Day: October 17, 2022

Women In Wellness: Kayla Mason of Awake & Relaxed On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Be your own biggest cheerleader! No one is going to be as passionate about your business or cause as you are. You cannot rely on others energy and enthusiasm to drive your project, you just need to dig deep, keep cheering yourself on, and take one step at a time.

As a part of my series about women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Kayla Mason of Awake & Relaxed.

Kayla is a multi-passionate entrepreneur whose thrill for mindful living landed her an invite to the exclusive Mindbodygreen Revitalize event in her first year of business. Kayla has grown a combined audience (across platforms) of 103K and remains keen and focused on making an impact in the wellness space, bringing new concepts and technology to light. Years of experience in different sectors, including eleven years in industrial engineering, have all added to Kayla’s entrepreneurial toolkit.

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?

Sure! I am a corporate engineer turned multi-passionate, self-employed entrepreneur. I worked in construction management and engineering for eleven years building natural gas plants across Canada and the US. When my then career brought me to Kansas City, I realized that I was on the verge of burnout and started to seek out wellness modalities within the Midwest. I began studying ayurveda and Chinese medicine; picked my yoga practice back up after a long break and became a certified instructor. I dabbled into multiple businesses from teaching yoga at corporate offices (while still working full time), to yoga workshops, and making juice videos online. This all led me to where I am at now; owning multiple mindful rentals and a health & wellness business and blog called Awake & Relaxed which talks about conscious living from the inside out. Under this umbrella, I am about to host my third annual wellness summit that will showcase local and national brands and providers, as well as take on taboo topics that are hitting the wellness world.

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 interesting things that happened since I started my career in mindful rentals and wellness was a Tiktok video that I had go viral. I still remember the day that it was featured on Yahoo. One of my co-workers messaged me and said “I think I just saw your face on Yahoo?”. It was super exciting, and I jumped at the opportunity to make content and maintain my audience, for a bit…. from that came an 8 month hiatus from the platform, I was feeling uninspired and well, stuck! Lesson learned for me was — that’s ok! I am now back on Tiktok and making video content when it feels fun and alive in my body.

Another, very delightful experience, was applying for and receiving an exclusive invite to the MindBodyGreen Revitalize event in my first year of business! If you know of MBG, you know that they are the OGs in the wellness world, prior to GOOP and others showing up in the last few years. This was huge! Unfortunately, covid happened, and the event has been cancelled ever since. At that time, I felt so connected to going, I could feel it in my bones! I had also spent a lot of time in gratitude thinking about the opportunity and surrendered to knowing that any outcome would be the right outcome for me. It was a very freeing moment and I hope to get the opportunity again someday.

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

A mistake that I made early on in my entrepreneurial ventures was spending too much money before seeing a return. I was still working full time as an engineer, making a great paycheck, while also building up my wellness business. I could justify losing money in one area because I was still making it in another. This made my side business more of a passion, instead of an actual functioning business. I wish I would have been a bit more resourceful, but I traded money for time. I still believe that sometimes it costs money to make money. But I also believe that you need to be honest with yourself about financials, and pivot from there.

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?

Awake & Relaxed is the umbrella through which I provide my take on health and wellness trends, offer tips and tricks for how to optimize your healing, host community events and gatherings, and educate on various topics. The aim is for the A&R community to take the journey together, being awake and aware of what’s going on in the world around us, while also allowing our bodies to be at ease during the process. That’s the ultimate goal. If I can provide a space and setting for people to learn from one another, to connect and share, then I believe that is a step in the right direction that will leave a positive ripple effect. I also work very hard at making A&R a safe space for people to express their thoughts and opinions (to me), whether I agree or not. I think we can be a little bias in wellness sometimes, and I prefer to openly recognize that everyone’s journey is so different. I am always open to hearing someone out. I don’t block a person when they disagree with something I have posted or said. I simply ask them if they can explain to me where they are coming from. Nine times out of ten, we end up with a better understanding of where each other is coming from and leave on a friendly note. I hope that encourages them to do the same.

With mindful and eco-friendly rentals, I hope to allow lower budget travelers a place to unplug and recharge. Wellness traveling shouldn’t be exclusive. There needs to be more affordable options. I hope my homes encourage people to take a moment to reconnect with nature, to feel inspired by the colors or design, or to get some much-needed rest. I spend so much time and effort thinking through every detail, color, piece of thrifted furniture or find that goes into a space, they are literally infused with the joy I have while creating them. A smudge every now and then doesn’t’ hurt either.

Making the Midwest a hub for wellness. I always take inspiration from the coastal wellness trends that are hitting the headlines, but there is also so much to learn from the people in the heartland! By continuing to host wellness summits, I hope to bring some recognition to the people here and to put Kansas City on the map for the wellness scene.

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.

Habit Behaviors — You want to floss your teeth more? Drink more water? Make it easy on yourself and put the things to help you get there in your everyday sight. Floss in a drawer can easily get lost, but when it is right beside your toothbrush you are much more likely to use it. Make it easy!

Boundaries — Bottom line is that boundaries are good for the soul. It’s hard, especially for women, to put themselves first. It’s just not in our nature. Set boundaries with your time. Whether that’s blocking off 15 minutes in the morning, taking a break from work or asking not to be bothered during lunch.

Mineral Intake — Add salt to your morning water! This can also act as a cleansing routine, in the Gaelic traditions, with a pinch of salt under the tongue.

Cacao over Coffee — Don’t get me wrong, I am a coffee lover! But coffee every day just wasn’t supporting my body. Cacao is a superfood containing loads of magnesium, something that as Americans, we are deficient in. Replacing coffee with cacao a few times a week will leave you feeling more grounded and nourished from the inside out.

Speak nicely to yourself. Our stories become our reality. If you are always picking apart how you look, then you are telling your brain to always pick up on something, the negative loop will never end.

*Bonus One: Change up your space every so often (seasonally if possible)! Move things around, switch out items from different rooms. Allow for things to change. It’s a good practice.

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

Meditation Movement! I truly believe that most of our illnesses, at least in Western culture, stem from elevated levels of stress. If we can learn to manage that through stillness and meditation, I think a lot of mental health and health issues in general would decrease.

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

1. Be your own biggest cheerleader! No one is going to be as passionate about your business or cause as you are. You cannot rely on others energy and enthusiasm to drive your project, you just need to dig deep, keep cheering yourself on, and take one step at a time.
2. Don’t strive for perfection, strive for progress.
3. It takes discipline to bring a vision to life. If you have trouble putting your vision into actionable steps, then you need someone on your team to do so.
4. It’s OK to switch things up. You don’t owe anyone an explanation for changing directions, coming out with a new business name, or changing your niche. Follow your instincts and go for it.
5. The more you know, the more you know. As your journey with self-healing deepens, you may find yourself in the never-ending cycle of needing to learn more; it’s a lifelong journey and can feel like there is always a next step! Just remember to allow time for integration. We are human. Take time to enjoy being exactly where you’re at right now.

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

I recently heard the term “eco-anxiety” which is essentially the fear of environmental doom. “Whatever that is”, I thought, “I have that.”. I was concerned about pretty much everything that goes along with living a modern-day lifestyle. My husband would order underwear that came in plastic wrapping, and I would start to sweat thinking about having to keep the plastic out of a landfill. Takeaway containers…don’t get me started on those. There are so many big topics that are near and dear to my heart, but sustainability has always been on the top of my mind. We see so many “Amazon Hauls” and clothing hauls on social media, and I just wish we had a more mindful approach to what is even available to us as consumers. It’s not necessarily the “end of the chain” that is the problem, but the companies producing all of these things without repercussion or incentives to do better for the environment. I travel, I consume, I purchase clothing; I am not perfect in any way. And we all have to continue living life. But the small changes I make in my daily life are just a spec in the ocean of a much greater problem.

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

I love exploring whole body wellness as an eco-system that encompasses mind, body, spirit and space on my blog at www.awakeandrelaxed.com. You can find me on Instagram @awakeandrelaxed where I post about a lot of upcoming events and information. And my personal tiktok (breathe.with.kash) if you like watching a mixed variety of content from mindful homes, starting an Airbnb, to juice recipes and more.

A new venture, that I’m really excited to start sharing more about is @sipsteady on Instagram. Here, my business partner and I, explore the realm on alcohol-free beverages hitting the market and are working with exciting new brands that are coming into this space.

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

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Women In Wellness: Kayla Mason of Awake & Relaxed 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: Shari Zisk of Radiance Wellness On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Ground yourself. Humans are electrical beings, the earth is a battery, and when we stand on the planet with bare feet, we recharge. It is a simple concept yet so foreign to us in our modern world. In my wellness-oriented community, it is not uncommon to see like-minded people walking their kids to school or simply strolling on nature trails barefoot. I encourage my clients to recharge daily with a grounding mat under their workstations, an outdoor barefoot walk or sitting. Let’s normalize naked feet everywhere!

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

Shari Zisk is a holistic personal trainer and wellness writer who spent the last 25 years creating fitness and wellness experiences for people of all ages and abilities. In addition to thousands of hours on the training room floor, Shari has been an ambassador for active lifestyles from many different positions. Shari completed hundreds of one-on-one personal training sessions by the time she finished University, where she majored in Human Kinetics. Fresh from completing her degree, she worked outfitting homes, condos, schools, and hotels with fitness equipment. Shari then went on to work with an international organization on large-scale initiatives to promote active lifestyles to older adults. She worked behind the scenes publishing a wellness trade publication, managed a boutique personal training studio, and ran the fitness department at a vibrant community center. Shari wrote fitness and wellness articles for various magazines. She started one of the first fitness blogs, where she still writes about the latest trends in fitness and wellness.

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?

When I was a little girl, my grandmother used to say, “for every disease that we know; God allows a herb to grow.” I believe that phrase planted a seed that shaped my thinking about health and inspired my wellness-seeking adventures over the last 25 years.

Simply knowing that I could fix, heal or reverse my ailments set a strategic way of thinking in motion. I assumed that all I had to do was seek a solution to what ailed me, to reveal a remedy or healing strategy that already existed for it.

For example, I started wearing glasses in the 5th grade. I recall asking my optometrist if there were any exercises that could help restore my weak myopic vision. I believed that if something was weak, then we ought to strengthen it. My optometrist didn’t have any solutions other than glasses.

Also, when my dentist announced that I had an overbite that needed an orthodontic device, I tried to convince my parents that I could do it myself. I believed that I could train my jaw muscles to restore my bite.

I think that this mentality attracted me to fitness. Through fitness, I could take charge and change my body. I could make it more robust and flexible and alter its shape. I could make it run faster and bend further. I could change its performance by the way that I fueled it. This knowledge was very empowering to me.

I signed up for my first gym membership at age 16 and showed up there to pump iron most days after school until I graduated. After that, fitness became ‘my thing’.

During my first year at University, I intended to study business. However, I spent a lot of time designing workouts for my friends and training them in the gym. I switched from a business focus to the human kinetics department and continued to spend five years studying human movement. I then spent almost 25 exciting years working in the fitness industry. I hosted large-scale wellness events and initiatives across North America, and I managed teams of personal trainers at a boutique training studio and a vibrant community center. I sold commercial and retail fitness equipment, outfitting gyms, hotels, schools, and even the military with fitness equipment. As a freelance writer, I wrote fitness and wellness articles for publications across North America.

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

The most interesting thing that has happened since I started in the Fitness industry is the massive shift I am experiencing right now. First, for years I studied the origins and insertions of the muscles. Next, I mastered how to train them for strength, shape them, and feed them. I then explored their link to posture and spent over a decade studying alignment and corrective exercise.

I currently see the direction of my fitness career dominated by two somewhat unrelated yet powerful elements: fascia and community.

We now know that our fascial system has more sensory nerves than our muscles. Recent science shows us that disturbances in our fascia can impair our muscular system (and many other systems). This new scientific information is game-changing regarding how we assess fitness, prepare for it, and train for it. I have been spending a lot of time upgrading my business to accommodate the new fascia science.

As for community, people bond when they move together, sweat together, overcome challenges together, share successes, and find unknown strengths. When people find ‘their’ people,’ it creates new human social groups or mini-communities.

As discussed in the Joy of Movement, the enlightening book by Health Psychologist Dr. Kelly McGonigal, group fitness experiences are potent ways to create supportive communities within communities. So now, instead of building muscles, I am focused on building community through unique fitness experiences (including fascia care).

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?

By the time I was 20 years old, I was a busy personal trainer. While still a University student, I worked in a women-only fitness club, and I would see up to 8 women a day and consult with them on their fitness program. Yes, I was a certified personal trainer and a University student studying Human kinetics. Still, WOW, I had no business guiding women on their fitness and health with the bit of wisdom I had at the time.

My clients wanted to strengthen their core after having a baby. Yet, I knew nothing of Diastasis Rectii, the abdominal separation that can occur after a pregnancy. I worked with many women who experienced pelvic incontinence, not knowing how problematic jumping and twisting movements were. I pushed my clients through tough workouts on the low-energy days of their Moon cycle when I should have guided them into more restorative activities. I had my senior clients get down on the floor to stretch, causing them horrible embarrassment when they could not get back up from the ground without assistance.

Today, there are courses so personal trainers can learn how to safely work with pre-and post-natal women, seniors, and with most medical concerns. However, I strongly recommend that new personal trainers align with an experienced mentor in the industry. Find a trainer who is open to being shadowed and contacted regularly for ongoing guidance. I also encourage anyone new in the industry to get very comfortable saying, “I need to do further research and preparation before we work together.”

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?

My biggest audience is the 40+ Mama, the woman who is busy with kids and possibly her career. A woman whose fortitude is necessary to provide balance, stability, and nutrition for her family. A woman whose strength, health, and robustness are pillars for her family and her entire community.

I am working on creating unique fitness and wellness experiences that fortify families and communities by strengthening the bodies and minds of essential members of the community: the women.

I have a passion for exercise physiology, a flair for marketing, and a deep love of nature. With this, I am creating fun, innovative fitness and wellness experiences that bring Mama’s together, in nature, to sweat together, to strengthen their muscles and hearts.

I am combining intelligent program design, a connection to the biophilia innate in all of us (love of nature), pure fun elements, camaraderie, adherence, and motivation. I am building programs that strengthen and create robust communities.

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.

How I design fitness programs has changed drastically over the last 25 years. I now take a holistic approach to helping my clients live active, vibrant, and robust lives. As a result, every program I design includes whole-person wellness that provides for functional movement, time in nature, regeneration, and mind-body activities. Here are my five lifestyle tweaks that will move the needle for everyone.

1. Tend to your fascia. Beneath our ‘skin suit’ is a fluid layer with many critical functions. This fascia layer also envelopes every structure in the body, including all muscles and all organs. It is the superhighway for communication throughout the body and vitally essential for movement. Unfortunately, fascia can dry out, rendering it much like a dry sponge; hard and stiff. This state disables many of its functions. We are now learning that many aches and pains, are directly related to dehydrated fascia and stuck stress.
   A little bit of daily fascia care can work wonders for so many things; however, the study of our fascial system is relatively new. Therefore, you will be hard-pressed to find a fascia-care class in your neighborhood. However, we are not far away from massive amounts of programming for fascia.
   Shortly we will see fascia care programs built into all fitness programs. All personal trainers will be well-trained in assessing fascia health and restoring hydration to the stuck spots. In the meantime, I encourage people to get a foam roller and learn to roll their fascia, perform fascial fitness movements with guidance from an online or in-person class, or receive manual fascia work with a trained therapist.
2. Spend Time in Nature. When I design programs for my in-person and virtual clients, I program their cardio, strength, flexibility, and I include time in nature. For the city-dwelling, commuting, hectic person, at least 10 minutes in nature is an effective intervention. I work with my clients to find suitable nature inclusions for their lifestyles, and we write them into their weekly programs. Examples include:
   – Eat lunch in a flower garden.
   – Walk a tree-lined pathway.
   – Do a lap around a small lake or pond.
   If you can commit to ten minutes twice a week, don’t be surprised when you start to long for your time in nature and extend your stay.
3. Ground yourself. Humans are electrical beings, the earth is a battery, and when we stand on the planet with bare feet, we recharge. It is a simple concept yet so foreign to us in our modern world. In my wellness-oriented community, it is not uncommon to see like-minded people walking their kids to school or simply strolling on nature trails barefoot. I encourage my clients to recharge daily with a grounding mat under their workstations, an outdoor barefoot walk or sitting. Let’s normalize naked feet everywhere!
4. Indulge in a fistful of greens every day. Fresh, organic, water-filled food daily is essential for robust health. I consumed so many powder meals and energy bars during my 20s. How did we ever expect to have moist, glowing skin back in the early 90s while consuming all those dehydrating powder shakes and bars?When I think about how dry all that food was, I am convinced that it caused dehydration, leading to many of my digestive and health issues. I encourage my clients to start with a minimum of a fistful of organic greens like spinach, kale, and arugula, blended into a smoothie. The vitality from it is unmatched by any other food.
5. Movement in all directions. We see minimal movement variation if we analyze the average person’s daily movement patterns. We find that most people spend a disproportionate amount of time repeating the same small movements, all in the same plane (the saggital, or front-to-back plane). Some people go months (or forever) without performing any deep bends, overhead reaches, or spine twists. Those who exercise often move like robots and may miss out on the bending, extension, and rotation needed for optimal strength and function. The ‘use-it-or-lose it’ cliche still holds very accurately. In older age, we see these functions disappear from inactive bodies. For my clients, I program at least two weekly strength-training sessions, including multi-plane movements. In addition, each holistic program also includes weekly mind-body activities (yoga, meditation) and at least one regenerative activity (massage, fascia work, sauna).

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 am passionate about cultivating the mighty women of the future by instilling strong health and fitness values in young girls. However, many may not have the opportunity to get started on the right foot. For this reason, I created TrainerGirl, the award-winning fitness intervention designed especially for at-risk youth. This program recognizes that a shift in utilizing personal training resources can alter the course of life for many individuals. It also has the ability to influence entire communities and even nations. TrainerGirl aims to reach the ‘client’ who has not yet had the opportunity to develop behaviors destructive to her physical and psychological health. The result: strong, healthy & empowered young women. The women of the future.

As a personal trainer, I change people’s lives daily. My daily job description includes making people feel better about themselves and how they look, feel and perform. I reduce blood pressure, improve posture, battle depression, lower golf scores and tighten and tone a lot of body parts. It is gratifying work. However, only a select few can take advantage of the guidance of a professional personal trainer. The classic personal training client is hardly a case for philanthropic attention.

In contrast, the Trainergirl program serves the young girl (13–17) with a lack of financial resources to participate in organized sports or physical activities, possibly with a lack of female support in the household plus one or more of the following:

• Lack of self-confidence to participate in school-provided physical activity programs
• Distorted body image
• Low self-esteem
• Untrained social skills
• History of physical inactivity
• Obesity

The TrainerGirl Curriculum

By the end of the 8-week training program, each TrainerGirl will:

• Understand the five components of fitness
• Understand the elements of good posture and how it relates to how her body looks, feels, and performs
• Understand how different types of physical activity influence how her body looks, feels, and performs
• Know the FITT formula for training each component of fitness
• Know her heart rate training zone, how to check her heart rate and how it relates to her fitness goals
• Co-create a custom list of affordable physical activity opportunities in her community
• Have a customized fitness program to do in the home, backyard, park or community at no cost and with minimal equipment. I would love to see the TrainerGirl program available in every city, so every young girl has the opportunity get started off on the right foot.

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

1. I started my adventures in the fitness industry back in the early 90s. I wish someone would have told me just how much innovation this industry would see over the next 30 years. During my first workouts, I wore a big bulky cassette player hooked onto my gym shorts, my clothes did not wick my sweat away, and I had no idea what my heart rate was. My shoes were not antimicrobial or well cushioned, and big bouncy balls were for playgrounds, not grown-up gyms. That’s a lot of innovation in which I should have invested!
2. I wish I had read The Artists’ Way by Julie Cameron and started writing my Morning pages or journaling in my early 20s. Now that I write daily, I have captured thoughts and ideas, and channeled beautiful articles. I think back to all the wellness adventures I have been on, the protein powders I have sampled, the fitness classes I have taken, and the gurus I have met. Suppose I had noted it all daily, along with my deepest thoughts and emotions. In that case, I can only imagine the rich wellness content I would have on file today.
3. I wish someone had taught me how to nourish my network. It is much easier now with social media to stay connected, follow, like, and nudge the people I meet. Over the last 25 years, I met many creative people working in health, fitness, and wellness. This was the era before social media. It would be an incredible resource to be connected to all of the great wellness leaders and game-changers that I knew when they were young.
4. I wish I had attended the Anthony Robbins, Unleash The Power Within event at the start of my wellness career. I learned so much insight and tools about human behavior and behavior change at the 4-day event. My knowledge far exceeds the psychology, sociology, psychoneuroimmunology, marketing, and programming classes I took in my five years at University. Also, understanding human motivation has altered how I design wellness programs. It influences how I make posters and ads for my fitness classes, write articles and newsletters, and speak to my clients and potential clients.
5. I wish I had learned about intuition in childhood, and how to use it. I look back at many instances where my intuition screamed at me, and I ignored it. There were people, situations, and opportunities where I wish I had reacted differently. I never learned to trust my instinct and align with the voice guiding me. Lately, I have been taking courses and reading many books about developing my skills on this topic.

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

All these topics intertwine with my lifetime of work in wellness. Where I feel that my work covertly moves the needle is with mental health.

Here are some examples of people whose outlook on life changed when their fitness changed.

• I witnessed an older man enter my studio, malnourished and grey. Then, after six weeks of training, he arrived with glowing red cheeks, flushed with nourishment and the joy he radiated.
• I also observed a sweet lonely senior citizen who lived alone and without purpose. She began to ‘live’ again for the new community she found at her fitness classes.
• I have seen depressed people lift their heads and carry themselves differently after starting a fitness routine.
• I watched many awkward teenage boys discover their muscles, which completely changed how they entered the room.
• I have seen young, frail girls empowered by the dumbbells they could lift.

As I described in my TrainerGirl program above, I love to provide those most at-risk access to the joy, radiance, and empowerment that comes with a wellness lifestyle.

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

I post snippets and photos of my wellness explorations on Instagram @trainershari. I write feature articles on my wellness blog at www.radiancewelllness.ca. I guide members of my community through fun, sweaty workouts in our nature-loving wellness community in Georgia or through my virtual coaching program.

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

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Women In Wellness: Shari Zisk of Radiance 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 Founders: Katy Knauff of Kamp Social House On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Be Prepared to Pivot: I had the best business plan on the block, but just two months in we had to make some major changes to ensure we could continue our momentum. I knew that I’d need to be open to change, but ‘be prepared to pivot’ has become somewhat of a mantra for me as every day brings new challenges.

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

Katy is a lifelong restaurateur with a passion for creating memorable experiences for her guests. She launched Kamp Social House in July 2022, a bar and restaurant in Seattle, Washington with the motto “Don’t be a Stranger”. Check out www.kampseattle.com for more info about Kamp Social House.

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 first job in a restaurant was as a host for a longstanding restaurant in Long Beach, CA. I was a shy kid, but hosting brough me out of my shell and taught me how to prioritize, set expectations and most importantly, it taught me how to hustle. I’m forever grateful to the restaurant’s owner, Cheryl Carter, for taking a chance on me and allowing me to truly grow up in her business. Much of how I run my business today is because of her mentorship.

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

As an owner/operator, I’m always behind the scenes, and I’m almost always in tennis shoes and an apron, versus a blazer and pumps. I was on the floor one day, so I went to a table to drop off drinks and I asked the guests how everything was tasting. One of the guests told me that everything was great and that they’d ‘like to tell the owner’, and they asked me to grab ‘him’. This is just one of many examples where an assumption was made about the gender of the business owner, as it’s historically been men in the world of restaurants. It was a reminder to continue to lean into authenticity, and to remain empowered as a female founder to change misconceptions.

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?

Cheryl Carter is the owner of Johnny Rebs’ True South and she took a chance on me when I was a shy, inexperienced teenager. She quickly became a mentor as she was accessible and transparent, and I was seeking a role model. I was able to learn from her experience, and as I grew within the company, she allowed me to take risks. She believed in bettering everyone around her, including me. I owe a lot of my success to her mentorship, and I hope to pay it forward as a founder.

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

I believe that funding continues to be blocker for many women. My story is one that I’ve heard echoed by other female founders, and I hope that by continuing to share that we can make a change. My wife facilitated the initial financial discovery process, as there are a lot of ways to fund a business. Ultimately, we decided on a traditional SBA loan, and she was initially approved for the exact amount we’d requested. When we went to meet our banker and sign the paperwork, we did so in person. Even though nothing on our end had changed, when we got the paperwork, we were shocked to see that we’d been approved for a fraction (less than 30%) of what we’d initially asked and been approved for. After doing research on our end, we learned that as women, we were a higher risk for the bank, which likely impacted our approval. We determined that because my wife has a gender-neutral name, there was a possibility she was initially mistaken for a male. While we can’t prove that this was the case, what we do know is that more female founders seeking capital via traditional routes could improve future founders’ chances of being approved for what they need. Are we a higher risk? My P&L says otherwise.

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

I believe in the golden rule of treating others as you’d like to be treated. I believe that if more individuals acted on this principle, that we’d have fewer obstacles as a society.

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?

The statistic quoted in the EY report that only 20 percent of funded companies have women founders is a sad statistic. I know this shows progress, but that means we have a long way to go to reach gender equity in the marketplace. Women need to forge ahead and continue founding businesses because business drives change. What’s been happening to women’s health rights in the U.S. just in the past six months is proof alone that we need more women in charge. Business drives progress, and progress is what women need right now.

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

I think the biggest myth I’ve heard is that all founders of profitable businesses are making a lot of money. It’s why I view transparency as being a critical aspect of business success, as you want those around you to know what’s really going on with the financials of the business they influence. What people don’t always see is your balance sheet, as that can be the story behind ‘where the money goes’. In my case, we put our earnings back into our team and our business so we can all grow together. I’m aware that my business succeeds because of my team, so they come first when it comes to sharing the financial success.

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?

I think the only trait any founders share is passion, and you either you have it, or you don’t. Everyone has a skill that could make them a good founder, but passion is the driver that keeps your business going and growing.

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.)

1) Be Prepared to Pivot: I had the best business plan on the block, but just two months in we had to make some major changes to ensure we could continue our momentum. I knew that I’d need to be open to change, but ‘be prepared to pivot’ has become somewhat of a mantra for me as every day brings new challenges.

2) Fuel Your Passion: I mentioned earlier that the primary trait any founder shares is passion, but I view passion as a fire that needs to be stoked. So, I find ways to continue to fuel my passion to ensure that I stay excited and innovative about my business. For me, I fuel my passion through my network. I ask for meetings and informal chats with other founders I admire. I’ve been shocked by some of the people who’ve said ‘yes’ to a chat, as these are founders I’d have thought were too busy to spare any time. It’s been a pleasant surprise to learn from their stories and to hear their feedback about my journey as a founder.

3) Take Time for Gratitude: The path to becoming a founder starts with an idea. In my case, I took an idea and within one year, I’ve turned it into a physical space where I’m able to share my passion with those around me. If I have a rough day, or if I have a great day, I find the time to be grateful for where I’m at. I worked hard to get where I am now, and I’ll continue working hard to move towards my never-ending goals. If I don’t take the time to enjoy my successes, then what’s the point?

4) Become a Sponsor: I have employees on my team who have goals of opening their own restaurants. Rather than viewing that as negative, I aim to be a sponsor in supporting their goals. This means finding teachable moments, emphasizing professional development and being transparent about what it takes to launch a business. When I’ve spoken about this with other restaurant owners, I’ve been asked if I’m afraid that they’ll leave me someday because their aspirations are bigger than just a job at Kamp. I respond with ‘that’s why I hired them’. As a founder, I view my role as building a business and building up the people who make that happen. What my team decides to do with their learnings is up to them, and that doesn’t change if I do or don’t sponsor their goals. So, I seek to support versus stifle.

5) Maintain Mentorships: I mentioned that I ask for informal chats from founders I admire, and occasionally, I meet someone I want to continue learning from. So, I simply ask if they’re open to being a mentor. There’s a difference between a sponsor and a mentor, and at this stage in my journey, I need mentors. Asking for them can be an awkward conversation, but its one I’m find necessary if you want to have a community of support as your business grows.

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

I live by the mantra ‘think globally, but act locally’, as I believe that making an impact in your sphere of influence is better than making no impact at all. I’m a doer, so when I see or hear about an injustice, I find a way to make a difference within my community and I level up from there.

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

I think that business owners need to make decisions that impact people as much as they impact profit. Human capital is all we have in the restaurant business, so I ensure they’re my priority when I make a business decision. One small example of that is offering paid time off, or health insurance to employees to allow people too feel secure in their roles and lives. If a member of my team is distracted by an HR-type issue that I can influence, then I take action to alleviate their distraction. This isn’t always the best financial decision for the business, but finding peace at work is a line item I prioritize

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

I’d love to have lunch with Megan Rapinoe, Firstly, I’m a wild soccer fan so I’d love to talk soccer, but most importantly I’d like to learn more about her motivation. I appreciate that she doesn’t back down from doing what’s right and she puts values before profit, just like I do at Kamp.

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

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

Women Of The C-Suite: Wendy Barnes of RxBenefits On The Five Things You Need To Succeed As A Senior Executive

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Challenge the status quo: The innovation that makes organizations like ours successful comes from being able to challenge the status quo. We must be intentional about having diverse perspectives at the table, allowing our teammates to be their authentic selves, empowering our leaders to build capability within their teams, and offering consistent support for the outcomes and efforts of our teams.

As a part of our interview series called “Women Of The C-Suite”, we had the pleasure of interviewing Wendy Barnes.

Wendy Barnes is the CEO of RxBenefits, the industry’s first-of-its-kind Pharmacy Benefit Optimizer (PBO). She has over 25 years of experience in the PBM and broader pharmacy space. Both a strategic leader and visionary, Wendy is driven by a desire to bend the healthcare cost curve to serve patients better.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! 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?

Healthcare has always been a passion of mine — specifically, helping people navigate through the pharmacy and medical benefit maze. I have spent my whole career in the industry, serving in leadership positions that include president of Express Scripts Pharmacy, group vice president of managed care at RITE AID, director of pharmacy contracting and new business development, at Premier Inc., professional sales representative at Pfizer, and 10 years as a Medical Service Corps Officer in the US Air Force. Despite all of my experience and efforts to improve the patient experience, healthcare remains incredibly complicated, and, at various points, I’ve found myself interacting with patients who aren’t familiar with those complexities and have been failed by the system. Those experiences led me to believe we have an obligation to do better for the people we serve, simplify the processes for them, cut costs, and conduct business fairly and with compassion. That is why I was incredibly pleased to join RxBenefits.

Today, I am proud to serve as CEO at RxBenefits, the employee benefits industry’s first technology-enabled pharmacy benefits optimizer (PBO). At our core, we’re focused on improving patient lives and bending the healthcare cost curve. This role allows me to use my knowledge of the pharmacy benefits industry to produce better outcomes for members. I’m dedicated to further empowering members of the RxBenefits family to continue disrupting the marketplace and keep pharmacy benefits fair and affordable for all.

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

Regardless of the size or scale of an organization, I am continuously amazed by the caliber of talent in the healthcare industry and, especially, in the pharmacy benefits marketplace. You must care deeply and compassionately to work in this space, and the RxBenefits team’s ability to exceed expectations surpasses significantly larger operations. It is impressive how we approach the market and create new solutions — I’m astounded at the thoughtful way our staff positions itself, produces extraordinary results, and blazes trails. When competitors are all going in one direction, we are constantly asking, “But is that really the best thing for the client?” That mentality seems to be inherent in our culture, which I just love — the client and the patient are really at the center of everything we do. It’s really heartening.

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?

Typically, days are very busy with obligations scheduled back-to-back. On more than one occasion I walked into a meeting thinking it was about a certain topic, only to realize it was about something entirely different after I’d come in and opened the meeting by bringing up what I thought everyone was there to discuss. It’s earned me some strange looks, either from meeting attendees in the room or from computer screens, but in the end, it’s a good reminder to slow down, collect your bearings occasionally, breathe deeply, and focus on what’s next. It’s also a nice reminder that I work with some very polite, understanding, and good-humored people!

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

I’ve been blessed to have several strong mentors along the way, and I’m particularly grateful for Tim Wentworth, former CEO of Express Scripts, who imparted astute advice over the years. Tim was one of the best people-leaders I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with, and it’s from him that I’ve really learned how to develop healthy, collaborative cultures and teams.

Another important thing some of my mentors taught me along the way is to not confuse people liking me with being a good leader. Though this can be challenging at times, it is important for all individuals in leadership positions to remember that making a decision might result in healthy tension. The key is to provide an environment where one’s team can provide input and healthy debate, but ultimately you own the decision, and you then need to manage it as best you can.

As a business leader, can you please share a few steps we must take to truly create an inclusive, representative, and equitable society? Kindly share a story or example for each.

Understanding the importance of having a diverse workforce, I’ve worked hard in my career to establish such teams. However, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. A few areas we’re focused on include:

• Hire diverse staff: We need people from different backgrounds and experiences to bring ideas and thoughts to the table so we can be sure we’re considering and including all possible customers. We work very hard to ensure we have a well-represented talent pool for all positions, especially leadership roles.
• Allow the space for DE&I discussions to take place among all staff members: To create truly diverse, equitable, and inclusive workspaces, employees must respect each other’s needs and feel comfortable sharing their unique perspectives to reach their full potential. This space allows everyone to be more authentic, bolder, and less judged. This only happens when our culture supports open, candid conversations whenever and wherever there is a need.
• Engage with underrepresented perspectives: Leaders need to make underrepresented groups in the workplace feel confident enough to clarify the path they’d like to follow by asking questions, equipping them with tools and helping them develop strategies to achieve those career goals, and clearly devising ways to eradicate or work around worldviews they may encounter outside of our company that could hinder their success.
• Challenge the status quo: The innovation that makes organizations like ours successful comes from being able to challenge the status quo. We must be intentional about having diverse perspectives at the table, allowing our teammates to be their authentic selves, empowering our leaders to build capability within their teams, and offering consistent support for the outcomes and efforts of our teams.
• Train staff and put that training into practice: Different team members are going to feel comfortable engaging in different forums and methodologies. That means making a multitude of options available but stressing that the end goal is to have everyone on the same page, no matter which program they choose. DE&I training should be mandatory, whether it’s at the personal level, team level, company-wide level, or all of the above. All programs should be formatted to accomplish the same goal so that company-wide implementation and practices are standardized, which also appreciating all of us are at different point in our journey.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Most of our readers — in fact, most people — think they have a pretty good idea of what a CEO or executive does. But in just a few words can you explain what an executive does that is different from the responsibilities of the other leaders?

Executives have true, complete ownership of the strategic plan and, ultimately, the performance of the company — in the short-, mid-, and long-term. And with that comes the difficult decision-making requirements around what you will or won’t do.

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

The biggest myth is that CEOs know everything. A well-run company is operated by a collection of leaders who are aligned toward a singular mission, vision, and values. Having said that, the CEO is ultimately accountable, but he or she can be far more successful by gathering input from his/her team.

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

Whether it be gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation, I think there are always certain assumptions or biases that we, as humans, make about people. Personally, I encountered these a lot when I was a young professional with children. The assumption was that I couldn’t perform at the same level as a counterpart who didn’t have those obligations. I constantly had to advocate for myself more because colleagues assumed they were doing me a favor by not asking me to take the lead on certain initiatives.

But the truth is, all of us — gender aside — have other obligations. In my opinion, it’s all about having the conversation about whatever the assumption may be and addressing them head-on.

What is the most striking difference between your actual job and how you thought the job would be?

I’ve been fortunate in that the path I took to get to this point gave me the gift of leading in so many roles, so I didn’t come into this one with any misconceptions about how difficult or easy it is to lead people and strategic business initiatives. Honestly, the surprise — in a good way — has been just how kind our culture is and how patient everyone is with my frequent questions as I continue to engage in different areas where I’m still learning.

Is everyone cut out to be an executive? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful executive and what type of person should avoid aspiring to be an executive? Can you explain what you mean?

There are different kinds of executives, and it often depends on the company, the mission, and the vision. But overall, I am not a big fan of “laundry lists” citing very specific things one must do to be a good leader or a good CEO. Depending on what we’re talking about, there is a leadership role for everybody in something that makes sense for their unique skill set. I also think corporate America sometimes does a disservice to colleagues within certain cultures that somehow dictate that you must be a senior leader to be successful. That notion is absurd, as the value that subject matter experts bring to a company is certainly on par with senior leaders. I would go so far as to say many of the SMEs I’ve worked with over the years have added far more value than I have as a leader.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)

I once had a mentor warn me that life, in general, gets messy — more often than you’d expect. So, it’s good to pay a little more attention to what it means to be a leader in messy times as opposed to how to lead when everything’s in a great space. Beyond that, I’m not a big one for revisiting the “woulda, coulda, shoulda.” I’m more interested in learning from mistakes — because you can’t go back and change them — making the best of them and finding some humor in them. There’s been a multitude of mistakes over the years, and they’ve all made me a better leader, so wishing them away is pointless. Mistakes have led me to be a more mindful leader!

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.

Working in the pharmacy benefits industry, the biggest things I am passionate about are trying to do better by the people we serve, simplifying the healthcare processes for patients, cutting costs, and treating everyone fairly. I’m extremely lucky that I was able to join RxBenefits and use my position to put my passions into action.

So, I suppose the movement I would inspire would be to continue the work RxBenefits is doing to ensure our clients have the best pharmacy benefits possible.

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

I’d like to sit down with Marie Curie and have breakfast on the day she was awarded the Nobel Prize. She was not allowed to receive it; her husband had to accept it in her behalf because women were not acknowledged as being part of the scientific community. Talk about a pioneer! I’m a research biochemist at heart and the whole thing is just intriguing to me — I’d love to know how she and her husband decided upon his acceptance of the award. Was she bitter? Was she accepting? Did she understand that her research spoke for itself, despite not being recognized for it? Did she have male allies in the scientific community who saw the unfairness of the situation?

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

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Women Of The C-Suite: Wendy Barnes of RxBenefits On The Five Things You Need To Succeed As A Senior… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Disruptors: Kelly Cox and Celia Castleman of Share the Drop On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

“Thicken up’. We pitch this idea all the time; a lot of times to men who aren’t familiar with the practice of community milk sharing. We deal with questioning eyes, responses of ‘that sounds gross’, the list goes on and on. We have had to learn not to take any of this personally; we believe in our mission and when others don’t we just let that slide.

As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Kelly Cox and Celia Castleman, Co-Founders of Share the Drop.

A registered prenatal yoga teacher and birth doula, Kelly has taught pre and perinatal yoga for 15 years. For a decade, she owned and operated the award-winning yoga studio, Bend: an essential institution in central Virginia that supported women through pregnancy, birth and parenthood. As a breast cancer survivor, Kelly has helped source human milk for other survivors. Supporting cancer survivors is one of her core motivations for founding The Drop.

A mother of three, Celia shared her excess milk supply with families who couldn’t produce enough milk for their infants. For the last eight years, she has collaborated with change makers, innovators and social entrepreneurs and served as Vice President of the Charlottesville National Organization for Women. From the insight and experience working with phenomenal leaders, Celia is ‘pumped’ to launch a start-up empowering women and families to inclusively care for one another.

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?

As a registered prenatal yoga teacher and birth doula, Kelly supported thousands of families through pregnancy, birth and parenthood. In her yoga studio, families connected over the trials and tribulations of pre/postpartum bodies, sleep training, partner relationships and of course, infant feeding. Taking note of her clients’ emotional wellbeing, Kelly realized that feeding newborns created a wave of stress, pressure and often led to postpartum depression. She held weekly free lactation support groups and regularly helped match local families with an excess supply of milk to families in need. And as a breast cancer survivor, she gave particular attention to fellow survivors sourcing milk for their infants.

One particular evening, Kelly was on her phone, scrolling through her contacts to source extra milk for a doula client when she received a text notification that she had “matched” with a prospective date. The idea for a mobile app to match human milk donors and recipients was born.

Pregnant with her third child and in a new town, Celia found a prenatal yoga studio for support as much as for the health benefits. She instantly clicked with her instructor, Kelly. Attending classes for the social aspect and kinship, Celia felt a strong sense of community and support. After the birth of her baby, Celia had an oversupply of milk and a freezer full of excess. She hopped on the internet and found a huge village (half a million members) of peer-to-peer milk donors and recipients.

While forming a sacred bond during pregnancy, birth and postpartum, Celia and Kelly set out to develop a solution to solve the disparities between infants with access to breast milk and those without.

A mother of three, Celia shared her excess milk supply with families who couldn’t produce enough milk for their infants. For the last eight years, she has collaborated with change makers, innovators and social entrepreneurs and served as Vice President of the Charlottesville National Organization for Women. From the insight and experience working with phenomenal leaders, Celia is ‘pumped’ to launch a start-up empowering women and families to inclusively care for one another.

Major medical authorities including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, and the World Health Organization recommend exclusively feeding human milk to infants for the first 6 months of life. And yet, in the United States, only 25% of babies are. That number hasn’t changed in over two decades. What has changed is a more challenging and difficult circumstance new parents are faced with: the necessity for both caregivers to return to work shortly after the baby has arrived, hormonal disorders, breast cancer, mental health issues, among many more.

We know that human milk is the gold standard for infant health and nutrition. We know that some lactating mothers produce more supply than just their own infant can consume. We know that wet nursing, first recorded in 3000 BCE, has sustained our civilization from the beginning. And yet, fraught with politics, even breastfeeding has been shamed and shunned. We also know that our world continues to change. We’ve lived through a Global Pandemic, droughts, wildfires, and other emergencies. Human milk has continued to sustain even the most vulnerable premature babies. We can’t think of a more crucial time for our take on a modern-day wet nursing revival.

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

We know that feeding infants has taken two paths in the U.S. for decades: breastfeeding or formula feeding. As more and more research has proven the benefits of breastfeeding, we are still in a position in which infant formula is the go-to for families. Enter 2022 and we have been dealing with contaminations in infant formula, followed by a shortage that left many families unable to find formula to feed their infants.

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?

After an exhaustive search, we finally found an app developer we were comfortable with. All ‘meetings’ were in the height of Covid so some days we found ourselves working out of one of our homes, in a coffee shop, etc. and we realized, like the rest of the world, we could work from anywhere. Kelly had a rough year with losses and major life changes and took off on a one-way ticket to Mexico. She never missed a meeting, tried to hide the palm trees behind her during Zoom calls, but distance was never an issue. One morning in the Fall of 2021, the entire development team was set to meet for the first time; we were excited and so eager. Kelly was on a small island at that time; got up early to walk out for coffee only to find the entire island was out of power; no way to connect to Zoom, no way to call or text to let Celia know what was happening. Seven hours later she was finally able to reach Celia to let her know she had in fact not been kidnapped, etc.

Needless to say, scheduling important team meetings while on a remote island is probably not the best idea.

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?

(Kelly) My mentors have always been the families I have worked with; I saw them struggle being able to feed their babies, return to work, maintain relationships when their world revolved around being parents. They are exactly why I started to think about ways to help.

We of course have a fantastic board of advisors who share our mission; two of them mothers who work full-time and have shared their struggles with feeding and donating their excess milk.

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?

Community milk sharing is not a new concept; it has been happening informally for years and Facebook has groups dedicated to this mission for the last decade. We have seen families attempt to share or receive on these antiquated systems and simply wanted to offer an immediate, in real time and in their neighborhoods solution.

You can go on a dating app and immediately meet someone to date, you can order an Uber and jump in a car with a stranger; we are offering the same option yet due to that nature of doing something that is a ‘new’ concept for most people, we continue to face rejection. Being rejected by Apple has only made us fight harder to get this to market and realize we can do this ourselves and do not have to cower to the power players.

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

‘Stay the course’. We have struggled getting Apple to approve this mission; we just kept resubmitting and standing our ground. When we received their last rejection, we started building a web app. We will not soften our mission, we will simply just repivot.

“Thicken up’. We pitch this idea all the time; a lot of times to men who aren’t familiar with the practice of community milk sharing. We deal with questioning eyes, responses of ‘that sounds gross’, the list goes on and on. We have had to learn not to take any of this personally; we believe in our mission and when others don’t we just let that slide.

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

After attempting to get approval from Apple we simply walked away and had to recreate an approach that will allow this to get to market. A web app can give as much functionality as a mobile app and at the end of the day makes us even more inclusive. We have received messages from families stating they do not have a smartphone, or computer and have to rely on public access (libraries, WIC offices, etc.). This allows us to serve even more families and we would not have gone down that road if we hadn’t been rejected by Apple.

We are quickly investing more time and money to get this to market as soon as possible.

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

We have to prove ourselves more; we have to make a lot more noise to be heard. We haven’t developed a simple new gadget that we can pump out to the masses. We are creating a new option for families that is tied to a lot of opinions. The act of constantly having to educate others on the history of community milk sharing has been exhausting.

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. 🙂

No one is focusing on the issue of how access to human milk affects so many. Not only is It difficult for many women to breastfeed, we have left so many people out in terms of options on how to feed their children. As a breast cancer survivor (Kelly), I have been committed to helping other survivors gain access to human milk. This application can also offer gay couples, adoptive parents, those who use a surrogate, family members who are raising infants to have access as well. We are very proud of this.

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

‘It takes a village to raise the village’. We have devoted our careers to building community. Life is hard, we have both witnessed how much easier it is when we live in community and take care of each other. This knowledge has been at the heart of the work we are doing.

How can our readers follow you online?

• Go to our website, www.sharethedrop.com; enter email address to sign up for our newsletter updates
• Follow us on social media: Instagram @sharethedrop

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sharethedrop

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sharethedrop/

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

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Female Disruptors: Kelly Cox and Celia Castleman of Share the Drop 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.

Women In Wellness: Sharon Vitti of ATI Physical Therapy On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Make sure there is a balance between your personal and professional lives. This is a constant area of focus for me, as it is for many others. It’s so important to stay cognizant of the multiple facets of our lives and not let one aspect of our life overtake another. It’s also important to work self-care into the mix and not to be so focused on meeting our responsibilities in our professional and personal lives that we miss our responsibility to ourselves.

As a part of my series about women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Sharon Vitti. She came to ATI Physical Therapy as Chief Executive Officer in 2022 with nearly 30 years of experience in healthcare. Before joining the Company, Ms. Vitti served as Senior Vice President at CVS Health and President of MinuteClinic, where she led all aspects of care delivery, business operations and strategic development. Prior to Ms. Vitti’s tenure at CVS Health and MinuteClinic, she served in executive leadership at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, including nine years as Senior Vice President of Clinical Services for Ambulatory and Women’s Health. Ms. Vitti received her Bachelor of Science degree from Clark University and a Master of Public Administration from New York University.

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?

Thank you for inviting me! I’ve been in healthcare for more than 30 years. Ever since I finished undergrad at Clark University, I always knew I wanted to be in healthcare. It started with a very positive experience at a young age, when I volunteered as a candy striper. I loved the energy in the field and really connected with the purpose of helping people get better.

This many years later, I’m fortunate to have had a lot of different opportunities in the healthcare arena that have allowed me to live out what I wanted to do as a young person. I’ve worked in for-profit, non-profit, publicly traded, hospital, provider and payer settings. It’s been exciting to have exposure to so many facets of healthcare throughout my professional career.

Most recently, before joining ATI Physical Therapy, I was at CVS Health and oversaw the national practice of their MinuteClinics. I enjoyed the primary care focus, and we did a lot to be disruptive in the ambulatory space around high-quality, on-demand care at the retail level.

When I began to think about the next chapter of my career, ATI appealed to me in three outstanding ways. First, I really liked that ATI has a national practice with many access points for people to get the care they need. I also was drawn to the potential for preventive care and the possibility for people to work on strengthening and staying healthy versus having to deal with an injury or illness down the road. Finally, I love that we have the opportunity to be disruptive around the cost of care in the musculoskeletal ecosystem. Those factors all suggest that we have the pieces in place to make a real impact on people’s health and wellbeing.

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

When I was in grad school at New York University, I worked at an inner-city hospital, overseeing its outpatient mental health unit. It was a bare-bones operation with very limited resources. After completing my degree in Public Administration, I moved on to another position at a well-endowed, private specialty cancer hospital in Manhattan. The difference in resources couldn’t have been more vast. The Manhattan hospital had incredible staffing and amenities for patients as well as an attractive physical environment and much more.

Although I didn’t realize it until later, I learned from the juxtaposition of those two experiences so early in my career: amenities that were so abundant at the cancer hospital, and so scarce at the mental health unit, really weren’t so important in the grand scheme of things. What mattered most to patients was the care we provided them. It was a powerful realization to understand that what we care providers need to focus most on is the compassion and empathy that make patients feel cared for — and the environment for which this care is delivered comes secondary.

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?

I’m not sure I can remember my biggest mistake when I first started, but I certainly can share a recent learning experience, which took place during Covid while I was in my role at CVS MinuteClinics. As a leader, I’ve always had the mindset that it’s part of my responsibility to push the team to do the best that they are able. As we all know, Covid was a crazy, unexpected time with tremendous uncertainties and anxiety. At the time, I was really focused on being able to provide the best care for our patients, but in doing so, I learned the importance of ensuring balance in life and in our providers’ lives. I wasn’t the only healthcare leader who got caught in this line of thinking, but the realization was impactful. I continue to reflect on it and will take it forward in my leadership roles to balance the delivery of care we bring to patients while balancing my team’s wellbeing.

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?

A common theme of my career, including what I’m doing with ATI, is access to high-quality, affordable care. This is a real passion for me, and in different parts of my career through different venues, I’ve worked to expand access. For example, at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, we expanded our footprint out into the community, which allowed a broader range of patients access to the high-quality care for which we were known. Through the CVS MinuteClinics, we were able to offer patients price transparency so that patients knew how much their care would cost. We also created evening and weekend hours so that more patients could get healthcare at times convenient to their schedules.

Our national footprint at ATI is one way we are trying to create access so that people can live the best life they can live, injury-free. It all relates to providing great care that people can get to when and where they want it. We’re also looking to leverage some of what we’ve learned during Covid to meet the patients where they are, such as enabling more convenient care through a hybrid of virtual as well as brick-and-mortar therapy options.

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.

There are so many things that go into lifestyle and wellbeing. Here’s what springs to mind as really important for me:

• Make sure there is a balance between your personal and professional lives. This is a constant area of focus for me, as it is for many others. It’s so important to stay cognizant of the multiple facets of our lives and not let one aspect of our life overtake another. It’s also important to work self-care into the mix and not to be so focused on meeting our responsibilities in our professional and personal lives that we miss our responsibility to ourselves.
• Maintain a mindset that allows you to enjoy your work. People spend a lot of time at work, and if you aren’t enjoying it, it can wear on your overall wellbeing and become stressful. Choosing to enjoy what you do and having fun with it can go a long way toward wellbeing
• Know what refreshes you. Everyone needs to disconnect, relax and rejuvenate. I find spending time with my family and exercising either outside or in the gym to be great ways to take time off from the stressors in my life. I always come back recharged and more relaxed.
• Find purpose in what you do. A big key to being happy and enjoying what you do is in knowing that what you are doing is gratifying and allows you to have a sense of meaning.
• Have a good support network. Across all aspects of life, things are easier when we’re not alone. On the professional side, it’s so helpful to have a mentor or confidante you can approach when you have a tough problem. I’m privileged to have multiple mentors and am also working with a coach right now to help further fill this capacity. On the personal side, it might be having back-up childcare in case your regular caregiver isn’t available, which in my case was very helpful and relieved the stressfulness of balancing work and family, especially when my children were younger.

I find that these tweaks or guideposts are helpful in setting me on a path that enables wellbeing and allows me to thrive in the different areas of my life.

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

Without question, I would focus on improving the health of all women. Women play such an important role in how and when everyone accesses care. When I was at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, I realized that if we can improve the health of women, we could improve the health of the entire population. Women are often advisors to others on how to receive care, when to receive care and offer lots of counsel on wellbeing. But women usually put themselves last, so it’s a situation where they are helping others but need more self-care. Women in society, in their roles as mothers, daughters, partners and their other various roles, are so influential in how the people they interact with receive care or advice around their wellbeing. We must do it for ourselves, too.

What are your “4 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?

There are so many things we learn along the way, aren’t there? Here are a few that I’ve learned but wish I had known from the get-go.

• Patience is essential. Many of us don’t have a lot of patience, but good things can come out of learning to have patience.
• Not all leaders are good leaders. Recognize that and use your own judgement.
• People have their own agendas. You may feel you’re all rowing in the same direction, but that’s not always true. Sometimes you need to dig in to understand.
• It’s key to find people you can trust and cultivate those relationships. These relationships can sustain you.

Most importantly, I’ve learned that not everyone is the same. You have to get to know people, what motivates them, what their goals are — and then take the time to interact with them as individuals.

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

Mental health is dearest to me, perhaps because my early experience working in a behavioral health setting helped frame my perspective from the start. That experience gave me the tools to empathize with people who had severe disorders. Many people have underlying mental health issues, and they impact lives in ways we don’t always recognize. When we don’t seek treatment, issues can manifest in other ways, like not being able to sleep or having physical health issues. Because of the historical stigmas and barriers, people don’t always recognize when something is going on and may not know how to deal with the issues. Sometimes, they can’t access the care they want or maybe even are too worried about stigmas to seek care. It’s a critical component of our society and individual health and wellness. We have a long way to go, although we are seeing small improvements.

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

Social media is always a great way to stay connected.

You can reach me personally on LinkedIn.

You can also follow ATI on numerous channels and our website.

LinkedIn

Instagram

Twitter

Thank you for the opportunity to connect and share a bit about myself and the good things ahead at ATI.

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

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Women In Wellness: Sharon Vitti of ATI Physical Therapy 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: Dr Dana Ryan of Herbalife Nutrition On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Eat after you exercise, even if you are trying to lose weight: Many people think this will help them lose weight, but consuming protein after a workout will help you build muscle and boost your metabolism.

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

Dr. Dana Ryan is the director of Sports Performance, Nutrition and Education at Herbalife Nutrition and a member of the Company’s Fitness Advisory Board. In her role, she is responsible for helping establish the company as a global leader in sports nutrition. Her primary focus is supporting Herbalife Nutrition-sponsored athletes around the world by developing nutrition and sports performance programs as well as designing and managing sports clinical trials.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the story about how you first got involved in fitness and wellness?

Fitness has always been part of my life since I was a competitive gymnast at a young age. However, I started to understand the true value of wellness when my ability to be active was almost taken away. In college, I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that threatened to sideline me from the rowing team and school in general. I then understood that exercise was simply not enough and that a healthy lifestyle was all encompassing, from how you move your body, to what you eat and your mindset.

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

I suppose the most interesting thing happened before I started my career and was back in college about 9 months after being diagnosed with Crohn’s. Our team won a race, and, for some reason, my coach decided to tell the press about my health and recovery. Now I am a pretty private person and would have never said anything, but the next thing I knew there was a story about my health and what I did to recover (nutrition, exercise, etc.) in several newspapers. When it was published, people came out of the woodwork to thank me for speaking up and that is when I realized that one person’s voice can make a difference. So, I never forget that when I wonder if something I write or say is going to be boring or I question if people will care about it. If you are speaking from a place of truly wanting to help people, whether it is about health and wellness or really anything else, people will listen.

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

Pretty early on in my career I was giving a presentation about sports nutrition in another country. During the planning meetings (which were not in English) I understood through translation that I was going to be giving a presentation to team doctors, trainers, and other medical professionals. I had a high-level presentation prepared, so you can imagine my surprise when I walked into the room to present and saw a group of 12- to 13-year-old boys looking at me! This was not the audience I was expecting, but somehow made it work. The moral of that story is always double check you know your audience but also don’t be afraid to pivot from your original plan, because at the end of the day you are the only one that knows what you had originally prepared!

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

The natural answer to this would probably be to list all my degrees in the space, however I don’t know that is enough to make you an authority (although I do believe it is very important)! To me, my experience is more important and what makes my point of view unique. As I mentioned earlier, I’ve led a very healthy lifestyle my whole life, the textbook definition of health and wellness, but then I was faced with not 1 but now 2 autoimmune conditions. This made me realize that the version of the healthy lifestyle I was leading wasn’t going to work anymore. I had to try new things and figure out what worked for my new circumstances because wellness isn’t a one size fits all. If we try to fit everyone into one version of what we think wellness is, we are going to be limited in who we can help. It is very important to really understand people’s unique situations and craft strategies to help them with their individual goals.

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

It may sound cliché, but it would have to be my mom. She passed away when I was younger from an autoimmune disease. Watching her fight so bravely, while always having a smile on her face, is something I derive strength from daily and is my motivation to do what I do.

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

1. The stories we tell ourselves like “I don’t have time” or “It’s too expensive” can be very powerful, and we often believe that these excuses are true.
2. We may not be convinced that those things will make a big difference, especially if we are young, healthy and have plenty of energy. So, we may ask ourselves, “Why change things when I look and feel fine?”
3. The lack of self-efficacy about cooking or exercising, as people can be afraid to try something new if they don’t have the confidence that they can do it successfully.

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

1. Eat after you exercise, even if you are trying to lose weight: Many people think this will help them lose weight, but consuming protein after a workout will help you build muscle and boost your metabolism.
2. Sometimes less is more: take the day off, let your body rest. If you keep pushing and pushing, eventually your body will force you to stop. Incorporating rest will help you achieve your goals.
3. Throw away your scale: Weight is not a good indicator of overall health. Instead focus on how your clothes fit and the energy you have.
4. Focus on movement over exercise: Moving around all day is going to benefit you more than a 30-minute workout and then sitting still all day. Find ways to incorporate movement throughout your entire day.
5. Let it all out: Don’t be afraid to experience, accept, and embrace your emotions so that you can move forward.

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

1. Mood: Exercise and being active significantly impacts your overall mood and outlook on life.
2. Focus and Concentration: If you can’t focus on work or homework, take a break to do a short workout. When you return to the task at hand, you’ll have an easier time focusing.
3. Energy: It may seem counterintuitive, but the more you exercise and move the more energy you’ll have.

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

1. Walking
2. Daily Stretching
3. Planks

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

Anything by Michael Pollan. I find his outlook on food, eating and cooking fascinating.

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

I wish we could eliminate diet culture. Eat because you enjoy it and the company you’re eating with. Exercise because you love yourself and want to do what’s best for your amazing body, not because you want to change your body. Embrace your body for all that it can do for you.

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

It’s simple, but “Never stop learning!” Always assess where you are in life and how you can learn more. After years in the corporate world and despite multiple advanced degrees, I decided to get my MBA because I knew I didn’t know enough about business. The gifts that program and experience gave me are endless.

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

I would love to meet Michael Pollan and pick his brain about all things health, wellness, and nutrition.

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

@dr.danaryan on IG

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

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Women In Wellness: Dr Dana Ryan of Herbalife Nutrition 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 Founders: Erika Schlick of The Trail to Health On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

“You have to spend money to make money” — This one may be counterintuitive, especially before your company is making money, but I have found that investing into your company initially, and getting systems in place to make you productive, pays off in the end. Also, invest in networking events and conferences where you can meet like-minded people in your industry. At the end of the day, it’s all about connections.

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

Erika Schlick is a health coach, blogger and the author of Wandering Palate, a collection of 28 days of travel inspired healthy Paleo meals that help keep her in remission from Lyme disease and multiple autoimmune conditions. The book is a collection of recipes that helped her heal and now she is joining us from her home in Los Angeles to show us how we should be cooking to stay safe and healthy at home.

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 had two career paths that somehow came together to support each other. In 2009, I started my own design agency with my partner focusing on UX design and Marketing, and in 2014, I started The Trail To Health, which has turned into my passion project. I went to Yosemite in 2012 for the third camping trip of my life and was unknowingly bit by a tick. It took two years to be properly diagnosed with Lyme Disease and co-Infections, followed by three years of numerous treatments to get into remission. This dark journey sparked my passion project and blog. At first, it started as a way to track my recovery and what treatments I was doing, but as I healed, it shifted more to healthy living and recipes. Later, I would write my first cookbook in 2018!

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

If you told me in 2012 that I would heal from an incurable disease, start a food and health blog, and write a cookbook, I would tell you that was impossible. Life-changing experiences change us to our core. I never used to cook, and while I always valued health, I never knew real health as in-depth as I do today. Starting my company has actually made me healthier in my everyday life as I am always learning and striving to be an industry leader in the health field.

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 would say some of the funniest mistakes I made in my business were when I was getting started with recording cooking videos. I worked with a media coach to train for being on camera and it helped a lot. Once I started recording my own videos, I found myself saying really funny and dumb things that I started using as outtake bloopers on my TikTok channel.

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 definitely say my fiance and business partner. Having our background in marketing and media really helped me get a good grasp of how to successfully build a new brand. He has helped me so much with ideas and creating content and also by being my biggest supporter along the way.

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?

That is a great question and I wish more women would get out there and start their own companies. I have started and owned 3 since my twenties. For me, leading comes very naturally — as I am an ENTJ — so I think that helps make it a bit easier for me to dive in. I think finding a good support group and surrounding yourself with other women entrepreneurs is a great first step. This creates motivation, support, and new friendships.

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

I think, as individuals, you always want to be bettering yourself through self care and awareness in life, but also by staying up to date on trends and industry leaders in your field. You want to be relevant and know what is trending to market yourself and succeed in your business.

As a society, I think it’s important to support fellow small businesses as much as you can. I always love meeting local business owners and supporting their business.

As far as the government is concerned, I don’t think we have too much control over this, but it would be really great to see if they had more programs and resources available to small businesses or women-owned businesses.

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?

The question is more why there aren’t more women becoming founders. If you have a passion about something and want to use your ideas and energy to change the world, you should absolutely become a founder and put your energy into it.

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

I think one myth is that you are bossy or commanding. In order to be a strong leader, you do need to delegate and assign tasks and get things done. Sometimes, this can be misread as bossy. Being a founder isn’t easy, but when you hold an overall vision and large goals, it takes a village to get it done.

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?

Every person on this planet has strengths and weaknesses. Some are meant to be natural leaders, while others are stronger at collaborating or working on teams or focusing on the details to get things done. We should all find our own strengths and work within what we do best.

That being said, I do not think everyone is cut out to be a founder. Being a founder requires you to be persistent, assertive, able to lead, and able to take responsibility for good and bad outcomes. You have to have thick skin and keep your eye on the prize while keeping your team focused. It’s a lot of things to juggle, so you have to be good at multitasking.

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.)

The first few years of starting a company are the hardest.

The first years are when you are laying the foundation of your business and establishing your values. It is a lot of work to think about what your brand represents, but the more clear you get on this, the stronger your brand and foundation. I also find that in all my companies, the first few years cost the most money to get set up and get going but are also the least profitable. You must persist to see success.

1. “You have to spend money to make money” — This one may be counterintuitive, especially before your company is making money, but I have found that investing into your company initially, and getting systems in place to make you productive, pays off in the end. Also, invest in networking events and conferences where you can meet like-minded people in your industry. At the end of the day, it’s all about connections.

2. “Just because one person says no, that doesn’t mean your project dies. Rework it and pitch it again” — This is a hard one to push through, especially in the early stages of your company. You have an idea you are passionate about, but maybe someone rips it apart or doesn’t support it. Don’t let one person’s opinion ruin your vision or goals. It might give you a lens to pivot your vision, but stick with what you want to achieve.

3. “Don’t offer anything you couldn’t do yourself” — This is a big one I have always stood by, especially in our design agency. While it is great to have a reliable team of people to work on your team, never take on something you can’t do on your own as this can jeopardize your client relationships. If something happens to a team member and there is a deadline, you need to be able to jump in and get it done.

4. “Be ready to put in the hard work” — Starting your own business is a full commitment from yourself to give it your all. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication, so when you start a business, be ready to put that in.

5. “How have you used your success to make the world a better place?” — My blog and business are all about empowering people to heal from chronic illness and be healthy. In addition to my blog, I also do one-on-one health coaching and work closely with two Lyme Disease charities for events and fundraising. I also do as much as I can to spread Lyme Disease awareness and hope that I am making an impact, even if it helps only one person out there.

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

I want to expand my efforts with my brand and blog to raise awareness for Lyme Disease and work with amazing organizations like Global Lyme Alliance to find a cure. It’s a huge part of my drive. Lyme is the fastest growing vector-borne illness and many people get sick with it every year. Testing is awful and very inaccurate, and there is no standard treatment to help people. This is definitely my passion project: to help many others get their lives back.

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.

This is a hard one — there are so many good choices! I think I would want to connect with someone that is in the Lyme community, perhaps Avril Lavigne. I would also love to meet with and be on the Dr. Oz show or Today Show sometime.

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

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Female Founders: (insertname) On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder 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

Stop overthinking — Overthinking creates stress and anxiety, plain and simple. Yet, so many of us do it. Even my clients who don’t have anxiety disorders still struggle with overthinking. But the effects of overthinking are plain: along with feeling more anxious, people feel drained from spending so much time in their heads. One of my favorite metaphors is that overthinking is like running on a treadmill — you work really hard but don’t get anywhere. It can leave you feeling exhausted.

As a part of my series about the “5 Things Anyone Can Do To Optimize Their Mental Wellness”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Cameron Murphey, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist.

Cameron Murphey provides psychotherapy to adults struggling with anxiety, most especially relationship anxiety and ROCD. He helps adults learn to live more courageously and pursue what in life most matters to them. He is planning to release an online course in 2023 on how to recover from relationship anxiety, so that anyone in the world can learn the skills needed to overcome anxiety and have a long-lasting relationship. He is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and sees clients in person and online throughout California. Cameron can be reached through his website.

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

As a teenager I struggled with anxiety and depression. I was coming to grips with my difficult relationship with my father, as well as navigating my first romantic relationship. My mother asked me if I’d like to speak with someone about all of this, and I said yes. She connected me with someone who ended up being an exceptional therapist for me. Not only did I find the sessions helpful, but I really enjoyed the experience of therapy itself — the open-ended conversation, the close listening, the focus on emotions and ideas. Pretty quickly I realized that I could probably do this for a living myself.

After trying my hand at a few different careers in my early 20s, I decided to go back to school to train as a therapist. I fell in love with what I was learning, and was confident that I’d chosen a good career path for myself. And yet, I was still struggling with anxiety, especially in my romantic relationships. Through my training as a therapist I learned that I was struggling with what they call relationship anxiety. Relationship anxiety involves ongoing doubts about whether you’re with the right person or not. The suffering can be intense, occupying your mind for long periods of time. So, here I was, a new therapist struggling with an anxiety disorder. As the old proverb goes, “Physician, heal thyself!”

Over time, I did heal myself. Through my training and learning, I cobbled together an approach to overcome relationship anxiety that worked very well for me. Since I knew that my experience was typical of that of people suffering with relationship anxiety, I decided to specialize in working with this topic. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed working with people who were going through a similar struggle as I had. I found our conversations exciting and energizing, and the edges between work and play began to blur. Today, a large part of my practice focuses on helping people with relationship anxiety, and I am grateful for that. As cliche as it might sound, there are times when we can turn our suffering into a way of helping others.

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

Toward the beginning of my career, I led a summer camp for children with mental health struggles. The camp culminated in a two-night camping trip to the California coast. For many of the children, it was their first time seeing the Pacific Ocean. We swam in the ocean as a big group, and stayed up watching movies afterwards.

I share this story because it highlights an important lesson I’ve learned as a therapist. In the midst of great suffering, you can find moments of intense meaning and connection. No one wants to suffer from depression, but once you do, you become someone who others with depression can talk to. You become someone who can empathize in a way that others who haven’t known depression simply can’t. The same goes for anxiety, trauma, bipolar, and so on.

I don’t believe that suffering is in and of itself a gift. Suffering is suffering — it’s difficult. But it can create opportunities to connect with people in a way that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.

Speaking personally, I don’t know whether I would have become a therapist had I not struggled with anxiety throughout my life. I wouldn’t say that I’m grateful for having felt so anxious as a child, but I am grateful that I had the chance to spend those few days on the California coast with those kids.

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

This is embarrassing to admit… During my second year of training as a therapist, I ran into a former client while walking around my neighborhood. They were looking around and hadn’t seen me yet. Without thinking about it, I leapt behind a bush to try and hide from them. I felt ridiculous. Why was I hiding from a former client?

Looking back at this now, I imagine that I reacted this way because I didn’t know what else to do. I had no protocol for how to interact with someone I’d helped in therapy if I ran into them outside of the office.

I’ve learned since then to have this conversation with clients beforehand, so that I know how they’d like me to respond if we run into each other. Most people have said that they would like to say hello. Some have even said that they would like to introduce me to their spouse or family. Overall, having this conversation has led to a greater level of intimacy in the relationships I have with my clients. In an age of teletherapy, I think it’s important to have a sense that the figure on the other side of the screen is an actual person you might bump into in the world.

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?

Although many people have helped me along the way, I am especially grateful towards my wife, who is also a therapist. When I felt insecure as a new therapist, she buoyed me up with endless support. She also introduced me to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which has become the main modality from which I practice therapy.

When I was struggling with anxiety in the first year of our relationship, she said to me, “You really need to check out ACT. I think it would help you a lot.” She was right. The more I looked into ACT, the more I realized how much I was trying to control and suppress my anxiety. When I shifted toward a more accepting stance, I was surprised at how much of the anxiety went away. Had my wife not directed me toward ACT, I would have suffered much more as a result. Thank you Brie!

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

I would encourage my therapist colleagues to get clear about what topics they like working with, and to then find ways to connect with people dealing with that topic and who need therapy. As a therapist, it’s unreasonable to expect that you will enjoy working with every topic equally. Instead, find those topics that excite you and that you feel especially gifted to treat.

Specializing in a topic you like is important for at least two reasons. First, you’re more likely to feel passionate about the work you do, and that you’re sharing your gifts and talents with others. Second, you’re more likely to experience yourself as competent at what you do. Competency leads to a sense of satisfaction, and satisfaction guards against burnout.

So, for my fellow therapists out there, find those topics you like working with, and get really good at helping people who are struggling with it!

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

My one piece of advice comes from my own experience in several companies that provide mental health services.

I encourage leaders to make sure that the workload is spread evenly among employees (including leaders themselves), so that everyone is working more or less as hard as one another. I remember how demoralizing it felt, working at a mental startup, to see my fellow therapists exhausted from seeing clients all day, while the administrative staff seemed relaxed and well rested. I can see in retrospect that this created a culture of resentment among the therapists, who felt that they were shouldering the bulk of the work.

In contrast, at another company I worked for, I felt a strong sense of solidarity when I noticed that everyone was sharing the load evenly. I felt a great sense of loyalty when I realized that the leaders of the company were working harder than the rest of us. It even made me want to work harder to support them.

As they say, people never forget how you made them feel. What I remember most about these two companies isn’t how much money I made, but how I felt working there. And, for leaders out there, this could be a good thought experiment to pose for yourself: How do you want your employees to feel years later when they remember working for you? Once you’re clear about this, work to create the kind of culture that will manifest this feeling.

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

1. Stop overthinking

Overthinking creates stress and anxiety, plain and simple. Yet, so many of us do it. Even my clients who don’t have anxiety disorders still struggle with overthinking. But the effects of overthinking are plain: along with feeling more anxious, people feel drained from spending so much time in their heads. One of my favorite metaphors is that overthinking is like running on a treadmill — you work really hard but don’t get anywhere. It can leave you feeling exhausted.

It is 100% possible to stop overthinking. The first step is to realize that overthinking is something you do. Like running on a treadmill, it doesn’t just happen to you. It takes effort.

Second, once you realize that overthinking is something you do, you can take steps to stop doing it. The hardest part about this is to make the wholesale choice to stop worrying — to step off of the treadmill. Most of us silently justify overthinking with reasons like “It keeps me motivated” or “It helps me plan ahead”. These justifications keep us trapped in a cycle that hurts us, though. It’s like a bad habit — you know it hurts you, but it feels so difficult to give up. I have seen again and again though that as people give up worrying and overthinking, they feel better, more rested, and more present in their lives.

Whatever you want to call it — worrying, obsessing, ruminating — it’s important for your mental health that you learn to stop overthinking. If you struggle to do this, it can help to find a book on the topic or do a few sessions with a therapist who is trained in this area.

2. Build close relationships

There has been a lot of attention recently on loneliness, and for good reason. A recent survey showed that four out of five adults between the ages of 18 and 24 report feeling lonely. Loneliness is a predictor of many issues, including worse mental health and a lower quality of life. Fortunately, we know that the antidote to loneliness is close relationships with people you care about.

We evolved as a close-knit social species, so it makes sense that having close connections would have an impact on your mental health.

Pause for a moment and take an inventory of your relationships. Do you feel like you have as many close relationships as you would like? If not, what can you do to make them closer? Have you let certain relationships fall to the wayside? Maybe those relationships would benefit from some TLC.

Having worked with many people who’ve felt lonely, I’ve seen it pay off in spades for them to build closer relationships. It may have taken longer to build those relationships than they would have liked, but, without an exception, their mental health improved remarkably as a result.

3. Find a source of meaning

We’re used to thinking of food and water as basic human needs, but having meaning is just as important in creating a life worth living. Broadly speaking, meaning is the sense that one’s life has significance and purpose. People derive meaning from various places, such as their work, their family, their friendships, and their religion or spiritual practice.

There’s a growing body of research documenting the immense benefits of having a sense of meaning. These benefits are both physical and psychological. For example, having meaning protects a person from depression and addiction. It also predicts increased physical activity, the benefits of which we know are huge. Conversely, when people lose a sense of meaning, their mental health suffers.

So, take a moment as you read this to check in with yourself. Do you feel in touch with a sense of meaning and purpose in your life? Where do you find that meaning from? Are there some areas in your life that feel more rich with meaning than others? Are there areas that deserve more attention?

If you feel confused as to what brings you meaning, here’s a way to get in touch with what matters to you. Imagine that you’re near the end of your life. As you look back on your life, what do you imagine you’ll wish you had done more of? Who will you wish you would have spent more time with? What dream of yours will you wish you would have pursued? This tells you what is important to you, and what it is you should be spending more time doing.

In therapy, I’ve seen more than one person’s life turn around when they discovered something that gave them a sense of meaning and purpose. Those instances showed me firsthand how powerful meaning can be, especially for improving mental health.

4. Get good at facing your fears

The recipe for anxiety is simple: When something matters to you and the outcome is uncertain, you have everything you need to feel afraid. For example, if you’re launching your own company, it makes sense that you’d feel fear, because what you’re doing is very important to you, and you don’t know whether the company will make it.

Where people get stuck is this: When they feel afraid, they don’t go forward. This often gives short-term relief, but at the cost of avoiding the very thing that matters to them. For example, if public speaking is important to you, but you stay away from it because it makes you feel nervous, then you’ve exchanged meaning for comfort. In the short-term this seems like a reasonable trade, but when repeated over a lifetime it is a recipe for immense regret.

As a therapist, I’ve sat across from many people who are afraid to go after their dreams because they don’t know how to handle the fear. This deadlock is reasonable: it’s hard to do things that are scary. That’s why it matters so much to get good at facing your fears. More and more I think of doing scary things as a skill set in and of itself. Like lifting weights or running a mile, it’s something you get better at the more effort you put into it. And, amazingly, the more people face their fears, the less anxious they become.

One of the privileges of treating anxiety disorders is getting to watch people get better at facing their fears. As they do, the more their lives open up to them. They see the world more as a place of opportunity than a place of danger. They get better jobs, healthier relationships, and — maybe most important of all — a greater sense of confidence in themselves.

5. Make healthy lifestyle choices, including play

Making better lifestyle choices can deliver massive returns in your mental health. This includes exercising (or moving more in general), socializing, eating well, sleeping enough, reducing your screen time, and having an outlet for play.

The last one may seem strange — why play? We know that play is important for people of all ages. The benefits are legion: reduced stress, improved mood, increased creativity, greater stores of energy, and so on. People who play are more likely to have a sense of vitality and to feel young and energetic.

As a therapist, I take it quite seriously when I’m working with an adult and realize that they don’t know how to play anymore. These are often people who have become so bogged down in their work that they have lost all contact with their ability to play. They usually tell me they thought that play is something they needed to leave behind in becoming an adult. Invariably though, when they reintroduce play into their lives, their mood improves and they report a greater quality of life. Speaking plainly, they just seem happier now that they know how to play again.

In Sum

Just as your five toes work together to help you walk, these five steps support each other. In order to build close relationships, you need to stop overthinking so you can be present with the other person. In order to find sources of meaning, you need to get good at overcoming your fears and going after what matters to you. In order to play, you typically need other people, and you definitely need to get out of your head.

If you implement any one of these steps, you will see benefits. The real magic, though, comes from implementing all of these steps together. So, I encourage you, dear reader, to take action on all of these steps, and to see how much benefit they bring to your life.

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

The recommendations provided above still apply, although I would add one major tweak.

It’s crucial for teens to reduce how much time they spend on screens. I know how difficult this is, especially when it feels like you’re going to miss out on opportunities to socialize. That being said, every single teen I’ve worked with has told me they’re aware of how bad screen time is for them. The negative effects aren’t lost on them, they’re just unclear about how to cut back. So, if you’re a teen, try this: Figure out how much time you spend on your phone or computer, and work on cutting it in half. If that feels like too big of a step, start with cutting it down 10%, and then 20%, and so on. As you do this, notice if anything changes in your life. Consider your mood, your energy levels, your sleep, your social life. Is anything different? I say this because it’s important to track the changes for yourself, so you can decide how much screen time is right for you.

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

Claire Weekes wrote a very popular book titled “Self-Help for Your Nerves”. This book (and its predecessor “Hope and Help for your Nerves”) ushered in the modern treatment of anxiety, and has made an incredible impact on the lives of thousands of people.

Years ago, I had a panic attack while giving a presentation at work. I was so startled by the experience that I began avoiding speaking socially. To my surprise, I began to feel even more nervous in social situations. When I discovered “Self-Help for Your Nerves”, the book fit my situation to a tee. In running from fear, my fear had gotten bigger. In tensing up against any sign of anxiety, I was creating an even greater state of tension and nervousness. The treatment, paradoxically, is to turn and face the very thing that scares you, and to do so with an attitude of acceptance. This is no doubt nerve-racking at first, but you quickly learn that a) you are strong enough to handle the fear, and b) when you accept the fear — rather than tense against it — the fear typically passes through you, rather than get any larger. As Weekes wrote, “Acceptance means letting the body loosen as much as possible and then going toward, not withdrawing from, the feared symptoms, the feared experiences. It means ‘letting go’, ‘going with’, bending like the willow before the wind — rolling with the punches!” I recovered quickly using her approach, and then began to apply her principles to my work with clients, with great success.

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

I’d like to start a movement of helping people overcome their fear of partnering and learn to commit to a healthy long-term relationship, whether it be marriage or some other form. We know that long-term relationships bring massive benefits to the people involved, including improved physical and mental health. We also know that children do better on average in households where the main relationship remains intact.

There’s a saying I like very much: a happy family is heaven on earth. I want to help as many people form happy families as possible, since that would bring an incredible amount of good to many people.

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

Anaïs Nin wrote the following sentence in one of her journals: “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”

When I was starting my own practice as a therapist, I felt terrified. I knew I wanted to run my own business, yet I was afraid that it would fail within the first year. In order to move forward, I had to disobey my own fear. What I mean by that is, no matter how loudly my fear told me to turn around and run back to the safety of working for someone else, I needed to move forward anyway. This is one way to define courage: the willingness to move forward even when you feel afraid.

As a result, my life has expanded immensely. I’ve taken on more responsibility, I make more money, and I have much more pride in myself for having done something that scared me.

I see this life lesson play out again and again, in my own life and the lives of my clients. Life really does shrink or expand in proportion to one’s courage.

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

Readers can follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/cameronmurpheytherapy/

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

Thank you as well!

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