Category: Featured

Brandy Mabra of Savvy Clover Coaching & Consulting: They Told Me It Was Impossible And I Did It Anyway

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Own that you’re never at the mercy of any situation. Regardless of any situation, we always have control over how we perceive it and how we decide to show up. This isn’t a new insight, however it is one of the things I always keep in mind. We are promised abundance and if we decide to own this mindset, the world is our oyster to achieve greatness.

As a part of our series about “dreamers who ignored the naysayers and did what others said was impossible”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Brandy Mabra.

Brandy Mabra is the CEO of Savvy Clover Coaching & Consulting and is a Business and Leadership Coach. She has 15 years of business management and leadership experience. Brandy runs a successful online coaching business empowering her clients to own their role as a bold, and confident CEO to scale their businesses with a strong infrastructure and an engaged team using her signature SAVVY method. Brandy is a member of the Forbes Coaches Council and has been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur, PopSugar and Create & Cultivate, as well as multiple podcasts like the Stacking Benjamins Podcast, Systems Save Me and Group Practice Exchange to name a few.

Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to ‘get to know you’ a bit better. Can you tell us your ‘backstory’?

I’m originally from a small town in Ohio and have always had a big imagination. I remember when I was little having an imaginary friend named Nina and telling her I was going to be a famous ice skater and a Pediatrician one day. At the time there was a famous black female ice skater named Debbie Thomas who was also in med school to be a Pediatrician, so I wanted to be like her. Although I never ended up being an ice skater or going to med school. I did end up growing up and making a name for myself as I climbed the corporate ladder making it to the C-suite building medical group practices in the healthcare industry.

During the course of my management career I made it to tables where I was in many cases the youngest and the only Black woman. There were challenges I faced leading to me getting my master’s degree. I wanted to learn as much as I could about business, business infrastructure and leadership. With my son being so young at the time, there were nights where I stayed up until 3–4 a.m. doing class work, then turning around to wake up at 6 a.m. to get my son to daycare so I could head to work. The challenges made it worth it as I earned more.

I’ve always been resourceful and determined.

Even before my management career I wanted to create a better life for my son. So as a single mother fresh from filing bankruptcy I moved from Ohio to North Carolina with my 1 year old in a rental car with only our luggage and my last paycheck. I wasn’t sure what my life was going to look like. All I knew is I was meant to do more with my life and I needed to increase my pay so I could provide for my son. Within a month of the move, I got my first management job.

Fast forward to today, I left my well paid, “secure” 6-figure management job and took the leap. Taking this leap was something not many people in my circle understood and still sometimes have a hard time understanding.

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

Yes, I’m in the process of creating a CEO course for entrepreneurs and business owners to empower them as the CEO of their company and teach them business management and leadership CEO skill sets. There are so many entrepreneurs and business owners who start a business and don’t have the knowledge for how to build a strong infrastructure with efficient operational processes and systems and an engaged team. Chaos and team turnover cost money. In addition, with so many businesses failing. My goal is to help increase the business success rate.

In your opinion, what do you think makes your company or organization stand out from the crowd?

I’m a Black woman teaching leaders how to be a CEO. Most often when we think of CEOs we think of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Elon Musk. I’m none of the above. I’m here to change the perception and help diversify who we think about as your typical CEO leader who runs a company. The best way to do that is by teaching the CEO skill set to others.

Ok, thank you for that. I’d like to jump to the main focus of this interview. Has there ever been a time that someone told you something was impossible, but you did it anyway? Can you share the story with us? What was your idea? What was the reaction of the naysayers? And how did you overcome that?

Yes, starting with birth. I was a premature baby weighing a whopping 3 pounds and 4 ounces. My mother was told I would die and if I lived, I would have severe mental and physical limitations. My mother has always told me I was strong-willed and despite what the doctors told her she knew I would be fine.

As I grew older, my limitations would be the extent of speech impediment showing up as stutter. After years of speech therapy, I was able to control my stutter and find my voice. Today, most don’t notice, despite the fact internally I can feel as if my mouth is moving faster than my brain. However, that has never stopped me from having the desire to get my message out into the world. We are all a work in progress.

I believe the determination I had as a baby, moving past my stutter and deciding to not let my setbacks deter me from doing more in life and in my career. I’ve always been the one to step up to challenge. For example, when I told people about me leaving my management career to be in my business full time or when I told others I was moving to a state with no job, no car, limited amount of money and baby. The instant response is always “Are you sure?” or “What are you going to do if it doesn’t work out?”

I always ignore the chatter and find a way that will allow me to fully step into who I’ve been called to be. I might not have all the answers. I might have to sacrifice along the way. For example, for years before I was high enough in my management career to make over a 6-figure salary, we frequently ate peanut butter sandwiches and chicken noodle soup. It was a budget favorite. My son loved it. I knew it was all we could afford at the time. I knew our situation was temporary.

Life is always changing and giving you opportunities to learn. It’s these lessons that create your success recipe for when the next challenge comes around.

Being a full-time business owner with a growing business there are times when we have to get creative, make pivots, and things sometimes don’t go the way we want. When this happens I go back and think about the moment when I moved with no real guarantee anything would work out.

In the end, how were all the naysayers proven wrong? 🙂

I’m still living, with no mental or physical limitations like the doctors told my mother. I’m a Black woman who can say she’s worked in the C-suite and made a great career for herself with a salary only 5% of women can say they make. I didn’t end up homeless like some thought I would when I made the move without a fleshed-out plan. In fact, I own a beautiful home. I’m able to provide a lovely life for my son and now a blended family of four. I love to travel and have been to amazing places all over the world. Plus, I have the freedom I longed for owning my days with a growing business.

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 have been blessed to work with amazing mentors. One mentor in particular that I had earlier on in my management career is who I always credit for my success today. Her name was Debbie. She inspired me and would always remind me to enjoy the journey, not rush my growth as I often would want to as an impatient, goal-oriented professional.

As I grew in my career, she pushed me to apply for the next position. She purposefully gave me projects that would require me to get out of my comfort zone. Looking back, she is who I’ve developed my leadership style after. I think about her often. Above my desk is a plaque she gave me that has been in every office I’ve worked in, in every company. I always think about her. The plaque says “enjoy the journey”.

It must not have been easy to ignore all the naysayers. Did you have any experiences growing up that have contributed to building your resiliency? Can you share the story with us?

In addition to growing up with a stutter, I was shy and socially awkward in many situations. I’m a classic introvert. I used to keep how I felt to myself. But, my family empowered me to speak my mind and make my opinions heard. It’s this that has helped me get noticed at tables where I otherwise might have faded into the background. I’m now quick to contribute to a conversation if I’m passionate about the topic.

We all bring a unique perspective to the table. I was taught to honor my journey and not feel ashamed of where I came from. I didn’t grow up with a lot of money. I wore the same jeans every day when I was in high school and used to borrow my friends’ clothes. The funny thing is that I ended up winning best dressed oddly enough. One thing I know about myself is I will always find a way to make the best out of a situation. When I was in high school, I needed clothes and found a way. It’s this same attitude that has helped me in building my business. I’m always looking for the opportunity around me to make the best out of my situation and it’s this reason I was able to grow in my career and in my business.

Based on your experience, can you share 5 strategies that people can use to harness the sense of tenacity and do what naysayers think is impossible? (Please share a story or an example for each)

1.) Get clear on what you want. One of the things I’ve always been clear on is what I wanted out of life. Whether it was wanting a better situation for myself and my family, making more money, creating a bigger impact. I’m fully aware of what I desire.

2.) Ask yourself what is standing in the way of what you want. Over the years some things that were in the way of the goals I wanted to achieve were where I was living, which is why I moved. Lack of education, which is why I went back to get my Master’s degree. Lack of freedom to do more for others and be with my family, which is why I started my own business.

3.) Prepare for what you want like it is already yours. I’ve learned to make decisions from where I want to be, not from where I am right now. This has allowed me to keep moving forward and avoid stalling my progress. It can feel scary as you’re stepping into the vision, but once your vision comes to pass it’s amazing to see the results. Have faith.

4.) Use what naysayers say to fuel you, not derail you. I love proving people wrong. I do a little dance inside every time I prove someone wrong. One of my favorite sayings is “watch me work”. People need to be inspired. It’s up to us to decide to do the work so others can see what is possible.

5.) Own that you’re never at the mercy of any situation. Regardless of any situation, we always have control over how we perceive it and how we decide to show up. This isn’t a new insight, however it is one of the things I always keep in mind. We are promised abundance and if we decide to own this mindset, the world is our oyster to achieve greatness.

What is your favorite quote or personal philosophy that relates to the concept of resilience?

My personal philosophy is to concentrate on God’s purpose and He will do the rest. We are not meant to live small lives. We are meant to live extraordinary lives. Part of being resilient is believing in yourself and knowing that you can accomplish anything.

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.

If I could inspire a movement it would be the movement I’m inspiring now. To change the world’s view of what a leader looks like. To honor that as society evolves we all are here to make a difference. There have to be more leaders who want to do right by their companies so we can make a bigger impact collectively.

Can our readers follow you on social media?

Instagram ; Facebook ; LinkedIn

Thank you for these great stories. We wish you only continued success!

Brandy Mabra of Savvy Clover Coaching & Consulting: They Told Me It Was Impossible And I Did It… 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 Georgiadice

Yes, I hope the current fashion industry think about things with long term mentality. Many of the high-end brand does this but many of the medium to lower side brand fail to see the big picture. They are mostly working to follow the trend.

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

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

As a part of this series I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Edward Lee, business consultant with 10+ year experience; own a high-end consignment bag business; now launching a luxury gemstone necklace line based on human aspirations.

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 childhood “backstory”?

Since I was a kid, I always has interest in understanding about underling purpose in life. So, I dug deep into self-help book and religious texts all the time. This also led me to study Chemistry in college to understand things at the ‘molecular’ level.

Can you tell us the story about what led you to this particular career path?

I wanted to get into the business of symbols and meanings. I had plenty of exposure on how luxury industry is run during my time as a business consultant and also understood the resale market from consignment store. I wanted to combine those experience to create a charm necklace brand.

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

Me and my colleague had to visit 10+ factories before we can find someone that will deliver our design. Our design is made out of natural stones so we got rejected so many times.

You are a successful business leader. Which three-character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

Perseverance/Kindness/Conviction

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

Our company did 5 year long studies to develop a aspiration test to identify people aspiration. And we created a totem-based gemstone charm necklace to support the aspiration.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Do you see any fascinating developments emerging over the next few years in the fashion industry that you are excited about? Can you tell us about that?

I am very excited about how fashion will evolve in with Metabus technology such as NFT. With this evolution, I believe the market will go even more consumer-centric now and there will be fashion online and offline.

Can you share how your brand is helping to bring goodness to the world?

We try to give confidence in people’s life by providing them with direction via aspiration.

Can you share with our readers about the ethical standards you use when you choose where to source materials?

We focus on making sure jewelry artisans are compensated properly and we produce them in Korea, where we ethically source all of our stones and materials.

Fast fashion has an advantage, that it is affordable for most people, but it also has the drawback that it does not last very long and is therefore not very sustainable. What are your thoughts about this? How does your company address this question?

We are not a particularly big fan of fast fashion. As we are a charm brand, we are looking to create necklaces that will last.

Thank you for all that. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand”. Please share a story or example for each.

1. Be passionate about what you are doing
2. Adopt the trend and make it yours
3. Imagine yourself at the show of your customers and match your character
4. Understand and own marketing (if you cannot, hire someone who can)
5. Don’t create something that evaporates under the time. Make something that everyone cherishes.

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

Yes, I hope the current fashion industry think about things with long term mentality. Many of the high-end brand does this but many of the medium to lower side brand fail to see the big picture. They are mostly working to follow the trend.

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 want people to be happy by finding true purpose in their lives. Cherish each of the special moments with love.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Follow our page.

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

Modern Fashion: Edward Lee On The 5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand Today 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 Crystal M Gossard on the Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Every morning, wake up and step outside. Take in the morning dew and while you’re outside, think of one reason to be thankful. If it’s cold, even better! The cool fresh air can wake you up, invigorate your morning, and the natural light will help to bring you in sync with the world around you.

As a part of my series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Crystal M. Gossard.

Dr. Crystal M. Gossard is a board-certified nutrition specialist, licensed dietitian-nutritionist, researcher, educator, lecturer, spokesperson and author. She has more than 15 years of experience in the fields of nutrition, fitness, dietary supplements and integrative and functional medicine. Dr. Gossard holds Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Nutrition and has lectured extensively on various health topics. Dr. Gossard is a member of the American College of Nutrition and American Society of Nutrition. Dr. Gossard is an Education Specialist for Life Extension®, and in this role, she educates health care professionals on the latest scientific and medical advances in integrative medicine and longevity.

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?

The focus of my backstory is how I was raised and the influence my childhood had on the person I am today. I grew up in Savannah, GA and was raised by parents who were first-generation college graduates. Both parents were educators who taught me to embrace life-long learning and spread my knowledge to those around me. My mother’s undergraduate degree was in health and physical education, and she led by example. I have fond memories of me and my siblings hanging out in the back of her aerobics classes, watching her “move and grove” or spending time at the playground while she walked laps around the neighborhood park. Many of my healthy eating habits are due to my father’s influence. He was diagnosed with hypertension at a young age and less than enthusiastic about taking medicine for the rest of his life. Therefore, our home was practically free of salt, fried foods, or any other foods deemed unhealthy at the time. Our home, known as the “healthy home,” was full of herbs for cooking and tonics to keep the entire family well. I admit that I dreaded it at times and longed for visits to grandmas to indulge in all things “fried” or her famous “greasy greens.” But even at a young age, I understood the importance of eating for wellness, the benefits of physical activity, and the need to create healthy habits to last a lifetime. We were a faith focused family and daily prayer was routine. As a minister, my father taught me the importance of feeding my mind, body, and soul through prayer and meditation, and to listen to my inner voice for direction.

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 moment that stands out relates to an interaction I had with an executive at the organization where I was employed. This person’s opinion mattered to me, and I longed to be seen in a positive light. During a conversation, I shared my desire to grow with the company and where I envisioned myself in the future. At the time, I was not qualified for my desired role, but I also shared steps I planned to take to become qualified. With a reprimanding tone, I was told that I would never be in that role, and it was foolish to even consider it. As you can imagine, this left me deflated. I felt like my dreams were shattered. Hearing those words from someone I looked up to and had influence over my career path was devastating. After gathering my thoughts, I mustered up the courage to responded, as respectfully as I could, “no one knows the future and if the position is meant for me, I will have it”. Fortunately, that person left the organization, the replacement recognized my value, and eventually I was able to move into the position. The experience taught me that anything worth having, is worth fighting for. I also learned that not everyone will see my potential or embrace my goals and that’s okay. What is most important is that I understand my potential and self-worth. No one can crush my dreams or dim my light but me. It is important not to give anyone that kind of power over my life.

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

I don’t have a specific scenario, but generally, when I first started, I would overcommit/over volunteer to take on projects. I just couldn’t say no. I thought it would lead to the perception that I was a slacker and didn’t want to let anyone down. I call it the “people pleasing” mentality. In my case, it was a combination of wanting to be a pleaser as well as not trusting the abilities of collaborative partners. Over the years I have found that this mentality only leads to frustration, resentment because you feel like you are doing all the work, and burnout. A better approach is to have a prioritized list of projects, tasks, etc. Instead of saying no, identify the priority and set reasonable expectations on if/when you can deliver. In addition, being a team player involves allowing others to play their part. As cheesy as the saying “teamwork, makes the dream work” may sound, it is true.

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 number one focus is to bring a better understanding to what it means to be well. The first step is prevention. We live in a world where “sick care” is masked under the phrase “health care”. True “health care” starts with making sure the body receives high-quality fuel through adequate nutrition. It involves making sure the nutritional fuel is processed efficiently, recognizing the role of nutritional supplementation to fill in the gaps, and understanding that a one size fits all approach does not work. “Well-care” is an individualized process. The second step is supporting wellness despite disease. We should focus on being the healthiest version of ourselves, defects and all. This includes identifying drug/nutrient interactions, nutrients to increase due to having a disease, and phytonutrients that are restorative. All roads start and end with a licensed nutrition professional. Since nutrition is not a core focus in the medical school curriculum and physicians rarely have the time to give patients a mini med school course during a check-up, my educational efforts are designed to bridge the knowledge gap. My goal is to deconstruct complex topics, dispel myths, and remove confusion. Live Foreverish and LE Live, shows that I cohost, with Michael A. Smith, MD have a global impact and bring a deeper level of understanding to very complex topics. All of our education events and materials, including eBooks, webinars, and YouTube videos are free. Everyone deserves to have equitable access to simplified, science-based health information.

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.

1. Make sleep a priority. When I was a new mom, I felt my sanity slipping away and I quickly learned that I needed to sleep when my daughter slept. Sleep rejuvenates the body and mind. I remember returning to work after maternity leave and people were shocked at how refreshed I looked and continued to look even with a newborn. Now, my children are 4 and 7 years old and I continue to align my bedtime with their bedtime. When I am well rested, I am happy, mentally sharp, experience less colds, and have an overall sense of wellbeing. I know I am not alone in needing sleep, a recent survey from Life Extension found that nearly 60% of Americans reported being tired most of the time. While this is likely due to multiple factors, a lack of quality rest can drastically impact people physically and mentally.

2. Practice the pause. It is similar concept of counting to 10 to suppress a rise in anger. I believe it is a good best practice to incorporate in many situations. As an example, if you are craving something sweet, pause and reflect on why you are having that craving. Are you hungry? Are you thirsty? Maybe you are stressed or bored. Regardless of the situation, taking a pause will prevent you from making impulsive decisions.

3. Never go grocery store shopping hungry. Shopping hungry will increase the temptation to by unhealthy foods.

4. Turn off the noise and embrace silence. As an example, I often drive without listening to anything on the radio. The silence can be used as a time of reflection and can be extremely healing.

5. Every morning, wake up and step outside. Take in the morning dew and while you’re outside, think of one reason to be thankful. If it’s cold, even better! The cool fresh air can wake you up, invigorate your morning, and the natural light will help to bring you in sync with the world around you.

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

From a global perspective, there is a stark contrast between what it takes or means to be well in developing areas of the world versus developed countries. Adding to this health inequities also exist within countries. I believe a movement designed to shine a light on the prevalence of health inequities due to income, gender, ethnicity, education, or disability will be a step in the right direction.

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

1. Change is going to happen. The sooner you accept and adapt to it, the better equipped you will be at making the change work in your favor.

2. Self-care is healthcare. Remember to carve out time to do the things you love. Make a placeholder on your calendar to ensure it gets done and when you feel enjoyment, don’t feel guilty.

3. Do not expect stakeholders to inherently know your accomplishments. There are times when you must make others aware of how hard you worked and what is involved to maintain good work product. This is not bragging. It is bringing your contributions to the forefront and will help you stay ahead of the pack.

4. Start saving early. Set up your 401K as soon as possible and meet the company’s match.

5. Create a naming convention and filing system right away. This is key to efficiently managing time. With an organized system, 10 years from now, you will be able to quickly locate information.

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, especially in children. As a mother of two small children, I am keenly aware of their mental development. I have also counseled parents of small children on nutritional considerations when dealing with ADHD and anxiety disorders. I encourage parents to make sure their child receives adequate sleep and proper nutrition through fresh fruit and vegetables and omega-3 fatty acids. It is also important to limit sugary drinks, processed carbs, pastries, and candy. Adequate nutrition is the foundation to brain development and the production of brain chemicals that control mood. Research has uncovered that the nutritional status of the mother and grandmother, as well as past traumas, also have an influence on a child’s genes expression as it relates to mental health. This all translates to the importance of taking care of yourself, not just for yourself, but for generations to come.

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

· Instagram: @drcrystalgossard

· Podcast: liveforeverish.com

· YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/LifeExtensionWellness(LE Live Shows, Ask the Doctor, Webinars

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

Women In Wellness: Dr Crystal M Gossard on the Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Wisdom From The Women Leading The Cannabis Industry, With Author Jordana Wright of Cannabis for Creatives

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

While researching and writing this book I realized just how little we actually know about how cannabis affects the parts of our brain related to creative thinking. Scientific study has been hindered for decades because of prohibition. Recently there have been a few key changes in the way scientific studies can access cannabis samples for study. I’m really excited to see what new lessons we can learn once researchers have all the resources they need to make practical and actionable discoveries.

As a part of my series about strong women leaders in the cannabis industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jordana Wright of Cannabis for Creatives.

Jordana Wright is a photographer, writer, educator, and travel enthusiast with over 15 years of experience in the photography industry. She enjoys developing photography curriculum and working with aspiring photographers of all ages both in workshops and in the classroom. In addition to Cannabis for Creatives: How 32 Artists Enhance and Sustain Inspiration, Jordana is also the author of the book The Enthusiast’s Guide to Travel Photography. Her photographs and articles have appeared in a variety of publications and websites including the New York Times. Originally from New York City, she spent two nomadic decades exploring the United States before moving to the Cayo District of Belize, where she lives in the jungle with her husband and rescue pup, Holiday. For more information about her pursuits, visit JordanaWright.com or find her on Instagram and Facebook.

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

Like so many people who find their way to cannabis, I started experimenting with it back in high school. I discovered pot around the same time I really got into the arts, so cannabis and creativity have always been very interconnected for me. As an adult, I’ve always found a sense of focused inspiration after smoking and other artists I knew were having similar experiences. I decided I wanted to tell some of those creative stories and explore this whole other beneficial side of cannabis in a more formal way. Writing Cannabis for Creatives seemed like the perfect pursuit.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began writing the book? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Writing this book has forced me out of the cannabis closet in a real way! It’s impossible to tell people in your life that you’ve written a book like this without being open to talking about pot and its personal meaning. It’s been really interesting to tell people who have no idea that I smoke about the book. Some people have really surprised me by having their own cannabis stories to share.

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

I learned early on that while I’m fairly adept at my photography work and writing work after I’ve smoked, I’m not the best interviewer if I’m not totally clear minded. You would think that talking about being high benefits from being high… that’s not always the case! Someone has to steer the ship. After one somewhat rudderless interview early on I knew I needed to approach conversations with artists with a bit more clarity!

Do you have a funny story about how someone you knew reacted when they first heard you were writing this book?

I told one of my photography mentors about the book via email and waited nervously to get his response. He’s in his eighties and you never know how people will react to something that’s had so much negative press over the years. I should have known he would be cool because he’s one of the most affable people I know. He responded with a story about a time he over did it with pot, told me he wished he like getting high, then connected me with a couple of really great artists to interview.

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?

My career has been a snowballing series of small victories ushered in by a wonderful collection of friends, family, and cohorts. Success never happens in a vacuum. I’ve been really lucky with all of the support I’ve received for my photography and writing. That’s why my acknowledgements in my books are always so long! There are lots of people to thank!

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

Now that the book is arriving in stores and online retailers, my focus is getting it into the hands of creatives who need it. There are so many valuable lessons to be gained from the talented artists I interviewed. I’d love to see more creative minded people navigating cannabis successfully for their art. Getting people to read the book is the first step!

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

Gender is a significant divide in the cannabis industry, but there are other notable disparities as far as socio-economic level, ethnicity, and race too. I believe that more open social discussion and acceptance of cannabis is the first step toward reaching a more representative distribution in the industry. We need to reestablish what a cannabis enthusiast looks like in our collective consciousness. We need to normalize the idea that CEOs, physicians, teachers, attorneys, moms, and really anyone you can imagine, enjoys pot and can partake in a productive, responsible way. The more that women from all walks of life feel comfortable being open about their pot use, the more women will be able to step forward in positions of power in the industry.

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

While researching and writing this book I realized just how little we actually know about how cannabis affects the parts of our brain related to creative thinking. Scientific study has been hindered for decades because of prohibition. Recently there have been a few key changes in the way scientific studies can access cannabis samples for study. I’m really excited to see what new lessons we can learn once researchers have all the resources they need to make practical and actionable discoveries.

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

When I lived in Colorado for a year, the most direct route to my dispensary took me past a massive prison complex. Every single time I went to pick up supplies I would reflect on how messed up it was that I was purchasing legally the same thing that put some of those prisoners behind those walls. Pardons and sentence commutations have been happening across the US for non-violent cannabis offenses, but it really bothers me that cannabis is a major industry in much of the country and people are still rotting away in jail. I would really love to see more opportunities created for people with past cannabis offenses. They were the original cannapreneurs. They basically built this industry and are being excluded from it in a real way.

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

Setting aside all of the false representations about cannabis and cannabis users that inspired cannabis prohibition in the first place, I think the financial aspects of federal legalization are a total no brainer. States that have legalized have generated needed funds for education and public works. When much of the US shut down for Covid concerns, dispensaries were considered essential businesses in most communities. If you want to stimulate the economy in a real way and generate much needed tax revenue for infrastructure projects, federal legalization is the best path forward.

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

I’m fine with the idea of a significant tax on recreational cannabis from dispensaries, but medical is another story. Medicine should be available tax free. Medical cannabis should also be expanded to include a larger range of conditions. My biggest concern with the idea of heavy regulation and taxation is that big companies like Philip Morris may start to monopolize the market and smaller, independently owned businesses will get forced out. Compliance is important, but there needs to be equity in the market for smaller companies to succeed. We don’t need Big Canna like we have Big Pharma.

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

“A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.” I’ve seen that quote attributed to a few different people, including Einstein. It’s always resonated with me because I tend to prefer the comfortable, safe route by default. I’m uncomfortable with the unknown. But I’ve learned that there’s no way to achieve all of your goals if you don’t take some risks. Fortunately, cannabis helps a bit with that fear of the unknown and doubt!

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

I would love to see a more established acceptance of cannabis for creative pursuits. We know cannabis has medical efficacy for a variety of uses. It would be really exciting to have some budding artists learn from the interviews in the book and start exploring their own creative uses of cannabis without fear of judgment.

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

Wisdom From The Women Leading The Cannabis Industry, With Author Jordana Wright of Cannabis for… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech: Keiana Cave of Sublima Pharmaceuticals On The 5 Leadership Lessons She Learned From Her Experience

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

The most important piece of advice I could give to other women leaders is to try their hardest to stay grounded! Take care of yourself physically and mentally, and the rest of your team will follow that example.

As a part of my series about “Lessons From Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Keiana Cave.

Keiana Cave is a 23-year old scientist and femtech entrepreneur. She is currently working on developing and launching the first non-hormonal birth control pill in the U.S., making her the youngest person in the world to pursue FDA approval on a drug. As her pill is in clinical trials, she hopes to launch a campaign for Sublima, as well utilize her platform to spread awareness and education around women’s health and hormones. Keiana’s goal is to advocate for better women’s healthcare by finding the intersection between being both a venture-backed founder and an advocate for social change.

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

Thank you for having me! I have always been a curious person, and during my sophomore year of high school, I learned that I also love chemistry and scientific research. I started working in a lab at Tulane University, and loved the process of solving big problems with tools I had right in front of me. Eventually, I was able to publish my work and by college, I was able to run my own lab. My career is essentially just a combination of my curiosity and love for chemical research!

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

When I started Sublima, my days were filled with back-to-back calls with advisors and potential investors. One of the most interesting things I realized was that many of my investors/advisors all knew each other! The tech world is a very small place, and it makes for the most interesting connections.

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?

The funniest mistake I made when I first started Sublima was actually that I put my personal email address on Sublima’s website. I didn’t realize that many people would even be looking at the website, but within weeks of launch I was being bombarded with emails from women all over the country asking when they could start using the drug. For a while, I didn’t understand how so many people knew my email until I finally asked one of them.

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

Sublima stands out because it is not only a female-led pharmaceutical company, but it also is on a mission to develop the first non-hormonal birth control pill in the U.S.

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

I am definitely not satisfied with the status quo regarding women in STEM. Did you know that women only make up 27% of the workforce in STEM fields? It’s the biggest reason why I choose to partner with brands like Olay- they are aiming to double the number of women and triple the number of women of color in STEM by 2030. They also just announced their second commitment of $1MM towards efforts to close the STEM gap through four innovative initiatives that will provide young girls with mentorship and role models. Not only does that mean a lot to the entire STEM community, it perfectly embodies the type of action that needs to be taken to improve the status quo around women in STEM.

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

One of the biggest challenges faced by women in STEM is the lack of role models and enthusiasm around mentorship. A big reason that the number of women in STEM fields is so low is because they end up being discouraged that there aren’t many people in the field that look like them. Another reason I love partnering with Olay is that they are actively working to spread awareness about the importance of mentorship, especially for young women looking to enter STEM fields.

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

One of the biggest myths about being a woman in STEM is that we are somehow less adequately educated and worse at our jobs than our male counterparts. This leads to women having lower salaries than men doing the same job as them. I think that this couldn’t be further from the truth, because some of the girls I met in college consistently got the highest grades in all of their classes. Not to mention that some of the smartest people I know are women in STEM!

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

The most important piece of advice I could give to other women leaders is to try their hardest to stay grounded! Take care of yourself physically and mentally, and the rest of your team will follow that example.

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

As far as managing teams, I would also remind female leaders that it is okay to lean on that team. I personally like to hire people that are way smarter than me, so that I am learning things from them as opposed to only teaching them what I know. This means that, sometimes, the best thing to do is trust your team to get through the most stressful times.

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 am particularly grateful for my first mentor, Deborah Elam, because she was one of the first people in a power position that took me seriously as a girl pursuing STEM. She encouraged me every step of the way, reassured me when I felt doubtful, helped me strategize when I had new ideas, and even helped make connections to other people that could help me.

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

Both Sublima and my former company are social enterprises aimed at improving the world, but beyond that,this is exactly why I am working with brands like Olay to increase the number of women in STEM and spread awareness about the power of mentorship.

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

If I could inspire a movement, it would be one that empowers women to be fearless in the pursuit of their career goals! Olay is already doing such great work on building this type of movement, and I can’t wait to see what the world looks like as their message spreads.

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

I don’t remember exactly who said this, but my favorite life lesson quote is “You’ll never succeed if you don’t try.” It’s cliche, but it reminds me every day that I’ll never reach my goals if I don’t work at them, as hard as some of them might be to achieve.

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

I would love to have lunch with Sheryl Sandebrg. She is someone I have looked up to since I first knew I was interested in STEM. She has paved the way for more women to achieve success in STEM fields, and has raised the bar for what we can aspire to!

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

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

Women In Wellness: Alpa Makan on the Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Always indulging in ways for Personal growth and development. — There is always room for growth and learning. Learning a new skill, taking up a new hobby, a passion, or something more personal for yourself, we should always be striving to learn new things. Keep that hunger alive. Personal growth and development are unique to each individual. Hence no one strategy works for all. But it is a transformational process where you make improvements in your mental, emotional, intellectual, physical, and /or financial state.

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

Alpa Makan is a Holistic Health and Wellness Coach who empowers women to feel, live and eat better by providing them with effective tools, to improve their nutrition, mental wellbeing and have the power to make better lifestyle choices every day.

She has lived and worked in 3 different continents in the last decade exploring and absorbing the wealth of knowledge — how different cuisines and lifestyle habits affect our wellness journeys.

If you are healthy and happy, you are wealthy! is her motto and with that in mind, she founded ‘Alpa Makan Wellness World’ and has successfully helped women worldwide re-discover their energy, conquer stress, and find joy in their lives.

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?

I appreciate this opportunity to connect with you as well! Taking care of my mental and physical health has always been of importance to me. But when I became a mother, my whole perspective of self-care and feeling happy and connected with oneself completely changed. The more I looked around, the more I saw that women were performing at their level best, being highly successful in their careers, being superheroes as stay home moms caring for their families, but they were stressed and overwhelmed.

They were Unhappy from within. Many had accepted the unhappiness in their lives and were living with it.

Many were depending on some external validation, materialistic acquisitions, and/or a number on the scale, which were not the parameters of joy according to me.

This is when I decided to take my passion for wellness professionally and founded the Alpa Makan Wellness World. I wanted to help women find what works best for them, to eat, feel and live better so they can experience their richest and most happiness-filled meaningful life now.

Happiness and positivity both internally and externally is something I have been associated with for as long as I can remember. A beautiful childhood is what I say I was blessed to have. My mathematician father took up meditation when I was very little and has been a meditation coach for a long time. His beliefs in living life with simplicity, appreciating mother nature in all its glory, and finding joy in everything big and small is something I learned early on. My mom’s powerful presence in the kitchen instilled a love for good food in my life, igniting my passion for cooking and starting my love relationship with fruits and vegetables.

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

I have traveled extensively across the globe in my previous jobs, and to think of it how much it has helped me to understand the struggles of my clients from different backgrounds and be able to support them on their wellness journey.

Interestingly, this is more on a very personal level that the more I got deeper into the wellness world, the more I realized how much I was meant to do this. Especially when more of my friends and family tell me that it comes so organically to me.

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?

Imagine booking a 30 minutes free health discovery call with a new coach, and realizing that we have done a 1.5–2 hour session and planned and finished the next 6–12 months of your health journey life. Firstly, in my case, I really wouldn’t call it a mistake. Just a lesson to simply take one step at a time. When I started my practice, I was brimming with excitement and knowledge that I just couldn’t wait to share. I remember with some of my early clients when we would do our initial Health discovery call which is for about 30 minutes. So this is where we would discuss their health history, talk about their struggles and desires. Roadblocks in their wellness journey and how I can guide and support them. and this happens so we can decide if we are a good fit and they would like me to be their coach.

I am sure some clients loved it because they have come back for more and some others got overwhelmed with all the information that needed to be absorbed first and put into the application later.

My takeaway was simply that the ones who connected with me, came back and signed up and many even renewed their programs. A Coach-Client partnership has to be like a good relationship. If it fits, it works beautifully. If it doesn’t click, then it was not meant to be.

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?

I believe in self-improvement and the power of knowledge. Never stop learning is what I say. I am always learning even while I’m helping others as an expert. Simply because no one knows everything and no two people are the same and I respect that bio-individuality. Hence, I keep learning so I can keep helping. One size doesn’t fit all!

I firmly believe that my personal and professional experiences have equally contributed to me being able to provide my own holistic, unique and organic approach.

I think my unique contribution lies in helping women realize that they don’t need any external validation, or materialistic acquisition or depend on a number on the scale to find the happiness that they have always dreamed of. I empower them by providing them with easy, effective, sustainable tools to bring balance in their life and build stronger bodies and minds with a healthy lifestyle they are proud of.

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 always say that it’s unfair to credit one person. My parents and my elder sisters have forever been my idols and my pillars of strength. So many inspiring teachers, mentors, some of the coaches of my Crossfit gyms, so many of my friends spread all over the world- I cannot thank them enough. But today, it’s all because of my most

supportive and encouraging husband. To step out, and just do it and make it happen!

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?

Too many to list. But here are my top 3 –

1. If you’re missing a day, it’s ok, just don’t make it two and then forever. Don’t let that one day that you missed affect your progress. Consistency is key and just remembering messy actions is better than no action.
2. There are no quick fixes for long-term health gains. So stop expecting instant gratification. Good things take time and for any habit to be a sustainable one, give it at least 21 days’ practice for it to stick.
3. Pain is temporary and greatness is forever. (Words from Dwayne Johnson).
   We have to remember that when you’re asking for growth, you are also asking for struggles, uncomfortable situations, pain, and challenges. This is how we change and evolve as human beings. Forcing ourselves out of our comfort zone. We have to work through the pain and /or the struggle for our dream to become a reality. I’m not saying it will make it easier, but it can usually be a reminder that we are going through this for a reason. Get past that pain threshold- whether it’s physical or emotional or in terms of our mindset. And you will come out victorious.

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. Incorporating a successful and productive morning routine.

This is my non-negotiable. When the day begins, especially as women we are ready to give. Give to our family, our work, our home .. what about yourself? So begin by scheduling in that extra hour before the usual routine. It will set you up for success. No devices at that time. Meditate, stretch, work out, read, journal, plan your day. Enjoy your morning coffee in peace. You truly give yourself the time and attention you cant give in your busy day. Lesser anxiety and stress is what you will experience. With that positive start to your day, you will be happier and more productive and you will surely make better lifestyle choices.

2. Figuring out the 3 why’s for eating — what, when, and why.

We all eat! And we eat because of several unconscious reasons like ending hunger, lifestyle habit, family traditions, or simply as an act of enjoying food.

In terms of managing your good eating habits, for better mental health always ask yourself these three. Firstly, what is it that I am eating, and is it going to help me to nourish my body or result in a feeling of guilt after consuming? Next is when are we eating. It’s funny how many of us reach for the snack cupboard just grazing after putting away our meal plates without even realizing it. The same goes for late-night snacking. Consider having a glass of water or herbal tea instead of reaching for the snacks that you controlled your urge for the whole day.

Last one, and probably most important! Every time you are about to reach for food, ask yourself why am I eating this? Am I really hungry? or am I just thirsty? or simply bored. In that case, get up, drink a glass of water and go take a short walk.

3. Scheduling in time to Rest and recharge.

A simple thing that I tell my clients all the time- You don’t have to be on Switch ‘On’ mode always, personally and professionally. Yes, we all lead busy lives so if I ask you that do you have the time to rest and relax, your first reply would be a no, of course, I don’t have time.

Ok, so try keeping a log for a few days to see where you spend your time each day. Write down how much time was spent working, watching television, surfing the internet, and so on. I bet you will be able to find a few minutes to meditate or practice deep breathing. Journaling your thoughts, or a short walk in the fresh air. Any restful practice that you will indulge in regularly will bring you health benefits.

4. Always indulging in ways for Personal growth and development.

There is always room for growth and learning. Learning a new skill, taking up a new hobby, a passion, or something more personal for yourself, we should always be striving to learn new things. Keep that hunger alive. Personal growth and development are unique to each individual. Hence no one strategy works for all. But it is a transformational process where you make improvements in your mental, emotional, intellectual, physical, and /or financial state.

5. Practicing Mindfulness and living in gratitude.

Mindfulness is simply focussing on being present in the moment, at any time. When you just observe and live without judgment, neither positive nor negative, recognize emotions or situations, you will be more purposeful with your words and your actions. Indulge in mindfulness practices like meditation, deep breathing. Follow mindful eating practices by enjoying every mouthful with love and gratitude. Simply being mindful of everything in and around us leads us to be more grateful for what we have. It surely leads on a path of positivity and appreciation with what we have been blessed with instead of letting stress, sadness, and anxiety be more prevalent for what we don’t have in our life. Gratitude journaling is a great way to begin the day.

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. Daily exercise does more than keep your muscles toned and your heart healthy, it increases your appetite for fruits and vegetables which improves your overall wellbeing.
2. You will never regret doing that workout, no matter how hard it may have seemed at the time. With every exercise you are doing, you are only making yourself healthier and stronger.
3. Daily exercise stimulates various chemicals in your brain, which in turn make more energized, feel happier, and less stressed.

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

I always recommend these 3 bodyweight exercises, so there is no excuse for not having any equipment. And you can always level up with them as you progress.

1. Squats
2. Push-ups
3. Sit-ups

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

So about 13 years back when I met my husband I was not much of a reader, but at the time I was reading ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ by Elizabeth Gilbert. We both were living and working on different continents and since being married, we have moved continents so many times. But there has always been growth and we have always received more love than we had ever expected everywhere we have lived.

Relating this to her story, new place new people new struggles but always new learnings and new strangers turning into great friends. So a change is truly always for the good, even if it takes you across the globe.

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. 🙂

Can we simply start every conversation we ever make with what’s good, great, happy, positive in our lives?

The pandemic surely has made a lot of us sit up and notice what’s good we already have in our lives. So let’s give momentum to that, and not go back to our

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

‘Love is the Answer, No matter what the question.’

I believe that personally or professionally there is nothing that can’t be solved and taken care of with love.

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

Michelle Obama, hands down.

As a woman and as a mom of 2 girls myself, along with a whole generation, I have been totally inspired and have been in awe of her. The way she personifies grace, fearlessness, integrity.

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

Instagram: Alpa Makan Wellness World

Private Facebook group: Wellness with Alpa

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

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

Women In Wellness: Amanda Frolich of Action Amanda On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Look after yourself. There’s only one of me and I’ve often pushed myself to absolute exhaustion to reach my goals. I’ve always been into fitness and nutrition, but now I’m getting older this has become even more important to me — as has having some ‘me time’ every single day — to just breathe and be in the moment.

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

Amanda Frolich, aka Action Amanda, is an award-winning children’s entertainer, early years educator, health and fitness expert, best-selling author and Government advisor.

This year marks Amanda’s 30th year in business as the CEO of Amanda’s Action Club. From starting in a small community centre, Amanda has grown to working globally. Her impressive client list includes some well-known stars including; Brad and Angelina and The Beckhams… Peter Jones, Amanda Holden, The Beautiful South’s Alison Wheeler, Take That’s Mark Owen, Declan Donnelly, Sarah Beeny, Catherine Tate, Olympian Matthew Pincent… and many more…

In 2020, Amanda was invited to become a UK Children’s First Champion in Parliament, encouraging policymakers to put children first at the heart of all decision making. She previously worked as a children’s fitness consultant on the government’s Change4Life programme and was selected to run classes, events and training for Sure Start. Over the last 30 years Amanda has won multiple awards for her work, she is a number one best-selling author and iTunes number one chart topper — beating Baby Shark to the number one spot!

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

I was born in Middlesex and brought up on the council estates of Northolt with grassroots sport as the main entertainment of the local children. Coming from a working class background, we didn’t have a lot and so my “happy place” became sport and generally being active.

I grew up playing any and every sport, in particular football and me and my cousins played rounders together, come rain or shine. I excelled in Track and Field at high school, winning the prestigious 5* Athletics Award and this meant everything to me.

After leaving school, I took a Sports Management course and in 1987 joined a Sport Development role with Playsport in London, offering free activities for children in parks and community centres through Ealing Borough Council — this was the early beginnings of my business, Action Amanda.

From there, I worked leisure centres and trained as a Fitness Instructor and Sports Coach. This was where I discovered my love for teaching preschool children and in 1991 I attended a Music and Movement Course with Jane Loukes which was an inspirational course. This firmly cemented my ambition for Amanda’s Action Club. This small idea began 30 years ago and has developed into a global brand, recognisable in the world of early years provision.

I got married in 1999 and my daughter was born in 2005. I did everything I could to practise what I preach, raising her to exercise and eat healthily with me. She would sit on the kitchen top, whilst I was cooking and try a wide range of fresh ingredients! She’s added to my belief that having an active, healthy life-style can enhance children from a young age.

As the business was beginning to grow and develop, I suffered a terrible blow when I was run-over by a car in 2011, breaking both my legs. I was wheelchair-bound and needed months of physio but I was determined to be active again and with plenty of hard work and commitment I was fully recovered within 17 ½ weeks. At the same time, I continued to attend all of my own Action Club classes, as the children and I needed continuity and positive experience. It really was a miracle recovery and I put this down to how active and fit I was as a person, along with my determination to prove the doctors wrong. Even now at aged 52, with pins in both legs, I am super active and haven’t suffered any prolonged pain from the breaks.

I now run children’s parties, and I’ve written a book and chart-topping children’s songs, we’ve launched an app and I’m a children’s champion for the UK Government working with them to shape policy which puts children at the heart of the decision-making process.

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?

Oh, there are so, so many. Let me tell you this one … I was due to go on Dragon’s Den, for anyone who doesn’t know, this is a BBC programme where entrepreneurs enter ‘the den’ with a business idea or venture. They pitch the idea to a team of global multi-millionaires who, if they like the idea, offer to buy a stake in the business. I wanted to be everywhere, helping every child and parent, in every home in the country, but there was just me. So, I came up with the idea of making an app and selling prop bags — the ‘kit’ any parent, nanny or grannie would need to do my classes at home. I was so excited to be able to pitch this idea, having got through the audition stages, but the night before I was due to, I got a call from the BBC saying I’d have to withdraw as they’d found out I’d once entertained for Peter Jones (one of the Dragons) and the producers felt this was a conflict of interest. I was absolutely gutted. My dreams shattered in an instant. But I picked myself up and went on to create my app on my own — and the rest, as they say, is history.

Lesson learnt — you will always face hurdles in life and your career, but be strong, continue to believe in yourself and you will overcome them.

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?

My Franchising Failures! My aim, when I started out was to franchise the business, across the UK and the world. I didn’t know it at the time, but no matter how hard I tried, I wasn’t going to go global. I’d never crack America. I wouldn’t even make it in Margate. I tried, oh boy, did I try. But I failed. Had I taken my own advice and trusted my gut, I’d never have set foot down this long and very windy road, but I did, and it’s shaped me. First came Fiona, (name changed for obvious reasons) a franchising guru, or so I’d been told. £25,000 later I had a website and 225 pages of franchising documents. Not one of those pages held water. Next came £20,000 on my mortgage and a £20,000 business loan. The heart was ripped out of my brand. “You can’t be Amanda’s Action Club” they told me, “you’ll never sell a franchise to anyone but an Amanda.” Stupidly, I believed them. They tried to woo me in Wuhan, yes Wuhan of all places. Wined and dined me. The food on my plate left as bad a taste in my mouth as the deal on the table. Next it was Egypt and then the Philippines and whilst my experience in Asia was beyond incredible, the same can’t be said for any of my forays into franchising. Deals abandoned, bank balance in the red and finally, finally, the realisation that I was better off alone. What did I learn from all this? To trust my gut and not be ‘wooed’ by people who think they know better than me. I know my business inside and out. It’s a part of me and I have to trust that I’m the one who knows what’s best for it — and for me.

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

When I look back, I can’t believe how much of an impact my work has had. From starting in a small community centre in 2003, Action Amanda now works globally. I’ve been asked to support high profile campaigns and this global enterprise has taken me all over the world, including; Dubai — where I entertained at The Dubai Marina Mall, The Atlantis on The Palm and the Jumeirah Beach hotel. Wuhan in 2010, I was invited to contribute to a centre for education… I am also speaking at a forthcoming conference in New York this year.

Over the last thirty years Action Amanda has grown, developed, pivoted and extended and I pride myself on supporting, educating and inspiring children.

In 2018 we launched the Amanda’s Action Club App so that parents could take Action Amanda ‘on the road’ to entertain and educate their children whenever and wherever and during the pandemic, like so many others, we broadcast daily from my living to families in need of support, fun, exercise and sanity! We’ve had so much incredible feedback from families who tell me that these sessions became a lifeline during lockdown.

In 2020, I was invited to become a Children’s First Champion in Parliament, encouraging policymakers to put children first at the heart of all decision making — this is a role I am hugely passionate about.

In 2021, we released ‘Time to Shine’, a song featuring The Beautiful South’s Alison Wheeler, to give children the confidence that despite the struggles they face, this is their time to shine. When we recorded this song we felt it held such an important message, and seeing it fly straight to the top of the children’s chart proved to us it’s something special and enabled us to raise money for charity as well as inspiring and uplifting children, and parents, globally.

We recently created the ‘Action Amanda’ cartoon character and I hope that she will continue my legacy — we have exciting plans in the pipeline with Cartoon Network and further development of the App and future Music videos.

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.

1. Get Outdoors — Don’t we all feel better for some fresh air and gentle exercise and no matter where we live, we can find green space. Even if it’s stepping outside into your garden, or wandering to your local shop for a paper or magazine. Everyday activity, fresh air and green spaces help us get stronger and feel better, sending those happy hormones whizzing round our bodies and energising us for whatever the day holds. I love to get out in the morning, giving me time to reflect, plan and appreciate what my body can do for me.
2. Hold Your Own Kitchen Disco — Whether Radio 2 is your jam or asking Alexa to play your favourite ABBA or QUEEN song or DISCO playlist, you don’t have to be a diva to turn the music up! Music is fabulous for lightening your mood and giving you something to sing, smile and dance about to.
3. Laughter — Children are our teachers. They are experts in laughing, we can learn from them. While there is nothing wrong with relying on comedy, humor and jokes, laughter becomes therapeutic, healing and transformative if we can learn to laugh just for laughter’s sake. Laughter offers us many mental, emotional, spiritual and social benefits, besides allowing us to live in the present. We all grew up knowing about “laughter is the best medicine. What are we supposed to do with medicine? Take it! Benefits will be innumerable, fun, healthy, create connections, allow us to be more creative and live a richer, more happier and fullfilled life.. All these benefits are available to us for free, anytime with plenty of teachers around. Laughter is our connection to the soul and is made love visible.
4. Try out some new recipes Many of us often eat the same basic dishes week in and week out, but trying out new things can be so invigorating. Why not tantalise your tastebuds and have friends/family round for dinner — you could make a course each? Or, you could pop a number of your favourite recipe ideas in jar and then monthly/weekly pull one at random to be inspired and make. You could also create a ‘Taco Tuesday’ night or ‘Sundae Sunday’… any reason for people to get together for a feast of good food and great company — it truly is one of the best recipes for fun and laughter!
5. Find your inner child Life can be challenging in so many ways but there is something delightful about revisiting your favourite childhood experiences. Did you play on the swings, eat ice-cream on a sea-wall, play a team sport or pull everything out of the dressing up box? You’re never too old to play! Check out your old haunts, visit a restaurant or special place, maybe even plan a road trip. The possibilities are endless and you’re never too old to enjoy them!

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

Movement! That’s perfect. If I could encourage adults to respond like the children I’m with everyday, I really do think we’d be on the verge of a wellness revolution. We have to be prepared to move physically, and be prepared to move into spaces which are healthier for us mentally and emotionally. Whether, like my song, adopting positive messages which change self-destructive thought patterns and help us to believe it’s our time to shine too, to moving into healthier relationships, setting boundaries, … whatever it is, wellness starts with movement and there’s no better day to be intentional about that than today!

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

1. There isn’t always something or someone better out there. I’ve been taken for a ride so many times because I’ve trusted what people tell me. People have offered to help me take my business to the next level, promised me they’d make me a star or secure me a brilliant business deal and time after time they haven’t delivered. They’ve taken the money and run.
2. Trust your gut. I know what’s best for me and my business and when I trust my gut things rarely go wrong. It’s all about self-confidence and believing that what you think, matters.
3. It will be a roller-coaster of a ride. There have been so many ups and downs in my career, but I’ve learnt something from all of them. Running a business is never going to be plain sailing, no matter how good you are at it.
4. You’ll meet some amazing people, see amazing sights. Savor every single one. I’ve had a blast running my business. I’ve met some inspirational people and been to some fantastic places, but I haven’t always stopped to appreciate this. I’m now making sure I do that every single day.
5. Look after yourself. There’s only one of me and I’ve often pushed myself to absolute exhaustion to reach my goals. I’ve always been into fitness and nutrition, but now I’m getting older this has become even more important to me — as has having some ‘me time’ every single day — to just breathe and be in the moment.

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

Ultimately, I want to leave a legacy. I want to tackle childhood obesity and create global change so that all children can access fun and educational movement and physical development from early years and beyond so that they have strong bodies, confidence and understanding of health and self-care. The healthy boys and girls of today are the healthy men and women of the next generation.

I don’t think there’s a one-size-fits-all solution to that and I think we have to be responsible about seeing the broad picture here. We can’t choose any one of these big topics over another, we have to be prepared to play our part across them all.

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

• www.amandasactionclub.co.uk
• www.facebook.com/amandasaction
• www.twitter.com/AmandaFrolich
• www.Instagram.com/actionamanda

Thank you for these fantastic insights!

Women In Wellness: Amanda Frolich of Action Amanda 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: Amanda Freeman of SLT and Stretch*d On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Don’t be so frugal — I’ve learned from years of experience that you often get what you pay for. I’m very good at controlling costs and running a lean business. But that doesn’t always serve you so well when in growth mode. Sometimes you have to take a chance on something costly to see if it pays off.

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

Amanda Freeman is the founder and CEO of cult favorite workout brand SLT and recovery space, Stretch*d. Amanda is a graduate of Duke University and Harvard Business School. In addition to being founder of SLT and Stretch*d, Amanda is an investor in numerous wellness businesses and a wellness industry trend forecaster.

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 started my career as a trend forecaster. I conducted various types of market research and consulted with companies targeting the youth generations regarding the Macro and Micro trends affecting their consumers. I worked at The Intelligence Group for 6 years with a 2 year stint at Harvard Business School in the middle of those years. It was while working on a Macro Trend I called “The Rise of Well-consciousness” that I became aware of both my own and society’s shifting approach to their health. Prior to 2006, things like meditation, veganism and eco-conscious living were very fringe and extreme. People were more into treatment of ailments than prevention of them. But that all started to change in 2006 and so I left my job at CAA (they had purchased The Intelligence Group) to start a wellness-focused business.

In 2007, I co-founded a company called Vital Juice with a friend from business school. Vital Juice delivered the latest information in fitness, nutrition, beauty and wellness to women’s inboxes. It was while working on Vital Juice that I became very interested in an emerging fitness category: boutique fitness. It was a new and emerging idea at that time with a handful of brands and types of workouts. While I loved the idea of these studios (focusing on delivering the best version of one workout all day long), I didn’t like the results people would get from a spin class or barre class. What I wanted was the Pilates body, but in the experience of a group spin class. On a trip to LA, a friend told me to try a pilates-inspired studio in W Hollywood and I found exactly what I was looking for. I made a deal with the owner of that studio and the creator of the equipment to bring the workout to NYC and beyond, and that became SLT. SLT had grown to 26 studios largely in the Northeast prior to the pandemic and has shrunk a bit since then down to 16 studios.

Today, I still run SLT as well as another business I started nearly 4 years ago called Stretch*d. The idea for Stretch*d came from the insight that most people understand that stretching is good for you, yet they also don’t like stretching on their own. In fact, I observed at SLT that many clients don’t stay through the stretching part of class. However, people who work out with trainers love being stretched out by them. Why wasn’t there a place in NYC where you could go to be stretched out any time of the day for as long as you want? Thus, Stretch*d was born. In addition to stretching, we offer a variety of recovery services that people are desperate for in these crazy times.

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

It’s impossible to pick the single “most interesting” thing that has happened since the founding of SLT, it’s been over 10 years of craziness. Some of the more interesting (some more positive than others) experiences that I’ve had include: Surviving Covid (so far). Partnering with a private equity firm for the past 6 years. Evaluating many acquisition opportunities and making one.

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

This is another tough one given I’m 11 years out from starting the business. But I’ll never forget the first time I got a call from an instructor at 10 PM the night before the class she was supposed to teach at 6:30 AM. She was calling to tell me she had food poisoning and couldn’t teach her classes. No one else could step in to teach, so despite the fact that I’d never taught a fitness class in my life, I stepped in and taught her block of 3 classes. Stressful!

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 had a tremendous amount of help from people throughout my career: I’ve had amazing partners, colleagues, employees and supporters. And I’ve had only one boss: Jane Buckingham. Jane was the founder of the trend forecasting company I worked at early in my career. Not only has she been a great mentor to me, but she’s remained one of my closest friends who feels a lot like family. We’ve spent several Thanksgivings together over the course of the 20+ years I’ve known her.

Jane is dynamic, sharp, witty, brilliant, creative and entrepreneurial. She had written a book on teens when she was a teen and was dubbed “an expert” at 16. She was very hard working and ambitious, yet caring and kind. She was always my model for running a business. She’s often my sounding board for ideas.

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?

There are several things that hold women back from starting more companies, and I’ll focus on a few of them. First, in general, I believe women are more risk averse than men are when it comes to money. Entrepreneurship takes chutzpah, confidence (usually over confidence), risk and the willingness to fail. Women tend to have less of that then men. Women tend to be more conservative and underestimate themselves and their abilities. Second, most businesses require capital to start. Women tend to have less of their own money to invest and they have less access to networks of investors. Third, starting a business takes a tremendous amount of time and focus. Because of traditional gender roles when it comes to starting and having a family, women often prioritize their family and don’t think they can have both a family and a business.

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 encourage more women to take risks, be brave and pursue their ideas for businesses with rigor, analysis, and confidence. I also encourage them to focus more on accumulating wealth and being financially independent.

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?

Being a founder is amazing and I believe the pros tend to outweigh the cons. It is usually fun to be your own boss and to chart the future of a company. It’s also extremely rewarding to see how your company can create livelihoods for your employees and joy for your clients. I also believe that if more women started companies, we’d have more products and service companies that both create value and adhere to positive values.

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

People think being a founder of a company affords you more flexibility in your work schedule. I’ve seen the opposite of that. As the founder of a company you have to set an example for your staff and there is always work to be done and problems to solve.

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?

Not everyone is cut out to be a founder. As mentioned above, you have to be a risk taker and be confident about your idea and the business, yet understand you may fail. You also have to be passionate about your idea and approach your job with grit. Being adaptive, yet decisive is another key to founder success.

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

1. Don’t take things personally — When dealing with so many people (employees, clients and partners), it’s hard not to take things that happen personally. It’s hard not to see the success or failure of your business as a reflection of who you are. Those feelings can cloud judgement and take up valuable time.
2. Plan more for success, than for failure — When I first started SLT, I was too focused on: “But what if it doesn’t work out.” I signed a short term lease, didn’t raise a ton of money and didn’t invest enough in my brand and studio space. Had I been more confident that it would be a success I would have created something bigger and better.
3. Don’t be so frugal — I’ve learned from years of experience that you often get what you pay for. I’m very good at controlling costs and running a lean business. But that doesn’t always serve you so well when in growth mode. Sometimes you have to take a chance on something costly to see if it pays off.
4. Leading and managing are two different things — I think most people equate leading and managing in a business context. However, I’ve learned over time that there are two very different skill sets for each. I am a stronger leader than I am a manager, and had I realized that early on, I would have brought on a partner who excelled at management.
5. Hire around your weaknesses — I tend to hire people who are similar to me and who I can relate to. But the best teams are made up of a diverse area of individuals who bring various perspectives to the company. While hiring similar types of people may get your more consensus, it will also limit your point of view and you may miss things.

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

I strive to make my businesses great places to work, to make our employees’ lives fulfilled and happy. I also strive to create products and services that make people’s lives better through their health and wellbeing. I spend my non-working hours trying to make my children into good people who will contribute positively to society. And I support and get involved in causes that are important to me including Jewish Life at Duke University, mental health awareness and treatment and cancer prevention.

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.

When I was 25, my father took his life via suicide. Just 2 ½ years later, my mother died of stomach cancer which I am convinced was caused by her pain and suffering enduring my father’s passing. If I had more time and money, I’d like to focus on better understanding mental health and work towards decreasing the number of suicides in this country.

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.

As a graduate of Duke, a huge college basketball fan and a leader of my businesses, my hero is Coach Mike Krzyzewski. The man is a legend, the greatest coach of all time and an amazing leader…not to mention he is not afraid to curse to get his point across. My kind of guy!

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

Female Founders: Amanda Freeman of SLT and Stretch*d On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Women In Wellness: Jeannie Lymath of SoleCare Healing On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Do not expect someone else to make you happy — you are responsible for your own happiness — buy your own flowers, jewellery, weekends away, spa days. Nourish yourself with unconditional love!

As a part of my series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jeannie Lymath, founder of SoleCare Healing.

Jeannie Lymath is a mum-of-two from Portsmouth, UK, who runs a reflexology and healing business, SoleCare Healing.

Jeannie is a qualified ACHO registered crystal healer and AOR registered reflexologist. Her passion is helping others embark on their own crystal journey towards self-discovery and fulfillment.

She is a former forensic scientist and NHS worker, who switched careers to follow her passion 10 years ago alongside raising two children under the age of two.

She now offers traditional reflexology, crystal reflexology, crystal therapy, live meditation, several different workshops including crystal and moon magic, healing retreats and more. She also offers subscription packages to aid people in their path to mindfulness and with their meditation sessions.

She has been offering crystal healing for five years and reflexology for 10.

Her aim is to create a community, to help people look after their mental health and practice mindfulness — something she feels a lot of people need to focus on during lockdown, with added anxiety and stresses often creeping in heavily.

She hopes to make people feel stronger, sleep better, reduce anxiety and chronic pain, feel more content and gives them a stronger sense of wellbeing.

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

I started my holistic journey when I was pregnant with my 2nd child. I was in and out of hospital with false labour and extremely anxious that my pregnancy would end in premature labour and NICU like my previous pregnancy. A midwife suggested reflexology and I began visiting reflexologist weekly. I had never experienced such relaxation and I truly believe this holistic therapy calmed my whole being down so that my daughter was born 5 days late and twice the size of my first born. This sowed the seed for wanting to help others and make a difference. It began with Reflexology and has evolved into crystal healing and moon cycles.

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 my mother was seriously ill and admitted to the high dependency unit, I honestly thought she was going to die. I went home and created a crystal mandala to invoke healing, I called all my angels, guides, guardians and ancestors to help. I went to the hospital and taped healing sigils I had created on the back of photos of me, my sisters and grandchildren and I brought crystals for my mother to hold in her hand. I read healing stories about goddesses, ascended masters and anything that would help her believe in miracles and the power of healing. Three weeks later at the absolute disbelief that she had survived my mother, my Superhero was discharged and swears it was this continual healing that gave her the will to live.

You do not have to be an expert or a master within your passion, but you do need clear intent and the belief that you can make a difference. Never think you are not enough to make miracles happen!

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 think every businesswoman will have made their share of small mistakes from advertising, renting rooms and collaborations. I haven’t made a huge mistake as I like to say yes to as many opportunities as possible but if they do not work out it is part of the learning curve and my journey.

Mistakes are the best way to learn!

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?

The world we live in wants us to believe success is big houses, fancy cars and exotic holidays. My work is focused on what brings you happiness and creating a sustainable world around that, there are crystal meditations that will take you to every inch of the universe on the back of dragons. Deep relaxation is the first step to quietening your mind so that your soul can speak, understanding what YOU truly want and using crystals to empower these changes or beliefs. I hope that each person I reach can step forward confidently in their life away from societal expectations so that it inspires others to make that move to a more spiritual way of living.

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.

1. Always set a part of your day that is just for YOU — half an hour of reading, an undisturbed bath, meditation, a nature walk. This gives you quiet time to reflect or prepare for your day.

2. Train your brain to pick up on the negative words you say about yourself and your life. Learn to reword what you are saying to yourself. You are what you say.

3. Journal as much as you can — subconscious writing is a simple tool that exposes your deepest fears and desires — all of it needs to be unearthed to heal.

4. Life is not meant to be easy, there will always be challenges and heartbreak — the key is always finding the positive and reminding yourself how to be grateful.

5. Do not expect someone else to make you happy — you are responsible for your own happiness — buy your own flowers, jewellery, weekends away, spa days. Nourish yourself with unconditional love!

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

A free collective that is available for every gender, colour, age, sexuality that explores spirituality openly throughout the country and the world, from crystal healing to chanting, where there are funds available for study and self-improvement.

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

1. Time is an illusion; it does not matter if everything happens in 5 weeks or 5 years — the key is to keep going and believe in yourself.

2. Patience is required.

3. To swap saying “I don’t have enough time” with “what are my priorities today” — that mantra is a game changer.

4. Being self-employed can be lonely, so find your work tribe for support.

5. To be kinder to myself and understand there are good days and bad days.

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 has always been a huge part of my life surrounded by people who suffer daily; there is not enough support that is available quickly enough and I have lost friends who have not felt they could be any more of this world.

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

Instagram — @solecarehealing

Facebook Group — Solecare Healing Community — https://www.facebook.com/groups/solecarehealingcommunity

Website — www.solecare.org

Thank you for these fantastic insights!

Women In Wellness: Jeannie Lymath of SoleCare Healing 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.