Month: September 2022

Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech: Dr Rachael Brake of Corbus Pharmaceuticals On The 5…

Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech: Dr Rachael Brake of Corbus Pharmaceuticals On The 5 Leadership Lessons She Learned From Her Experience

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Create a culture of transparency: As a learner, I always do a better job remembering and applying information if I understand context around a topic. Putting something into a bigger picture always helps me. I have, as a consequence, naturally adopted this approach with others. However, what I didn’t realize until later in my career is that this is called “transparency” and that my teams really appreciate this knowledge — and better still, they make better independent decisions because of the knowledge. It is a win for everyone.

As a part of our series about “Lessons from Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech,” we had the pleasure of interviewing Rachael Brake, Ph.D.

Dr. Brake is the chief scientific officer of Corbus Pharmaceuticals, a Massachusetts-based immunology company that is committed to helping people defeat serious illness by bringing innovative scientific approaches to well-understood biological pathways. She is currently leading the company’s research in immuno-oncology as well as the endocannabinoid system’s effect on obesity. Dr. Brake formerly held leadership roles at Takeda Oncology, including vice president, global project leader in the oncology therapeutic area and head of U.S. medical affairs, oncology business unit. Dr. Brake obtained her Ph.D. in molecular biology and biochemistry from the University of Western Australia Perth.

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

I have always been interested in science. My first career choice as a young girl was an entomologist (the study of insects and their relationship to humans, the environment, and other organisms) and my favorite gift was a magnifying glass. I was fascinated by how small and detailed insects are, but also so purpose-driven!

As I got older, I focused more on human disease as a part of learning about genetics and cancer. I remain fascinated by the communication networks co-opted by cancer and how quickly they can adapt and outsmart our therapeutic strategies. Needless to say, there is still a lot to learn.

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

We met with investment analysts to share some exciting data from a cancer program I’m leading, focused on a new antibody with great promise in inhibiting tumor growth. The meeting took place about three months into my tenure as chief scientific officer (CSO). Chatting with these folks was a new experience for me, given my background working in much larger companies. They were extremely smart and surprisingly well-versed in the basics of drug development. They asked me detailed scientific questions and triggered for me some new lines of inquiry and thinking! But they were all pushed for time as well, and so I realized I had to get better at “telling our story” quickly. I am still working on that. Truly, it was a really instructive experience.

It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting in your career? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I don’t know if it was a mistake as we traditionally think of them, but I do have a funny story to share. I had joined Amgen in California and had the pleasure of meeting a science writer that I’d conversed with prior. We had never met face-to-face, and I’d always assumed that this person was a woman. (Maybe I’m showing my own bias.) Imagine my surprise when a man arrived! We remain friends and laugh about that story to this day.

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

There are several stand-outs about Corbus. The first is that the folks I met with at Corbus genuinely liked working there. There was considerable restructuring taking place, and despite these changes, folks were excited about the potential pivot into immunology and oncology. I also thought it was great that this organization understood what it takes to deliver on a late-stage clinical development program and had demonstrated expertise in areas of R&D that less experienced organizations rarely appreciate based on their stage of development. I think of it as a small nimble organization with an established and tested framework. The best of both worlds in my book!

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

Yes, we have some very exciting data emerging on our immuno-oncology program. One of the biggest challenges in oncology today is “resistance to therapies,” which occurs when patients grow resistant to their cancer treatments. Our work is aimed at uncovering new ways that a patient’s own immune system can help defeat cancer. No small feat, but it’s incredibly exciting!

Are you currently satisfied with the status quo regarding women in STEM? What specific changes do you think are needed to change the status quo?

No, I am not satisfied! Until such time that I am not “pleasantly surprised” to sit across from another female at the negotiating table, I think our industry still has a lot to do.

My personal observation is that, generally speaking, men are still culturally unprepared for a female that is opinionated, informed, and capable. They’re often subconsciously biased to not providing these personalities “opportunity.” However, as I look across the industry and places where I have worked, I know these STEM-focused female leaders exist and are prepared to step up. More openness to the potential of women in STEM is needed.

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

Opportunity is still the biggest challenge! If I think about my own career and pivotal changes that have guided my progress, I would say that I have achieved success by “recognizing and seizing” even the smallest opportunity. Then I strived to turn it into something significant for me.

I would like to see more opportunities made available to women in STEM and more risks taken in assuming their capabilities. Also, at times, we need to assist women in STEM to recognize an opportunity when one presents itself — and guide them on how to make the most of those opportunities when presented. I have often been dubbed a risk-taker in this regard, but I think it is more about gaining comfort with ambiguity.

Increasing the presence of minority women in STEM careers is an obvious solution. BIWOC (Black, Indigenous, women of color) collectively make up 5 percent of the STEM workforce compared to 30% female overall.

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

That the primary reason that discrepancy in women in STEM exists is driven by “the choice” that women make to “opt out” of competitive career development pathways in preference to support having a family. I think this is just part of the story. If you are always passed over when opportunity knocks (even early on in your education and career) then you can often lose faith and just stop trying.

What are your “5 Leadership Lessons I Learned from My Experience as a Woman in STEM” and why?

Create a culture of transparency: As a learner, I always do a better job remembering and applying information if I understand context around a topic. Putting something into a bigger picture always helps me. I have, as a consequence, naturally adopted this approach with others. However, what I didn’t realize until later in my career is that this is called “transparency” and that my teams really appreciate this knowledge — and better still, they make better independent decisions because of the knowledge. It is a win for everyone.

Be vulnerable: Accepting that we are all a work-in-progress, soliciting and processing feedback on how you “show up” for people is always instructive. I remember a time in my career where I was recognized as very technically capable, but not so much fun to work with. I needed to be vulnerable to hear this feedback and to then go and explore it with teammates. It was amazing what I learned, and how simple the fix was.

Connect with the person: Connecting with colleagues at a personal level will always matter. It builds trust and commitment. In the same example where I just mentioned receiving feedback that I was not so much fun, I also learned that I wasn’t much fun because I never let my hair down. I wasn’t making any effort to connect with the “person behind the professional.” When I did, I found I liked my colleagues more, they taught me things, and we laughed a whole lot more. This was “inefficient” for me at first, but now I look forward to learning more about my colleagues.

Provide opportunity, it will always surprise you! Oh, the joy of seeing someone rise to the occasion and outperform expectations is such a joyous feeling! It creates a culture of trust, transparency, and minimal judgment. In my estimation, STEM women in leadership positions need to do more of this and teach others how to harness these opportunities

Maintain the mindset of student: I have always tried to look at pivotal moments in my career when I have achieved a milestone and to consider, beyond the joy of success, what have I learned? What skill, experience, or training would that last experience enable me to now tackle? With this as a backdrop, I then consider how I can enhance my learning to gain all the experiences I think are necessary to support a career transition. This logical approach means I am always learning new things, and has mostly worked when I have tried to make a career pivot. I would also add that new managers have also appreciated the logic that I applied to my learning journey.

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

I always talk about raising the team’s IQ, meaning, building an education base for everyone that is similar so that you all have the same knowledge. This is a way to pull us all in the same direction. A well-oiled team can achieve beyond normal, regularly!

Provide trust and opportunity along with context regularly. Manage expectations clearly. Celebrate the little wins and unearth people’s disappointments. Bring an attitude of problem-solving to mistakes so they are identified early, we can find a solution, and move on.

Don’t forget to have fun!

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

Empower team members and provide for them

Provide regular and unambiguous feedback

Be clear and transparent on expectations

Unite under a consistent vision

Listen as much as you can

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

I have always held that the opportunities afforded to me in my life have had a lot to do with the network of people I have met along the way, as well as good fortune and circumstance.

Top among these is having someone believe in you, and to give you an opportunity to prove yourself — to stretch and grow in a new direction. I am fortunate that I have had several of these advocates in my career. These are people I have committed to learning from. I trust implicitly that they have my best interest. at heart, even when times are tough and I am receiving messages I may not like in the moment.

I can think of three such individuals. One is my academic mentor who challenged me to step into industry way back in the early 2000’s. The second is the head of clinical development who took a risk on me making a transition to a program leader from a pre-clinical researcher. Finally, I have had an amazing female boss who had limited time to mentor me, but recognized my hard work and delivery and offered me an opportunity to define my next role. I remain friends and colleagues with all of these advocates and feel deeply indebted.

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

I would like to think that the answer to this question is multifaceted. If I categorize how I have given back, I have created opportunities for junior scientists to grow their career and I am always willing to assist with advice if folks are interested. This kind of “pay it forward” thinking is never far from my mind.

I have also used my role as a leader in the biotech industry to raise awareness and much- needed funds for research into key areas of disease, often combining sporting events and fundraising. These typically involve patient engagement opportunities as well, so I can learn about their disease and consider how else I might help.

Finally, I have also been involved in the development of novel medicines, some of which are now commercially available to assist cancer patients to fight their disease. To hear stories of people being able to live life a little longer and to be able to achieve important milestones in their life is incredibly rewarding, although I still wish we could do better.

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

“Be aggressive with time and gracious with people!”

I love this. It is a cultural reminder to put people first, but delivery remains important — two tenants that I have learned in my career. I am not sure who first coined this phrase, but I find it inspiring.

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

I would have to say Angela Merkel, the retired German chancellor. She has had a long and fulfilling career serving the people of Germany and she is a scientist by training. I appreciate her understated approach to leadership and her clarity of decision making. She spoke her mind and made decisions accordingly. Beyond that, she was invested in understanding the context that influenced many of her decisions. I imagine we would get along very well!

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

Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech: Dr Rachael Brake of Corbus Pharmaceuticals On The 5… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Megan Hersch of roomLift: 5 Things You Can Do To Help Your Living Space Spark More Joy

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Find harmony in groupings of three and symmetry. Our minds are always trying to organize, and it feels good to see order in our spaces. I don’t particularly like symmetry in the traditional sense. So if you’re not a 2 books on the left of the object + 2 books on the right kind of person like me, think about the whole view in terms of symmetry. Do you have a floor lamp in one corner? Then a tall tree is needed somewhere on the other half of the space. And the rule of 3 is equally appealing as the 50/50 rule. For example, 3 throw pillows on a sofa — 2 on the left and one on the right — works just as well as 2 on each side. Either is better than random placement all around.

As part of my series on the “5 Things You Can Do To Help Your Living Space Spark More Joy”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Megan Hersch.

A Los Angeles native, Megan Hersch studied Communications at UCLA and spent six years in the film business (in New York and Los Angeles). Leaving an executive position at Universal Studios, Megan went back to school to study design at the UCLA Arc_ID program and subsequently went to work for two of LA’s top design firms — Kelly Wearstler and then Atelier AM — before founding her own firm, Studio MG Interiors, Inc. Seeing a change in the Design Industry and a need to give more people, more access to good design, Megan started the seedling 5 years ago that would become what roomLift is today: an online Interior Design solution that provides everyone with permission, advice, resources and support.

Thank you so much for joining us in this series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I remember the day I was sitting in my own office as a Creative Exec at Universal Studios and I realized I was more excited to decorate that office and pick the pillows on my sofa than for the new job I had just been promoted into. I then realized a career shift was imminent. I was drawn to Interior Design by the creativity of the job and I stayed once I realized how much I could change someone’s mood, outlook and sometimes life by helping them design their home space.

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

Wow, this is a hard one! Before I started both my full service and e-design companies I worked for Kelly Wearstler. She taught me that anything can be fabricated and not to stop shopping when you get to the end of the catalog. She wrapped shagreen on dressers and wallpapered the ceiling (a trick I still use today!). And we designed her Home Office with floor to ceiling cerused wood cabinets and rolling Library ladders. This was a beautiful project and I cut my teeth on sourcing lessons and cabinetry construction for sure! Recently, over Covid I designed the Spa and residences at the Rancho Valencia Resort in Rancho Santa Fe, CA. It was a wonderful place to work through Covid as everything was outside and the lifestyle and general vibe at the resort was so relaxed and joyous. I loved going down there. I designed a tile “carpet” for their new Spa Salon out of Tabarka Tiles. I designed it on paper and when the tiles came in I was laying the pieces right with the stone guys. There was a lot of shifting and measuring and it turned out so beautifully! I count that as one of my most interesting and fulfilling experiences in the last couple of years. Looks like I’m turned on by color and pattern in otherwise serene and peaceful spaces!

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’m not sure if this is exactly funny because it was such a huge mistake but I definitely learned to triple check measurements of doorways, elevators and building access in a real way! I was working on a crazy, fast-paced 1-month surprise home theater for a client in Manhattan. We were waiting for the custom motorized sofa to be delivered and it didn’t fit in the elevator. I had checked the measurements but the depth x length x weight of the sofa made it impossible to get up to the apartment without renting a crane and taking it in through the window!!! It was a costly mistake and I definitely talk about checking measurements with all of my clients now way more than they’d like to hear about it. Let’s hope that never happens again!

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

The next phase of roomLift began about a month ago when we opened our “platform” model up so that other Interior Designers can access more clients a la carte through roomLift has a hub. This allows customers to access Interior Designers they may not have otherwise been able to hire because they are only hiring a part of their service. Because roomLift off-loads 80% of non-design tasks, you don’t have to turn on the entire operating theater to get your teeth cleaned. This also allows Designers to access clients they may not have otherwise been able to because they only have to put in design time and not their whole team (read: less time and therefore less costly). “Design on your own terms” is the vehicle through which the Interior Design Industry will change and roomLift is at the forefront of this concept because we are designers using technology to create a better system.

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

“Lead with Kindness” is probably the most governing “Life Lesson” to live by for me. I learned this early in my twenties when I was working for Scott Rudin in New York. It was a tough work environment and I found myself being syrupy sweet to anyone I came in contact with outside of work. Cashiers, cab drivers, baristas. I found that as I exuded kindness, it came back to me in multiples! It sounds simple but a mindset shift can really make a difference in your days! I teach my kids this now (and hope they will see how powerful it can be!)

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?

It has to be my mom. As a single mom, and me an only child, we really were a team for my whole life. It was us against the world. I value her opinion and wisdom and she has been a sounding board for me as I raise my girls and through starting 2 businesses. She now lives in an ADU in my backyard — keep those who bring you joy close!

Thank you for that. Here is the main question of our discussion. What are your “5 Things You Can Do To Help Your Living Space Spark More Joy” and why. Please share a story or example for each.

Surround yourself with things that you love! The number one rule in decorating (really, there aren’t too many rules) is to find pieces of furniture, art, fabrics that bring you joy and build your room around them. This may seem intuitive but when you’re shopping for furniture, especially if you have a partner in on the decision, it is easy to settle for a piece because of its functionality, price or availability. Take a moment before you make that purchase and ask yourself if this piece will bring you joy when you look at it every day at home. Reminding ourselves to think for a minute is a necessary strategy these days! And if the answer is “YES!” then you are well on your way to the next decision. Do you love a round black mirror? You may be working up a Modern Farmhouse vibe. A textured velvet throw pillow, perhaps Boho Chic is calling your name. One decision begets another and decisions can also spark joy!! (phew)
Add plants in every room, if you can. Not only do plants absorb our carbon dioxide and put out more oxygen for us to breathe, elements of nature are soothing in a “return to your roots” kind of way. The organic shape of plants can also break up the straight lines of interior furnishings and give your mind a break in looking around your space. If you don’t have enough light or a green thumb to care for live plants, there are a great number of faux plants today that look SO real! Check out Magnolia Home and Pottery Barn for some of the best that I’ve seen. (Just don’t forget to dust them — that’s also a great chore for an 8 year old) 😉
Find harmony in groupings of three and symmetry. Our minds are always trying to organize, and it feels good to see order in our spaces. I don’t particularly like symmetry in the traditional sense. So if you’re not a 2 books on the left of the object + 2 books on the right kind of person like me, think about the whole view in terms of symmetry. Do you have a floor lamp in one corner? Then a tall tree is needed somewhere on the other half of the space. And the rule of 3 is equally appealing as the 50/50 rule. For example, 3 throw pillows on a sofa — 2 on the left and one on the right — works just as well as 2 on each side. Either is better than random placement all around.
Fill your walls! Art, mirrors, wall hangings. Remember these are the elements at eye level in your space so they can be reminders of things you love even when you are simply walking through a room. Many customers come to our platform with the basics of a room — sofa, rug, chair — and don’t love their spaces, despite all of the new furniture, or need help “finishing” it all so it looks like a designer helped. This is most often because there is nothing on the walls, or only small pieces. Art can be daunting (and expensive), so I get it. A gallery wall is an easy way to start — collect at least 5 pieces that mean something to you and together they can take up the space on the wall that a larger piece of art will. If you’re starting from scratch, I head to the Etsy search bar and type in my general parameters (“blue watercolor”) and set aside some good searching time. You’re bound to find something that sparks joy and then you can build around that. One of the reasons we call this help an accessory. Lift is these smaller elements really can Lift your space!
De-clutter. Thank you Marie Kondo! “A place for everything and everything in its place” is a good rule to live by in your home. Clutter psychologically blocks creativity and can bring on more stress. Along the same lines, keep a clear path around all of your furniture. Too much furniture that you can’t move around feels restrictive. I recently moved my office out of my Bedroom and now that I can walk around my nightstand without practically side-shuffling, I notice that I feel lighter in my space! (Even I have to be reminded of these principles as we are all trying to cram too much into our right-sized lives!) If you consider your home your sanctuary, it should be a place where you can escape the stresses of the world. By bringing in more elements of joy and keeping out elements that block that joy, you are well on your way to the benefits of a well-designed home!

I realize so many of these tips have to do with what our brains and bodies psychologically need in order to find and be open to joy. In my 15 years of being a designer, the homes that work are consistently the ones that follow these principles.

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. 🙂

We are starting a movement of access with roomLift! We feel that the only way to change the inequality between rich and poor in this country is to create access for more people and so we’re doing just that! Somedays I feel like Jerry Maguire with his fish…join the movement!

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 see this, especially if we tag them 🙂

I’d love to sit down with LTK founder Amber Venz Box. What she has built with LTK is similar to what we’re building at roomLift. By placing value on creators/experts and creating a system of access while cutting out the noise, what Venz Box has built with LTK disrupts a traditional sales model in a similar way to how roomLift disrupts the traditional Interior Designer/Client agreement. What this means is that many more people can be experts and can access this expertise and so it levels the playing field in a way that has not been done before. It knocks at the door of the few who control it all and we’re who’s on the other side.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

Instagram @_roomLift_ , Pinterest @roomLift and TikTok @roomLift

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

Thank you so much!

Megan Hersch of roomLift: 5 Things You Can Do To Help Your Living Space Spark More Joy was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Disruptors: Dr Aman Dhaliwal On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

“Never look back” Past mistakes are just that, past mistakes. However, what we learn from them is crucial. Learn to adjust our actions and make well crafted moves in the future based on past mistakes. For example: I used to be very hard on myself for the way I presented at a workshop or the treatment I provided to a complex patient. A friend once told me “never look back” and be kind to myself. So, learning how to let go and surrender has been very helpful in this journey.

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

Dr Aman Dhaliwal PT, DPT has been the driving force behind women empowerment in her community by helping them learn and speak up in regards to the most taboo topic of Pelvic Health. She graduated from University of Pacific with her Doctorate and has specialized in Pelvic/Visceral health as well as orthopedic, in order to best serve her patient population. With 15 years of physical therapy experience, Dr Aman Dhaliwal is in the process of writing a book to simplify the complex topic of pelvic health, especially for the female population.

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?

Transitioning to living in the USA with my family at the age of 14 was a challenging, yet rewarding experience. Following high school I enrolled into a pre-med biological science program at U.C. Davis. During this time I came across a physical therapy program that made me rethink the path of medicine I wanted to take. I was immediately intrigued by what Physical Therapy offers to its patients. I admired the conservative approach to get patients back to their active lifestyle.

I was accepted into the DPT program at University of Pacific and began my journey in Physical Therapy. Since then, I have specialized in Pelvic Health, Visceral health, and orthopedic. I love working with each patient and trying to find more effective, efficient methods to treat them. This led me to the role of facility director and eventually returning to school for an MBA in healthcare management.

After working for a large corporation for almost a decade, I got the itch to try something new, and decided to start my very own physical therapy and wellness clinic with the main focus being Women’s health. I was able to draw upon my MBA skills and launch the first cash based PT clinic in San Joaquin County, CA. Patients come from all over and bring unique stories with them. This has been the driving force for me to write a book in regards to healthcare and receiving the proper care. My goal is to create a book that shares their journey for receiving the right care, their emotions, struggles, and how they got to the finish line. In addition to their stories, the book will provide educational material for anyone that wants to absorb the basic knowledge about pelvic health.

With my expertise in pelvic health and desire to create awareness, I recently created a posture spine roller to activate the core & pelvic floor muscle with ease. Solex is a simple yet powerful device to help correct spine and posture deviation, so everyone can live a healthy active lifestyle.

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

In order to be disruptive, I believe a strong desire to make a change with a powerful voice and everlasting passion is necessary. After being in the health and wellness field for more than a decade, I continued to hear patients say, “Why did no one tell me this before?” I knew I had to do something and make a change for my patients and the overall community.

Pelvic health is extremely essential but one of the least spoken about topics in both medical or personal life. With posture decline being inevitable in the new electronic era, I feel that it is my job to help inform my patients and spread the word, raise awareness and educate.

I have found medical professionals are either extremely occupied, not informed or unable to give the best advice to patients following a pelvic or spine related diagnosis. I have found it is my duty to not let patients suffer alone, but instead educate both the patients and medical professionals on what more can be done.

I am using every opportunity to spread the word, raise awareness, and educate. By inventing the new Solex posture roller and currently writing a book regarding pelvic health, are a few ways I am looking to disrupt the traditional methods of treatment.

Spine and Pelvic health is just as essential as mental health, especially in the posture decline era. My efforts consist of but not limited to treating patients with spine and pelvic health disorders on a daily basis, writing an educational and inspirational book, offering free educational seminars, writing blogs, giving away free content/resources, and continuing to spread awareness on this topic.

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 look back, the funniest and the most humbling mistake I made was not simplifying the information I was providing to my patients. My presentations and workshops consisted of heavy medical jargon which often led to confusion.

I quickly had to realize all the language I was throwing their way was overwhelming and often too much to understand. I had to backtrack and realize that I need to feed them information in a very practical way, where it is easy to absorb, understand, and apply on a daily basis. My delivery had to capture the audience and help them to understand the importance of creating a daily habit. Implementing this information into their lifestyle didn’t have to be difficult.

I also came to the realization, even though we are a very fast paced and advanced society, pelvic health is at the infancy stage in regards to awareness level. Spine related conditions are on the rise and new conditions are being added to the list, i.e. text neck.

Society as a whole is just starting to talk about spine related conditions and we, as medical professionals, do not need to overwhelm patients with medical jargon or information. If information is delivered in relatable ways, stories or analogies, patients can benefit from them quickly. This is why I am using every opportunity presented to me to help spread the pelvic and spinal health awareness in the simplest manner.

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?

My mentors will always be my patients. My patients gave me the special vision and courage to lead. They are a very big deal to me and my mission is to serve them well.

So, I ask them, how can I help? Their needs help me understand what I need to learn and practice, so I can deliver at an optimal level. Their concerns help me realize and clearly understand the gap between a patient and provider, the missing link. The bottom line is to meet their goals. And the best way I can provide for them is to practice daily in the field and keep an open mind on new needs from patients.

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

Disruption can have a yin-yang effect. If you find a pattern is not benefiting anyone, then the cycle needs to be broken. In order to break this cycle, a strong disruption is needed. Oftentimes the pattern or cycle in a medical practice, can be good. If it has been used for many years as an effective way to heal patients then it doesn’t need to be altered. However, if you find the pattern to show no results or for better results to occur, a change may be necessary. The health care industry is always going to evolve based on development in science and technology, however, there are some ground rules that for the most part will stay the same.

In my experience, I have found a disruption is necessary to raise awareness for Pelvic health and better posture. This disruption will be a reminder to our society to decrease the burden on the medical industry. Overall its purpose is to create a change to help improve quality of life.

However, the disruption can be negative if there is an information overload. During information overload, patients are often confused, overwhelmed and not able to take action. Creating a change to take away rights and freedom of choice is not productive in the medical field. Instead, medical professionals need to keep educational resources simple and consistent, to create a healthy disruption.

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

1)“Never look back” Past mistakes are just that, past mistakes. However, what we learn from them is crucial. Learn to adjust our actions and make well-crafted moves in the future based on past mistakes. For example: I used to be very hard on myself for the way I presented at a workshop or the treatment I provided to a complex patient. A friend once told me “never look back” and be kind to myself. So, learning how to let go and surrender has been very helpful in this journey.

2) “One step at a time” Being an overachiever, I always want to do everything at the same time. My plate is always overflowing and I would find myself burnt out by the end of the day. A patient once saw me struggling at work as I was trying to juggle the multiple tasks on my plate. She reminded me to breathe and just take one step at a time.

3) “Fail, adjust, adapt and keep moving forward.” — When I left my job at a corporation to start my own adventure, failure, small or large, was inevitable. I quickly learned how marketing and networking is essential prior to starting a business. However, I found a way to adapt and adjust to the needs of the community.

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

Releasing my book and hoping it spreads like wildfire!

The Invention of Solex was an interesting turning point in my career. During my practice, I treated patients on a daily basis that suffered from neck and back pain. During their treatments I found myself restoring the natural curve and alignment of the spine. The curves in our spine are designed for shock absorption and optimal function of the delicate nervous system. However, treatment is typically provided on flat mats, flat treatment tables or flat foam rollers. In order to emphasize a neutral spine, I would always find myself using a towel roll or pillow to tuck under the neck and lower back to help improve and restore the natural curve formation. This method not only restored the natural formation but simultaneously strengthened the patient’s spine.

An arising issue that is a concern for me, is the trend of electronic devices in all settings. We are all guilty of excessive screen time, but the effect of poor posture due to the tendency to look down has caught my attention. The excessive use of technology has created slouched posture, reducing the curvature and led to more neck and back problems. The problem I am looking to solve is How to restore & maintain the natural spinal curves during rehab and exercise. I challenged myself to find a simple and effortless way so patients can heal themselves anytime, anywhere without the need of a medical professional or special setup.

Solex was born after I put pen to paper. Using my art skills and medical background, I doodled different designs and shapes that I felt would be useful. Following hours of research in order to create a simple use and effective device for everyone, everywhere. This device will help shake up the health and wellness industry with its ability to heal poor posture without complicated methods.

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

Historically speaking, men have laid down the ground rules for every industry. A woman has to work her way through to get to the same level as a man. It requires hard work and a strong will power to climb that ladder. Women face criticism for stepping out, even from their own family and friends, in some cultures more than others. If a woman fails, she is ridiculed aggressively compared to a man. A woman needs a much larger and stronger support system to get out there and make big moves.

Early on, women are seen as more feminine and weaker. To change this perception is a very painful process but not one that is impossible. As long as we women keep moving forward and believe in our power, the challenges will slowly fade away.

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

Books like True North, Super soul by Oprah, Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins, podcasts by Joe Rogan, and quotes by Maya Angelou, Sadhguru, and Eckhart Tolle, have inspired me to believe in our own grit. They have given me the courage to believe in our own strength and spirituality.

I believe education is a very powerful tool that no one can take from us. So, all these books and podcasts are just another educational resource that I use to keep the fire within me alive.

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. 🙂

My movement would be to start a cultural practice of open communication about health and wellness. Taking the time to slow down and talk with each other, starting with our own self and family members. I believe a movement that can benefit all living beings is crucial and impacts the environment in a positive way. My movement would be to promote daily wellness practice from “inside out” — mental, visceral, pelvic, and physical.

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

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.

This quote has helped me to take the leap of faith when it comes to creating awareness and disrupting the health and wellness industry. I have recently launched the Solex brand and am currently writing a book to educate medical professionals and consumers who care about their wellbeing.

How can our readers follow you online?

IG @doctoramanpt

IG @getsolex

Soon to be launched website www.doctoramanpt.com and www.getsolex.com

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

Female Disruptors: Dr Aman Dhaliwal 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 Disruptors: Diana Dobin of Valley Forge Fabrics On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up…

Female Disruptors: Diana Dobin of Valley Forge Fabrics On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

My husband and I have been together for 30 years — and there was a specific moment when I needed to make a really difficult career decision — and he gave me the best words of advice I’ve ever received. I had the opportunity to continue to work for my family business or start a new career working on behalf of women and minorities. I was torn tremendously between what I perceived as a choice between these two very different paths. He said to me, “You don’t need to choose one. Do both”. With his outlook and motivation (and huge support all these years) I have chosen to do both. I am proud of the impact Valley Forge Fabrics has had on the lives of many — especially the women and minorities who choose to trust us and join our team of dreamweavers.

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

Diana Dobin is the Co-CEO & Chief Sustainability Officer of Valley Forge Fabrics, the largest decorative textile and textile products supplier to the Hospitality industry worldwide. A family-owned business, Dobin is 2nd generation leadership and partners with her brother Michael. Valley Forge is headquartered in South Florida and Massachusetts and respected for its environmental stewardship, agility, speed and adaptability to each customer.

The path of my career is a story of the American dream wrapped in a tie-dyed denim jacket. I was raised in the 70’s and 80’s by hippie parents with a work ethic born of being the children of Great Depression parents. When I was 5 years old, my parents founded Valley Forge Fabrics and they worked tirelessly to create financial stability. I remember so many years when we worried about money, and it shaped who I am. We didn’t get an allowance or have any extra money, so I took every opportunity I had to work. I drew pictures of the neighbor’s homes and sold them. I created a library from all the books in our house and charged money to my siblings to borrow them. I babysat. And whenever possible, I worked with my parents at their office. I fell in love with business — especially all the designs and colors and textures of the fabrics. Simultaneously I embraced the freedom, independence, and trust of often being alone with my younger siblings, and this made me a very maternal and capable person. The hippie mentality of love and understanding that I grew up with become my adult mantra of embracing diversity and always speaking up for human rights. And the tie-dyed denim jacket? It was my father’s staple uniform, and he was wearing it even before I was born. I have it now and it connects me to myself and serves as a physical reminder of where I came from and where I’m going.

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

In the late 90’s the stereotypical successful businesswoman was well-coiffed, guarded and respected for her demonstrated authority. When I first started working, I became aware that I was disrupting the expectations of many of my colleagues and clients. I led with my heart and my hair. I celebrated my big curly hair and never tried to tame it, just as I established my warm, transparent and collaborative approach from the very first interaction. This was, and in some ways still is, drastically different to the normative culture of business. Today my working style and approach has a name: “servant leadership”. I view my leadership purpose as promoting innovation, empowering and developing my teams to ensure the well-being of others — and yes… my hair is still big and curly and often enters a room before I do.

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 24 years old and living in Asia in the late 90’s and typical business entertaining was done by men and with men — and the destination of choice was strip clubs. To compensate for my lack of interest in taking my clients, who were mostly male, to these establishments, I instead hosted dinners at their favorite restaurants. One night in Vietnam I hosted a group at their favorite restaurant and while I was surprised that all the food was alive when we arrived, and served freshly slaughtered at the table, I couldn’t decline the “honor” of being given the snake blood to drink. I spent the rest of the evening smiling through my discomfort as it was clear that snake blood does not agree with my stomach. The lesson here: Building authority and equality with these men, while respecting the gender dynamic and cultural dynamic, required a creative and authentic approach.

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?

When I was 23 years old and living in Hong Kong, a very successful, well respected business leader took me under her wing. Over the 5 years I lived overseas, she taught me to be direct and accountable. She told me to trust my instincts, but always gather facts and details and to, “always have a seat at the table”. 10 years later, I went to a meeting in the U.S. in a large formal conference room with 25 men seated around the table and about 10 men seated in chairs along a wall. The only other 2 women in the room worked for our mutual client, and they were standing getting ready to address the room. I took a chair from the wall and politely said “excuse me” as I wheeled the chair to the center of the table and made room for myself there. That was a powerful moment for me. Today, I encourage other young women to always have a seat at the table.

My business, Valley Forge Fabrics, is rooted in creativity and innovation. What began as a mom-and-pop shop that peddled velvets to the theater industry has become the largest supplier of decorative performance textiles and services for the Hospitality Industry worldwide. For over 45 years, we have disrupted hotel design by exploring and developing custom products and services that delight clients and guests. Another positive disruption I’ve been grateful to be a part of is the focus and growth of sustainable products that benefit the earth and can improve human health and well-being.

While as a business we continue to invest and innovate in technologies to make us stronger, better and faster — I have seen how technology advancement can create disconnection. In the Hospitality Industry there are many technologies that have transformed and aided processes, but some of those same technologies could do great harm by removing the human element and creating a potential future environment where experiencing the surprise of human kindness and the joy in small gestures is diminished. For example, when you check into a hotel from your phone you bypass the team at the reception desk who is always ready to warmly welcome you. One of the things that has sustained me in my journey has been being a part of the Hospitality Industry, it’s truly a special industry that is made up of people who are dedicated to being of service. As technology continues to evolve, the industry must seek opportunities to provide personal care that provides humanity with comfort and security.

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

My husband and I have been together for 30 years — and there was a specific moment when I needed to make a really difficult career decision — and he gave me the best words of advice I’ve ever received. I had the opportunity to continue to work for my family business or start a new career working on behalf of women and minorities. I was torn tremendously between what I perceived as a choice between these two very different paths. He said to me, “You don’t need to choose one. Do both”. With his outlook and motivation (and huge support all these years) I have chosen to do both. I am proud of the impact Valley Forge Fabrics has had on the lives of many — especially the women and minorities who choose to trust us and join our team of dreamweavers.

When Valley Forge was starting our sustainability journey in 2007, and we were developing and testing recycled content fibers, I had the incredible opportunity to meet Ray Anderson, the iconic Founder of Interface, one of the largest carpet companies in the world. Ray was known as “the greenest CEO in America” for his relentless pursuit of sustainability and what he called, “Mission Zero”. Ray took the time to coach me on how to build a sustainable company. I am so grateful to have had the privilege to spend time with him. Among the many things he shared, I will never forget when he told me, “Diana, there is no ‘away’”. We were talking about trash, and it was very powerful to fully recognize the consequences of the reality that when you throw something “away” — there is “no away”. The trash just gets moved somewhere else. Typically to a more impoverished place and to be dealt with by people who do not have the opportunities that I have. The clarity of that singular moment brought together for me the intersection of environmental sustainability and human well-being. Those few words have inspired my passion and action and informed so many decisions I have made since.

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

Often we get so focused on shaking things up that we forget that to be sustainable is to be consistent and dependable. While Valley Forge Fabrics will continue to innovate, myself and the company are committed to demonstrating our core values over time rather than simply through grand but short-term gestures. As a leader I have realized that in addition to this marathon approach, my desire to make the largest impact on people possible begins and ends with my daily interactions. I want everyone to feel like they are the most important and only person in the world. Everyone needs and deserves to be seen like this and I will be the person who sees them.

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

My experience is that many women disruptors have shifted their most typical challenge of being heard into a specific advantage. Women are still underestimated — especially when they aren’t the loudest in the room. The most successful women disruptors have a quiet confidence, and they humbly recognize and take action when they see the opportunity to add a person who is smarter than they are to their team. By separating themselves from this typical paradigm, it’s their humility that gives them their power. It gives them the confidence to surround themselves with greatness as a strategy. This strategic capability and execution is a powerful combination. I have observed the power of women’s silent determination and quiet confidence in creating the strongest, most loyal, and most successful organizations.

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

I recently read “Scary Smart” by Mo Gawdat. It is an amazing perspective on AI (Artificial Intelligence) that directly addresses the fears and concerns of AI potentially “taking over the world”. The author was with Google X, the innovation arm for Google and shares his experience and provides clear advice on how we humans can and must address the continued building of AI with humanity and care for others in mind. I recommend it to everyone as it will take all of us humans to do this together to ensure a better future as technology grows.

Harmony is my favorite noun. If everyone could embrace difference and celebrate unique points of view, our diversity would have transformational power. The huge challenges facing humanity could be solved. Humans have the power to protect this planet and all its species — especially ourselves. We just all need to open our minds and our hearts, collaborate within our differences, and move forward together in harmony.

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

Maya Angelou said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”. I recognize and embrace the emotional value and effect my words carry in every interaction I have.

How can our readers follow you online?

Instagram @curlyfabricqueen @valleyforgefabrics

LinkedIn @Diana Dobin @Valley Forge Fabrics

Facebook @valleyforgefabrics

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

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

Female Disruptors: Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your…

Female Disruptors: Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Often, women only get one shot to be heard. You have to listen first, come prepared, and then be concise and impactful when your opportunity comes. You have to know you might only get one chance and make the most of it.

As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Fort Worth, Texas’s Mayor Mattie Parker.

Mattie Parker was elected in June 2021 as the 45th Mayor of Fort Worth. Leading one of the fastest growing large cities in the nation, Parker has set her focus on key issues that move Fort Worth forward, including economic development growth, innovative transportation and mobility solutions, quality education opportunities for every student, and building safer, more prosperous communities.

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

I have always loved being behind the scenes in policy-making. Over the past two decades, I’ve worked for several influential leaders at the federal, state, and local level, I spent time as a practicing attorney, and I started an education nonprofit. When the opportunity to run for Mayor of Fort Worth came to me, I didn’t expect it, but it felt like the right moment to step up for my city and lead in an exciting time in Fort Worth history.

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

Every day, I’m choosing to lead firmly with a consensus-building, bipartisan-focused mindset. It might seem like the opposite of disruptive, but because it’s not what we’re seeing right now, especially at the state and federal levels of government, I do end up being pretty disruptive. The politics in Fort Worth and on our City Council range widely, but my commitment is to focus on where we can agree and what we can get done together.

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?

It’s less of a mistake and more of an embarrassing story, but I was once pumping breast milk in my office with the door closed, totally brain-dead from everything that comes with a new baby. Someone knocked and I unthinkingly welcomed them in and had a whole sit-down conversation with a man from the Finance Department. I was, thankfully, covered up well enough, but looking back, it was very awkward. On the positive side of things, the story is also an example of how kind and understanding people can be with frazzled new parents.

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 was lucky early in my career to work for a woman named Nancy Fisher, who at the time was the chief of staff for Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick. She was just the right mix of empathetic and no-nonsense. She taught me, and the women around me, about how valuable a reputation is, the importance of speaking with authority, and being mindful of the messages you are sending with the way present yourself.

Democracy, and the way government should run, is a prime example of the way “disruptive” can improve or detract. We know that government functions to provide assistance, improve lives and be additive to our communities. Progress and disruption moves us forward to do more and be better in all of those areas, but you can take it too far. The far political fringes we see in both parties right now are that example, pulling us to places where “disruptive” is distracting at best and harmful at worst.

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

Don’t be intimidated if you’re the only woman in the room.
Be the most prepared.
Don’t let your clothes do the talking for you.

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

We need more women’s voices in policy-making. I want to create a bench of women to use their voices in a powerful way to create policy change, especially those who don’t hold elected office.

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

Often, women only get one shot to be heard. You have to listen first, come prepared, and then be concise and impactful when your opportunity comes. You have to know you might only get one chance and make the most of it.

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

There is an episode of the podcast Honestly with Bari Weiss called “The New Founders America Needs” that I think of often. In it, she is speaking to a group of young adults essentially about the problems that exist in the America they live in today, and how important it is embrace critical thinking to solve these issues. There is so much more to it, so I encourage you to give it a listen. It’s good food for thought for anyone, but especially that next generation of leaders.

It would absolutely be a movement of investing more in early childhood education and childcare. Ninety percent of brain development happens before age five, yet we invest drastically less in their education than we do in K-12. Businesses lose $13 billion annually in productivity costs due to child care challenges faced by their workforce. If we could work collectively to change these issues, it would transform all of our lives. If kids are successful, we’re all successful.

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

Madeleine K. Albright said that “There’s a special place in hell for woman who don’t help other women.” I’ve been lucky to have women of all personality types and levels of success help me and others on the path to successful careers, but I have also heard horror stories of women who haven’t been so lucky, being held down by a boss or someone they look up to. We should never eat our own.

How can our readers follow you online?

You can follow me on Twitter at @MayorMattie.

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

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

Female Disruptors: Chloe Demrovsky of DRI International On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up…

Female Disruptors: Chloe Demrovsky of DRI International On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

A lot of my work is about applying the concept of resilience, or the ability to bounce back, across various spheres of influence, whether personal, professional, organizational, or systemic. On the systemic level, I work on disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation. For example, I am working on a research project right now about how operational resilience can help companies disclose the impact that climate change is and will have on their finances and operations.

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

Chloe Demrovsky is the President and CEO of DRI International, a senior Forbes contributor, has authored numerous articles, appeared on Bloomberg TV, MSNBC, CNBC, Cheddar News, and Fox, and has served as an expert source for The Associated Press, BBC, USA Today, The Financial Times, ABC News, and others. She has presented at dozens of events across five continents and has conducted on-site briefings for government bodies. She is a professor at NYU, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a Board Director for the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) ARISE, the DRI Foundation, Bard College at Simon’s Rock Board (Vice-Chair), and Plastic Omnium.

As the youngest and first female head of the globally-recognized nonprofit Disaster Recovery Institute, I help organizations prepare for and recover from disasters, both natural and manmade. I started with the institute as a temporary employee and was named President and Chief Executive Officer in just nine years. I have worked with the public, private, and nonprofit sectors across five continents to promote resilience and sustainability.

My tale is much the same as those told by the thousands of resilience professionals I’ve met over the years in that I wound up here almost totally by accident. I dropped out of high school at the age of fifteen to attend Bard College at Simon’s Rock and graduated with a liberal arts degree at nineteen. From there, I at least knew that I wanted to work for an organization that made a difference, but I wasn’t exactly sure what form that would take. Over the next few years, I founded a nonprofit arts organization and worked for several others. Eventually, that background in nonprofit work led me to DRI. Our mission is so important, and I can see the impact every day.

On a personal note, I’m a third-culture kid who speaks four languages, which has made me adaptable to change and complexity, as well as an avid reader, which helps me process the world with perspective and humor. You need both in ample measure when you’re talking about disasters every day.

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

A lot of my work is about applying the concept of resilience, or the ability to bounce back, across various spheres of influence, whether personal, professional, organizational, or systemic. On the systemic level, I work on disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation. For example, I am working on a research project right now about how operational resilience can help companies disclose the impact that climate change is and will have on their finances and operations.

In my academic life, I actively seek exciting challenges and explore opportunities posed by new ideas and disruptive technologies. I earned my Master’s in Global Affairs from NYU while working full-time and am proud to also be the first alumna invited to be an adjunct professor, teaching public-private partnerships, private sector solutions for economic development, and social enterprise. I help my students create practical pitches for partnerships that will make the world a better place by leveraging the ideas and energy of the private sector to address social and environmental challenges. It challenges their thinking and the conventional approach to pursuing social good. For example, I’m excited that this semester I am advising a couple of student projects related to leveraging non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for social good.

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?

This is more of a personal anecdote but just as relevant and much funnier in hindsight than it was at the time. My wedding nearly got rained out, and it wasn’t even outside. Two days before our big day, an aging sprinkler system soaked the venue, leaving it unusable and not up to code. I didn’t panic. Instead, I got to work because disasters are what I do for a living. Running DRI, I get asked all the time how companies can become more resilient — how resilient organizations can adapt to changing political, economic, and environmental realities. The simple answer is to expect the unexpected. Know that you’re going to get thrown a curve — that you can get rained out even when there’s not a cloud in the sky. In the case of my wedding, I applied my business continuity training and got to work. We found a new venue, coordinated with our vendors, and relocated the whole affair in just under 48 hours. In DRI speak, we focused on the effect rather than the cause, identified our major obstacle as a facilities problem, and executed our plan. Sounds romantic, huh?!

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?

Without question, my predecessor at DRI Al Berman has had a huge impact on my life. He transformed DRI into the thriving organization it is today and gave me a front-row seat along the way, always making time to coach me and answer questions. He has more talents than any one man should, and I am humbled by his example and faith in me. We are very different in our approach as well as in our leadership style, but it is by having a dialogue to bridge those differences that we have grown this organization together. I’ve often heard the adage, “you can’t be what you can’t see,” and while there is some truth to that, I also found that the most influential mentors I’ve had were very different from me and often challenged my thinking. Really listening to them, while not always easy, is more likely to make me grow as a person. That’s the power of diversity — we must cherish the difference, make space to listen and understand, and learn from each other.

Disruption is my every day — we plan for it, respond to it, and recover from it. We at DRI observe how crises shape organizations and what they need to do to respond to those disruptions effectively. That advanced planning coupled with exercising the plans enables them to react in such a way that they can protect their core competency and maybe even come out stronger from the incident.

Collectively, we all just went through a major disruption with the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizations implemented changes at lightning speed in order to safeguard their businesses, employees, and customers from the pandemic. We partook in a stunning global experiment in work-from-home and the widespread adoption of remote work tools like videoconferencing. We witnessed swift changes to business models and online offerings across diverse industries, from retail to hospitality. We’ve seen the healthcare industry adopt new practices and technologies. These changes were made at organizations of every size and in every sector and country.

People generally hate change, and so do organizations. Big crises can serve as a catalyst for long-delayed and much-needed changes to be implemented. Some of the changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic are worth keeping, others not so much; however, the decision-making process should be approached with thoughtfulness and intention. Not every strategy is suitable for every organization. Leaders should take a good look at what has worked, what hasn’t, and perhaps most importantly, how they can expand on this stunning wave of global innovation rather than reverting to caution and inertia.

Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey?

I keep a list of little pieces of advice that have resonated with me over time, and I review it periodically. One of those is to be where you’re at because you’re already there. I have a habit of living too much in the future, taking on too much at once, and sometimes that can make life difficult. I’ve received the advice not to bite off more than I can chew many times, but it’s not always easy to follow. There is so much to explore and accomplish that it can be hard to say no to something you really want to do. But who knows? Maybe the geniuses working in biotech and robotics will find a way to extend our lifetimes, and I’ll get a chance to do more!

One way to do more is to make yourself dispensable by training and empowering your team. They are the force multiplier. It’s important to be a cheerleader for your team and shine a light on their successes when they do well. If your team excels, you will also. Fortunately, this is an easy one for me at DRI — my team is amazing, and they make it easy. I learn from them every day.

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

People call us when they are unsure how to prepare for or respond to various crises. We get questions on everything from the difficulty of moving to cloud computing to the dark side of artificial intelligence to planning for the threat of nuclear war. It’s our job to determine best practices and how companies can address these myriad challenges. I enjoy the intellectual and practical challenge of finding solutions to the most difficult problems we face as a society. We can’t predict the future, and we don’t know what will happen next. What we can control is our preparation for it and our reaction to it.

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

The continuity and resilience space has historically been male-dominated. The number of women pursuing careers in business continuity is growing, although it is still low at around 35–40% of the total. The increase may be in part because the role is changing within organizations as senior leaders up the level of responsibility assigned to business continuity professionals to prepare for and respond to challenges growing in number and complexity. The COVID-19 pandemic also laid bare the absolute need to lead with empathy, and many women have had more practice with leading in this manner. Behavioral norms in the workplace are changing, which may create moments of discomfort and confrontation. It’s important to create an open and caring workplace culture where your employees feel valued, motivated, and supported as they face these very human challenges. Women leaders are disruptors just by their mere presence in leadership roles. It is important to be mindful of that fact, to understand the shape you make in space, and then leverage that with intention. I try not to dwell on the added adversity of this fact but get up and seize the day I’ve been given and take advantage of the opportunity I have to make the world a better, safer, and more resilient place for those who follow.

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

I read and listen to a diverse range of books, articles, and podcasts, but I always go back to the classics (I did mention that I studied liberal arts, right?). I find that narrative fiction takes me out of my head and daily circumstances. It invites me to reflect on the world through different eyes and to empathize with the struggles of the characters. And I like to reread. Each time I find something new because I am a different person and can engage with the text with the benefit of the new perspectives that time brings. Whether it’s The Fellowship of the Ring or Sense and Sensibility, there’s always something new to learn.

We all need to invest more in building our resilience across every sphere of our lives, of course! In designing resilience strategies for organizations, it’s also helpful to have a reserve of personal resilience. In DRI’s glossary, we define resilience as “the adaptive capacity of an organization in a complex and changing environment.” Good leaders also possess this adaptive capacity in the face of complexity and change. In this space, we focus on heavy subjects and see many terrible things over the course of our careers, so having the ability to bounce back emotionally is essential.

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

Sometimes a particular quote finds you when you need it most. That happened to me today. A high-ranking military official said in a meeting that you shouldn’t make strategic decisions based on tactical problems. That resonated with me because I was ready to hear it. It just goes to show that sometimes a moment of serendipity can have an outsized impact, so it’s important to show up, bring your whole self, and pay attention to whatever you’re doing. You never know what you could learn.

How can our readers follow you online?

You can read my Forbes column, follow me on LinkedIn and Twitter, or sign up for a free DRI Account to get all the latest information on risk and resilience.

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

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

Female Disruptors: Alannah Slingsby of MOMENT On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your…

Female Disruptors: Alannah Slingsby of MOMENT On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

For each weakness, there is a corresponding strength. In every person, there is a polarity, and the sooner you recognize this in someone, the sooner you can understand them. This is super important when considering adding someone to the team. Where does their polarity exist? Perhaps they have strong attention to detail, but also take a long time to get a task done.

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

Alannah Slingsby is the CEO and founder of Moment, a health femtech platform focused on testing and treating hormone imbalances with a whole-person approach — from the comfort of your own home.

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Before starting Moment Health, I worked in Finance at Twitter. I thought I wanted to work in corporate finance but I was spending all my free time reading about health and the human body. I started working on some wellness projects and became the Head of Marketing at a large cancer clinic. Many types of cancers are hormone driven, so I had to know as much as possible about how hormones impact our well-being. On a personal note, in utero, my mother was negatively affected by a hormone medication that was given to her mother while she was pregnant. The drug, called DES, was a high dose of synthetic estrogen that has since been taken off the market, but caused serious health issues for my mother. That experience coupled with my job at the cancer clinic led me to my interest in hormones and health. Moment Health is femtech platform focused on testing and treating hormone imbalances with a whole-person approach — from the comfort of your own home.

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

Moment strives to provide the most safe and effective solutions to hormone imbalances on the planet. Maintaining optimal hormonal secretions is such a critical component to our health and wellbeing. Our hormones function as messengers between body systems helping to regulate so many functions in the body from our physiology and behavior, digestion, metabolism, respiration, tissue function, sleep, stress, reproduction and even our moods. Everyone can experience a hormonal imbalance at some point in their lifetime. Disrupted hormones can cause weight gain, menstrual cycle disturbances, skin related issues, mental health issues and overall leave you feeling a poor quality of life. It’s important to note that all things in the body are connected. When dealing with an imbalance in the body a multifaceted approach is vital for the body to work in harmony with itself. Our solutions are cutting-edge and strive to do good for the body, rather than harm. For example, our hormone formulations do not use added color dyes. Some of the inactive ingredients in Prometrium (a bioidentical Progesterone) include D&C Yellow №10 and FD&C Red №40. Some people can experience adverse reactions to food additives, even in amounts that are considered safe. In addition, Moment uses custom formulations. Not every woman is the same or has the same symptoms. Moment customizes each treatment plan and hormone therapy to precisely the dosage a woman needs to help her symptoms.

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’ve made so many mistakes. But one of the most regretful ones was not putting my health first. It’s easy to slip into a habit of waking up and immediately start checking emails. I stopped working out and going outside. As a result, I started to not feeling 100%. In the long-run, not making your health priority has a cost. We truly don’t have anything if we don’t have our health. Now I don’t check my email the second I wake up and I make sure to go outside and get sunshine first thing in the morning. I take phone calls outside and swim dips in the ocean as much as possible. This has made me more productive at work, and I should have made my health a priority in the first place! We only have one body and so we must treat it with love and caution.

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 lucky to have many amazing guiding lights in my life. My good friend is an advisor and sounding board for a lot of the major decisions we make. He has amazing instincts, listens to issues without judgement, and gives feedback gently yet firmly. There’s a lot to learn from how he guides people delicately. People don’t respond to harshness. A light touch is a lot more effective. One time he told me that when someone shares something with me that I did wrong, I tend to have to share something back that they did wrong. Why cannot I just listen to the criticism? My ego had been wounded. I’ve since course corrected and just listen. But I am grateful he didn’t deliver that feedback with any cruelty. A compassionate tone with no agenda is can produce the greatest changes.

I’m not sure it’s about disruption as it is about Art. Every human has a divine seed to create. What they create is their form of art. Photographers take photos, copywriters write headlines, and so on. When art is at the forefront, it tends to be disruptive. Your vision, the purity of your art- that’s what matters. The goal is not necessarily to be disruptive, the goal is to create the best thing you possibly can- and disruption often accompanies that. Disruption in itself is movement towards replacing what once was. When something is true and right and correct, then this happens as a result. It starts with someones art and ends with a movement.

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

1. For each weakness, there is a corresponding strength. In every person, there is a polarity, and the sooner you recognize this in someone, the sooner you can understand them. This is super important when considering adding someone to the team. Where does their polarity exist? Perhaps they have strong attention to detail, but also take a long time to get a task done.

2. Be customer-obsessed, not competitor-focused. Sometimes it’s easy start looking around at what’s going on with others. But stay the course and focus.

3. Everything in life has meaning to it if you view it as such. Nothing is random. You were meant for your challenges and they were meant for you. This goes for everything. There have been a few times where we accidentally used an incorrect address for a customer because we left off the apartment number. Lesson in there is to pay attention the details. Details, details, details. The fun is in the details.

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

We intend to grow in new states and continue to educate women on the importance of optimal hormone levels!

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

I haven’t experienced anything unique to women that is difficult, thankfully! Starting and running a business is hard, but it doesn’t seem to be uniquely difficult for women in my experience.

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

The work of Broda Barnes on hypothyroidism, Dr. Ray Peat on progesterone, and the Generative Energy Podcast on general wellness. All of this work encompasses a comprehensive framework for wellness, recognizing that our health is not localized. Health is not just one factor. It’s our attitude, it’s our food, it’s our sleep, it’s our relationships, it’s our environment. Our health is reflected through every cell. It’s in our laugh, in its our hobbies, it’s in our tears. Healthy life, healthy cells and vice versa.

A movement towards helping people understand disease so they can have tools to thrive. In many diseases, hormone disruption is a major cause. The causes of the collapse in testosterone levels, the rise in infertility, and the rise in estrogen driven diseases like PCOS and endometriosis are not totally unknown. For example, one study looked at forty-one women with breast cancer and 119 controls. During the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle, one overnight urine specimen was collected. During the luteal phase, urine and blood specimens were obtained. Breast cancer was associated with high-plasma estradiol, high prolactin, and low progesterone. Your hormones are sending messages to keep your body in motion. Sometimes messages go rogue. But there are many tools you can utilize to prevent the diseases from occurring or at a minimum-improving the quality of your life. Knowledge is power and understanding your hormone levels may be crucial to understanding diseases and health issues including those associated with menopause, PCOS, endometriosis, weight gain, acne, fatigue, ovarian cysts, fibrocystic breast, and fibroids.

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

All that happens to you, accept and welcome it. Nothing is wrong, nothing can be wrong — that should be the basic attitude.

How can our readers follow you online?

Moment Health’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joinmomenthq

My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alannahslingsby/

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

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

Women In Wellness: Dr Madhavi Gupta of Best Nest Wellness On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will…

Women In Wellness: Dr Madhavi Gupta of Best Nest Wellness On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Protect your sleep. You can just feel the immediate effects one or two bad nights of sleep has on you: quicker temper, brain fog, lack of focus, frustration, and low physical energy. Chronic poor sleep affects immunity, metabolism, healthspan, and lifespan.

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

Madhavi Gupta, M.D. is the co-founder and co-CEO of Best Nest Wellness. Prior to Best Nest, Dr. Gupta was a practicing board-certified neurologist, where she won The People’s Choice Award as a favorite doctor three years in a row. She holds a degree in Biochemistry and Humanities from MIT, completed her Neurology residency in New York City, and did her fellowship at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

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

My journey to Best Nest Wellness is from an unexpected place. I’m a neurologist with a further specialization in headache and I was from a world that believed allopathic or conventional medicine was the only option. I’ve always been passionate about brain health. But it wasn’t until I had my second baby that my passion turned into purpose.

Just seconds after birth, my doctor noticed our baby was different. Lively, healthy, and energetic, my beautiful baby boy was born with Down Syndrome.

From that moment on, my eyes were opened to a whole new world. He gave me a brand new perspective about love, life, and health. And he strengthened my resolve to provide the very best I could for my family. I made it my life’s mission to help other moms do the same.

Finding high-quality supplements formulated with the brain in mind was nearly impossible. So, using my knowledge of neurology and natural medicine I decided to create my own.

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

Shortly after Ajax was born, I did a continuing education workshop about working with brain-injured children at the Family Hope Center in Philadelphia. It was eye-opening even for a board-certified neurologist.

Historically, parents with kids with severe brain-injury (Down Syndrome, cerebral palsy, etc) were told there’s not much you can do…Your child will never [walk, read, write, etc.]. So, they were institutionalized with little stimulation.

Stimulation and input is so important, especially during 0–7 years, when the brain is developing faster than any time in a person’s life. Input includes nutrition, physical/sensory stimulation, and intellectual stimulation. And nutrition is always at the top of that list. In other words, you can take in the sensory and intellectual stimulation and process it better if your nutrition is sound.

The biggest takeaway is that the brain is malleable, especially in those early years, even in the womb. Take advantage of that time to focus on healthy nutrition and sensory and intellectual input. That’s the key to reaching your potential. And, what we learned to do with Ajax actually applies to all children, and even to adults. We now know better how important epigenetics is…How we can affect our genetic expression through nutrition and lifestyle.

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

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

I believe our children’s future is our greatest concern and that healthy nutrition is a human right. And, we all face the challenge of the cost, complexity, and efficacy of conventional medical care for families. With Best Nest Wellness, we are helping moms and families make informed decisions by providing education, guidance, and healthy solutions.

We want to make you smarter about your decisions and choices, which is why we connect you with relevant and researched information and authorities in their fields.

We make Transparent, pure, and proprietary supplements backed by clinical, developmental, and behavioral science. We focus on helping families during the many stages of creating and raising families. We specialize in brain development and we focus on methylated vitamins to support the brain.

This brings everything full circle…By focusing on nutrition as the foundation — creating educational channels and nutritional supplements to support families — we are helping people reach their full potential and help families soar.

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

Make a habit of moving your body. This can be as little as taking a walk for 15–30 min a day. Make it achievable. One tip to make the habit is to attach it to something else in your day. For example, my husband does his workouts when our son has his daily screen time.

Protect your sleep. Study after study has found powerful associations between insufficient sleep and adverse health outcomes. Think of sleep as a life insurance policy. One tweak is to aim for the same bedtime each night. Circadian rhythms are responsive. Sticking with the same bedtime will train your body to wind down. A routine helps — dim lights, in bed, read. And, of course, reduce stimulation from social media, email, or work.

There’s no one-size-fits-all eating style or diet. Keto, vegan, low-carb, no-carb, intermittent fasting, etc. All provide some sort of guardrails that have benefits. But what works for you may not work for me. Nutrition is a journey and it takes time to figure out what works for you. For me it has been a long journey and I’m still learning. Also, what worked for your 30-year-old self isn’t what works for your 50-year-old, premenopausal self.

Balance goal setting with being kind to yourself. Whether it’s weight, muscle, flexibility, brain health, or health biomarkers you are trying to affect, setting goals and setting up guardrails is key. Getting specific and writing those goals down raises your chances of achieving them even more.

But, be kind to yourself along the way. No one benefits from beating themselves up. This is a journey.

Multivitamin to bridge nutritional gaps. Taking a multivitamin is like insurance. It bridges gaps across a wide range of nutrients that you may be missing from your diet because, let’s face it, we’re all busy. We always encourage food first, especially in the form of whole foods. But, supplements address those gaps that may result from nutrient-depleted soil, eating in smaller time windows (intermittent fasting), and busy schedules. This is especially helpful for kids who are picky eaters and may not be getting enough micronutrients.

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

A movement that provides education and resources to empower people to make informed decisions about their health, along with healthy solutions such as supplements or functional foods. Kind of like Best Nest Wellness 🙂

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

I wish someone had told me that allopathic or conventional medicine is not the only option. You reap more health benefits once you strike a balance between conventional medicine and lifestyle.

Start feeding your brain when you’re young. With kids, those first 0–6 years are incredibly important, as the brain and neural connections are in high growth mode and are highly flexible. Even as young adults, we can set the stage for our later years by adopting healthy nutrition, sleep, exercise, and stress habits.

It’s not too late to form healthy habits. Although feeding your brain when you’re young is important, what we do today is still so effective. Observational studies show that those who adhered to four or five specified healthy behaviors (about 150 minutes per week of exercise, not smoking, light alcohol consumption, whole foods diet, engaging in cognitive stimulation regularly) were found to have a 60% lower risk of Alzheimer’s.

Protect your sleep. You can just feel the immediate effects one or two bad nights of sleep has on you: quicker temper, brain fog, lack of focus, frustration, and low physical energy. Chronic poor sleep affects immunity, metabolism, healthspan, and lifespan.

You will likely up your health game when you have your first child.

Birthing my daughter was the most empowering transformation I have ever gone through. You could say I had two births that day: I birthed my daughter and I birthed my new self. After all, I created, grew, and brought life to this human being! I wanted to protect her, nurture her, and provide her with the very best that I could give her. I learned so much about nutrition at that point in my life. To me, “best” means achieving our highest potential, physically, intellectually, and emotionally. “Best” also means high-quality, convenient, and as natural as possible.

Thank you for these fantastic insights! We wish you continued success and good health.

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

Women In Wellness: Kim Overton of SPIbelt On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support…

Women In Wellness: Kim Overton of SPIbelt On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Seek advice from people who care and people who’ve been there done that. I was operating so fast and head-down when I started that I didn’t always take the time to seek advice from mentors or experts when a challenge popped up. Pretty much every challenge I ever faced in business, and continue to face, is something someone else has navigated. Learn from others.

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

SPIbelt founder and inventor, Kim Overton, wanted to solve the problem of what to do with her small personal items while she was out running. Her solution to this challenge was SPIbelt, which has now been the leader in running belts for 15 years! As CEO, Kim Overton leads her team and community to embrace an active lifestyle, infusing the SPIbelt ethos and practices with the values of health, wellness, and balance.

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

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

Within the first year of being in business, I was at a house party in NYC wearing a SPIbelt. A producer from the Rachael Ray show who was at the party absolutely loved the SPIbelt and asked me a ton of questions about it. All of a sudden, there was a group surrounding me, all so excited about the SPIbelt. Next thing I know, the SPIbelt was featured on the Rachael Ray show. It was one of the best online sales events we’ve had to date!

What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?

What I learned from that was to always have your product on you and always be prepared to show it off and talk about it! The passion you have for your product will shine through, and others will get excited about it as well.

Can you share a story about the biggest mistake you made when you were first starting?

Within one year of launching SPIbelt, I thought the next move that would get me to the next level was to produce a short-form spot commercial. Short-form spots are like modified infomercials that last anywhere from 1–2 minutes.

Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

This grand idea came to me from a conversation I had with a gentleman on a plane. I guess I got swept up in his conviction for this type of advertising and was impressed with how well he said it worked for him. Instead of doing the research to really see if this was right for me, or compare the expense against other marketing opportunities, I went for it and lost over $30K (this was a lot for me when I was getting started). Keep in mind this was also before social media.

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

Our products are the sidekick people need to hold their small personal items when they’re running, working out, or otherwise living their best active life. SPIbelts also provide peace of mind to individuals who need to carry their special medical devices on them at all times. SPIbelts are low profile, soft, comfortable, and are often forgotten about when in use because they are so light and discreet! Our motto is Free to Be; free to be your best active self without the worry of how and where to store your personal items.

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

I’m learning daily as I go but 5 tweaks that work for me –

Take a pause for yourself in the morning before starting your day. Personally speaking, if I don’t stop to pause before my day gets started, my day will rule me versus the other way around. Take charge of your mindset before the day begins.

Take a moment to transition from work mode to personal mode and/or parent mode. This one is super important for me whether I’m working from home or the office. When I’m done with a work, I make a conscious effort to take a pause before I jump into mom mode. Mom mode, or personal time, is often a huge mind shift, so taking a moment to mentally downshift and let go of the challenges of my workday with a moment of gratitude and deep breathes helps me step into my post-work space with ease, patience and a clear mind.

If a to-do can take 2 minutes or less, just do it, don’t wait. It’s so easy to push little tasks off to a later time but if you get into the habit of knocking out little items on your to-do list, you’ll be surprised by how relieved you will feel at the end of the day.

Truly stop and smell the flowers. I have two your kids and they literally will stop to observe or smell the flowers. A random break to observe natures helps keep me grounded no matter how my day is going.

Know where the Big Dipper is in the night’s sky. When I take a pause to find the constellation, I am reminded how big our universe is and how small my day-to-day problems are in comparison. It’s easy to get bogged down by the issues in our own lives, and a look at the night sky really puts things in perspective. Observing one of the easiest constellations to spot always leaves me with a sense of calm.

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

I believe a 4-day work week would benefit everyone. More time off for personal and family time, plus physical and mental wellness would be a better way to go about things.

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

Put your brand on the exterior of everything that you sell. For the first 6 months of selling SPIbelts, the elastic band was plain black, no branding! It’s a missed opportunity to help spread your brand.

Hire support as soon as you start thinking you need it. I allowed myself to work 10+ hours days to keep up, but I wasn’t as effective and efficient as I could have been in launching my business as I would have been if I hired help sooner.

Carve out YOU time! We all know about this one. I absolutely loved working extreme hours and on weekends when I started so it didn’t always occur to me that my head was down so much. That said, sprinkling in a little fun and workout time is truly important for balance.

Take time in hiring the right people. I hired quickly and not carefully in the beginning. It’s so important to fully vet and feel confident about your hires rather that investing in them only to discover they were the wrong hire. Take your time to hire the right person, don’t rush it because you need to fill a seat.

Seek advice from people who care and people who’ve been there done that. I was operating so fast and head-down when I started that I didn’t always take the time to seek advice from mentors or experts when a challenge popped up. Pretty much every challenge I ever faced in business, and continue to face, is something someone else has navigated. Learn from others.

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

Mental health. The mind and body are so connected. If our mind isn’t working, the body will not want to work either; they work as one and I like to treat them as one. I’m not sure there’s much I can do as mom, partner, employer, sister, daughter, friend, etc., without good mental and physical health.

What is the best way for our readers to further follow your work online?

SPIbelt.com and on mine and our company’s social channels — @spibelt and @kimjoverton.

Thank you for these fantastic insights! We wish you continued success and good health.

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

Corina Layton On Five Ways For Influencers To Monetize Their Brand

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Send out emails to anyone and everyone you want to work with! When I was starting out, I emailed anyone that I was remotely interested in working with, and some responded, others didn’t, but it not only gave me experience on how to construct a professional email, but it also helped me grow my confidence in being an influencer.

As part of my series about “How Influencers Can Monetize Their Brand”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Corina Layton.

Corina Layton is a 2020 Dental Hygiene graduate currently practicing full time in Philadelphia, PA. She started out working at the front desk of a dental office, and kept progressing to a dental assistant, orthodontic assistant, and is now a Registered Dental Hygienist. She is projected to complete her BSDH in the Spring of 2023, and looks to use her degree to continue educating the general public as well as other dental professionals. Corina has been able to grow a following on TikTok and Instagram as a Dental Hygienist by educating people about dentistry and sharing tips and tricks on how to have an overall healthy mouth and body. She enjoys networking and continuing education courses, as she believes the future in dentistry is always changing.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would love to get to know you a bit more. What is your “backstory”? What brought you to this point in your career?

I have been a dental hygienist for a bit over 2 years now, but I grew up in Alaska, lived in Wisconsin for 4 years and now currently live in Philadelphia. I started to pursue social media on a serious level when I realized that there was a huge lack of dental knowledge in the general population. Those were the videos that took off, and I continued to create that type of content in hopes to educate.

Can you share the funniest or most interesting story that happened to you in the course of your career?

I would say the funniest/most interesting thing would be that some people are so sensitive when they don’t have irritated gums, while others who have a lot going on don’t even flinch. That always amazes me because every mouth is so different.

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

I would like to say yes! Everyday that I am able to educate one person on how to better help their overall oral hygiene, which leads to a great overall systemic health, is a good day! That means that I did my job correctly.

You have been blessed with great success in a career path that many have attempted, but eventually gave up on. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path but know that their dreams might be dashed?

My words of advice is to just continue to pursue what you are passionate about, and the people who are, or want to also be passionate about it, will follow. Anyone can be influential, but it may just not be to the group that they are initially anticipating it will be.

None of us can achieve success without a bit of help along the way. Is there a particular person who made a profound difference in your life to whom you are grateful? Can you share a story?

The biggest and most influential person in my life who helped me achieve success would be my husband, Jared. He has always been my number one fan, and will sacrifice his battery to leave my videos on repeat to help boost me in the algorithm; he continues to always say “yes” when I have a last minute trip or meeting that I have to do; he never doubts me, and continues to just tell me that I can do it, and that I am the hardest worker he has ever known! Those words alone, and his unwavering support keep me going, and really push me to continue to pursue my dreams, and keep going when the going gets rough.

So what are the most exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?

I am so excited to be able to partner with an amazing company that is changing the face of dentistry, and how we treat our patients while I accompany them on their trips across the country to dental conferences. Being present at these conferences has opened doors for me to write articles and be able to teach more people about dental hygiene and influencing. I hope to have my first article written out by the end of the year, and I am very nervous, but very excited as well!

What are your “Top Five Ways That Influencers Can Monetize Their Brand” . (Please share a story or example for each.)

1. Send out emails to anyone and everyone you want to work with! When I was starting out, I emailed anyone that I was remotely interested in working with, and some responded, others didn’t, but it not only gave me experience on how to construct a professional email, but it also helped me grow my confidence in being an influencer.

2. Monetize yourself in a niche that you are passionate about. This means, in my case, I get brand deals for TikTok, and then make sure that I keep in the niche that my followers are interested in so that I can profit the most because that is what I specialize in and that is what gets the views that myself and the brands are looking for.

3. Join platforms that can aid in finding deals. This meant doing a lot of research on different websites that I can join to get in contact with companies, opposed to waiting for them to reach out to me.

4. User Generated Content (UGC) is another way to monetize your platform. This is also one of the easier ways, because none of this content needs to be anything you are necessarily passionate about. Brands will literally let you have their product for free if you create a certain amount of deliverables (videos, reels, TikToks, photos, boomerangs…etc) and they can/will also pay you for it

5. Lastly, monetize your brand yourself. This means to not be afraid to promote yourself. For me, this was me introducing myself, and then if I was in a setting of someone asking me what I did, I would say “I am a dental hygienist, but I also do social media on the side.” This has now changed since influencing has become a greater source of income for me, but nonetheless, it opens doors for the conversation with people. It makes you more reputable, as well as, leaves the door open for that person to use you and your services, or refer you to someone.

The movement I wish/hope I can inspire is the movement of confidence. This means not caring if my hair isn’t perfect, and not caring about the next thing that a stranger says to me. Waking up and choosing to love myself everyday is enough, and choosing to be confident in who I am, and what I am worth has drastically changed my perception of not only myself, but also has opened my eyes to others around me. Being able to help and lead people to being confident in themselves and their skills is my passion, and if that is through me dancing on camera, talking about teeth, and telling people to floss, all the while my hair is frizzy and make up is out of place, then I am doing my job right! No one is perfect, so we should stop trying, and we should just continue to grow in ourselves.

This is a great question! My person I’d love to have a private breakfast with would probably be Selena Gomez. She has inspired me through her music since I was in middle school, and seeing how she is so authentically herself, and how she is raw and willing to be raw in front of a camera is so inspiring!

What is the best way our readers can follow your work online?

You can find me on TikTok or Instagram @corina_907

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

Corina Layton On Five Ways For Influencers To Monetize Their Brand was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.