Day: October 6, 2022

Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech: Aunia Kahn of Rise Visible On The 5 Leadership Lessons She Learned From Her Experience

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Own what you do. In leadership of any capacity, it is important to stand by your convictions and also be open to feedback and help from others. However, in times that you may not have the support you need, stand strong on your own beliefs and do so unapologetically.

As a part of our series about “Lessons From Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech”, we had the pleasure of interviewing Aunia Kahn.

Aunia Kahn is the CEO of Rise Visible. With 24 years in the field, she is a highly sought after digital marketer, strategist, public speaker and digital influencer. Rise Visible has been named Top-Ranking Woman-Owned Digital Agency by Clutch, Best SEO Agency in Eugene 2022 by Expertise, and is a certified disabled and woman-owned business. She is also an internationally recognized and awarded visual artist, photographer, author who has shown in over 300 exhibitions in over 10 countries; at places such as San Diego Art Institute, iMOCA, and the St. Louis Art Museum. She founded Create for Healing and the host of the Rise Above Be Visible Podcast. Aunia also identifies as a disabled business owner surviving and thriving with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (Type 3), Mast Cell Disease, Dysautonomia, and POTS, PTSD, etc.

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 did not expect to be or plan to be a disabled woman in tech. That was not where my passions were leading me. I had deviated from one path to another one — which is where I am today.

I still think about being a therapist, but I know I just care too much and would have a hard time keeping distance without emotional investment. So, it is good the other road showed up — as unexpected as it was.

This path led me to move from Michigan to St. Louis in 2001 and was studying psychology. In Michigan, I worked as a dental assistant to pay my bills while in school, so I continued this occupational direction and applied for dental assisting jobs once I arrived in St. Louis.

I had a hard time finding the office since I was new to the area but once inside the medical office, I felt strange. I think most people who start a new job feel a little weird for the first few days or even weeks as they settle into the new setting.

Within an hour of being there, I heard someone yelling from the break room — this was 9/11. As everyone sat watching the TV in disbelief, I became more and more uncomfortable surrounded by strangers. So, I asked to leave and never came back. In one day, one moment, my life changed its trajectory most unexpectedly.

Trying for months to find work after the events of 9/11 was nearly impossible. To add to the difficulties, my health was also failing and I needed to figure out how to navigate that as well.

I started thinking about the secret skills I had that I had never even considered as a career path. Going back to 1998, I was given a computer with a ton of computer programs on it and learned website design, graphic design, and marketing. I did it for fun and had a pretty extensive portfolio.

An unforeseen opportunity had presented itself to me and I reached out to a few people I knew in the industry. With that, I was able to secure an interview at a local agency. It was a quick no. I felt crushed. Yet, I still had the fire to find a way to drum this type of work up as something that could perhaps make me a living and help me balance the care I needed to have for my declining health. I began to ask friends, family, and people I knew for referrals. In time, my business started to grow to a tiny solopreneurship.

This brought me where I am today. 25 years later and with many more unforeseen twists and turns under my belt, I could not be happier. This might not have been my original career path, but sometimes the universe takes you off your path and puts you right where you are supposed to be. Right here and now.

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

I think the most interesting story is now — this very moment. Over the last 25 years of my career, I spent those years surviving, not thriving.

In the last 2 years, I have had the biggest change in my health and business. I had been previously diagnosed with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. Finally last year, I was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Dysautonomia as well as a plethora of other wonderful health issues. Thank you gene mutations! However, with this diagnosis and treatment, my whole world has changed and expanded for me.

I started to step into owning being a disabled business owner, especially as a disabled woman in tech, which was something I hid for a very long time. I felt it left me vulnerable. The truth is, for me, hiding this fact was not healthy. Being able to open up about it has brought me much vitality and the ability to connect with and empower a community I am honored to be a part of. The disability community is filled with some of the most amazing people because sometimes just making it through the day is a victory and not everyone understands that.

So, my current story is my most interesting to share because so many exciting things are happening, and I am incredibly grateful to be where I am right now.

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? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I feel for many of us, just starting out in business is much like learning to ride a bike. There is this confidence that comes from removing the training wheels and going at it on your own. People cheering you on, the cool breeze in your hair as the confidence mounts and you lift your hands up off the handlebars into the hair, and BAM! — the reality of hitting your first rock on the road.

As for what is funny, I feel a lot of it is in retrospect. Perhaps not a specific moment but when I think of how many times a project was not evaluated correctly in my early days, or not understanding my value or even the role I played with clients and colleagues — it can be painful but a bit of humor goes a long way.

For me, this is looking back at all those moments of novice errors and saying to myself how big and unexpected the world of entrepreneurship was and how many things I would do differently. Whatever this means to me or someone just starting out, I would say that there are going to be some embarrassing moments but with those moments come valuable lessons. Just try to keep in mind that perseverance and a little humor will get you through and they may make for a funny story someday.

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

Rise Visible has evolved into a company that stands for DEI as well as extended that further into the realms of community service in our Pro Bono ventures, for example. We also find great importance in setting an example to our community in how we include and share our altruistic vision.

I feel being a disabled woman in tech presents that sense of responsibility but to have a company where our values and standards are at the front-facing aspect of all we do is very important to how we do business now and also how we will continue to do business and help others rise and be visible in the future.

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

We have just launched our Rise Visible Pro Bono program which will offer the ability for small businesses and nonprofits to be able to gain services such as website design and development, graphic design, content creation, and digital marketing through donors that keep this program funded..

We believe the value of implementing this program will benefit those that greatly need it in the communities where women, people of color, those with disabilities, and other marginalized groups of people require and deserve equal opportunities in elevating their business to those they serve within those communities.

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

The number of women in STEM is still around the 28 percentile and the growth has been far too slow for far too long considering all the advances and opportunities for women over the last 30 years.

I would like to see that number grow exponentially in the next 5 to 10 years and believe it can globally with the right initiatives and also by having women already in STEM use their voices to foster and advocate for greater mentorship and opportunity-building platforms.

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?

Over the last several years, research on this subject has shown there are a couple of key factors that need to change to reduce these challenges. One is the low retention rate for women in STEM based on career advancement, particularly in leadership roles.

Another challenge is the lack of mentorship in the career-building process. When you have such a great gender gap ratio, it calls for more programs, and initiatives within the workplace and even at the educational level that involve a long-game approach to mentoring, career building, and further education within the fields of STEM to strengthen the opportunities going forward and reduce such challenges for the next generation.

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

I still believe that there is a misconception that women do not or do not want to work in STEM. With such a myth lingering, it can be misleading to the leaders in the field to help adjust this for women entering STEM as well as young women thinking about options in the field of STEM. Without reinforcement to help dispel these myths, how will an entire generation not see what is actually possible?

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

There are “musts” I try to convey to anyone starting out in business, particularly a woman in STEM.

1. Own what you do. In leadership of any capacity, it is important to stand by your convictions and also be open to feedback and help from others. However, in times that you may not have the support you need, stand strong on your own beliefs and do so unapologetically.

2. Set the example and bar high. Women coming up in the next generation as well as those who are looking to you as an example of a leader and mentor. The responsibility we accept in this field is great but the impact that can span a generation or more is humbling and simply put, it is a duty and honor to do so. I always think back to my younger self and think of what was possible or what I was told was possible. Now I can take some of those impossibilities and make them possible for others and I encourage others to do the same.

3. Know your equality. The pay and the perceived value you as a woman in these industries may not be felt the same by all. That’s unfortunately been proven to be quite obvious. Know your worth. Ask for your worth, even demand that worth. Again this sets an example to others who may be looking to you to understand their own worth. Doing so opens those doors at a greater speed and with more voices.

4. Stand your ground. This is something I say often as not a point of defiance but to empower yourself and those who look up to you in a leadership position. To be confident but fair, to be influential and diplomatic — all of these things require you to stand your ground when it is most necessary for the benefit of your journey and other women in your industry as well. One stands strong and others stand with you.

5. Find your tribe. The lesson here is that we do not always know who our tribe is. We are tribal by nature as human beings. When growing in a community or excelling in business, we need those we can count on and those that support us and vice versa. There are other women out there just like you ready to take part in your tribe or you in theirs. A tribe is a resource and a place of unification. Whatever and wherever yours is, go out there and find it.

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

The importance of women in STEM outweighs the challenges. It is a hard thing to say and not want to challenge that statement in itself but there is a need to show what is possible through resilience and leading by example.

As more and more women show and share their resilience in the face of challenges in their given field, they are making it evident to those watching that women are valued, needed, and hold great hope and opportunity for women in STEM in the future.

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

Value your time and your team’s time. I would also add to that, the fact that communication is an invaluable and ever-changing skill set.

Become a great communicator that sets the example for your team. The time and effort involved in anything will be greatly affected by how well you communicate.

The idea of communication can seem simple to many, but communication is complex and it is a skill that we keep on having to adjust and learn about daily. Be open to being wrong, not understanding someone and having miscommunications. They are part of any business culture — as well as life.

When we realize we are always learning, nothing is seamless, we all make mistakes — we learn that communication is one of our best tools in working through those challenges.

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

I would not be doing what I am doing today without a chance encounter with a friend that changed my life. TIn 1998, that friend gave me the computer with all that software I have been able to build on for the last 25 years.

When having to find a way to work around my disability and still take care of myself, those tools were life-changing for me. Plus, I always have had an entrepreneurial heart.

It seems like a simple gift, but this is where I learned that even a chance encounter can change your life forever. I am deeply honored.

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

We started to add social impact opportunities on our business website.

First, we choose a monthly charity each month to donate a portion of our sales. We keep each month’s charity on our website and give clients also the opportunity to directly donate to the causes we care about.

Second, we just launched the Rise Visible Pro Bono Program. Our program focuses on marginalized populations, small businesses/start-ups, or non-profits that are in need of support for their business and want to make an impact in their market.

We offer free-of-charge services such as SEO, websites, graphic design, content creation, digital marketing, and marketing consultations

We work to directly improve the lives of women, people of color, those with disabilities, and other marginalized groups. We believe businesses deserve the most effective tools to foster equal opportunity and advancement for everyone.

Third, we are outspoken advocates for DEI and accessibility in the real and digital world. We believe in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility. We are committed to making sure everyone feels represented, respected, and included.

Lastly, we worked with and wrote for various publications to bring visibility to disability in business as well as chronic illness awareness.

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

I feel if a movement of Altruism in Business could exist, I would lead that movement of good to the greatest amount of people. There are so many lives that could become success stories if only more people used their influence or abilities to offer compassion and help to those who cannot do it alone. To be able to carry unified values to help others succeed as we succeed ourselves sounds kind of perfect.

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

“Nana korobi, ya oki” is a very powerful Japanese Proverb that means fall down seven times, get up eight. Falling down is inevitable, but where we gain power is when we get back up.

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

Joe Dispenza is one of my all-time heroes. He went from a traumatic injury that could have cost him his life to helping himself heal and has helped others heal. Changing the lives of many people.

With a better understanding of neuroscience and brain plasticity, we are learning that we can heal ourselves in ways we never knew we could — with scientific proof! As well as that we can make ourselves sick, but we can change that too.

Just listening to him speak is an amazing experience. He is kind-hearted, smart as a whip, and revolutionary for his time. His book “Becoming Supernatural” is one of my favorite books. He’s remarkable and it would be a dream to spend real human time with him.

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

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Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech: Aunia Kahn of Rise Visible On The 5 Leadership Lessons She… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

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

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Good Sleep- This is so important! I have gone to bed many nights after 2 a.m. and blamed it on insomnia. I feel like people underestimate just how necessary good sleep is. I have begun going to bed between 9:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. I wake up at 5:00 a.m. to start my day off right. As a result of this change, I have more energy and time in my day for necessary tasks.

As a part of my series about women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Kashara R Morring.

After serving eight years in the Air Force, separated in 2014. In the process of finding herself, she met a woman who introduced her to Reiki healing. She then realized so many women do not take care of themselves. Women either feel guilty thinking about self-care, think they don’t have time for it or feel it is out of reach due to finances. She then started Palm N Sole, a safe space for women and veterans to take time for their care, where she specializes in Thai massages and waterless pedicures. She has five-star reviews on Google and is an expert in this space.

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

I was born in Waterbury, Connecticut. It is a small town in New Haven County. I decided to join the Air Force and was in Basic Military Training about a month before my 21st birthday in 2006. During my eight years in the service, I could travel to places I never imagined I would. In 2013, I decided to separate from the military. By this time, I had a four-year-old daughter and was mentally checked out due to trauma from my time at my last duty station in Augusta, Georgia.

I stayed in Georgia to finish school while my mother and daughter returned to Connecticut. During this time, I drove back to Connecticut quarterly to visit my daughter until late 2018. Back in Georgia, I met people who would show me different alternatives to the life I had become accustomed to. I began reading tarot and oracle cards. I started meditating daily, sometimes multiple times a day. I began to fast more because I had no money to buy food. When I did eat, it was mostly a vegan diet. I started wearing and studying crystals. I was beginning to shift.

After some odd jobs, I decided I wanted to start a business. I knew I wanted to help people; I just was unsure what I could do. Around 2015, I met a business owner through a mutual friend. She had a nail salon suite, and I figured I could learn much from her. We instantly clicked, and she suggested I go to nail school about a year later. She was in the process of expanding and offered me a spot if I became licensed. January 2016, I was in nail school at Elaine Sterling Institute. I knew then that nails would be a starting point for me because of my desire to provide energy work and readings to my clients. I was thinking about also becoming licensed in Massage Therapy.

When I completed my Nail Technology License requirements, I went to work for my friend for a couple of years at her now Medical Foot Spa. She did away with nails and focused on feet. I was introduced to waterless pedicures through my nail instructor, but I learned how to provide a proper pedicure through my friend. While at the Med Spa, I got my license in Massage and decided it was time to move on. I learned a lot about providing services for people with diabetes and people with severe fungal infections and neglected feet.

Palm N Sole Massage and Footcare began operating in 2019. I intended to create a safe space to provide foot care and massage modalities near and dear to my heart. This includes Lymphatic Drainage and Thai Yoga Bodywork. I also offer Reiki and waterless pedicures for basic feet and medical pedicures for more challenging cases.

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

One of the most exciting things that have happened since I opened Palm N Sole was also my first significant experience with feeling like a failure. When I left the Med Spa in September 2019, I entered a lease agreement for an office suite in Roswell, Georgia. First, my current client base planned to follow me was traveling to Smyrna, Georgia, where the Med Spa was located. Roswell was an entire hour from there. I lived an hour away from there. It just was not convenient. Second, it was super expensive. I was in My Salon Suites. At the time, the rooms for a single 150-square-foot office were $280 a week. That is $1200 a month, folks. My rent was $1200 at my two-bedroom apartment just outside of Atlanta. It was steep. To supplement my income, I provided mobile appointments for my clients in Cobb County who did not want to make the trip to Roswell. I was driving all over Metro Atlanta and beyond and was not adequately compensated due to my fear of losing customers. That is a whole other story. I was so excited to be in my own space that I just told myself I would be okay. It was rough.

In February 2020, I got extremely sick. I had a fever of 102 and developed a cough that seemed never to end. A couple of weeks later Covid –19 was announced officially by the media. My appointments were all canceled, and I had no way to continue making payments for my office. I was able to break my lease early, but I was devastated. The second space I moved from six months later because the building was not up to code, according to Cobb County. After a year of mobile appointments, I am currently in my third office space. So far, the third time is a charm.

I learned that it could be beneficial to wait before signing any leases. I knew in my heart that I was not ready financially and dealt with a lot of self-disappointment because of it. I also learned to charge what I deserve. I was operating my mobile appointments as if I were doing my clients a favor, meanwhile putting all the stress of travel, set up, execution of service, and breakdown on myself. I was exhausted and drained mentally, physically, and spiritually. My car mileage was crazy! I applaud anyone that can provide mobile services and keep going, and I just realized it was not for me.

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?

One of the biggest mistakes I made at first was not having a solid plan. I only focused on providing services. The structure was not there. Although I am improving, I still have a long way to go. Lack of planning also led to me leasing not one but two suites which ended in me having to leave prematurely. The first time was on me; the second time, it was out of my hands. Come to find out, the company that leased me the room had not filed the proper paperwork with Cobb County. I was paying for permits and inspections that I was not responsible for. I failed the inspection after contacting the building manager repeatedly, asking that they needed to reach the county. As a result, I lost a lot of money. The office itself was great. I was the only person in the building, I had a bigger room, and it was half the cost of my 150-square-foot office in Roswell. I hated to leave, but the office manager did not cooperate until the very last minute.

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 want to provide services that allow one to have complete and total awareness of self. I have created peace within my office; it is clean, scents of eucalyptus and lavender fill the air, and it is ascetically pleasing. I have invited the Goddess into my space, and she adorns the walls in her many forms. It is a very healing space. My clients can leave in sandals after not showing their feet in twenty years! I have had clients have an emotional release where they may cry during energy work or Thai Massage. A lot of stagnant energy is released, and clients can relax, feel good and take that feeling with them when they leave me. When they return to the world and encounter others, I hope their energy is contagious!

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

This question is ironic because I am currently building with a tribe of like-minded practitioners and bodyworkers. One of my goals is to have a wellness house and travel to different states and countries spreading healing vibes to anyone who wants to be a part of a collective that emphasizes wellness, the importance of self-care, and how plant medicine can support them in their journey. The wellness house would be in the primary location offering various services, and wellness events and retreats would be held overseas. Plant medicine can range from building a community garden to using herbs in vaginal steaming and teas to hosting Ayahuasca ceremonies. Plants support us in our nutrition as well. This movement is not solely my own; many have already begun to do this worldwide or are figuring out how to execute their vision. Collectively, we need healing and love and safe spaces that support us.

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.

The top 5 lifestyle tweaks that I recommend based on my journey and routine are as follows:

Good Sleep- This is so important! I have gone to bed many nights after 2 a.m. and blamed it on insomnia. I feel like people underestimate just how necessary good sleep is. I have begun going to bed between 9:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. I wake up at 5:00 a.m. to start my day off right. As a result of this change, I have more energy and time in my day for necessary tasks.

Movement- I was that girl who planned to work out, go hard for two weeks and then stop for months. I would miss an alarm or a workout and not continue with my plan to be active. For me, it was that I did not enjoy the exercises I was doing. I know most people do not hear me; I want to wake from a warm, comfortable bed in the morning. What has worked for me is to do yoga for 15 to 20 minutes daily and then go into meditation. I get just enough movement in, and I can meditate much easier. After meditation, I walk a trail with my mother and daughter during the week. I began to focus on what I loved about the new routine, how I felt, and how much easier it was for me to sleep better than if I was not active. It has an impact on how easy and how fast I have been falling asleep.

Meditation- Meditation helps to ground me and keeps me level during times of uncertainty. I do not have road anxiety anymore, I am more precise, and I can connect to my intuition in more authentic ways. I also notice that I am not as irritable when I focus on my breath during meditation. After yoga in the morning, I go right into meditation. I pull up YouTube, pick out an instrumental or guided meditation, and allow myself to be still for 10 to 20 minutes. I listen to binaural beats, Tibetan singing bowls, nature sounds, and Native American flutes. This act allows me time to ground and set my intentions for the day before everything gets busy.

Nutrition- I understand that what I take into my body can adversely affect my hormones, so I do my best to get more fruits and vegetables into my diet. Collectively, we can all use some more electric foods in our diets. I limit processed foods, dairy products, and meat. During the Pandemic, I was able to slow down, start a garden, and try plant-based recipes that my family could endorse. I notice a difference when I commit to a more plant-based lifestyle. When we support our body with whole foods, we are choosing life. I understand that everyone is different and that some factors may inhibit specific lifestyle changes; however, if you can include more fruits and veggies, please do.

Journaling- Taking time at the end of the day to reflect on how things went, positive or negative, can help us become more precise about where we are and where we desire to go. Journaling is also great for releasing energy that is ready to be released. For me, I was able to redirect myself. I realized it is okay if I change my mind about a goal or a direction I thought I wanted to go in. People change, which is part of growth and just being on this human journey. Journaling allows me to express my feelings on various interactions I may have had during the day. I can review my behavior and where I may need to adjust, and I can reflect on different relationships and whether they are still mutually beneficial or have run their course. This can include business, familial, and personal relationships.

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

Right now, mental health is most important to me. I have dealt with my own PTSD, anxiety, and depression after traumatic experiences as a civilian and while in the military. I have noticed a shift in the collective following the lockdown and isolation of the Pandemic. Many have decided to take their lives into their own hands and to live their lives differently. People are relearning what it means to live their lives in a more fulfilling way. People consider their jobs not just a place to go for a check but also aligned with their morals. Are they able to effectively take care of themselves outside of financial obligations? When everything shut down, people, including myself, were forced to sit still, look at their lives, and have an honest heart-to-heart with themselves. There are so many stressors outside of us that it is imperative to create peace within. This can start with the lifestyle tweaks highlighted in this article; take what works and leave out what does not but try it for 30 days before writing those tips off. You may even need additional support from a professional counselor or psychologist. Others may use plant medicine to support them. The new thing on the horizon is the decriminalization of psilocybin and entheogens, otherwise known as mushrooms and other sacred plant medicines. These medicines have been used for centuries, and now they are being examined in trials with medical professionals. I am excited to see where this movement goes. I have begun to understand how everything is connected. My routine has had an incredibly positive impact on my mental health. Sleeping better, eating better, getting out in nature, walking, doing yoga, meditation, and journaling have all supported me and my overall well-being. Sometimes how we feel mentally, maybe a direct reflection of our lack of routine and self-care.

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

The best way to follow me is on Instagram @palmnsole_maf and TikTok @palmnsole_kash. Also, if you are in Atlanta, you can book an appointment with me by visiting www.palmnsole.com.

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

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

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Get testimonials from your clients! (ex. Have them self-record off their iPhone giving feedback on their experience with you, your brand, or product.)

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

Fitness expert, NASM certified trainer, and founder of the training app “Peachgainz” (Available in the App Store), Frankie Alvarado lives in Los Angeles and founded “Peachgainz” training and booty bands. Frankie gained rapid popularity on TikTok now boasting over 680,000 followers for his videos to build a better butt and has a notable array of celebrity clients.

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

It started with me playing sports my whole life since I was 5 years old, I’ve always had great trainers for multiple sports I did. Then after high school I started working front desk at a gym because I didn’t know what I wanted to do, and fitness was really all I knew. From paying attention on how to gain muscle, size, and strength for sports. So I got my NASM certification after I transformed myself to 5% body fat with pure muscle then I started training at LA fitness to help others do the same. After some while of training experience (4 years) I started training as an independent contractor renting a gym, which started with the first transformation that invented peachgainz. I transformed a close friends booty in 12 weeks and from there it took off for in person training in AZ. I became so packed after so many transformations that it was time to create an online program to help girls worldwide. After doing that and online training for 5 months in AZ I moved to LA during the pandemic and started it all over again. I took a big risk but I believed because I had already built a good foundation and I knew what it would take to keep growing but also do it again in LA. Since then, peachgainz has gone viral from TikTok and blew up the business so we built an app & store to provide you with everything you need to build your booty! Couldn’t do it without the team around us!

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

A funny and interesting moment that has happened since training in Hollywood was clients doing booty exercises next to David Spade working out.

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

Helping girls transform not only their booty but their lives from who they become through that journey. It’s amazing to see so many lives changed, to extend on that my success has allowed me to support and experience with my loved ones and family!

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?

You will never know if you give up. The guy or girl that thinks he or she can’t do it is right, the he or she that thinks they can is also right. And don’t forget you can’t tell someone else how to do something if you haven’t experienced it yourself.

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?

I am grateful for my mother who raised me well and never took it easy on me. From setting high expectations for me since I was a kid it’s formed me to be who I am today always keeping high expectations for myself.

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

We are working on many projects to improve the app in all aspects. To provide women with everything they need in one app that are wanting to build their booty or transform their body. More simple, cheaper, and guaranteed!

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

Top 5 ways to monetize your brand:

1. Pay other influencers to promote the product. (ex. creating a TikTok or story post)

2. Post every day on social media (ex. TikTok, Instagram, YouTube etc..)

3. Get testimonials from your clients! (ex. Have them self-record off their iPhone giving feedback on their experience with you, your brand, or product.)

4. Get your close friends or family to use the product (build the trust of the brand/product to promote to your audience)

5. Know your craft well and be confident it works. (Your customers buy off trust)

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.

A movement to help others find their purpose and pursue their passion because it’s true you can do what you love.

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

That’s awesome, I would have to say Kevin Hart I mean there’s no dude funnier than this guy but also because of his success with all the different things he’s doing. One of my favorite actors.

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

– Follow me and Peachgainz on Instagram (@thelabootybuilder & @peachgainz__)

– Download the Peachgainz app

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

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Frankie Alvarado of Peachgainz 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.

Female Founders: Sophie Won of Reha App On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

If something just isn’t working don’t be afraid to re-adjust and recalibrate. Reha started as a dating app and it just wasn’t working in that capacity, so we had to pivot.

As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Sophie Won of Reha App.

Sophie Won is a Korean-American, world-renowned Vedic astrologer of high profile entrepreneurs, TV personalities and the founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Astrologer of Reha App, a global Vedic astrology app for self discovery and relationships.

Coming off Won’s appearance on Netflix’s Indian Matchmaking Season 2 as Aparna Shewakramani’s Vedic Astrologer (reaching over 20 million viewers), Reha App will be launching globally in September on IOS and Android and will be the first Vedic astrology app connecting with a modern and globally minded audience.

Won’s path to the launch of Reha App began with a successful raise of angel capital and building a truly global team of 10, consisting of Indian talent, US based experts, and an engineering team with members based in Europe.

In addition to Reha App, Sophie is the co-founder of a spiritually based web3 NFT community called The Destiny Magi filled with fellow entrepreneurs, artists, and crypto enthusiasts.

Sophie’s mission is to bring to the forefront spiritual practices and philosophies of all kinds, not limited to just Vedic astrology. She’s focused on leveraging technology as a vehicle to bring esoteric practices worldwide in a modern, mindful way.

In her spare time, you’ll find Sophie globe trotting in search of learning and experiencing other cultures, traditions, and healing practices.

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

My journey with Reha App started with my passion for Vedic astrology. I started studying astrology in my spare time while I was working my corporate 9–5 job in New York City to help me really understand and honestly accept my what one could call existential crisis at the time. I think we all go through one of those where you’re asking yourself what is my purpose? Or perhaps you keep dating people with the same birthday.. something that I’ve personally experienced myself. These questions really led me down the rabbit hole of studying astrology and wanting to know more about myself and those around me. I became super intrigued by Vedic astrology because of the compatibility aspect. Over 90% of Indian marriages incorporate Vedic astrology into matchmaking and I really wanted to learn this aspect of astrology because I believe our relationships are the most important vehicles that drive growth in our life. Reha really crystallized when I met my co-founder Rohit Pothukuchi who is an Indian American entrepreneur in the tech space who loved the idea of creating a modern, simple Vedic astrology app. From there, the rest was history.

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

When I moved part time to India, I decided that in order to fully understand Indian culture and get immersed as to how Vedic astrology is used, I needed to move to the birthplace of Vedic astrology which is India. As someone that grew up in a predominantly white suburb Katy, Texas, it was an interesting experience. I decided that I needed to learn how-to drive-in India and specifically drive manual. This led to my driving instructor Ravi, who doesn’t speak English, and I don’t speak Hindi or Telugu (the native language) navigating the crazy traffic and roads in Hyderabad while Ravi held on for dear life yelling directions at me to get back to the car return successfully. Another story worth sharing is, last year I became very good friends with Aparna Shewakramani, the breakout star of Netflix’s Indian Matchmaking. Meeting her was really kismet because it was through a very random series of events and led me to actually be on Indian Matchmaking Season 2 as an astrologer.

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 started working on creating and building the Reha app, I thought it would take only 6 months to build and launch. Originally the app was based around the idea of being a Vedic astrology matchmaking app for the Indian Market. I very quickly learned that the market wasn’t yet ready for this once I moved to India and spoke to target customers — I realized this concept needed to be scrapped, requiring me to literally scrap the entire product and start over. The lesson learned here — however long you think something might take, it will be longer than that.

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?

This is really tough! My mentor and first investor, David Chan, encouraged me and really gave me the courage to quit my very comfortable job to build Reha. Without his support, I probably would not have made the plunge I fully needed in becoming an entrepreneur. He gave me the idea to create an astrology app that was different from what all the others in the market, this inspired Reha App. He also introduced me to so many wonderful people that would help me on my journey with creating my company, such as my best friend, confidante, and fellow astrologer, numerologist Kaitlyn Kaerhart. She was the first person that pushed me publicly to own my identity not just as an entrepreneur but as an astrologer. There was a big wellness event called WITMA in NYC and she was the person that got me into the event as an astrologer. This event was the first time ever I had publicly recognized myself as an astrologer. If it were not for the success of this event, I don’t think I would have had the courage to create an entire app that is helping people learn more about who they are.

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

Starting a company is not for the faint of heart, it involves a lot of risk (putting yourself out there, putting an idea out there) and requiring that you ask for what you want. Taking risks, asking boldly for what you want, and putting yourself out there is very much associated with masculine archetypes. This is something that I have not seen encouraged or embraced by society for women and these are important notions when it comes to creating a company. My success came in funding came from asking for what I want and not ever letting anyone put me in a mold, I once read that “women only ask for what they think they deserve”, but when it comes being an entrepreneur you need to know exactly what you want and not be afraid to ask for it or be rejected. That rejection is part of the process, it isn’t personal.

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

As an individual it is all about focusing on yourself, we constantly benchmark ourselves against unicorns and companies that have reached stratospheres that less than .0001 percent can reach. We are constantly seeing and hearing that If your journey doesn’t look like that it’s wrong. My biggest piece of advice is to focus on you as an individual, what you are doing and what you can control. That means ignoring society and what society is telling you, focus your time on your direct obstacles and your ideas.

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

Starting a company is not for everyone (gender aside) but I think the world needs more companies and creations that come from all different kinds of people from diverse backgrounds. Because the current dominating companies are all started by men, there’s a severe imbalance as to what society actually defines as success and what leading values and principles are shaping our world. This isn’t just limited to women. Women starting and leading companies is a way to set real examples of how success doesn’t have to be attributed only and directly to hyper-masculine principles. The way we ultimately define success needs to change and this change needs to come from balancing principles of both masculine and feminine archetypes. This starts with women and minority founders creating leading companies.

I find that so many women underestimate their power, potential and ability to create, nurture and grow outside the bounds of whatever society is dictating. Creating and the process of creating is inherent and biologically ingrained in what women are so powerfully gifted with and more women should recognize this power. With that, the journey and process are so incredibly rewarding.

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

The idea of “moving fast and breaking things’’ is a horrible start-up myth. It’s fine for some but ultimately, your journey is your journey. No community or other entrepreneur should dictate your journey. I’ve also found that benchmarking success against how much money you raise is not a true measurement of success. True success is very personal and subjective and is based on WHY you are starting your company and what you are looking to achieve. Lastly, a lot of times with “start-up” culture we are told that you must be so busy that you hate your life, and that you need to slave over your work to be successful. I believe it should be fun and that you don’t have to work like a mad scientist to enjoy the journey and create something special.

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

Anyone can start a business, it is more about WHY you want to start a company and what exactly fulfills you. What that path looks like for you might be tailored to your personality. When I wanted to start Reha, I started it because I love to create and wanted to bet on myself and bring something in my head to the real world. However, some people prefer stability and comfort, and for those people a typical 9–5 might make more sense for them.

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

It takes way longer than you think — Patience is your friend (I thought Reha would be live in six months)

All of the things you mess up are never as bad as they seem at the moment — Use these mistakes as a learning experience and realize they are part of the journey.

People are everything — they are a key part of the process and aligning yourself with the right people out of the gate is key to success.

Don’t compare your journey to others — Your journey is yours and you just need to dive in and be ready for some twists and turns.

If something just isn’t working don’t be afraid to re-adjust and recalibrate. Reha started as a dating app and it just wasn’t working in that capacity, so we had to pivot.

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

One of the most rewarding things in this journey are the messages about feeling seen and understood I receive from users when using Reha. They message me about their compatibility reports, their insights and explaining the excitement of learning why certain people are in their lives. I had a mom and her sister reach out recently about how they spent an entire afternoon looking through their compatibility reports with their children and the mind-blowing insights they discovered from using the platform. Reha is all about creating a positive place in the digital space that makes you feel seen, heard, and understood.

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

The movement would be to encourage people to own who they are in having peace and acceptance for their most authentic self and their relationships. That was the goal of Reha and the idea behind the formation. Prior to founding the company, I was going through an existential crisis, asking myself “what was I doing here?” and “why have I crossed paths with certain people?” We’re constantly bombarded in society with social media, traditional media, and more to define who you should be and what you should do, and it is really hard to pinpoint that existential answer when there’s pressure everywhere to be, do, work, date, marry a certain way. Knowing and accepting yourself and having full confidence in who you are is the first step needed to accomplish anything in this world. Helping people find out, accept, and confidently own who they are and why they are the way they are through Reha is the mission.

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

Masayoshi Son, the VC behind Softbank would be a very interesting person to sit with. The reason why I’d like to meet him is because he has a very similar background to my late-grandfather (born in Korea, but lived most of his life in Japan). I didn’t know too much about my Grandfather’s business as a Korean man in Japan, but know that historically that has been one that has faced a lot of discrimination. As I started Reha, I found that I wanted to connect more with my ancestors and learn about their paths. His background is so similar to my late-grandfather and to hear his story and learn about his experience would be very interesting.

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

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

Women In Wellness: Lisa Odenweller of Kroma Wellness On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Take health into your own hands which starts with your daily food & lifestyle choices. It isn’t about perfection but just about being more mindful about what you eat and drink. Read labels. Eat more vegetables and some fruit. Buy organic. Stay away from processed foods. And listen to your body. It will always tell you if you are listening.

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

Lisa Odenweller believes in the power of food as medicine, that mother nature is our greatest resource, and that what we put in our body is as much about fueling our bodies as it is our minds and souls. A San Diego native, Lisa is a visionary serial entrepreneur, wellness expert with over 15-years of experience. Her impressive resume includes titles as Founder of organic superfood cafe, BEAMING Wellness and most recently, CEO and Founder of Kroma Wellness, the functional wellness brand that’s revolutionizing the way we think about nourishing our bodies. After falling in love with “superfoods” nearly two-decades ago, long before the word became commonplace within the health industry, Lisa began harnessing their power within her own life and began her mission to to help others do the same.

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?

Prior to starting Beaming and my latest venture Kroma Wellness, I had started two other consumer-focused companies and worked in the e-commerce/tech world for a decade before starting my own businesses.

Beaming was born out of my mission to help people understand the power of food as medicine and to take control of their health. As a child, my parents were always committed to clean eating and daily exercise so those values have always been part of my DNA.

The real inspiration behind my work in wellness & nutrition came from my own personal health challenges in my late 30s along with my daughter being prescribed ADHD medication at an early age. I hated that she was taking medication and intuitively knew there had to be a better way despite every doctor telling me that pharmaceutical drugs were the only solution. When I was 38, I started experiencing brain fog, digestive issues and bloating, low energy, hair loss, extreme inflammation and unexplainable weight gain. As someone who has always prided themselves on exercising daily and eating (what I thought was) healthy, I didn’t know what to do. When I asked my General doctor, she laughed and said, “welcome to getting older.”

Needless to say, it was then that I decided to take our health into my own hands and figure out how to heal us through food and nutrition and started studying nutrition at IIN (the Institute of Integrative Nutrition). I soon learned that inflammatory foods like sugar, gluten, dairy, processed foods, too much caffeine, non-organic foods and alcohol cause inflammation in the body and brain. With this new insight, I decided to test what would happen if we removed these from our diet completely. Within 2 weeks, my health and hormones had naturally balanced and my daughter was off all ADHD medications. It was then that I realized I had a responsibility to share this information with others and the journey to creating Beaming, followed by Kroma Wellness began.

In September 2011, I started concepting Beaming and decided to introduce a new way to “cleanse” through whole, plant-based foods. This was during the juice fasting craze which I thought was stupid, and instead wanted to create a program that would not only deliver results but inspire lasting change. During the beta trials of the “Beaming 5 Day Superfood Cleanse,” over 1000 people experienced our program and generated over $240K in sales. People loved the program and wanted the foods and beverages every day which led me to raising $640K from some of our early adopters and opening the first Beaming Cafe in Del Mar, CA in December 2012. Within 2 years we had opened 3 new locations in Los Angeles and our own commercial kitchen.

After I left Beaming, I launched Kroma Wellness to bring a similar experience direct to consumers. We’ve grown immensely the past year and a half through our coveted 5 Day Reset Kit and other product offerings.

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

I’ve been in the wellness industry now for over 12 years and founded two companies out of my home as a single Mom of 3 so needless to say, there are many interesting stories and lessons! .

Perhaps the most interesting and relevant is that I truly believe we are capable of accomplishing whatever we believe. As long as we believe we can and have the drive, tenacity and grit to bring it to life, it can be done. Early in my career in wellness, I didn’t have any of the expected qualifications to build Beaming into what became one of the hottest, fastest growing wellness companies in the country. I had never worked in a restaurant before, was not a trained chef, didn’t have an MBA or know how to build a financial model, let alone a business plan and how to raise money. Everyone told me I couldn’t do it and that I was nuts. Despite all the naysayers, I did it anyway. Because I knew I had a responsibility to share what I had learned and change lives. And nothing was going to stop me.

Being clear on your WHY is a critical aspect of building any business. Especially one with purpose. While I didn’t have any of the ‘qualifications’ to create Beaming, I had tremendous tenacity and knew I could find people to help me in the areas I didn’t know how to do. You can’t teach someone to have passion and grit. You either have it or you don’t. But you can always find people that are smarter or more experienced than you to help bring your vision to life.

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

Building a company is not easy and especially when you bring in outside capital from investors. While building Beaming and raising money, I was told I had to have a Board and ended up giving Board seats to 4 investors who “bought a seat” on my Board. I had never had a Board before so I didn’t understand the power of a Board. I was naive and didn’t understand how critical it is to hand pick your Board members to make sure they not only have the qualifications you need to bring value to the company but are aligned with your vision.

Ultimately, my Board and I were not aligned with my vision for the company and I quickly lost control. None of them had experience in the industry and in an effort to increase revenue, they began cutting corners that compromised the integrity of the business and the commitment and trust we had built with our customers. After years of fighting for the brand and the values we had been founded upon, I exited the company. It was the most difficult decision I’ve ever made but also my greatest teacher. I spent the next few years reflecting on my mistakes with Beaming so I could prepare myself for my next venture, Kroma Wellness.

When I set out to start Kroma, I had realized how valuable investors could be if you choose them strategically. When we started raising money during the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, I knew I had to take a non-traditional approach because it was such a challenging time to raise money. We decided to focus on raising money from angels. They were passionate about what we were building and could add value beyond the capital, whether business expertise or just helping us tell the world. The result has attracted an incredible group of investors who have been critical to our go-to-market strategy and success.

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’m passionate about helping people become empowered with their health. After going through what I went through with my own health and my daughter’s, I learned first hand that we have to take health into our own hands. And while pharmaceuticals are necessary at times, we are too quick to take a pill before looking at the cause or root of the problem. I believe most of our health issues can be healed through food by just being more mindful of what we eat and drink. And while that sounds simple, the reality is, we are all overwhelmed and have little bandwidth to take the time to make healthy food let alone have access to healthy options. I think we all genuinely want to take care of our bodies but often don’t know where to start or don’t have the time to invest in figuring out what to do. My work in wellness through both Beaming and Kroma Wellness has been driven by my passion and desire to help people realize the power of food as medicine by offering delicious, highly functional foods and beverages that can easily be incorporated into your every-day life and help you feel (and look) amazing.

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.

1. Take health into your own hands which starts with your daily food & lifestyle choices. It isn’t about perfection but just about being more mindful about what you eat and drink. Read labels. Eat more vegetables and some fruit. Buy organic. Stay away from processed foods. And listen to your body. It will always tell you if you are listening.
2. Nourishment is a gift and a necessity for our bodies to thrive. I don’t believe we should starve ourselves to look and feel good in our bodies and I think the ridiculous health hacks and starvation programs out there are causing more harm than good. Food is your friend. Just make better, healthier choices. Follow what I call intuitive eating. Your body will tell you what it needs.
3. Allow yourself to indulge. Life is meant to be enjoyed and food is one of our greatest pleasures. Just know how your body best thrives and how to get back to feeling and looking your best. The Kroma 5 Day Whole Body Reset was designed to help people get back on track after an indulgent holiday or weekend while also helping people feel how good they can feel in their bodies.
4. No two bodies are alike. What works for one person won’t likely work for another. For example, Keto can be great for men but isn’t great for most women based on our hormones and metabolic system. Intermittent Fasting is all the rage right now but more and more research is showing it isn’t good for everyone. And it is especially not good for aging women who need to be mindful of their hormones and menstrual cycles. Even how you and when you exercise matters. Some bodies thrive with intense interval training. Others respond better to walking or yoga. You have to treat your body as your own temple and not get caught in the latest health fad.
5. Don’t forget about your mental health and taking time to breath. If meditation is your thing, wonderful. If walking in nature works best for you or dancing or even running, then do that. Find what helps you release the stresses of life so you can show up as your best self for you, your friends, children, partner and colleagues. I often find it can be as simple as breathing. It is amazing how often we forget to take deep breaths and yet how powerful and necessary breathing is to our overall well-being. If you aren’t well, you can’t show up well for others. Being in a healthy state of mind is just as much of a driving force in your wellness journey as going to the gym or eating a balanced diet.

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 we’ve already started a movement with Kroma Wellness around helping people advocate for their own health by offering delicious functional foods and beverages that help you thrive throughout every moment of the day while simplifying your life. I am also on a mission to change the toxic diet and cleanse culture that currently encourages starvation and deprivation as a means to well-being. Kroma’s 5 Day Whole Body Reset is a completely new way to “cleanse” which focuses on nourishment and giving people the tools to change habits and behavior for the long term. I’ve spent the last 12 years of my life focused on helping people become more empowered with their health and am proud to be part of such a powerful and necessary movement alongside many other high integrity wellness brands.

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

1. Trust your gut. It’s ALWAYS right.
2. Get support. Find people better than you to do all the things you aren’t good at so you can focus on what you love and are best at.
3. Choose your partners wisely. They could be your biggest asset or your greatest weakness.
4. There is no such thing as failure. Only outcomes that may look different than you had hoped. Learn from them, be accountable and come back stronger.
5. Be ready to pivot. Resistance is inevitable. Be open to the possibility that resistance is a messenger that can lead to a better outcome if you are willing to listen and pivot.

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

Those are all important topics, but if I had to choose one, it would be mental health. We have never had more access to support for mental health and well-being and yet we have never been so sick and depressed. Social media has added to this chaos while also heightening the feelings of lack and insignificance. The isolation millions experienced through the epidemic further emphasized our suffering. In desperation, people have turned to drugs, alcohol or even unhealthy eating to mask their pain. While I am not an expert on the topic, I am passionate about it. And I know that healing starts from within. We have to take control of our own health and happiness which includes how we care for our bodies whether it is going for a walk and being in nature, or going to a yoga class and being around people or choosing to make healthier food choices because you know you feel better when you do. When we feel better, we show up better in all aspects of our lives. We have more confidence, it is also contagious.

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

You can follow me on Instagram @lisa_odenweller and @kromawellness. We are constantly updating our blog on Kroma’s website, and we have delicious recipes, general wellness tips, and stories meant to inspire our community at kromawellness.com/blogs/news.

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

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

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

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Find someone you admire for their work and become their apprentice or assistant. This is how I really learned what it meant to work in the field of photography. I was able to understand their passion and see what lead them to becoming a photographer and how they carved out their own path.

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

Guatemalan born, Holly Wilmeth creates images that embody elements of nature, mysticism, and spirituality. Drawing inspiration from ancient mythologies, symbolism, diverse cultures, and a deep spiritual practice, Holly’s images are a personal interpretation of her life’s sacred dance. She is passionate about nature, intentional living, creating beautiful spaces, and designing gardens that are like sanctuaries. She resides between San Miguel de Allende, Mexico and Portland, Oregon with her husband and son and their dog Pistola. She has worked for a wide range of clients in advertising as well as editorial. Her work has been published in international publications such as Time, Newsweek, AFAR, GEO Magazine, Travel & Leisure, National Geographic Adventure, CARE International, Christian Science Monitor, and USAID, to name a few. She has taught workshops all over the world. For more information, visit www.hollywilmeth.com.

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

I was born in Guatemala, a small and fascinating country with a rich culture and landscape. As a child, I spent my week going to an Austrian school and on the weekends, I would go with my parents and brothers to Rio Dulce, which lies in the West of the country. My father is a cattle rancher, and we would go with him to work as well as play near the jungle edges. We would swim in the clear waters of the rivers and listen to the howler monkeys as the sun set. I remember feeling such awe from the beauty of nature. I also grew up going to a union church, and as a child, I loved everything spiritual. I remember fondly sitting in the pews listening to the Sunday service and learning to sing the hymns, my heart yearning for love. When I was a teenager, I became fascinated in the Dalai Lama and the Buddha teachings. At the time (mid-eighties), it was very difficult to get any information except from encyclopedias, and I remember reading all I could on this topic and wanting to learn more. I was very attracted to the intersection of spiritual paths. I would draw images of a seventeenth-century Christian cross with a sitting Buddha in the center, and I never showed them to anyone.

I was internally conflicted by my Christian upbringing and was wrestling with its teachings. It was much later in my life that I started contemplating different ways of practicing spiritual devotion and slowly found my own path.

All during my early childhood, I was inspired by my paternal grandmother who was a portrait painter and had traveled the world. I remember her telling a story about how an African King had commissioned her to paint his family and this story stuck with me. I wanted to be like my grandmother, travel and see the world, and make my living as an artist. Instead of a paintbrush though, I wanted to carry a camera. I had grown up looking at National Geographic magazines and knew that I wanted to travel the world and be one of those photographers, or like them.

It wasn’t until my last year at Sweet Briar College that I picked up a camera and finally learned to use it. I was smitten. I took all the classes I could take in the arts. My professor at the time, Paige Critcher, who over the years has become a dear friend, was such an inspiration and guide. My art professor John Morgan also became instrumental in me believing in myself and having the courage to play with seeing the world differently. My creativity was blooming, and I was on fire.

I later attended a program out of Portland, Maine, called the SALT Institute, and my professor there, Neil Menschel, taught me the art of documentary photography, which was the stepping stone to my career for the next decade. Thanks to Robb Kendrick who taught me not only the magic of tintype photography, but also how to have a business, I set off to make my own path. For the next ten years, I traveled to over fifty countries, photographed all kinds of jobs, and taught numerous workshops. I loved what I was doing, and within the last years, I started slowly working on my own projects that were more in line with fine art. I remember working on a series of portraits of people blowing kisses from many different countries. It was such a sweet and fun series, for in some countries, it was less customary to blow a kiss, while in others very common.

I remember fondly giggling with all those I took portraits of. I later worked on a series of portraits, that were without showing any faces but just what people happened to be carrying with them. This series was shot in Cuba, and it was delightful how much people wanted to show their faces, but instead were behind whatever they had been carrying (bongos, tuna fish, etc.). It was in this way that I started nurturing my inner desire to work on my own way of seeing the world through fine art photography. Magazines, galleries, and people encouraged me, and it gave me the confidence to continue working in this style. At thirty-five, a little before I became a parent, I decided to retire from my career and devote time to being a mother, as well as nurturing my own personal projects. It was quite a leap of faith, two new paths, so much unknown territory, but I had spent years learning to trust in the process, and I knew this new way of being in the world would also slowly bloom in its own time.

The work I do now is inspired by my personal life and my spiritual path. I practice listening to my intuition and pay attention to my inner and outer learnings of what it means to be human and inhabit this earth. I feel grateful to all those who have taught and supported me on my journey, and am grateful to share my vision.

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

One story that comes to mind is one that changed the way I relate to my life and how I work as an artist. I had managed to overwork myself and not take the time to care for my body. I remember I was teaching with Jeremy Woodhouse in Todos Santos, Guatemala, for The Day of the Dead and was so sick with a fever and chills I couldn’t get out of bed. I had to have my father come and get me from the city, and I left Jeremy to teach on his own. Soon after, my husband had two heart attacks. We decided it was time for a major shift in our life, our bodies were crying for help. We booked a house on a cliff on the Oaxaca coast for three months, with no internet, not knowing anyone, and set off on a new adventure. The winter we spent there was one of the most transformative times of my life. We slept, ate healthy, walked on the ocean, watched all the sea life from our porch, sang songs about nature, and truly practiced the art of simple and slow living.

My body, my mind, and my spirit slowly started to heal and feel rejuvenated. I could feel myself being guided by this silent whisper of nature and my intuition to see life from a different place, and it was during this time that I started to fall in love with Mother Earth again. I would listen to the bird calls, with the ocean life in front of me, and I would read about plants and animals. It was during this time that I started to slowly work on a series about animals. This series of portraits was guided and inspired by nature, as well as by my life slowing down. Since then, we spend every winter close to the ocean where we do just this, slow everything down and listen. I love this time of year; it’s an inner wintering, of quieting down, of sitting with all that the year has taught me, of preparing for the spring and summer. A time for tending to the roots.

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?

Well, I must admit, I don’t believe in mistakes. I do believe that every choice gives us a lesson, and it leads us on to the next step of our journey, whether it be easy or not. I’ve always held the belief that I will learn something very valuable from what presents itself to me. So, I’ve never looked back and regretted any choice I’ve ever made. I am standing where I am now because of everything behind me and what I said yes to. Ever since I was young, I would make a five-year list of things I’d love to be doing or have accomplished. It could be anything, from traveling to Mongolia, to working for a nonprofit, to hiking beautiful trails in Oregon, to eating mangos for a season. This list has been my little guide throughout my life, constantly changing as I change. Some things on the list I have accomplished, and others got changed and readjusted. My list has always been like an inspiration board, a visualization of where I want my path to go. Like signposts pointing towards the direction I could go. I’ve changed holding on to an image to holding on to how I feel in the energy of the visualization. How does the air feel, taste, smell, and sound?

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?

We are part of the earth, and the earth is a part of us. Some of us weren’t taught to remember this connection with such sacredness. Once you reexperience the awe and wonder of creation unfolding before you, over and over, there’s no stepping back. Nature has a way of bringing us to the present and reminding us of the wonder of the universe. In nature, I feel the energy of my wholeness find peace, balance, and harmony. Nature holds sacred geometry, sacred energy, and through its visualization and energy, it can connect us to the present. My images invite and play with mythology, philosophy, spirituality, and anthropology as the subjects. My last love was in reigniting my loyalty and devotion to care for this planet Earth. It came in experiencing the awe in my child’s eyes as he saw trees, leaves, flowers, and colors and put words to them, little by little, for the first time. I wanted to teach him how our plants could be our friends and teachers. They held magical potions in the form of healing remedies, available to help our human body. So, I set about learning the names to everything surrounding me in the tropical jungle and playfully teaching my son. By teaching him to care and be kind to all living beings, I was healing my connection to the earth.

When I think about all the stressful moments in my life, for example when my brother died, my heart was broken, I was working as a journalist, or my health was critical, I remember always practically running to nature. In nature, I was able to literally process the stress. I hope my son will do this too. Nature is key to mental health balance.

If we can change the way we see the world, our interconnectedness will help heal us back whole.

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.

1. Breath (coming into the present): We exist because of breath, and breath can bring us completely into our bodies, into ourselves. There are many ways to practice being with our breath, through yoga, meditation, swimming, breath work, or anything that asks we pay attention to our breathing. Our breath brings us into the present, stills our mind over time, guides us to finding our source. Every evening my son and I take ten minutes each to ground and breathe. We breathe in gratitude into our heart and nurture our energy of calmness and expansiveness.
2. Nature (spending time connecting to this earth, our home): There are so many health benefits that come from bathing under the canopy of trees, walking by the ocean, hiking, or placing our hands and feet on the earth. It’s as though our wholeness is asking us to come back home and rest and rejuvenate. Nature is a stress relaxant. Being in nature allows you to slow down, to listen, to pay attention, and to match your energy with the energy of the earth
3. Being in our body: It’s important to make time to exercise, like swimming, yoga, dance, walking, etc. For mental health balance, exercising is essential, more so than ever before. Being in our bodies is proven to elevate our moods. Our bodies need to move energy and release toxins. Being in our bodies through exercise really calls us to the present moment.
4. Self-care: Self-care comes in all forms. For me, it comes in practicing a morning ritual of welcoming the sun, the day, our home and food, our health, family and friends, our planet, and our neighbors. I also use my Sacred Nature Oracle deck as a tool for daily guidance. Self-care can also be taking time to be alone, journaling, or practicing gratitude to all of our teachers.
5. Relationship to food: How am I nurturing my body? I try and eat balanced and healthy meals, and I place an importance on sitting for meals as well as sharing meals with others. I love to support local food providers who are advocates for our environment.

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’d love to start a movement that would honor Mother Earth as a sacred being, where children are taught since infancy to learn all the names and medicinal qualities of the plants around them. This movement would teach respect and reverence for the earth. We would care for it with kindness, admiration, and loyalty knowing our plants are our teachers.

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

1. Find someone you admire for their work and become their apprentice or assistant. This is how I really learned what it meant to work in the field of photography. I was able to understand their passion and see what lead them to becoming a photographer and how they carved out their own path.
2. Take care of my body. I remember taking pictures for hours and my body aching after being in uncomfortable positions. Even though I was a swimmer, I wish I had been practicing a good stretch routine to really care for my body, like yoga.
3. Enter every shoot with fresh new eyes. I practiced this and always challenged myself to see differently and try something new. I was fortunate to always work with clients that gave me the space to be creative and that trusted me.
4. Work with people and companies who share similar values with you. It’s inspiring to be able to create images for companies you support.
5. Everything you are doing is part of the learning, even the carrying of someone else’s gear.

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

Environmental changes and mental health are two big topics for me. Our systems are collapsing as they should, because at their foundational level, they are not supporting the whole of humanity in balance. Single families are raising children alone, grandparents are living in elderly housing, everyone is working as much as they can in order to live this “dream lifestyle” of having all the latest luxuries available. We are a consumer’s generation, and this is essentially hurting our environment. We spend too much time looking aimlessly to devices, numbing ourselves from being in the present. It’s an addiction. This imbalance is causing havoc, and we have lost our way. Nature, however, helps bring us back to balance and to wholeness when we are feeling lost and fragmented. As a visual artist, I believe in the importance of bringing environmental awareness not only in caring for our earth, but also as an important tool for balanced mental health.

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

My website offers a lot of information and ways of engaging with me and my work. Instagram and Facebook are another great way to see what I’m up to.

Website: http://www.hollywilmeth.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hollywilmeth/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/holly.wilmeth.3/

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

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

Women In Wellness: Suzy Glaskie of Peppermint Wellness On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Keep your boundaries strong around your own time and energy. I’ve often got so caught up in trying to help others get their wellbeing back that I’ve neglected mine in the process. I’m a lot kinder to myself now and understand that the more I offer myself self-care, the better I’m able to inspire others to do the same.

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

Suzy Glaskie is a Functional Medicine Health Coach and founder of Peppermint Wellness — a practice dedicated to helping people to regain their emotional, mental and physical health.

At the age of 40, she walked away from the successful PR agency she’d founded, turning her back on a 22-year career in marketing. She’d been buckling under the unrelenting stress of juggling the role of managing director with bringing up her three kids.

After struggling with the bereavement of losing her Dad, Suzy trained in EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique, also known as tapping), having been blown away by how it helped her to move past the grief. She then followed her heart to train as a health coach and launched her practice, Peppermint Wellness, in 2015. She now works with individuals, groups and companies (including Home Bargains, Health Shield, Santander, N Brown, Beaverbrooks and O2) to empower people to take back their health, feel comfortable in their own skin — and start to thrive.

Suzy also hosts the Wellness Unwrapped podcast, which has a loyal following of listeners around the globe.

She recently launched her own Wellness Unwrapped app. This features a free 5 Days to Calm programme in which she shares her top self-calming tools, including tapping. These are super-simple, quick-to-learn practices that bring you back to feeling calm and grounded within minutes.

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

I’d always been interested in holistic health, but ended up following a different career path straight from university. I landed a job in PR, and worked for eight years at a pan-European agency, using my degree in French and Spanish. Ironically, it involved working for the food industry — so I got a first-hand insight into the manipulation that goes on to persuade us to buy things which are disastrous for our health.

For a short time in my early 30s, I was juggling a relentlessly stressful job with looking after a baby and a three-year-old who seemed to take it in turns to be ill. I was desperate to be the consummate professional I’d always been — but, grappling with chronic sleep deprivation, I was falling apart at the seams. My weight plummeted and I was struck by all manner of weird ailments, including a horrible red eye that refused to heal…until the day that I finally resigned.

When I hit 40, I felt I had really reached the end of my career in PR and my heart was no longer in it. By then, I was running a very busy, successful agency as founder and managing director and was finding it tough to juggle this with bringing up my three children. At the same time, there was a growing inner pull for me to change path. When my dad passed away around ten years ago, I got stuck in grief and was helped by someone who did EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) with me. I was blown away by how transformative it was. I knew straight away that I wanted to be able to use it to help others in the way I’d been helped. So Dad’s passing was the catalyst for me to finally pivot and start afresh by training in EFT. From there, I trained as a health coach and founded my own practice, Peppermint Wellness, and I’ve never looked back!

I’m far calmer, happier and more focused now at 51 than I was at 31 or 41. Back then, I was attempting to do the impossible and was wrecking my health in the process. I’m now privileged to leverage my experience to empower others to look after their own health — mentally, physically and emotionally.

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

It’s been really interesting to switch so drastically from one career to another. One minute I was winning industry awards for PR campaigns for confectionary clients…and then I was giving talks alongside doctors to warn people about the toxic effects of sugar and how the food industry manipulates our taste buds and wallet. That turnaround was very surprising to a lot of people who’d seen my agency thrive on promoting junk food. It’s taught me that you’re never stuck. You can change course completely in mid-life and follow your true passion. I now look back on all those years working with the food industry and am grateful for them because it’s given me an insider’s view that I can share with everyone else.

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?

Once my own eyes were opened to healthy eating, I think I mistakenly assumed that the rest of my family would automatically fall in with my new path: that they’d see the light and adopt the lifestyle habits I now had. But my new career came as a real adjustment for my kids and they resented seeing the cupboard bare of sugary breakfast cereals. I think they would have benefited from a more softly-softly approach. It taught me that you just can’t rush people into making lifestyle changes and that it’s important to play the long-game.

When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?

Unfortunately, we live in a time when chronic health is rife. So unless we take active steps to optimise our wellbeing, we’re overwhelmingly likely to be dragged down by the environment that we live in, which puts us on a conveyor belt to poor mental health and chronic disease.

Research shows that 80 to 90% of the conditions that drive us to a GP visit are rooted in our lifestyle. Changing lifestyle habits is really challenging — especially when people feel stressed, exhausted and overwhelmed. That’s where health coaching comes in: it’s been described as “the missing link” in healthcare. It’s the bridge between people wanting to get themselves healthy — and them actually taking the actions necessary to make that happen.

As a Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach, I gently guide and support people through the process of making small, sustainable lifestyle changes which radically improve their health and wellbeing and slash their risk of developing a chronic disease.

I also hold corporate wellness workshops for companies nationally and internationally and I see professionals at every level who are struggling to get through the day and are using caffeine and sugar as crutches. It’s remarkable to see the changes in their productivity, mood, mental focus and energy levels once they’re empowered to care for their own wellbeing through simple lifestyle changes.

All the research shows that making changes to our lifestyle is so much easier when we do it as part of a like-minded group — that’s why I’ve put community at the heart of my online programmes. The group sessions are welcoming, warm, non-judgemental spaces where every participant feels safe to be vulnerable and share their struggles.

I’ve also launched my own app, Wellness Unwrapped, and developed an app-based group coaching programme that is a hybrid of self-paced learning and habit trackers, together with live, weekly coaching.

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.

Manage your blood sugar

I used to be ruled by my blood sugar levels, and I didn’t even know it. At work every day, after my breakfast of a bagel or cereal, I’d suddenly turn white, get very shaky and go from mild-mannered and helpful to hangry, cranky, irritable and unable to think straight. It was only when I retrained as a health coach that I realised this was a self-inflicted blood sugar crash. It’s been a revelation for me to understand how to manage my blood sugar and I’m passionate about giving these keys to everyone else.

I always advise people to ditch the breakfast cereals and all the other processed junk that’s pitched as a “healthy start to the day”. Choose a high-quality protein and some good fats: these will keep you feeling full and help keep your blood sugar stable.

Prioritise your sleep

In our 24/7, constantly wired culture, many of us are blithely sacrificing precious sleep without realising that it’s wrecking every aspect of our health and wellbeing.

Most of us fail to prepare for sleep in the way we need (remember as little kids, it was “bath, book, bed”?). Working or scrolling right up until we switch out the light means that we’re trying to fall asleep in a state of stimulation when our body is still in the stress response. Instead, we need to give our mind and body the signal that it’s safe to switch off and rest now. So try doing something relaxing, away from your screens, before bedtime. For me, treating myself to reading a novel in bed has been transformational.

Establish a self-nurturing morning routine

My first waking moments used to be hearing news updates on the BBC’s Today programme and immediately being launched into anxious thoughts. I’m now careful to give myself a gentle transition to each day, spending time journaling and reading something inspiring.

I’d suggest starting small with just 3 minutes of something grounding before you launch into your day (and onto your phone): whether that’s focusing on your breathing, doing some gentle stretches or writing in a gratitude journal. It will help you to start the day with more emotional resilience to deal with whatever it throws at you.

Create firm boundaries

I used to push myself to the limit and consider any time that wasn’t constructively filled as “wasted”. I now have much better respect for the boundaries of my energy and am more choosy about what I commit yourself to. I recognise that if I take energy out of my tank, I then need to put some energy back in!

So schedule me-time into your diary — whether it’s going for a walk with a friend, doing a weekly yoga class or relaxing in a scented bath.

Get outside

An ever-growing body of research is showing that spending time outdoors, especially in green spaces, is one of the fastest ways to improve your health and happiness.

I make a point of doing some stretches and gentle Qi Gong movements outside while looking at the trees before starting work.

However busy you are, get yourself outside for a regular break and dose of sunlight, which is a natural mood-lifter. Even a ten-minute walk will leave you feeling invigorated, clear-headed and with more energy to power through your things-to-do-list.

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

If I could persuade everyone to adopt just one habit, it would be a daily gratitude practice. It’s no exaggeration to say that this is a practice that transforms people’s lives on every level.

Keeping a gratitude journal takes just a couple of minutes to write before bed. It’s a wonderful way to let the stresses of the day go and drift off to sleep with positive thoughts, rather than ruminating on whatever has upset, angered or frustrated you. It’s such a simple, powerful antidote which interrupts anxious thoughts and helps us to feel more optimistic.

Research has shown that people who practise gratitude consistently benefit from an astonishing range of benefits. These include everything from a stronger immune system and lower blood pressure to having higher self-worth.

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

1. Keep your boundaries strong around your own time and energy. I’ve often got so caught up in trying to help others get their wellbeing back that I’ve neglected mine in the process. I’m a lot kinder to myself now and understand that the more I offer myself self-care, the better I’m able to inspire others to do the same.
2. A podcast sucks up huge amounts of time and effort. I launched my podcast not really realising how much time and energy each episode would take: it was a big shock finding that out. If I’d have known that beforehand, it’s possible I’d never have gone ahead with it. But it’s changed people’s lives around the world so I’m happy I dived in.
3. Things take a long time to change. I was quite naïve at the beginning and thought that everyone would understand how helping people to make lifestyle chance is the answer to our epidemic of chronic disease. However, despite so much evidence showing the power of lifestyle medicine and prevention, we’re still very much stuck in a medication-based, reactive paradigm of trying to fix people once they’re broken.
4. Family members don’t always appreciate you giving advice on health. It’s tough watching close relatives eat in a way that is harming them but I’ve learnt to be diplomatic and stay quiet unless asked for advice.
5. There will always be more things you want to do than you can fit in. I’m constantly thinking about new ways to empower people to take back their heath and have got frustrated with myself in the past for not managing to do everything I’d like to, in the time scale I’d like to do it. I have to keep reminding myself to do one thing at a time and go in my own time.

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

It would be mental health. I’m seeing ever increasing numbers of people seeking my help with anxiety and depression. Lockdown has certainly exacerbated this hugely. I’m also seeing more and more high-achieving teenagers who are drastically sleep deprived and suffering from intense anxiety and often disordered eating as they try to have it all: outstanding grades, unattainable beauty, standing on social media etc. I believe we owe it to the next generation to arm them with the tools to prioritise their own self-care.

There’s an under-appreciation of the mind-body connection: the huge impact that our daily habits have on our mental health. I think we can bring about a sea-change if we help people to prioritise sleep, move their body, spend time in nature away from screens and eat a nutritious, wholefood diet. I’m also passionate about helping people to feel better mentally through the power of community — it really is the best medicine.

With rates of anxiety exploding, I wanted to share simple self-calming techniques with as many people as possible, for free. That’s why I created a 5 Days to Calm programme on my Wellness Unwrapped app, in which I teach my top self-calming practices (including tapping). These are easy, quick-to-learn practices that bring people back to feeling calm and grounded within minutes. I believe that everyone should have these in their toolbox to help build their emotional resilience.

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

They can find me at www.peppermintwellness.co.uk.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peppermintwellness/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PeppermintWellness

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/peppermintwellness

My Wellness Unwrapped can be downloaded from the App Store and Google Play

My podcast, Wellness Unwrapped, can be found on any podcast platform, such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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

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

Female Disruptors: Dr Cynthia Smith Of Minds of the Future Academy On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

“Never Give Up” — Those 3 words can shake up the dynamics of anything. As a serial entrepreneur and educator there are days that you really want to throw the towel in. Sometimes things happen beyond the scope of one’s control. I believe those 3 words specifically help me along the way to also stay focused on my goals. Further, I think if it was easy everyone would do it! I believe it is important to have words to live by and for me these words have played a major role in the determination for who I am today and what I desire to continue to strive to achieve.

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

If the word “dynamo” was a person, it would be Dr. Cynthia Smith. A native of Jacksonville, Florida, Smith has built a career on turning no’s into “Nobody can stop me!” After graduating from Andrew Jackson High School on Jacksonville’s East Side, Smith completed Education and Curriculum degrees at The University of North Florida with honors. As a first-generation college graduate, Smith kept going, eventually earning a doctorate from Nova Southeastern University, and achieving this feat before turning forty while working full-time and managing her active family. Smith’s dissertation focused on research about young men of color and college completion.

Dr. Smith has a proven legacy of impact, from mentoring at-risk youth in reading, writing and math to promote high school completion to achieving district records for improvement in statewide test scores to leading dramatic school turnaround teams in some of Jacksonville’s most challenging communities. Disillusioned as she waited for a much-deserved school principal role, Smith decided to transition her talents to early learning, launching early learning centers. When her beloved childcare facility burned down, Smith pivoted, purchasing and renovating two buildings across from her high school, launching Minds of the Future Academy and establishing a multi-campus STEAM VPK-2nd grade private school.

She spurred an economic renaissance in East Jacksonville, mentoring other black owned business owners throughout the community. Smith continues to consult and is a serial entrepreneur, launching an event space and expanding the school to offer K-12 and after school enrichment. Smith is proud mom to LJ, one of the South’s hottest djs, and Aubrey; wife to Dan, and inspiration to all.

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

I was in college studying Psychology as I wanted to be a therapist one day. While going to school I was working at the public school system as a bookkeeper. I never really had a strong desire to be an educator but working in different schools I saw there was a need to have someone to work with our future generation to not only bring them academic excellence but love and care. Once I graduated with my bachelor’s degree, I decided that I would give teaching a try while obtaining my master’s degree in Counseling. My first teaching job was at my high school, Andrew Jackson. I was hired as a 9th grade English teacher. I was only 22 years old and most of the kids were almost my age. I definitely had some challenges, but I had a strong foundation of educational mentors within the school they helped develop me beyond being just a novice teacher. Within receiving my master’s within two years, I had lost my job 3 times for failure to pass my certification exams, been to more than 3 schools, had the highest student gains on the state exam for 3 consecutive years and a host of other challenges and all that made me want to pursue being an educator! I was not only involved in the classroom, I became involved in students’ lives outside of school, attending student activities, becoming a teacher for various afterschool activities and eventually seeking leadership training to become an administrator. I remember the day I found out I was conferred to graduate with my master’s degree, I went to my professor, and I cried- I realized at that moment I had just gone to school for a degree I would never use. I have been an educator ever since!

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

Education is a disruptive job globally. As it pertains to the work I’ve done specifically, I worked for a school district for more than 16 years in various civil service to administrative positions. I had the desire to one day lead my own school. The district failed to promote me despite glaring and dramatic gains in every school I worked for, I flipped the script and created my own STEM school and learning community in an underrepresented area not known for having prominent programs for students. Not to mention, our students are 93% top percentile for performing at or above their grade level and they are learning STEM concepts that will take them beyond the traditional education. Disruption is necessary and needed now more than ever to ensure diversity of ideas & of impact.

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 are people I know personally and some I have never seen and the impact they have made on my being today has been influential in my personal and professional growth. I remember when I was applying to the administrative leadership program, I did a mock interview with my mentor (who is now the Campus president in South Florida) i thought I was interviewing well because she was taking note, I didn’t know she was making tally marks of how many times I said “umm”. That did something to me and for me- it made me more aware of how I speak and mindful of when to use silence. Ron Clark, I had the opportunity to meet him and visit his school in Atlanta Ga, he is a huge inspiration for me. Prior to meeting him, I had no idea of the impact he made in that community. I was able to see students directly and see how a nontraditional education has developed their life. Further, I took my staff and to hear them say to me “Dr. Smith, this is the same stuff you tell us” Is confirmation to me that I am on the right track. My most favorite mentor and my greatest inspiration is Oprah Winfrey, although I have never met her and totally desire to one day, her books, magazines and network ALL inspire me to continue to strive for my highest potential every day. Oprah is also a huge advocate for education. What she believes “ Education is the key to unlocking the world, freedom is the passport” is closely aligned to the belief I lead with every day “Education is something no one can take from you”

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?

In regard to who I am, “The Educated Educator” disruption can be positive or negative. It can be disruptive when implementing a new curriculum, standard or policy. However, these same things can be positive as there is not a one size fits all approach. Many times, there are extenuating factors that play a role in disruption. A new curriculum can be disruptive especially for teachers that are just learning a curriculum or for a student that is high performing on a curriculum. A standard or a policy can be very disruptive because these are not created for everyone. An example would be “No child left behind” which is meant to increase accountability, but it causes disruption because it leaves students behind. This disruption was NOT positive as it was seen as a relentless focus measuring students’ ability with test scores.

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

“Never Give Up”

Those 3 words can shake up the dynamics of anything. As a serial entrepreneur and educator there are days that you really want to throw the towel in. Sometimes things happen beyond the scope of one’s control. I believe those 3 words specifically help me along the way to also stay focused on my goals. Further, I think if it was easy everyone would do it! I believe it is important to have words to live by and for me these words have played a major role in the determination for who I am today and what I desire to continue to strive to achieve.

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

I have a desire to write a book. However, before publishing my book my goal is to produce my very own documentary, I am a visual learner and I believe giving my audience a visual representation of who I am and where I am from will engage them to know more about the “Educated Educator”

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

Women are underrepresented in the top ranks of leadership roles in government, administration, and business, etc., I believe the biggest challenge is that women are held to a higher standard than their male counterparts, and facing persistent gender stereotypes, women are systematically placed on an uneven playing field. We must work much harder and be very persistent when overcoming barriers that sets us apart from our counterparts.

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

I am in the process of writing my book. I have two in publication right now.

“The Educated Educator” — This book is more documentary based on my educational experiences and why those experiences I had shaped who I am today in every aspect of my life including my personal relationships with my spouse, family, and friends.

“Black Boys II Black Men ‘’ — This book is an extension of my dissertation, centered on the academic achievement of African American males in secondary education. It delves into the lack of achievement black males have encompassed and how that plays a role later in life destroying relationships and inabilities to be successful.

“The Educated Entrepreneur” — This book shares my journey of being an entrepreneur. It can also serve as a guide for aspiring and experienced entrepreneurs. It is a hard look at what being an educator means and how to take risks and still be on top financially.

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

I have the desire to expand my STEM school in my community and eventually franchise locations around the world to give students the opportunity to foster creativity and divergent thinking alongside fundamental disciplines. A STEM education motivates and inspires young people to generate new technologies and ideas. I have seen and believe that if we provide an education to children that is well-rounded, we are developing the whole child to prepare them for success in their future.

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

“You Miss 100% of the Shots You Don’t Take”

I believe this quote to have been so essential to someone that was leaving a place of comfort and stability. When I resigned from teaching in 2015 I was afraid of the unknown. I knew there were things I knew for sure; I worked hard, I was educated, and I had a vision. I was not prepared for the challenges that came with being an entrepreneur as well as unforeseen issues on the business side, I was an Educator! There were ALOT of times I had to take shots not knowing what the return would be, examples, engaging parents and the community to believe in my vision, meeting with potential investors for my school, to get their buy-in and support etc. Almost everyone can succeed as long as they keep trying by taking the most realistic approach possible. Failure is guaranteed when we avoid taking the first step out of fear of failing.

How can our readers follow you online?

Facebook: Dr. Jax Smith

Instagram: @drsmithjax904

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

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Female Disruptors: Dr Cynthia Smith Of Minds of the Future Academy On The Three Things You Need To… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.