Women In Wellness: Cheryl Dowling of The IVF Warrior on The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help…

Women In Wellness: Cheryl Dowling of The IVF Warrior on The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Prioritize Sleep: Lack of sleep can affect your mood, weight, energy, memory, immune system, hormones, and mental health. Additionally, you become higher risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease. It’s crucial to prioritize your sleep by making positive lifestyle choices to support sleep. This includes optimizing your bedtime routine and environment. By having a regular bedtime routine that includes some self-care and relaxing activities, plus an optimal bedroom environment that includes a cooler temperature, comfortable bedding, blackout curtains, and no lights, my sleep has improved significantly.

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

Cheryl Dowling is a Certified Counselor and founder of The IVF Warrior, a fertility health and wellness platform connecting people from all over the world who are navigating different paths to parenthood. On The IVF Warrior she provides support, resources, and empowerment across multiple platforms, using her expertise and experiences. She also works as a coach and freelance social and digital marketing specialist.

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?

Mental health has always been fascinating to me and something I’m extremely passionate about. I studied Mental Health and Addiction Counseling in school and immediately landed a position as a women’s addiction and mental health counselor at a residential treatment center. Focusing my career on women’s health and wellness wasn’t what I originally envisioned, but I can’t imagine having any other focus. It’s shaped who I am today.

I’ve now worked as an individual, group, and crisis counselor supporting women with mental health issues and teaching tools to optimize wellness and overall well-being. I’ve created and led self-care courses as well. While struggling with many health issues and then embarking on an emotional and isolating fertility journey, my current platform was born.

I recognized while navigating my path to parenthood, that support and resources for those experiencing fertility issues was fairly non-existent. I started sharing my story, as well as providing information for those trying to conceive or dealing with different health struggles while trying to grow their family. The past few years have been so fulfilling and magical in countless ways. Being able to connect with people while providing hope, support, and resources, is very rewarding.

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?

One of the biggest lessons has been realizing how different everyone’s journey is. Once you realize that everyone is struggling in their own way, you stop comparing and you start empathizing, listening, and learning. Everyone has different struggles and silent battles they face. Whether it’s infertility, trauma, relationship issues, mental health challenges, or other issues like finances or work. I’ve learned to always be kind and not make assumptions about someone else’s life.

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?

There have definitely been some hard lessons along the way. The biggest mistake I made starting out was thinking I could help everyone. Initially, it was devastating knowing that some clients went back to old habits once treatment stopped. I quickly realized that a person has to want to change in order to get better. This changed my entire counseling perspective and approach, but it was initially a very hard lesson to learn. This is a lesson that I’ve also taken into my personal life.

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?

1 in 5 will experience mental health issues in any given year. 1 in 6 will experience infertility. 1 in 4 will experience pregnancy loss. With infertility and loss comes a long list of mental health issues you’re more likely to experience, from PTSD, trauma, anxiety, depression, and postpartum depression and/or anxiety. My work has been crucial for bringing more awareness to this and helping to change the conversation about infertility, loss, and mental health. There are so many layers to infertility and loss that many don’t see. They can both cause lifelong mental health effects. My hope and goals are that others know they aren’t alone, that people understand how to support someone struggling, and that overtime, more people feel like they can speak up about their journey and struggles.

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. Prioritize Sleep: Lack of sleep can affect your mood, weight, energy, memory, immune system, hormones, and mental health. Additionally, you become higher risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease. It’s crucial to prioritize your sleep by making positive lifestyle choices to support sleep. This includes optimizing your bedtime routine and environment. By having a regular bedtime routine that includes some self-care and relaxing activities, plus an optimal bedroom environment that includes a cooler temperature, comfortable bedding, blackout curtains, and no lights, my sleep has improved significantly.
  2. Spend Time Outside Everyday: Spending time outside not only gives you your daily dose of vitamin D, but it’s also proven to boost overall health and happiness. Getting outside can help reduce stress and improve focus. Fresh air and sunshine can do wonders for our health and well-being. I make a point of going for walks as often as possible, or even stepping outside for a few minutes here and there throughout the day.
  3. Move Your Body: Exercise is very beneficial for your overall health and wellness. It has amazing benefits for reducing your body’s stress hormones, and things like strength training can even help regulate metabolism hormones. When it comes to exercise, you should move your body every day, even simple stretching or light walking. I aim to exercise 4 times each week, by doing so, I notice major improvements in my mental health.
  4. Practice Self-Care: Self-care isn’t selfish, it’s necessary. Despite what you’ve heard, self-care doesn’t have to mean bubble baths and nail salons, it can mean setting boundaries, making tough decisions, prioritizing your mental health, or enjoying different activities based on what you enjoy e.g., reading, creating a new recipe, or watching your favorite show. To me, self-care looks different every day, I do what my body and mind are telling me to focus on. Learning to practice self-care without guilt, has changed my life. It makes me a better version of myself.
  5. Unplug From Technology: When was the last time you went a day, or even a few hours without your phone? How did you feel? Taking time to unplug, be more present, and enjoy what’s happening in front of us, is so important. In today’s world, it’s too easy to get caught up in being “busy” 24/7. Unplugging can help you gain clarity, focus, and happiness, while reducing stress and anxiety. I make time every morning, evening, and weekend, to completely unplug.

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

Normalizing mental health issues including conversations around mental health, the different battles people face, and treatments including medications or going to therapy. Why is it still “attention seeking” or “shameful” to talk about mental health? Mental health is equally important as our physical health, and should be treated that way. It’s time we end the stigmas. So many people suffer every single day, yet most do in silence. This needs to change.

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

  1. Don’t Compare Yourself to Others: Something many of us do is compare, especially with the power of the internet. Typically, this makes us feel “less than”, jealous, or other negative feelings. Comparing isn’t helpful because we all have different paths, different circumstances, and different battles. We also can’t believe everything we see online. Most people share their highlight reel, not the mundane moments or their struggles. Someone else’s journey isn’t yours. It’s important to focus your time and energy on you, including your life and your goals. This will bring more positive to your life than wasting time comparing to others.
  2. Be Your Biggest Fan: You can either build yourself up or tear yourself down with your thoughts and words. What you tell yourself every day matters the most. You have to learn to change the voice inside your head to be positive and loving, not judgmental or mean. When you start cheering yourself on, incredible things happen. When I learned to start incorporating daily affirmations into my life and shutting down that negative, critical voice, my overall thoughts and confidence changed.
  3. Never Sacrifice Your Mental Health: For a relationship, a job, to please others, for anything… Nothing is worth sacrificing your mental health for. Learn to prioritize your mental health just like your physical health. If you feel like your mental health is declining, do something about it! Talk to someone, take a break, practice self-care, unplug, or rest. Without our mental health in check, everything becomes harder to navigate, judgement becomes cloudy, productivity declines, and we can’t show up for ourself or others the same. Setting boundaries and putting our mental health first is healthy.
  4. Celebrate Your Victories: “Life is what happens while you’re busy making plans”. We often get so caught up in the next big thing we want to achieve in life, we forget to slow down and celebrate our wins along the way, both big and small. It’s so important to celebrate life and all that you accomplish. Don’t get so caught up in the next big thing that you forget to celebrate your wins and what’s happening in present time.
  5. Nothing Happens Overnight: In a world that loves instant gratification, I think most of us forget that life achievements take time and don’t happen overnight. Learning to be patient with ourself and the journey is important. Success always looks so simple, linear, and different from the outside, which is why many of us fall victim of comparing, but success takes persistence, dedication, and typically many failures and hard lessons along the way. Learn to embrace the journey on your way to the destination.

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 very close to my heart. I’ve dedicated a lot of my life and career to this specific cause and plan on continuing the conversation to bring more awareness and help end any stigma associated with mental health. Every day I see so many struggling silently. No one should ever feel alone or shame for their mental health issues.

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

You can find me on Instagram @the.ivf.warrior, Facebook, and The IVF Warrior website. I’d love to be able to connect with more of you there!

Thank you for these fantastic insights!

Women In Wellness: Cheryl Dowling of The IVF Warrior 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.

Lindsay Quinlan of KindSide: 5 Things Anyone Can Do To Optimize Their Mental Wellness

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Set screen time limits. I know that spending more time on my device doesn’t make me happier. Setting alerts helps ensure I spend more time off my phone and engaged and present in the world around me. I actually feel like a more focused businesswomen and mom when I spend less time on social media.

As a part of my series about the “5 Things Anyone Can Do To Optimize Their Mental Wellness”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Lindsay Quinlan.

Lindsay is the founder of KindSide, a mental wellness company that creates tools that support mental well-being. After experiencing the challenges her family faced in the throes of addiction for over a decade, recovering from an eating disorder in her twenties, and giving birth in a pandemic, Lindsay understands the collective struggle — and opportunities — in mental health. Prior to launching KindSide, Lindsay spent her career at wellness brands such as Health-Ade Kombucha, Cha Cha Matcha and CBS EcoMedia. Lindsay co-owns Eco-Chick.com, the web’s first sustainable living site for women.

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?

My family was in the throes of addiction for over a decade. I developed anxiety during this intense time which lasted throughout my twenties. The constant instability, deep sadness and fear of never knowing what train wreck was next intensely impacted my mental well-being. I longed for control and this desire manifested itself in me as an eating disorder for four years. Anyone who loves someone who struggles with addiction understands you’re on the battlefield in the trenches with them. The eating disorder, which I’ve since proudly recovered from many years ago, was my mind’s way of coping. I didn’t yet have the emotional tools to tap into. I wasn’t proactive then about my mental fitness.

When my family came out of this period of addiction on the other side, and after many therapy sessions, I made a promise to myself: I wouldn’t let this lived experience be for nothing. I promised myself I’d harness all of the energy and learnings and do something meaningful with it. But I didn’t exactly have a clear vision yet of how it would come to fruition.

When COVID hit in March 2020, I was 34 weeks pregnant living in NYC. At that time, I had spent many years working in the wellness and social impact spaces, and most recently at well-known functional beverages brands helping them scale. We wound up leaving the city to give birth, pretty far away from home and where we planned. “My plan” was entirely rattled. But it was the greatest blessing in many ways. Giving birth in a pandemic forced me to re-think my career and my life’s focus. I had been running KindSide as a side hustle for some time and it started to occur to me that I could pivot our business model away from events that worked to de-stigmatize mental health and addiction and lean into producing tangible mental wellness tools. As scary as it was, being a new mom in a pandemic gave me this strong sense of creativity and empowerment I had never experienced or unleashed before. I saw and felt the collective mental health crisis, especially through the lens of being a new mom, and I decided to lean in to this entrepreneurial calling.

It wasn’t easy, but I just kept putting one foot in front of the other and celebrating the small victories. Since launching in Dec. 2020, in less than a year, we’ve released two tools that have helped thousands of people and expanded into retailers like Bloomingdale’s who recognize the importance of supporting their customers’ mental wellness.

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

My first entrepreneurial pursuit was a sustainability blog. I was just starting out in my career, around 2009, and was really passionate about environmentalism so I was side-husting and blogging for a then, little known sustainability blog for women called Eco-Chick.com. This was before the proliferation of blogging and the widespread acceptance of “sustainability.” I realized the site wasn’t monetizing all of the great content we were putting out to the world so I asked the founder, Starre Vartan, if I could take on business development in addition to my writing duties.

It started taking off to the point where it made sense for me to focus on it full-time, in addition to some freelance gigs. We were bringing on some of the world’s most respected advertisers who had just started to articulate their sustainability initiatives. So I quit my day job but didn’t tell my parents for weeks because I knew they’d be upset with my decision. When they found out, they were basically like, ‘you went to college to do this? And what is a blog?” Ultimately, the founder brought me in as a partner and the blog opened so many incredible doors for me, including meeting two future employers: CBS Corporation and Health-Ade Kombucha. I traveled all over the world for the site, unearthed so many interesting stories and really fine-tuned my interest in pursuing work that addressed health issues. I remain a partner at the site to this day. I think the big lesson there for me is to trust your gut and follow your intuition, even if it goes against the grain and makes people feel uncomfortable, including your parents!

Can you share a story with us about the most humorous mistake you made when you were first starting? What lesson or take-away did you learn from that?

There’s nothing glamorous about entrepreneurship and building a brand. It requires intense resilience and hustle and sometimes, it’s even a bit lonely. I underestimated how emotionally challenging the journey building KindSide would be. We grew pretty quickly, and little did our customers know that I was fulfilling orders next to my son’s playmat and intermittently nursing him while answering emails and communicating with retailers and customers. My son was always crawling into product boxes or knocking over piles of outgoing packages. This still happens, but he’s a toddler now! I can’t even tell you how many times I had to laugh at the ridiculous situation before me.

I had to learn to be humble enough to ask for help and guidance. I didn’t have to know everything. It’s incredibly humbling to leave a career where you felt like you were somewhat of an expert and then to dive into a world where there’s this constant feeling like you don’t know something and you’re learning on the fly. I found that once I really embraced being an entrepreneur, really incredible women who are successful entrepreneurs came into my life. Their friendship and mentorship has meant everything to me. Temidra Willock of Hidden Gem and Ashleigh Stone of Poolside are two examples of women supporting women.

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?

Two people immediately come to mind! The first is Starre Vartan, trailblazing environmental journalist and the founder of Eco-Chick. She’s been a wonderful mentor to me for many years. She was radically generous in the way in which she helped me pave my own path and encouraged my development. Starre and Eco-Chick created many opportunities for me.

Serial social entrepreneur Paul Polizzotto helped me see the world through the lens of a social entrepreneur. I worked for Paul for several years at EcoMedia, a social enterprise company he founded which was acquired by the CBS Corporation. Paul was a total renegade within the organization. Paul is an environmentalist and surfer from Manhattan Beach, and I wouldn’t say he fit into the CBS corporate executive archetype. I got to see Paul navigate that world first-hand after he had been acquired by CBS and that was really eye opening for me. Paul invited me into big meetings and conversations, some of which I probably was underqualified for, but he made sure I always had a seat at the table. Paul exposed me to the relentless determination it takes to tackle social issues as a business and how unconventional thinking — and not going along with consensus — is how you affect change and do something BIG. Even though corporate America ultimately wasn’t my speed, and Paul went on to create another company pursuing another big idea, Paul’s mentorship during that period of my life was game-changing. He was a father figure to me.

What advice would you suggest to your colleagues in your industry to thrive and avoid burnout?

Taking a proactive approach to your mental well-being will help avoid burnout. This could mean meditating more frequently for one person and running with a dog every evening to another. Anything that gets you in a flow where your mind takes a rest and you feel completely engaged in whatever activity you’re doing. That feeling of freedom when you’re in flow is pure magic.

I’m also a huge fan of mental health days. I think we’d see a happier workforce if employees are able to identify when they need a mental health break. I hope to build a company where I’m able to offer them to my employees.

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

I’m focused on learning from other leaders right now and building a great company. What I do know is that I’ve been happiest in work cultures where expression of opinion and real feedback was truly valued and not suppressed. I’ve experienced that this is very hard to do.

Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s move to the main focus of our interview. Mental health is often looked at in binary terms; those who are healthy and those who have mental illness. The truth, however, is that mental wellness is a huge spectrum. Even those who are “mentally healthy” can still improve their mental wellness. From your experience or research, what are five steps that each of us can take to improve or optimize our mental wellness. Can you please share a story or example for each.

  1. Introduce positive affirmations. For our first product launches, I focused on the power of affirmations as a tool to help reprogram the mind and reduce anxiety. Rebecca Marcus, LCSW, who consulted with KindSide on our Hope Cards Kids Edition affirmation deck, says that our brains are trained to focus on the negative to keep us safe, it’s an evolutionary response. Repeating affirmations, like those from our tool Hope Cards, such as “I am worthy of my own kindness,” can help retrain our minds and boost confidence. According to licensed clinical psychologist Sweta Venkataramanan, and advisor to KindSide, affirmations help you internalize the idea that you have the ability to manage stress and other difficulties you might face. By increasing self-empowerment, you can reduce anxiety.
  2. Set screen time limits. I know that spending more time on my device doesn’t make me happier. Setting alerts helps ensure I spend more time off my phone and engaged and present in the world around me. I actually feel like a more focused businesswomen and mom when I spend less time on social media.
  3. Move your body. I instantly feel better when I start moving. If I’m able to get outside and immerse myself in nature, that’s even better!
  4. Breathe. We forget to breathe through intense moments. When I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed or if racing thoughts and anxiety is creeping in, I immediately pause, close my eyes and take 10 deep long breaths. Breathing deeply signals our parasympathetic nervous system to calm the body down.
  5. Journal. Journaling is an easy ritual to support mental health and all you need is a pen and paper. There’s something about putting something down on paper that helps us process events, issues or even trauma. It can even remove the power of them. Our Hope Cards can serve as useful journaling prompts — just pull a card and riff!

How about teens and pre teens. Are there any specific new ideas you would suggest for teens and pre teens to optimize their mental wellness?

It can be challenging to get pre teens and teens opening up about their complex emotions. Hope Cards can serve as a starting point for parents. It’s a fun, unintimidating tool that gets teens and pre teens talking without them feeling like they’re in the spotlight. Rebecca Marcus stresses the importance of introducing kids, pre-teens and teens to the power of affirmations early on. It’s a way to boost confidence and help them develop healthy mental wellness habits that will last them a lifetime.

Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story?

There have been so many! The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle was transformative. Untamed by Glennon Doyle is a reminder to break free of the roles we were conditioned for at a young age. I read it at a time when I was just starting to embrace my true desire to start a company. It’s also a reminder to give our children permission to fully be themselves.

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. 🙂

At KindSide, we’re building a movement where at-home mental wellness is prioritized — we’re getting out ahead of issues. I’d like to continue to see more individuals and families proactively prioritize their mental health. We often seek therapy once there’s a problem. What if we created healthy mental health habits early on to help avoid issues? That’s where we’re going as a company.

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

My magic is my authenticity. I actually featured it as an affirmation in our Hope Cards tool. I spent a good portion of my life pursuing an image of someone I really wasn’t. After doing quite a bit of shadow work, which is tough stuff, I realized I don’t want to be CMO of a wellness company one day! That’s not who I am but I spent a lot of time chasing that goal. I’m now leaning into my authentic self and owning what I want — to run my own company that improves people’s mental well-being.

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

Our website shopkindside.com is a great resource as is our Instagram @the.kindside.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this. We wish you continued success and good health!

Lindsay Quinlan of KindSide: 5 Things Anyone Can Do To Optimize Their Mental Wellness was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Women In Wellness: Zainab Salbi of Find Center On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support…

Women In Wellness: Zainab Salbi of Find Center On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Live your purpose. I think it is vitally important that whatever we do in life is an expression of our own passion and purpose. Some can do that on a fulltime basis; some on a part time basis. For some, it is a hobby that can be done on the side. Whatever are the circumstances, expressing our life’s purpose is most essential for our wellbeing.

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

Zainab Salbi is a celebrated humanitarian, author, and journalist, identified by Oprah Winfrey as one of the 25 women changing the world to People Magazine, and by Foreign Policy Magazine as one of “100 Top Global Thinkers”. She is the host of Redefined podcast, chief awareness officer at FindCenter, and co-founder of Daughters for Earth. Prior to that, Zainab founded and ran of Women for Women International, a humanitarian organization dedicated to helping women survivors of wars rebuild their lives. Zainab is also the author of several books including her bestseller Between Two Worlds and her latest and her latest Freedom Is an Inside Job. She is also the creator and host of several shows including: #MeToo, Now What? on PBS and Through Her Eyes with Zainab Salbi at Yahoo News.

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?

Two things that clearly defined my early life were the fact that I was born and raised in Baghdad, Iraq, and the way my parents’ love held and protected me. My mother, a biology teacher, and my father, a commercial pilot, were unerringly loving and affectionate. They were also often joyful, at least for the first 10 years of my life, but then everything changed. Saddam Hussein, then the president of the country, chose my family to be his social friends — leaving them with the conundrum of either accepting the friendship, knowing it would put them closer to danger and fear, or rejecting it and endangering their entire family’s lives. There wasn’t really much of a choice. My life soon revolved around the man, the president, the feared dictator whom I was asked to call “uncle”. War arrived soon after. I was only 11 years old when sirens, bombs, and fire jets filled the skies. My mother performed puppet shows for me and my brothers to distract us with an entertaining story when the skies and earth were filled with sounds of explosions. It was then that I realized the critical role women play in keeping life going in the midst of war — something never mentioned in any political discussions.

Life changed even more dramatically in 1990 when my mother arranged a marriage for me to a man I had not met in America. It took me nine years and her dying to understand that she did that to save me from the danger of being so close to Saddam Hussein. I had the choice to say no, but when she cried nonstop and begged me to trust her — that it was imperative I leave Iraq and that this was the only way — I did. I came to the US only to find the man to whom I was suddenly wed to be verbally and physically abusive. I left him after three months with $400 in my pocket, estranged in a country that was at war with my own home country and no family support to go back to. I was only 20 years old when I started a new journey in my life as a young immigrant in America.

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?

I was only 23 years old when I started the global aid organization, Women for Women International. At that time, I was a young immigrant stranded from my family in Iraq who had recently escaped from an abusive marriage, with very limited work experience, and no money. All I had was a compelling need to speak up against injustices happening to women — even if they were in a countries I knew nothing about. I wanted to create an organization to support women in war torn countries. My friends laughed at me for my silly dream but all I needed was one person to believe in me, and that was person Amjad Atallah, the man I loved and had recently married after abusive marriage. I started Women for Women by asking women to sponsor one woman at a time, for only one year at a time. Women for Women donors were asked to send $30 a month the woman they were paired with and also exchange letters and pictures with her. The idea was that, while we may not be equal in our resources, we are similar in our stories and our emotions.

What started as a young woman’s dream, ended up directly reaching to more than 400,000 women in conflict areas and raising more than $146 million dollars in direct aid and micro loans to help women rebuild their lives and those of their families. I had unconsciously taken all the lessons my mother bestowed upon me to make sure that more women would have a path to strength and independence, and to living the lives they want with security and integrity.

More than anything though, the experience of building and running Women for Women taught me that if I can turn a dream into a reality, everyone can. Life can be hard and challenging but when we persevere in our dreams and conviction while staying open to learning, the impossible can become possible and miracles can happen.

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?

Honestly the mistake I made was not in the early days of my career. Those days were full of energy, belief, excitement and very little doubt about making the impossible possible. The challenge came in the midst of my success. Though success came gradually at first, at one point, it took off faster than I had the skill sets to deal with it. Suddenly I was dealing with multi-million dollars budgets, hundreds of staff, frequent media appearances, and endless travel. My intuition saved me throughout, but that doesn’t mean mistakes did not happen. My staff was looking at me as the ‘big boss,” but I had no idea what that meant myself. I was trying my best, but I was learning on the job.

If I had to point to one big mistake, I would say that it was not knowing how to distinguish between delegating and abdicating decision making powers. The two are very different! Understanding that difference and its nuances is of utmost importance. It is crucial to create a balance between being a confident, decisive leader and allowing others to take charge of pieces of the work. And to be clear about where the delineation of responsibilities lies. Not understanding that difference led to confusion within our organization — about how to own one’s power while empowering others in the very same time.

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 part of a founding team of FindCenter.com, a platform designed to support individuals seeking spiritual knowledge and guidance for their personal growth and development.

The free platform has over 100,000 carefully curated pages of articles, podcasts, videos, quotations, and books containing wisdom from poets, mystics, spiritual teachers, psychologists, and more on the struggles we face such as anxiety, aging, losing a loved one, or struggling with change. At FindCenter, no one pushes one type of spiritual healing on you, rather you are able to search on your own in a safe place, free, communal space. This platform is about democratizing access to spiritual health creating a space where we can learn together from old and new wisdom and from each other’s personal journeys and discoveries as we walk the path of healing and awakening.

This came out of a loving and collaborative efforts with my friends Neal Goldman and Caroline Pincus who inspire me every day with their love and dedication to creating an unbiased home for all those who are seeking healing.

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.

Well, I have my seven rules for a happy day that had made a tremendous impact on my life. They is simple, basic, and came out of isolation during COVID-19 when I was sheltering-in at home. This also happened to be a time when I was healing from a sudden illness that nearly took my life and left me having to relearn how to walk, talk, and even think straight. I came up with a list of small interventions that, when done on a daily basis, truly brought me back to myself, and continue to bring me more joy than anything has before.

There was a time in my life when I had a check list of what it meant to have a successful life — living in the city, traveling, and hopping from one activity to the other, career success, and beautiful clothes. Now I have a checklist of what it takes to have a fulfilling day and I am exponentially happier, having changed my perception of success and found a way to weave my personal wellness together with my career success.

I have also managed to keep up with my daily practice even as life’s external activities have ramped back up and as a more intense workload has again emerged. And it continues to work. I continue to find that, if I do these things every day, I am happy.

  1. Drink lots of water. I drink at least 2.5 liter of water every day.
  2. Eat healthy. I happen to love a plant-based diet, and I do know when I eat clean and healthy food, I am always a happy person.
  3. Have an appointment with my heart. It is my name for mediation. By calling it an appointment, I am more vigilant about creating the time to meet my heart in my meditation practice.
  4. Be in the presence of nature — this could be as simple as being in the presence of a tree.
  5. Do something in the arts. This could be as simple as listening to music.
  6. Connect with family and friends. The prioritization of connection to love from community and family is something that I had not always done in times where work was a priority. Right now, work is important, but community takes the priority.
  7. Live your purpose. I think it is vitally important that whatever we do in life is an expression of our own passion and purpose. Some can do that on a fulltime basis; some on a part time basis. For some, it is a hobby that can be done on the side. Whatever are the circumstances, expressing our life’s purpose is most essential for our wellbeing.

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

Honestly, that is exactly what I am working on now, at FindCenter. In order to prioritize wellness as part of our society, we need two crucial things: to make wellness easily accessible and free for all; and to not prescribe only one path for healing and wellbeing. Our minds, cultures, interests, and lineage are all diverse, and so are our attractions to the paths of healing that makes sense to us.

We need to get to a place where our social exchanges –whether they be virtual or in person — focus not only on our external accomplishments but equally if not more on our internal journeys and discoveries. We need to base our lives on finding our heart’s center. That is what I am breathing and living every day with my colleagues and friends at FindCenter.com

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

  1. Whatever you are working on does not require you to self-sacrifice!!!!
  2. Build a support system of mentors and guides around you. Leadership is like art. Some of it is natural and other parts of it require growing into, disciplined work, and learning.
  3. Your physical, mental, and even spiritual health is an integral part of your success, not separated from it.
  4. Sit on the chair of your own queendom.
  5. Own your voice with clarity, strength, and grace.

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

Oh dear, they are all interconnected for me. Our individual wellbeing is an extension of the environmental wellbeing. The more we are in alignment with our values and our internal and external desires, the better we will feel emotionally. This for me is a must!

Also, while it may be difficult to make all the changes necessary to achieve individual wellbeing and to develop more environmentally cognizant behaviors, I believe it is important to accept that judgment is not in the absolute. Judgment is in the consciousness we put in our food, in treating our earth, our bodies, our friends and family, our foes, and in treating our own precious souls with kindness.

We need to give love and kindness to ourselves and the people around us. It is a rather simple concept, though admittedly difficult to implement. But it is so necessary and so worth it.

I have what I call an 80–20 rule. It may not be possible to be in complete alignment all the time in a very commercial and rapidly moving world, but it is possible to be 80% in alignment, leaving some room for exceptions.

For example, I am on a plant-based diet, I have an electric car, I try my best to buy local food and flowers and buy ethically manufactured cloths. Through FindCenter.com, I am dedicated to making mental and spiritual health easily accessible to all and, through Daughters for Earth, a nonprofit I co-founded, I aim to support land preservations efforts by women around the world trying to mitigate climate change. But I am not always consistent in all my practices. I slip. I sometimes buy a shirt because I like it and forget to ask all the right questions about how it was manufactured. But, when this happens, I take a note of that, vow to try to remember next time, and move on and enjoy my shirt.

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

I would love for everyone to check out our new platform — FindCenter.com, and my podcast Redefined that can be found at FindCenter.com or wherever you find your podcasts. I pour my heart out in the conversations I have with amazing people and am very proud of it.

Thank you for these fantastic insights!

Women In Wellness: Zainab Salbi of Find Center 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.

Female Disruptors: Shannon Bouton of Delterra On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your…

Female Disruptors: Shannon Bouton of Delterra On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

It is possible to burn out doing what you love. This is something I have to keep reminding myself of. I’m doing my dream job, but I still need to keep a balance between work, family, and downtime. I also have to keep reminding my teams of this. Just because you love doing it doesn’t mean it is OK to set the rest of your life aside while you do it. We are running a marathon, not a sprint.

As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Shannon Bouton.

Shannon Bouton, CEO and President of Delterra. Delterra is an environmental nonprofit on a mission to create a world where human activities protect and restore a healthy planet. Delterra’s founding partner is McKinsey & Company, and its flagship initiative, Rethinking Recycling, works with communities in emerging economies to build rapidly scalable, self-sustaining waste management and recycling ecosystems that redirect waste into productive use while improving the lives of the people it touches.

Shannon is a scientist, environmentalist, and business strategist, who has dedicated her career to creating a more sustainable future for people and the planet.

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?

I am a mission-driven person and my passion is protecting the environment. I started out as a field biologist working with birds to understand the effects of stress caused by human disturbances such as tourism. I initially imagined I would go from my PhD program straight into an environmental non-profit but, as I looked at the global NGOs, I realized that business management skills were as important as subject matter expertise to create scalable impact. So, I made the unexpected jump to management consulting. I joined McKinsey & Company without ever having heard of them or really knowing what to expect. It took me some time to find my footing, but I eventually found my “family” within the firm and helped to found and build the firm’s Sustainability Practice.

I was looking for my next adventure when the firm decided to found McKinsey.org a nonprofit that would act as an incubator of promising solutions to the world’s most challenging social and environmental problems. I jumped at the chance to help build McKinsey.org and lead the conception and development of the Rethinking Recycling initiative. After three years of experimenting and growing the initiative, we decided it was time to turbocharge the scaling efforts, which meant adding and collaborating with new partnering and funding organizations. So we stood up Delterra, a new independent environmental non-profit, to house Rethinking Recycling. The past few years have been a steep learning curve as my team and I have learned how to build and run a startup non-profit, secure funding, and onboard new partners, all the while implementing programs on the ground and managing complexity that comes with delivering real impact. I am loving every moment of it though and in many ways, it feels like I’ve come full circle to my original goal of working for an environmental non-profit.

Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?

I think what is truly disruptive is our approach. At Delterra, we weave together analytical thinking with pragmatic implementation. We look at whole human systems, starting with waste management and recycling, we disaggregate each challenge into its component problems and figure out creative solutions to solve those problems while keeping the big picture in mind, something I learned during my McKinsey days. However, what makes us disruptive is that we don’t stop there; we try the solutions we come up with in the real world, always with the goal of figuring out what works and what can scale. This is also where my science background comes into play. By designing our initial iterations as experiments and rigorously collecting data we are able to understand whether for example approach ‘A’ works better than approach ‘B’. By doing this, we quickly learn what works and what doesn’t and are then able to build the solutions that do work into the next iteration. Then we go back to that original analysis of the problem, refine our solutions based on what we learn on the ground, and solve the next component of the problem.

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?

Some of our naivete is funny in retrospect like our timelines and how fast we were going to change the world. I remember one strategy session where we all agreed that our recycling program would cover the whole of Buenos Aires by the end of year two. It does make me chuckle when I look back at those documents — we’ve learned a lot about humility and pragmatism. We now know much more about what it takes to make things happen on the ground, especially if you want the local community to be part of that journey.

I also remember some strange situations where I found myself hiking through landfills in Jakarta and Hyderabad, walking through trash and past grazing cattle, in heeled dress sandals and business attire, basically looking ridiculous because I’d come directly from an office meeting with a minister or corporate executive. You never know when an opportunity will come in impact work to “get your hands dirty” so to speak, so dress accordingly — or at least pack a change of clothes. I now have a nice-looking pair of what are essentially work boots that I pretty much wear everywhere.

We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?

I am lucky enough to have gathered several mentors throughout my life ranging from my Dad to my Ph.D. advisor Bobbi Low. Right now, though, the mentor that comes to mind is Jonathan Woetzel, who is currently the Chair of our Delterra board. Jonathan is one of the most brilliant, transparent, and supportive people I know. We’ve worked together for over 10 years and built some interesting initiatives together — mostly focused on sustainability and governance in cities. When we were first standing up McKinsey.org, I really wanted someone who would get into the weeds on problem-solving with me, so I nominated Jonathan for our board. He has always taken the role seriously: learning the details of what we are doing; asking some great thought-provoking questions; and providing helpful insight. You always walk away from a call with Jonathan with lots to think about. When we stood up Delterra, it felt like a big and scary decision — to move away from the mothership — so, after lots of thought, I called him to ask if he would be the Chair of the Board. He thought about it for long enough that I thought he might say ‘no’, then told me it felt right that we would take on this next adventure together — but he had some conditions, most importantly that we keep open channels of communication and work together on the big important strategic decisions. I was surprised by how relieved I felt when he said ‘yes’. Looking back on it, I realize that we are a good partnership and that I knew we had a better chance of success with the two of us working together.

In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?

Social media is a highly contentious disruption, isn’t it? On the one hand, it has made the media world quite egalitarian by empowering everyone with a voice. It is a place for self-expression, connection, and easy access to information. And on the other hand, it is also a place where people are losing touch with reality. Adults and children alike are facing unprecedented social pressures. People can say whatever they want with no reference to facts and political narratives, in particular, are getting morphed and are creating a very divisive society. We are living in a hyper-connected world which ironically is quite alienating, infuriating and yet addictive at the same time.

Another way of thinking about your question is that curiosity and insights-gathering come before disruption, and they can inform or change how disruptions play out. At Delterra, we have been very curious about why things are the way they are — why they’ve stood the test of time even when there are aspects that are clearly dysfunctional or not compatible with the particular social or environmental goals we have in mind.

When we’ve pushed ourselves to ask those questions — say, when navigating the complexities of local Balinese village governance, or the recycling cooperatives landscape in Latin America, or the various kinds of corporate interests in recycling — it’s usually led to a better solution, that’s not only more inclusive and sensitive to the cultural and political context we work in, but also more effective and enduring.

So maybe it’s not so much that disrupting an industry is positive sometimes and negative sometimes, but that there will be a cost to every disruption — some needs that the new paradigm may not be able to provide (at least not right away) that the old one did. And part of our responsibility as disruptors is to gather these insights and think through those consequences, to see if there’s a different approach that takes the best of both old and new.

Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.

Make sure your answers aren’t individually correct and collectively wrong. To do this you must always look at the full picture — the full system. This is something I learned throughout my training in ecology and evolutionary biology. History is full of stories of humans disrupting ecosystems that, once out of balance, resulting in one species proliferating. A common approach to fix this situation early on was to introduce a new predator species, but we soon discovered that those introduced species caused problems of their own. We saw this when for example cane toads were introduced into Australia to control destructive beetles in Queensland’s sugarcane crops. Now the toad populations have grown out of control across Australia and because the toads are toxic, they have led to the regional decline and extinction of several native predator species. An example of this in recycling is programs that pay people to separate their recyclables. This might seem like a great way to drive up recyclables collection, but it is rarely sustainable or scalable in the long run and, in fact, leaves us with duplicative infrastructure that is designed to collect only the valuable part of the waste steam making it even more costly to manage the rest of the waste.

Love the problem, not your solution. Mona Mourshed, who leads the other non-profit founded by McKinsey & Company, Generation, said this to me in the early days of developing Rethinking Recycling. What she meant is never become so convinced of your solution that you aren’t willing to see it when there is a better solution. It is an easy trap to fall into — we all have to work so hard to implement our ideas that it is easy to become territorial and lose sight of the need to stay flexible and open to learning. It is important to remember that solving these big meaty problems isn’t a competition, and the solution will be better if we learn from each other. At Delterra, we think this is so important that we have embedded it into our values.

It is possible to burn out doing what you love. This is something I have to keep reminding myself of. I’m doing my dream job, but I still need to keep a balance between work, family, and downtime. I also have to keep reminding my teams of this. Just because you love doing it doesn’t mean it is OK to set the rest of your life aside while you do it. We are running a marathon, not a sprint.

We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?

I’m intrigued and challenged by big systemic problems. I don’t yet know what we will tackle next, but I’d love to do something with sustainable agriculture. Soil erosion, fertilizer and pesticide pollution, small-scale farmers unable to make ends meet while working to feed the world are as yet relatively untackled challenges. I see lots of parallels in agriculture with waste too — fragmented supply chains, human rights abuses, lack of information and transparency. For me, it is the next frontier in the sustainability space.

In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by ‘women disruptors’ that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?

In my experience, in a male-dominated world, self-promotion is necessary to get ahead. I can’t speak for all women, but I know for myself, I have always struggled with highlighting my own accomplishments. In the real world, it takes collaboration to get anything done; plus, for me, doing something with a team is always more fun, more gratifying, and produces better results. So, I talk about “we did this”, “my team accomplished that” — I want to recognize the collaboration rather than my individual contribution, which may negatively factor into conversations around job roles and promotions. And even if you do train yourself to talk about what you personally did, it feels like a fine line to walk — women are perceived differently than men in this as in so many things. Men often get called “driven” while women get called “arrogant”. Thankfully, I feel like a lot of this is changing though and, if I’m being honest, I’ve never felt held back by being a ‘woman.’ But, again, I know this is often not the case for so many women around the world.

Do you have a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?

My favorite podcast these days. WorkLife with Adam Grant. He explores creative ways to address everything from salaries to conflict in the workplace. It feels like whenever I listen, he always sparks some new idea. Most recently I listened to his episode on “How to Rethink a Bad Decision” and learned about the idea of a kill signal. This is necessary because it is completely human to keep investing time and energy in an idea long after you know that it won’t work — a concept also known as the Concorde Fallacy. Anyway, the idea of a kill signal is that at the beginning of the project you set yourself a target that if at any point it becomes clear you cannot meet, you kill the project. Hypothetically, for example, say you calculate that you need to reach a $/ton amount on the cost to recover glass or you won’t have a market to sell the material into and you find you cannot meet that cost no matter how creative you get, then you kill the project. We’ve started to use this idea in our discussions at Delterra and I think it is super helpful for us in thinking through at what point we decide something just won’t work before we get too invested to be able to easily let go. Adam Grant’s podcasts are full of nuggets like this.

You are a person of great 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. 🙂

I am fascinated by the idea of a basic income for everyone. There have been lots of studies looking at situations like the sharing of profits from casinos on Native American reserves where, for example, more kids graduate from high school and go to college even when the income supplement is relatively modest. It frees people up to dream. It prevents people from getting funneled into cookie-cutter jobs and life patterns. And when people dream, they drive innovation and impact. They change our world, bit by bit, and for the better.

Several countries from Canada and Germany to Kenya, India and Japan have experimented with this universal basic income concept, which at one point was only considered a policy fantasy. Now with the pandemic, there is some fresh momentum on the requirement of a guaranteed income to tackle the financial loss and uncertainty that most of us have been facing. Through Delterra’s work, we have supported one of the most affected, yet an often-overlooked category of essential workers i.e., waste workers. Through the pandemic, our programs have provided financial support, access to medical care, and health and safety equipment and in some cases food for the waste workers in our programs. But our efforts are a drop in the ocean when one considers the larger scheme of things. If universal basic income became a reality, people would have a natural cushion through these kinds of challenges.

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

I’m not exactly sure where it came from, but I like the grounding sentiment of: “This too shall pass”. I find that good and bad times tend to go in cycles. So, when things are rough, I often find myself thinking — “this too shall pass” — and so far, it always has. We find our way through the hard times, but we also need to remember to celebrate the good times. It is always important to pause and celebrate the good times — ride the high while it lasts because it gives you the energy to get through that next rough patch.

How can our readers follow you online?

I am active on LinkedIn and post there regularly. To follow Delterra’s journey, visit our website https://delterra.org/ and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!

Female Disruptors: Shannon Bouton of Delterra On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Dr Ani Rostomyan of SheAni: 5 Lifestyle Tweaks That Can Dramatically Improve Your Wellbeing

Dr. Ani Rostomyan of SheAni: 5 Lifestyle Tweaks That Can Dramatically Improve Your Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Approaching social distancing from a positive angle and reconnecting with family and kids during Pandemic was the only choice for many in United States and abroad. Mental health crisis is also on the rise, along with a chronic disease epidemic. Using social distancing in a meaningful way for many people became the only coping mechanism to deal with pandemic. People reconnected with their college and school friends, friendships revived due to the situation and that made me hopeful that we, as a society are still resilient and strong.

As a part of our series about “5 Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Dramatically Improve One’s Wellbeing”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Ani Rostomyan.

Dr. Ani Rostomyan is a Clinical Pharmacist and Functional Medicine Practitioner, who specializes in Pharmacogenomics and Nutrigenomics consulting. Dr. Ani received her master’s and Doctorate degrees in Pharmacy and has been practicing as a Clinical Pharmacist in Los Angeles, CA for the last 7 years working with patients with Chronic diseases, such as Type 2 Diabetes, Hypertension and High Cholesterol. Dr. Ani discovered her calling in Precision Medicine and founded She Ani, Inc, a concierge consulting company, focused on Pharmacogenomic and Nutrigenomic consulting — functional and holistic ways of improving one’s overall health and well-being.

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 story about how you first got involved in fitness and wellness?

I also want to thank you for allowing me to share my story and expertise in health and wellness. I’m originally from Armenia, a beautiful, ancient country in South Caucasus, and a former Soviet Republic. I was born and raised there in a family of a doctor and a teacher. Moving to the United States in 2007 with hopes and dreams of pursuing a pharmacist career and recognition was a risky and challenging venture, which thankfully opened many opportunities for me to serve patients and become an expert in my field.

My personal family struggles with Type 2 Diabetes and my father’s early passing from its complications in 2010 empowered me to help more people so they do not go through the same route of suffering as my father did. I do strongly believe Type 2 Diabetes is preventable and is an epidemic of the 21st century, now affecting even younger generations to a great degree.

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

Every patient’s story is interesting to me; they all come from diverse backgrounds and cultural heritages. When I help patients change their health to a better state and improve their outlook on health outcomes, that is the most beautiful story of the day.

Can you share a story with us about the most humorous mistake you made when you were first starting? What lesson or take-away did you learn from that?

Great question! The funniest mistakes happened from my interesting English pronunciation as a beginner, when I had just moved to the US.

I can’t stop laughing at myself when as a Pharmacy Intern, back in 2010, I misspoke and was telling to one of my patients about acing in my exams and I said “I can’t believe, I’m such an ass in this”, patient looked me in the eyes and kind of laughed with me and not at me, which I so appreciated. Having English as my second language has gotten me into similar quite interesting situations more than once for sure.

Can you share with our readers a bit about why you are an authority in the fitness and wellness field? In your opinion, what is your unique contribution to the world of wellness?

I have worked as a Clinical Pharmacist my entire professional life. Being a medication and disease state expert helps me confidently manage Chronic diseases such as Type2 Diabetes, Hypertension and High Cholesterol. What I have come to realize is that our health is far beyond medications and pill for every ill. The abundance of available medicines used in managing Diabetes is astounding, yet disease rates are growing, and diabetes is getting younger. Very soon we will have one of every three adults in the US with type 2 Diabetes if we do not make core changes in our health behaviors. What does that mean? Our hijacked metabolic system is not designed to absorb and utilize the excessive amounts of sugar in our foods. Added Sugar is everywhere, even in foods where it should not be. I say to every patient, “Food is number one Medicine,” we can cancel all medications in the world, but we cannot cancel food. Diabetes is managed in our kitchens, pantries, and grocery stores, not for 15 minutes every 3–6 months in our doctor’s offices. My entire career is and will be dedicated to helping people get to their optimal health and maintain it. That is one of the reasons I am so enthusiastic about Nutrigenomics where every patient can get dietary and lifestyle recommendations tailored to their own unique genome.

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?

Excellent question! It may sound a bit cliché, but I am thankful to my parents, to my mother, the motivator for me and my father, the cautious non-risk taker. They both equally contributed to my personal and professional growth. Living in a post-Soviet, economically impoverished and small country, which I call Motherland, Armenia, and going through many hardships related to socio-economic, political circumstances and destroyed infrastructure, infused endurance, and resilience in me.

For example, as an elementary school pupil, I had to do all my Homework during daylight because we only had 1 hour of electricity during the day, and we had to run our basic errands during the scarce 1-hour window. It may seem harsh, but I’ve learned how to prioritize tasks and figure out solutions to tough problems because of hardships experienced during childhood.

Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s move to the main focus of our interview. We all know that it’s important to eat more vegetables, eat less sugar, exercise more, and get better sleep etc. But while we know it intellectually, it’s often difficult to put it into practice and make it a part of our daily habits. In your opinion what are the 3 main blockages that prevent us from taking the information that we all know, and integrating it into our lives?

Firstly, chronic disease is an invisible demon, patients do not see immediate consequences of uncontrolled Diabetes and it is hard for them to visualize having end stage kidney disease and getting hemodialysis three times a week 20 years from now due to irreversible kidney damage from Diabetes complications. Examples go on and on.

Then comes mindset and adaptability to change and new habits. Unhealthy mindset can block us from incorporating healthy behaviors.

Lastly, is lack of social support system, family, friends, clubs, that unite people of same health interests. Lack of support system is yet another significant barrier to better health.

Can you please share your “5 Non-Intuitive Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Dramatically Improve One’s Wellbeing”? (Please share a story or an example for each, and feel free to share ideas for mental, emotional, and physical health.)

1. Approaching social distancing from a positive angle and reconnecting with family and kids during Pandemic was the only choice for many in United States and abroad. Mental health crisis is also on the rise, along with a chronic disease epidemic. Using social distancing in a meaningful way for many people became the only coping mechanism to deal with pandemic. People reconnected with their college and school friends, friendships revived due to the situation and that made me hopeful that we, as a society are still resilient and strong.

2. Practice gratitude and mindfulness, and reach out for mental health support if needed. I teach my children to practice gratitude and being thankful and verbalize the need to speak about mental health issues and same advice goes to patients. Destigmatizing shame of voicing out mental health concerns is a beautiful way of improving our overall well-being, since we are not harboring the emotions and instead, are seeking solutions.

3. Learn more about holistic nutrition and brain boosting foods and supplements.

Once we’re on a path to bettering our health, possibilities are endless. I always encourage my patients to read and learn more about health and wellness, since informed patients make better patients and health outcomes are much more favorable for them.

I learned long ago from a Pharmacy mentor in my hospital rotation, that when patients ask questions and are inquisitive and compliant, their chances of better health are much higher.

For example, with my Nutrigenomics consulting business, I do get quite a few calls and messages from patients asking about genomic tests that identify genetic predisposition to nutritional deficiencies or differences that may predispose them to certain conditions like obesity or diabetes. That makes me proud. If people are more inquisitive about emerging science, aware of health-conscious behaviors, brain boosting supplements and overall higher quality and healthy eating, they eventually contribute to overall improved population health as well.

4. Utilize newer health IT solutions to improve mental wellness, like the sleep and meditation app Calm.

Virtual reality in healthcare, applications that promote mindfulness, yoga, meditation and visualization, and variety of other mental health support tools offer great solutions for patients who are looking for answers to their questions. We live in an era where everything is at the tip of our fingers and accessing high quality health information is quite affordable. I remember when one of my patients overcame insomnia and chronic fatigue after my advice to use the Calm app, she was meditating regularly before bed from then on. This shows that Health IT solutions can tremendously improve patient outcomes and quality of life, with sometimes less medication and health care dollars spent.

5. Using Nutrigenomics testing to identify unique health concerns and personalize dietary and lifestyle recommendations based on this emerging science is another way of improving overall health and wellness.

This emerging field may and will be the answer to many unexplained disease states and metabolic conditions, and the future is very bright for Nutrigenomics. We soon will eat according to our genes and prevent more diseases with proper health approaches. Compared to where the field was 10 years ago, Nutrigenomics is an emerging science and innovative concept in current health and wellness industry. For example, caffeine metabolism is highly dependent on an enzyme in our liver which is the CYP1A2. Some people, due to their genes are slow metabolizers of caffeine. This makes caffeine circulate in their body for longer time and increase the risk of higher blood pressure in patients. Nutrigenomics testing can identify patient’s metabolizer type thanks to modern technologies, and we can make proper recommendations based on it.

For the longest time, I have observed my patients reacting very differently to the same medication or nutritional supplement regimens.

As a pharmacist, I knew that drugs’ mechanism of action depends on our genetic makeup and other factors, such as age, gender, comorbidities, concurrent medications, etc. Nutrigenomics and health entrepreneurship are my newfound passion, as I work privately with each patient and accompany and guide them into a journey to identify medications, nutrients and lifestyle according to their genes.

As an expert, this might be obvious to you, but I think it would be instructive to articulate this for the public. Aside from weight loss, what are 3 benefits of daily exercise? Can you explain?

Great question! Regular exercise not only is very suitable for weight control but also for Blood pressure control, mood regulation, feeling fit and motivated. It helps prevent many other illnesses and most importantly Type2 Diabetes. Many published high-quality studies indicate the beneficial effect of exercise in disease prevention, overall well-being, lowered risk of mental health issues and greater financial success. Most successful people I have encountered recently are continually active and have many sports hobbies.

For someone who is looking to add exercise to their daily routine, which 3 exercises would you recommend that are absolutely critical?

Depending on individualized Nutrigenomics test results, which help outline the type of exercise needed, it is variable depending on a person’s individual characteristics. I always recommend utilizing the exercise they enjoy, because it’s super effortless to do what we like. Cardio, weight bearing or stretching exercises are crucial in certain body types, disease states, or age. They also greatly benefit certain personality types or those in challenging social circumstances.

Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story?

The book that made a significant impact on me is the “Molecules of Emotion,” by Dr. Candace Pert Ph. D., and foreword written by Dr. Deepak Chopra. I rediscovered how mind, spirit and emotions are essential part of our physical being as well.

Western medicine addresses diseases based on organ systems, while Eastern medicine considers the healthy mind, body, and spirit as pillars of overall health. We were never taught these concepts in Pharmacy school, and I had to do my own research from books like “Molecules of Emotion”.

You are a person of enormous 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 is an ever-evolving question I ask myself and honestly my answer hasn’t changed much. As a Pharmacist and Nutrigenomics specialist, I always say incentivizing population to achieve better health is one of the most effective ways to prevent chronic disease epidemic in our country. Human nature is peculiar; if we can incentivize people to become consumers of healthier foods, such as low-carb, low-sugar, gluten free, cage free, free range, or keto products, then patients who are improving their health, staying in a healthy weight range, normal blood pressure range, having blood sugar and other health markers in control, should have access to free gym memberships or yoga classes, or things of this sort, this will motivate them to continue maintaining good health in exchange to freebies.

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

Absolutely! — I was a book worm since early childhood and was an avid reader in three languages, English, Armenian and Russian, and it truly helped me cope with economic hardships during post-soviet turmoil in my home country, Armenia.

I have many favorite quotes, but this one particularly resonated with me the last year and a half.

“Somewhere in the world there is a darkness only you can heal. To do it, you have to face your shame.”

__ Noelle

Working on mastering health entrepreneurship being an introvert was quite challenging. This quote helps me conquer shyness and talk about concepts that enlighten me with more confidence.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US 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 am so grateful for this question; thank you for asking. I have had imposter syndrome for the most of my adult life, it just happened by pure accident to hear on a podcast that Jessica Alba, a phenomenal actress shared having suffered from the same imposter syndrome while at the top of her career and being successful in her business as well. That empowered me not to feel alone in my personal transformation journey. I even wrote about it in my collaborative book compiled by twenty women in healthcare who undertook holistic journey in their careers just like me.

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

I would love to share my LinkedIn and Instagram profiles, where I network and share updates on my business:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-ani-rostomyan-pharmd-bcps-aph-4885b622/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.anirostomyan/

Website: https://dranirostomyan.com/

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

Thank You for having me and for the opportunity to be featured in the magazine. It truly is amazing how lifelong connections are made through various social media outlets and which oftentimes leads to fruitful collaborations and friendships. Thank You again.

Dr Ani Rostomyan of SheAni: 5 Lifestyle Tweaks That Can Dramatically Improve Your Wellbeing was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Anne-Marie Emanuelli of Mindful Frontiers On How To Develop Mindfulness During Stressful Or…

Anne-Marie Emanuelli of Mindful Frontiers On How To Develop Mindfulness During Stressful Or Uncertain Times

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Establish a personal mindfulness meditation practice. Seek out meditation guidance and start practicing daily with short meditation sessions, increasing a minute or two each week until you can sit in mindful meditation for 15 minutes a day. There are many excellent meditation apps that can help kick-start a personal mindfulness practice. Mindful Frontiers offers virtual meditation circles, online courses, video guidance as well as one-on-one coaching.

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

Anne-Marie Emanuelli brings over two decades of meditation experience as Creative Director of Mindful Frontiers, an education-based meditation center in northern New Mexico. Retired after 25 years as a classroom teacher, Anne-Marie’s life path and passion are to offer guidance, instruction, and coaching on the benefits of mindfulness and meditation. She has been teaching meditation to students since 2016, and earned credentials from Mindful Schools, Sage Institute for Creativity and Consciousness, and completed an 8-week MBSR course. Anne-Marie participates in silent & guided meditation retreats to support her personal practice. Mindful Frontiers’ mission is to welcome a mindful future; one child, family, individual, and community; one present moment at a time.

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?

My path to becoming a mindfulness meditation teacher began 20 years ago when I sought out alternative health modalities to heal from a physical ailment that limited my quality of life. Meditation provided the spiritual and emotional support that helped me decide to seek medical intervention. Later, while teaching, I again turned to meditation to help deal with the grief of three student suicides. Mindful meditation became the self-care that I needed and students and teachers at my school benefited from the guidance and expertise I willingly shared. Now that I am retired from teaching my dedication turns to the success of Mindful Frontier and its mission of welcoming a mindful future by teaching, guiding, and coaching families, adults, and teachers through mindfulness and meditation.

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

Well, let’s see… Over the past year, I applied for several grants to bring Recipes for Wellness programs into school classrooms. When none of the proposals were funded, I was pretty disappointed. Instead of letting this feel like a failure, however, I decided to send the proposal directly to school principals in my region. Many administrators and educators liked the proposal and one school contracted with me to join students from K-8 in a 6-week program called Mindfulness in the Classroom. This experience was so inspiring! Whenever I teach youth about mindfulness I feel recharged and I leave the site with a huge smile on my face. What I learned from this experience is that there is always a way to accomplish what is truly in the heart.

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

I believe communication is key to healthy work culture. I’ve taken several classes in mindful communication and believe that it can transform the work environment. Basically, mindful communication involves similar principles as Non-Violent Communication with the added component of mindfulness. When we have conversations with coworkers and customers, we need to first ground ourselves and our bodies, arrive with kind intentions, and listen attentively to more than just the words being expressed. There are needs and desires being expressed in these conversations that are important to healthy relationships. Separating our strategies from our needs is one of the main components of this style of communication. To learn more, I recommend Oren Jay Sofer’s book entitled “Say What You Mean

A Mindful Approach to Nonviolent Communication.”

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?

A book that comes to mind is Pema Chodron’s When Things Fall Apart. The subtitle is Heart Advice for Difficult Times. Chapter Five in this book is entitled It’s Never Too Late and I’d like to mention the following passages from pages 26 & 27.

“It is said that we can’t attain enlightenment, let alone feel contentment and joy, without seeing who we are and what we do, without seeing our patterns and our habits. This is called Maitri — developing loving-kindness and an unconditional friendship with ourselves.”

The chapter continues to explain the importance of self-awareness. Pema is a Buddhist-trained monk so much of her wisdom comes from that philosophical background. I believe we can bring Maitri into our life through mindfulness of the present moment and curiosity of our behavior patterns; surrendering fully to the present moment with compassion, acknowledgment, and nurturing. How this works is that in meditation we build the capacity to be aware of what’s going on right now in this present moment. This is when reality actually takes place. The past is over and the future is out of our control.

Pema writes that we can “practice gentleness and letting go. We can learn to meet whatever arises with curiosity and not make it such a big deal. Instead of struggling against the force of confusion, we could meet it and relax… In the middle of the worst scenario of the worst person in the world, in the midst of all the heavy dialogue with ourselves, open space is always there.”

I believe that we can handle any situation with mindfulness of what’s going on and by surrendering to it with equanimity. We do not control others or situations. We only control our own responses. We can take a breath, notice what’s going on, and then choose how to proceed with the least resistance we can muster.

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?

Mindful meditation is a life-long practice. It is a journey, not a destination. Mindfulness is “the awareness that arises from paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally.” (Jon Kabat Zinn) The ultimate goal of being mindful is to find peace in the here and now. Learning how to find this peace is a fabulous journey.

Once a person learns to meditate and makes the decision to incorporate mindfulness into their life, they generally realize the benefits extend far beyond a healing practice. It becomes a state of being and a lifestyle choice.

Whether it is to get through a difficult illness, the grief of losing a loved one, or simply to carve out a daily moment of non-doing, everyone can benefit from meditation.

The benefits are plentiful and scientifically proven. A few of these include the ability to stay calm during emotional experiences, to be less reactive to behaviors, to listen more carefully to conversations, and to have compassion and empathy for self and others.

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?

Mindful meditation is present moment awareness that trains the mind and body to relax into what is actually happening.

This practice quiets the mind and settles the nervous system. The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) is a bodily system that determines how we respond to emotional experiences. It is made up of the sympathetic (SNS) and parasympathetic (PNS) nervous systems. These two systems are activated in times of arousal or recovery. By quieting the mind’s reactivity and calming down our attachment to emotional thoughts, we settle the fight or flight reactions of the SNS, thereby stimulating the PNS which helps our body and mind come back to homeostasis.

Another benefit of mindfulness is self-reflection and acceptance. When we practice meditation, we pay attention to our breath, sounds, body sensations, and other present-moment “anchors”. In this awareness, we are able to let go of emotions that control us; watching them from the perch of a witness or observer. In this way, we are able to learn that in this present moment all is well.

Finally, and maybe the most important benefit of mindful meditation is our relationship to equanimity. Through the act of observing what is in the present moment, using kindness and non-judgment, we realize that reality only happens in the here and now. We can accept, acknowledge and allow ourselves and our world through the lens of equanimity.

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?

  1. Establish a personal mindfulness meditation practice. Seek out meditation guidance and start practicing daily with short meditation sessions, increasing a minute or two each week until you can sit in mindful meditation for 15 minutes a day. There are many excellent meditation apps that can help kick-start a personal mindfulness practice. Mindful Frontiers offers virtual meditation circles, online courses, video guidance as well as one-on-one coaching.
  2. Being of service to family or community: Find something you can do to help your family or community raise their consciousness towards positivity and love. Serving others is a healthy way to find peace and purpose in life.
  3. Physical movement or exercise: Move your body daily! Walking, hiking, jogging, biking, swimming, yoga, etc. This time can also be a form of mindful meditation, self-care, and self-reflection.
  4. Strengthening sleep to feel your best: Incorporating gratitude practice and body scans before bed can improve your sleep and overall health. Write about what you are grateful for and then do a body scan (apps can also help with this) to release and relax.
  5. Embrace creativity: create things that stimulate the mind and the heart. Some ideas are: writing, learning a craft; documenting your life by drawing or scrapbooking; cooking and baking for your family and friends. These are some creative ways to bring mindfulness into daily activities. The pleasure of creating cannot be overstated.

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?

  1. “Put your oxygen mask on first” before helping others. What this means is that in order to be in a healthy space to offer support to others, we need to feel good ourselves. Self-care is crucial. Learning how to handle our own anxiety will help us to understand how to help others.
  2. Establish a mindful meditation practice for your self-care and well-being so that you can share your experiences with friends and family. We are all feeling anxious and scared during this uncertain time. Together we can improve our mental health and shift our consciousness. Mindful meditation is accessible to everyone.
  3. Learn as much as you can about different kinds of meditation: from loving-kindness and compassion, Insight (vipassana) meditation, Zen Buddhism, to contemplative spiritual practices. From a place of knowledge and wisdom, share what you have learned with others.
  4. Expand your mind. During this uncertain time in our world, the more we expand our knowledge and wisdom, the better off we will all be. Read inspiring books and listen to podcasts and teachings and enjoy the confidence and empowerment that comes from an expanding awareness.
  5. Reach out to young people. Youth are struggling during this uncertain time a lot more than adults realize. Children, teenagers, and young adults have minds that are developing. The past 2 years of living through the pandemic have isolated them from their peers and have taken a toll on their mental health. Youth need adults around them who are healthy role models to help them understand how to embrace self-care, understand healthy media consumption, and make healthy choices. Share what you are learning and exploring with youth in your life with non-judgment and vulnerable courage.

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

Incorporating mindful meditation into your life is a worthy endeavor. Simply wishing to be more mindful and serene is a blind resolution unless we take action. It takes guidance and commitment to establish a mindful meditation practice and is well worth the effort. Mindfulness is a lifestyle choice that has life-long benefits.

There are a lot of resources available:

  • meditation apps are a good place to start
  • many meditation centers offer online retreats and teachings
  • Mindful Frontiers offers online meditation courses, virtual meditation guidance, video instruction, and one-on-one coaching (see links)
  • Commit to self-care: healthy eating, meditation, exercise, good sleep are the foundation of a healthy life.

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

“Resilience and Perseverance” is my life’s motto.

Recently, I heard Simon Sinek (The Infinite Game) speak about “the infinite mindset versus the finite mindset.” The concept of the infinity of mind explained to me why resilience and perseverance are so important in my life.

Everything I have accomplished in my half-century of life on Earth has come from an infinite mindset wherein resilience and perseverance led to the realization of many dreams. From a young age all the way to the present moment, all that I have accomplished has been because of determination and belief in the existence of infinite possibilities.

How did I do this? I believe it was by continuously asking, “Why?” “Why not?” “Why not try?” From physical healing to mental healing to professional accomplishments, resilience and perseverance have been the cornerstone of infinite possibilities.

And the vision of Mindful Frontiers also illustrates an infinite mindset: “Welcoming a mindful future; one child, family, individual, and community; one present moment at a time.”

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. 🙂

Mindful meditation for youth is a movement I believe would have a positive impact on our world. By teaching families with young children the benefits of meditation and present moment awareness I believe the skills learned and incorporated into their daily life would have a long-lasting impact. The reasons I wish to teach young people and their families meditation are:

  • to teach students about present-moment mindfulness-awareness.
  • to teach them that they aren’t judged by their thoughts, sensations, and feelings.
  • to show by example that mindfulness is a way to feel good about yourself, just as we are, in this present moment.
  • to model being happy, grateful, loved, peaceful.
  • to explain what it feels like to be confident yet relaxed.

The Dalai Lama once said, “If every 8-year-old in the world is taught meditation, we will eliminate violence from the world within one generation.” This quote reminded me that teaching mindful meditation and compassionate awareness to youth are ways to encourage a kinder future.

How old can we teach children mindfulness, meditation, and contemplation of self? The very young can sit and color a mandala, walk a labyrinth or follow a finger labyrinth. Eventually, each child can learn to focus on breath, bodily sensations, internal feelings and as a result, benefit from a practice that would last a lifetime.

Lastly, I’d like to mention Families Meditate Together which is another passion of mine. Through a monthly newspaper article in The Taos News and meditation workshops, families bring mindfulness into their daily routine. The monthly article features a meditation teaching followed by a practice that families can do together. By exploring mindfulness together, families can build healthier relationships and learn healthy ways to communicate together which builds resilience to the uncertainty of life.

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

web: Mindfulfrontiers.net

FB: @mindfulfrontiers

Instagram: @mindfulfrontiers

Facebook: @MindfulFrontiers

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anne-marie-emanuelli-mindful-frontiers/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2_ITJgY4mI7U1feUDiDlpA

Linktree: Linktr.ee/MindfulFrontiers

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

Anne-Marie Emanuelli of Mindful Frontiers On How To Develop Mindfulness During Stressful Or… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Founders: Nooshin Behroyan of PAXON Energy On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed…

Female Founders: Nooshin Behroyan of PAXON Energy On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

It takes a very thick skin, long hours, high levels of stress, a master multitasking superpower, and an endless resiliency to pushbacks, setbacks or failures. You are a founder if you have the urge to challenge the status quote, disrupt the norm, and push the envelope for the better.

As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Nooshin Behroyan, Founder & CEO of PAXON Energy.

Nooshin Behroyan has 17 years of oil, gas and utilities industry experience. Her company, PAXON, which she founded in 2016, was named 9th fastest growing company in America on the Inc. 5000 list and №1 female-led company on the same list two years in a row. As a first-generation immigrant and a single mother, Behroyan brings extensive cross-cultural experience that promotes gender diversity and work-force equality by addressing barriers and driving change for positive impact for women engineers and veterans. Behroyan serves as the board president for National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO)- San Francisco Bay Area, as well as, chairwoman of the advisory board of IKAR Energy Group, and the advisory boards for American Gas Association (AGA). She holds a B.A. in architecture from UC Berkeley, M.S. in civil and environmental Engineering from UC Davis and is a graduate of UCLA’s MDE Program.

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?

My master’s degree is Civil & Environmental engineering from University of California, Davis. During my tenure as a graduate student, I briefly worked with the California Department of Oil & Gas which later led onto a consulting role as a project coordinator supporting gas pipeline projects for Pacific gas & electric which is Northern California’s largest utility. It was in that role that I understood the lack of diversity and how very few women were actually involved in the energy sector. My passion as an environmental engineer striving to reduce Methane emissions in correspondence to climate change coupled with my desire to advocate for female engineers, led to the incorporation of Paxon.

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

I think one of the most interesting incidents that has happened to me has been actually dealing with Utilities’ mainstream mentality where there is still no room for female led companies or that the size of the contract your company is awarded could get questioned based on the fact whether or not the company is male vs. female run.

It is not easy or quick to stop these behaviors in the workplace. Nevertheless, it is absolutely necessary to start new conversations to break the construction industry’s silence when it comes to diversity and inclusion, and to bring more women into construction careers.

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 forever grateful for Paxon’s dedicated team, including Paxon’s president, Blake Braswell whom I have worked with and alongside for many years now prior to Paxon and at Paxon. The unwavering support of my family and my deep desire to show my children, especially my daughter, that you can break through the ceilings and boundaries despite the cultural and societal suppression or expectation.

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?

I think number one reason is the lack of equal resources available to women in comparison to their male counterparts. It’s a lot harder for a female founder to raise funds for instance. Again, the mindset of the industry is still heavily male favored.

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?

A diverse workforce needs to start from the top down: Businesses must first consider their leadership team. Hiring leaders from different backgrounds and experiences offers diversity of thought. Honest transparency about efforts and progress when it comes to diversity and inclusion at society level, at government or business levels. Approach diversity as a business strategy- Energy industry’s diversity spend is a trillion-dollar industry and this is the exact same market Paxon has successfully captured which speaks for our tremendous success over the short period of time.

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?

As women we bring the diversity of thoughts and because we pretty much have to work twice as hard, if not more to reach the same levels of success or achieve milestones as our male counterparts, this could result in a more constructive competition across all sectors. As a result, the more female founders start, the less minority we are and the more we can help levelized the playing field.

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

I often hear that the top is a lonely place. I don’t believe in that. I think if you successfully surround yourself with people who have achieved success in their own rights, climbing to the top could pose a very exciting learning opportunity. I find steep learning curves as very exciting events.

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?

It takes a very thick skin, long hours, high levels of stress, a master multitasking superpower, and an endless resiliency to pushbacks, setbacks or failures. You are a founder if you have the urge to challenge the status quote, disrupt the norm, and push the envelope for the better.

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.)

I was lucky enough early on that I learned from another CEO in my line of business about how to do accounts receivable financing which afforded me/Paxon to use its contracts to fund the company’s operation. I think that alone single handedly allowed us to scale rapidly. I believe figuring out finances should be one of the first steps to be figured out.

  1. This is something that I learned recently which I think it really differentiates one company from its competitors. When talking to clients before speaking technically as to why your company is best suited focus on the value add and the why and how that why is in-line with what that client is trying to achieve
  2. Creating your board of directors should be one of the early steps.
  3. Once you achieve success, you will be attacked as a person or as a professional. This is how some competitors choose to get ahead

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

Our Research and Development team at Paxon has been especially focused on protecting the environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, increasing the useful service life of natural gas transmission equipment and keeping the operating efficiency as high as possible for hydrocarbon supplying pipelines.

By the Numbers: We have recovered greater than 10,000,000 scf of natural gas over the last 3 years, that would have otherwise been vented to atmosphere. That would be equivalent to approximately 190,000,000 scf of Carbon Dioxide.

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.

I think my movement would be for all the girls, mothers, and women out there thinking that they don’t have what it takes. You are enough and you can achieve whatever you put your mind to if you are willing to be fearless and put in the work; regardless if you have been out of the professional work for some years due to raising your family, or you are waiting for a male co-founder to help you start your idea, or you think you would need a degree to enter any industry. Whatever the reasoning, just know that resiliency and believing in yourself is a muscle that needs practice to get stronger. I would start a foundation to provide training and job placement for mothers who want to get back into the workforce after raising their family.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!

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

Women In Wellness: Hedieh Safiyari On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s…

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

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Look at all your options to help make the best decision. Your wellness journey is ongoing. Don’t take a doctor or wellness provider’s treatment or advice as the final word. Look into different approaches, providers, and information. There’s always more than one solution. Wellness is not a cookie cutter approach.

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

Hedieh is the Founder and CEO of PromptHealth, a platform that allows wellness providers and seekers to connect in a dedicated space. Traditionally, wellness seekers can either go to the doctor or search online — which both have limitations. Hedieh is on a mission to build a community for wellness providers, and offer potential clients a vetted directory, as well as a space to engage with wellness providers and learn.

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 young athlete I had to seek all kinds of fitness remedies to stay strong. But one day after a biking trip, I was told I had permanent nerve damage.

That was just the beginning of my personal health struggle. I had to go from one therapist to another trying to find a treatment that would help me. While waiting for an MRI, I ended up finding and working with a team of people including a physiotherapist, chiropractor, and exercise therapist. After two years of therapy, I finally felt normal again. I then witnessed my mother go through two different types of cancers, both needing different types of care. We were left on our own to find this care, and spent valuable time on a journey of trial and error.

I ended up starting my career working as a clinician at one of the Canadian pioneers of private healthcare, where we offered unique health and wellness services with a multidisciplinary team of clinicians. And again, I kept seeing this gap in the wellness system. How could patients find the care they really needed? I finally decided to take the learnings I gained and start PromptHealth!

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?

When I was part of Copeman Healthcare, I helped them launch a metabolic clinic. We helped people that had a cluster of heart disease risk factors, such as glucose levels or weight above a certain level. The key here is that we took a preventative approach, focusing on diet, exercise, accountability and life management.

But we regularly had patients showing up with bags full of supplements they were told to take — and had been for years! One supplement for one issue, another for another, never fully understanding how these were connected. Did they know why? No. Someone told them to do it.

The way patients access wellness knowledge is quite random. Either a friend or family shares something, they see an ad, or they search themself. And they’re alone on their health journey. I identified with these people.

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?

While I have knowledge around wellness and business, my technology knowledge was quite limited when I started PromptHealth. The initial product was built remotely, and because I wasn’t aware of certain things I was manipulated. Not knowing enough about technology meant I couldn’t vet the process well.

Looking back, I should have found a co-founder that had technical knowledge and could balance my business and wellness knowledge.

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 started my career as a clinician at Copeman Health, where we offered unique health and wellness services. We had dieticians who worked with diabetics, wellness coaches who helped with accountability, physiotherapists who specialized in concussions, and more. But most people did not know these services existed.

Even us, professionals who worked at the clinic, had a hard time referring to these services outside of our own center. Our referral system was limited to the people we knew nearby, or providers we found through a Google search.

Witnessing the fragmented, ineffective healthcare system inspired me to want to solve this gap through PromptHealth. We make it easier for people to navigate wellness care themselves through trusted information, and help providers easily refer clients to different professionals with the confidence that they are vetted.

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.

Tailor your fitness and lifestyle activities to your personal health and history. For example, if you have injuries, are post-pregnancy, or have a chronic health condition — these are all conditions that impact your wellness and what kinds of solutions you should be adopting. Learn more about your body type and what is most effective.

I hear different diets becoming more or less popular all the time. There’s all these trends — but ultimately, a balanced diet and a plan that is sustainable long-term is most important. Find eating habits that you can implement and maintain — and ones that suit your body, age and background. Don’t follow the trends.

Mental health — acknowledge and stay aware of what we’re going through, how it has changed your life, and what steps can be taken to improve your mental health. But this is different for every person. Whether you need a wellness coach or need to take more walks, focus on finding the right solution instead of what’s often just handed to you.

Become an observer of how you’re reacting to external circumstances. Physical, mental and emotional health can affect different elements of your body. Don’t ignore symptoms. How often are things happening, and what is the cause and effect relationship? If a problem is recurring and you’ve got no idea why, you need help.

Look at all your options to help make the best decision. Your wellness journey is ongoing. Don’t take a doctor or wellness provider’s treatment or advice as the final word. Look into different approaches, providers, and information. There’s always more than one solution. Wellness is not a cookie cutter approach.

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

Going beyond focusing on our physical bodies. Holistic wellness is about focusing on mind, body and soul — and the pandemic has been a good example of this.

The pandemic plunged us into a mental health crisis. No one talked about the social and emotional health aspect that people dealt with to this extent before. We’ve started focusing on social connection, and the importance of togetherness. This connects physical, mental, emotional and even social wellbeing.

By highlighting the connection between your mind and body, we can all better understand our bodies and how to treat them.

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

  1. It’s going to be 24/7. It’s easier to have a 9 to 5 job and have holidays, but of course, you don’t get to build your passion into a business.
  2. Starting a business disrupts your life. It can be hard on your relationships. You’re so focused on your baby that certain responsibilities are pushed to the side.
  3. You need to motivate people, a lot. Not just your team, but your stakeholders and audiences too.
  4. You’re going to learn about yourself. You’re going to do a lot of things you’ve never done before. I wasn’t even on social media until I started my business.
  5. Creativity comes to different people in different ways. I didn’t think I was particularly good at telling stories or creating videos. But passion can drive you.

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. A mental health pandemic is still growing. People are isolated and alone, losing friends, family, jobs, entire communities. Kids are faced with an unprecedented new challenge that even as adults we are struggling with. And for those with mental health issues it’s even more severe.

We’re seeing higher numbers of drug and alcohol problems. Being at home can make people less active too, which can increase weight gain, and all of a sudden it’s a vicious cycle. It’s a perfect storm of mental health issues.

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

You can find me on Linkedin, and my personal and company Instagram accounts, @hediehsafiyari, and @prompthealth. I also host a podcast for PromptHealth that covers different healthcare and wellness topics, sharing insights from health experts.

Thank you for these fantastic insights!

Women In Wellness: Hedieh Safiyari 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.

Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech: Anne Trobaugh of ‘My Best Friend At Work’ On The 5 Leadership…

Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech: Anne Trobaugh of ‘My Best Friend At Work’ On The 5 Leadership Lessons She Learned From Her Experience

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Mentors Make sure you have a good mentor at your place of work. Mentors can help you find new roles, give insights into projects or initiatives that have the most visibility, and say your name and advocate for you when you are not in the room. I have a free handout on my website that walks through the process I use for finding a mentor (with email templates for reaching out to them).

As a part of my series about “Lessons From Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech,” I had the pleasure of interviewing Anne Trobaugh.

Anne is a Mechanical Engineer and MBA who is obsessively passionate about women empowerment in STEM because she knows how hard it is to be the only female in the room. During her 20 years in Corporate America, she’s held various roles from Test Cell Engineer, Combustion and Performance Senior Engineer, Six Sigma Black, Chief Engineer, Chief of Staff to the VP of Quality and Deputy Director of Global Quality, to name a few. Anne mentors many STEM women at work, but to further her reach, she founded My Best Friend at Work to be an advisor & a coach, a friend & a supporter, a cheerleader & an unwavering advocate. Anne helps women in STEM feel confident, handle situations at work like a pro and advance to their full potential.

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

Thanks so much for talking with me; I am honored to share some of my stories.

I come from a long line of Engineering archetypes: my grandfather, great-uncle, father, uncles (on both sides of my family), aunt, cousins, and brother were all in the area of Engineering or Technical-focused leadership positions. So honestly, I believe it is in my DNA!

Beyond family, my story is a classic one of loving math and physics while being very analytical in my thought process. I am also a very organized person — my mom remembers coming into my bedroom when I was in 4th grade and seeing post-it notes adorning my full-length mirror. It was my way of keeping organized with my schedule and to-dos at age 10. To this day, I still love post-it notes!

With my family history and my love of STEM-related subjects, I was destined to be an Engineer.

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

In my Corporate role, there are exciting things that happen every day! For running My Best Friend At Work, it’s been fascinating to learn how to use social media to make an impact. I have all this advice and these learnings from my 20 years of work that I want to use to help others, specifically women in STEM. That passion is the easy part. The hard part is getting heard. The best thing I have done for both my business and my Corporate role most recently is to take a course with Patrice Polzer, Sabina Hitchen and Joelle Garguilo focused on video, storytelling, and pitching yourself. I took the course to benefit my entrepreneurial endeavors, but the number of parallels the course had to my full-time Corporate job was terrific. In Corporate, we need to tell stories to motivate people. Being confident on camera is becoming more beneficial because of video conferencing. The idea of pitching yourself is a mindset change for increasing your confidence. All these skills learned from the course helped me with personal business and in my Corporate job.

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?

So many things are a bit cringeworthy when I look back now! I remember one mistake vividly. As an intern, I got an email from someone letting me know that I misspelled my alma mater on my resume! I wanted to crawl into a hole. Lesson learned: double-check your work!

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

The best part about My Best Friend At Work is that it’s 100% my passion and is fun for me. I can relate to many experiences and help others trying to advance in their careers. At times people need advice or input on what things to consider in certain situations. At other times I am more of a cheerleader to encourage and keep people excited and headed in the right direction. I’m only trying to stand out to ensure people can benefit from what I share. Women in STEM need to all support each other, and that’s why I am here.

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

I’ve recently been part of the Big Resignation. I made the tough decision that it was time to leave my employer, and I have since searched for and secured a new opportunity. I am sharing all of what I went through with my audience. Things like how to know it’s time to leave your current role, how to find a new job, how to work through the offer part of a new job, and so much more.

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?

Absolutely not. Speaking specifically to engineering, according to a recent study by the Society of Women Engineers, only 13% of engineers in the workforce are women. Over 30% of women leave the engineering profession at some point in their careers. There has been much work on increasing the pipeline of females entering STEM, but we can do so much more to keep them at work.

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?

Reflecting on my personal experience:

  • I was asked by a male colleague what my husband’s favorite meal was.
  • I was left out of countless happy hours.
  • I had a solution to an engineering problem blatantly stolen by a man and passed off as his own.
  • I was singled out in a meeting that ran a few minutes past 5 PM to be asked if I needed to leave to get my children.

These seemingly minor incidents or actions, called microaggressions, happen daily to women in STEM. It becomes a death by a thousand cuts situation that contributes to many women leaving engineering or the workforce.

My suggestion: empathy! Try to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. Is the question you are about to ask something you would want to be asked to you? Is the comment you are about to make something you would wish to have printed in the headlines of a newspaper? Also think about how someone else will feel or react to your question or comment. Think first, then speak.

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

Women in STEM are often seen as super competitive or ambitious to a fault. Don’t be threatened, but understand that many of us are overcoming microaggressions, false judgments and other unconscious biases at play against us at all times.

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. Dig deep on self-reflection — Do much self-reflection to understand what you are good at, what you like, and what you want concerning your job. My favorite assessments to help with this interpersonal look related to work are Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and StrengthsFinder 2.0 from Gallup. The more you know about yourself, the better you can position yourself in the correct role and love what you do. In many of my personal assessments, competition is a prominent theme. I then must reflect on when competition is helpful: in times of crisis or when I am against a deadline. It might not be as beneficial in specific conflict resolutions. Being aware of this upfront is very helpful.
  2. Get visible — One of the most significant ways to succeed is getting the proper visibility. Becoming more visible at work can help accelerate your career success. Are you aware of the most visible projects or initiatives within your company? Are you aware of how you can get involved in those? Are you doing your best in your day job on those critical projects while also working on things outside your direct line management’s jurisdiction?
    Here’s how I have made myself visible at work:
    -I joined a Women’s Affinity Group — sometimes called employee resource groups in other companies. After a few sessions, there was a need for a committee leader. I volunteered without hesitation.
    -I asked around to see who oversaw my company’s campus recruiting team. I then volunteered to go to their career fair. After a few times attending, they asked me to lead it. Yes, please!
    -My boss needed a volunteer to be a team member on a 6Sigma project led outside of my group. I raised my hand first.
    In each case, I got visibility to folks outside of my direct line of command. I learned things like meeting facilitation, communication with a broad team, and arranging more significant events. These skills are valuable and add to your toolset. They have served me to this day.
  3. Communicate in the right way — Especially when leading projects, it’s all about communication. Any time you take on a project, think of these things:
    -Make sure everyone is kept informed. How you do that and how frequently will depend on the audience and urgency.
    -Communicate effectively. Keep it simple and straightforward.
    -Personalize the message. I usually keep a larger slide deck handy but personalize the information for every audience interaction
    -Learning what type of communication is necessary and following through with it takes time. When I was leading a big C-suite-involved project, I scheduled time each Friday to write a summary of the week and discuss the next steps/objectives for the following week. Based on the urgency and importance of the project, it demanded I keep a broad list of stakeholders well informed. I also focused on being simple and straightforward with the correct amount of detail. I sent this summary as an email each week and scheduled monthly presentations to update various stakeholders, thinking about the types of elements they would want to know.
  4. Stop using diminishing language. The language that unintentionally erodes others’ confidence in you is called diminishing language. Learn to stop using diminishing language consciously:
    Instead of: It was nothing, no big deal, no worries
    Say: You are welcome; Thank you, I am proud of the work.
    Instead of:
    Just: I just wanted; I’d just like, or using “just” as a descriptor: I have just a few slides; I need just a minute.
    Say: Eliminate the word “just” from all written and verbal communications Instead of: I think, I feel, I believe
    Say: I’m confident, In my experience, I’m convinced, I expect
    -When you eliminate diminishing language and minimizing words from your vocabulary, people will see you as more confident. As an added benefit, when I became more aware of this and stopped using this type of language, I was more confident in myself. I made a massive difference in how I thought of myself by changing a few words in my vocabulary.
  5. Mentors Make sure you have a good mentor at your place of work. Mentors can help you find new roles, give insights into projects or initiatives that have the most visibility, and say your name and advocate for you when you are not in the room. I have a free handout on my website that walks through the process I use for finding a mentor (with email templates for reaching out to them).

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

The most fun I have had leading a team while also getting the most personal fulfillment is working with my team on development topics at least monthly. Often personal development becomes team development. With assessments like MBTI and StrengthsFinder 2.0, there are significant aspects of learning about yourself and seeing how that connects to the entire team. I find this type of personal development and connection with a team great team building and a good learning opportunity.

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

With a large team, communication is crucial. It’s imperative to have all employee meetings at least quarterly to discuss company results, how they impact the team, and strategy and overall direction discussions. Best practices include more frequent communications, meeting at least monthly. A blog, an in-person or remote town hall, or skip-level meetings are all great ways to set direction and allow the team to ask questions. The key is visibility and communication with your entire team to make people feel connected, heard, and sure of their leadership direction.

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 have thrived with support and mentoring along the way. I have a massive support system at home. My mom and dad both worked outside of the house; my dad retired as a Vice President in Engineering after a very successful 40-year career. My husband, brother, brother-in-law, and sisters-in-law all work in Corporate America in jobs of great responsibility. They help me think through things when I need some assistance. My Aunts and Uncles are cheerleaders for my career, and I even discuss work-related topics with my cousins at times.

In addition to a fantastic family, one of the most beneficial career relationships has been my best friend at work, hence the naming of My Best Friend At Work! We provide each other advice, support, and a sounding board for everything: from what to wear on a multi-country trip to preparing for a presentation to our company’s Board Of Directors. I wanted everyone to have access to the support and peer mentorship that I have had with my best friend at work.

I have also loved my mentoring relationships with over 50 mentees, including technical women. I learn as much from them as they do from me.

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

Such a tough one. Running My Best Friend At Work has added some goodness to the world. It makes my day when I hear from someone about a topic that I have covered on social media that has helped them, or the DM me with a specific question, and I can help. Giving back to others based on my experience is what I am passionate about and what I will continue to do every day.

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. 🙂

I love seeing more career content making its way to mainstream social media. The more we can all share our experiences, the more we can learn!

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

My motto is: “If not me, then who?”. It is such a part of my life story that a previous team member had it engraved on a Yeti for me! The most significant example of me living this is when I showed up at the men’s golf informational meeting on my second day of college. I love my alma mater Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, ranked #1 in undergraduate engineering programs by US News and World Report for 21 consecutive years. In the first year of recognition, I heard the announcement from the university President in our Union while eating breakfast. It was fun to be part of the recognition. The school was all-male until 1995, and when I joined as a Freshman in 1999, there were 80 total women in my class across all engineering disciplines. As a division 3 school, sports were not a massive focus for the school, and there was no women’s golf team. I had played golf in high school, enjoyed it, was decent, and thought, “I can play in college.” With some friends encouraging me, I showed up and sat at the table of all men during that first golf meeting to discuss tryouts for the team. The coach held me after that meeting to tell me that the team would be playing from the back tees (so I would have to hit longer than I would if playing against other females). My point back to him was that women and men could play golf from anywhere on the golf course. Fast forward 22 years, the women’s golf team at Rose-Hulman #1 in the HCAC conference, and I would not be able to make the team I founded that many years ago!

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 🙂

Nikole Hannah-Jones. I recently watched Black History, Black Freedom and Black Love on Master Class with Nikole and learned so much. I want to dive deeper into everything she shared and hear more of her stories.

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

Thanks for speaking with me!

Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech: Anne Trobaugh of ‘My Best Friend At Work’ 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.

Women In Wellness: Dr Annie Gonzalez On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s…

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

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

I believe that mental health is of uttermost importance for overall health. Many medical conditions like cold sores can be triggered by stress. Being able to maintain a positive mental state allows you to cope with stressful situations, work productively and have meaningful connections with peers and family.

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

Dr. Gonzalez is a board-certified dermatologist who specializes in general and cosmetic dermatology and is experienced in treating patients with various skin disorders. Dr. Gonzalez practices in Miami, Florida and is a highly sought-after dermatologist in the region.

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 was born in Cuba and emigrated to the United States at the age of 10. It was a challenging transition but one that shaped the rest of my life for the better. I was full of dreams and aspirations and finally had a chance to make them come true through my own efforts, dedication, and perseverance.

I discovered that I wanted to become a dermatologist because growing up I felt passionate about science and art. I was also inspired by my mother who is a physician and spoke about her days at the dinner table. I received my undergraduate degree in Biology and Chemistry and obtained my medical degree in Puerto Rico, where I was ranked #1 in my class. It was no surprise that I chose dermatology since it allows me to enjoy its medical aspects, as well as the creative side when treating my cosmetic patients. Today, I specialize in general and cosmetic dermatology at Bowes Dermatology and treat patients with various skin disorders and am also a member of renowned professional organizations. When I am not working, I enjoy spending time with my family, trying out new cosmeceutical grade products, living a healthy lifestyle and going to the gym.

Currently, I am excited to be partnering with Abreva on a new initiative called #StopBullyingYourself. Together we are urging cold sore sufferers to pledge to be kinder to themselves, especially during an outbreak. There are many misconceptions about cold sores and, in addition to the physical impacts of the condition, there is a significant emotional toll it takes on those who experience them. Through #StopBullyingYourself we hope to dispel cold sore myths and encourage confidence and self-acceptance among cold sore sufferers.

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 two years after I started practicing dermatology, I saw an older patient who had traveled from Colombia to be seen for a full body skin exam. He had never been seen by a dermatologist and his son was concerned about a new lesion on his father’s scalp. During this visit I examined the extremely pigmented and large lesion on the gentleman’s scalp and decided to biopsy. When the biopsy resulted in a melanoma diagnosis, I contacted patient and advised him of the results. He underwent surgery but unfortunately passed away since the melanoma was too far gone and had metastasized to other organs. I advise patients to return annually for full body skin exams and if they have a history of any type of skin cancer or abnormal moles, I recommend being seen every 6 months. Most skin cancers can be detected and treated at an early stage to avoid fatalities.

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 was managing my finances after transitioning from my residency program to being employed by a private practice. If I could do it all over again, I would hire a financial advisor not only to review my employment contract but to also help me manage paying off student loans and saving for retirement at an early age. If I would have done this early on, then I would have more of a balance on my short-term and long-term goals.

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?

As I mentioned, I’m excited to partner with Abreva in their mission to eliminate cold sore stigma and encourage those who suffer to treat themselves with more kindness. Unfortunately, there is a tremendous stigma associated with cold sores that make people feel embarrassed and self-conscious when they have an outbreak. In fact, new research from Abreva discovered that 53% of people are uncomfortable even admitting that they get cold sores, afraid of others’ misconceptions about the source of cold sores and how they are transmitted.

I see many patients for this condition and many of them are self-conscious about these flare ups. I advise them that triggers may include stress, cold weather or hormonal changes. I always tell my patients that stress induced conditions like cold sores don’t necessarily have to come from a negative stressor, it could be a positive one such as starting a new job, buying a home, having a child, as well as many others. This is important for my patients to hear for them to assimilate the situation.

That is why the #StopBullyingYourself initiative Abreva launched is so important. We are working to help others understand the emotional impact of cold sores by spreading greater awareness about the condition and encouraging empathy for sufferers.

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.

Self-confidence and accepting imperfections can help a person’s wellbeing. It is important for cold sore sufferers to know that it is a common condition, and transmission can happen from something as simple as sharing utensils.

Applying sunscreen daily can prevent skin cancers, sun damage and the early onset of wrinkles and fine lines. Wear your SPF!

Physical activity helps regulate hormones and prevents free-radical damage, boosts immunity, and improves quality of the skin.

Applying a retinoic acid nightly improves the appearance of pores and textural changes of the skin. It is a holy grail for anti-aging purposes since it also reduces the appearance of fine lines, helps with sun damage, and brightens dull skin.

Acknowledging when you are anxious and stressed is important! Being aware can help you begin to manage stress or anxiety by exercising, writing down your feelings, or finding a hobby that clears your mind and makes you happy.

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

Abreva’s #StopBullyingYourself is an initiative I am truly proud to be a part of. Over half of American adults suffer from cold sores — that’s a lot of people dealing not just with the physical impact of the condition, but the emotional one as well. But of course, wellness is important for non-sufferers as well. Abreva is also pledging a $25,000 donation to Born This Way Foundation to support the mental health of young people. Both Abreva and Born This Way Foundation are committed to spreading kindness, promoting acceptance, and building a kinder and braver world.

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

1: Keep a well-planned schedule to help balance work and personal life.

2: Prioritizing personal time is important for your well-being and personal health.

3: Asking for help is not a sign of weakness because you’ll learn tips and tricks in the process.

4: Don’t get caught up in negativity because self-confidence and your mental health is important.

5: Maintain a relationship with colleagues because they can provide insight and another perspective to issues you may have.

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

I believe that mental health is of uttermost importance for overall health. Many medical conditions like cold sores can be triggered by stress. Being able to maintain a positive mental state allows you to cope with stressful situations, work productively and have meaningful connections with peers and family.

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

You can find me at @dr.g_derm on Instagram.

Also, follow @AbrevaBrand for more information on how you can be kinder to yourself and tougher on your cold sores. To join the pledge, sufferers can share their own story on Instagram Stories using #StopBullyingYourself and tagging @AbrevaBrand.

Go to Abreva.com to learn more!

Thank you for these fantastic insights!

Women In Wellness: Dr Annie Gonzalez 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.