Month: June 2022

Total Health: Dr Sandra Indacochea Sobel On How We Can Optimize Our Mental, Physical, Emotional, &…

Total Health: Dr Sandra Indacochea Sobel On How We Can Optimize Our Mental, Physical, Emotional, & Spiritual Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Laughter — with so much turmoil and uncertainty, it may seem selfish or hopeless to seek out joyous outlets. But there is nothing selfish about this and allowing for opportunities to experience a good belly laugh, which leads to endorphin and other neurotransmitter release optimizes emotional wellness!

Often when we refer to wellness, we assume that we are talking about physical wellbeing. But one can be physically very healthy but still be unwell, emotionally or mentally. What are the steps we can take to cultivate optimal wellness in all areas of our life; to develop Mental, Physical, Emotional, & Spiritual Wellbeing?

As a part of our series about “How We Can Cultivate Our Mental, Physical, Emotional, & Spiritual Wellbeing”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Sandra Sobel.

Dr. Sandra Indacochea Sobel is a board-certified Endocrinologist who also holds additional board certifications in Lifestyle Medicine and Obesity Medicine and practices in Pittsburgh, PA. In 2021, after functioning as the Clinical Chief of Endocrinology in an academic center for seven years, she founded Summon Health, the first direct care endocrine clinic in Pittsburgh where the mission is to deliver evidence-based, personalized, and comprehensive medical attention by addressing nutrition, exercise, and stress, in addition to continuing to use medicine therapies to help each person summon their best metabolic health. At Summon Health she supplements the medical visits by applying culinary medicine through use of her teaching kitchen and meditation instruction via her meditation room.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive into the main focus of our interview, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory?

Thank you so much for the interview!

Absolutely! I am a first-generation U.S. born Latina and the eldest of 3 children. My parents immigrated here in the 1970s from Peru, so that my father could obtain his doctoral degree in metallurgical engineering. They ultimately planted roots in the suburbs of Chicago where my brothers and I grew up. My parents raised us bilingual and keeping our heritage present was important. They would host these marvelous get-togethers, where friends and family would bring their favorite foods and instruments and we would clear out the furniture of the living room so that there was ample room for the make-shift band and people to dance. A get-together wasn’t complete without the night ending in the adults telling stories of their childhood, or sharing jokes that had everyone’s eyes streaming with tears from laughter.

When I was 13 years-old, my father took a sabbatical year in Germany, purposely moving the family to a country where we didn’t know the language, so that we could have the chance to learn a third language. I went to a German school, and on weekends, my parents made it a point to around Europe. I kept up with my German studies even upon my return to the United States and it was even one of my majors in college and by the time of my college graduation, I was arguably more fluent in German than in Spanish!

What or who inspired you to pursue your career? We’d love to hear the story.

There were no physicians or other medical professionals for that matter, in my family. But there were hustlers and story-tellers and these two truths inspired me to pursue medicine.

My father was one of nine children and he was the first in his family to go to college. At the age of 18yo, he had earned a scholarship to study in the United States and left Peru for the first time at that age to move to a country where he did not speak the language. He told me he would spend endless nights with an English dictionary on the desk with him while he did his homework, trying to understand his assignments. Not only did he complete his undergraduate degree, but he went on to get a doctorate degree in engineering. As a young college professor, I remember him preparing his lesson plans and talks for national conferences. He would practice these talks with the slide projector and use my brothers and me as his audience. We had no clue what he was saying, but I was inspired to one day be able to get to gain enough confidence and share my knowledge with colleagues.

Having grown up in a family of story-tellers also inspired me to pursue my career. Whenever we got together with extended family, the adults would gather around the table and start telling stories and some of the children would sit with them at the table, to eagerly listen. I was one of those children at the table, completely entranced by these stories. I always wanted to hear more — the stories of struggle, joy, defeat, and triumph. I cherished each detail of the stories shared and I approach my privilege of being a physician in the same way. Ultimately, my patients are sharing their stories with me, and I listen intently to the details they entrust to me. I genuinely am fascinated by the health stories or experiences individuals share with me and I try to provide clarity to these symptoms or conditions.

None of us can achieve success without some help along the way. Was there a particular person who you feel gave you the most help or encouragement to be who you are today? Can you share a story about that?

I go back to my parents being my inspiration to blaze my own path. They immigrated to the United States only having each other. Through perseverance, sacrifice, and self-belief, they were able to achieve their version of the American Dream. We had no physicians in our family and when I told them from a young age that I wanted to be a doctor, they supported me and encouraged me through my many years of schooling and gave me the confidence to blaze my own path.

Can you share the funniest or most interesting mistake that occurred to you in the course of your career? What lesson or take away did you learn from that?

I moved to Pittsburgh, PA after my internal medicine residency and prior to starting my fellowship in Endocrinology, I worked at a hybrid urgent-care/primary-care office. Pittsburgh has its own dialect and I was learning the dialect mostly from interactions with patients.

One afternoon at this urgent-care, I was seeing an older gentleman who had come in for shortness of breath and a cough. I walked in the room and spoke with him, examined him, and noticed that his blood pressure was quite elevated. I saw he was on blood pressure medicine and he confirmed to me that he was taking his medicine as prescribed. I then asked him who his primary care physician was (again, the place served as an urgent care as well). I understood his reply to be, “Yinzer”. So, I responded, “Ok sir, I will reach out to Dr. Yinzer to let him know that your blood pressure is elevated and that you should have it rechecked soon to see if you need a dose adjustment to your blood pressure medication”.

He looked at me and then, more slowly, and a little more loudly said, “Yinz are”.

I had a confused look and as I thought over his slower response, I realized that “yinz” is the Pittsburgh way of saying “You guys, or, ya’ll”. It then dawned on me that he was telling me that WE (the physicians at this hybrid office) were his primary care physicians. We both laughed about my lack of Pittsburgh-slang knowledge and I informed him that I would then be increasing the dose of his blood pressure medicine.

But this also served as an important reminder to me that prior to walking into each room with a patient, it is important to take just a couple of minutes to review the patient’s chart. Familiarize myself with who their primary physician is, what medications they are on, and what their main concern is that they would like to address at the time of the visit.

I can also say that now, after having lived 12 years in Pittsburgh, my Pittsburgh slang is on point.

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

Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl.

I read this book at the age of 13 years-old, while I was living in Germany.

Anne Frank was 13 years-old when she started writing that diary, while she was in hiding in fear of Nazi persecution during WWII, in the next country over to where I was living at the time, the Netherlands.

Her writings took hold of me, as the young teen experiences she was narrating were ones that I could so easily identify with. Yet at the same time, the fear of being found out and the clandestine life she wrote about, were so incomprehensible to me.

Can you share your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Why does that resonate with you so much?

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” -Lao Tzu

This quote is a humble reminder to myself that while the work to achieve lofty goals and intentions may feel overwhelming when taking it all into account, to not let this stall forward motion. In order to get from where I am on the journey to where I intend to go, I have to begin the journey with one step. At a time.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?

My direct care metabolic practice! My reason for pursuing medicine as a career was my genuine interest in people’s stories, hearing their health journeys, and wanting to help investigate causes of medical conditions, but also educate and provide personalized recommendations to improve health. All of this requires mutual trust between the patient and the physician, and in order to build that trust, it also requires time to build that relationship.

I felt that this time was being taken away in traditional medical models and being outsourced, so I needed a way to protect the time I had with patients and to address all the important factors that impact a person’s metabolic health, namely: nutrition, exercise, stress, sleep, in addition to hormonal health. That is why I established a direct care metabolic health practice, where I devised a model of care where time is a priority (initial visits are 90 minutes long!) and health recommendations touch upon the previously mentioned metabolic health variables. In addition, my practice has a teaching kitchen where I apply culinary medicine principles to health, as well as a meditation room.

I think this innovative approach to metabolic health highlights to each person that metabolic health is complex: it’s not just an abnormal lab value and, “here, take this medicine and check back with me in three months”. No! Let’s have that conversation about your nutrition patterns, your exercise patterns. Let me discuss with you what the studies have shown to be the minimum amount of time that is needed per week for exercise to reap cardiometabolic benefits. Let’s talk about non-pharmacologic ways to deal with stress and while we are at it, we can have a seat in the meditation room. When a person understands how multiple areas of our life impacts health, I have seen this increase engagement and I have seen the dramatic improvements people achieve in their health. This comprehensive approach to care has transformed many of my patients’ lives!

OK, thank you for all of that. Let’s now shift to the core focus of our interview. In this interview series we’d like to discuss cultivating wellness habits in four areas of our lives: Mental wellness, Physical wellness, Emotional wellness, & Spiritual wellness. Let’s dive deeper into these together. Based on your research or experience, can you share with our readers three good habits that can lead to optimum mental wellness? Please share a story or example for each.

Meditation — Everyone who is reading this has more than likely been profoundly impacted by the shift in our realities over the past 2+ years. The world shifted and this ripple effect has touched each human being. And throughout this time, we have had to find ways to pivot — multiple times. And this is incredibly stressful. If we do not have outlets to relieve stress, the internalization of these constant stressors can lead to heightened anxiety and panic. I know, because this is precisely happened to me. I was working at my computer in Fall 2020, when all of a sudden, I felt an intense pressure in my chest and a sudden feeling of doom. I read what was on my computer screen and could not see how what I was working on could elicit such a response. But the symptoms were classic of a panic attack. I realized that I had been internalizing my stress over, and over, and over again, without having established and healthy coping skills for it. That is when I decided to explore meditation. I was floored by the impact it had on me — allowing for a moment to let me mind settle and to accept that each attempt at meditation would not result in extended moments of calm. But even so, the cumulative response to consistent meditation practice resulted in significant alleviation of anxieties.
Proper Sleep — studies have demonstrated that individuals who do not get enough sleep have a higher prevalence of depression. Sleep impacts hormonal signaling as well, and without sufficient sleep, melatonin and cortisol cycles become disrupted as well.
Social Connections — one of the pillars of lifestyle medicine is relationships. Being able to foster and maintain healthy relationships with each other is essential for our mental wellness. As humans, we are not meant to experience life in isolation, and having social connections and building relationships with trusted others helps us navigate new or difficult situations and can help protect us from distress and even depression and anxiety.

Do you have a specific type of meditation practice or Yoga practice that you have found helpful? We’d love to hear about it.

Transcendental Meditation has really offered me a way to ground myself and allow capacity for the life pivots that occur without forewarning. I found guided meditation to at times increase distress, especially if the teacher was guiding the meditation through a visualization. During meditation, external thoughts creep in, this is expected and natural. However, despite this being natural, I then found I would become upset that I had missed a portion of the guided meditation — was that an important part I missed? What if that was the most important part I missed?

With transcendental meditation, I have been able to use my mantra and allow for the settling of my mind without having the same distressing reaction when thoughts creep in. And as with anything, consistency with the practice is important to reap the most benefits.

Thank you for that. Can you share three good habits that can lead to optimum physical wellness? Please share a story or example for each.

Hydration — staying well hydrated is so essential for physical wellness. It is important for skin turgor, mental clarity, circulation, and sleep! If one is dehydrated, this can lead to peripheral vessel constriction at night. When this occurs, it shunts blood to the core and doesn’t allow for an optimal cooling of the core during sleep, which is important for restful sleep. With proper hydration, this does not happen and individuals will experience a more restful sleep.
Minimize unprocessed foods — Overprocessing of food can have a litany of adverse health consequences. It frequently strips foods of important fiber and nutrients while adding sugar salt. The result of frequent consumption of these hyperpalatable low nutrient but frequently high-calorie content foods? Increase risk of high blood pressure, insulin resistance, diabetes, and obesity. Focusing on mostly consuming minimally processed to unprocessed foods and enjoying the natural flavors packed in these wholesome, nutrient dense foods will help promote physical wellness.
Pick up weights — and I say this as a former cardiovascular workout junkie. It wasn’t until I started incorporating resistance training did I see real transformation in my strength, toning, energy, and stamina. Alternating between cardiovascular and strength training during an exercise — an added bonus as this ‘inefficiency’ in exercise concept maximizes energy expenditure which translates to more calories burned! High five!

Do you have any particular thoughts about healthy eating? We all know that it’s important to eat more vegetables, eat less sugar, etc. But while we know it intellectually, it’s often difficult to put it into practice and make it a part of our daily habits. In your opinion what are the main blockages that prevent us from taking the information that we all know, and integrating it into our lives?

I love Michael Pollan’s statement, “Eat food, mostly plants, not too much”. My interpretation of this is to focus on real foods (so avoiding the ultra-processed foods), high fiber (fiber is found in plant-foods!), and moderate portion sizes.

The main blockages I know from personal life, but also in discussion with patients when we talk about nutrition is time. Everyone is incredibly busy. Having the time to meal plan, or to cook food, is a luxury. And the choices for convenience foods and fast foods abound! But the ‘convenience’ of fast foods, consumed over and over again, can eventually add up to future inconvenience of chronic disease.

Can you share three good habits that can lead to optimum emotional wellness? Please share a story or example for each.

Socialize with others — please see my explanation above on social connections!
Travel — experiencing different cultures adds to our understanding of humanity: through food, music, beliefs, and language, we can learn to appreciate the nuances that create unique interpretations of the human experience. These experiences may help transform our perceptions or our realities. And through this transformation, we also have the opportunity to reflect on shared experiences as humans. This realization of shared experiences has a profound impact on optimizing emotional wellness.
Laughter — with so much turmoil and uncertainty, it may seem selfish or hopeless to seek out joyous outlets. But there is nothing selfish about this and allowing for opportunities to experience a good belly laugh, which leads to endorphin and other neurotransmitter release optimizes emotional wellness!

Do you have any particular thoughts about the power of smiling to improve emotional wellness? We’d love to hear it.

Much like the effect that laughter has on emotional wellness, so does smiling! Just stop and think about what goes through your mind when you see someone smile? For me, it elicits curiosity, joy, happiness, and elation. Talk about wonderful boosts to emotional wellness!

Finally, can you share three good habits that can lead to optimum spiritual wellness? Please share a story or example for each.

Do you have any particular thoughts about how being “in nature” can help us to cultivate spiritual wellness?

When we spend intentional time outside — for example, sitting in nature, whether in meditation, doing yoga, or just absorbing its grandeur, connects us to our planet and helps provide a sense of purpose.

Ok, we are nearly done. 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.

Every morning, take 5 seconds to look at yourself in the mirror, with intention, then smile.

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

It would have to be Chef José Andrés. I would love to speak with him about his motivations and inspirations that go behind his genius in creating cuisines that not only enlighten and invigorate the palate, but also elicit emotional responses with the flavors he produces. I use culinary medicine in my medical practice and I have seen how it provides another opportunity to strengthen connection between humans when we discuss recipes or prepare and share in the enjoyment of eating foods together. In addition, I would love to sit down and speak with him at length about his non-profit, World Central Kitchen, where they provide meals to disaster-stricken areas of the world. He has leveraged his culinary expertise to be able to ensure that those in these disaster-stricken areas have access to one of the most basic of human needs — food.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Follow me on social! @drsandraisobel on instagram and tiktok or Sandra Indacochea Sobel, MD on facebook!

Thank you for these really excellent insights, and we greatly appreciate the time you spent with this. We wish you continued success.

Thank you so much!

Total Health: Dr Sandra Indacochea Sobel On How We Can Optimize Our Mental, Physical, Emotional, &… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Disruptors: Miranda Jiggins On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

“Trust the process”. Both my bodybuilding coach, Neal, and success coach, Stacy have said that. This resonates with me because, so many times you feel as if you are doing the work day in and day out, and you feel as if nothing is getting accomplished. However, things ARE getting accomplished. If you trust the process and keep going, it will pay off eventually.

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

From bullied to boss — Miranda was a total social outcast in high school; after going through a lengthy inner work journey, she has overcome a ton of mental hurdles, and owns a fitness business transitioning into the events space. Miranda is a high energy leader with a purpose to be an example to others that have been bullied or have felt alone; their goals are possible, they do matter, and someone has felt the way they are feeling.

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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?

Thank you for having me! When I was in high school, I was a total social outcast; I didn’t go to prom, didn’t eat lunch in the cafeteria (I ate it in the library), and always struggled to fit into social groups. This carried into my adult life, until I did a year of inner work, and came out a totally different person on the other side.

When I turned 16, I was given the task of driving my younger brother to boxing practice. One day, his coach said “why don’t you workout with us”? So, I tried a workout and was hooked — fitness became a huge mental release for me — without it, I don’t know where I would be. Working out helped me mentally through the struggles of high school.

During the challenges of school, I always knew I was going to do “something” with my life. I had no idea what or how, but I just knew. In addition to fitness, that thought kept me going on the harder days. I would read any book I could about leaders and their journeys. I desperately wanted someone I could fully relate to, but couldn’t find anyone that was 100% relatable. Then, when I was 16, I made the decision to be that person as an adult for someone who is going through a dark time, and needs someone that may know how they are feeling to look up to.

Shortly after college I connected with my first mentor, Betsy McNally. She helped me get started with my business, and I have been fully self employed since 2019.

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

The work that I am doing is disruptive, because I am an example of someone who has been to mental rock bottom and back multiple times. I also did not take a day off from work for 4.5 years before my inner work journey (hello burying your issues unhealthily in work). Now, I am a huge advocate of taking care of YOU, which I preach to my clients. We can only fully show up at our highest power for others when we take care of ourselves first.

I am so grateful for my experiences, because I tend to attract high performers who are at their rock bottom, and they do a total 180 degree transformation — it is so amazing to experience and be a part of their journeys. My program mixes the inner work with fitness — we work on boundaries, AM/PM routines, fears; it’s the inner work with fitness mixed in. In turn, my clients come out shining from the inside out and confidence is at an all time high!

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?

LOL! My very first in person fitness class I ever taught, literally day #1 — I was giving a demonstration on the stability ball, and FELL OFF! It slid right out from under me! The entire class laughed, including myself.

This taught me to not take things so seriously, and if I mess up, it is okay — my clients won’t leave if I make a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes! Very grateful that I learned that lesson early.

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

I would not be where I am without my mentors — so grateful for them. Betsy McNally found me when I was selling cars, and helped me get started with my business.

Neal Cash is my bodybuilding coach — I have been with him since 2018, and has had a huge impact on my business and my competing goals.

Stacy Raske — I found her during my rock bottom moment in January 2020. She helped me through my inner work journey, and is helping scale my business.

I am very grateful to be a member of Apex, a business owner mastermind led by Ryan Stewman. He has taught me to take risks; I had a huge scarcity mentality around money, and he has helped me overcome that plus much more.

It’s interesting looking at the timeline, each one of my mentors have added layers to my journey. They all have come into my life at the right time, and I would not be where I am without any of them. It’s funny how the universe works!

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?

I believe being disruptive is a positive, when what you are doing is inspiring and helping others to elevate and better themselves. Whenever I make a post on social media, I usually receive a comment or message stating how the person is having a bad day and needed to hear that, or, how they find me relatable — that is my goal and why I do what I do. It all ties into my original mission of being an example to someone who has no one else to look up to.

I believe when someone is being a negative example, such as partying too much, or not showing a realistic viewpoint of their life, that is not a positive disruption to an industry. The world needs positive examples of leaders that “keep it real” — both for adults and our youth. I do my best to share my challenges and struggles online along with my wins, so people can see this is not always rainbows and butterflies. You can come out of a challenge stronger than ever on the other side!

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

“Trust the process”. Both my bodybuilding coach, Neal, and success coach, Stacy have said that.

This resonates with me because, so many times you feel as if you are doing the work day in and day out, and you feel as if nothing is getting accomplished. However, things ARE getting accomplished. If you trust the process and keep going, it will pay off eventually.

“Show up as the authentic you”.

I am someone who shines really bright, both with my personality and work ethic, and have been misunderstood by many. This used to really bring me down, because I was just being myself around others. So, I stopped showing up as the full, authentic me. After I met Stacy and did a year of inner work, I FULLY showed up as my unapologetic self, and fully believed in myself. Coincidentally, I have had zero negative comments since I have started believing in myself first and embracing the real me. Funny how that works!

“Trust your intuition”

The little voice in the back of your head is there for a reason! I used to not listen to it as much, but, through my inner work journey, I fully listen to the voice in the back of my head. Even if my decision may seem “crazy”, I still implement and execute, and it has never failed me — the situation always turns out better than I thought it would, even if it totally takes me on a different path than planned.

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

I certainly am not done — I have barely scratched the surface! My business is transitioning into the events space — I am so excited! These events are going to be an intimate space for high performers who have been or are going through the inner work journey. We currently have dates for late 2022 and 2023 in Cincinnati, Tampa and the Dominican Republic. I am so excited for this next level of impact!

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

Our voices. I was the “blonde girl” that was “too nice”, not many took seriously, and felt unheard. It was so frustrating. After my rock bottom moment in January 2021, I said enough was enough, I was going to be taken seriously, and it was time for a change. Never allow our fellow male counterparts to overpower your voice!

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

“Can’t Hurt Me” By David Goggins. Right after my rock bottom moment in January 2021 and before I met my coach, I decided enough was enough, people were going to take me seriously — I wanted to be seen as “mentally tough”.

So, I found the “hardest” person on the planet, David Goggins. I really resonated with his story, and wanted to be taken seriously like people took him seriously — no one took him seriously from the beginning, and now they do. I read his book multiple times and listened to all of his YouTube videos. His content 100% got me through a very hard time, and has been a huge impact on my life.

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. 🙂

Love this question! I would inspire an “Shine your inner light bright” movement. From someone who was so misunderstood and afraid to shine her light, to now shining my light so bright, it has been life changing for me to allow myself to fully show up as the true me. Imagine if everyone in the world showed up as their authentic selves, shining their lights so bright? It would be amazing and so powerful — I have goosebumps thinking about it!

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

Life lesson quote — “I am not for everyone, and that is okay”.

Most people want to fit in and be liked — especially the younger generation — I know I did. I desperately wanted that so badly when I was in high school, and I could never understand why I fully didn’t “fit in”. It can be really mentally damaging for people who are seeking external validation, craving it, and do not receive it. Once I learned that I am okay with not being for everyone, it was a game changer! I was able to shine brighter than ever, and elevate people with me!

How can our readers follow you online?

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/miranda.jiggins

Website: mirandajiggins.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miranda-jiggins-68143986/

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

Female Disruptors: Miranda Jiggins 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.

Female Founders: Camille Styles on the Five Things You Need to Thrive and Succeed as a Woman…

Female Founders: Camille Styles on the Five Things You Need to Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Eliminate what’s unnecessary in order to illuminate what’s essential. This practice of stripping away what’s not essential, whether it’s with my commitments, a story I’m writing or editing, purging my closet, or even writing a recipe, has become my most important habit as my career has grown. I think about how I can pull out the most “flavor” with the fewest number of ingredients.

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

Camille is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of leading lifestyle digital publication Camille Styles. An influential go-to resource for elevating everyday experiences, Camille Styles is the definitive guide to simplifying life without compromising style. The online publication covers food, design, gatherings, wellness and beauty, connecting with its audience that reaches 50 million impressions each month across the website and social media channels.

In 2009, I was running my two-person event planning company out of the basement of my house. Though I’d majored in journalism and dreamed of being a magazine editor, I’d spent the first couple years of post-college life working in catering, where I fell head over heels for event planning. I thought I’d found my dream job. It married my love of cooking and my passion for design, all with the goal of bringing people together. I couldn’t believe I was getting paid to do what I loved.

But it wasn’t long before I craved a creative outlet all my own. So I started a blog, just for fun, where I could share my inspiration and entertaining tips. In this pre-influencer, pre-social media world, I couldn’t have dreamed that it would become the focus of my career for the next 12 years. I just knew that I found so much joy creating in this space, and over many years, building a community to share it with.

Today, it’s still sometimes hard to believe that I actually did become that editor-in-chief that I dreamed about, though instead of doing it in heels in my corner office, it’s usually sweats in my kitchen, racing to see how much I can get done between school drop-off and pickup. When I started the site more than a decade ago, it was driven by a passion for beauty and uncovering it in others’ lives. Bringing that vision to life through food, design, and gathering friends around a table is my true happy place. Today, I lead our incredible team of editors as we share daily content to inspire the pursuit of the life you dream about.

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?

I learned the hard way that I don’t have to be good at everything. A few years back, I was working with Target as a spokesperson and one year, they asked me to fly out to LA to be in the brand’s annual holiday commercial. Wow! Me, on a national TV commercial that would run on all the major networks through the whole season? This was huge.

So, I flew out to LA and reported to set. It was a huge production — there were hundreds of people working on this set with craft services and stylists, the works. When it came time, I got up on the stage that had been transformed into a holiday set and said the couple of lines that I’d memorized on my flight over. I felt a little off my game, but everyone said I did great, so I flew back home with my fingers crossed I did okay. Well, the holiday commercial dropped, and I wasn’t in it. I was so disappointed and felt like I’d wasted all that time for nothing. But after watching the commercial online a few times, I had my “aha” moment: I’m not an actor. I don’t want to be an actor, I have no desire for acting to be any part of my career. In fact, I’ve built my career on just being me. And in fact, trying to excel at things that aren’t part of my priorities and values can be a major distraction and a source of energy drain.

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 husband has been my biggest cheerleader and support, encouraging me to start my company so many years ago when I thought I lacked the experience. As an entrepreneur himself, he knew that the secret sauce of starting a business is made of vision and grit, and I’m thankful he saw that in me before I could see it for myself.

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

I see so many women who are afraid to dream too big — whether it’s a fear of failure or of disappointing themselves or others, this limiting belief often prevents talented, capable women for reaching as high as their potential could take them. Sometimes it takes a success or two under your belt to build that confidence to “go big,” so even though that initial leap is scary, my encouragement would be to just get started.

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?

We can all be more mindful of our power as conscious consumers — our dollars, our voices, and our time are all valuable tools for enacting change. Supporting women-owned businesses and other female founders is key to showing the next generation that being an entrepreneur and being a woman are not only not mutually exclusive, they are actually supportive of each other. While being a female founder is not easy, it’s an empowering way to build the life-work balance that is so often missing from high-powered corporate careers.

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?

Leading your own company — whether you’re a solopreneur or running a team of hundreds — puts you squarely in the driver’s seat. It’s you making the decisions for you and your team without outside forces dictating your day-to-day. I’ve found that that freedom and influence can be used for the greater good — creating more life-work balance for myself and my team. Even though we all work hard to achieve our shared goals, we have the freedom and the flexibility to work when, where, and how makes the most sense for us and our lives.

I think it’s also important for women to recognize their ability to be role models for the next generation. I appreciate that my children are watching me build this business, which encourages them to dream big, as well.

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

I think the pervasive myth that you need to put the rest of your life on hold to be a founder is not only incorrect, it’s dangerous. Yes, it’s true people who start companies need to be driven, dedicated, and diligent, and the lean years after launch demand a lot of your time and attention. But you should always put your own health and wellbeing first and give yourself ample time for nurturing personal connections and pursuits. The business will be better because of your attention to your physical and mental health and the support system you build around yourself.

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?

While I believe everyone has the capability to lead, not everyone may want to, and that is okay. We need to recognize and celebrate that every individual’s life goals are personal and not every woman wants or needs to be the boss.

To be successful as a founder means different things to different people, but I believe that conscious leadership — the ability to lead with compassion and self-awareness to build a culture of kindness where everyone feels valued and supported — is the key to long-term success.

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.)

Eliminate what’s unnecessary in order to illuminate what’s essential. This practice of stripping away what’s not essential, whether it’s with my commitments, a story I’m writing or editing, purging my closet, or even writing a recipe, has become my most important habit as my career has grown. I think about how I can pull out the most “flavor” with the fewest number of ingredients.

Dream about the future, but we don’t hold on too tightly to exactly what those dreams will look like. My career story is an example of following what lights you up without really knowing exactly how it would all play out. That’s something I’ve followed through the rest of my career: being very intentional about pursuing the things I love and that I know I want to spend my time doing, but also keeping an open hand to the full expression of how that might look different than what I had initially imagined. And that it might be better than what I thought it would be.

The way we spend our time is a direct reflection of our priorities.

Whether we are conscious of it or not, we’re always expressing what our true priorities are. I had to get very real with myself about the fact that the way I spend my time is a direct expression of what is most important to me — when my kids were little, I was trying to be the kind of mother I wanted to be, without giving up any of my work responsibilities. I’ve now become more conscious of how I regularly spend my time to make sure it’s aligned. Examples of this: I never check emails in the morning. I spend that planning how I’ll time-block my day to make sure I leave room for what’s important. When my kids are up, I’m focused on them until it’s time to head to school. And then I have focused work time where I tackle my top priorities first.

Your unique genius is already within you. Spend time cultivating your inner life so that you can uncover the unique beauty that only you can bring to the world. For me, that happens each morning during my journaling practice.

Be patient. In the early days, be scrappy so you can invest in people — the most important part of any company. In the first few years of my company, I saw my peers renting these beautiful studio spaces, but I chose to invest that money right back into the business and hire great people while we worked together in the guest room of my house. It was unglamorous, but I could be patient because I was in it for the long haul. When the timing was right, we were in a position to buy a beautiful studio of our own in downtown Austin, and since I didn’t do it too early, we were able to make a great investment that led to future growth instead of draining resources.

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

Within my inner circle of my family, friends, team members, professional partners, and industry peers, I hope I have modeled what leading with kindness can create. I value each of my personal and professional relationships greatly and appreciate the collaboration and support they provide.

To our readers and the outside world, I hope we provide a warm, welcoming space for them to explore how to live the life of their dreams by uncovering their own quest for beauty that lives within each of us. I strongly believe in the power of beauty and creativity in all its forms and the positive effect they can have on our lives and society at large.

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 would want to empower every person — regardless of skill level, budget considerations, or time constraints — to recognize that they have the power to create the life they want.

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’d love to sit down with Oprah to soak up her wisdom and hear her lifetime of incredible stories. Out of all her accomplishments, what I admire most about her is her desire to forge her own path and recreate her career many times over. She truly does things on her own terms, and has never let naysayers keep her from going after big dreams. I also respect Gwyneth Paltrow’s ability to make a major career pivot, walking away from a successful acting career to create a media empire that celebrates other voices and perspectives. She’s never afraid to be controversial and push the envelope in an effort to question assumptions and make people think.

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

Female Founders: Camille Styles 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: Christina Oden of OMD Corp On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a…

Female Founders: Christina Oden of OMD Corp On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

No one is going to believe in you, if you do not believe in yourself first! Believing that you can be a founder is the first step, figuring out how is the next! When I first went out on my own, I had a male “partner” because I thought no one would take a woman GC seriously here in NYC. After 6 months of doing absolutely everything on my own I looked around and realized I only needed to believe in myself and my team’s ability to be taken seriously. So, I bought out my partner, shortened the name of my company and have only increased in sales year after year since! Had I simply believed in myself, I would be that much further along.

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

Christina Oden is the Founder & President of OMD I Corp., a Commercial & Residential General Construction Company licensed in NY, NJ & FL. Her Company has built more than 50 NYC high end, well known, and often times Celebrity Chef owned Restaurants and Food & Beverage venues, not to mention their hundreds of residential accolades. Christina is among the less than 3% of Woman Founders within the Construction Industry in NYC.

I fell into this industry back in college in Kentucky and as I became good at it, I learned that I truly had a passion for building amazing things out of often times nothing but a pile of wood and a drawing. I grew up in the South where woman working with their hands alongside men isn’t really that rare, but then I moved here to NYC for law school, only to find my calling when I worked for a large land developer here. I did attempt to work in a law firm for a short while but found myself to be quite miserable there. Building was my passion, not sitting behind a desk negotiating with people all day. Not long after, I decided to create my own company doing exactly what I love.

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

Well, this happens quite often; salesman will come to the jobsite and ask to speak to “The Boss” and when my crew points to me, they still ask me to speak to my boss. When I say, you’re speaking to her, they usually have to take a moment to adjust their thinking. Most make a comment about how rare it is to find a woman at the helm, especially on the size jobsites that we are often times blessed to be a part of. Most female salesman though get a real joy out of it. Let’s just say high fives have happened more than once.

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?

That has to have been when I ordered a pallet and not a case. After having to beg and plead for the vender to take back the overage, I learned from that point on to check quantities closely! But you should have seen the receivers face when a semi-truck backed up to the jobsite and started unloading!

Yes, I won’t name any names here but when I moved here from Kentucky my accent was thick and no one seemed to take me seriously, nor were they ambitious to even give me a chance. However, this one developer saw me in action as a Jr PM. He heard me get high strung at the board room gentlemen who clearly had never worked on a job site before, nor had they ever gotten their hands dirty before. He realized that had I not called them out and stood up to them that he potentially would have lost millions of dollars on building incorrectly. He saw that I cared enough about the project that I would stand up to those set out to harm it instead of admitting they were wrong even if it meant I could be fired. From that interaction he gave me a chance to really learn from him some valuable skills that have still stuck with me today. Then, when I went out on my own many years later, I thought he would blackball me from the industry, but he did the exact opposite. He informed his subcontractors that if they didn’t give me bids for my projects that they would no longer be getting requests from his company moving forward. He owed me nothing, but he did that just the same. You know, I still use those same subcontractors today as we have all become a sort of work family. I will be forever grateful for his kindness and generosity.

I think most woman feel that they must give up having a family to operate a company and unfortunately for the most part that tends to be true due to the hard time mothers have in finding a support system that will allow her to both raise a family and cultivate a successful business. I am in the construction industry and there are less than 3%-woman founders in NYC and most that are here are really operated by a wife and husband team. Solo female founders like myself are like unicorns. I wish there was more support for woman who want a family and a business because until there is, this will remain an uphill battle.

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 know for the construction industry there are quite a few “Woman and Minority” contract allocations. However, the preapproval process has layers and layers of bureaucracy, all of the red tape is literally drowning and not to mention, intimidating. One ends up giving up rather than suffering through the process. In the end, they get a variance approval to be able to award the jobs to a non-Woman or Minority due to not having anyone bid for the contract that fits the criteria. So, while it sounds all good intentioned for the city to claim that 30% of all Government Construction Contracts are allocated for us, most never are awarded as such. The Pre-Approval process needs to be streamlined & accepting of smaller up and coming companies. We have no issue with proving that we belong, but you have to at least allow us up to bat, if you wish to ever see us knock one out of the park!

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?

Woman by nature are more detail oriented, we are more understanding, even nurturing if you will. This allows for a better work environment, quality of work produced and far better customer service communications. Men have their attributes as well, ones that we cannot do without in business. However, woman if they just had a little more self-confidence & support, I feel could truly be the deciding factor in the successfulness of any business.

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

“Women bring their emotions to work” — Well, other than an unparalleled tireless work ethic fueled by a passion and a sense of obligational commitment to both my clients and team to succeed, my emotions are checked at the shed when I come through the doors to work. Who I am as a woman drives me to meet committed deadlines at all costs.

Founders are self-starters, free thinkers, ambitious by nature individuals. If you pop out of bed in the morning and can’t wait to get the day started and you are generally the one at your job doing everyone else’s workloads, while thinking of ways to simplify processes and are the go-to problem solver in the office, then you my friend are a founder! You only need to now find your passion and go after it. While if you are the type of person sitting around waiting for the weekend to come or for the clock to strike 5pm so that you may clock out and go home, then you should remain an employee (who by the way should also change career paths to something that does fuel you). Not everyone is a founder, you either are or you are not.

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.)

No one is going to believe in you, if you do not believe in yourself first! Believing that you can be a founder is the first step, figuring out how is the next! When I first went out on my own, I had a male “partner” because I thought no one would take a woman GC seriously here in NYC. After 6 months of doing absolutely everything on my own I looked around and realized I only needed to believe in myself and my team’s ability to be taken seriously. So, I bought out my partner, shortened the name of my company and have only increased in sales year after year since! Had I simply believed in myself, I would be that much further along.
Leave family & friendships for outside of business. Be friendly with clients and your team but do not let the lines blur when handling business. I tried to do construction for family and that was a disaster, as they know no boundaries. Then I tried to see my clients as friends when in the end they were only concerned with their own bottom-line, not the health of my company. Business is business, it’s not personal, so keep it strictly business. And all team members have to be held to the same rules, if you give an inch, they will try to push the boundaries even further.
Keep super strict accounting and pay yourself a specified salary. Your company is not your piggybank to use as needed. All extra profits should remain in the company to keep it healthy and thriving. If you keep yourself regimented and budgeted both your home life and business will have successful longevity.
Create SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) for everything that you do over and over in your business. Once you have those SOP ironed out, teach them to your team and hold everyone accountable for following them. This will save yourself a lot of headaches in the long run. Let’s just say my first year setting with the tax accountant taught me a whole lot about Standard Operating Procedures and organizational skills!
Take time for yourself or you will burn out and not be any good to anyone especially yourself. I used to push myself by saying, “If I would work myself to the bone for an employer, then I can definitely do it for myself.” And that is true to a point but there comes a time when your brain and bones need to rest and regenerate. If you wouldn’t race a Lamborghini on an empty fuel tank and expect it to make it across the finish line, then you can’t expect yourself to run on empty without refueling. I used to work 7 days a week, I would be on the jobsite before my team arrived and be the one shutting off the lights at night but then I started making mistakes, allowing minor things to fall between the cracks. That’s when I realized 1, I had a work capacity limit not to exceed and 2, I had to write everything down in my sheepskin book. Both have proven to be instrumental in my company’s continued success.

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

I feel that I have in some small ways, but I have far grander desires for the future in that regard that I feel will be more impactful. It starts by showing woman that we can do anything and everything that we set our minds to do. I try each day to defy all social restraints, and against all odds, time and again have proven that woman are equal to men. While we are quite different and both are unquestionably needed, my gender is not to be looked upon as a handicap in any industry.

I would love to inspire the world to instead of looking at our differences, look to our similarities and instead of discouraging others, encourage them. Be a champion for each other, instead of judge and jury. I feel this would make the world a far better place to live and raise our children in. Not to mention all the new wonderous things that could be cultivated from all this newfound support.

Elon Musk, of course. However, I would answer this way even if he were not the wealthiest man in the world. I am fascinated by how his creative, out of the box mind seems to work. Having even a little insight to that way of thinking, to me would be quite fascinating and a truly priceless experience.

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

Female Founders: Christina Oden of OMD Corp 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.

Female Founders: Carla Grandori of SEngine Precision Medicine On The Five Things You Need To Thrive…

Female Founders: Carla Grandori of SEngine Precision Medicine On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Maintain your optimism. When we started, I could see from the data that our tech would work. But it’s a long path from founding to market, especially in biotech, and there were times I wished we could just fast-forward to now. It would have given us even more steel in our spines. You need to start small, acknowledge that some failures will happen along the way, but keep your eyes also on victories — in our case, that means improving the life of one patient at a time.

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

Dr. Carla Grandori, a physician-scientist and cancer research innovator, is co-founder and CEO of SEngine Precision Medicine, a biotech that created the PARIS Test to guide better medicine development for more targeted, personalized cancer care. The company was inspired by the pioneering academic work that she and several colleagues produced at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Carla studied medicine in her native Italy and obtained a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the Rockefeller University in New York, launching a research career in which she developed new technologies to help unravel the function of genes that drive many human cancers.

I always had a great interest in science, spurred on by a family of scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs. I was especially inspired by my grandmother. She was a high school teacher, mother of four boys, and worked in her husband’s laboratory — he was a professor of entomology at the University of Milan. I grew up fascinated by all of her stories about science changing the world — the discovery of DNA, how cells divide, how chromosomes carry genetic information, how butterflies change colors, and so on. My grandmother had a poster of Watson and Crick in her bedroom! She made sure I knew that a woman scientist, Rosalind Franklin, played a key role in that discovery.

Like so many of us, cancer touched my family and changed the trajectory of my life at a young age. I watched my grandmother suffer not just from her disease, but from barbaric chemotherapies that ultimately did not change the course of her disease. I had been studying physics at university, but after she passed away, I abruptly changed plans and applied for medical school, and dove into my studies. I felt a great need to understand why people developed cancer, and an innate sense that if I studied, I could help change outcomes for other families.

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

When you work in academia, even if you make important discoveries or invent groundbreaking technology, you don’t often get to see it through to the point where it can impact patients. You’re always thinking ahead ten years to see potential applications. So those moments at SEngine where we can really see the impact of our work are all the more special for me.

For context, we’ve developed the PARIS Test, which we built to complement the unique and very complex genetic information of each tumor now used in precision medicine. Everyone thinks of DNA as an instruction manual for how cells work, and it is, but it is written for the most part in a language that’s been lost in translation. This is why the PARIS Test is designed to be unbiased, meaning it empirically tests a broad menu of oncology drugs directly onto each patient’s own cancer — but outside their body. With this method, we find drugs that are potentially effective. It’s helping match patients with the right drugs, and also facilitates drug discovery for new first-in-class medicines for personalized care. Ultimately this approach will enable “translation” of the DNA manual to fully enable personalized precision oncology.

I remember clearly how excited we were when our testing identified novel cancer targets from a sample, and a rudimentary drug against one of them cured a mouse of cancer. And we had a similar feeling the first time we found an unexpected drug match that helped a patient go into remission. But perhaps the most interesting moment was during a more recent trial for head and neck cancer, where our platform had identified a specific investigational drug would be effective for this type of cancer. The first woman to be treated was in such extreme pain that she needed high doses of painkillers, and she was addicted. One week into the trial on this new medicine, as soon as she was pain-free and able to open her mouth, she said she didn’t need any more pain medication.

You never forget something like this, and as we grow, we are having more and more of these experiences. The woman with ovarian cancer who supposedly ran out of treatment options — we matched her unexpectedly with a lymphoma medicine and saw remarkable results. The patient with metastatic pancreatic cancer who is disease-free a year and a half later after we matched him to a therapy. It’s so rewarding.

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?

I can remember one of my first experiments in grad school, where I ruined a long night’s work by dropping an entire tray of petri dishes onto the floor, spilling chicken-derived embryo cells everywhere. My distinguished, Lasker Award-winning advisor smiled and helped me clean up the mess. It was a lesson in humility and patience.

But we all make mistakes, especially when learning something new. I think it’s an important part of leadership, to acknowledge them and grow. When I moved from academia to running this company, I was perhaps too trusting of others and envisioned that our interests were aligned with potential partners. But after time and money lost, I learned the value of getting clarity on the partner’s goals — early in negotiations. It was important that we had an experienced corporate lawyer, so that is a key choice for start-ups.

I could name 100 people — friends, family, colleagues. Artists, writers, businessmen and Nobel Prize winners who helped and inspired me, such as Dr. Lee Hartwell who eventually joined our Board of Directors. Among these there are several women scientists and managers that have contributed to the success of SEngine. In particular, I’m grateful to one woman scientist, Rachele Rosati, who worked so hard to find methods that let us keep cancers from many different tumor types alive outside the body, so that we could test if drugs work without harming patients in the process. Her power of observation, learning from every sample, was key to our success. I’ve also surrounded myself with like-minded women and men with extraordinary compassion, they are my closest circle of friends. Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee, the serial entrepreneur, cancer scientist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Cancer, The Emperor of All Maladies is among them.

I’m most grateful for SEngine co-founders, Christopher Kemp (cancer geneticists), VK Gadi (oncologist), Brady Bernard (computational scientist) and Eddie Mendez (surgeon). Also, our early employees at SEngine — we started with six people, and five of us were 40 or younger. From the beginning, everyone was willing to take on Mission: Impossible, every day — creatively clearing obstacles without negativity. I remember we were in a shared space and could only book a conference room at 9 a.m. on Mondays. Everyone was there, on time, enthusiastic.

We have been extremely lucky to attract the talent we have early on and the engagement of champion oncologists who understood the power of personalizing cancer treatments. We were approached by an experienced business development strategist who was familiar with our IP, Ulrich Mueller. He said, “Can I be your Chief Business Officer?” Our Chief Financial Officer, Tom Neary, with years of experience as CFO, found us too — with his help, we’ve grown from a scrappy startup to the company we are today. When those opportunities arise, they call for fast decisions!

It’s perhaps obvious: I think women are expected to think more inward about their families and prioritize them before the world around them. As a woman, my priorities were to first raise kids, and be our family caregiver. But during my scientific career, I also needed quiet focus to finish my experiments, so that often meant heading back to work after dinner with no kids around. It’s hard for anyone to balance family and work life, but expectations are much harsher for women. I was lucky to have a very understanding mentor.

I’d encourage women to look beyond one’s family and community and think about the world more broadly too. What does the world need in a big way? Women need to be more entrepreneurial and dream big.

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?

Because of these expectations I mentioned, we need support. Within families, we need helpful partners. Companies should offer more flexibility, and not just to women — one positive thing that arose following the onset of the pandemic is that the business world became more accommodating, and I don’t think we’ll go back. And I would love to see more women VC’s too — not just to back women-run businesses, but because I think we’ll see a broader set of values represented in investments. When the time is right, I plan to begin supporting women-owned companies myself.

Looking even more broadly, yes, government programs that ensure reliable childcare and schooling would make a big difference. It’s a challenge to keep dreaming and pursue your dreams, even more so without help.

I helped start SEngine at a time when I had fewer obligations, which is the way it had to be — starting a company is an all-absorbing enterprise.

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 are half the people in the world! In some ways, maybe in terms of product niches, we have unique needs, and who better to meet them than companies run by women?

I don’t mean to suggest that men can’t set out with a good mission when they launch a company, but I think as we see more women entrepreneurs, we’ll see more cause-driven enterprises, with goals beyond just power and profit. In my case, the biggest factor driving me to start SEngine was what traditionally could be seen in the business world as a weakness: my compassion for human suffering in general, and particularly for the cancer patients I had a hunch that I could help.

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

First, I think people believe that founding a company is a solo activity, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. No one can do it alone. We had a team of co-founders, and worked hard early on to develop a diverse, inclusive culture that would support growth, exactly because we understood that our mission would require a strong interdisciplinary team that relied on each other.

Also, I don’t think people realize how much the job of a founder — and a CEO — is to carry the message of many. It’s an important job, to share the story of the company, the mission, our values. Obviously you become a key spokesperson externally, but even within the company, we have a role to play as we grow in making sure new team members understand what we are all about.

Lastly I’d say, visionary founders may think long-term about what the company will do, but they don’t always consider the operational needs of a growing company. In our early days with a small team, supporting our core cultural values like openness, positivity, kindness, striving for excellence and collaboration was more straightforward. But we’ll be at 40 people by the end of this year and restructuring to support this stage required many new considerations. It was hard to picture we’d look like this in those early Monday morning all-hands-on-deck boardroom meetings, and while openness and flexibility got us here, now creating a strong infrastructure and organization has moved front and center .

Successful founders must be absolutely convinced that what they have, in terms of technology, knowledge and mission, are worth the investment — not of just money but of many peoples’ efforts and sacrifices. They also must be always willing to learn, be resilient, be flexible, and remain optimistic despite the unavoidable challenges. Especially in the early days at a life science company, new data can push you in unexpected directions all the time. For that reason, you need to be able to problem-solve, adapt to situations, and maintain a dose of humility — not every idea will pan out.

It would be easy to get discouraged, but the strongest founders don’t lose faith in the vision so easily. It takes a strong grounding in product knowledge, a positive outlook, and vigilance. And I think people who maintain connections and have the support of friends and family are the best at balancing all the hard work required without getting lost.

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.)

Maintain your optimism. When we started, I could see from the data that our tech would work. But it’s a long path from founding to market, especially in biotech, and there were times I wished we could just fast-forward to now. It would have given us even more steel in our spines. You need to start small, acknowledge that some failures will happen along the way, but keep your eyes also on victories — in our case, that means improving the life of one patient at a time.

Be aware that the path will inevitably be harder, longer (and more expensive) than you think. One practical application of that realization is in preparing for the struggle, avoid tight budgets — you’re going to need wiggle room. Never underestimate! The risks are high and your company may fail, but your inspiration and conviction– the need, your technology or idea, your product — is worth going for it. It took 7 years to get from founding the company to making the PARIS Test commercially available. So it takes patience and perseverance, but keep focused on the vision and pay attention to positive results early on.

Both your mental and your physical strength will be tested. Actually, I think it’s best I didn’t hear this too much before starting out. This path sometimes means absence from loved ones, an obsession with running the business and constantly learning, with little time for socializing and the rest of what makes life full. For me, consistently making time for relaxation and meditation recharges me to take on the next challenges.

Learn to delegate and mentor. The best possible investment of your time will be to train and mentor others and let them amplify your mission. I wish I’d learned this earlier, but like so many founders, I felt such personal ownership of our work that it was hard. But take the time to understand both your strengths and your weaknesses. This will guide you to bring in people with complementary talents, those better suited for certain tasks, and share burdens that you just won’t have time to handle alone.

Founding a company is a much different experience than anything that’s come before it. Particularly in life sciences, many of us are coming from an academic background, and I wish there was a class for how to transition from scientist to CEO. In academia, introverts can thrive, but founding a successful company requires networking, and connecting with a diverse group of people. That includes investors, advisors, employees, business partners, and media. And I’m sure this is true of many other fields as well — the skills that served you well earlier in your career may not be what you need to succeed as a founder. You have to be open to re-inventing yourself, and practicing new skills.

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

This has always been clear to me based on our mission — if the product is good, we’re going to help patients with cancer get safer, personalized, and more effective medicines. We’re seeing the fruit of that now, and already many patients have been helped by drugs they might not have found otherwise.

Here’s what gives me and our team major strength: the awareness that our everyday progress, with every patient we match with existing or with newly developed drugs, we also gain knowledge that will help future patients and fuel future cancer therapy development. By building a viable, sustainable and growing business, we’re supporting products that will make a difference for cancer patients by helping oncologists select the best treatments. And I take seriously the responsibility of ensuring our company is good for employees, too.

I want to encourage more women to engage with the world. That includes in politics, where I’m sure we would promote peace. Many women have instincts to care for their family, yet that strength can be channeled toward their community, their country and humankind.

I’d love to sit down with Elon Musk. First, he has amazing vision, and an undeniable talent for generating excitement around his choices. I would love to talk with him about his experiences, and maybe get him excited about our technology and how it would fast-track cancer cures. I’ve also heard him compare starting a company to eating glass, and I know just what he means especially when revolutionizing an industry.

But I would also love to tell him about my father, Carlo, who was a technical CEO like Elon and I. In the 60’s he developed patents for drilling technology at a time when much of the industry worldwide was using dynamite, with a high casualty rate for workers. With a small bank loan, he became an industry pioneer, and the company became a world leader in precise, powerful tunnel drilling. Given Elon’s Boring Company, I’d love to share some stories with him.

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

Female Founders: Carla Grandori of SEngine Precision Medicine On The Five Things You Need To Thrive… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Disruptors: Janvieve Williams Comrie of AfroResistance On The Three Things You Need To Shake…

Female Disruptors: Janvieve Williams Comrie of AfroResistance On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Not everything is so serious. — When you’re doing this work around social justice, sometimes we tend to get serious all the time. And I’m so grateful that I have two small children that keep it light. My 11 year old son tells me all the time, “Mama is not that serious”. And each day, I get to go back to my 11 year old self because, he is right, it is really not that serious. And the truth is that he is wise beyond his years because not everything is so serious. So I find joy, laughter and pleasure in my work as well. At all times.

As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry,b I had the pleasure of interviewing Janvieve Williams Comrie.

Janvieve Williams Comrie is a human rights strategist, trainer and organizer with a deep commitment to assist in the building of powerful social movements for racial justice and human rights. She has worked in a variety of fields and for several human rights institutions, including the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights Regional Office Central America, where she coordinated a regional program on race and racism. Janvieve is internationally recognized for her work with Afrodescendent communities.

I began organizing when I was very young and I mean very young, but we didn’t call it organizing in Panama where I’m from, nor during that time.. And I say that because organizing was simply a common way life in the communities that I am from, people seeing a need, zooming into that need and with others, collectively finding, sometimes demanding a solution to that need. I usually tagged along with my father when I was a child, his friends and him where were always active doing something in the community. When I was 8, 9 or even 10 years old, I did not know that he was part of different what they call movements, but then as I started getting older, through those experiences I started being able to see and identify different things like shortage of water and electricity, that education wasn’t the same for everybody, basic things like that. I started to perceive that were unequal in Panama, even though I obviously did not have the language at the time.

In essence, I didn’t come into this as a career. I still don’t see it as a career per se. I see it as a journey. I see it as a process. I see it as a way of life and in reflection, this journey, process, way of life, has given to me into me as I have given to it. So I have never thought of this once, as a career. Yes, I have gone to school, I am a sociologist and a political scientist. And those have definitely influenced the way that I think and the strategies that I apply to this work. And yes, I do financially sustain my family with this work, and that is a privilege of its own. I am honored that I get to work for the ‘betterment’ of communities where I belong, where I can identify myself with, where I certainly say, “I benefited from their work, and I am simpy continuing that”.

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

The work that I’m doing that is disruptive is disruptive because what I’m in essence doing through the organization that I founded and that I’m currently direct, AfroResistance, is creating systems and structures that do not leave Black Women and Black Girls, and their families that are immigrants from Latin America and the Caribbean behind, and also transforming current systems that are in place that are oppressive to them, to us. It is really looking at how do we create and seize opportunities to examine and to transform practices, policies, and the systems, and bring those to the public light, and to public conversations we’re having, and if we are not having them, then, we are a catalyst to having them.

Our work is grounded racial equity and gender equity, and centering issues that impact, Black communities from our idiosyncrasies, from our cultural expressions, from our perspectives. To many, that starting is challenging and it makes many have to be reflective and have to really challenge their own biases, their own way of thinking.

And that reflection in itself is disruptive.

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?

I was probably in my early twenties and I was working already at the Women’s Institute at the University of Panama and I had to facilitate a workshop, and we usually used projectors. This specific workshop was in a rural community. And I was informed that the workshop was gonna be outside, which is where they always have workshops. And of course there is no electricity. Of course everybody laughed

Because they were like, of course she’s coming from the University of Panama with all the technology, and all they have is butcher paper and markers. What I learned from that was never not to rely on technology and always be ready to improvise. Now, I can facilitate anything, anywhere with whatever materials I have available, no matter how limited they are.

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

I’m a firm believer in life that we don’t only need a little help, we need a lot of help along our journey, because we stand on the shoulders of many, I do not come to this alone by any means, I’ve had a lot of not only mentors, but people that have held my hand. I can proudly now say that I’m at a stage where I’m doing a lot of hand holding, mentoring new, while at the same time still being mentored.

One of my earliest mentors was my grandmother., I used to spend a lot of time with since I was very young, not only helping her, but also listening and watching her. She would share stories of her childhood and her adolescence and her adulthood with me. She was an identical twin, that had very similar yet distinct lives, and I really honor those stories because she had big dreams for me. And there where dreams of love and hope, and all her work where a foundation for me to be able to stand tall, to fulfill those dreams. And then another one of my mentors, father. I get to speak to him almost on a daily basis. We haven’t lived together, not even in the same country for over 20 years now. Yet he is still one of my to go to people in regards to what direction do I go to with the organization in regards to politics and policies.

I honestly could say that I have a circle of women that hold it down and mentor me on a physical, mental and spiritual level, and without them, I couldn’t do the work that I do as freely as I do. We are all immigrants living without our immediate family, some of us have life partners like I do and some of us don’t, and we have really created a strong knit family, where our survival depends on each other and without them, I honestly would not be able to, thrive as a Woman, as a Mother, as a Black woman, as a Black mother, raising Black children as I do. So they are also mentors in this world for me. Because everyday I learn from them.

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

I am my only competition — It’s easy to focus on what others are doing, especially in the nonprofit world. And the truth is because we’re trying to work with other people and transform people’s lives, we are our own competition. I have learned that I just need to focus on fulfilling my own life’s mission, and on the impact that on not only individuals, but collectively in the organization and in the world. I constantly ask myself, Am I doing the best I can? Are others around me growing? Am I growing? Am I getting better at what I do? If the answer is yes, then I need to do better. If the answer is no, then I need to figure out why, and then I need to do better. I can’t look at others and compare myself to them. I would always be spiraling.
You must read and listen between the lines. — Since very small, I was taught to listen carefully because there’s power in silence. Those that know me well, know that I’m very comfortable with silence. Between words and sentences, there’s a lot that is said, and that is a skill that you pick up as you mature right in life, but for that, you have to be a good listener, tuning into what people are saying and what they’re not saying. A lot of people are very uncomfortable with silence. And there is listening to that silence in between not just words but statements. And in that silence, there is knowledge, wisdom and a lot of information.
Not everything is so serious. — When you’re doing this work around social justice, sometimes we tend to get serious all the time. And I’m so grateful that I have two small children that keep it light. My 11 year old son tells me all the time, “Mama is not that serious”. And each day, I get to go back to my 11 year old self because, he is right, it is really not that serious. And the truth is that he is wise beyond his years because not everything is so serious. So I find joy, laughter and pleasure in my work as well. At all times.

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

Absolutely. I am not done. I am a licensed coached.I wanna do is grow my, my coaching practice, to really impact more Black Women throughout the region in regards to their self care, and personal growth, but also how they see themselves in society. I also want to do more writing. I also want to expand my writing to have more regional impact, so more children can see themselves in books, and that more Black Women can be published.

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

Any book by Bell Hook really, her books bring together why I do the things that I do. Not only because of her deep analysis around race, gender and the depthness of the political, but also the hope, the love, the fight, and what it means to be a woman in society. Bell Hooks, shares tools to dismantle, to fight and to organize. And, and that we, are entitled to be upset. And that we are also are entitled to greatness in life, and I want that for everybody. I want that for all women, for all men, all children, all genders and all races and all people. I want that for all of us. I want us for, to all breathe and all, to be able to enjoy the fruits of each other.

I think we need to look at the youth and trust and to the youth. We need to transfer power to the youth. I really believe that the youth are happier than most of us over a certain age, at least my age. And I really believe that youth have a lot of experience that we undervalue. I believe that youth have a lot of answers to take us forward and that we need to trust, um, young people, um, and that young people need to step it up as well. The movement towards liberation and freedom has to be youth led and the youth are leading, but some of us are not listening. So I think that if I could inspire a movement that could bring the most amount of change in the most amount of people, it has to be youth led. And within that, we have to trust that trans Black youth are going to lead us forward.

How can our readers follow you online?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/janvieve-williams-comrie

www.afroresistance.org

www.janvieve.com

Instagram: jwpanama and AfroResistance

Facebook: Janvieve Williams Comrie and AfroResistance

Twitter: Jwpanama and Afro_Resistance

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

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

Author and Keynote Speaker Massoma Alam: 5 Things Anyone Can Do To Optimize Their Mental Wellness

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Find joy in life — When was the last time you laughed? Like really laughed? We really should laugh more! Don’t take life so seriously, just enjoy the good times! Do things that you love, that bring your happiness, that spark excitement in your soul. Do more of that. Burst out into song, dance in your living room with your kids, eat ice cream with your dog, watch a comedy special with your partner, dance in the rain by yourself. Make time for joy. You deserve it.

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

Massoma Alam Chohan is an author, a TEDx speaker, a wife, a mother of two, and a strong advocate for those suffering from anxiety. She graduated from the State University of Buffalo with a bachelor’s in Biology and Psychology, completed two years of Medical School, and later went on to complete her master’s in Industrial & Organizational Psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology.

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

It’s been a whirlwind of a journey, to say the least, for me to get to where I am today. I always wanted to be a doctor growing up, as a South Asian it is one of the most respected and known careers. Hence, I chose the pre-med pathway in college double majoring in Biology and Psychology. However, after I had already completed two years of medical school I had my first major panic attack which snowballed into Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Panic disorder. My anxiety was so debilitating that it forced me to drop out of medical school and my career trajectory changed. After speaking to some career coaches and doing a ton of online research I found that going back to school for my Masters in Industrial-Organizational Psychology (Business Psychology) was the best and most exciting option for me. I knew I was on the right path when I enjoyed what I was learning, found it exciting, and yearned to learn more.

Let’s normalize career changes, we grow and transform as we get older and it’s ok not to know what you want to do or be, but following your interests and passions will not steer you wrong.

What inspired you to become a mental health advocate?

I suffered from Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and Panic Disorder (PD) for nine years. I know the pain and anguish it comes with. Being a mental health advocate is my way of giving back. I’ve tried almost every kind of therapy, been on medications, read tons of self-help books, and I want to share all the knowledge I’ve gained with the world. I don’t want anyone else to suffer the way I did, I don’t want anyone to feel they are alone in this–because they are not. I want to give a voice to those who are suffering in silence. I want to break the stigma associated with mental health illnesses and normalize discussing our feelings and seeking out help–because it helps, and it changes lives. If my story can be a beacon of hope for someone out there, or if it can inspire them to pick themselves up, then I can go to sleep happy. It’s my passion to help others and I’m happy to do it.

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

I would not be here without the help of many along the way. I can’t harp on this enough, my success is a collective effort from all the lovely people who helped me in some way along my journey. I will have to say though, my parents have been the most supportive in my life, their love and guidance is unmatched. Their immigrant story of traveling with 4 kids across the world to give them a better life leaves me in awe. My parents worked so hard to get to where they are today, it truly is so heartwarming and encouraging. They always encouraged me and helped me in achieving my dreams. They are the epitome of the American Dream and a story of hustling to get to the top. Because of them, I am here today, everything I am is because of their affection and teachings. I am forever grateful.

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

To be productive but also experience joy at work–that is the goal, right? Can both exist together? I believe so! In fact, the happier you are the more productive you will be. To thrive at work, you must first and foremost address your wellness. When you are taking care of yourself, it will show in all aspects of your life and avoid burnout. Notice the signs of burnout (depression-like symptoms such as loss of motivation, feeling inadequate, sense of failure, exhaustion etc.), and take preventative care. What does that look like? It means, taking your lunch break (ha!), having a work-life balance, finding purpose and meaning in your work, nourishing your creative side, being organized, having important conversations with your managers, and giving yourself grace when you make mistakes or fail.

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

Listen to your employees, really listen. Make them feel heard by addressing their concerns and create a psychologically safe environment. Use intrinsic motivation for your employees such as a sense of belonging, purpose, professional and personal growth opportunities to foster fulfillment at work. Be willing to be flexible and be able to handle family-care demands. If you care about your employees, they will in return care about you and your company. By presenting attainable deadlines, reasonable expectations and workload you will establish a thriving environment where employees will stress less and produce more!

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

Get to know yourself! — There are many tips and strategies out there for mental wellness, sometimes it’s like a game of trial and error to see what’s best for you. It’s not a one size fits all! When you really get to know yourself through tools like meditation, mindfulness, therapy, and journaling you will have better self awareness of your triggers and also learn what will work for you. For instance, I know that if I don’t get proper sleep or have too much caffeine, I tend to get anxious. I also learned while writing my book (basically journaling) that I procrastinate because I have perfectionist traits (I had no awareness of this prior to writing my book)! There is lots to learn- so dive in!
Get professional help — There’s no shame in seeing a mental health professional! It is not a sign of weakness, but rather strength — to take responsibility and action for your own wellbeing! We go to the gym and get trainers to make our bodies strong, so why not go to a therapist to make our minds strong? Let’s normalize seeing a therapist! There’s something about talking to a trained mental health professional in a safe, non-judgemental, and confidential space that aids in the healing process. They are not your friend or family who have prior biases, they are there to listen and to help you learn skills for your mental wellness. It’s not easy, and sometimes it gets messy, but it’s so worth it for sustainable wellness!
Find joy in life — When was the last time you laughed? Like really laughed? We really should laugh more! Don’t take life so seriously, just enjoy the good times! Do things that you love, that bring your happiness, that spark excitement in your soul. Do more of that. Burst out into song, dance in your living room with your kids, eat ice cream with your dog, watch a comedy special with your partner, dance in the rain by yourself. Make time for joy. You deserve it.
Giving back — One of the tips I give in my book for when you are feeling anxious is to compliment someone. It breaks that stress pattern. Scientific studies have shown that when we help others it can reduce stress, increase our sense of meaning, life satisfaction, and self-confidence. Even small acts of kindness like a smile can activate our reward center in our brain. You can give back by volunteering, helping a stranger, caring for animals, and supporting friends and family in tough times.
Be kind to yourself — The way we speak to ourselves dictates our mood and consequently our wellbeing. Positive self-talk influences our subconscious mind which affects our thoughts and behaviors. Imagine how happy we would be if we constantly spoke to ourselves with love and compassion. Imagine how happy we would be if we forgave ourselves for our mistakes and learned from them. When we uplift ourselves and stop being so hard on ourselves we create a space for growth and healing. Positive inner dialogue also improves our quality of life. We should be our #1 cheerleaders and root for ourselves, because if we don’t, who will?

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

Positive self-talk is the #1 way to live a happier life. Talk to yourself in a loving, compassionate, and kind way! We are often so mean to ourselves. Catch yourself when you find yourself talking negatively and quickly correct it. Awareness is key and it takes practice. Become aware of negative self-talk. Always be kind to yourself and talk to yourself like you would your best friend. If you do make a mistake, understand that you are a human and not a robot. Learn and grow from it, don’t let it despair and cripple you. Use mistakes and failures to catapult you to betterment.

Human connection is so important to treat others with love and respect. Don’t burn any bridges on the way to the top. Keep in mind we are all human, don’t be intimidated by others or bosses, talk to them with the intention of a human connection, and you will probably have a more fulfilling conversation.

As a woman of color and mother of two, what are some tips you can give our audience who may be experiencing mental health struggles within the home and/or work?

Ask for help! Whether that be hiring a babysitter, nanny, a cleaning service, or asking family for help. Summertime is great because a lot of high school and college students are looking for jobs! Anything to take something off your plate! Being a mom is a full-time job, with no breaks, and it’s OK to ask for help. You don’t need to be perfect, you don’t need to do it all, and it’s okay if the house is a little messy. If you have trust issues, make sure you conduct interviews, background checks, and you can even be home while getting a mama’s helper! Perform working interviews, where you can watch the babysitter with your kid and evaluate if they are the best fit. Getting help is a major game changer, so let go of the control a little bit and get some rest!
Let go of “Mom guilt.” I talk about mom guilt in my book, because it’s something I experience a lot and need to intentionally validate myself on decisions I make for my self-care. Self-care is about doing something for yourself that leaves you feeling refreshed and rejuvenated such as going out with friends, taking a nice walk, having a cup of coffee while you journal. If it is difficult for you to do activities for yourself, reframe your thought to, “I am taking care of myself, so I can better take care of my family” or “When I take care of myself, I am a more patient and present mother.”
Take breaks from social media (don’t compare yourself to other moms). There she is the “perfect” mother, the one who always looks put together, who cuts out smiley faces out of food for her kid’s meals, whose house is always spotless, the husband joyfully helping with the kids and chores, and they are always jet setting on a far away exotic getaway. Do you want in on a little secret, no matter how perfect these mamas appear, they are far from perfect. First of all, perfection doesn’t exist. Second, you are only seeing their highlight reel, and never compare your real life to someone’s highlight reel. Trust me on this, there are tantrums, blowouts, messy kitchens, and screaming kids on a plane behind the screen. So take a break from social media, and when you find yourself getting upset seeing someone’s life appear so perfect, remind yourself of the reality of the situation. We are humans, kids are humans, and we are not robots. If we were all perfect, what would be the fun in that?

What is your best piece of advice from your book “Take Your Lunch Break” and do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life?

I will say that my book is filled with a lot of advice, tips, and strategies so it is hard to pick the best one because what is best for me, may not be best for you and vice versa. The book is designed so you can pick and choose what works for you and leave behind what doesn’t serve you.

However, one of my favorite messages is to experience difficult and hard emotions is what it means to be human. It is natural to feel sad, upset, angry, stressed, etc. It is the fight of these emotions that causes the struggle. The more we can accept and surrender to the array of emotions we feel, flow with them, let them come and go, the easier our life will be. What we resist, persists.

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

Hands down “DARE:The New Way to End Anxiety and Stop Panic Attacks Fast” by Barry McDonagh changed my life. I talk about the important role the book “DARE” played in my transformational journey in my TEDx Talk. DARE and its method are what helped me overcome GAD and PD! That was the key! It was that method that helped me remove all the smoke and mirrors and see anxiety for what it really is — just an adrenaline rush. When I started reading DARE that was the first time I realized that I wasn’t alone, and what I was experiencing wasn’t unique to me. That in itself was everything. I finally realized I wasn’t going crazy! DARE is not just a book but a whole support system. They have an app, a Facebook support group, anxiety coaches, and provide full assistance for those experiencing anxiety.

I actually interviewed Barry McDonagh for my book, and his interview was one of my favorites, so definitely check that out! He also gave me a praise quote (a blurb) which appears on the back of my book! It was such a surreal moment. There was a time I was struggling with debilitating anxiety and I turned to this book called DARE. I fully immersed myself in the work and practiced the DARE method and getting outside my comfort zone. Now, here I was, four years later, interviewing the author of DARE and having him praise my book! It was such a cool and beautiful moment.

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

Thank you so much! People can connect with me on my Instagram and TikTok at @massomaa

My website is www.massomaa.com where they can get signed copies of my book, see the services I provide, and check for updates!

Massoma Alam: 5 Things Anyone Can Do To Optimize Their Mental Wellness

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

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

Let’s normalize career changes, we grow and transform as we get older and it’s ok not to know what you want to do or be, but following your interests and passions will not steer you wrong.

What inspired you to become a mental health advocate?

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

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

Get to know yourself! There are many tips and strategies out there for mental wellness, sometimes it’s like a game of trial and error to see what’s best for you. It’s not a one size fits all! When you really get to know yourself through tools like meditation, mindfulness, therapy, and journaling you will have better self awareness of your triggers and also learn what will work for you. For instance, I know that if I don’t get proper sleep or have too much caffeine, I tend to get anxious. I also learned while writing my book (basically journaling) that I procrastinate because I have perfectionist traits (I had no awareness of this prior to writing my book)! There is lots to learn- so dive in!
Get professional help. There’s no shame in seeing a mental health professional! It is not a sign of weakness, but rather strength — to take responsibility and action for your own wellbeing! We go to the gym and get trainers to make our bodies strong, so why not go to a therapist to make our minds strong? Let’s normalize seeing a therapist! There’s something about talking to a trained mental health professional in a safe, non-judgemental, and confidential space that aids in the healing process. They are not your friend or family who have prior biases, they are there to listen and to help you learn skills for your mental wellness. It’s not easy, and sometimes it gets messy, but it’s so worth it for sustainable wellness!
Find joy in life. When was the last time you laughed? Like really laughed? We really should laugh more! Don’t take life so seriously, just enjoy the good times! Do things that you love, that bring your happiness, that spark excitement in your soul. Do more of that. Burst out into song, dance in your living room with your kids, eat ice cream with your dog, watch a comedy special with your partner, dance in the rain by yourself. Make time for joy. You deserve it.
Giving back. One of the tips I give in my book for when you are feeling anxious is to compliment someone. It breaks that stress pattern. Scientific studies have shown that when we help others it can reduce stress, increase our sense of meaning, life satisfaction, and self-confidence. Even small acts of kindness like a smile can activate our reward center in our brain. You can give back by volunteering, helping a stranger, caring for animals, and supporting friends and family in tough times.
Be kind to yourself. The way we speak to ourselves dictates our mood and consequently our wellbeing. Positive self-talk influences our subconscious mind which affects our thoughts and behaviors. Imagine how happy we would be if we constantly spoke to ourselves with love and compassion. Imagine how happy we would be if we forgave ourselves for our mistakes and learned from them. When we uplift ourselves and stop being so hard on ourselves we create a space for growth and healing. Positive inner dialogue also improves our quality of life. We should be our #1 cheerleaders and root for ourselves, because if we don’t, who will?

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

As a woman of color and mother of two, what are some tips you can give our audience who may be experiencing mental health struggles within the home and/or work?

Ask for help! Whether that be hiring a babysitter, nanny, a cleaning service, or asking family for help. Summertime is great because a lot of high school and college students are looking for jobs! Anything to take something off your plate! Being a mom is a full-time job, with no breaks, and it’s OK to ask for help. You don’t need to be perfect, you don’t need to do it all, and it’s okay if the house is a little messy. If you have trust issues, make sure you conduct interviews, background checks, and you can even be home while getting a mama’s helper! Perform working interviews, where you can watch the babysitter with your kid and evaluate if they are the best fit. Getting help is a major game changer, so let go of the control a little bit and get some rest!
Let go of “Mom guilt.” I talk about mom guilt in my book, because it’s something I experience a lot and need to intentionally validate myself on decisions I make for my self-care. Self-care is about doing something for yourself that leaves you feeling refreshed and rejuvenated such as going out with friends, taking a nice walk, having a cup of coffee while you journal. If it is difficult for you to do activities for yourself, reframe your thought to, “I am taking care of myself, so I can better take care of my family” or “When I take care of myself, I am a more patient and present mother.”
Take breaks from social media (don’t compare yourself to other moms). There she is the “perfect” mother, the one who always looks put together, who cuts out smiley faces out of food for her kid’s meals, whose house is always spotless, the husband joyfully helping with the kids and chores, and they are always jet setting on a far away exotic getaway. Do you want in on a little secret, no matter how perfect these mamas appear, they are far from perfect. First of all, perfection doesn’t exist. Second, you are only seeing their highlight reel, and never compare your real life to someone’s highlight reel. Trust me on this, there are tantrums, blowouts, messy kitchens, and screaming kids on a plane behind the screen. So take a break from social media, and when you find yourself getting upset seeing someone’s life appear so perfect, remind yourself of the reality of the situation. We are humans, kids are humans, and we are not robots. If we were all perfect, what would be the fun in that?

What is your best piece of advice from your book “Take Your Lunch Break” and do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life?

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

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

Thank you so much! People can connect with me on my Instagram and TikTok at @massomaa

My website is www.massomaa.com where they can get signed copies of my book, see the services I provide, and check for updates!

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational, and we wish you continued success in your important work.

Author and Keynote Speaker Massoma Alam: 5 Things Anyone Can Do To Optimize Their Mental Wellness was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Joel Strauss of Strauss Communications: How to Use LinkedIn To Dramatically Improve Your Business

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Start with what you know. When we started out we didn’t have many use cases on our own, but we did have background that was relevant thanks to prior work. The first thing we did was look up competitors of companies we had formerly worked with and mentioned them in outreach. It resulted in our first client and our longest.

As part of my series of interviews about “How to Use LinkedIn To Dramatically Improve Your Business”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Joel Strauss, Chief PR Strategist and Founder, Strauss Communications.

Joel has spent nearly a decade in strategic communications, leading strategy, and executing successful PR campaigns for startups and hypergrowth companies across continents. In addition to traditional PR, Joel produced research reports & content that has driven results ranging from web traffic to leads with enterprise clients.

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

The short answer is a trip to Montreal. The slightly longer one is that I had quit my job running a political organization that facilitated fundraising, put on speakers series of political leaders, and a side hustle ghost writing for several American political figures. After I quit, I trekked through Patagonia, came back to the US and on a weekend trip to Montreal I met my brother’s friend who raved about a PR internship. When I got back to New York I applied, went through several interviews and was told I had the job and a week and a half to start it halfway across the world in Tel Aviv. Since then, I worked not only at an agency, but also in-house at a unicorn tech company where I oversaw both PR and social and ultimately Co-founded my own agency that both manages social media and leverages it for leads.

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

When it comes to social media specifically it would probably be when we were working with a client that hired us solely for social and hitting our heads against the wall trying to figure out how to make their posts go viral. They had high expectations and we ended up — thanks to looking back at the material they already had and a bit of luck — posting a past interview between the founder and Anthony Scaramucci that garnered more views than any post in their long history and got a repost from the “mooch” himself.

In terms of broader PR, it would have to be promoting tourism for a client and then being charged by one of their main attractions — the world’s oldest, largest mountain gorilla the next day. Pro tip: if you’re ever being charged by a giant mountain gorilla don’t make eye contact, cower, and make gorilla noises (which is essentially letting them know you recognize them as the boss).

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?

Which social media platform have you found to be most effective to use to increase business revenues? Can you share a story from your experience?

LinkedIn by far. There is no other platform, at least when it comes to B2B, that is so effective and powerful when it comes to getting in front of exactly the audience that you’re looking to sell to or partner with. One of our clients is a technology transfer, meaning they assist in bringing technology from the lab to the market. They always have plenty of cool technologies, but prior to funding and with no customer base or major partner journalists and other traditional channels often won’t give them a second look.

Our goal on social was simply to be active and post regularly in order to make it a “touchpoint” for those interested and to broaden the type of content we posted from dry academic announcements, to personal stories and news commentary even if not directly from them or one of their companies. That regularity, combined with more engaging posts that went beyond the boring announcements, are exactly what led to interest and ultimately deals for them.

Let’s talk about LinkedIn specifically, now. Can you share 5 ways to leverage LinkedIn to dramatically improve your business? Please share a story or example for each.

Start with what you know. When we started out we didn’t have many use cases on our own, but we did have background that was relevant thanks to prior work. The first thing we did was look up competitors of companies we had formerly worked with and mentioned them in outreach. It resulted in our first client and our longest.
Connect them to your business. Not every bit of outreach should be a hard pitch. One of the tactics we use is simply connecting with a message highlighting a commonality and then inviting them to follow our business page. If they don’t that’s fine, but if they do, then they can be in touch beyond the conversation and reach out after they see the results.
Always go beyond LinkedIn prior to an approach. For our business, we want to know what coverage they received, how their social is doing, if they have an agency or worked with one in the past. That takes a few Google searches or a peak at Sales Navigator before approaching. Implementing that small extra step makes a big difference.
Leverage those in your field. For a number of our B2B clients LinkedIn provides the opportunity to directly leverage leaders in the field as few other platforms do. We’ve increased follower counts and gained leads simply by tagging a thought leader mentioned in an article or getting them to share. Interviewing them or more directly highlighting their work tends to be even more effective in targeting their super relevant audience. However, you need to beware of tagging too many people, as your post is more likely to be labeled as spam.
Video and images > words. The LinkedIn algorithm tends to favor video and images over written word [though some can get lucky with dwell time]. That means having a strategy to get high quality images during conferences is a must and publishing client, company, or product videos should be considered instead of just writing about it. An added advantage is that recorded interviews [think of the leverage those in your field tip above] can also be cut up into multiple video assets around singular themes, a growth hack that has produced more than a few viral posts — and leads — for our clients.

Because of the position that you are in, 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. 🙂

Tech for Good! Technology is already able to help with so many causes that affect us all such as climate change, food supply, more accessible medicine.

Some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US 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 🙂

Ian Bremmer. Few people have so effectively used LinkedIn to boost their visibility and provide value to the degree he has. He landed his own TV show, regularly has world leaders on as guests, and breaks down complex issues in no time.

You can contact us via our website and on LinkedIn.

Thank you so much for these great insights. This was very enlightening!

Joel Strauss of Strauss Communications: How to Use LinkedIn To Dramatically Improve Your Business was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Modern Fashion: Addie Elabor of D’IYANU On The 5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand…

Modern Fashion: Addie Elabor of D’IYANU On The 5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand Today

An Interview With Candice Georgiadice

Identify a fashion need in the market- What really helped me succeed quickly on my own is because I was able to identify a need in the market. I simply made products that were already in demand and filled a void in the market.

Many in the fashion industry have been making huge pivots in their business models. Many have turned away from the fast fashion trend. Many have been focusing on fashion that also makes a social impact. Many have turned to sustainable and ethical sourcing. Many have turned to hi tech manufacturing. Many have turned to subscription models. What are the other trends that we will see in the fashion industry? What does it take to lead a successful fashion brand today?

In our series called, “5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand Today” we are talking to successful leaders of fashion brands who can talk about the Future of Fashion and the 5 things it takes to lead a successful fashion brand in our “new normal.”

As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Addie Elabor.

Addie launched D’IYANU in 2014 from her studio apartment in King of Prussia, PA with only six styles for women — one blouse, two dresses, and three skirts. Five months later, she quit her job and committed to D’IYANU full time. In 2016, her brother Dara joined as President, and his support and contributions have been invaluable in making us what we are today.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

My entrepreneurial journey began in early 2013 after I had completed my master’s in International Marketing and couldn’t find a job in my field. I felt discouraged in my job search and deeply unhappy with my corporate job as a buyer for a lab supply company. I desperately needed a change. I had just read ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ and was super inspired to go against the grain and start my own business. I wasn’t quite sure which business, but I was searching for the right opportunity. After a few conversations with close friends, I had the idea to create a modern, ready-to-wear African-inspired line similar to Zara or H&M. I’m originally from Nigeria so I grew up with Ankara (wax printed fabric) clothing. After some research, I didn’t find any prominent brands creating modern pieces with African print, and realized that there was a void in the market for this type of fashion. Although I had no fashion background, I asked myself, “why not me?” I got books on starting a fashion business, did endless online research, and formulated a business plan. I hired a Philly-based fashion designer to create my first 6 patterns and samples, found a Philly-based factory for production, and sourced all the fabric and material. I self-funded the $20k starting capital from my savings and a credit card loan. D’IYANU launched in Jan 2014 while I was still working full-time. I decided to quit my full-time job in May 2014 to fully commit to D’IYANU. It was a sink or swim decision since my business wasn’t profitable and I was living in a small studio apartment with 70k worth of student loans. However, I truly believed in the vision for D’IYANU and am committed to making my business a success. In Sept of 2014, I took a course on FB ads which transformed my business practically overnight.

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

The year I launched my business, I wore one of my skirts to an Essence Street Style Block Party in Brooklyn, NY. My goal was to pass out flyers and spread the word about my brand. I was randomly picked from the crowd to participate in a fashion show because of my outfit. I got to go backstage and met Tracy Ellis Ross and took a picture with her. It was an amazing 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?

For my first round of D’IYANU garment production in Philadelphia, I imported around 1,200 yards of fabric. Having just traded in my car for a new one, I hadn’t received my car registration documents yet. I drove 3 hours to a port in New Jersey in my new SUV to pick up the fabric. I had completed all the necessary customs and clearance documents but didn’t realize that I also needed to show my car registration. The feeling of complete disappointment and distraught washed over me since I couldn’t simply just go and come back and I needed the fabric right away. I went to a library nearby in hopes of printing off a copy of my registration, but it wasn’t available. Nevertheless, determined not to go home empty-handed, I saw a truck driver that seemed approachable and asked him if he could pick up my goods for me. We agreed that I would pay him $50 to pick up my fabric. He was able to do so and once we were off-premise from the port, he transferred the fabric into my car. I was absolutely elated to have gotten my fabric that day!

I learned 2 valuable lessons from that experience. Firstly, make sure you do your due diligence before starting any endeavor. I don’t recall if I assumed that I had my car registration or if I wasn’t aware that I needed it. Either way, had I done my due diligence of checking, I wouldn’t have ran into the problem. Secondly, when you run into a problem, don’t get defeated and give up. Think of alternate ways to solve problems, remain focused on your goals, and determine to find solutions. Being a problem-solver is a fundamental characteristic of a successful entrepreneur.

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

What makes D’IYANU stand out from other clothing brand is that we create beautiful and unique African-inspired pieces for the entire family that can’t be found anywhere else. Our pieces allow our customers to embrace and celebrate the African culture and uniquely express themselves.

One of the things that set us apart from other African-inspired lines is that we have always been customer-focused. Excellent customer service is our #1 priority. We are always thinking about our customers from our designs to our return and exchange policy. We make sure that our fabric and construction is of great quality and priced affordably. Our goal is to design clothing that our customers can wear for any life occasion from work to vacation and everywhere in between. We also explore the usage of different types of material in order to make garments that our customers love and appreciate. For example, we started using a new type of fabric for women’s dresses that looks like cotton and retains vibrant colors, but unlike the traditional Ankara fabric, it has stretch to accommodate every curve. No one else in the market is making African print on this type of fabric to our knowledge. We also launched a line of knit sweaters, skirts, dresses, hats, and scarves last year which was a huge success. We’re constantly innovating the way we present African print designs. We don’t limit ourselves to just wax cotton fabric like the rest of our competitors.

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

In the beginning, unless you have the capital, you’ll have to be a jack of all trades and handle everything from customer service to financials. Even as you’re managing everything, you’ll need to learn to rest. It’s vital to know when to rest and not to quit when you’re feeling overwhelmed. There were days when I felt burnt out before D’IYANU even had any success, but I learned to rest and not stress on things beyond my capacity. As you begin to scale, you’ll need to hire the right team and delegate so you can free up your time. Learn to create processes and let go of certain tasks.

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

I have always wanted my business to create value in our various communities. Since year 2 in business, I made a commitment to give back each year to organizations that resonated with me and were making a difference. To date, we’ve donated over $60k to various organizations such as Water.org, Charity: Water, The Boys and Girls Club of Philadelphia, the National Society of Black Engineers, and a couple of others. There are still a lot of things I would like to do in the near future such as creating value in Africa through job creation.

Do you have a favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story of how that was relevant to you in your life?

I love Maya Angelou’s quote “My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive: and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor and some style.

This quote is especially relevant to me at the time I thought to launch D’IYANU. During that period, I was just surviving, saddled with $70k in student loans, and felt miserable at my job. Starting my business gave me a sense of mission and injected excitement into my life. I also understand that the way you succeed matters. I want to make sure I’m leading my business with kindness, compassion, humor, and style.

Do you see any fascinating developments emerging over the next few years in the fashion industry that you are excited about? Can you tell us about that?

Something that excites me is the belief that Africa could be the next fashion hub. Due to lower labor costs and favorable trade agreements, some companies have already started moving their production to African countries such as Ethiopia and Kenya. My hope is that having more and more companies produce in Africa will help create jobs and lift the economies. I’m also really excited as D’IYANU plans to move some production to one of the west African countries of Ghana or Nigeria in the next 2–3 years. Additionally, looking forward to seeing more African designers emerge and make an impact in the fashion world.

Thank you for all that. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “Top 5 Things Needed to Succeed in the Fashion Industry”. Please share a story or example for each.

Identify a fashion need in the market- What really helped me succeed quickly on my own is because I was able to identify a need in the market. I simply made products that were already in demand and filled a void in the market.
Understand fashion business fundamentals or find someone to help with that- There are people who have great ideas and create amazing designs, however, without the understanding of the fundamentals of running a fashion business, their brand may not go so far if they run out of capital. At the beginning of launching D’IYANU, I was super paranoid about managing my costs and not running out of capital. Running out of funds is the number 1 reason why businesses fail.
Identify cost-effective ways to market your brand– I took a $400 FB ad course which at the time seemed like a high investment, but it transformed my business overnight. FB ads were our cost-effective way of marketing D’IYANU.
Hire the right team– Having the right team goes a long way. I was blessed to have my oldest brother, Dara, join the team at the beginning of 2016. Having his support has made the difference in getting D’IYANU to where it’s at today. It’s key to surround yourself with people with different expertise from you so that you can cover all your bases and take your brand to the next level.
Find the right factories and produce quality products– Having the right factory can make or break your brand. You can have all the other key things in place, but if the product isn’t good, then people won’t come back or share your brand with their friends and family. In order to find the right factory, you’ll need to have them make samples that go through an approval process before ordering in bulk. You want to ensure they meet your standards. I recall one factory we used to work with that cut corners on a pair of women’s pants by not serging the seams (overlock stitch to secure the seams from ripping easily). This meant that the pants could easily rip at the seams. By the time we realized the magnitude of the problem, we had already shipped out close to 100 pairs. We decided to recall the pants; paying return shipping, getting them fixed and then reshipping to the customer. It was highly inconvenient and expensive for us, but it was worth it since it helped us gain our customers’ trust. After that incident, we also stopped working with the factory since they had made other errors and we couldn’t trust their quality of work.

Every industry constantly evolves and seeks improvement. How do you think the fashion industry can improve itself? Can you give an example?

The buzzword in the fashion industry right now is sustainability. The fashion industry is known to be quite wasteful with unused fabric and the burning of unsold products. More and more brands are becoming conscious of their environmental footprint. Upcycling and reselling old products are methods being used by brands like H&M and Madewell. At D’IYANU, we are determined not to have waste. Our recently launched Mid-Summer collection is comprised of fabric used in previous collections. We are committed to using up old fabric so that they don’t end up in landfills.

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

I would start a movement to empower black communities all over the world to spark a change in the way we operate and treat each other. I strongly believe that black people can do better as a collective by taking responsibility for creating the world they wish to live in. We can’t continue to have a victim mentality. We are full of limitless potential and can achieve so much if we can learn to work together. As a Nigerian, I know that Nigeria is blessed with natural resources and brilliant minds, however, we lack strong leaders with integrity to push the country forward. The country has been plagued with obscene levels of corruption, selfishness, greed, and instability. Imagine if we decided to create a society where everyone can feel safe and thrive. Imagine if black people around the world could say, I’m going to Ghana or Nigeria because it’s the land of opportunities. Instead, people in Africa typically consider western countries (made up primarily of whites), the land of opportunity. Let’s turn the tables around.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

@diyanu on IG and Tiktok and diyanufashion on FB. [email protected] for questions.

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

Modern Fashion: Addie Elabor of D’IYANU On The 5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand… 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 Forozan ‘Zan’ Karim of Franny’s Farmacy

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Know local Laws and Regulations: Make sure you know what site-specific rules and regulations your operation is subject to. Some cities have ordinances that supersede the county or state laws. For example, after my lease was signed, I realized the city ordinance does not permit the sale of Delta-8 THC. Non-cannabis related businesses might not have to think twice about these things, but if you want to get involved in this industry you’ll need to know the ins and outs of all local laws and regulations.

As a part of my series about strong women leaders in the cannabis industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Forozan “Zan’’ Karim.

Forozan “Zan’’ Karim, is the Owner/Operator of Franny’s Farmacy in Alpharetta, GA. Zan’s heart-led dedication to compassionate patient care throughout her 30 year pharmaceutical career drove her to dive deeper into the science behind the transformational benefits that hemp and CBD have to offer.

After discovering Franny’s Farmacy and what the brand stands for, Zan decided to jump onboard to make an even bigger and better impact on people’s lives. She pivoted away from traditional pharmacy, which included dispensing drugs such as opioids, anti-anxiety, and sleeping medication, to advocate and provide products that come from the earth and help individuals truly find homeostasis with the mind, body and soul, rather than just mask symptoms.

An Alpharetta local, Zan brings an abundance of enthusiasm, compassion, and scientific insight from hemp-wellness into her community.

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

What brought me to the cannabis industry was the realization that I can continue to help people outside of working as a pharmacist, and this time with a plant that is provided to us by Mother Earth . Hemp-derived CBD does not just mask symptoms. It has healing power. This played a huge role in my decision to step into the cannabis industry.

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?

The most interesting story comes from a discussion I had with my previous coworker in the pharmaceutical industry where I used to work. Her reaction included her eyebrows raising, to her saying, “How would you…“ with an emphasis on the word “you.” She was in the utmost shock when I shared with her what role I was now taking on in the cannabis industry.

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 think of it it’s funny now, but it wasn’t very funny to me back then when I first started working in the industry. I was trying to get my business bank account opened. I would call to make an appointment to open an account, I’d meet up with the bank representative, put in a deposit to open the account, complete the application, and even receive temporary checks!

Shortly after, a few days down the road I’d receive a call and be informed, “We are sorry, we cannot keep this account open for you. You need to come and close the account and get your deposit back.” I did that with two more banks and experienced the same exact situation until I found out no other bank was going to keep an account open since the business is CBD related. Most banks shun cannabis companies due to cannabis being illegal at the federal level, and unfortunately, hemp-derived CBD products are considered the same. This is just one example of how the negative stigma is still there, and proper education is yet to be taught. Thankfully I am now able to provide educational events at my dispensary and attend community events to share what I’ve learned over the years about the healing powers of this plant.

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

After hearing about my plan to open a CBD dispensary, to be actively present, and to operate the dispensary, a very close friend said to me, “You are going to be in a very good mood at all times smelling those flowers around you!”

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

Yes! As a matter of fact, a handful of people have helped me along the way. Franny Tacy, the CEO of Franny’s Farmacy, has been a big help with her inspirational words and support. Dr. Walt, our franchise sales director, was always answering questions I had before I came on board with the franchise and open our Alpharetta, GA dispensary.

Frank Berry, the owner of Franny’s Farmacy Augusta, whom is always available for my texts and calls has been an incredibly supportive colleague on this journey. Alan Hart, Owner of Franny’s Farmacy Athens, has been the most helpful with all matters of business, sharing his own personal experiences as it relates to his two years of operational experience and constant support. And of course, the biggest shout out goes to my family for being there for me from the very first step.

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

Right now, my plans are to collaborate with other local businesses and to educate the Alpharetta community about hemp-derived CBD, its benefits, and what Franny’s Farmacy Alpharetta can offer to our neighboring communities.

Hemp-derived CBD is provided to us naturally by Mother Earth, and is a safer alternative to only relying on pharmaceuticals to achieve our health and wellness goals.

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?

Individually, as a woman, I can help gender parity by having women mentor men, pay both men and women the same salary for equal work, and properly value women’s work.

Companies can help gender parity by providing equal opportunities to women, as they do for men. This includes, but is not limited to the same contracts, the same pay, and the same benefits.

Society can help by not differentiating boys and girls in the sense of a “gender role” from the start. Starting at home, parents have that responsibility as well to educate their children that what determines whether or not you achieve something is not based on your gender, but on the hard work, time, care, and effort you put into it.

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.

1) Integrity: Cannabis industry professionals need to always provide transparency and accurate information about products. It’s also critical to actively listen and act on your customers’ feedback. On a regular basis, I will personally reach out to my customers via phone and follow up with them to see how they are doing after taking certain products.

2) Marketing and Branding: I personally attend weekly and monthly events with my local farmers market. Neighbors and local shoppers stop by, visit, and learn more and more about the Franny’s Farmacy brand, the impact we’re making on our Alpharetta community and its surrounding areas, and why we do what we do. This is something that needs to be consistent for every cannabis-related business.

3) Partnerships and Collaborations: Research has shown how CBD and yoga can work together. Franny’s Farmacy of Alpharetta will be partnering with a yoga instructor to offer yoga and CBD sessions, host events at the store, and more. These types of partnerships and collaborations are what help break negative stigmas, and shine a positive light on hemp-derived CBD locally, regionally, nationally, and globally.

4) Investment: I can’t stress this enough, and this may be something that sounds common, but it’s so important. You always need to make sure that you have a structured financial plan, every cost from real estate to products, employees to marketing, and any unexpected expenses need to be accounted for and planned for in advance.

5) Know local Laws and Regulations: Make sure you know what site-specific rules and regulations your operation is subject to. Some cities have ordinances that supersede the county or state laws. For example, after my lease was signed, I realized the city ordinance does not permit the sale of Delta-8 THC. Non-cannabis related businesses might not have to think twice about these things, but if you want to get involved in this industry you’ll need to know the ins and outs of all local laws and regulations.

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

plants have healing powers

Excited to have a replacement for pharmaceuticals

More states are legalizing cannabis

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?

1) We don’t have access to traditional banking which adds a lot of stress to the very basics of setting up and operating a business.

2) Outdated, inaccurate, and negative stigmas still exist. This is an indicator that more education needs to be done.

3) Not having FDA approved drug applications is slowing down our abilities to conduct more research.

Sooner rather than later, the banks need to form a system to avoid or minimize what they state as “the risks involved” for allowing cannabis businesses to safely bank their money with them.
Education remains a top priority, and it’s something every Franny’s Farmacy prides itself on. Education is key to breaking the old stigmas and delivering the correct information to the people who need it.
We truly need to have a process and procedure in place by the government to allow drug applications to be submitted by the FDA on cannabis.

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?

A simple, straight-to-the-point, persuasive argument with the senator would be about pinpointing that scientifically proven, cannabis has been show to be safer than alcohol and many prescription drugs.

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?

We can not compare cigarettes to cannabis. Let’s keep in mind, not all cannabis products are smokable. There is no medicinal property in cigarettes as there is in cannabis. Anything used for medicinal purpose should not be taxed, just like how prescriptions are not taxed. It would be a huge win for us to see medicinal cannabis take form in a similar way.

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

My favorite life lesson quote is “This too shall pass.”

When things are bad, it won’t always be this way. When things are good, it won’t always be this way. We should always enjoy every moment.

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. 🙂

I would like to believe that I am here for a reason. I know what pharmaceuticals can do in regard to their short-term and long-term effects. I am here now to educate everyone that I meet on what is available to us by way of this incredible plant that is grown naturally and can have an extraordinary impact on the healing of our body, mind, and soul. At its core, education is the movement.

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

Wisdom From The Women Leading The Cannabis Industry, With Forozan ‘Zan’ Karim of Franny’s Farmacy was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.