Day: April 8, 2022

Women In Wellness: Katie Jackson of FUEL for Impact On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help…

Women In Wellness: Katie Jackson of FUEL for Impact On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Get ready for highs and lows — There are times where I feel amazing. I’m pursuing a dream of mine. But, in the pursuit, there are learning experiences. I have had days where I question how I’m going to manage operations, finances, and marketing all myself while being the wife and mother I want to be. I wish someone would have told me that this is normal because I have found that all business owners experience those same feelings.

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

Life-long athlete, full-time working mom of two, Katie is on a mission to make a statement that health and wellness not only matter for the individual, but society as well. She has had the privilege to work for companies like Verizon Wireless, Anytime Fitness, Wellbridge Athletics, EXOS, and Ameren UE. Driven to do more for others, she founded her business, F.U.E.L. for Impact, LLC January 31, 2022.

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?

Even though my job description would be ideal for someone who is extroverted, I am a bit of an introvert…and NERD. I grew up playing video games with my brother and sister on the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation 2. My favorite games were Zelda, Ocarina of Time, Mario Kart, and The Lord of the Rings games.

I also LOVE movies, mostly because I love the stories. Some of my favorite movies include the Lonesome Dove series, The Lord of the Rings trilogy (including the two Hobbit movies), and the two latest Wonder Woman movies.

When I wasn’t nerding out, I was playing volleyball, and was able to earn a full-ride scholarship to MSSU. After graduating with a degree in Health Promotion and Wellness and a minor in business management, I married my high school sweetheart and had two girls.

When I’m not taking care of my girls, I mostly work on my business and find time to go horseback riding at Longmeadow Rescue Ranch once a week. I love being around horses. It relieves stress and keeps me centered.

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

There is one major theme that continues to pop up as a coach and trainer: You can be the most knowledgeable trainer in the world, have the best intentions, and be extraordinary in the customer service realm. But if you cannot facilitate behavior change or help the client dedicate more energy towards their well-being, it is difficult to succeed.

It is our jobs as professionals to help the client see the reward in self-care, not in a selfish way, but in the way we are all meant to live and how that not only impacts themselves, but their loved ones, and the community.

It’s difficult to pick a particular story because this has applied to almost all my clients.

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 was that I assumed the human body was this perfectly calculated robot. Let’s me explain: Biomechanics will tell you that a push up utilizes the pectoral muscles, deltoids, and triceps. This is correct. However, I find that a lot of clients cannot perform certain movements correctly because of mobility issues.

Incorrect movement doesn’t always have to do with the client’s athleticism, but the neuro-connections formed by our habits each day. If you don’t use them, you lose them! Think of it this way: Hold your hand up and make a fist as tightly as you can like you’re trying to pop a water balloon. Relax and perform the same exercise, only this time, flex your wrist at a 90-degree angle. It is difficult to squeeze at the same strength, right?

We are not robots. Our bodies are continuously adapting to our environments and the habits we form each day. So it is my job to help you feel better physically and mentally while achieving your 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?

When I think about impacting the world, three things come to mind: Funding, energized people, and community. Think about it: When we hear good news, it’s usually a random act of kindness by someone who is energized by the cause itself or involves someone who was inspired by others to make the kind gesture.

Being a healthy individual mentally and physically assists these acts and characteristics because ‘Energized’ people (as I like to call them) are more positive people willing to do good for others. So, I team up with my clients. Rather than telling them what they should be doing, together, we form a plan that is reasonable for their lifestyle while adding reliable expertise along the way.

Another huge part of our business is that we select registered non-profits to donate to each month. At the end of the month, we calculate twenty percent of each client’s total expenses, adding together the subscription and coaching session costs. Every client is emailed a chart to see how much our company donated according to their expenses.

We select non-profits carefully, including local as well as nationally recognized organizations. So far, we have donated to Grace’s Place Crisis Nursery and The Covering House — STL.

So here we are, working hard to develop healthy, energized human beings while setting the example ourselves by providing funding to those who need it most.

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.

To become an energized individual that I described above, consider the following:

1 . DEFINE YOUR WELL-BEING — When you think, ‘healthy’ or ‘weight loss’ do you feel energized? Or do you cringe? Our past experiences, social situations, successes, and failures form our relationship towards health. Let me give you an example:

I worked with a client once who came to me looking to lose weight in a hurry. Let’s call her, Jill. Jill was headed to a beach vacation with her husband.

Part of our game plan was for Jill to snack less and cook more satisfying, nutritionally dense meals. She was to increase her exercise from 10 minutes of walking a day to 20 minutes of brisk walking with hand weights. It not only seemed attainable for her full-time job and lifestyle but was an activity she was comfortable with.

The first week, Jill stuck to our plan diligently, but the second week was a struggle for her, and her attitude seem to shift entirely. I began to wonder what other obstacles Jill was facing. During our next session, I had mentioned that our plan didn’t seem to be working and asked her what she was struggling with. Jill shared she had stepped on the scale at the end of the first week and didn’t see her number budge.

Jill had lost faith in herself at that point. She was clearly frustrated. She also mentioned that she had struggled with weight loss, her body image, and when under high amounts of stress, she grabbed a sugary granola bar as quick snack. Since Jill was so stressed about her goal, she was snacking more, which wasn’t helping the number go down.

Before we made any new plans, we re-defined what well-being meant to her. It was more than just a number. To her it meant having more energy to do the things she wanted, and it also meant being independent and getting involved in community events. We also made a deal that she could not step on the scale for 4 weeks 😊.

Well-being is about ALL things you, not just numbers. Jill not only lost the 15 pounds in time for her beach vacation but was able to achieve her desired lifestyle. Like everyone, she had setbacks, but was able to quickly adapt because of her new view of health.

Establishing a healthy view of well-being provides you with ammunition to be versatile.

2. FAITH that you can achieve it — Here at FUEL for Impact, we say that to begin any journey, you need to have a solid foundation of FAITH that you can achieve something. Faith in your ability to accomplish goals will flourish if you recognize the all-encompassing impact well-being truly has. Whether you have proof that you can achieve something because you’ve accomplished similar goals before, or you have never attempted it, a new goal requires faith to grit through the difficult times.

Working to improve a client’s mobility, I prescribed him a yoga/stretching routine in addition to his strength routine. He wanted to be less susceptible to injury and feel more comfortable while lifting weights. This guy had never attempted yoga before, but through his hard work and perseverance, he was able to master the movements.

He was very muscular, and some wouldn’t suspect him to be good at an activity such as yoga, but he proved many wrong because he had faith that he could accomplish the movements perfectly!

Faith will get you far!

3. UNITE with an expert and your community — When you undertake a new challenge, it can be difficult on your own. I highly recommend contacting a mentor or expert. Someone you feel you can trust and who is just as invested in your goal. This is where FUEL for impact is unique. As a health coach and trainer, I explain to my clients that I do what I love and work hard to help them succeed. Since I’m a bit competitive, I never give up on anyone. It’s my favorite part of what I do.

Since you are dedicating 20% of your monthly expenses to a non-profit, you are uniting with fellow individuals to assist those in need. We give to non-profits centered around veterans, families facing crisis’s, children’s physical and mental health, and more!

Achieving a healthy lifestyle is not a simple task but when you have knowledge and accountability with a cause, you will be unstoppable!

Two clients’ testimonies:

I have worked with Katie for a number of years regarding my mental and physical health. She is an excellent listener, extremely well-educated, and inspiring. One of my favorite things about working with Kate is that she really listens. You can count on Kate to give you one-on-one attention as well as personalized service. She encourages the importance of mental health as well as physical health.

I am a mother of three, wife, teacher, and author. Katie has helped me understand that self-care is vital to my success and happiness in each of the roles in my life. She is also understanding as she is a working mother herself, who is dedicated to her own life’s goals and dreams. Katie not only provides phenomenal service but expects of her clients only that which she expects of herself. Katie lives what she preaches and that is one of the best health — heck, life — coaches, a person could have! She’s an inspiration, and I hope to work with her for a very long time.

-Rachel B.

What stands out about Katie is her insightful, honest and holistic approach to training. Now 65 years old, I have been training with Katie for over 6 years and her program design incorporates everything from high intensity muscle/endurance growth programs to low impact rehabilitation programs, both programs focusing on safe and measured exercises. Katie is responsible for guiding and inspiring me thru recovery from severe spinal stenosis resulting in cervical and lower back surgery. Katie knew when to push always monitoring form and progress. Her approach inspires confidence, and she does it all with a sincere interest in her client’s wellbeing.

Katie has help me achieve a better quality of life thru physical fitness training and nutritional coaching. Part of what motivated me while training with Katie was my fear of disappointing her because she was so invested in helping me. I know Katie worked just as hard planning my training sessions as I did going thru them. We set goals together and at every milestone we achieved those goals.

-Tim R.

4. ENERGIZE from the success you gain — Accomplishing goals gives you energy. You present yourself to the world more positively. Whether it’s your attitude in the grocery store, or you’re giving a presentation to a group of executives at work, it keeps you going! Always be working towards something.

A client of mine wanted to be able to genuflect in church by his daughter’s wedding. When he accomplished that goal, he used that experience to fuel his wellness journey, not to mention his confidence improved!

5. LIVE creating your unique impact — Here’s the final tweak: ALL FIVE OF THESE TOPICS ARE MEANT TO BE USED TOGETHER! To become an energized individual, you must carefully go through all five of these tweaks. Humans are passionate individuals who are meant to be working towards something. When you follow a healthy lifestyle, things begin to fall into place, and that’s not by accident. I have seen confidence increase, courage skyrocket to pursue dreams, and relationships soar. Individuals who take time for their physical and mental health are more likely to succeed or be seen as successful. So, it’s your turn!

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

I would first look at people’s basic needs. There are many who don’t have food, water, shelter, adequate clothing, etc.

A frustration of mine is that we have all the science and technology to preserve food, and create an abundance, yet we have multiple areas of the world full of starving people. I don’t think there is any excuse for letting people go hungry, poor or not. We have plenty of wealth and resources around the world to pull together and create basic nutritional needs for the poor.

I would love to create a system that feeds those people. There are many wonderful non-profits fighting for this already, but to have a better permanent system, that would really be something!

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

Get ready for highs and lows — There are times where I feel amazing. I’m pursuing a dream of mine. But, in the pursuit, there are learning experiences. I have had days where I question how I’m going to manage operations, finances, and marketing all myself while being the wife and mother I want to be. I wish someone would have told me that this is normal because I have found that all business owners experience those same feelings.
Don’t obsess over your weaknesses. Yes — you should take time to learn how to improve your organization, marketing, etc. but don’t let that consume your time or thoughts. It’s not good for your confidence. Focusing on your weaknesses or challenges squashes your momentum and the passion you have for your business. Certainly, make time to further your business, but don’t stretch yourself thin.
Stay YOU — From an operational standpoint, the ‘see what others are doing’ phrase is good advice, but it’s easy to lose what makes you stand out because of it. When I promote my business to potential clients, I am much more successful about saying what I feel and have experienced rather than saying what I think I should say. Don’t clone another business owner. Stay YOU.
Enjoy the process! — I love what I do, but sometimes I get so focused on what I need to get done, that I forget that this is supposed to be enjoyable! Depending on the week, it can be easy to become overwhelmed and cranky. So always take a step back and put into perspective what you’ve accomplished so far. It not only makes you more productive but improves your attitude 100%.
Set boundaries — Ah yes — this is a challenging one. Sometimes we business owners cannot help it when we receive that email from a concerned customer at 7:00pm. There are times where we need to address it. But I always ask myself, “Will this hurt if I wait until tomorrow to respond? Why do I need to do it now?” If I feel it needs my attention right away, I will respond. If not, I set a reminder in my phone for the morning, so it doesn’t linger in my brain.

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 what I hold dearest. One of my blog posts discusses a mental health challenge I was facing during the pandemic and you can read about it here.

Part of it discusses the danger of isolation. The lie that we believe we are alone, and no one has had similar thoughts or experiences. It very dangerous because we go down this rabbit hole of depression and anxiety, which can lead to damaging or even life-threatening behavior if left un-resolved.

If you don’t have your mental health, it’s hard to participate in life. Life is meaningful and filled with purpose. Without mental health, you live in this different perspective, and sometimes, you don’t even realize you’re doing it.

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

You can read about me and keep up with my blog at www.fuelforimpact.company. I’m also on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn.

Thank you for these fantastic insights!

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

Women In Wellness: Professor Kathy O’Shea Of Monroe Community College On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks…

Women In Wellness: Professor Kathy O’Shea Of Monroe Community College On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Find a new poem you can read and reflect on, even if it’s only for 15 minutes. Give yourself the sanctuary of breathing with works that feed your soul. If you think you don’t like poetry, you just haven’t found the right poem! Go to one of the major poetry sites (poets.org or The Poetry Foundation, for instance), and browse by topic or sign up for an app that brings you a daily poem. Reading poetry forces us to slow down and not be distracted by multi-tasking.

As a part of my series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Kathy O’Shea.

Kathleen J. O’Shea, Professor of English at Monroe Community College (Rochester, N.Y.) is a 44-year migraine sufferer, has taken her passion for literature and her chronic illness to create So Much More than A Headache: Understanding Migraine through Literature (Kent State University Press, 2020). Kathy has transitioned from being a migraine patient to one who wants to combine her life experience and her professional expertise to help migraine sufferers understand that they are not alone, and for those who are fortunate not to suffer from this condition, to become more empathetic and understanding of those who do. Kathleen lives in Rochester with her husband, two beloved golden retriever therapy dogs, Gretta and Ollie, and their cat, Gato.

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

My passion for literature and the arts began when I was fifteen years old, taking English and humanities courses. I was very inspired by my teacher and knew then that my life- work would somehow involve these interrelated disciplines. After graduate school and marrying another English professor, I continued to struggle with migraines. I’d been suffering with them since I was 14, but, at that time, so little was known about the disease or how to treat it. I had seen chiropractors, neurologists, and my regular physician and had endured numerous tests and trials of medications created for other illnesses, many of which made me very sick.

Finally, when in my 30’s, I was referred to a headache specialist, Dr. Joseph Mann, in Rochester NY, who was not only up to date on current research but involved in the studies, as well. He expressed great excitement about the development of new treatments and medications that were coming in the next ten years or so. He was also someone who always made his patients feel there were always more options, other things to try if what we were doing didn’t work. That idea had a profound effect on me.

I’ve kept that motto with me for years now, even when my episodic migraine became chronic, even six years after his retirement. I have come to feel so very grateful for the advances, the attention to this disease, and the new medications and treatments that continue to come our way. At some point, I had to join my two life works — literature and migraine.

I have combined my love of literature and my life-long companionship with migraine by thoroughly researching and writing So Much More than a Headache: Understanding Migraine through Literature about authors — poets, fiction writers, essayists, and even playwrights — who also suffer(ed) from migraine and wrote about it, as well.

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?

As a 42-year migraineur (54 years old), I found myself in a new, frightening place: my headache specialist for years had recently retired, and I realize now more than ever how much I relied not only on his regular and kind care, but on his constant reassurance that new medications and treatment options, now designed specifically for migraine, were on the horizon.

I decided, at a time when migraine had seemingly taken residence (three months), with a day here and there of relief, I needed to do something positive and productive with this significant dimension of my life. Rather than sinking into the pain, dwelling in what I cannot do, feel, or experience, I found myself turning to what always consoles, informs, and guides me — literature.

Those of us who live with migraine in all of its forms crave to have someone understand, truly understand, what we live with — the often-excruciating pain we think no one else could possibly have endured — the losses, loneliness, and sacrifices directly and indirectly caused by this disease.

Literature captures the essence of all forms of joy and pain, and readers of all ages and backgrounds connect with grief and struggle. Sometimes, it helps us confront fear, hopelessness, and weariness. It cracks open the door on subjects we have buried, rationalized about, or hidden from. It tackles the grey areas of life, grappling with subjects that aren’t black and white, often leaving us in inevitable ambiguity rather than clear resolution.

As with literature, this state of ambiguity is where many migraineurs find themselves. There are no simple solutions for migraine and its complexity of pain and suffering; there is no “cure.” The “answers” come in fits and spurts through the right combinations of treatments, lifestyle, and support. Like my students’ struggles (I’ve been an English professor for 34 years), which are complex and multi-layered, so is life with migraine, but literature speaks to all; it does so in a way that reaches us viscerally.

In addition to providing me with a project that would hopefully create something positive from living with this chronic illness, I found passion in my discipline again and passion in research and writing for a particular purpose. It was so wonderful to completely immerse myself into this work.

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?

Since I’ve really had two careers, one as an English professor, and one in the world of Migraine, I think I’ll focus on my short “career” in the world of migraine. I think of a couple of mistakes.

My book was released during the first year of COVID, though its original release date was April 2020, but my publisher, Kent State University Press, decided to delay it to August 2020. Unfortunately, as COVID took over our lives, releases of books meant something entirely different from the past — no book readings, signings, no real opportunities to share the product with the audience for whom it was intended.

The biggest mistake I made was to think that all would know and understand that I’m not making a penny on my book; I just want to bring it to the attention of those who might most benefit from it — those suffering with migraine, their family and friends, the medical professionals working with these patients, and the public, all of whom need to be more educated on this disease.

Many, on social media sites and other organizations, argue they don’t want self-promotion for their sites. I certainly understand that philosophy. However, in the case of my book, the permissions to include authors’ works cost me (with the generous assistance of Dr. Fred. Godley, the President of the Association of Migraine Disorders) over $10,000. I can never hope, nor was it my intention to, recoup that money. This is a labor of love and passion.

I have learned that peoples’ instinct is that a writer is trying to advertise and promote his/her book to acquire money from the sales, but I can best educate people in a field like mine by reminding them of the process and the primary goals for initiating a project like the book I compiled.

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?

So much More than a Headache, edited and with my personal reflections, includes contributions from migraine sufferers from the medieval period through contemporary writers of fiction, drama, poetry, and essays.

The book has a unique non-chronological approach, focusing, instead, on five principal themes around migraine:

“The Experience,”
“The Invisibility,”
the stigma in “It’s Just a Headache?
the time, energy, and frustration of finding helpful treatment in “It’s a Life-long, Full-time Job,”
and the relief and fear following a migraine attack, as well as the hopeful new migraine treatments in “When It’s Gone.”

The anthology is designed for advocacy, aimed not just to migraineurs but also, and very notably, to family, friends, coworkers, and practitioners who seek a deeper and more visceral understanding of the disease, particularly (but not uniquely) through the chapter, “The Invisibility of Migraine.”

I love the notes I get from readers thanking me for the book, commenting on pieces that particularly moved them, the ones that made them feel less alone. In other circumstances, people have found pieces they can share with family and friends or medical professionals to aid in their development of empathy for this debilitating disease.

Of course, I have been thrilled to be asked to share my work with the community through readings and interviews. I love the opportunity to have a back and forth with others who either suffer with the disease or want to better understand it.

This is not a self-help book. It demonstrates the power of the written word, of literature, to capture what objective scales, and often our own words, fail to.

My bi-weekly migraine blog for psychology.com attempts to touch on the many current difficulties migraine sufferers face living with this disease.

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.

Find a new poem you can read and reflect on, even if it’s only for 15 minutes. Give yourself the sanctuary of breathing with works that feed your soul. If you think you don’t like poetry, you just haven’t found the right poem! Go to one of the major poetry sites (poets.org or The Poetry Foundation, for instance), and browse by topic or sign up for an app that brings you a daily poem. Reading poetry forces us to slow down and not be distracted by multi-tasking.
Practice living in the moment; develop mindfulness. The great poet Mary Oliver writes a great deal of her poetry on the importance of being mindful in nature. Look up some of her poems, like “The Summer Day” to see how she can take the most ordinary object and make it extraordinary. Try doing the same with at least one task in the day, even if it’s eating your meal, without any distractions, where you can focus on the taste, smell, textures, and colors of your meal.
Do you find you become more grateful, for instance, that you are physically able to enjoy the meal and really focus on all it has to offer? Being mindful leads to gratitude. You are living in the present moment, not reflecting on the past or worrying about the future.
Make a list of all that you are grateful for. I know this sounds simplistic, but some days this practice is harder to do than others. I find no matter what mood I wake up in, if I go through the litany of things for which I have gratitude, it can soften the focus on the negative, the hurts, or the anger.
Do (at least) one kindness for someone in the day. Providing a kindness to our friends and family may prove easy, but, in this case, I suggest going out of your way to spread a kindness to someone you don’t know. Feeling some gratitude in the day opens us up to such random kindnesses and gestures. Open the door for someone, pick something up that a person has dropped, say “good morning,” offer your spot in line, etc. You will feel better for it, I assure you.
Get outdoors. I live in upstate New York where our winters can be fierce and our summer’s hot. Though we endure a lot of grey skies, there’s nothing like being outside — walking your dog (or just yourself), exercising, working in the garden — to provide a real “reset” on an otherwise painful, taxing or overwhelming day. Again, be mindful when outside. Stay off the phone; use your senses to take in the sounds, smells, unexpected wildlife, the feel of the breeze, and more.

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

While I certainly appreciate the need for physical exercise, good sleep patterns, and healthy eating, I believe our spirits/souls need critical attention right now, so I would argue that we can benefit most from practicing mindfulness, as much as possible. With the personal, political, and social issues confronting us at local and global levels, we need to do as much as we can to stay in the present-to see what is in front of us. For instance, I know as a 58-year-old woman with elderly parents and dear friends, I spend too much time projecting and being anxious about the future, which, of course, I cannot control. While doing so I risk losing the moments I am living in now.

Experts from whom I have learned, including Pema Chodron, Deepak Chopra, Jon Kabat-Zinn and Jack Kornfield, have written beautifully on the subject, as have so many great literary figures. From such iconic figures we can learn not only the importance of paying attention but also the need to reject that ever-tempting multi-tasking so prominent in our society.

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

1.Know the trajectory of the “world” you have joined, once you decide to attempt to publish a book.

Until I was 56 years old, I never attempted to create a book, have it published and get it out to the public First, I hope you find that encouraging if you are interested in getting into this publishing world! However, if you jump in as naïve as I was, it is important to recognize the lengthy commitment you are making, the many stages to the proposal, the manuscript, the publishers’ initial responses, the professional readers’ reviews (sometimes hard to hear), the many subsequent drafts, the many acknowledgements and permissions you need to acquire (and, perhaps, pay for), the copy-editing, the cover design, the marketing, and the eventual publication.

2. My book was published during COVID, even though Kent State University Press delayed by several months its official release. Nonetheless, I experienced the difficulty of getting the book “out there,” which I still struggle with, since so many major organizations with conferences remain virtual, which keeps me from networking, meeting other people in my situation as a migraine sufferer or as a writer.

Meeting by Zoom is not the same as meeting people face-to-face. Additionally, there have, for nearly two years, been no opportunities for book readings at bookstores, coffee shops, and libraries. You must be innovative to locate avenues to get the word out about the value of your publication.

3. Many organizations and individuals will think you are attempting to self-promote your work, when only you realize the costs you incurred in creating the book and that you just want the publication in the hands of those who can benefit from it most. I wish organizations associated with reputable research and publishers, particularly those publishing with academic publishers, realized that such authors do not intend, in fact know, they will not even re-coup the funding put into the book’s creation. The reason for writing/editing a text of this kind is to help others realize they are not alone, to educate audiences, and to share experience in hopes of helping others.

4. Once I immersed myself in locating literature by migraine sufferers and their characters/personas who clearly experience migraine, I found myself “locked in,” despite still living every day with the illness I was researching and writing about. Finding this passion helped me immeasurably, as it created a new purpose, joined my love of literature with my struggle for so many years with migraine disease.

I learned that finding some positive outlet from living with chronic illness offered numerous opportunities to not only help myself but others, as well. Perhaps, you want to become an advocate, volunteer for the local, state-wide, or federal efforts to acquire more funding for the illness you suffer with, or maybe you want to start a local support group, either in person or on social media.

5. I know I struggled a lot with patience through the publishing process. There were a lot of “hurry up and wait” periods, times I was given a short deadline but never heard a response for weeks and maybe months. This is a normal part of the process, but I hadn’t the experience. I found myself wanting every stage to move more quickly, but the waiting is one of the most difficult aspects of the process at each stage.

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 care deeply about all of these and have acted in support in varying degrees. I have made significant changes in terms of products I use, given the environmental impact and the danger to wildlife the use of each renders, and I have made some great strides in eliminating the meat I eat, though I confess I remain something of a hypocrite by eating beef and chicken. I have, though, given up pork (since I fell in love with some pigs I’d visit daily on my way to work, naively not realizing their ultimate demise) and veal.

I also have a keen and personal interest in mental health issues, as I have friends and family members suffering in varying degrees with chronic depression, bi-polar disease. I’ve even had my own struggles suffering with depression, as someone struggling with chronic illness (now illnesses, since I was recently diagnosed with POTS).

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

Please join me on my website, my psychologytoday.com migraine page, my youtube book trailer, or https://www.facebook.com/migrainelit.

Thank you for these fantastic insights!

Women In Wellness: Professor Kathy O’Shea Of Monroe Community College On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Founders: Lindsay Bertelli of REACH On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a…

Female Founders: Lindsay Bertelli of REACH On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Look at your gender as a benefit, not a hindrance. If you are the only woman in the room, use that as a way to help you stand out, not an excuse to try and fit in. Women have business tools that men don’t have and vice versa, and you should use those to your advantage.

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

As Owner and President of REACH, Lindsay has 20+ years of in-depth experience in tour/event promotion and production and sponsorship management. Her work with top entertainment and corporate clients has made her a well-known force in the industry with the knowledge and expertise needed to navigate the changing, and increasingly virtual, event and sponsorship environment.

Lindsay began her career as a concert promoter at Moore Entertainment Group, which ultimately affiliated with TBA Entertainment and AEG Live. She managed eleven years of production and sponsorship for CMT On Tour, which involved artists Rascal Flatts, Keith Urban, Sugarland, Brad Paisley, and Jason Aldean.

Other notable career highlights for Lindsay include project management for the Reba McEntire and Kelly Clarkson 2 Worlds 2 Voices Tour, Brooks and Dunn’s Neon Circus & Wild West Show, and Playboy’s 50th Anniversary Club Tour.

With the launch of REACH in 2011, Lindsay combined her years of experience as a concert promoter with progressive experiential marketing methods for clients looking to maximize their visibility and reach in the entertainment and lifestyle landscape.

Lindsay believes that today’s partnerships are more than just the placement of a brand logo on a festival stage or tour marketing materials. Instead, it is discovering, creating, and executing innovative ways to authentically interact with the consumer by providing memorable experiences that bring into sharp focus the desired message of an artist or brand.

REACH has worked for an array of brands since its conception, including Toyota, Norwegian Cruise Line, SiriusXM, Farmers Insurance, Calgary Stampede, ConAgra Foods, Bravo TV, Kretschmar, and more.

A Delaware native, Lindsay loves to travel and explore new places with her daughter. Lindsay is a graduate of Belmont University with a degree in Music Business. Her quick wit and sense of humor stem from her love of great 80’s and 90’s sitcoms like Designing Women and Golden Girls. On the weekends, you’ll likely find Lindsay surrounded by friends hosting a fantastic dinner party at her home in Nashville.

In January 2022, Lindsay was selected as one of the 2022 Board of Directors for the Country Music Association (CMA) and the CMA Foundation. She values the CMA’s dedication to the country music community and looks forward to being a part of its growth.

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?

Like many others, I grew up being surrounded by music. From Elton John or The Moody Blues playing on the stereo at home to singing hymnals in my grandfather’s church, music has been a constant joy in my life since childhood. I knew early on that I wanted a career in the music industry, but my passion directed my path once I landed at Belmont University in Nashville. I took a concert promotion class and fell in love with the combination of the creativity of marketing a show and the logistics of executing and financially selling a show. I was hooked.

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

I produced and traveled with the 50th Anniversary Playboy Magazine Club Tour in 2004. This tour consisted of events in 50 cities to celebrate the anniversary of the magazine with Playboy playmates, a female DJ, Playboy memorabilia displays and a champagne burlesque performance. The term “interesting” doesn’t even scratch the surface of this experience.

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?

At age 22, I was asked to fax (yes, fax!) an offer to a booking agent for an artist to play a specific date. I mistakenly faxed the offer to the wrong agent in an entirely different, competitive agency. It caused quite a bit of hassle and turmoil for my boss at the time, and I was humiliated by my mistake. It taught me to slow down. It also taught me that I could get 150% done in a day, but if the extra 50% is sloppy and done wrong, I should have just focused on doing the 100% right.

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

My professor at Belmont who taught concert promotion and booking and then became my one and only boss in the music industry, Steve Moore. He gave me my first shot. I worked alongside him and learned from him for 13 years. When I wanted to start REACH, he invested in the company and me. I will be forever grateful because he believed in me and still does.

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?

Quite honestly, I believe it is the family/work balance. Running a company requires extremely long hours, and for women who are mothers and/or have a family, this can prove to be very difficult to balance. Although not all women have children or families to provide for, there are many out there who are held back to due the fear of failure. Not everyone is meant to be a founder, but it does help to have the right people around to uplift and support your decisions throughout the journey.

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?

Champion, support and mentor women. As an aspiring female founder/entrepreneur I encourage women to find a supportive community and to lean into that community to learn from others.

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?

More women should become founders because they have such valuable insight and knowledge to share with the world. Female founders approach business differently and certainly bring their own personal experiences to the table. Women have the power to interpret unspoken cues and body language. When the power of intuition is balanced with emotional intelligence, women have the ability to develop well-rounded employees.

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

Being a founder is far from an easy job. It requires dedication and the willingness to learn from mistakes. However, there are many misconceptions about the entrepreneurial world. People assume that founders are living a plush life, while making the biggest paycheck. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. Founders eat, sleep and breath their company.

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?

Many people want to start a business, but not everyone is cut out for it. The reality is, there is no single secret to being a successful founder. The best leaders are empathetic and authentic. Empathy allows them to hear others, and by doing so, they build strong relationships with their employees and clients. If you’re committed to always feeling secure in your career, entrepreneurship may not be for you. Risk-taking enables and encourages innovation.

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.)

Look at your gender as a benefit, not a hindrance. If you are the only woman in the room, use that as a way to help you stand out, not an excuse to try and fit in. Women have business tools that men don’t have and vice versa, and you should use those to your advantage.
Get used to sacrifice. You can’t always be the best co-worker, boss, mom, friend, spouse, etc. When you are killing it at work, you will feel like you are dropping the ball(s) in your family life and vice versa…you are not, but you will still feel like you are. Let it go.
Recognize your strengths and weaknesses. Find others who excel in the areas where you may be weak and add them to your team. Don’t apologize for your shortcomings, but don’t hide them either. Own who you are: the good and the bad.
Always have humility. No one wants to work with the smartest person in the room who isn’t afraid to tell you over and over again. Humility is a virtue that should be maintained. You can certainly pat yourself on the back for a job well done but make it quick.
Forgive yourself. You are going to make mistakes. Learn from those mistakes and move on.

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

Personally, and professionally, I have always made it a priority to support various non-profit organizations. Whether it is pro bono work for The Shalom Foundation or The Next Door, we will continue to utilize our tools as a company to benefit non-profits that we truly believe in.

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 want to lift, champion, challenge and applaud women. When I first started my career working in the music industry, it was a male-dominated field. I’ll never forget feeling like I had to prove myself as a young woman starting her career. I never want women in any industry to feel less than men.

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

I would love to have a private lunch with Sara Blakely, the Founder and CEO of SPANX. SPANX is an American undergarment maker focusing on shaping briefs and leggings, founded in Atlanta, Georgia. Spanx’s mission is to help women feel great about themselves and their potential. It mirrors Blakely’s calling to empower, elevate and support women. Her story is fascinating, and she maximizes it. Many ambitious women want to learn from her, including myself, and she’s a relatable yet iconic businesswoman. A mother of four, Blakely has been open about the self-doubt and mom guilt that came with becoming a working mother. As a mother and female founder myself, her authenticity resonates with me, and I believe it all comes back to prioritizing and not being too hard on yourself.

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

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

Wisdom From The Women Leading The Cannabis Industry, With Kema Ogden of Top Notch The Health Center

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Don’t forget about the cannabis patients. The cannabis industry has been most impactful when it remembers that we are actually helping people. Whether it’s medical or recreational cannabis, our industry helps everyone medicinally. We must remind ourselves that no matter how much success we have or hope to have, we are in business to treat patients through the legal use of cannabis.

As a part of my series about strong women leaders in the cannabis industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Kema Ogden.

Kema Ogden, a successful entrepreneur and industry leader in the cannabis, health care and nonprofit sectors, is Nevada’s first African American woman cannabis dispensary owner who co-owns Top Notch The Health Center in Las Vegas. She is a board member with Doctors for Cannabis Regulation, the first national organization of doctors to endorse legalization of adult-use cannabis, and currently serves on the Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board’s Cannabis Advisory Commission and its Subcommittee on Social Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. Kema is the executive director of Community Outreach Medical Center, a Las Vegas-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit, fully integrated care, community clinic that serves non-insured and underinsured patients and families throughout the Greater Las Vegas Valley. She is a Leadership Council Member with the National Small Business Association and sits on its Health and Human Resources Committee. A Las Vegas native and UNLV graduate, Kema is the founder of the Ogden Family Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization which provides health, wellness and education programs for the underserved population in Southern Nevada.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us the “backstory” about what brought you to the cannabis industry?

The cannabis industry was built on the backs of minorities and I understand just how important it is for me to lead by example. Being a Black woman in cannabis means that I have to be twice as knowledgeable and more prepared than my counterparts. I saw barriers that needed to be broken down, so I started doing just that in my hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada when I co-founded Global Harmony LLC, the parent company of Top Notch The Health Center (Top Notch THC), in 2014. Since then, I have helped guide our Las Vegas-based dispensary to receive adult-use medical and recreational dispensary licenses along with cultivation licenses. It is a business venture that has connected very well with the local community in a marketplace filled with giant competitors.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

There are many interesting things that I have learned since getting into the cannabis industry. One of the most interesting is regarding the licensing process which is very slow. Once applicants are selected to receive a license (multiple licenses in some instances), lawsuits from unchosen applicants often keep selected license awardees in a holding pattern. Just trying to get started is a challenge. License winners start incurring costs because the rent must be paid, construction must begin right away so that your dispensary is ready to open as soon as possible, state and local licensing fees are due, behind the scenes planning and activities get under way all while significant expenses start adding up before a customer ever steps foot in your dispensary. I recommend a lease-to-buy option for getting started because expenses that you don’t expect will hit you after the first year.

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?

Everything costs a lot of money. There’s nothing funny about it, early mistakes can cost you big time. We started out as a licensed medical dispensary, and when we expanded to also include recreational cannabis there was an unexpected processing delay. We didn’t get to open on July 1, 2017, when the other recreational dispensaries opened in Nevada. A lot of those dispensaries that opened for business at the same time ran out of inventory. Once we were finally able to open up for recreational sales after everyone else, we still had inventory and Las Vegas area recreational cannabis customers came to our dispensary, Top Notch The Health Center (Top Notch THC), to shop. That delay wasn’t funny at the time when it happened, but it ended up being a positive for us because we had such a large influx of adults age 21+ visiting our store and making purchases while most of the other dispensaries had empty shelves.

Do you have a funny story about how someone you knew reacted when they first heard you were getting into the cannabis industry?

Yes, I certainly do. My dad is a former drug and alcohol abuse counselor and in the past, they were taught that cannabis was a gateway drug, which we know is incorrect. When I decided that the cannabis industry is where I wanted to be, I was originally scared to tell him due to the old teachings and stigmas he still may have believed. It wasn’t something that I looked forward to and I was afraid to have that conversation with him. My dad told me “I think it’s great” and he fully supported my decision. Little did I know, he was also educating himself and his stigma associated with cannabis had changed. It was a total relief and now we have a lot of passionate conversations about how cannabis helps people.

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?

Meeting my cannabis business partners has been such an amazing part of achieving success in this ever-expanding industry. I was a successful business owner in the health and fitness world as a former gym owner in Las Vegas. My two business partners had prior experience in cannabis, including the California market, so they were very knowledgeable about cannabis. I combined my business acumen with their cannabis expertise and it helped us all succeed quicker and faster than we ever could have expected. It’s been incredible to be a part of this small group of original owners.

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

Cannabis lounges are a big focus for the industry here in Nevada this year. The lounges are an entry way for social inclusion. There are so many barriers to entry, but when it comes to cannabis lounges in the Silver State, that barrier to entry is lower. I was very honored to be appointed to the Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board as a Cannabis Commission Advisory Committee member and assigned to the Subcommittee on Social Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. Our committee was responsible for making recommendations to the board and helping structure social equity and inclusion for lounge applicants. I am very proud to work on this with such amazing community activists on the committee.

Ok. Thank you for all that. Let’s now jump to the main core of our interview. Despite great progress that has been made we still have a lot more work to do to achieve gender parity in this industry. According to this report in Entrepreneur, less than 25 percent of cannabis businesses are run by women. In your opinion or experience, what 3 things can be done by a)individuals b)companies and/or c) society to support greater gender parity moving forward?

Gender parity is a serious concern. Instead of becoming more balanced, it seems like the gender imbalance is growing and that simply must improve. As individuals, we all need to hold our legislative officials accountable for their responsibility to make necessary change. We need to make sure that our tax dollars are being used to fight for programs that improve the cannabis industry and our lives as taxpayers and constituents. Tax dollars that are being collected from cannabis can and should be designated by our elected officials to help fund opportunities for more groups with diverse backgrounds to have a seat at the table. It is time that our government representatives use their elected roles to put their campaign words into action.

You are a “Cannabis Insider”. If you had to advise someone about 5 non intuitive things one should know to succeed in the cannabis industry, what would you say? Can you please give a story or an example for each.

The team that you surround yourself with matters a lot. Surround yourself with people to achieve your desired goals. Your business partners really need to believe in what you believe.
Everything costs more money in the cannabis industry than anything that you have ever been involved with. Whatever you think it will cost you to get into cannabis, you need to know that it will be five times more expensive to actually break into the industry.
Have patience and keep a steady pace. Don’t go too fast and let your cannabis business grow naturally. Be patient.
Stay grounded and connected to the community. Make sure that you understand the needs and wants of the community because you are there to serve them.
Don’t forget about the cannabis patients. The cannabis industry has been most impactful when it remembers that we are actually helping people. Whether it’s medical or recreational cannabis, our industry helps everyone medicinally. We must remind ourselves that no matter how much success we have or hope to have, we are in business to treat patients through the legal use of cannabis.

Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the cannabis industry?

1. Social Inclusion

2. Advocacy

3. Diversity

Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest?

The same three things that most excite me about the cannabis industry also most concern me. Our industry needs legislative support for bills like the MORE Act and SAFE Banking for sure. But we need more of these things to include a structure that supports social inclusion, advocates for improvements to the cannabis industry, and actively promotes participation from communities of color which have been marginalized by failed cannabis prohibition efforts in America. If we actually make significant and measurable progress on these things, then we can move forward as a well-rounded industry that truly understands the unpleasantness of its past, the unfairness of its present, and the potential equality of its future which reflects a cannabis dream that many people have envisioned.

What are your thoughts about federal legalization of cannabis? If you could speak to your Senator, what would be your most persuasive argument regarding why they should or should not pursue federal legalization?

Cannabis should absolutely be federally legalized. The tax money that would be raised through federal legalization can right many wrongs, provide education and support for the community, and create programs for women and minorities that can encourage entrepreneurship in cannabis.

Today, cigarettes are legal, but they are heavily regulated, highly taxed, and they are somewhat socially marginalized. Would you like cannabis to have a similar status to cigarettes or different? Can you explain?

Cannabis is similar to cigarettes but cannabis is more regulated. Unlike cigarettes, cannabis is healthy and so the benefits of using cannabis should be actively promoted to the general public. There should be no marginalizing cannabis consumers or the positive impact that cannabis can have in our country.

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

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” — Martin Luther King, Jr. People really should care about other people in our cannabis industry. This certainly applies to women and minorities. The cannabis industry as we know it today was built on the backs of communities of color — Black and Brown people. If even one person is still sitting in jail for cannabis-related offenses while others are getting rich doing that exact same thing today, then the system is unjust. Until cannabis prohibition ends, cannabis-related offenses are expunged and marijuana-incarcerated people in this country are freed, then there remains a threat to justice everywhere.

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

“When they succeed you succeed” — sharing that message is how I hope to inspire others. It is why I am active as a board member with Doctors for Cannabis Regulation (DFCR), the country’s first national organization of doctors to endorse legalization of adult-use cannabis. It is also why I am on the Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board’s Cannabis Advisory Commission and its Subcommittee on Social Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. I promote and encourage other women and minorities to participate in the cannabis industry. Inclusion is vitally important to the future of cannabis. It matters with business in general, but it really matters in cannabis that women and minorities are included.

Thank you so much for the time you spent with this. We wish you only continued success! Thank you!

Wisdom From The Women Leading The Cannabis Industry, With Kema Ogden of Top Notch The Health Center was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Founders: Author Deborah Cole On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman…

Female Founders: Author Deborah Cole On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Women have a unique ability to collaborate within a company. It has been shown that woman leaders and women owned companies foster greater employee engagement, are the best at identifying potential and supporting that and are keen at creating diverse, well rounded teams which thrive and exceed competitors owned by or only led by males.

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

Deborah Cole is a visual storyteller, writer and consultant based in Austin, Texas. After 35 years leading teams and managing large projects, the former business owner and leader enthusiastically shares her documentary style photography and stories with others. She has authored 2 books and shown her work in galleries in Texas and New York City.

After finishing a Master of Science degree in landscape horticulture and learning that my dream job would never be available to me until a current employee of the City retired (in decades), I decided to take the easy path and teach school. When my eyes were opened to the fact that administration and I had differing views on education, I eagerly jumped at the chance to start a business with a friend who had the vision, had the education and had the confidence to nudge me toward entrepreneurship. Although our original idea to purchase an ongoing retail establishment did not become a reality (thank goodness!) we forged ahead with our dream of opening a design and construction firm on our own. We never stopped to think that we were dipping our toes into what had been historically a man’s world. We knew we had the education and the enthusiasm to launch this business. In the first two years, we grew beyond our expectations. Grew, in fact, to the point that my original business partner was overwhelmed. I bought her share in the company and took a deep breath. What I didn’t know, I would learn and what I knew I would capitalize on.

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

I knew that I had all of the technical knowledge to create and advise clients on landscape design and construction. I also knew that I had very little actual business smarts when it came to running a business. I was somewhat intuitive when it came to interacting with vendors and clients and never felt unprepared. But there were definite parts of the business where I was lacking. I began to sign up for every class, course or workshop I could find to fast-track my learning. I was the only woman in the skid steer loader (heavy equipment) class. I was the sole business owner in a lawn mower repair class. I took a night class in business accounting while at the same time I was enrolled in a personal computer use course. I only thought that my education would end with a Master’s thesis and diploma. I was constantly learning. I sought out experts in every field and soaked in as much knowledge as possible. I made a lot of mistakes and learned from them all.

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?

At each mistake, nothing appeared funny. It is only in retrospect that I can laugh. The mistakes happened daily; however, I consider those to be a valuable part of my on-the-job training. Although we were a landscape design and construction company, I almost never said “no” to any request. I always believed that I would say “yes”, take a breath and then go figure out how to make the project happen. After a couple of years in the business, I decided to dabble a bit in maintenance of landscapes. After doing some very small scale residential and commercial maintenance projects which consisted of weekly care of small gardens, I was approached by a large national hotel with extensive grounds. Having no maintenance equipment, I drove to a local equipment store and bought 1 gas-powered push mower (what was appropriate for a home lawn), one backpack blower and one string edger. I had no knowledge of how to prepare a proposal for these services and am sure that I undercharged them by quite a bit. After their acceptance of my proposal, I sent our two unsuspecting employees to the site to perform lawn and garden care with the ridiculous small amount of equipment. Those poor employees. They worked hard all day with the inappropriate equipment only to complete ½ of the job. We labored in this manner over the course of one year and then let go of the contract although the hotel client was pleased. I remember saying to myself “what was I thinking?” Years later, we picked up the same contract again this time with a full staff of employees, appropriate commercial equipment and STILL with the determination to get the job done.

I learned that enthusiasm is important when tackling a new task, but there is a lot to be said for doing the research and learning about requirements before saying “yes.”

One of my favorite occasional mentors was actually a real estate developer client who was very kind and supportive of me as my company grew. He continued to support us with new contracts for work as well as advice. As I came to know him (his name is Dan Herd) he would provide business advice, strategic planning advice and even real estate advice. He was never too busy and always treated me as an equal in business. A time came when we wanted to expand into a second location. He helped find a piece of land for us and even helped put together a partnership to purchase the 6 acres of land. Although I am no longer an owner of the landscape business, we still are a part of the same partnership/ownership in the 6 acres of land. His kindness and his support went far beyond what might have been expected.

Founding a company is extremely time consuming, exhausting and resources which are often not available to women. It is true that most women must rely on support in terms of time, money and energies when it comes to founding or growing a business. Women are still the primary caregiver in the family unit. A business requires almost a 24/7 commitment and this isn’t always easy for women. Also, those who fund companies are often primarily men and it is a fact that men fund male companies. Historically, women have not been considered as founders or leaders in business. Things are changing, but slowly.

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?

Women have begun to band together as groups, organizations to target women founders to help. Women helping women is a substantial start to overcoming obstacles. As individuals, women can participate in these groups to fund and support new startups. And as a society, we can also identify woman owned businesses to support through our purchasing power. Women helping women.

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

Women have a unique ability to collaborate within a company. It has been shown that woman leaders and women owned companies foster greater employee engagement, are the best at identifying potential and supporting that and are keen at creating diverse, well rounded teams which thrive and exceed competitors owned by or only led by males.

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

One myth is that women do not have the fortitude to “stick with the task.” Also I’ve heard that women are too emotional to make the hard decisions that need to be made. I was once asked if I could keep up with the leadership of my organization because I was pregnant. A male who is expecting a child would never be asked this. And the myth that women are too emotional is not true. Women do often bring a kinder perspective to the decision making table. And after all, what is wrong with emotions??

I do not believe that everyone is cut out to be a founder, just as not everyone is cut out to be an employee with a “regular job.” Founders tend to have focus, determination, a sense of fair play, are highly ethical and curious/creative. We all have our unique talents and the road of a founder is not an easy one. A sense of competitiveness and adventure are certainly important as well.

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.)

Founding a business is the hardest, yet most rewarding path to take. It is not for the faint of heart.
One must be willing to sacrifice one’s own desires for the good of the whole (the company and its employees).
It is important to be able to show emotion when the time is appropriate. It is not necessary to never show concern or worry. Being “in the trenches’’ together means a lot to those who are working along side.
Paying attention to every financial detail is critical. Although there are those we hire to manage the finances, the founder must always stay closely involved.
Take time to recharge. There is nothing noble about working oneself beyond exhaustion. Self care is company care.

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

I believe so. My ultimate exit strategy was to turn the company over to the employees. By developing an ESOP I was able to achieve financial rewards plus provide ownership of the company to the people who had worked so hard to build it. Many individuals have also gained personal rewards that would have been otherwise not attainable.

I believe in a world where potential and support of that is a multiplier for success, not a divider of resources. I believe in the ultimate good of all and am a firm supporter of those who want a chance to succeed. Currently, I am a writer and speaker focusing on the potential of women in the workplace and in leadership.

Yes, Sarah Blakely, founder of Spanx. I would love to learn how she continues to empower people (especially women) after the sale of a portion of her company. I’d love to know what her second act would be. I’m also a huge fan of Abby Wambach and would love to learn more about how teamwork is a critical key for success.

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

Female Founders: Author Deborah Cole On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Founders: Jillian Bardo of Bay 2 Swimwear On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed…

Female Founders: Jillian Bardo of Bay 2 Swimwear On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Take everything one step at a time: It’s important to have a vision, but also remember nothing occurs overnight. Taking small steps and continuing to move forward ultimately leads to your vision. There are a lot of moving parts in motion, and I have found that perfecting to small steps is paramount to achieving success.

As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jillian Bardo, Founder of Bay 2 Swimwear.

An experienced ocean lifeguard and lifelong beach lover, founder Jillian has always been in search of her ideal swimsuit — one that looked and felt high-end, stayed put in the waves, and didn’t cause a maze of tan lines. Her search eventually led her to create Bay 2 Swimwear, a unique swimwear line inspired by her experiences living and working on the beaches of New York City.

I grew up in Brooklyn, NY but my parents had me in the ocean for as long as I can remember. We grew up going to Riis Park and Rockaway during the summer and traveling. My dad owns his own scuba business, so all of our family vacations were usually in desirable dive spots (Cozumel, Turks and Caicos, Palau, Curacao, Bonaire, St. Lucia to name a few). When I was in high school, I got a summer job lifeguarding at Riis Park, and to me there was nothing better than being able to spend your workday on the beach. My job as a lifeguard allowed me to spend most of my time by the ocean and made me think that I wouldn’t mind working at Bay 2 forever, so I guess in some way this is how I am trying to make that happen. My love of the ocean and the beach demanded a top-notch swimwear wardrobe, and I was always very particular about the suits I wore. I would spend a great deal of money and time on swimwear, and little things like cheap lining, awkward padding and unflattering cuts would drive me crazy. In recent years, trends have pushed the swimwear industry in different directions, and I started to feel there were a lack of choices that I felt comfortable and confident in. I decided to create what I loved and what I felt was missing in the market in Bay 2 Swimwear.

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

Since this is a completely new venture for me, it’s hard to pinpoint one specific story or event that stands out as interesting since every experience has been completely unique to me. One of my favorite moments was a few months before our debut Resort 2022 Collection launched, I used my bachelorette party as an opportunity to gift all of my closest friends with a Bay 2 Swimwear suit. We were all in Isle of Palms for the weekend and seeing the suits on my best friends on the beach was one of the best moments and the first time it really hit me that this was happening.

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?

Well, after I decided to start this company, I really had no idea what the next steps were to start a clothing brand and get from Point A to Point B. I had been in marketing for ten years and my college degree is in English, so the fashion industry was completely new territory to me. I immediately ordered some fabric and a sewing machine and called my mom asking her to teach me how to sew. In my mind, I would sew all the suits myself with the chosen fabric. Luckily, I did a lot of research and asked the right people a lot of questions, and eventually I learned the process of designing garments (hint: you are not required to make the garments you design). My naivete in the beginning of the process was something that could have been considered a huge flaw, but I really feel like it allowed me to learn so much. Never be afraid to ask questions and don’t let the fear of rejection prevent you from pursuing a dream.

As I said, although I had a strong idea of the suits I wanted to design and the brand I wanted to build, I really had no idea how to make that happen in the very beginning. I did a lot of research and made appointments with people I thought could help. A lot of the leads I followed in the beginning were not the exact ones that I needed, but almost all of them ended up pointing me in the direction of where I needed to go. I had made an appointment at The New York Embroidery Studio with Michelle Feinberg in the early stages of the process, and I arrived filled with questions for her. Not only did she happily sit down with me and answer everything I asked, she also referred me to a pattern maker in New York City that specializes in swimwear. As I was leaving, I thanked her and her response was “Us girls need to stick together, it’s hard when starting out and trying something on your own”. I will never forget that, it provided me with some confidence at a time that I was really doubting my ability to make Bay 2 happen.

From my personal experience, I never felt that starting my own company was an option for me early in my career. It seemed like such a lofty goal that required money I just did not have available coming out of college. There was so much I did not know about how to start your own company, and the answers were not easy to find. There are now some small business loans specifically available for female business founders, but I still think that is not a known option to a lot of women. When I started Bay 2 Swimwear, I was in a position where I could invest my own money and time into founding a company, but it took me ten years to get to that place. There is a lot of pressure early on in your career, especially for women, that can become overwhelming. Entry level jobs are usually time consuming yet relatively low paying, rent is expensive, and most women do not have the option to get out of this cycle.

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?

I think it would be really helpful to make programs aimed to help women entrepreneurs more accessible, even if it is just by increasing awareness.

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?

Some of the most successful startups in recent years have come from women founders and their ability to pinpoint gaps in the market. A great example is some of the recent developments in the beauty industry. Years ago, you had all these products that were essentially the same, developed by men and large pharmaceutical companies. But women founders of brands such as Drunk Elephant, Huda Beauty and Fenty Beauty were all able to identify what women were not getting from their longtime cosmetic choices, whether it be clean beauty, the appropriate foundation shade, or products that address different areas all together. Women listen to women and know how come up with the appropriate answers, especially since in a lot of cases they are able to tap into their own personal experiences as well.

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

There was always an idea in my mind that I would need outside capital to start my own company. While this is true in some cases, and is even necessary for some companies, it does not apply to all. There are a lot of ways to be creative and in taking small steps, especially in the beginning, you can start to see early on how effective budgeting and planning goes a long way in investing in your own company.

I would imagine it’s not a matter of whether everyone is cut out to be a founder, but whether everyone wants to be a founder. Traditional jobs provide security, consistency and community, and those qualities may fit some people’s lives more comfortably than the risks and responsibilities that come with being a founder. I think everyone is capable of being a founder to some degree, but that is all relative to what your expectations are and the work your comfortable committing to.

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.)

Everything is fixable: Mistakes happen and although they can be upsetting or stressful, there is always a recovery option. The day Bay 2 launched I logged into our website domain to double check everything and accidentally pressed a button that deleted the whole site. I, of course, had a panic attack and thought our launch was completely ruined, but luckily Shopify never deletes anything! After some tech support from our website designer, everything was restored. Stress tends to be more damaging than the actual mistake.
Always maintain some flexibility: Even for the best planners and the most organized people, there are always some factors that just cannot be controlled. I planned my first campaign shoot in Montauk for the end of August 2021, and everything was organized to a tee. However, the date that was planned turned out to be a complete rainout and everything had to be rescheduled. I was so disappointed because there was so much work put into that shoot, but in reality, we were able to reschedule everything and we got our campaign shoot done on a beautiful, September day in Montauk.
Tap into talent you trust: When it comes to building a brand, don’t be afraid to reach out to people you trust and admire for help, advice, or even potential collaboration. My friend Claire Peterson designed our logo, and it was a great process since we already had an established history and we both knew each other’s style preferences etc.
Recognize your weaknesses: Your strengths are obviously to be celebrated, but don’t be ashamed to admit and acknowledge weaknesses. I am terrible at budgeting, and that’s a necessary part of running a successful company. I enlisted my husband to organize our budget, and it has definitely gotten us a lot further than my budgeting skills would have.
Take everything one step at a time: It’s important to have a vision, but also remember nothing occurs overnight. Taking small steps and continuing to move forward ultimately leads to your vision. There are a lot of moving parts in motion, and I have found that perfecting to small steps is paramount to achieving success.

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

I hope being a female founder further inspires girls and women to pursue their passion and find ways to incorporate doing what they love into their careers. I think women (and people) are always the most successful when their work is also what they genuinely enjoy. I also hope that as Bay 2 Swimwear grows, we are able to do as much as possible to help aid the environment and contribute to a sustainable future.

I always talk with my mom about how society and the demands of daily life often end up suppressing individual creativity and talent. There is so much raw talent in this country, but not everyone is given the same opportunities. I’d love to inspire a movement that allows all people the platform to have their talents seen and heard effectively despite any of the typical societal deterrents (money, gender, race, education, etc.).

Yes, I would love to sit down with Jimmy Buffett. My parents raised me on his music, which reflected my own love of the ocean, adventure, and traveling. I have always admired that he seemed to be doing something he loved very successfully while following his own path and maintaining control and individuality.

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

Female Founders: Jillian Bardo of Bay 2 Swimwear 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.

Female Disruptors: Gabriella Scaringe of Cherri On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your…

Female Disruptors: Gabriella Scaringe of Cherri On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

“You can’t please everyone.” Oh boy, is this true. While it’s important to absolutely listen to your customers’ feedback, you still can’t please everyone in the process and it’s best to focus on what the majority of your customers are saying. For example, selling so many different styles was more costly for me to produce. I needed to narrow down my product offering to offer more of my best sellers and in the process I had to cut out some styles. Some people were bummed about some styles not being offered anymore, but focusing solely on my best sellers helped me increase my profit margin so I could re-launch those styles later.

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

Gabriella Scaringe is a New York based lingerie designer, TikTok influencer and founder of her vulva-positive underwear brand, Cherri. With over 410k followers on her TikTok account @gabygabss, she uses her platform to promote Cherri and pioneer the vulva-positivity movement as a subsection of the body-positivity movement.

I went to a performing arts high school in California where creativity was always valued. I furthered my creative education and business education when I moved to New York City to attend the Fashion Institute of Technology. I wasn’t satisfied with how people were designing underwear and knew I had to be a changemaker. I always loved fashion and knew I wanted to have a fashion based company, but lamented the fashion industry as a whole. I didn’t identify with the industry and didn’t want to adhere to common bad fashion industry practices. It is important to me to maintain my core beliefs in my business. Growing up, I always had a soft spot for the underdog, and this strong sense of empathy encouraged me to run my business with integrity.

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

I did a survey of over 5000 women and I discovered that the average width of a woman’s underwear gusset is about 1.8 inches but the average width of a woman’s downstairs anatomy is about 2 1/2 inches. That’s about a full inch too short to cover the average person’s meow meow. Cherri makes underwear that actually fits your bits. There is a complete white space around Cherri. I am a leader for my industry and a pioneer for the vulva-positivity movement. I am one of the first influencers to discuss this message and bring body positivity to your nether regions. In 2022 it is shameful that a product women wear every day is still not fitting our bodies correctly. Cherri changes that. 97% felt that the underwear gussets were just too small. Women make up 50% of the population and 97% still feel that the underwear on the market doesn’t suit their needs. This market opportunity has stayed hidden because society has forced women to internalize this insecurity. Cherri offers a friendly face-to-face approach to the intersection of women’s wellness and fashion by making the uncomfortable comfortable again.

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?

Make sure you have all your meetings planned in writing. One of the funniest mistakes I made was making a lot of agreements verbally. I’d say, “Great, let’s meet tomorrow at 2:00 to review the rest of the patterns and grading” and then I’d show up and no one would be there. I’d laugh at myself every time. Google Calendar has now become my best friend — no one can make the excuse that they didn’t know anymore!

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?

One of my best mentors is actually my ex-boyfriend. His career is based in helping startups, so he always provided me with lots of assistance early on. Even today he is my go-to person for any Cherri related questions. It is incredibly helpful to have a mentor that you can freely bounce your ideas off of. A lot of being an entrepreneur is not knowing. There is total ambiguity sometimes. Being able to sit in the space of the unknown and not feel judged for not knowing it all gave me a lot of confidence to take risks with my business. One time, I was quite disappointed because I wasn’t meeting my sales goal one month. He encouraged me to push a flash sale, pivot my content strategy slightly, and the next day I met my monthly goal. Easy peasy. And all I needed to do was talk to my mentor about how I was feeling.

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?

Disruption can be an incredible opportunity or it can completely kill your business. The first thing that comes to mind is the decline of print as digital publications rose in popularity. To think that Playboy, an iconic brand, doesn’t have Playmates anymore is devastating! Now, the majority of their revenue comes from merchandise. I hope as I disrupt the lingerie industry, customers will stand up for themselves and demand that their clothing fits as it should. I hope this will create a new demand for better quality garments and improvement for how we treat ourselves and talk about uncomfortable subjects in the public space.

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

1.) “You can’t please everyone.” Oh boy, is this true. While it’s important to absolutely listen to your customers’ feedback, you still can’t please everyone in the process and it’s best to focus on what the majority of your customers are saying. For example, selling so many different styles was more costly for me to produce. I needed to narrow down my product offering to offer more of my best sellers and in the process I had to cut out some styles. Some people were bummed about some styles not being offered anymore, but focusing solely on my best sellers helped me increase my profit margin so I could re-launch those styles later.

2.) “People relate to authenticity”. I started making TikToks just about my regular life in addition to the ones promoting my brand. My engagement increased when people saw me as a person with a small business and not just someone trying to force a product down their throat.

3.) “You can’t do everything yourself.” Trust me, I tried. But then it got to the point where I was expanding quickly, and couldn’t function as a fulfillment center, social media manager, content creator, accountant, customer service operator, and designer all in one. Getting help from other people, no matter what stage of your business you’re in, isn’t a sign of failure or lack of ability to do those things. When strategically planned, getting outside help really helps your business grow!

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

I plan on launching swimwear this summer ’22 along with a bodysuit to continue to shake things up and set a precedent for how clothing should fit down there.

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

Often, one of the biggest challenges ‘women disruptors’ face is just being heard. For so long, society has put women down for being too emotional or overreacting. How do we convince people that our problems are real problems that need to be heard? And that we actually have valid solutions to solve these problems? This is why the female founder space is so helpful, open, and uplifting for other female entrepreneurs.

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. 🙂

The movement I would like to inspire would be the one I’m currently pioneering — the vulva-positivity movement. After getting some exposure and traction from my viral videos on my TikTok account, @gabygabss, Cherri touched the lives of many. Countless individuals have taken the time to reach out to share that before discovering my product, they thought they were abnormal because they couldn’t fit into anything. Some people were previously considering a medical procedure that cuts off bits of your anatomy called a labiaplasty, but told me they canceled their labiaplasty appointments after discovering Cherri. Cherri is helping people choose self acceptance over body alteration and that feels very powerful to me. No more lip slips, and no more lip snips!

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

My parents used to tell me that someone will always be better than you. It sounds pretty harsh at first glance, but what they really mean is that you shouldn’t strive for perfection. You cannot always be the best. That’s just the reality. What you can be is the best version of yourself! Comparing myself to other people is the worst thing that I can do for personal and professional growth. As I’ve distanced myself from setting other people’s goals for myself, my career has flourished.

How can our readers follow you online?

Follow me on TikTok @gabygabss and Instagram @shopcherri and shop my brand at shopcherri.com!

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

Female Disruptors: Gabriella Scaringe of Cherri 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.

Women In Wellness: Author Liana Werner-Gray On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support…

Women In Wellness: Author Liana Werner-Gray On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

… I would start a movement with food companies have to label their product if it is anxiogenic and or carcinogenic. I believe it’s only fair to list an ingredient as carcinogenic and neurotoxic if it has been proven so by science. People are eating foods every day that are stripping them of energy and taking away their health and they don’t even realize. The food industry should be more transparent, and it will force many companies to have to do the right thing and then change some of their ingredients and values.

As a part of my series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Liana Werner-Gray.

Liana Werner-Gray is a Best Selling author of four books, one is the Top 100 Cancer books of all time: Cancer-Free with Food foreword by Mark Hyman, MD. The Earth Diet was her original work followed by Anxiety-Free with Food. She is a Certified Nutritionist and a Natural Food Chef.

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?

In 2009, I had a major wakeup call. Although I was only 21, I ended up in the hospital with a golf ball-sized lump sticking out of the right side of my neck. Looking for appropriate guidance, I saw three doctors in all. After doing a biopsy of this solid mass, I was told I had early stages of cancer and both doctors offered me conventional medical treatment, beginning with surgery.

I was not disheartened, as something in my background gave me confidence that I could heal the tumor on my own. I had grown up in Alice Springs, Australia, an area that’s home to a large community of Aboriginals who eat in a manner that’s unlike the modern American diet: with more plants, less meat, and very little processed food. Largely because of what they eat, these indigenous people enjoy excellent health. They taught me that food is medicine. Knowing it was possible for food to be used as medicine, even as the medical doctors were giving me conflicting opinions, my mind was on the lookout for an alternative approach. Following the third doctor visit, I made a bold decision about my course of action. None of the doctors’ proposed treatments for the lump in my neck sounded appealing. In fact, to me they sounded like torture. I had already put my body through five years of agony by engaging in a self-destructive cycle of binge eating toxic junk food followed by starvation. I had no doubt that my sickness was related to my disordered eating, which had spiraled out of control when I left home. So, I decided to opt out of conventional treatments — at least for several months. Instead I would heal myself using all-natural methods because that was what intuitively felt right for me to do. I met with a naturopath and she also had confidence that I could heal the lump by detoxifying my body. And that is just what I did. I learned how to turn my kitchen into a pharmacy. This strategy was my choice because I wanted to address the deeper causes of my tumor, not just react to the surface-level symptoms. This is something I learned from growing up in Outback Australia at an Indigenous school. The aboriginal people taught me things from age five that I helped form my belief system and knowledge in healing and nutrition. Their philosophy was always that the healthiest way for us to eat is to get food straight from nature, from the ground, water, trees and bushes. I saw the illness as an opportunity to heal myself and become healthy on every level — mind, body, and spirit — in a way I had forgotten or lost.

Instead of conventional treatment, I:

Changed my diet and consumed a lot of nutrients.
Juiced up to six times a day.
Bathed in bentonite clay and used it as a poultice to draw out toxins — also drank it.
Had sessions of alternative therapies, like reflexology and massage.
Received a colonic or a coffee enema every day for two months.
Rested, relaxed, and did everything I could to reduce stress.

The lump started to get smaller and smaller, and within three months of commencing this regimen, it had completely disappeared from my neck. It entirely dissolved. I have been cancer free for thirteen years. One of the things I did to create accountability for my new lifestyle was to start a daily blog. At the end of a year, I collected recipes from the blog and published them in a book, The Earth Diet. This opened doors for me with thought leaders — doctors, nutritionists, healers, natural food purveyors, restauranteurs, and authors — who welcomed me as a fellow traveler and were generous in sharing their expertise. I’ve interviewed these cutting-edge thinkers. I’ve done research. I wrote three more recipe books, 10-Minute Recipes, Anxiety-Free and Cancer-Free with Food (Foreword by Mark Hyman MD) all of which are Best Sellers the Top 100 Cancer Books of all time! The best of what I learned and know as it pertains to cellular health, disease prevention, healing, and supporting the body to cope with the side effects of cancer treatment.

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?

My blog going viral and finding out Prince William and Kate Middleton were following my work. When I first started my blog The Earth Diet, I did it to hold me accountable to sticking to my new found lifestyle of only eating foods from nature for 365 days. I did it so I could break the vicious cycle of food addiction that I was in. And I soon had hundreds of other young women writing to me saying they were doing the same binge eating behaviors. We helped each other by taking openly about it, and our solution was eating natural foods to replace cravings instead of processed foods. It was changing our lives! I started my blog in 2009 when blogs were really just beginning, it was an exciting time, and then it ended up going viral through word of mouth, I found that so interesting because I spent nothing on marketing nor had any idea how to turn it into a career. It was my blog readers who suggested I turn the content into a book, which I did by self-publishing. And then I found out Prince William and Kate Middleton bought my book. A year later I signed with a publisher and it was a dream come true. The takeaways I got with this story is to follow your highest passion, because that energy will take you to where you need to go with your career. It just flowed for me and felt very natural, I really felt like it was my purpose and I learned that every single person has a unique gift to share with the world and that we should all offer it through our work.

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 was trusting people too easily and quickly. I spent 9k on a photoshoot for my recipes for my first self-published book, looking back now I realized I could have gotten a similar result for 2k. I spent 12k on a website that was horrible, it was slow to function and I lost a lot of subscribers in the meantime. I since have rebuilt it for less than 1k with myself and my employee. There were a lot of people along the way who I gave money or time too that said they wanted to help me but turns out they had other intentions. I’ve learned now to get to know people first, and do thorough research before making a decision of commitment. People have also told me how I should do things, or not do things, and now I will take it and meditate on it to see if it is right for me.

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 have been helping people get back to nature and heal. Nature provides us everything we need to restore health! It is truly remarkable. As a certified nutritionist my clients (and readers) include people who have healed thyroid disorders, hormonal issues, cancer, acne, digestive system issues, anxiety, fatigue and more. There is a natural remedy for everything! And I help people find this with foods they can eat, natural products and particular recipes.

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.

CHLOROPHYLL WATER RIGHT AFTER RISING EVERYDAY

I start every day with chlorophyll water, everyday since 2009 when I started The Earth Diet and made a commitment to myself that I would treat and nourish myself to this life changing compound every-single-day. I’ve accidentally only missed 4 days in the last thirteen years. Chlorophyll is a compound found in dark leafy greens like kale, spinach, collard greens, dandelion greens, turnip greens, broccoli, broccoli sprouts, blue-green algae. It’s as easy as adding a few drops into clean filtered water. It is also affordable and cost as little as 20 cents per day. I’ve witnessed chlorophyll transform my own like and there are many other reasons why I believe chlorophyll is the #1 most powerful and transformative health hack known to human kind including that it is: instant energy! Chlorophyll increases flow of oxygen throughout the body which helps our bodies to build oxygen-carrying blood cells. The first thing we put into our body each day is the most important, why? Because the cells are hungry and ready to intake some form of energy to get the day started. Chlorophyll gives a nice boost of energy to start the day. It can also give you energy before a workout, yoga, or hiking. It also helps with chronic fatigue. Chlorophyll also creates healthy blood and is a subtle daily detox as it cleanses the body of toxins, especially the intestines. For people who don’t eat enough dark leafy greens, this is a quick way to get your daily dark leafy greens in. “90% of Americans do not meet that goal” of eating the recommended serving of 2–3 cups of vegetables per day according to Connie Diekman, a St. Louis-based registered dietitian and former president of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Chlorophyll is an extract from dark leafy greens. I talk to my clients about chlorophyll for hours until they become so aware of all the health benefits that they are onboard with trying it themselves. Of course eat dark leafy greens as well, and drink green juice, but this hack of liquid chlorophyll drops in water just makes it so much easier for people. Lastly chlorophyll is also know to assist with disease prevention, helps to reduce inflammation, can enhance oxidative stress tolerance, helps with anxiety and depression as it calms the nervous system and boosts the mood, stimulates the immune system, helps with weight loss, protects the cells of you eat foods with refined sugars and carbs, preservations or other toxins, creates new cellular memory which helps prevent sugar cravings and it is refreshing and incredibly hydrating.

2. SET YOUR MINDSET ON A HEALTHY FOUNDATIONAL DIET AND FOCUS ON WHOLE FOODS STRAIGHT FROM NATURE, LIVE AS NATURAL A LIFESTYLE AS POSSIBLE

Make a commitment to eat and drink foods that come straight from nature, that is not nontoxic foods and beverages and then observe how eating different foods makes you feel, not just at the moment, but the next hour and the next day. Be sure to buy as much organic and non-GMO ingredients vs packaged food. It is important. Fewer pesticides equal less damage done to our DNA and nervous system. The body cannot process pesticides and herbicides well; we take them in, and the body reacts to them as poisons, which often leads to oxidative stress and inflammation. In my books I list the most carcinogenic and neurotoxic foods in my books which are refined white sugar, trans fats, GMO’s, foods contaminated with glyphosate, preservatives, additives and colorings. Foods on this list are poisons that have been proven to wreak havoc on the body, causing everything from gut imbalance to nervous system damage and inflammation. These foods add stress to the body, and it’s time we let them go. When our foundational diet looks that similar of our paleo ancestors, we would eat vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, herbs and spices, and for the meat eaters, wild animals and fish. I also incorporate organic chicken and pasture raised eggs.

3. USE THE UPGRADE SYSTEM FOR CRAVINGS

Food upgrading or swapping is the concept that literally saved my life. I have lived it ever since; it stopped all of my cravings and impulses to eat unhealthy foods, and I am still indulging in the most delicious foods like fried chicken and fries, just in a completely brand-new way.

One approach some may try when a food craving hits is relying on willpower just say no to every craving and impulse. In my experience working with clients and patients over the past decade, this deprivation approach isn’t very realistic, especially for those who struggle with addiction and anxiety. They aren’t able to say no all day — especially for the rest of their lives. I always ask my clients, “Do you think you will never eat a cookie again? Or some cake?” It’s just not realistic! People always fail at giving up bad foods with this approach. I did too. I would say to myself, “On Monday, I will start again, and I will never eat junk foods ever from then on.” Then, Monday would come, and I would have a strong craving for gummy bears. I’d try to ignore it until the urge became so strong that I would give in and binge them. Deprivation backfires in a similar way for most people. God was leading me to something healthy and balanced that I could do for the rest of my life. Food upgrading is it! After seeing thousands of people adopt this strategy over the past 10 years, I promise you that it can lead to the transformation of your body, mind, and spirit. Do not underestimate this approach because of its simplicity. It won’t help you manage your anxiety if you eat foods that trigger chaos in your nervous system. Upgrading can bring you into a state of greater harmony and balance. We can strengthen our bodies with nutrients while enjoying the flavors and textures we love from different foods. Because oftentimes, when we crave certain foods, like fried chicken, for example, it’s a message that the brain is actually craving fat to support its functions. Or if you crave chocolate, it’s a message that your body may be deficient in magnesium. So it’s good to listen to your body and fulfill its needs with wholesome versions of its desires.

When I was working to restore my health and overcome the anxiety I felt, I got the idea to adopt the thought process: Every time I am craving something to eat, I will find a way to eat it in the most natural way possible — in a way that nourishes my body and at the same time tastes really good. I was immediately excited to try to find or invent new, healthier versions of the foods I loved. A huge burden lifted off my body. I felt lighter and more peaceful right away and thought, Wow! Okay! I can eat chocolate for the rest of my life! But I have to find a way to do it with a chocolate that has cleaner ingredients. It was a dream come true because the item I craved most often was chocolate.

This was a decade ago, and there weren’t as many organic choices available to us then. Although I did locate some organic chocolate in a health food store, which was an upgrade from conventional chocolate, it was sweetened with white sugar, an ingredient I wanted to avoid. So I started to make my own chocolate using cacao, almond flour, and honey. I would add peanut butter to make Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls! And I would eat up to 20 of them a day because, for me, this was a major improvement, an “upgrade” from the kind of chocolate I had formerly eaten in one day.

I was blown away by the flavor and texture! The result of making homemade chocolate was like a moist, buttery, delicious chocolate brownie — although it contained no gluten, no dairy, no soy, no preservatives, no GMO ingredients, and no refined sugar. It tasted absolutely delicious, all the while providing my body with protein, fiber, antioxidants, and other nutrients that were healthy and sustaining for my body. Discovering the food upgrade mindset was the best thing that ever happened to me!

When I am doing nutritional coaching, I always tell my clients: Start with your greatest obstacle food first. Replace that food, and the rest of the changes you want to make will be easier. It will also give you a lot of relief to move a huge rock from your path to wellness. For some people, the food blocking the path might be pizza, or pasta, or bread, or cheese, or candy. What is yours?

For years, chocolate was always my biggest weakness and the greatest obstacle to healthy eating. Upgrading is how we can have our cake and eat it too! But — you get it — it has to be a certain type of cake for this to work. I used the upgrade approach to replicate all my favorite foods. I made chicken nuggets with organic chicken and a coating of turmeric, almond flour, and sea salt. I made cheesecake with cashews. I made ice cream with almond milk. I used coconut oil instead of butter. I made cookie dough from almond flour and maple syrup. And I discovered that there is a healthier alternative for absolutely everything that we want to eat.

Upgrading means we can continue to eat the foods we love for the rest of our lives guilt-free! We can eat them and achieve optimal wellness. Truly, it’s worth repeating that it’s not realistic for any of us to think, I will start a new diet on Monday — after which I will never, ever eat cookies again. We are not biologically programmed for deprivation. That’s why millions of people are stuck in an “I’ll start tomorrow” pattern. They are still eating junk food because that way will never work. But when we adopt the approach of asking, How can I eat cookies in a healthy way? and then find a way to do so, we fulfill our cravings and have a pleasurable experience. Because this food tastes good and nourishes the body, it also leaves us with a sense of real satiety, and it calms our nervousness. That’s the key. Flood the body with nutrients at the same time as you are indulging in happy-tasting flavors. I was mind blown to discover this and wished I had learned it before I had first tried processed foods with refined sugars and become hooked on the sugar.

The Upgrade Thought Process

When you have a craving, ask yourself, How can I satisfy this in the best way possible?

Worst-case scenario: Low-quality, fast-food, and conventional options; GMO and nonorganic ingredients; high-sugar, high-fat foods; anything with artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives
Better upgrade: The organic option with clean ingredients
Best upgrade: Something you make yourself with the highest-quality ingredients you can buy

Let’s say, for example, you want some French fries. The worst-case scenario is buying fries at a fast-food franchise made from GMO potatoes cooked in low-quality oil and seasoned with preservative-ridden salt. What is the upgrade in this situation?

The better version is to get them at an organic restaurant where the cook uses non-GMO potatoes and high-quality oil.

4. DETOX IF NEEDED

One powerful healthy strategy that you will never regret is detox. Detox can help with healing and preventing disease, weight loss and even anxiety. Detox is the second principle I write about for healing anxiety in my book Anxiety-Free with Food. If you know or guess that your body is overloaded with toxins, a detox is a good idea. You would throw out a bucket of dirty water entirely before you began adding clean water to it, wouldn’t you?

I suggest doing a full-body detox, which includes a gut cleanse and liver cleanse, so you can lower the toxic burden in the body, give the lymphatic system a chance to restore itself, and let the gut heal so it can absorb nutrients properly. A toxic buildup can lead to anxiety, depression, and fatigue because your gut can’t properly absorb the nutrients you are giving it.

When I was sick, I underwent a major detox for three months. This was what I needed to heal my gut and restore balance throughout my body, as well as to dissolve the tumor from my neck. Some people need more or less time. I recommend working with an integrative doctor, nutritionist, or naturopath to do this. Detoxification may not be fun initially, but it is worth it ultimately; it is the best feeling to know that your body is pure. Organs of the elimination system that can benefit from detoxification support include the liver, kidneys, and intestines.

These days, I detox only once a year. For this, I use the Aloe and Colloidal Silver Protocol described on my website. You must decide which detox plan is right for you, if any, and if you need to detox, please do a detox. Clean out your “murky water,” so you can add in all the good clean stuff and build yourself a nice new body from the inside out.

If you consume something and feel concerned about toxins afterward (for example, high-mercury seafood, fast food, or alcohol), you can consume a clay drink or chlorophyll water. Bentonite clay is ash that has accumulated from volcanoes over millions of years. It binds with heavy metals in the body and helps us to eliminate them from the body. You simply need to drink 1 teaspoon bentonite clay mixed in 2 cups water. For chlorophyll water, add one serving to a tall glass of water. Both waters are safe enough to incorporate as part of a daily routine.

5. CONSUME ASHWAGANDHA DAILY

Ashwagandha, aka Indian ginseng (Withania somnifera), is derived from the fruit or leaf of a shrub. The name refers to the smell of the root (“like a horse”). In Latin, the species name, somnifera, means “sleep inducing.” Most ashwagandha is cultivated in India, Nepal, and China. This has been used for centuries to alleviate fatigue and improve general well-being. It has powerful antianxiety, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties. It is also an adaptogen, which means it helps the body respond to stress. One study in which people took 300 mg twice daily of high-concentration Ashwagandha root extract found that it “safely and effectively improves an individual’s resistance towards stress and thereby improves self-assessed quality of life.” Study: K. Chandrasekhar, J. Kapoor, and S. Anishetty. “A Prospective, Randomized Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study of Safety and Efficacy of a High-Concentration Full-Spectrum Extract of Ashwagandha Root in Reducing Stress and Anxiety in Adults,” Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine, vol. 34, no. 3 (July 2012), pp. 255–62, doi: 10.4103/0253–7176.106022.

I included ashwagandha as one of the top 10 ingredients that help treat anxiety naturally, and it’s included in my supplement Anxiety-Free www.LianasOrganics.com I take 4 capsules a day and absolutely notice a difference when I miss a couple days! Imagine it as literal food for your nervous system.

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

I would start a movement with food companies have to label their product if it is anxiogenic and or carcinogenic. I believe it’s only fair to list an ingredient as carcinogenic and neurotoxic if it has been proven so by science. People are eating foods every day that are stripping them of energy and taking away their health and they don’t even realize. The food industry should be more transparent, and it will force many companies to have to do the right thing and then change some of their ingredients and values.

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

That some days will be incredibly hard and awful, that I would feel like you are in a storm, so on those days to keep the movement going forward just do the next best step. I may not be able to dive into a high workload project on these days, so look at your to-do list and just do the one thing next that seems doable.
To always be grateful and content in any situation.
Before I started eating fast foods and processed foods when I was 16 I wish I had known what I know now about you can still eat things you want, but in a healthy way.
To focus the most on my readers and really nurture them, to not just be consumed in “growing” and getting new followers.
To work six days and have one completely rest day every week as to avoid burnout and have a nice work life balance (there have been many years where I worked seven days a week).

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 close to my heart as it runs in my family, and I have had to overcome severe depression and anxiety myself. It’s been ten years since I was diagnosed. It’s dearest to me because most people don’t understand that a lot of mental health issues is directly connected to the foods we eat. Certain foods are anxiogenic and actually produce anxiety as soon as we eat them. There are also unfortunately a lot of neurotoxic foods in the food industry that are banned in countries such as Australia, Europe and UK but are in the foods here especially the bread, hotdogs and cereals. Understanding the nutritional factors of anxiety is incredibly important. The main dietary issues people with anxiety are facing, I discovered, are likely to be deficiencies in omega-3 fatty acids, magnesium, and amino acids. Without these, your brain won’t function optimally, and you’ll soon begin displaying some symptoms of anxiety — and also depression — everything from irritability and mood swings to insomnia, digestive upset, and a sense of impending doom. I got a blood test done and asked my doctor to check if my omega-3 count was low. Sure enough, I was deficient in fatty acids! The doctor recommended I take fish oil supplements right away. A few days later, I felt better and was sure the fish oil supplements had taken effect. I also started to incorporate more omega-3 fats in my meals, using ingredients like salmon, chia seeds, hempseeds, coconut oil, olive oil, walnuts, and avocado. Also, I dove into researching the role of the nervous system: the brain, spinal cord, and nerves. This is the body’s communication system, which controls much of what your body does. It allows us to do things like walk, speak, swallow, breathe, and learn, and controls how our bodies react in an emergency. I learned that the nervous system can be damaged by diseases; injuries (trauma), especially to the head and spinal cord; blood supply problems (vascular disorders); and mental health problems, such as anxiety disorders, depression, or psychosis. My research also led me to understand that another factor causing anxiety is inflammation. This was fascinating because I already knew that inflammation causes weight gain and difficulty losing weight, arthritis, all major degenerative diseases, including heart disease, cancer, hypertension, and diabetes, fever, chills, fatigue, loss of energy, mood swings, headaches, stiffness, and fatigue. I just did not know that inflammation was a cause of anxiety! There is a promise of a bright future ahead. I hope it excites you to discover that there is much hope for people suffering today. There is a lot of science that explains why certain foods may reduce stress and anxiety. Knowing this should give you confidence and empower you.

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

Instagram or facebook @LIANAWERNERGRAY @THEEARTHDIET

My books are on Amazon including Cancer-Free with Food one of the Top 100 cancer books of all time! https://www.amazon.com/dp/1401956424/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_JPGG16SP3GCSCMV55Z69

My website: www.TheEarthDiet.com

Thank you for these fantastic insights!

Women In Wellness: Author Liana Werner-Gray 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: Lily Baiser of Kinspire On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

“If kids can do well, they will.” I treated a child who was having a hard time in school — teachers thought they were a “behavior problem,” It turns out they had visual problems, making it hard to focus on their work. Once we resolved the deficit, the child was much happier in school and no longer considered a “behavior problem.”

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

Lily Baiser is a licensed pediatric occupational therapist and the co-founder of Kinspire, a pediatric support platform that provides occupational therapy through telehealth to best support the developmental needs of children and their families. She is a highly experienced occupational therapist with more than 15 years of experience and is licensed to practice in Florida. She received a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Florida and a M.S. in Occupational Therapy from New York University.

For as long as I can remember I have always had a passion for helping people. I graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and went on to receive my Master of Science in Occupational Therapy from New York University. From my first day as a student intern I saw the difference that OT can make for children and families — I instantly knew that this field was where I wanted to build a career and I have not looked back since.

As a pediatric occupational therapist for the past 15 years, I have worked with hundreds of clients in a variety of different settings and states and have continuously witnessed the incredible impact that OT can have on children with developmental delays or disabilities and their families. However, I have also witnessed the major pain points of the industry and have felt frustrated and saddened that the benefits of occupational therapy are often limited due to an archaic system — leading many children to go without essential support. Too many times, I have seen children backslide in their development between sessions due to the restrictions of the traditional session based OT modeI. I knew something had to be done — we needed to build a new approach to OT that helps children and their parents work together every day to overcome development barriers.Two years ago, I decided to build this approach myself and co-founded Kinspire, a pediatric support services platform that provides occupational therapy through telehealth to best support the developmental needs of children and their families.

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

Roughly 1 in 6 children in America are diagnosed with developmental delays or disabilities. OT has proven to dramatically improve the physical, cognitive, and behavioral development of a child, ultimately enhancing their future. However, the traditional OT model is antiquated in that the primary mode of support is during infrequent therapist-child sessions that often don’t include the primary caregivers. Kinspire’s disruptive care delivery model supports all caregivers in an on-demand fashion through multiple modalities such as self-serve content, asynchronous messaging, and synchronous sessions.

Kinspire offers children and their families occupational therapy in the most affordable, flexible, and convenient way with our family-centered, tech-based approach. Kinspire therapists work with families to develop a collaborative and personalized Family Action Plan. Our therapists then train parents to be at the center of the therapeutic process by equipping them with the necessary skills, activities, and support that allow for OT to be implemented into already existing schedules — as opposed to traditional session-based OT that limits families to sessions at specific times that require them to commute and disrupt their daily lives. Families pay a $149 monthly membership fee for unlimited on-demand guidance from their provider, which is significantly more affordable than the legacy model of parents paying a hefty fee per session. Kinspire families are always encouraged to reach out to their provider regarding progress or questions, which empowers parents with a critical support system that can be extremely difficult to find. Kinspire’s multi-model approach places families at the center of care, which is in the best interest of a child’s development and future.

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?

When I first started working on Kinspire there was a big learning curve regarding technology terminology, but now it’s part of my everyday language. I sent a message to a family in our app and told them to click on “the hamburger” to change their settings. I received a frantic message from the family because they couldn’t figure out what I was talking about — technology terminology can create some funny scenarios at times!

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?

Early in my career, my husband got a postdoc at Harvard Forest (unfortunately not in Boston — a Harvard research station in western Mass), I was dreading this move because it was in the middle of nowhere, but I ended up finding one of the most supportive clinicians in a tiny New England town, Lisa Hamilton-Goscombe.

Lisa was not only an incredible mentor but also one of the most compassionate leaders, working alongside her never felt like work and I was always excited when Monday came around. She shaped how I observe children, my clinical reasoning skills, taught me how to see the “whole child” and the critical importance of the family’s role in therapy.

Our world is constantly changing and disruption is necessary for our society to successfully evolve especially in industries that can be apprehensive to innovation. However, I do think there is a misconception that disruption means that everything has to change. I believe the most disruptive businesses are the ones that can acknowledge aspects within an industry that are working successfully and keep those aspects in place, as the saying goes, “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.” At Kinspire, we believe strongly that OT therapy can be transformational — I know that these activities work, the challenge is in how and when they are implemented and that is where the Kinspire approach really upends the traditional OT model.

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

“If kids can do well, they will.” I treated a child who was having a hard time in school — teachers thought they were a “behavior problem,” It turns out they had visual problems, making it hard to focus on their work. Once we resolved the deficit, the child was much happier in school and no longer considered a “behavior problem.”
“Every child is different, there is no one size fits all solution.” In my industry, people can often get discouraged when a plan or activity is not working and it has worked for another child. However, I always remind my colleagues, clients and myself that just because something works for one child does not mean it will work for another and that is okay because every child is unique with different needs.
“Be flexible and open minded.” Working with kids keeps me on my toes! I can plan all I want, but if the child has a different plan, I need to be ready to adjust and quickly problem solve. In addition, starting a business brings many challenges and surprises — being flexible is critical and the ability to problem solve on the fly has truly set me up to handle anything that comes my way.

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

Kinspire is just getting started — we currently have providers operating in Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, California, Colorado and Connecticut. However, we are working towards having providers available in all 50 states. We are determined to make Kinspire accessible to all families regardless of their financial situation and are in the process of trying to get Kinspire approved for Medicaid. Additionally, we are partnering with education organizations such as Step Up for Students, a Florida based non-profit that provides students and their families with scholarships for education related needs. Kinspire is now an approved provider for students who qualify for Step Up for Students Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities for the 2022–2023 school year.

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

I feel there is a double standard for women disruptors in business compared to their male counterparts when it comes to being ambitious and persistent. When women have high ambition and persistence they are often perceived negatively. On the other hand, ambitious and persistent men are viewed as driven and motivated. I, like many women, have experienced this unfortunate reality — it needs to change.

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

The Explosive Child, by Ross W Greene is a great book and is where the philosophy “If kids can do well, they will” comes from. I also really like the book, The Whole-Brain Child by Daniel Siegel and Tina Bryson. It explains the science of childhood emotional and cognitive development and provides supportive parent strategies. Family is such a huge part of therapy, so understanding the psychology of children’s behavior and parenting dynamics is critical to my success with families — this family-centered approach is the paradigm shift that Kinspire is leading.

I would like to inspire people to celebrate and acknowledge the small victories that occur every day!

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

“A little progress each day adds up to big results.” This philosophy is at the core of what we believe at Kinspire — we know in therapy and business, massive progress does not happen overnight. We focus on small but consistent progress because we know it adds up over time — patience is not always easy but it is essential to long term success.

How can our readers follow you online?

You can find me on LinkedIn at Lily Baiser and please visit information kinsprehealth.com for all information regarding Kinspire.

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

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