that our male counterparts have overlooked for decades.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?

One of the biggest myths surrounding founders is that they are bold risk takers. While an entrepreneur does take on risk, it’s more so about calculating and assessing risks and acting as a strategist. When I first told my close friends and family about Eternally, their excitement for me reflected their understanding of me at the core. One, that I would never take on a commitment like this lightly and two, for my conviction in the business plan.

Is everyone cut out to be a founder? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful founder and what type of person should perhaps seek a “regular job” as an employee? Can you explain what you mean?

Not everyone is cut out to be a Founder. Unwavering resilience and optimism exemplify the traits most called upon as a founder. Each gets tested multiple times a day. It can feel daunting if you’re not up for the challenge. If it were easy, everyone would do it.

When we experienced high rates of unemployment over the pandemic in our country, I thought about why I quit my job a lot but, I was reminded of my ‘why’ and the opportunity to help thousands of people take control of their healthcare. Covid has redefined the confines of ‘work’ and I am seeing more people than ever excel outside the corporate environment. Whether it’s in trade careers, the arts, academia or elsewhere, there is a career path for everyone. Wherever you work, it’s important to take ownership of your career. You can’t wait for the right mentor, promotion window, or role vacancy — go after what you want!

Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)

1. Set boundaries — and keep them. Running helps me to unwind and destress. I set a goal to run the Philadelphia Marathon in November of 2021 and did it! I wake up very early most days, but by honoring that commitment I am better able to show up for my team and serve them more effectively.
2. Take time to celebrate your accomplishments. As a founder, I experience very high highs and very low lows almost every day. The highs will get lost unless you take time to acknowledge them and look back at the hard work you did to achieve them. I say what I am grateful for (out loud) every single day.
3. You gain more respect by being vulnerable. Opening up helps me develop great relationships. I keep the one-on-one time I have with my team as a priority on my calendar.
4. You can’t pull from a dry well. Sleep is king. I have been blessed with being a good sleeper. Part of that is due to how hard I work. I’ve learned how hard I can push my mind and body and when to back off and hit the hay
5. Delegate, delegate, delegate. I have learned to do a lot of things since starting Eternally that I did not previously know how to do. But I am a big believer in Clifton Strengths and actively engage and try to surround myself with talented individuals. This enables me to focus on making my own strengths even stronger and deepening my awareness of my team’s strengths to continue to provide them with opportunities to lead.

How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

My goal is to make small changes to make the healthcare system in America more streamlined and simpler for the everyday person. Our focus at Eternally is making sure Advance Care Planning is accessible to every American with the goal of democratizing end-of-life planning. This will bring both patients and their families a sense of peace, knowing that these decisions have been made in alliance with their values and wishes.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

There are so many health problems that could be improved by eliminating food insecurity and food desserts. Once again, the pandemic has highlighted this issue as many students were no longer receiving one or two healthy meals at a place of learning and their caretakers did not in turn have the resources to provide consistent, healthy food at home. Research shows an association between food insecurity and delayed development in young children, a higher risk of chronic illnesses, and behavioral problems such as hyperactivity, anxiety, and aggression in school-age children. (https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/impact-of-hunger)

We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

I would love to sit down with Whitney Wolfe Herd, the founder and CEO of Bumble, and the youngest female CEO to take a company public. I admire the way Whitney has built and cultivated Bumble’s brand to amplify her vision. I would love to sit down with her to discuss what she has learned from the obstacles she’s faced in building her company and pick her brain about building the Eternally brand within end-of-life planning.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Female Founders: Matti Perilstein of Eternally On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed As… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Women In Wellness: Jillian Bullock of Mind, Body, Spirit Connection On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Self-Love, Self-Care, Self-Healing — It is so important that you take time for yourself. No matter if you’re a wife, husband, parent, employee/employer, sibling, friend, student, community organizer, etc. Spending time with only you and doing things you love, things that bring you joy, is an excellent way to revamp your mental and physical energy. Even just 30 minutes will help. Take a bubble bath, buy yourself something you’ve always wanted. Sing at the top of your lungs. Dance as if no one is watching. Quiet your mind with yoga and meditation. Go to a movie. Make yourself a fine meal, a treat. Go for a walk in nature, feed the ducks. Whatever it is that will bring a smile to your face and a warm feeling to your heart. Once a week, make it happen.

As a part of my series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jillian Bullock.

Jillian Bullock is the Founder of Mind, Body, Spirit Connection. As a professional life coach, transformation speaker, plant-based and vegan specialist, fitness expert, with a background in psychology: human sexuality, she helps men and women improve the quality of their lives mentally, physically, spiritually, and emotionally through fitness, health, and holistic and vegan nutrition. In doing so, people, especially those over 40, improve their health, sleep better, have greater mental clarity, increased energy, enjoy better sex, and be more productive in their professional and personal lives.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?

As a result of being raped by a family friend when I was 10, I started training in martial arts when I was 12. I competed, and won, several karate competitions, which helped me feel better about myself. I told myself that I would never be a victim again. I watched many martial arts movies, especially Bruce Lee. I bought his books and listened to his interviews. He was wise and smart with his philosophy of how to use martial arts not just in the dojo, not just to protect yourself, but in life for business and success.

I received a black belt in Tae Kwon Do when I was 15. During my 20’s, I started training in Wing Chun. In five years, I obtained another black belt. Today, I train in MMA, boxing, kettlebells, high intensity interval training, weight lifting, and yoga. I utilize my extensive background as a fitness expert to coach men and women and as a fight choreographer for movies.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?

About eight years ago I tore my rotator cuff when I was training in Jiu-Jitsu. The doctor, who was going to perform the surgery, told me it was one of the worse injuries he’d ever seen. After surgery, my doctor told me I’d never be able to train in martial arts again. In fact, he said I wouldn’t be able to do simple exercises like push-ups due to the injury. For several years I accepted what the doctor told me. I became depressed because I couldn’t train, which always helped me feel good about myself and empowered. I had to stop my fitness business, too, which meant loss wages. I gained a lot of weight during this time. Then, one day I stopped feeling sorry for myself and I started watching videos of people like David Goggins, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Lisa Nichols, Les Brown, Oprah, who have dealt with severe hardships, but managed to not only overcome them, but to thrive and become hugely successful.

I started doing pushups. I was on my knees at first, but eventually through rehab for my shoulder and weight training for my arms and shoulders, I got stronger. I worked my way up from my knees to doing regular pushups. Over time, I got strong enough where I started doing martial arts and boxing again. What I learned from this is medical doctors don’t know everything and they can be wrong, and often are. I should have believed in me, and in my body, that I could heal and go back to training as fiercely as I trained before the injury. It’s the mental outlook that I had to focus on, or as I tell people now, “You will experience hardships, setbacks, obstacles, and challenges that will knock you down. You have a choice: either lie down and quit or stand up and fight.”

Can you share a story about the biggest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

When I first started I didn’t have a business plan. I wasn’t certain of which direction I was going for my company. I wasn’t sure of how to structure my fitness, health and wellness company. I didn’t know anything about how to market my fitness programs.

I was doing everything by myself, but didn’t have enough knowledge. As a result, the business folded.

The lessons I learned are: to do extensive research on the type of business and programs I want, know who my demographics are, hire people to help me in areas I’m not strong in, and have a business plan.

Let’s jump to our main focus. When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?

My work helps people of all ages, but my main demographics are men and women over 40. It is at this time when people in their 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, start having chronic diseases, gain excess weight, have pain in their joints, have body aches in their muscles, they move slower, have mental fog, etc. They believe this is normal because they’re getting older and they accept that fact. I teach them that doesn’t have to be the case. There is a way to reverse or slow down the aging process naturally. With millions of people living longer, well into their 90’s, I help make an impact by teaching men and women how to reverse chronic diseases, drop weight, have clear minds, enjoy better sex, and overall get into the best shape of their lives mentally, spiritually, physically, and emotionally. So as they get older, they can enjoy life to the fullest and do all the things they love to do without restrictions. I focus on three components: Mind — mental and emotional trauma healing. Body — exercise and vegan and holistic nutrition. Spirit — using meditation, yoga and breath work to become aligned with self and the earth in order to have a life of peace and calmness.

Can you share your top five “lifestyle tweaks” that you believe will help support people’s journey towards better wellbeing? Please give an example or story for each.

1. Be consistent with getting up early, the same time each day and going to bed the same time each night. Morning or evening, no TV, cellphone, or other electronic devices two hours upon waking or before going to bed, because the stimulations these device produce in your brain makes it difficult to get a good night’s rest, quality sleep, or to start your day in a positive manner.
2. Journaling is very important. The benefits include: It’s therapeutic and allows you to release your thoughts, emotions, feelings, dreams, and desires. It allows you to focus on your day and how it went. You can write down your dreams and what steps you’ll take to achieve them. Writing out your thoughts helps reduce stress and anxiety. You can write down your blessings. This keeps you in a state of gratitude.
3. Adopting a plant based or vegan and holistic way of life. If you want to prevent or reverse chronic diseases (diabetes, cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, depression, gout, arthritis, inflammation, headaches, digestion issues, high cholesterol, asthma, brain fog, obesity) cleansing your body and mind of toxic foods and drinks will do the trick. Eating meat, dairy, processed and fried food, sugary food and drinks like soda, juices, all break down your immune system and causes not only weight gain, but diseases where you end up either taking various medications, maybe for the rest of your life, or you have to undergo surgery. And of course that also means to rid yourself of other harmful substances, e.g. alcohol and smoking. To live a healthy, well, fit, and productive life for years, adopt these changes for your mind, body and spirit.
4. Move your body. There are so many benefits to exercising, especially as you get older. Beyond losing some pounds or staying at a good weight, moving your body at least 30 minutes a day helps keep you strong, flexible, improves cardio endurance, and increases life expectancy. Bottom line, exercise improves your physical, mental, psychological, and social health. Try various exercises so you don’t get bored. From riding a bike, to jogging, doing yoga, walking, lifting weights, using resistance bands, swimming, golfing, hiking, taking dance classes. There is so much to do that will be beneficial and fun.
5. Self-Love, Self-Care, Self-Healing — It is so important that you take time for yourself. No matter if you’re a wife, husband, parent, employee/employer, sibling, friend, student, community organizer, etc. Spending time with only you and doing things you love, things that bring you joy, is an excellent way to revamp your mental and physical energy. Even just 30 minutes will help. Take a bubble bath, buy yourself something you’ve always wanted. Sing at the top of your lungs. Dance as if no one is watching. Quiet your mind with yoga and meditation. Go to a movie. Make yourself a fine meal, a treat. Go for a walk in nature, feed the ducks. Whatever it is that will bring a smile to your face and a warm feeling to your heart. Once a week, make it happen.

If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?

As a mental health advocate, I feel that the way people are opening up about their struggles with mental illness is great. This topic has always been looked upon with shame and stigma. The Covid pandemic has helped the world see that mental health is a serious matter. More resources have been given to people who are struggling and that should continue even when the world gets back to “normal.”

When thinking about wellness the mind is just as important as the body. This is why my company is called Mind, Body, Spirit Connection. All three elements must be in tune with one another for optimal health and wellness.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?

1) Get a mentor, someone who has done well in the fitness/health/wellness industry.

2) Study people who are more successful so you can learn the do’s and don’ts.

3) Do extensive research in your field.

4) If you don’t know something, don’t be afraid to work with someone who knows what you don’t.

5) Have a business plan for your company.

Sustainability, veganism, mental health and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?

Mental health is dearest to me, because in the past I have suffered with depression and PTSD. I know firsthand the devastation mental illness causes on one’s self, family, friends, employers, and communities. It affects us all. We, as a society, all across the world, must put more energy and focus, along with resources, to help the millions of people who are struggling, so they can eventually heal their trauma and live a full, productive, and happy life.

What is the best way our readers can follow you online?

www.mindbodyspiritconnection.org

https://www.instagram.com/veganwarrior0611/

Thank you for these fantastic insights!

Women In Wellness: Jillian Bullock of Mind, Body, Spirit Connection On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Women In Wellness: Gail Gould, The CPR & Safety Lady, On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Treat yourself with kindness and compassion. No one is perfect, and we all make mistakes from time-to-time and many times over. It’s okay. Forgive yourself. It feels so much better than being critical of your flaws or performance.

As a part of my series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Gail Gould, the CPR & Safety Lady.

Gail has over 30 years’ experience in CPR Training and Certification. She has provided effective, hands-on CPR, AED, First Aid and Emergency Response training to thousands of people in many of Houston’s major corporations, schools and medical offices. Gould has also managed wellness programs for Marathon Oil, worked as a Health Coach for Humana and has worked at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Teas for over a decade, organizing the Wellness Fair for the City of Houston.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?

I have been a professional CPR instructor for over 30 years and trained 10k people to save lives. I began teaching CPR in 1989 right after I completed my master’s degree in Exercise Science/Health Promotion. I began talking with Fortune 500 companies about their wellness programming. Turns out, they all needed CPR training for their teams! I was fortunate to facilitate training for some of the world’s largest corporations, numerous medical, dental offices, government agencies, schools and daycares. In 2003, at the age of 49 years old, I became a first-time mom when I adopted my newborn son. Becoming a mom made me realize the importance of preventing childhood emergencies, and it has been my mission ever since.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?

There are so many, but the one that sticks out in my mind happened right before the pandemic. I met a loving mom who lost her infant to choking. She shared with me how she was feeding her 8-month-old daughter who began choking. She did not know what to do and went into panic mode. She ran to the neighbor’s home for help. By the time she got back home, her infant had died. Her story was heartbreaking, because I know that if she knew infant CPR at that time, her story may have had a very different ending. It only takes me 10 minutes to teach people how to help a choking child. This story inspired me to create my digital mini-course “How to Help Your Choking Child,” which empowers parents, grandparents, teachers and caregivers with the knowledge to know exactly what to do if their child is choking. Meeting this loving mom and creating the course gave me a renewed sense of purpose and what important work I am offering to the world.

Can you share a story about the biggest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Over decades of teaching wellness and safety, I have had time to become more confident in my own voice. However, that wasn’t always the case. When I was first starting out, my biggest mistake was not being assertive enough in taking an impactful leadership role. I remember one time I was in a room full of executives, and I found myself holding back from voicing my opinion on an issue. I kicked myself later for not speaking up. I want to encourage everyone, particularly women, that you have earned a seat at the table. Lean in to opportunities for you to share your unique perspective. It’s incredibly important to speak up to not become a part of a spiral of silence. This applies to business and everyday life situations.

Let’s jump to our main focus. When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?

At the core, I am teaching people to save lives. It feels incredibly gratifying when someone calls or emails to tell me: “That thing you taught me last week saved my child’s life!” Or, when I go to a preschool and one of the teachers mentions she needed to give her husband CPR and was incredibly thankful she had taken my class during the summer.

Prevention is the key to avoiding CPR. The first thing I tell students in my CPR class is that I hope they never have to use any of what they are getting ready to learn. We want to increase survival rates when those situations do arise. The main cause of unintentional death of infants under the age of one is an obstructed airway. Along with teaching CPR, I spread awareness and knowledge for parents about prevention techniques, such as feeding age-appropriate foods — like no whole grapes or whole hot dogs until about 6 years old. I also encourage parents to hire a professional to baby proof their home and car. Over 50% of people are driving around with their child’s car seat installed improperly. If you have a backyard swimming pool, make sure you have two fences: one around the yard and another around the pool.

The truth is, we all need to know how to perform CPR because when emergencies happen, they happen fast, and someone needs to know what to do. The good news is that if someone needs CPR and you begin compressing within the first 5–10 seconds, you can double or triple the person’s chance of survival.

Can you share your top five tips that you believe will help support people’s journey towards better wellbeing? Please give an example or story for each.

In my extensive experience with health and wellness, I have a few shreds of wisdom to share that I’ve learned along the way for both mental and physical wellness to live your best life.

1. Treat yourself with kindness and compassion. No one is perfect, and we all make mistakes from time-to-time and many times over. It’s okay. Forgive yourself. It feels so much better than being critical of your flaws or performance.
2. Find a way to eat what you like and enjoy. I used to be so hard on myself with what foods I allowed myself to eat. Not anymore! I explore new recipes and try new flavors. Food is one of life’s greatest pleasures. If you are not happy with the way you are eating, find a way to eat that you enjoy. This makes my day go so much better!
3. Meditate. I tried various forms of meditation but always felt like a failure because I could not stop my mind from “thinking” during meditation. It was not until I discovered meditation courses that I was able to stick with it. I stopped considering thoughts as the enemy while meditating. I think I have only missed 2–3 days of meditation in the last 3.5 years. Meditation helps me sleep much better, I feel calmer, and I am kinder to myself.
4. Exercise. Does not matter what you do for exercise. Just move your body on a daily basis. There is so much confusion surrounding exercise. You absolutely do not have to train for a marathon in order to get fit. Any and all exercise counts. There is exercise for fitness and exercise for health. Exercise for health is simply walking the dog, taking the steps, parking farther away from the door, standing more and sitting less. It does not require intense activity in order to be considered exercise. Everyone has a choice as to how they would like to exercise.
5. Learn something new. I created my virtual mini-course for CPR at the age of 66. I was not tech savvy at all when I began. It was a huge learning curve for me to write the content, choose the pictures, figure out how to put it all together, market the course, etc. I needed to hire a virtual assistant to help me get it up and running online. But most of it I had to rely on myself, and it has been a huge stretch for me but tons of fun! I have only been on Instagram for a year so learning how to effectively use social media has also been a challenge. Now I look forward to creating content and reels! Never stop learning.

If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?

A couple decades ago, I would have said that exercise would bring the greatest amount of wellness to people. Now, I say exercise and meditation. Both work in tandem to create a peacefulness of the mind and body. Meditation and just sitting quietly observing my thoughts creates a calming influence on my nervous system and my life. For exercise, you do not have to act like you are training for a marathon to derive benefit. Just walk around the neighborhood or even climb steps in your home, walk the dog, march in place, swim, yardwork, housework, find a virtual trainer that resonates with you, etc. It all counts as exercise.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started”?

1. It will not be easy to be a female entrepreneur.
2. Make sure you only hire people you trust.
3. Have a good accountant or CPA.
4. Join a mastermind or support group.
5. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Sustainability, veganism, mental health and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?

Mental and emotional well-being is very important to me. Nearly 1-in-5 adults in the U.S. live with mental illness, and I believe we all need to reflect on our own mental well-being. A few years ago, I had insomnia so I began meditating, and it cured my insomnia in a week. I meditate 17 minutes each morning and evening. Just in the last year or so, I was experiencing physical pain and anxiety so I began journaling 20 minutes per day, and this practice has made a tremendous difference in how I feel physically and emotionally.

What is the best way our readers can follow you online?

Follow me on Instagram @thecprandsafetylady. I host engaging live content weekly related to safety and wellness. You can also follow me on my Facebook Page called “How to Help Your Choking Child.” I also offer a digital course for CPR, so anyone can learn about these life-saving techniques no matter where they live. You can find it at www.cprandsafetylady.com.

Thank you for these fantastic insights!

Women In Wellness: Gail Gould, The CPR & Safety Lady, On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Women In Wellness: Jodi Neuhauser of Ovaterra On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Don’t take things personally — What someone says or does, is about them and their “stuff” — not about you. The freedom that comes in letting go of the things you take personally, opens up significantly more doors than worrying about what others think of you.

As a part of my series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jodi Neuhauser.

Jodi is a fertility trailblazer. She is the Co-Founder and CEO of Ovaterra, a reproductive and sexual health company aiming to provide doctors, patients and their partners with research, premium products and the personalized technology to make the most of their reproductive lives. She believes that actionable knowledge is power. For too long, healthcare has been siloed, making it too difficult to access, connect and interpret all of the information we need to know about ourselves and our bodies. Her goal is to empower others to make the right decisions through better education and access to information — allowing them to be in control.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?

From my earliest memories and throughout my career, I’ve always been driven by knowledge and discovery — for myself, and for those around me. As a lifelong learner, I’m fascinated by the way information is shaped and shared in our society because it says so much about our culture and about who is in control.

An achiever to my core, I used this natural curiosity to my advantage as it related to my studies and my career in which I quickly ascended the corporate ladder to work with some of the largest media companies and consumer brands in the world. I traveled the globe, always seeking new opportunities to learn while taking on demanding leadership roles. From this, I gained valuable insights about what it takes to create something people will deeply connect with.

As I mentioned, I am an over achiever who spent most of my childhood caring for everyone around me. A was raised to be a hard worker growing up on a farm in Virginia. I grew up looking after my friends, teammates and even my parents. And then, later, I sought validation from my colleagues, my employers and my partners. I achieved a lot of success, but was constantly in motion, traveling around the world looking for new opportunities and adventures.

But I wasn’t really happy, and — I came to realize — I wasn’t healthy either. There was this one moment, over breakfast at a diner in midtown Manhattan, when it hit me clearly: I had to stop prioritizing everyone else and start to take care of myself.

Soon after, as I was training for an Ironman, I saved up some money to meet with a functional medicine doctor who specialized in holistic medicine. It was in meeting with him that I began to learn new things about my body, and I discovered that I was not in touch with how I was really doing, physically, emotionally and spiritually.

After meeting with the doctor, I realized that the healthcare system isn’t designed with us in mind. It’s not here to educate us, to give us the full picture and information we need to make the right choices based on our own bodies, our risk profile, and our histories. Fortunately, I was able to see this doctor for several years in which we worked on taking control of my health which was a crucial turning point in my life.

This kind of information shouldn’t be hidden away and only available to those who can find and afford it. Everyone deserves access to this knowledge about themselves, so they can gain that same clarity and control over their own lives. This is why I do the work that I do: to make it easier for more people to have this kind of experience and to regain that control.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?

Discuss how as someone eager to learn that skill has allowed you to excel in your career

Many people ask how I met my husband, who is South African. The truth is, I went to South Africa to freeze my eggs because I couldn’t afford to do it in New York. It’s one third of the cost to do it there and the country has some of the best medical care in the world. I almost didn’t go because I was in the midst of a tough work situation but at the urging of my best friend, I got on the plane. I was there alone, going through a difficult process that reinforces your alone-ness so I decided to log onto Bumble to see if I could meet some people to have a drink with while I was there. The first date I went on was with Justin who is now my husband. Incidentally, it was also the night of my trigger shot to start my egg retrieval process.

I ended up going to the wrong hotel, forgot my trigger shot and told him 3 sips into my beer that I needed to go (even though I thought he was awesome and super cute). I then did the most vulnerable thing I had ever done in my life, I laid everything out on the table with nothing to lose. In a bit of a frantic state, I told him why I was in South Africa, why I was freezing my eggs and how I planned to start a business around it. He calmly looked at me and said “My car is outside — let’s just go grab your shot and keep our evening going.” The rest is history. Almost three years later, we have an amazing little family.

For me, this jump-started my transition into the fertility industry where I’m now passionately working to improve the system, access to knowledge and the overall experience for more couples. But, the bigger lesson was in the value of vulnerability. It’s that unstable feeling we get when we step out of our comfort zone or do something that forces us to let down our guard and loosen control. Every time I have done this, I’ve been blown away by what comes next. Brene Brown says “vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change” and for me, this experience certainly was that.

Can you share a story about the biggest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

In my early career, I allowed others to control my value for a long time. At one point, I had a side hustle working for a start up with a team of experienced professionals. I never asked to get paid, I assumed that we were all “in it together — building a company from the ground up.” Turns out, everyone else had negotiated to get paid for their time in some way or another and I had given away all of my value for free in an attempt to prove my worth.

Let’s jump to our main focus. When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?

I am trying to change a broken system but more importantly I am creating transparency around a subject that impacts all of us and needs to be discussed openly. I believe that knowledge is power. And when each of us, especially women, has information about our health and our bodies, we can make better decisions to take action and plan for the future. We need to remove the taboos around reproductive health to improve the broken system. Right now, 60% of women would fail a test about their own fertility and only 12% of us can accurately predict our fertility window. One of the top regrets I hear from women is “I wish I would have known more sooner.” My company, Ovaterra, is about to change that by providing a one-stop discovery platform that will make the conception journey less overwhelming by prioritizing the products, services and content you need to be empowered to take control of the process. We want to democratize access to pre-pregnancy care which right now is only geographically and financially accessible to the upper-echelons of society.

Can you share your top five “lifestyle tweaks” that you believe will help support people’s journey towards better wellbeing? Please give an example or story for each.

Have a goal that will push you outside your comfort zone — The value for me of training for and completing Ironman triathlons and marathons is the discipline needed for the training but more importantly, the lessons in pushing through the discomfort when it gets hard. In marathon training, there are a few weeks ahead of the race where you need to run 18+ miles. By that time, getting to 15–16 miles really isn’t that hard because you’ve trained for it. But getting from 16–18 is the worst. It’s only 20 minutes more, but the growth and awareness of your strength comes in those extra 20 minutes. I’ve had a lot of professional breakthroughs like this, during those times, I visualize myself back in Central Park on those training runs which encourages me to push through the discomfort to get to the gain that comes on the other side.

Know Your Body — You are the only one trained in you. Your doctors and specialists are trained in their own silos of information, but you are the only one who can interpret and advocate for what it means for you. When I was training for the Ironman, I had lots of different coaches and specialists on my team helping me along the way, but I was the only one who could look across the system that is my body, and know how everything was working together and therefore advocate for what I needed from each of them. There are more and more at-home and telehealth resources now — making it easier to take control of your health journey.

Know what fills your cup — It’s that old adage, “you can’t pour from an empty cup.” Figure out what fills your cup the most and do that before 9:00 am each morning so you start the day with a full tank. For me, that’s moving my body. The energy I get from my morning workouts powers me through being a Mom, a partner and a startup founder and CEO.

Understand the impact of your environment on your health — Not just the air you breathe, but the products that are in your home and everyday life. Our government doesn’t protect consumers in the same way as other countries so the responsibility is in our hands to learn how what we put in, on and around our body impacts everything about our health down to a cellular level. When I was preparing to freeze my eggs, I did a lot of research on endocrine disrupting chemicals, which have a huge impact on fertility due to the way in which they affect hormone levels. I threw out almost everything I was using on a daily basis and replaced those products with safer alternatives for reproduction.

Get more support than you need — Build a team around you that will help support you physically, emotionally, financially, mentally, spiritually and professionally. We have athletic coaches for sports teams, why not have them in every other aspect of your life? A few years ago, I had a life-changing injury. I was on a business trip and herniated a disc in my back 10,000 miles away from home. Being the hard-charging career woman I am, I ignored it and over the course of a 4-week business trip went from using a heating pad at night to literally presenting to a team laying on the floor because I couldn’t stand. I got back to New York and underwent emergency back surgery in January. But, I was scheduled to run the NYC Marathon that November and was determined to do so. I surrounded myself with a team of experts — doctors, physical therapists, mental therapists, pilates teachers, running coaches, family and friends. Ten months after emergency back surgery, I finished the NYC Marathon in 4:32.

If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?

Creating and developing more resources for education

Exactly what I’m building now with Ovaterra. So much of fertility is about larger lifestyle and wellness factors which most people don’t realize. By making a few lifestyle tweaks, and taking a few different actions, you can better support your chance for pregnancy while making life-long lasting changes to your health. I want to empower more people, everywhere to understand their bodies to take control of their data so they can improve their whole health. The more we can democratize access to pre-pregnancy education and products, we can build a better support network for the more than 4 million parents-to-be each year.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?

Don’t take things personally — What someone says or does, is about them and their “stuff” — not about you. The freedom that comes in letting go of the things you take personally, opens up significantly more doors than worrying about what others think of you.

Meet Your Own Needs First- I spent my early career meeting the needs of my employer and bosses before my own. Eventually, I burned out. I remember the rock-bottom moment, on a subway car in New York, full of tears — after realizing deep down that I hadn’t met my own needs in years. This was a turning point for me, and the beginning of the rise of who I am today.

You Belong. I know what it feels like not to belong. Growing up as a bit of an outsider in a farm family, a kid who wanted to chase big dreams outside of the family traditions, I often felt like I didn’t belong in my career. Like I was standing outside of a party looking in. But, in truth — we do belong — to everyone else, we’ve been inside the party the whole time.

Build a team — It’s ok to ask for help. When I first started as a Co-Founder/CEO I thought I needed to do it all, learn it all and solve it all to show value. But the true value is in building a team that compliments each others strengths in order to move forward faster together.

It’s ok to be still and rest — As a New Yorker, I packed my days from 5am to 11pm. I felt guilty for resting, and didn’t want to slow down and sit with my thoughts. But actually, that stillness is where some of my most creative ideas have come from and now I make a conscious effort with strong boundaries to schedule in rest and stillness into my life.

Sustainability, veganism, mental health and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?

Mental health — Our mind is our most powerful tool, and when our mental health is suffering, it literally impacts every other aspect of our life. Mental health is a personal passion of mine for many reasons — 1. We need to remove the taboo around mental health support. Having a therapist is the equivalent of having a mental coach. We have no problem having coaches in other aspects of our lives, mental health is no different. 2. Mental health impacts our ability to connect with other humans, a basic human need. Without this ability to connect, we live an unfulfilled life of loneliness and I’m a big believer that the more we connect with and truly see each other as humans, the stronger we are as species. 3. I’m especially passionate about mental health in the fertility realm. We know that of those undergoing fertility treatment, 90% experience depression and anxiety and 60% exhibit at least one psychotic symptom. This impacts their personal relationships, professional productivity and self-esteem. There are a number of amazing startups in the space working to ease the mental health burden of fertility.

What is the best way our readers can follow you online?

Instagram — @Jodi_Neuhauser

LinkedIn — Jodi Neuhauser

Facebook — Ovaterra

Thank you for these fantastic insights!

Women In Wellness: Jodi Neuhauser of Ovaterra On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Act with the anxiety. Act as if you aren’t anxious. Function with it. Slow down if you have to but keep going. Breathe normally. If you run from the situation your anxiety will go down, but your fear will go up. If you stay, both your anxiety and your fear will eventually go down. In other words, allow yourself time to acclimate to your environment.

As a part of my series about “How To Develop Mindfulness And Serenity During Stressful Or Uncertain Times”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Tom Seaman.

Tom Seaman is a Certified Professional Life Coach in the area of health and wellness, and author of 2 books: Beyond Pain and Suffering: Adapting to Adversity and Life Challenges (2021) and Diagnosis Dystonia: Navigating the Journey (2015). Tom is also a motivational speaker, chronic pain and dystonia awareness advocate, health blogger, volunteer for the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation (DMRF) as a support group leader, and volunteer writer for Chronic Illness Bloggers Network, The Mighty, Patient Worthy, and The Wellness Universe. Tom was also featured in Brain and Life Magazine, Pain Free Living Magazine, and Pain Pathways Magazine. To learn more about Tom, visit www.tomseamancoaching.com.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?

I work as a life coach in the area of health and wellness and how I arrived here is topsy turvy. I graduated college with a degree in education and psychology. After graduating, I was offered a position with a health education company. I chose that route rather than teaching or something in the field of psychology. After 6 years in business, I decided to return to school for my master’s degree in counselling. Upon completion, I had plans of opening a private counseling practice, but life had other plans. During my first semester, I developed a debilitating movement disorder called dystonia. Within months, I was in severe pain and unable to continue with school. I had taken on the life of a disabled person, rolling around on the floor in pain all day. After 10 years of learning how to better manage my symptoms, I began helping others with their health issues. This transformed into life coaching, so I returned to school to get professionally certified as a coach, which I achieved in 2012. The ironic thing to me is that I always planned on being a baseball coach. I talked about coaching “at some point in the future” even when I was a high school student. So, I did turn out to be a coach, just not a baseball coach. Life experiences sure have a funny way of planning things for us.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?

I was helping someone start a new company online and while we were testing out various things on the website, one day I received an empty email. This would happen from time to time and I would typically ignore it. I deleted the email, but never cleared my trash. For a day or two, this email would not leave my mind. For some reason, I couldn’t shake it, so I decided to respond to it to let the person know that I received an email without any content. They responded and said they were reading an article I wrote about my life with dystonia to learn more to help a friend who was suffering with it. She “mistakenly” hit a link that sent me the empty email. We exchanged several more emails and she connected me with her friend who I began helping for the next 10 years. So an “accidental” email turned into a longtime friendship. This experience always reminds me to listen to that little voice inside and follow my intuition.

What advice would you give to other leaders about how to create a fantastic work culture?

Great question and one that is difficult to answer with specifics because I think a fantastic work culture is unique to the individual. That said, I believe the most important thing is that we personally visualize what a fantastic work culture is for us and then seek that out. For me, I had to find something that suited my interests and also my health challenges. In order to manage both, I needed to create an at-home work situation, which I have been able to do.

Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

The Road Less Travelled by M. Scott Peck. My brother gave me this book as a high school student, and it made my young mind think very differently than it was at that ripe age. It taught me to be introspective and question things about myself that I normally didn’t give a second thought. After saying that, I realize it did for me the very same thing that one of my favorite quotes did 25 years later. That being, “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change” by Wayne Dyer. This is exactly what The Road Less Traveled did for me and I am forever grateful for being introduced to this material at the time I was.

Ok, thank you for all that. Now let’s move to the main focus of our interview. From your experience or research, how would you define and describe the state of being mindful?

I have to defer to the definition of mindfulness that comes from Jon Kabat-Zinn. That being, “paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, as if your life depended upon it.” I view mindfulness as a state of nothingness and everything all at the same time. What I mean by that is when we pay attention, on purpose, in the present moment as if our life depended upon it, we have focused attention without judgment where we get completely lost in something, but at the same time, with enough practice, we are completely present with ourselves. I have an inside joke with some of my coaching clients who are working on mindfulness activities, and will say “just get lost,” which of course can be interpreted as a rude comment, but in our working relationship we know that it is meant in the former context.

Mindfulness is also a state of living in bewilderment or awe, both of which are states of mind where we are lost in amazement about something that completely fills our mind in a peaceful way. As Rumi said, “sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.” What I infer this to mean is that we have to get our critical thinking mind out of the way and be completely present with ourselves or something/someone else. I like to use a spider web as an example. Even if you don’t like spiders, it is hard to not get lost, or be bewildered or in awe, in the majestic artwork of their webs. There are many other examples of things in nature that we can be in awe of that help us “get lost.” So, in other words, when we can turn off the world around us and get lost, we become more present. Too often, we feel we need to be on the ball about everything to the point of micromanaging our lives. This is when we tend to lose touch with our inner selves and live mindlessly.

This might be intuitive to you, but it will be instructive to spell this out. Can you share with our readers a few of the physical, mental, and emotional benefits of becoming mindful?

The practice of mindfulness helps to engage the parasympathetic nervous system, which is the rest and digest branch of the autonomic nervous system. We live in a world where we have become much more emotional and reactionary, which causes us to live in a more anxious state. Living in a state of anxiety means that we are engaging the sympathetic nervous system, which is where the fight, flight, freeze response is housed. When that side of the nervous system is overactive, we have various inflammatory stress chemicals being produced that can cause or exacerbate physical and mental health conditions. It also pulls us further away from inner peace. The benefit of mindfulness practice is greater control of emotions and clarity of thought, which leads to inner harmony where we learn to respond to various life experiences in a more thoughtful way to reduce the physical and emotional burden stress may have on us. By doing this, we are better able to listen to our inner voice and even our bodies that are always telling us what we need to do to feel better and find inner peace or maintain inner peace (exercise, rest, read a book, work, go for a walk, get outdoors in nature, etc.)

Ok. Here is the main question of our discussion. The past 5 years have been filled with upheaval and political uncertainty. Many people have become anxious from the dramatic jolts of the news cycle. From your experience or research, what are five steps that each of us can take to develop mindfulness during such uncertain times? Can you please share a story or example for each.

Great question and one that’s challenging to answer because each of us has different concerns regarding the uncertainty of our world right now. That being said, I’d like to make this as simple as possible and people can expand upon this based on their particular needs.

1. Pause — Ask yourself WHAT it is that you are feeling right now.

2. Ask yourself WHY you feel the way that you do and if it is the appropriate response to what is happening in the moment, or if it is a visceral (gut) reaction. If it is a visceral reaction, take more time to stay in the pause until you can bring your emotions to a lower level.

3. Breathe– Become aware of your breath and just your breath. Notice how it naturally comes in and out. Don’t force your breath. Just pay attention to its rhythm (this is called conscious awareness). I like to say, “let your body breathe itself.”

4. Take a moment to just allow things to be exactly as they are without judging, if possible (awareness without judgement is a key principle of mindfulness).

5. Reset– Allow your calming breath to help you make an agreement with yourself that you are going to reset your existing mindset and the feelings that go along with it, so that you can go about your day with more peace.

The power of the pause is such that it can literally change your day and put you into a totally different mindset. It also helps us learn to live in the moment, which is all we have in life until the next moment arrives. None of us knows if we have hours, days, weeks, months, years, etc. ahead of us, so to practice living in the moment, the only thing promised to us, is to live mindfully.

The power of the breath is too long to go into here, but suffice to say, breathing has health benefits such as detoxification, it releases tension, relieves emotional problems, relaxes the body and mind, massages organs, strengthens the immune system, improves posture, improves digestion, balances the nervous system, boosts energy, improves cellular regeneration, and elevates moods, to name just a few.

Many people I speak with wake up in the morning with a sense of urgency and anxiety. This is a great time to PAUSE. BREATHE. RESET, and then begin your day. We have all heard the saying, “I got up on the wrong side of the bed today,” as a way to describe why they or someone else is having a bad day. There is some truth to this because the way we start our day can often determine the kind of day we will have. It is probably best to start the day in a place of peace, so allow yourself that extra time to go into that place of peace. For some it is easy and for others it is a challenge. As with anything, it takes practice, so please practice this mindfulness technique, or others, if you are challenged in this area. It can have profound health benefits.

So, the question we should all be asking ourselves is, “how often do I pause during the day, whether it be a moment, a minute, a half hour, an hour, and so on?” Most of us probably don’t do it near as much as we should. Our lives can often feel like we are on a hamster wheel or always trying to catch up. Just waiting a few minutes for something to warm up in the microwave can feel like hours to some of us. Tell yourself to PAUSE. BREATHE. RESET whenever you feel out of control. It literally takes less than 10 seconds to do, but the benefit can last hours when practiced on a regular basis.

From your experience or research, what are five steps that each of us can take to effectively offer support to those around us who are feeling anxious? Can you explain?

It would be helpful to learn the AWARE technique which you can then share with others who are anxious. The AWARE technique comes from the book, Anxiety Disorders and Phobias: A Cognitive Perspective, by Aaron Beck and Gary Emery.

A: Accept the anxiety. Welcome it. Don’t fight it. Replace your rejection, anger, and hatred of it with acceptance. By resisting, you are prolonging the unpleasantness of it. Instead, flow with it. Don’t make it responsible for how you think, feel, and act.

W: Watch and Wait. Look at your anxiety without judgment. It’s neither good nor bad. Become detached from it. Remind yourself that you are not your anxiety. The more you can separate yourself from the experience, the more you can view it as a third party observer.

Even though there is a powerful urge to run away to try and escape anxious situations, postpone that decision for a little bit. Stay in the situation. Don’t tell yourself you can’t leave. Keep that option open so you don’t feel trapped, but remember that you don’t need to run away to get relief. Let relief come to you.

A: Act with the anxiety. Act as if you aren’t anxious. Function with it. Slow down if you have to but keep going. Breathe normally. If you run from the situation your anxiety will go down, but your fear will go up. If you stay, both your anxiety and your fear will eventually go down. In other words, allow yourself time to acclimate to your environment.

R: Repeat the steps. Continue to accept your anxiety, watch it, and act with it until it goes down to a comfortable level.

E: Expect the best. What we fear rarely happens. Recognize that a certain amount of anxiety is a normal part of life. Understanding this puts us in a good position to accept it if it comes again. We are familiar with it and know what to do with it. Too often, we become fearful of the feelings that accompany anxiety (heart racing, sweaty palms, dizziness, weakness, etc.). When we do this, we are adding fear on top of fear, which is what turns anxiety into panic.

After years of suffering with the health condition I mentioned above (chronic pain from dystonia), as I learned to better manage my symptoms and develop a new relationship with it, I developed more confidence in myself. With more confidence I began doing things I once avoided like the plague because of intense anxiety and panic attacks. It opened my world and made life interesting and exciting again. Instead of worrying about all the bad things that might happen before I did an activity, I started to look forward to them. A huge burden was lifted and I was living again. There are many different words people use for the FEAR acronym such as, Face Everything And Rise, False Expectations Appearing Real, Forget Everything And Run, among others. My new favorite one that is related to mindfulness is, Forget Everything And Relax.

What are the best resources you would suggest for someone to learn how to be more mindful and serene in their everyday life?

I was first introduced to mindfulness using the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn. I think he is a good starting point for most everyone, particularly his program called Mindfulness for Beginners.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life?

“Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.” Winston Churchill. After a very challenging and stressful freshman year in college, the day after I returned home, I walked into my bedroom and this quote was on my bed in my Dad’s handwriting. He knew I felt defeated after a poor academic year, but that it was okay to move forward, understanding that bumps in life don’t have to define us if we don’t let them. The following school year I made the Academic Dean’s list.

Fast forward 12 years when I developed a neurological movement disorder called dystonia that totally changed my life, and I was COMPLETELY defined by it. I went from very active and successful in all areas of my life to a disabled person in severe chronic pain and completely reliant on the help of others. That was 20 years ago. After nearly a decade figuring out how to better manage my health condition and the rest of my life, I no longer let my health define me. Instead, I decided to define its place in my life, and a lot of this was from using mindfulness techniques. I have since written 2 books (one of which is on the suggested resources list for the Michael J Fox Foundation), I became a motivational speaker and certified professional life coach helping others around the world with their health challenges, I have been on international radio shows and podcasts, and have had over 75 articles published worldwide. So not only was this quote meaningful to me when I was 18, it is just as meaningful to me at 30, 40, and 50.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

This may sound strange to people, but I think we should all stop watching 24-hour news stations…. All of them. I think the news is nothing but a stress producer. Even local/regional news is a stress trigger for many people without them even knowing it. Rather than have someone else tell us what SUPPOSEDLY is going on in the world, we should seek it out on our own, learning what we want to know and not what other people want to tell us. If we stop watching the news, they would have far less nonsense to report in ways that are so overly dramatic, which would reduce our fear, anxiety, and worry. We would have less frustration, hate. and anger in our hearts, and we would be far less divided as a world. If you really think about, what does the news do to enhance your life for the better? Are you really more informed or are you more emotionally charged by it? In my opinion, the news tells us what the powers that be, whoever they are, want us to think. It is a modern day Thinkpol (Thought Police) from the book 1984 by George Orwell. I purposely stopped watching the news about 5 years ago and I noticed something interesting. I wasn’t missing anything important and whatever was important, other people told me. The most helpful thing that came from not watching the news anymore was that my stress level went down. Therefore, I encourage you, in a very mindful way, to look at how the news might be stressing you and see if you can reduce or eliminate it from your life. Give it a try for a couple weeks and see if you notice a difference.

What is the best way our readers can follow you online?

All of my books, articles, blog, and other resources, as well as my life coaching information, can be found on my website at www.tomseamancoaching.com. I am also on Twitter @DystoniaBook1, as well as LinkedIn and Instagram @CoachTom12.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!

Thank you very much! I hope these tidbits can be of help to others.

Life Coach and Author Tom Seaman: How To Develop Mindfulness During Stressful Or Uncertain Times was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Women In Wellness: Dr Staci Whitman On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Knowing that the people you surround yourself with, your team and your community, are THE MOST important thing for your happiness and success. This group is your everything, so be sure to show them support, love, and appreciation always.

As a part of my series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Staci Whitman.

Doctor Staci Whitman is on a mission to create a cavity-free world. She is the founder of NoPo Kids Dentistry where she takes a whole-body, holistic, and functional approach with her patients. Her dentistry/practice is grounded by science and powered by love.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?

I grew up in a small town in a rural part of Maine where much of my youth involved playing outside in the woods, creating magical adventures, and getting “wicked” dirty. It was a pretty simple and beautiful childhood in that regard. Unfortunately, I was surrounded by a lot of substance abuse issues and mental health challenges in my home, which left me in a state of constant survival mode as a child. Because of this, it left me always very interested in living optimally and thriving, even though I didn’t describe or realize it as such as a child. It was likely instinctual…I did not want to live a life filled with illness, toxicity, sadness, and disease. I wanted to thrive.

Around 10 years old I suffered a severe bicycle accident where I knocked out several permanent teeth and broke my upper jaw, forcing me to be in and out of dentist, orthodontist, and surgeon offices throughout my youth. Because of these amazing and nurturing providers, I became very interested in dentistry, eventually choosing a path of becoming a dentist myself. Like all programs, my initial training and exposure to dentistry was very traditional, where I learned all the basic sciences and hands-on techniques necessary to become a competent and proficient dental provider. I practiced as a general dentist in a very traditional manner right out of school and was immediately quite unhappy and dissatisfied. Dentistry just did not resonate with me and I never felt like I was truly making a difference in my patients’ lives. I was addressing end-stage disease but with little to no root-cause education or time to help support patients in preventing issues from arising again. I personally was very interested in optimal living and nutrition and was often reading and studying more about this in my downtime. In my late twenties, my mom passed away quite suddenly and dramatically from cancer…this was after my father passed away in my late teens due to alcoholism and my stepfather passed away while I was in dental school from liver disease. All of these early deaths had definite causes linking back to outside and environmental influences, propelling me on my current mission to not only support myself in optimal living but also to support my patients toward whole-body wellness and to educate how so much of it connects back to oral health. I wanted to get as upstream as possible and I knew this meant I had to work with children and their parents. I had to help educate and prevent issues from beginning in the first place and this path has led me to where I am now, practicing as a root-cause, functional, and holistic pediatric dentist. And I have never had a stronger sense of purpose since starting my career 15 years ago and I am thrilled to see where the next 15 years take me.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?

A story that really impacted me and my path actually ended up being a series of stories I heard over and over again…how much dental fear and phobia there was in the adult population due to events and traumatic experiences that they had as children at the dentist. Similar and repeated memories were shared: “I was restrained against my will,” “I asked them to stop because it hurt and they didn’t listen,” “The dentist put their hand over my mouth, making me feel like I couldn’t breathe, and told me if I didn’t cooperate than ____ would happen to me.” It is tragic, shocking, and embarrassing to hear these stories of my past colleagues. I knew it didn’t have to be this way. I knew we could do better. I knew that I could help pave a new image of dentistry, one that is founded in love and compassion and prevention, while being grounded in science. It was because of these dozens and dozens of stories that I heard over my few years treating adults, that I decided I must pursue a specialty in pediatrics.

The other story I’ll mention is that shortly after I graduated from dental school, I worked at this corporate dental office as a general dentist and one afternoon we all had to evacuate the building because an assistant had dropped a bottle of something called formocresol, which is essentially a formaldehyde derivative that is often used in pulpal treatments/pulpotomies (nerve treatments of primary or baby teeth). I remember standing out in the parking lot thinking, “why is it in the corporate handbook to evaluate the building if a bunch of this stuff spills, but we are still putting this in children’s mouths?” It was one of the many situations that led me to seriously question the way we were doing things in dentistry and prompted me to seriously question many of the treatment modalities I had been taught in school. Again, I knew there must be a better way, a safer way, a more holistic and supportive way to care for our children.

Can you share a story about the biggest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

The biggest mistake I made when I first started out as a dentist is that I wasn’t true to myself. While I personally tended to lean into a very clean, holistic, and natural lifestyle, especially after losing my mother suddenly to cancer, I was still practicing dentistry in a very old and archaic manner using unideal materials and making treatment recommendations that never resonated with my core values. In hindsight, I do wish I had been more true to myself and practiced more in a manner that felt right to me from the very beginning, but it was so “against the grain” to question aspects of traditional dentistry and I simply didn’t have the courage to do so at the time. While I am thankful and appreciative of my origins of training and needed that basis to be the dentist I am today, I do wish I had pursued my passion to embrace functional dentistry sooner in my career so I could have helped more patients achieve optimal oral health earlier.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

The person who’s most helped me along my journey the most would have to be my husband, Josiah. He’s incredibly tolerant, loving, and supportive of all of my passions, ideas, and interests…whether it is coming up with new practice modalities, new strategies, or new products, he keeps me very grounded, while also being extremely supportive. I am forever thankful to him.

Honestly, my entire team, whether it’s my NoPo Kids Dentistry team, my Doctor Staci team, or my Happi Floss team, are also so instrumental and essential in my life and I couldn’t do any of it without them.

I’ve also met a lot of really cool and inspirational colleagues (and now friends) on Instagram and social media who become absolute mentors of mine including Dr. Mark Burhenne and Dr. Steven Lin, both functional dentists that I really admire and look up to and who challenge me and inspire me constantly. As we know, it takes a village, and I am forever thankful to mine for giving me the space to follow my path and to fulfill my sense of purpose.

Ok perfect. Now let’s jump to our main focus. When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?

I like to think that the work I’m doing is helping humans, starting with children living healthier and more fulfilling lives, with a heavy focus on creating a cavity-free world. I believe education is the key to health and there’s so much misinformation out there. I aspire to become a trustworthy source, a true doctor, or teacher and want to inspire new parents, overwhelmed families, and humans, in general, to learn to better care for themselves and their children. I want to get the mouth back into the body and to re-emphasize how critical oral health is…that it shouldn’t simply be an afterthought. I think so many of us were raised thinking cavities and gum disease are inevitable and they’re “no big deal.” While we shouldn’t be panicked or feel shame or guilt about cavities and oral disease, they are signs of oral dysbiosis and microbiome imbalances, which can directly affect and lead to other systemic illnesses. Oral health is a major key to overall health and so if we have issues going on in our oral cavity, that can affect the health of our entire body. So ultimately, I really just want to continue making patients healthier and ultimately happier.

Can you share your top five “lifestyle tweaks” that you believe will help support people’s journey towards better wellbeing? Please give an example or story for each.

I can tell you five ways to keep your oral health in optimal condition, therefore helping to keep your systemic health in check, too.

1. Airway health is critical and sleep is paramount. Both are so incredibly foundational for health and are a great starting place to establish ultimate health. If you do not fully restore every night, you can’t possibly fully regenerate. And how you breathe affects this. Nasal breathing (not mouth-breathing) and getting proper oxygenation are extremely important for systemic health and mental clarity, as well as optimal oral health. People who mouth breath suffer from more cavities, gum disease, and oral dysbiosis.
2. My next tip is to deeply appreciate the value of flossing. I can’t emphasize it enough and wish it were a non-negotiable for all humans. When gums are in a state of chronic inflammation, that inflammation doesn’t just stay in the mouth and can affect all aspects of your body, including leading to systemic issues like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and dementia, rheumatoid arthritis, pregnancy complications, and many, many more.
3. I encourage humans and families to get back into the kitchen and to start this experience with children early on, by learning where their food comes from, how to prepare it, and what flavors and techniques best create a deeply nourishing meal. Going to the farmer’s market, joining a CSA, or starting a small garden are all beautiful ways to start appreciating the beauty of food again. Teaching children early on how “eating the rainbow” is critical to whole-body health and how functional foods like fruits and veggies are full of information, like phytonutrients, that help to develop us into optimal humans, including ideal oral health and development. Don’t be afraid to introduce bold flavors to your children early on. Adding various spices, flavors, and textures from an early age will help to develop a more adventurous eater. The benefits of this are invaluable.
4. Water is also on the top of my list and starting your children out early and encouraging proper hydration is the key to overall health and will also lessen your risk for oral disease by keeping your saliva supported and pH in balance.
5. Finally, learning how to support your oral microbiome is key. Strategies like nasal breathing, proper hygiene, less harsh and more supportive dental products, nutrient-dense foods and prebiotic fibers, and fermented foods are all things to focus on for ideal oral microbiome balance.

If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?

One thing that could bring a tremendous amount of wellness to everyone is nasal breathing. The importance of nasal breathing cannot be overemphasized. It helps to: filter the air you breathe; humidify it; increase nitric oxide release which has profound systemic effects; increase oxygenation, leading to feeling more rested, more focused and more attentive; and reduce cavities and gum disease by keeping the oral microbiome in check and keeping saliva healthy and nourishing. Mouth breathing can lead to inflamed tonsils, oral dysbiosis, gut dysbiosis, exacerbating or contributing to issues like sleep-disordered breathing or sleep apnea, which can affect cardiovascular health, mental health, and systemic balance. Work with an airway-focussed dentist to help address your child’s or your own root causes of mouth-breathing.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?

1. Don’t believe everything you’re taught right out of the gate… definitely question everything and do your own research to validate, as things can change over time based on the latest studies, technology, materials, and data.

2. It’s OK to be yourself in front of your patients. Your patients will really appreciate that. Just be honest and authentic.

3. You don’t need to always have all of the answers. It is OK to say “I don’t know, but I will look that up and get back to you.”

4. You don’t need to do what everyone else is doing. Just because everyone else is working 8 to 6 Monday through Friday, it doesn’t mean that you need to do that, too. Just because everyone else is only booking only 30 minutes with patients, you can book more time. Do what makes you happy and what you need to do to offer your definition of optimal patient care, while maintaining a healthy work-life balance and taking care of your needs, too.

5. Knowing that the people you surround yourself with, your team and your community, are THE MOST important thing for your happiness and success. This group is your everything, so be sure to show them support, love, and appreciation always.

Sustainability, veganism, mental health and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?

To me, the most critical of all of these is the environment. Environment and sustainability are very interconnected, but without a healthy planet and without clean water, clean air, and a thriving ecosystem we cannot sustain ourselves as a thriving species regardless of how mindful we are, how cleanly we eat, or how much exercise we get. We must start taking this seriously and prioritizing our planetary health. We create so much damage and so much waste on our planet. And the dental industry is a huge contributor to this, whether from actual dental practices, or from our daily dental products that you use at home, like toothpaste tubes, floss containers, plastic flossers, rinse bottles, and all of the packaging involved. This is what inspired me to create Happi Floss, the world’s first truly compostable floss pick which is still in the investor round. I aspire to create an entire line of sustainable and science-backed products in the very near future to help battle this issue in the market and to help support the planet in my own way. If we all made small, daily changes, we would be in a very different situation than we are now and I am hopeful that humans will step up and demand change soon.

What is the best way our readers can follow you on social media?

You can find me mostly on Instagram @doctor_staci and also on my website www.doctrostaci.com . If you are in the Pacific Northwest or willing to travel, my office is located in Portland, OR, www.nopokids.com , and we are always thrilled to meet new patients. I am finishing up a book, cookbook, and a series of courses to teach more on how to care for yourself, your children, your teeth, and your oral microbiome, and hope for lots of great announcements in 2022!

Thank you for these fantastic insights!

Women In Wellness: Dr Staci Whitman On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Women In Wellness: Annalicia Niemela of Exercise180 On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Stop praising willpower. — We often think that the key to not “falling off the bandwagon” with our healthy habits is mustering up more willpower. But what if the real problem is thinking you have to rely on willpower in order to sustain your health habits in the first place? The reality is that willpower if a very limited resource. So it’s actually is not wise or even realistic to think you can “fuel” your life with it.

As a part of my series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Annalicia Niemela.

Annalicia helps individuals who not only want to be fit and healthy, but want to be fit and healthy, long term, and in a way that doesn’t mess with their heads (or their kids’ mental health). Her groundbreaking philosophy helps people find their unique, healthy-living sweet spot (where success, sustainability and peace of mind all coexist). She’s the leader of the Exercise180 Movement which is helping people around the world become among the strongest, healthiest people they know (in body and mind) and is helping them create real, positive change for the next generation.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?

My health journey began when I was 18 and heard about the “Freshman 15” for the first time. Prior to hearing about the “Freshman 15” I didn’t think much about my health or my weight. I was a three-sport athlete in high school so I got the exercise I needed simply by showing up for my games and practices. And, like most high school kids, I ate the meals that were prepared for me and whatever was in my house for snacks.

So, I’m 18 years old, I’m thin and I’m fit, but I suddenly realized that could all change very quickly. And, even though I didn’t think much about my weight prior to that, the idea of gaining weight started to really scare me. All I wanted was to stay thin and fit, but I didn’t really have any health habits in place, I didn’t really know what it meant to be healthy or how to do it on my own.

I got to work and established rules about food and strict exercise routines. I told myself there was no excuse for me not getting to the gym. So, I went…

Every. Single. Day.

It didn’t matter how I was feeling, emotionally, and it didn’t matter how I was feeling, physically. I never allowed myself to miss a workout because, “I didn’t feel like it.” I was the perfect poster child for the “no excuses” fitness philosophy.

My obsession with exercise escalated to a point where I would work out even if I was sick. I was obsessed with exercise, obsessed with rules around food, and obsessed with my weight. It was far from healthy. Anxiety and exhaustion dominated my life and escalated to a point where I was finally willing to consider that there might be a better way.

I sought out training in different health modalities, like yoga and health coaching, that promoted listening to your body and your feelings and I eventually found relief from my fear of food, my anxiety and my exhaustion. After about a decade of practicing this new way of being healthy, my life had completely transformed. I had become a different, happier, healthier individual. I had truly found my healthy-living sweet spot where success, sustainability and peace of mind can all coexist!

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?

It’s a very interesting experience to do live television segments and to be in a studio where there are only 20 or so individuals actually in the space with you (camera people, producers, etc), but to know your content is being immediately seen by thousands more. That unique blend of a small, personalized feel with immediate, larger impact has taught me a lot about being present and trusting myself in the moment.

Can you share a story about the biggest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

When I first started, I was focused mostly on arriving at my goals instead of focusing on the process of becoming who I needed to be to reach those goals. Forcing achievement can work, short-term, but it’s never sustainable and often comes at a high price. These sacrifices that I’ve made in pursuit of external accolades have taught me to focus less on results and more on who I’m being and how I’m thinking.

Let’s jump to our main focus. When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?

I help people get stronger in body, mind and spirit. Healthy 180 transformations are possible and I help people exercise their power to make them happen! I’m the leader of the Exercise180 Movement which is helping people around the world become among the strongest, healthiest people they know (in body and mind) and is helping them create real, positive change for the next generation. E180 helps people change the way they think about their bodies and health and leads them to begin thinking about life, in general, in more-positive, empowered and constructive ways.

Can you share your top five “lifestyle tweaks” that you believe will help support people’s journey towards better wellbeing? Please give an example or story for each.

1.) Add in, don’t cut out.

I used to be a person who had a bunch of rules around food. It was exhausting and it always seemed to backfire. I would, for example, set the goal of NO TREATS for a week . But during that week, treats were always on my mind. Then, if I did end up making it the entire week without eating treats, the first thing I would do to celebrate…the first thing I would do to reward myself…would be by eating treats.

So when it came to being healthy long-term and when it came to being healthy with ease, nothing really changed. I would reach my goal, but there I was again…under the spell of treats.

When I gave myself permission to focus on what I would add in vs. what I was going to cut out — that’s when things started to change for me.

I love this wisdom from Joshua Rosenthal (who is the founder of Integrative Nutrition, the health coach training school I went to). He says, “Add in to crowd out.”

What are a few important things I focus on “adding in” in my life on a regular basis? Water, movement, fruit & veggies, and deep breathing.

2.) Maximize fun and satisfaction.

You have permission to mold everything about your health to a feeling that equals satisfaction for you. In other words, you have permission to find the right yoga class for you. You have permission to drop your yoga class and go to the treadmill and watch a movie while you work out. There are always ways to make health habits more fun, more satisfying, easier and/or more delicious.

3.) Stop praising willpower.

We often think that the key to not “falling off the bandwagon” with our healthy habits is mustering up more willpower. But what if the real problem is thinking you have to rely on willpower in order to sustain your health habits in the first place? The reality is that willpower if a very limited resource. So it’s actually is not wise or even realistic to think you can “fuel” your life with it.

4.) Focus on thinking better.

When it comes to getting healthier, it’s crucial to NOT just focus on your behavior (what you’re doing or not doing and the results you’re getting or not getting). But it’s ALSO crucial to focus on what you’re thinking and who you’re being. And, ultimately, how you’re feeling.

What I’ve learned is, in order to find your healthy-living sweet spot (where success, sustainability and peace of mind can all coexist), you MUST bring “intangibles” into the conversation. Put another way…

Thinking better must be a priority.

A natural byproduct of thinking better is doing better. Meaning, when you begin to think better, you won’t have to force yourself to do better…it will happen, naturally, and will be sustained, naturally. Valuing life’s “intangibles” is absolutely key to finding that sweet spot where success, sustainability and peace of mind all come together.

5.) Think holistically.

If you’re “robbing Peter to pay Paul”, if you’re wreaking havoc on important aspects of your life in pursuit of improving your physical health, is that truly healthy?

The answer is — no.

The time has come for us all to have a higher standard for what we label as “healthy” and the only way to make that happen is to not only 1.) bring the intangibles into the conversation, but also 2.) STOP compartmentalizing life…we must make the conversation broader, more holistic.

If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?

I started the Exercise180 Movement nearly four years ago to bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people. What follows is our manifesto.

The E180 Manifesto

My name is ___________ and I’m a part of a grassroots group of individuals who came together because, when it comes to getting healthier, we had a suspicion that there had to be a better way.

We tried and failed and fell off the bandwagon enough times to realize the truth in Albert Einstein’s words, “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

So instead of repeating what didn’t worked in the past, we decided to investigate what could actually work for us moving forward. We are having a completely different conversation about health and food and exercise than you’re used to hearing. Completely different.

We do not believe that more self-discipline or accountability is required to become healthier. Science has proven that willpower is a very limited resource. Instead of denying this truth and expecting ourselves to run our lives on something that’s guaranteed to run out, we have decided a different kind of “fuel” is required. We don’t think deprivation leads to good things. We do not believe in the attitude of no excuses. We do not believe that pushing through is a virtue or that it’s wise to label certain things in your life as “non-negotiable”.

And this does not make us weak. On the contrary! We are likely among the strongest people you will ever meet…in body and mind. Our strength increases each time we reclaim our power from what doesn’t work and, instead, put our time, money and attention behind what does. It is 180 shifts like these that our transformation is built upon.

We are the initiators of true change and the builders of a healthier tomorrow. We exercise 180.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?

1.) Embrace mess.

Mess is the mark of a maverick…one who thinks beyond, one who creates beyond, one who becomes beyond that which has been before. The mess, the swirl of uncertainty, the dust of disappointment, the tornado of ideas are all natural as better becomes.

2.) Show yourself and others grace.

Strength is not the same thing as rigidity. A healthy mind is a flexible mind. And a healthy heart is one that softens easily.

3.) Check in with yourself often.

Others will have opinions about your journey so it is very important that you establish a strong rapport with yourself so you’re able to hear your intuition through the “noise” of others’ opinions.

4.) Mold things into place.

You always have permission to err on the side of simple and set yourself up for easy success in pursuit of becoming better. Baby steps always, eventually (and sooner than you think), lead to big progress.

5.) Be patience with your process.

For seven years, the bamboo plant looks like it is making no progress. Then, almost overnight, it shoots up into a towering stalk. During the seven years of seemingly no progress, the bamboo plant was actually creating complex root systems to ensure its long-term wellbeing. This is a great metaphor to keep in mind on your journey! When it seems like you’re making no progress, maybe what’s actually happening is you’re deepening your roots and establishing a more-solid foundation for your success.

Sustainability, veganism, mental health and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?

As someone who neglected her peace of mind in pursuit of physical “health” goals, mental health is dearest to me. Because of my personal perfectionistic struggles in pursuit of trying to become better, I’m committed to being a new kind of leader in the health, fitness and personal-development world. One that not only concerns herself with people’s behaviors, what they’re doing or not doing to get healthier, but one who also values the thoughts, feelings and intentions behind people’s behaviors. One who not only gives credence to what can be measured, seen and tracked, but one who also gives credence to the motives and values we’re living and teaching to the next generation.

What is the best way our readers can follow you online?

I’d love to connect on Instagram @exercise180 and you can learn more about the E180 Movement at www.Exercise180.com/Join-Now.

Thank you for these fantastic insights!

Women In Wellness: Annalicia Niemela of Exercise180 On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Do it now. Otherwise, all hell may break loose. No matter how busy, take care of things in a timely manner. Otherwise, you may become overwhelmed, and miss an important opportunity.

As a part of our series about “dreamers who ignored the naysayers and did what others said was impossible”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Alexandra Kathryn Mosca and Doris V. Amen.

Known as the Morte Girls, Alexandra Kathryn Mosca and Doris V. Amen are two of the best-known names in funeral service. Having achieved success in a formerly male-dominated field, they are role models for women aspiring to similar careers. The women are sought after for commentary about the state of the industry.

Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to ‘get to know you’ a bit better. Can you tell us your ‘backstory’?

We grew up in New York City’s outer boroughs, Doris in Brooklyn and me in Queens, at a time when women were embarking on traditional careers, like teaching or nursing. We, too, felt strongly about aspiring to careers that would serve our communities, and help others. We just weren’t sure in what capacity. But I can tell you that becoming funeral directors was the furthest thing from our minds. For Doris, it was becoming engaged to a mortuary student, who was following in the footsteps of his uncle and cousin, and helping him study, which proved decisive. Until then, the only reference she had to funeral service was the local funeral home’s ad on her school’s book covers, which to her seemed a little curious. For me, it was an after-school job in a funeral home that changed the course of my life.

Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?

I am almost finished putting my first book, Grave Undertakings, a memoir about my entrée into funeral service, into ebook form. It is a project a long time in the making. The hardcover edition has been out of print for a while and the remaining copies are prohibitively expensive. I want to make it available as a reference for young women so they can see how far we’ve come and won’t feel they are alone on their journey. We wholeheartedly subscribe to the message in the ad campaign: “If you can see her, you can be her.” That’s another reason, despite our busy schedules, that we keep a public presence. Being seen as role models is something that is important to us.

Doris endured a prolonged battle with New York City’s Department of Buildings after it claimed her funeral home was not a funeral home at all (though it has been in existence since 1950). The DOB claimed it was a cabaret restaurant (which it had been in the 1920s) and threatened to shut her business down. It took 2 1/2 years, and lots of red tape, to clear the matter up. All the while she feared that the funeral home she had poured so much love into could be taken away from her. Doris has written an account of that — a cautionary tale for others — which she hopes to publish in the new year

Doris endured a prolonged battle with New York City’s Department of Buildings after it claimed her funeral home was not a funeral home at all (though it has been in existence since 1950). The DOB claimed it was a cabaret restaurant (which it had been in the 1920s) and threatened to shut her business down. It took 2 1/2 years, and lots of red tape, to clear the matter up. All the while she feared that the funeral home she had poured so much love into could be taken away from her. Doris has written an account of that — a cautionary tale for others — which she hopes to publish in the new year.

In your opinion, what do you think makes your company or organization stand out from the crowd?

In the funeral business, personal service is everything and that’s what we offer the families we serve. Such service goes a long way in setting us apart. What’s more, we are there for families during –and after — the service.

Making funeral arrangements for a loved one is not something anyone wants to be doing. It can be dauting and overwhelming. We try to look at it from the survivors’s perspective, treating them as we would wish to be treated if we lost someone we loved. In mortuary school, one instructor explained that people often felt more comfortable making funeral arrangements in the comfort of their own home. To this day, I continue that practice for those who prefer it.

Ok, thank you for that. I’d like to jump to the main focus of this interview. Has there ever been a time that someone told you something was impossible, but you did it anyway? Can you share the story with us? What was your idea? What was the reaction of the naysayers? And how did you overcome that?

People were literally in shock when we told them we wanted to pursue careers as funeral directors. You want to be what!? They gasped; eyes wide with surprise. Some thought it morbid, or just plain weird. Since women were, for the most part, not generally visible in the field, it was not an idea people could wrap their heads around.

“You will never make it in the funeral industry!” we were told time and again. as we embarked on what was a most nontraditional field for women. “You can’t do it,” they said. But as Doris likes to say, “Can’t means: can try.” She positively fumes when someone says something is impossible.

The naysayers were wrong. In fact, their dire predictions for our failure only strengthened our resolve.

“All those guys are six feet under now,” Doris said with a laugh.

Today, our success has exceeded our expectations, and we are gratified by the doors we helped open for other women entering funeral service. We’d like to pass along what we learned, so that these women will not be discouraged on their career journey. Resiliency and tenacity truly will get you where you want to go.

In the end, how were all the naysayers proven wrong? 🙂

Doris owns one of the busiest funeral homes in Brooklyn. She is also the face of funeral service in many documentaries and newspaper articles. During the height of the Covid crisis in New York City, swamped with work as she was, Doris made herself available to the press so that they could fully grasp the horror of what was happening. What’s more, she is a fixture in her community. She always says that being appreciated and acknowledged by her neighbors fuels her. The letters, notes, and cards she gets are some of her most precious possessions.

As for me, I run my own funeral service in Queens and also have a career as a writer. I chronicle the funeral industry, and profile my noteworthy fellow professionals. A colleague recently gave me the best compliment. He said, “You really haven’t made it in funeral service until you’ve been interviewed by Alexandra.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I am grateful to my sixth-grade teacher, Mrs. Clara Silverman. She recognized in me my love for the written word and both challenged and encouraged me to keep writing. When I would struggle with my writing projects, she would not allow me to quit until it met with her satisfaction. Those assignments become life lessons in perseverance. Sometimes when I’m writing, I remember Mrs. Silverman telling me, Keep at it. I know you can do this.

Despite a difficult relationship with her father, Doris still credits him with encouraging her to pursue her dreams. Though he wanted her to follow in his footsteps and become a dentist, she would have none of it. Despite his disappointment, when she chose funeral service, he supported her career goal.

It must not have been easy to ignore all the naysayers. Did you have any experiences growing up that have contributed to building your resiliency? Can you share the story with us?

We both came from dysfunctional families. Our respective parents were demanding, strict disciplinarians, and emotionally withholding. By college, we had to fend for ourselves. Despite the difficulties, coming from such backgrounds was good training ground for what we’d have to face down the line early on in our careers when dealing with some very unpleasant people.

Doris was also the victim of bullying in her Catholic grammar school. Ethnic slurs were often hurled at the students of Italian heritage. She learned to stand up for herself at an early age.

Based on your experience, can you share 5 strategies that people can use to harness the sense of tenacity and do what naysayers think is impossible? (Please share a story or an example for each)

1. Work hard and stay focused. It’s that simple. Funeral service is a 24/ 7 commitment. You can’t tell a potential employer, “I don’t work nights or weekends.”
2. Refuse to take “no” for an answer. If not for that, we wouldn’t be where we are today. When we were job- hunting and facing rejection after rejection, rather than make waves (we knew that strategy was a bad one) we remained stoic and cautiously optimistic as we followed up on any and every lead until we found funeral homes willing to take a chance on us.
3. Have a sense of humor. That goes a long way in defusing a situation. We often find humor in the strangest situations.
4. Make it happen. That sometimes calls for creative thinking. If someone asks for something special at a funeral — an accordion player, red casket interior, a horse-drawn carriage — some funeral directors might say they can’t do that. We are both willing to, as the saying goes, move heaven and hell to make things happen.
5. Do it now. Otherwise, all hell may break loose. No matter how busy, take care of things in a timely manner. Otherwise, you may become overwhelmed, and miss an important opportunity.

What is your favorite quote or personal philosophy that relates to the concept of resilience?

Doris’s favorite quote is by author Napoleon Hill, who famously wrote, “A quitter never wins and a winner never quits.” And she more than lives up to that spirit. Mine is from philosopher Freidrich Nietzsche: “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” We share a third from poet Maya Angelou: “I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.” This resonated mightily given some of the unfortunate negativity we’ve seen around us.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

We would enlist our colleagues around the country in our mission to keep dignity in funeral service. Somewhere along the line, it began to be played for laughs, losing the reverence it deserves. We are dismayed at the portrayal of funeral service in popular media. To hear reporters tell it, solemn rituals have been replaced by a host of outrageous alternatives. These stories bear no resemblance to what we see daily but have convinced some consumers that traditional funerals are no longer part of the American culture. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Can our readers follow you on social media?

Absolutely! You can follow us on Instagram and on Twitter @themortegirls

Thank you for these great stories. We wish you only continued success!

Alexandra Mosca and Doris Amen: They Told Me It Was Impossible And I Did It Anyway was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech: Cindy Salas Murphy of ‘WithHealth’ on The 5 Leadership Lessons She Learned From Her Experience

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

End your days with favorite moments: In our field, not every day will yield the results you expect. However, every day we have a moment that brings us joy or peace. Celebrate that moment by recalling it before you go to bed and share it with someone you love.

As a part of my series about “Lessons from Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Cindy Salas Murphy, CEO & Founder of WithHealth.

Cindy Salas Murphy is the Founder and CEO of WithHealth, a San Diego-based digital precision care, telehealth company that is committed to delivering on the promise of precision care by dramatically changing the healthcare experience to improve employee health and employer outcomes. WithHealth uses genomics, digital twin technology, augmented intelligence, care coordination, and telehealth to make healthcare personalized, affordable, proactive, and accessible. Cindy has more than 20 years of experience leading transformation in healthcare for hospitals, medical groups and as an entrepreneur with a successful exit. Her outcomes include growth of a start-up to more than $1B under management, improved patient safety, quality, service and growth, while also reducing cost and optimizing productivity levels. Her passions include precision health, improving access to care, destigmatizing mental health, and eliminating health disparities. She holds a Master in Public Health from San Diego State University and a Bachelor in Science from Mount St. Mary’s University.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I am the daughter of two immigrants who met and fell in love in Los Angeles, CA. On their honeymoon, driving from Los Angeles to Costa Rica, they were in a horrific car accident. Both of my parents were significantly injured and my mom, at the age of 24, became disabled. Miraculously enough, she was able to have five children, two of which survived — my older sister and me. My parents’ dedication to us was endless, and still is to this day. My mom taught us to enjoy life, to be creative, and to play nice. My dad was active with us, took us running and biking, and taught us to love the ocean. He loved to play with us outdoors, which was something my mom could not do.

When my dad was about 38 he was injured in another accident, and as a young child, I felt like I was losing my playmate. When he was hospitalized, my only question for the neurosurgeon was whether my dad would be able to play with us outside. Dr. Richland (I still remember his name) told me that he wasn’t sure. He told me he would do his best, but he couldn’t give me any guarantees. As you can imagine, this was incredibly difficult to hear. I told Dr. Richland that I wanted to make medicine better. I knew then and there that I wanted healthcare to be better — not only for the patients, but also for their families. I was eight years old, with a defined purpose in life. My determination and drive to make healthcare better have only grown throughout the years, and it fuels me everyday. I awaken with a fire in my belly, knowing that each day I have the opportunity to make a difference in this world.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began at your company?

In March 2020, the most unprecedented event in my life occurred. Our country shut down. The world shut down. People were getting sick. At WithHealth, we were launching our digital precision care delivery model to employers, but the employers went home. They were unsure of their future, both personally and professionally.

WithHealth already employed physicians, nurses, and genetic pathologists. Plus, we had a platform. So, we rolled up our sleeves and carried out our mission to make healthcare affordable and accessible. While our original focus was on precision care, we turned instead to immediate COVID risk mitigation and testing for employers. It was the fastest pivot I have ever taken in my professional life. In a matter of weeks, we were serving as the telemedicine provider for San Diego County’s COVID alternative discharge centers and shortly thereafter providing workplace safety for employers across the U.S. To date, we have serviced more than 150 clients across many industries, from first responders, to financial services, to professional sports teams. Our biggest industry is entertainment and production. We have the privilege of servicing some of the largest production studios in the world, and are working shoulder to shoulder with them to keep their workplaces safe and free from COVID outbreaks.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

First, I believe a mistake only happens when you do something unintended and you don’t learn from it. Instead, I like to think in terms of unintended moments that lead to growth. One of the funniest moments of contrast that I have experienced was in a meeting with a potential investor. I asked him why he was interested in meeting with us. He said that he was intrigued by our model. I, in turn, asked what intrigued him. As he attempted to respond, I quickly realized he actually had no idea what we did, nor did he realize that we were not actively raising money at that time. Nonetheless, I took the opportunity to practice my elevator pitch and share more about WithHealth. Turns out, he only invests in real estate. We weren’t the right fit for him before I even entered the room. I spent over an hour explaining our model and, upon reflection, I learned a lesson. While the experience had been amusing and great fun, in the end, I was not a good steward of his — or of my own — time. Nowadays, I am very intentional in creating alignment at the beginning of my meetings so that I can be the best steward of everyone’s time.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

We are a digital precision care, telehealth company. We are the only solution that brings primary care, specialty care, behavioral health, and urgent care all together in a digital first model that is powered by genomics. Our delivery model enables care for employees and reduces costs for both employees and employers. We cost less than a cup of coffee per day and offer unlimited chat with clinicians, unlimited urgent care visits, five visits per year with their WithHealth primary care physician, and access to our specialists for only $45 to $85 per visit. What this means is that we can focus not only on treating illness, but also on creating a plan of care that is preventive and proactive. Our clinicians use the patient’s clinical information, including their pharmacogenomics and genomic profile report, to help patients take the right medication and prevent new or continued illnesses. A beautiful example of this came early. One of our first patients suffered from adult acne and irritability. They were interested in learning more about how to improve their mood and their skin condition. Their pharmacogenomics test showed that they were on anti-depressants which weren’t working well for them, and their skin condition was related to their gut health. In a few short weeks, this patient felt significantly better and the skin condition was improving. That was fuel! It was immediate evidence that our model worked. Here we stand, a year later, iterating on that experience and creating more opportunities to make healthcare better.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

Our focus on delivering our digital first precision care offering to employers is primordial, but we also know that employers are trying to figure out how to respond to the new vaccine management mandate that is currently under review by the White House. An exciting development in our workplace safety offering is our vaccine management program. The program includes both testing and confidential management of vaccine status for employees.

We know this is a great help for employers. It takes the burden of the validation and management process away from HR teams and enables the confidential communication of readiness for work, whether it is with an up-to-date vaccine card or a negative COVID test.

Ok super. Thank you for all that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. Are you currently satisfied with the status quo regarding women in STEM? What specific changes do you think are needed to change the status quo?

As the mother of two young school-aged children, I can tell you that we MUST do more. When I meet with experts in genomics, medicine and technology, I am keenly aware that the vast majority of them are men. I believe as leaders we must do our part in mentoring and elevating those that have an interest in STEM. I feel very blessed to have amazing mentors in my life, many of whom were women in STEM. They serve as a guidepost for how my career has progressed.

We can do more to engage young girls in discussions that focus on limitless thinking rather than qualifying them as not being good at math or science. We need to be more playful with math and science as a way of creating curiosity. We should do away with standardized testing since the research has shown that speed is not an indicator of aptitude and the scoring of these timed tests demotivates many.

In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by women in STEM or Tech that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts? What would you suggest to address this?

A major challenge for women in STEM is finding female mentors. As STEM leaders, we need to do a better job of pairing ourselves with other women in STEM and build a stronger community. We need to do a better job of succession planning and invest in women that not only demonstrate ability, but also willingness and desire to learn and grow.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a woman in STEM or Tech. Can you explain what you mean?

Myth: Women in STEM are boring.

Answer: False. I have a creative edge that generates excitement in my work.

Myth: Women in STEM are not well rounded, they only like science, tech and math.

Answer: False. I speak three languages and enjoy spending time learning about new cultures and their history.

Myth: Women in STEM must enter the market at a young age.

Answer: False. Our VP of Technology at WithHealth started as a social worker and transitioned into tech. When you find your calling, follow it. Age is not an indicator of your ability to enter the market.

What are your “5 Leadership Lessons I Learned From My Experience as a Woman in STEM or Tech” and why. (Please share a story or example for each.)

1. Things always work out for me: Even when things seem dire, when the dust settles, I always see the beauty where that specific moment of contrast brought growth and opportunity in my life. What I have learned as a scientist is that a positive outlook on life, living in happiness and gratitude, being in service and experiencing love all enhance telomerase enzyme activity and promote a long and healthy life.
2. Your thoughts create your reality, so be careful of what you think: Quantum physics has taught us that everything in the universe is made up of energy and generates a certain energy signature. The energy we emit can and does alter your environment
3. Your best teachers are your customers: We must consider the perspective of our clients/customers when building solutions. They trust that we will couple our knowledge and passion with execution for their benefit. That unspoken contract places the responsibility on us to assess, design, and implement solutions that are important to them. Using the scientific method, we have the tools available to properly hypothesize and assess the best possible product or service for our clients/customers.
4. End your days with favorite moments: In our field, not every day will yield the results you expect. However, every day we have a moment that brings us joy or peace. Celebrate that moment by recalling it before you go to bed and share it with someone you love.
5. Nunc Coepi — leave the past behind and begin again: We can’t live in the past and expect to enjoy the future. Not only is living in the moment integral to creating new technology or incorporating new scientific findings, we must leave the past behind in order to release biases that may prevent us from discovering new paths or ways of doing things.

What advice would you give to other women leaders to help their team to thrive?

Culture trumps skill everyday! Promote those that drive a culture that is aligned to your values. Skills can be taught.

What advice would you give to other women leaders about the best way to manage a large team?

Don’t take on too many direct reports and always make time for your own personal development. Hire a coach or build a “kitchen cabinet” (aka personal advisors) to serve as guideposts for you.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

My parents!! They taught me that there is no limit to what I can accomplish and to always love what I do every day of my life. This is how I live my life and what I am also teaching my children. Additionally, I am blessed to be married to an incredible man that also subscribes to this belief.

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

I often have this conversation with my children. In our own backyard in San Diego, we have communities that are food deserts. Among our clients, in some of the tribal nations, the average life expectancy is 59 years old. Whether in San Diego or across the country, we have small moments to make big differences. We must seize those moments every chance we get in both our personal and professional lives.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

It would be to destigmatize behavioral health. It would be to transition mental illness from a whisper word to a normal topic of conversation, like diabetes or heart disease. Let’s get people diagnosed earlier and provide them with treatment that is precisely designed for them. There are too many suicides that are preventable.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Some people come in our life as blessings. Some come in your life as lessons.” — Mother Theresa

Every person is a gift and we must treat them as such. There are times when in the moment, I have failed to see the gift that the person was in my life. By recognizing that the gift, whether it was in the shape of a blessing or a lesson, it served a purpose in my life.

We are very blessed that very prominent leaders read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂

Donna Langley, Chairman of Universal. The pivot she led for Universal during the pandemic is commendable. I feel connected to her as we too had to pivot and we did it with great success, of course at a much smaller scale.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech: Cindy Salas Murphy of ‘WithHealth’ on The 5 Leadership… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.