Category: Featured

Women In Wellness: Corinna Bellizzi Of Örlö Nutrition On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Salad dressings are mostly omega-6. Even those that are labeled to have olive oil are often combined with soybean oil, which contains high levels of omega-6. Make your salad dressing at home to avoid this, or select salad dressings that are made with olive oil exclusively. Olive oil is high in oleic acid, an omega-9 that is both healthy, and which doesn’t upset your omega-6:omega-3 ratio.

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

Corinna Bellizzi, MBA is a natural products industry executive and omega-3 expert who pioneered the growth of Nordic Naturals from less than $1 million to over $100 million in annual sales. Given her concern for the future health of people and the planet, she shifted her focus from fish-sourced omegas to algae in 2016. An activist at heart, she launched her podcast, Care More Be Better, in 2021 to cover social and ecological issues that affect us all. Today she leads Örlö Nutrition, a new brand that features the world’s first carbon-negative omega-3s. She hosts a new podcast, Nutrition Without Compromise, to support that effort where she covers health topics without compromising your ethics, or the health of our home planet.

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 and raised in southern Oregon to hippie parents and spent my first few years on what most would call a commune. We were closely connected to our food, growing much of the produce, fruit and eggs that we would consume. I even recall bringing a goat into the pantry to milk it so I would have milk for my cereal. After graduating college with a degree in Anthropology, it was no small wonder that I went back to my roots in the natural foods industry. I fell in love with nutrition, and with the power of omega-3s, focusing the majority of my career learning about their nutritional power. As someone who is passionate about education and about my personal impact on people and the planet, I launched my first podcast while in graduate school in 2021. As much as I love nutrition, I also fell in love with podcasting. As they say, if you love to write, blog. If you love to talk, podcast. Care More Be Better, my personal podcast focusing on social impact, sustainability, and regeneration now ranks in the top 2.5% of all podcasts globally. I launched Nutrition Without Compromise to marry my two loves while educating the world about sustainable nutrition and omega-3. It’s icing on the cake that I get to do this professionally.

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?

Most interesting:

On a business trip, a coworker asked for help getting their bag down from the overhead compartment. They said, “It’s heavy, It’s a bomb.” This was less than a year after September 11, 2001, so the statement had everyone near me on high alert. I immediately said, “She doesn’t know what she’s implying. She just means it’s heavy.” I learned three important things in this single moment, while in a mild state of panic..

1. Socio-emotional intelligence, the ability to read a room or situation, and the effect it’s having on the people around you, is really important. My co-worker did not understand the effect her words had on those around her because she lacked perspective and emotional intelligence. She discounted the looks they exchanged and lacked self-awareness.

2. Language and word-use is really important. If you’re joking it should be clear from a situation, and if you’re not, a simile or metaphor can get you into more trouble than it’s worth.

3. It’s important to stand up and say something when you can. If I had not done so in this particular situation, we could have landed in a very uncomfortable situation, and lost a lot of time, in a homeland security interrogation.

I may trend towards seriousness and directness in my communication, but it has never gotten me into more trouble than I could handle.

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 main mistake, in hindsight, is painfully simple. I emulated the leaders I was surrounded by, and it really didn’t work out for me. The first was a charismatic woman and a fashion model in her prior career (neither of which I am). The second was a shrewd businessperson who was extremely sharp, and also lacked social grace. I had to learn to step into myself authentically and emulate those whose leadership I respected and admired, and who I could also authentically embody. You see, just because someone who leads is successful in rank, title, and compensation, doesn’t mean their way is the best path forward for you. Furthermore, you might emulate less desirable behavior if you aren’t careful. That charismatic leader might be a visionary, and they also might lack social intelligence. They might even tell their seatmates on a plane that their bag is a bomb.

I also saw this lesson play out when one of my subordinates decided to try and match my presentation style in making a pitch to the CEO of a prior employer. They thought that if they presented a well-researched pitch and made a case for the (perhaps controversial) market effort they wanted to undertake, they would get a yes. What they missed was the emotion. In working so hard to “do it like I did” they missed the heart of the pitch — the why. I think this is a universal truth in leadership. You must be authentic to be believed. If people don’t believe you, they won’t buy what you’re selling / marketing / saying.

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

I have spent the better part of my career in the omega-3 nutrition space because I believe that correcting the global omega-3 deficiency is something that can change the health of all people, and even our society, for the better. However, if every person consumed an omega-3 supplement or ate fish 2–3 times per week, there wouldn’t be enough fish in the sea. So I have been aiming to solve that problem since I first understood that reality.

I find myself reflecting on this woman I met in a Whole Foods in southern California years ago. I was waiting to meet with the department head, and give a staff training on omega-3s, when a woman approached me asking if I could help her. She was only 26 years old, and her health was deteriorating. She had gone vegan and it wasn’t physically working very well for her. Her skin was a little too sallow and she had started losing her hair. It’s really hard for some people to go vegan. They won’t get enough of the right nutrients, enough protein, and even enough omega-3. Back then, there weren’t great vegan options for omega-3 — and thankfully that has changed now. If we had been able to produce vegan omega-3s with EPA and DHA in the polar lipid form back in 2004 when I met her — it could really have helped her. It’s moments like that that keep me engaged and working to both educate people on the benefits of omega-3 but also not relenting on quality, efficacy, affordability, and sustainability.

While we’ve only been on the market a short time, I’m already hearing from Örlö customers who are seeing positive changes they didn’t see with fish oils. One such person shared that they had dry eyes and that no omega-3 had ever helped, until ours. The reason it works better is simple. Because it’s in the polar lipid form, it gets into the tissue much more quickly — and this meant that they saw results on day 3 or 4! While a fish oil supplement might have worked with time, it wouldn’t deliver results as rapidly, and when that happens, people stop taking their supplements. You can’t get a benefit from a nutrient you won’t take.

Beyond my worklife in the omega-3 space, I am committed to creating a movement that will support regenerative, circular, and sustainable movements for years to come. I’ve worked to create a podcast around my personal passions of social impact and sustainability, and I’m working on the sidelines to create communities of professionals that have a similar vision of solving global challenges. I’m connecting with other “bioneers” and may even be part of a panel of algae-related entrepreneurs that I’m working to put together for the Bioneers conference in April 2023. So, what started with Omega-3s, a passion for nutrition, and a do-gooder attitude, is already growing into something more meaningful, life supporting, and soul supporting. If we can harness the potential of algae to feed animals and humans, sequester carbon, and solve ecological problems, we can create a health-sustaining future for all.

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.

We’ve all heard about the many benefits of omega-3s, but how do they help you live a longer, healthier, and happier life? Corinna Bellizzi shares 5 ways that these essential fats will make you happier, healthier, and longer-lived so you can do more of what you love with those you love.

Consume More Omega-3 EPA and DHA to Support A Happier Life:
Getting enough omega-3s EPA and DHA is positively associated with maintaining a healthy mood and healthy body. The standard American diet (SAD) is far too high in omega-6s from seed oils, and animal fats, and far too low in omega-3s. Combine this fact with the obvious stress of our daily lives and other environmental challenges, and it’s no wonder that our mood suffers. Reducing consumption of grains and high omega-6 seed oils, like corn oil, safflower oil or soybean oil, while increasing your consumption of omega-3s helps your body return to balance. Cellular signaling improves. Energy levels improve. And your mood also improves. The ideal ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 is anywhere from 3:1 to 1:1, and evidence suggests that we evolved with a diet that is closer to 1:1. The SAD (standard American diet, mentioned earlier) is closer to 16:1 which poses obvious problems. I choose algae over fish because that’s how the fish get their EPA and DHA in the first place and doing so is more sustainable. [source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12442909/]

Consume More Omega-3 EPA and DHA For A Healthier Brain and Eyes:
Did you know that half of the fat in your brain and eyes is made of DHA? Ensuring that you get enough DHA each day helps to ensure you maintain a healthy brain and eyes. The positive impact of omega-3s in combination with lutein and zeaxanthin was well documented in the Age-Related Eye Disease Study 2 (AREDS 2). Consuming enough of these nutrients can provide long-term nutrition support for healthy vision.
[source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23644932/].

To get more omega-3 in your diet, consume fish that are low on the food chain (sardines and anchovies) or consider an algae-sourced omega-3 supplement. To get more lutein and zeaxanthin in your diet, consume more yellow, orange, and red fruits and vegetables. Let’s just say there’s a reason that carrots, high in carotenoids, are associated with healthy eyes and healthy vision.

DHA is also especially important for pregnant and nursing women to ensure they get enough DHA each and every day. Women who are trying to become pregnant, are pregnant, postpartum or nursing should get at least 300 mg of DHA each day. Taking an omega-3 in the polar lipid form ensures the absorption is as much as 3x that of your standard fish or algae oil. Örlö Nutrition’s Prenatal DHA boasts 335mg of DHA in the polar lipid form for maximum benefit. The polar lipid form ensures that the omega-3s make their way into your tissue easily, whether or not you consume the omegas on an empty stomach. This form of fat also won’t “repeat” or burp back on you, which is especially important for women during their first and last trimesters when their systems can be more sensitive.

Omega-3s EPA and DHA Help Your Body Regenerate (you know, healthy aging):

Research on EPA and DHA suggests that getting enough of these essential fatty acids can help your body regenerate. The production of resolvins and protectins from EPA and DHA can keep you healthier, longer. Resolvins help resolve inflammation for a return to homeostasis and protectins help protect your cells from DNA damage. This means they support your body’s natural regenerative process so you can regenerate healthy cells. Since these powerful omegas are used in every cell in your body, ensuring you replenish your stores each and every day is ideal.

Reduce Sensitivity to Exercise-Induced Pain

From reducing the pain response in those with rheumatoid arthritis, to generalized joint comfort, omega-3s EPA and DHA positively support general wellness. For those that want to remain active and do more of what they love with those they love, now and well into their golden years, omega-3s may even help you stay pain-free after strenuous exercise. Personally, I began taking omega-3s in my early 20s. I had learned that they could improve my athletic performance, and as a competition mountain-biker in the late 1990s, that was all that mattered to me. The science continues to prove the many positive effects of omega-3s as supportive measures for reducing recovery time from exercise, improving joint comfort, and ultimately, supporting a healthy, active lifestyle. [source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3918552/]

Omega-3s are positively associated with living longer, and healthier

You may have heard of “blue cities”, or areas where people live longer than in other places, but getting to the root cause of what makes this longer life possible is a bit more challenging. Blue cities tend to have a few things in common. They tend to be near the coast, boast slower living, lower related stress levels, healthy whole-food diets, and you guessed it, more omega-3s. A recent study out of Spain, in conjunction with the Fatty Acid Research Institute in Sioux Falls, SD tracked 2,240 participants over 11 years and analyzed the omega-3 levels in their blood. They separated the participants into 4 groups. People with a higher level of omega-3 who did not smoke, those who had higher levels and also smoked, non-smokers who had low omega-3 and low omega-3 non-smokers. What they found was simple. Those with higher levels of omega-3 and who did not smoke lived longest, with a life expectancy of about 5 years longer. Furthermore, smokers who had high levels of omega-3 had roughly equal longevity to nonsmokers with low levels of omega-3. [source: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/omega-3-levels-in-the-blood-may-boost-lifespan#Future-studies]

For those interested in having their blood levels of omega-3 checked to see how you’re doing, you can procure a basic Omega-3 Index test from OmegaQuant.com for roughly $50.00. They return results which share how your blood levels compare to western countries, and also to seafaring nations like Japan. This simple tool can help you divine whether you need to up your omega-3 consumption. If you have just started taking omega-3s it’s best to keep taking them daily for 3 months before taking the test, as there is a lag time in building up your omega-3 levels. If you’re taking an omega-3 in the polar lipid form, you may notice results more rapidly. For more information on fatty acid forms, I encourage you to read this blog that I wrote on the topic.

I think the message is clear. Making sure you consume enough omega-3s each day is critical to long-term health. If you’re not consuming fatty fish 2–3 times a week, you should really consider supplementing with a high quality omega-3. You can cut out the middle fish and go straight to the algae source, and choose a polar lipid form for better absorption. Taking this simple step will help you lead the life you want.

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

Food insecurity is a real problem, with one in seven people in the United States being food insecure right now. As a country of immense wealth, I personally find this statistic to be unacceptable, and it’s my belief that by shifting our patterns to support local and regenerative businesses, that we will move beyond the present reality and raise everyone up. I want to help create a movement towards localized, sustainable, and regenerative nutrition. If we can get more of our foods locally, while also focusing on sustainable solutions like algae-based omegas instead of fish oil, we will be doing the world more good. With Örlö Nutrition we seek to do our part. Every one month supply of algae omegas is equivalent to 110 fish not taken from our oceans, and 1.1kg of CO2 equivalent is also saved.

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

I spent almost a decade working in the omega-3 space before I understood a few key things. So, specific to working in the omega-3 space, I wish I had known that:

1. Fish get their EPA and DHA from the algae they eat. If I had known this simple fact, I would undoubtedly have pushed harder for the companies I worked with to produce vegan alternatives. I assumed that the algae only produced alpha linolenic acid, like terrestrial plants. While these are essential omega-3s, your body has to work pretty hard to turn them into EPA and DHA. There are so many supplements to choose from, and sourcing a great one can be tough. I would not suggest going to amazon first to do your research. Look for companies with a direct connection to the source, with guaranteed quality, and that are documented to be sustainable.
2. Terrestrial plant-sourced omega-3s from flax oil or walnuts aren’t the same as EPA and DHA. You have to consume roughly 16 times the ALA to get the EPA and DHA you need. Even then, you are relying on activated enzymes in your system to make the ALA into these important fats. It’s a long journey, and if you don’t already have great nutrition, the process can be stalled.
3. Partially hydrogenated fats and fully hydrogenated fats are trans fats. Trans fats are only 1 chemical constituent different from plastics. You should avoid eating them because they gum up your system. While these fats are edible, they are not food.
4. Virtually all oils in baked goods are omega-6s or hydrogenated fats. If you consume a lot of baked goods and fried foods, you are getting far too much omega-6 in your diet. You are likely also consuming trans fats.
5. Salad dressings are mostly omega-6. Even those that are labeled to have olive oil are often combined with soybean oil, which contains high levels of omega-6. Make your salad dressing at home to avoid this, or select salad dressings that are made with olive oil exclusively. Olive oil is high in oleic acid, an omega-9 that is both healthy, and which doesn’t upset your omega-6:omega-3 ratio.

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

The intersection of nutrition and sustainability is of critical importance, and it’s virtually impossible to tease these issues out from climate change. Ultimately, we need to build sustainable, regenerative, and circular systems that can support our global nutrition needs while also sequestering carbon from the atmosphere. Algae is an incredible tool to do this, and with Örlö Nutrition we are bringing this reality forward. Regenerative farming methods offer another solution, and this method includes responsible animal husbandry. Indeed, grazing animals offer both fertilization to plants and they help rebuild our soil. Regeneratively raised cattle can actually be part of the solution. We can feed them biochar to reduce their methane emissions by up to 90%, or even feed them seaweed and achieve similar results. We can use their manure as healthy fertilizer for our crops, and rebuild our soil, which will then be capable of drawing down more carbon, sustaining longer droughts, and producing more consistent crops. There is so much more I could say on this topic, but the intersection of nutrition and climate is where I live and breathe these days. I cover this intersection deeply in my new podcast, Nutrition Without Compromise. The purpose of that show is to share great nutrition information without compromising your ethics or the health of planet earth. I also host my flagship podcast, Care More Be Better, focused on topics of social impact, sustainability, and regeneration. If you’re interested in exploring these topics more deeply, I hope you’ll check them out, and subscribe on your favorite listening platform.

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

Orlo’s Algae-Based Nutrition: https://orlonutrition.com

Nutrition Without Compromise Podcast: https://orlonutrition.com/pages/podcast
Social media: @orlonutrition, @corinnabellizzi

Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/cbellizzi

Care More Be Better Podcast: https://caremorebebetter.com

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

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

Women In Wellness: Tylar Brannon of Optimal Bio On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Focus on proper nutrition. Food is a drug, and whatever you are eating is either hurting or helping you. Processed foods cause anxiety, depression and of course, physical illness.

As a part of my series about women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Tylar Brannon, CEO of Optimal Bio.

Tylar Brannon grew up in Cary, North Carolina and attended NC State University for her undergraduate degree. It was during this time that she realized she enjoyed helping businesses grow and decided to further her education at the University of South Carolina School of Law, receiving JD/MBA dual degrees to set her up to do just that. After grad school, she moved to DC for a few years and was eventually called home to help the then budding business of Optimal Bio. She worked to create processes, organize the business, and ultimately make life easier for the staff, vendors, and most importantly the patients. It didn’t take her long to realize that running this business was her passion. Since becoming CEO in 2018, she has expanded the company to five locations (Cary, NC; Wilmington, NC; Charlotte, NC; Charlottesville, VA and Charleston, SC), doubled patient count, and continues to work closely with future and existing patients to help them achieve healthier and more balanced lives.

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?

Growing up, I always thought I wanted to be a doctor, so it’s pretty full circle that now I am part of a medical company. While I’m an attorney by degree, going into law school, I knew I wanted to end up on the business side. I received my MBA while in law school and after graduation, I worked in Washington, D.C., before moving to Raleigh, NC where I joined Optimal Bio. When I first joined Optimal Bio, I thought I would be there temporarily to help them while I was applying for jobs. However, after putting new processes in place and taking over the finances, I was advised to “stay and create my own company.” Now I’m so proud we have grown to six offices, with plans to continue to expand.

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?

What day isn’t interesting when running a company? A few months ago, we had an HR issue. I immediately took action, but more importantly- stayed calm. I reached out to one of my good friends from law school for advice on how to thoroughly handle the situation with due diligence. This gave me confidence in myself as a leader and how I handle situations, and reminded me to be grateful for my friendships. I kept calm, steady and focused during a stressful time, while continuing to do my job.

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?

The biggest mistake I made when I first started was not listening to myself. Since I was young and had never led a company, I did not yet have the confidence to trust myself and defend my thoughts and decisions. A key lesson I learned was to trust my gut in letting people go sooner and hiring people sooner. Building a team you can create something with, not be restricted by, is critical.

“Learn from others who have walked the path before you, but be smart enough to know when to cut your own trail.” — Narciso Rodriquez

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?

Health and wellness are foundational to a happy, successful and enjoyable life. As Arthur Schopenhauer said, “We do not become conscious of the three greatest blessings in life, such as health, youth and freedom, as long as we possess them, but only after we have lost them.” At Optimal Bio, we practice preventative healthcare. We give you the tools and resources to prevent sickness and disease, and for your body to function the way it was created to. We specialize in Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT). As we age, our hormones decrease, and because of environmental factors, our hormones are now decreasing at a much quicker rate. Testosterone and estrogen are hormones with over 500 functions in our bodies, and almost every cell in our body has a hormone receptor (brain, skin, heart, nerve, bone, vascular). If our hormones are out of balance, our bodies can’t function properly, resulting in symptoms such as fatigue, brain fog, anxiety, depression, menopause in women and more.

Females are more than twice as likely as males to suffer from anxiety and depression. Why? Testosterone yields protective benefits against both. Males with decreased levels of testosterone have a significantly higher prevalence of anxiety and depression. Many studies show that testosterone-replacement therapy greatly improves mood, alleviates anxiety and mitigates symptoms of depression. Additionally, BHRT may protect against heart attacks, disease, dementia, and osteoporosis, and help heal PTSD and TBI.

It’s important to take note of your blood work. Many ask, what is the normal range? The normal range is the average of the population, and each year it decreases. Do you want to be in the average range of a sick population?

By using BioIdentical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT), you can mitigate negative side effects that synthetic hormones may cause. BHRT uses all-natural hormones that are identical to the hormones made by your body to ease the degenerative side effects of medical issues, environmental factors and aging. The goal is to re-establish the hormone levels that your system was designed to maintain. Your BHRT dose is based on your bloodwork, height and weight, so it’s the dose that your body needs to get into the goal range — which is very personalized to you. This goal range is the average level of testosterone just fifty years ago.

The work we are doing at Optimal Bio is literally changing lives. As a population, we are getting sicker each year — both physically and mentally. At Optimal Bio, we offer a solution by treating the person’s root cause of issues. Giving bodies these tools to function properly and treat the root cause of illnesses leads to less disease and sickness, and a more productive and happy society with less healthcare costs.

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. Focus on proper nutrition. Food is a drug, and whatever you are eating is either hurting or helping you. Processed foods cause anxiety, depression and of course, physical illness.

2. Workout in the morning. Schedule your workout on your calendar like any other meeting. Exercise provides energy, clarity and happiness to start the day.

3. Work hard to improve yourself. Don’t become complacent. Read books, listen to podcasts, and have hard conversations to become a better version of yourself.

4. Go outside. Take a walk, go for a hike or sit on the beach. The negative ions in nature are very calming.

5. Spend time in stillness being alone.

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

This movement would be patient advocacy and education. There is so much information about health and wellness out there that is incorrect and making our population sicker. We grow up going to the doctor and listening to what they say, but we need to learn to be advocates for our health. We know our bodies and how we feel best. Our team provides resources for advocacy in health and wellness to put patients in charge of their health. A few years ago, I had my own health issues, and it took me being at rock bottom to learn how to become my own advocate and find the answers. I went to many doctors until I found the right one for me. I want to help people avoid feeling hopeless or crazy, because I have discovered there is in fact a solution to feeling better.

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

1. Forge your own path. I think leaders currently have a unique opportunity to define our roles as such, and how our companies run as a whole. Companies and job descriptions can become stagnant if leaders always play it safe when running their businesses. I want to be the leader that my company and team needs, and not one that someone may think a CEO should be or has been in the past.

2. Create boundaries. I am a person who has a tendency to take on other people’s problems and emotions, but this leads to feeling burnt out and not at my full potential. Overtime I have learned the power in saying no and creating boundaries.

3. Trust yourself and take risks. Your gut tells you a lot, so listen to it. If you don’t take risks, you won’t achieve your full potential. At Optimal Bio, we are creating something different in the healthcare space. By wanting to be different, I have to take risks to be better and grow. Each new office location, marketing company, and daily decision, as well as creating a culture and team, all comes from trusting myself and taking risks.

4. Turn off your email notifications on your phone. In August of 2020, I went on a trip out West to Wyoming, South Dakota and Montana, so I decided to set up an out of office email and turn off my email notifications. Within two minutes of turning off my email notifications, my stress level dropped. Upon returning home from vacation, I realized I didn’t need my phone to keep notifying me of my emails, when I already check my emails within a timely manner. My email notifications are still off more than a year later.

5. Have a mentor and keep learning. I’m in a group of talented business owners and leaders which helps me learn, grow and stay challenged, as well as create relationships to support one another. Optimal Bio and myself as a leader would not be where we are today if I didn’t have mentors or if I didn’t continually try to learn, take risks and be better. Learning through experience and other’s experiences cannot be compared to a textbook.

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

Of these causes, mental health and environmental changes are the dearest to me because this is what we focus on every day at Optimal Bio. We see the impacts of the plastics in our water, and xenoestrogens and chemicals in our food sources, which lead to mental and physical health problems. We want to be a resource and solution for people to be aware of what’s going on, why they feel a certain way and how to live optimally.

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

Optimal Bio website: Optimalbio.com, Instagram (@optimalbio) and Linkedin (Tylar Brannon + Optimal Bio)

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

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Women In Wellness: Tylar Brannon of Optimal Bio 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.

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Set family screentime boundaries. Try finding a time of day or evening when you agree everyone will stop using screens or phones. This could be dinnertime, or breakfast, or in the evening before bed. Have everyone put their screens away physically and make time to talk. Even though it’s hard, it’s so important to model these boundaries for kids — and it also helps us to have time away.

As a part of my series about “How extremely busy executives make time to be great parents” I had the pleasure to interview Rebecca Rolland.

Rolland is an oral and written language specialist in the Neurology Department of Children’s Hospital Boston and a lecturer at Harvard University. As a nationally certified speech-language pathologist, she has worked clinically with populations ranging from early childhood through high school and provided teacher professional development. As faculty and Module Director at Harvard Medical School, she lectures on topics of communication, mental focus, and creativity. She frequently consults with organizations working to design powerful learning experiences for kids and adults, including the World Bank. She has an Ed.D. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, an M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology from the MGH Institute of Health Professions, an M.A. in English from Boston University, and a B.A. in English from Yale. She lives in Boston, Massachusetts with her husband and two children. RebeccaRolland.com

Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us your “childhood backstory”?

Sure! I grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, and loved reading and writing from a young age, especially poetry. I was definitely a bit of a bookworm. When I was about 16, I went to a summer camp on world religions, which was pretty unusual, in that the counselors took us on “field trips” to visit adherents of many different religions in their place of worship, and invited us to talk to them. During that summer, I visited a mosque, a synagogue, a church, a Buddhist temple, and a Hare Krishna temple, among several others. Throughout, I was impressed by the openness and grace I found in these conversations, and how much they opened my somewhat sheltered mind. I can still remember eating the cookies the members of the synagogue had made and listening to them talk about the love they put into every effort.

Later, as my professional career led me to education, I merged my interests in language and human interactions by studying speech-language pathology. This career allowed me to work with people in a humanistic way while emphasizing a topic I’ve always been passionate about. At the same time, I’ve held onto that interest in exploring and celebrating the differences between people, and in helping children to do so. This led me to my work writing my recent book, “The Art of Talking With Children.” Whenever I realize I don’t understand something about another person’s beliefs or actions, I see it as an opportunity to talk with them and learn more. This is the kind of attitude I hope to instill in kids.

Can you share the story about what brought you to this specific point in your career?

Yes! As a new mother, after the birth of my first child, I wanted to read all I could about what to do in every scenario. There were books about how to stop your child from having tantrums; books about what you’d need to buy for the first year; even books about how to prepare your young child for school. But there was almost nothing about the kinds of conversations you could have, and how you could inspire your child to think bigger and expand their hearts and minds, from the youngest ages. If anything, most of the books were about how to “stop” your child from doing something (for example, talking back). I thought this was really disappointing — and I wished that there was a book about conversations with kids.

At the time, I was a doctoral student at Harvard and was researching the importance of interactions between adults and kids. I knew there was so much exciting work being done on how conversations can build children’s skills and even rewire their brains. I thought, “Shouldn’t we bring these ideas to more parents, educators, and anyone who interacts with kids?”

That’s when I came up with the idea of a “double promise.” That is, these kinds of purposeful conversations let you have more fun in the moment with kids. They also build children’s kindness, confidence, and creativity over the long term. It’s been a fascinating journey, involving interviews with dozens of parents, caregivers, teachers, and psychologists. I’m so glad to share it with readers.

Can you tell us a bit more about what your day to day schedule looks like?

I wear a lot of different hats, depending on the time of year and season. Personally, I’m the mom of two school-aged kids, who keep both my husband and me busy! Professionally, at times, I am teaching graduate students at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, either in person or remote, due to COVID. I’ve also been teaching at the Harvard Medical School, mostly remote, and helping students edit and revise their written work. I’ve worked as a speech pathologist at hospitals and schools, most recently to diagnose learning disabilities, and frequently consult with outside organizations on learning and curriculum development. Finally, I make time for my own writing, both professionally and on the more creative side — since I also write fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. As part of those creative pursuits, I consult with clients on their own writing projects through Grub Street, an adult creative writing organization.

It definitely feels like a gift to be involved in so many roles, all united by the goals of nurturing communication, authenticity, and creativity. By taking part in these activities, I try to show my kids that we can pursue our passions, and that those passions can change over time. But that all creates challenges for sure in time management! Interestingly, I’ve taught workshops for Harvard Medical School on harnessing your focus and time to support your creativity. This is a big and growing interest of mine.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the core of our discussion. This is probably intuitive to many, but it would be beneficial to spell it out. Based on your experience or research, can you flesh out why not spending time with your children can be detrimental to their development?

Yes, it’s interesting that you ask that, because there has been more and more research being done not just on the quantity of time parents and caregivers spend with kids, but also the quality of that time and attention. When you don’t spend this time with children, they notice it and pull away. They don’t develop as strong an attachment to you as they would otherwise. This affects so much else in their lives: everything from their relationships with others to their mental health, and even their physical health and mood. Think about that time as building a strong foundation for them to go out into the world.

On the flip side, can you give a few reasons or examples about why it is so important to make time to spend with your children?

What you want to focus on is building a strong and positive bond. Children should feel seen and heard, and you as the parent should feel seen and heard too. One important study from Harvard’s Center from the Developing Child found that the single most important key to raising resilient children is having “at least one stable and committed relationship with a supportive parent, caregiver, or other adult.” That’s a powerful statement. It suggests that you have the chance to have an enormous positive impact on your child’s life now, and in years to come.

According to this study cited in the Washington Post, the quality of time spent with children is more important than the quantity of time. Can you give a 3–5 stories or examples from your own life about what you do to spend quality time with your children?

Sure. I find it helpful to keep in mind that quality time doesn’t always look the same for all kids, or in all seasons of a child’s life. Going with the flow is critical. Think about meeting a child where they’re at, and ideally, doing something you can both enjoy. For me, it’s looked recently like:

• Sitting with my kids, chatting, doing crafts.
• Writing a story collaboratively with my daughter. (She comes up with ideas, I write them the next day, and then she reads them and gives her feedback!)
• Playing card and board games with both kids.
• Going swimming as a family. (I especially love open-water swimming in local lakes and hope to help my kids become strong swimmers as well.)
• Playing the New York Times “Spelling Bee” game together. (It’s surprisingly addictive!)

We all live in a world with many deadlines and incessant demands for our time and attention. That inevitably makes us feel rushed and we may feel that we can’t spare the time to be “fully present” with our children. Can you share with our readers 5 strategies about how we can create more space in our lives in order to give our children more quality attention? Please include examples or stories for each, if you can.

Yes, definitely! This is such an important topic. There are so many demands put on us as parents and caregivers, in ways that make it nearly impossible not to feel overwhelmed. Parents and caregivers everywhere need better support — and it’s a discussion I hope we start having a lot more. In the meantime, I’ve found these tips helpful:

• Set family screentime boundaries. Try finding a time of day or evening when you agree everyone will stop using screens or phones. This could be dinnertime, or breakfast, or in the evening before bed. Have everyone put their screens away physically and make time to talk. Even though it’s hard, it’s so important to model these boundaries for kids — and it also helps us to have time away.
• Try “bookmarking” conversations. If your child wants to talk but you don’t have time or aren’t in the mood, try something like, “I want to talk about that, but I can’t right now. What about at bedtime?” You’re “bookmarking” the talk, telling your child that you will have the talk, but later. That lets them know you still care. It also models your taking care of yourself.
• Do chores and other duties together. Sometimes, I hear parents who feel they need to be playing with their kids when the kids are awake, and then do chores and other household duties after they’re sleeping. But we’ve forgotten how much of society used to work. That is, children follow along, help, or simply hang out while their parents are doing chores. You get time to talk, and you get the chores done.
• Make “work time” and “play time.” If you do have emails to catch up on, or work to do, try setting a time limit for yourself. Tell your child that you have work for that much time, and help them find a way to play alone. Then set the computer or work aside and be fully present. That can help if you find yourself always checking your emails or otherwise “on.”
• Give yourself compassion. Sometimes, there are just busy seasons: busy weeks, days, or months. You won’t always have the time you want to have with your kids, and that’s okay. Still, try to have at least one check-in time with each child, every day. Sit with them quietly and see what’s on their minds.

How do you define a “good parent”? Can you give an example or story?

I think the very fact that we’re thinking about how to be “good parents” means that we’re most likely good parents! To me, a good parent is simply someone who takes the time to be self-reflective about their parenting, including their strengths and challenges and their areas of growth. It’s also key to be humble in recognizing that all of us have made — and continue to make — mistakes!

Learning how to apologize well is so important in helping us shore up our relationships with our kids. It’s also so important to model to them how we handle things when they don’t go right. They learn from our experiences and talk. So many kids, especially young ones, think they’re the ones who get things “wrong,” and their parents get things “right.”

I remember a time recently when my 10-year-old daughter asked me if the answer to a math problem she’d been working on was right. I said yes without thinking about it. But then, after I’d had a moment, I realized the answer was wrong — and I saw how we’d probably both made the same error. It was interesting to talk to her about it, since she was surprised at my error and told me, “But I thought you know how to do math.” This gave me the chance to talk more about how no one knows everything, and even when we think we know something, rushing can make it hard to show what we know.

This goes to a point I make to parents a lot: Talking about our errors in a relaxed way is a really powerful way to teach kids to relax about their own mistakes. It also takes off some of the pressure we might feel to know all the answers or get everything right.

How do you inspire your child to “dream big”? Can you give an example or story?

I try, as best as I can, to let both my kids know when I find their ideas really interesting or intriguing. This can be as simple as sitting with a child and listening to their ideas about the world, really trying to follow their train of thought, and go along with their playful thinking. Consider how to expand their ideas. For instance, my 5-year-old wanted to talk about how many balloons it would take for him to float up to the sky. We guessed around at the number, and then I asked him what he’d want to see once he was up there. This isn’t a recipe or a script I was following. It’s much more like an attitude: just being curious about what a child is curious about, and going on that journey with them.

I also try to help their questions grow bigger, not smaller, and start with the belief that they can understand things. For example, one day my younger child was asking me about negative numbers. He wanted to know what happens when you go under zero. It would be really easy to say, “Well, those numbers don’t exist” or even “You’re too young to understand that.” But I got out a piece of paper and drew a number line, and we talked about how numbers can be both more and less than zero. He still doesn’t completely understand it, and that’s part of the process. It’s important to remember that kids grow in their understanding over time. But planting the seed, and letting the idea inspire them, is so important.

It’s also a great challenge to us as adults to make big ideas understandable to anyone. If a rocket scientist can explain her work to a child, why can’t we explain negative numbers, or gravity, or any other concept that might appear too “hard”? It’s all in the ways we do it, and in the questions we ask.

How do you, a person who masterfully straddles the worlds of career and family, define “success”?

Thanks — although I’m still a work in progress! I firmly believe that success is as unique as each individual. It’s all about defining your values and finding ways, even if they’re only small ways, to live by them. This doesn’t mean having a high-powered job or a perfect family. It does mean having the courage to see how, within your life circumstances, you can live out what you believe. It also means having self-compassion. At times, it’s not possible to make dramatic changes in our lives or perfectly live out values. But we can work, within our own means, to do so — which is not only important for us, but a powerful lesson for kids.

What are your favorite books, podcasts, or resources that inspire you to be a better parent? Can you explain why you like them?

I love the classic “How to Listen so Kids Will Talk and Talk so Kids Will Listen.” It lays out, in simple and readable terms, how to set a foundation of communication and respect. I’m also a big fan of Mona Delahooke’s work on brain-body parenting, as it provides great insight into why kids are behaving as they are. When we start with this understanding, it’s often much easier to approach situations with love and compassion, rather than only frustration. Lenore Skenazy’s Let Grow Project is a great resource if you’re interested in helping to build a child’s confidence and resilience — while expanding your sense, as a parent, of what’s possible.

In terms of podcasts, there are so many great ones. I particularly like “Parent Footprint with Dr. Dan,” since it encourages us as parents to reflect on how our histories affect our parenting. Also, I’d recommend Elaine Miller-Karas’s show “Resiliency Within,” since it does a fantastic job exploring how to build resilience with experts from around the world.

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

I love this quote by Pema Chödrön: “The most difficult times for many of us are the ones we give ourselves.” This quote highlights for me the fact that we all face challenges — but so often, we pile onto those challenges by worrying or pitying ourselves. When I start worrying or feeling anxious, I do my best to separate the worry from the challenge, and not make more of the difficulty than is already there. It’s certainly far from easy, but I have found it a truly helpful reminder when I’m stressed! This is also a critical lesson to pass down to kids.

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

First, I’d like to get behind the new movement in early childhood education to educate young children about climate change — but not by lecturing them. Instead, the idea is to experiment and explore alongside young children — for example, gardening with kids and collaborating with them to respond to what the garden needs, or using FaceTime to explore creeks together across the planet. There’s a great article by Veronica Pacini-Ketchabaw in The Conversation about it. I think this is such a fabulous idea, because it helps us as adults realize the power of rethinking our relationship with the environment, while teaching a whole generation of young people to work with rather against the natural world.

Secondly, on a more personal level, I’d like to inspire a movement to help each and every person recognize that their life story is an interesting one, if they take the time to reflect on it. I’d love to inspire people to write their own life stories and histories and pass them down to future generations, with the idea that each of our viewpoints and experiences offer a unique vision of the world.

To start, simply ask yourself: “What about my life story is unlike anyone I know?” Take some time to brainstorm and free write. You’ll likely be surprised by what comes up!

Thank you so much for these insights! This was so inspiring!

Wonderful, thank you for the interview. I enjoyed it!

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Harvard University’s Rebecca Rolland: How Extremely Busy Leaders Make Time To Be Great Parents was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Founders: Dr. Audrey Wystrach of Petfolk On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

You have to become an expert in your industry. Do the homework to become the most trusted, skilled person at what you are doing. Understand you are not always going to be right, and be willing to pivot and respond to things you have no control over.

As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Audrey Wystrach, co-founder and CEO of Petfolk.

Dr. Audrey Wystrach began her veterinary journey as a young girl growing up on her family’s ranch in Arizona, surrounded by animals. From rural house call visits to creating multi-location practice groups, her 25+ years of experience has been invaluable in guiding her journey to reshape veterinary care for pets, pet parents and vets, alike.

As a veterinarian, businesswoman, and entrepreneur, Dr. Wystrach has developed new ways for pet parents and veterinarians to be seen and heard. Creating digital platforms, changing operational design, crafting beautiful physical spaces, and focusing on an unparalleled gold standard of care have become central themes to reshaping pet care.

Whether you are a pet parent, a Petfolk team member, or an industry partner, her priority is to empower you to your fullest potential through sharing knowledge and building strengths.

Dr. Wystrach shares her Charlotte home with her husband, Tommy, and Jack Russell Terrier, Dude, and she is the proud mother of three exceptional young adults.

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

I was born and raised on a cattle ranch in Southern Arizona, where I was surrounded by animals. I am also one of six children, and I gained a strong maternal instinct from a young age. I have been drawn to taking care of animals and people my whole life, and I knew I wanted to be a veterinarian when I was six years old.

Our family veterinarian was fundamental to how I got started in the industry, and watching him care for our animals and the people who owned them helped me realize my vision for my company and the importance of leading with dedication and compassion. He was fiercely committed to his duties of being a vet and he taught me the core values of servant leadership within the community, which is a big part of what drove Petfolk to become what it is today.

I was also inspired by my mom to be an empowered female founder and leader. She was a powerhouse with lots of determination and passion, and one in a handful of women to run a ranch. Her passion and determination inspired me to become a veterinarian. My parents raised my siblings and me to be fiercely independent, deeply committed to activities and goals, and to never look at obstacles as barriers but instead as challenges. These are principles that have shaped me into who I am today and contribute to how I lead Petfolk.

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

One of my greatest life adventures was moving to New York City to raise capital to fund a veterinary startup. With New York City being the technology super-center, at the time, I thought I knew that’s where I wanted to build my business. I had never been to Manhattan before and had no idea how to conquer the city, or even how to ride the subway. I had never put together an investor deck or asked someone to invest in me and my idea. I just had to put on my big girl boots and deal with it.

Making the leap to being a founder is the biggest roller coaster ride of your life; I embraced challenges I had never faced before and had to figure out complicated things, such as talking to people when no one wants to talk to you. I found out it was easier to talk to people when taking my brother and co-founder’s Bernese Mountain dog, Blu, on walks around the city. The entire time I was in New York City, I only pitched to two female founders. Going into pitch meetings, I felt like the smallest person in the room. Even if you are confident in what you are pitching, someone can shred all your ideas and make you feel a lot less confident in what you are doing.

Under all of the pressures, my business idea shifted. The city tried to defeat me, but it also built me. The pressures ultimately made me stronger, grittier, committed, and more passionate than before. I pivoted and booked flights to Nashville and Charlotte, where I pitched my ideas there, and ended up starting Petfolk in Charlotte.

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

After a full day of meetings in New York City, I arrived at my hotel to check in. The front desk said they did not have a reservation and I realized I made the reservation for the wrong day. I was told the United Nations was in the city, so there were no rooms available at any nearby hotels. We had an office in the city, and our only option was to stay there for the night, even though it was not allowed. I bought a sleeping bag and pillow at Target and slept in the office that night. It ended up working out great, as there was a sink and bathroom. Even though I panicked at first, I realized this was something I could handle and ultimately figured it out.

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?

There have been so many strong and inspirational people in my life, and I can honestly say that I have the most supportive parents, husband, family and friends on the planet. My brother Mike and I have always shared a unique bond. We both look at the way we create solutions similarly when solving some of the public’s most significant problems. Much like me, Mike is deeply committed to animals and saw the opportunity for us to create an incredible company together that makes a difference in the lives of pets and the people they love.

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?

Women face significant challenges in their careers, especially when starting a business. By looking at the sheer numbers of funding available to women founders, women are the minority and 98 percent less likely to build a successful business from the get-go. We’re held to a higher standard and we’re judged harshly, which means we have to work harder to convince people to give us money. Even if your core being tells you that you are just as good as any man out there, you still have to contend with the noise of being a female founder.

Traditionally, women were expected to be homemakers. My mom’s career options in the 1960s were very limited. Going to college meant landing a career as a schoolteacher, flight attendant, or a nurse. There was no tolerance and women would not even think about joining a male profession, such as veterinary medicine.

In the veterinary industry, medicine is maternal in truth. Inherently, we are made to believe that the male is predominant. People assume that maternal instinct is a bad thing, that it is distracting and leads to less devotion to your company. However, I believe that maternal instinct is a superpower; it showcases women as being highly connected, highly intuitive, empathetic, patient, and multitaskers.

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?

Fundraising is a large obstacle for women business owners. To be successful with fundraising, women typically have to have stronger business plans than their male counterparts to get attention. I recently read in Crunchbase that women-led startups received less than 2.3 percent of venture capital funding in 2020.The investment arena can be predominantly male-focused and tougher for women to break into. Many investors like to stay with the same types of companies they have supported in the past, which are oftentimes tech companies led by men. Only about 12 percent of VC decision makers are women, and when those women venture capitalists invest, they are twice as likely to invest in female-founded companies. If you keep hitting a brick wall with male investors, seek out women investors to pitch to.

Female-founded businesses are solid because women have to put more time and effort into convincing people of their business ideas or to invest in them. If you can shut out the noise around you, you will only have to deal with your own noise and can be positive to ensure success by telling yourself that you can do anything.

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?

Social contributions are the leading edge of innovation for female founders. Women founders are typically focused on making social contributions and building great relationships with employees as the core foundation for their businesses. Women business leaders typically hire two- to three-times more women on their staff. Women are the largest sector of individuals leaving our workforce today and may not even be accounted for in our numbers reported for unemployment. With that in mind, it is important to encourage more women to become founders.

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

I do not look at the myths but rather the truths that come with being a founder. The first truth is that being a founder is simply put, hard work. The second truth is that you have a responsibility to ensure your company’s daily operations are running smoothly, including customer service, marketing, finance, sales, and more. The third truth is that most startups fail because they bite off more than they can chew. They are doing something that is not scalable or repeatable, or they are trying to do too much at once. The fourth truth is that you will have to make a lot of sacrifices and deal with a lot of hardships as a startup founder. You will have less time for family and friends, and you will need to make tough decisions when it comes to activities and vacations. The fifth and final truth is that you need to know your industry inside and out before starting your business.

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?

Being a founder is not for everyone. There is a small percentage of people who have the capabilities to make sacrifices and be so fiercely committed to what they are doing that they are willing to act on it. You will hire people and pay them more than what you are making yourself. You will wonder why you are doing what you are doing more often than not. You will have moments of joy and many times of doubt, but there’s no greater feeling than knowing the impact that’s being felt with every right decision being made.

Founders need to have devotion and commitment. Not only am I committed to making pet parenting easier, I truly believe in the bond and community of care, which is why I find success in leaving a mark on the veterinary world and creating better outcomes for people and their pets. My experience and values have driven me to build Petfolk as an incredible brand.

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. No one will ever believe, understand or be a bigger champion of your ideas than you. Having a fierce commitment to the things I wanted to bring to life is one thing that has helped Petfolk to thrive.
2. An idea is just that — an idea. Founders who just jump in, get going and are willing to learn along the way will be more successful in the long run.
3. There are a ton of opportunities to ensure success. You have to be willing to research and put in the time to find what works best for your business.
4. Being a founder is lonely. When everything is going wrong, you have a responsibility in making sure everything gets back on track. You have to make decisions early on that are completely out of your wheelhouse, so seek external resources if needed.
5. You have to become an expert in your industry. Do the homework to become the most trusted, skilled person at what you are doing. Understand you are not always going to be right, and be willing to pivot and respond to things you have no control over.

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

Success is bigger than Petfolk; success is making a mark on the veterinarian world. The veterinary industry provides a great opportunity for people to truly be innovators, and that is a goal of mine with Petfolk. I am using my experience and knowledge to make pet parenting easier and more joyful. By reducing friction and complexities, Petfolk is promoting better health and longer lives for pets.

I also enjoy partnering with community charities in markets where we have pet care centers. Petfolk typically partners with a local adoption center or animal shelter to offer free exams and other incentives for new pet parents and their newly-adopted pets. By making access to pet care simpler for pet parents through these charitable partnerships, we are also helping to get pets out of the shelters and into a loving home.

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

I am devoted to making a difference in the world through the incredible experience Petfolk offers pets, pet parents and pet care teams. I am committed to putting my whole heart and life into creating happier workplaces for veterinarians and better outcomes for pet parents and their pets.

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.

Sara Blakely, CEO of Spanx, is an entrepreneur I look up to. She is incredibly successful as a mother of four. She owns 100 percent of her company and she sacrificed every dollar she had to make things work. While she created a company that delivered a solution to looking better in shapewear, she also created more jobs for people while she gave them more confidence to feel better in the clothes they are wearing. Ultimately, she is much bigger than the stage she created and continues to showcase her incredible talent.

Two people I would also love to have a private breakfast or lunch with are Simon Sinek and Warren Buffet.

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

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Female Founders: Dr Audrey Wystrach of Petfolk On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Women In Wellness: Elizabeth Miller of Happy Healthy Caregiver On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Treat Yourself — Whether you choose to go solo or invite your loved one to accompany you, scheduling time for something a little luxurious can spark some joy. Enjoy a pedicure or a massage. Make reservations to try a new restaurant with friends.

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

Elizabeth Miller is the founder of Happy Healthy Caregiver, a top 10 caregiving blog and podcast. She became a full-time entrepreneur in the spring of 2021 to focus on her passion — helping family caregivers infuse self-care and caregiving into their lives. She believes you can be an amazing family caregiver and have a happy and healthy life.

Elizabeth is a Certified Caregiving Consultant who helps family caregivers through her speaking, consulting, writing, and online community, She has presented at 2016 -2019 National Caregiving Conferences. Her story has also been featured in Woman’s Day and the Marietta Daily Journal. She is the host of the Happy Healthy Caregiver podcast on the Whole Care Network, author of Just for You: A Daily Self-Care Journal and facilitates a support group for family caregivers called the NW Atlanta Daughterhood Circle (featured in Washington Post).

For years, Elizabeth’s juggled her corporate career while raising two active children and caring for family members with chronic and terminal illnesses. She also has an adult brother with a developmental disability. She searched for a community of people that could provide resources and support. When she didn’t find one, she created one. Happy Healthy Caregiver was founded in 2015.

Elizabeth obtained a B.A. in Journalism from Penn State University.

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

I’m a small-town girl at heart. I spent my childhood in Western Pennsylvania primarily playing at the public park and with my neighborhood buddies. My town had one blinking traffic light, and my little sister and I would be out and about all day long until my mom rang the dinner bell.

In a family of six kids, I am the middle daughter. There are three boys and three girls. Family has always been important to me. My dad used to tell us, ‘no one will love you like your family.’ One of my three older brothers was born with a developmental disability. Family caregiving has always been a part of my life.

When I was 13, my dad accepted a job in Atlanta, Georgia. Like I would later feel during my caregiving season, I felt like a fish out of water. I wore the wrong clothes and struggled to find my group of friends. It took me a few years to feel like I belonged. Growing up in a Penn State family, I returned to the north to fulfill that dream. I obtained my B.A. in Broadcast Journalism. After college, before landing my first job, I backpacked for nine weeks in Europe with two girlfriends. A fantastic experience that ignited my obsession with travel and trying new things.

I married my high school prom date, Jason, and we’ve been married 26 years. We dated on and off throughout college and then steadily after graduation. Our most challenging years have been the years we were in the ‘sandwich generation’ — raising our two adolescent children while working full-time and caring for our aging parents.

Today, I am a caregiver advocate, speaker, author, podcast host, and Certified Caregiving Consultant. Having firsthand experience caring for aging parents with chronic/terminal illnesses and for a sibling with developmental disabilities, I understood how much was involved in caregiving and how vital — but lacking — are places for caregivers to turn to for support and information. In response, in 2015, I was inspired to create Happy Healthy Caregiver. The website, podcast, and community offer, via intel and shared discussion, how best to manage family and work responsibilities while juggling caring for a family member in need.

Now that my son and daughter are out of the house, I am an empty nester enjoying time with my husband and our two dogs — Shadow and Sunny. I have continued to expand my Happy Healthy Caregiver business in ways I hope will reach more people with my caregiving solutions and guidance. For example, my partnership with Depend®, which focuses on important products and needs information all the while sharing resources and ways to cope.

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

I knew Happy Healthy Caregiver could be a viable business, but I struggled with figuring out the monetization strategy. I threw a lot of spaghetti at the wall to see what would stick! I naively thought I could create a website and write an impactful eBook called The Savvy Sandwicher’s Survival Guide, and the pieces would fall into place so I could quit my day job. Entrepreneurship is challenging and not for everyone. I’d be lying if I didn’t think several times a month of throwing in the towel and just concentrating on my day job. I knew I’d have regrets if I quit, so I kept showing up and doing one little thing in my business daily to move it forward.

Surprisingly, the way I started to become successful was not how I ever intended. Through my Happy Healthy Caregiver community and content channels, I became an ‘accidental influencer’ for family caregivers. I have the Depend brand to thank for this realization. A few years back, they reached out to me to do a campaign for National Caregivers Day in February. I wrote a sponsored post for them, including a Caregiver Toolkit giveaway.

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 biggest mistake in both business and caregiving are the same. I craved control and thought I could obtain it. What ended up bringing about the most peace in caregiving and my Happy Healthy Caregiver business was letting go and going with the flow. Often when I did, things tended to work out better or be less frustrating.

I also realized that I had control over my health and happiness. I get to choose where I focus my energy and passion, and instead of worrying about what may happen, I take action to mitigate the worry. Much of what I do in life and business is trial and error. I enjoy trying new things. I evaluate what works and has benefits and keep those. Likewise, I discard or learn to ignore what doesn’t work. We are all a work in progress, so this is something I’m continually improving upon.

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?

As the owner & founder of Happy Healthy Caregiver resource site and podcast for the caregiver community, I want to share essential tips for caregivers as they take on the responsibility of caring for someone else.

Finding caregiver resources, support, and advice is crucial for anyone in a caregiving position. You’re constantly prioritizing those around you, and it’s easy to get so caught up in everything that needs to be tended to that you inadvertently neglect yourself.

By sharing these tips this showcases that although this is a task you might not have anticipated, taking on this role doesn’t mean you have to be alone.

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.

As we take care of those we love, the natural inclination is to want to do it all and maintain their quality of life. The problem is you may have heaped these new responsibilities onto a plate that is already overwhelmed with other parental, work, and life obligations. Plus, your own personal needs and dreams need attention.

Support and Respite is Key — and Essential

Even in the best circumstances, being a caregiver is stressful and isolating. Taking time to connect with family and friends regularly by phone or in person may not seem necessary, but it maintains normality and creates the outside interaction needed. We all need social self-care.

Even if you have a strong network of people you can lean on, it’s not always easy to share what you’re feeling or for them to truly understand what you’re going through as you navigate your caregiving role. For this reason, support groups for caregivers are so beneficial.

The key is to seek and test out a support group before you really need it. You want this structure to be in place, so you have a group to turn to when life feels overwhelming or takes you down an unfamiliar road. Caregiving is always evolving and having a supportive non-judgmental group in arms reach provides emotional relief.

There are also virtual support groups, like the Happy Healthy Caregiver Virtual Café. Depend® also has an online support group on Facebook, The Incontinence Community that gives current caregivers the support that they need. This group is also a safe, positive community for people living with incontinence to access advice and resources and to share personal experiences. If group conversation is not your thing, one-on-one caregiver coaching is also an option. You can find more information about this on Happy Healthy Caregiver.

Prioritize Physical Activity

Caregiving can be fulfilling and it’s also emotionally and physically exhausting. Signs of caregiver burnout include sleeping problems, feeling overwhelmed, anxiety, sadness, irritability, and fluctuations in weight. One of the best ways to help manage stress while boosting your mental outlook and supporting your own physical health is regular exercise.

You won’t find the time for physical activity; you’ll have to create it. Scheduling time for activity is an important way to care for your body and mind. Respect this time for you just as you would a health appointment for your care partner. Research from the Anxiety and Depression Association of America shows that just five minutes of aerobic exercise can reduce anxiety.1

Selecting The Right Products

There are many products to make caregiving life easier; resources can be found on websites for older adults, shopping sites like Amazon which have a specific section for caregivers, or Carewell which is an online shop specifically created for family caregivers. To address the need for incontinence care, one of the most difficult aspects of caregiving, I suggest to my clients the products and information they can find on the Depend website.

Treat Yourself

Whether you choose to go solo or invite your loved one to accompany you, scheduling time for something a little luxurious can spark some joy. Enjoy a pedicure or a massage. Make reservations to try a new restaurant with friends.

With your care team in place (friends, family, and professional caregivers) you have the capacity to take regular breaks so you can recharge.

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

If I could wave a magic wand and change something in our society that I believe would be impactful, it would be to intentionally introduce support and resources to family caregivers by meeting them where they are. When I accompanied my mom to her medical appointments or was note-taking during my parents’ many hospital stays, it had to be evident to health professionals that I was the primary family caregiver. I was physically showing up, asking questions, and advocating for their care. What I received was criticism about ways I could improve their care. Health professionals gave me information about implementing wound care and better managing their diabetes. I never heard that I was fulfilling the role of family caregiver, affirmed that I was doing a good job, or given resources to help me better navigate this caregiving season. Let’s change this. Instead, I would respect health professionals who check in regularly with the family caregiver. These conversations would be impactful opportunities to see how the family caregiver’s health and wellness have changed and offer them practical resources.

Our employers can also take an active role in supporting family caregivers. According to a report by AARP and National Alliance for Caregiving. Caregiving in the United States 2020, 61% of family caregivers work. Since the start of the COVID pandemic, I have seen positive changes. More employers are creating caregiving affinity or employee resource groups and inviting experts like me to come in and share helpful strategies and resources. Additional benefits for family caregivers are needed, such as paid leave, referral services, education, and subsidies for care-related services.

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

Self-care isn’t just physical self-care.

So much of my early content on Happy Healthy Caregiver focuses on physical forms of self-care, especially healthy eating, and exercise. Now my content is more well-rounded regarding teaching caregivers ways to infuse self-care into their daily lives. There are seven other self-care categories I recognize, including emotional, professional, spiritual, social, financial, intellectual, and practical.

Entrepreneurship is demanding and rewarding.

I believe these two things can be true at the same time. Entrepreneurship takes extreme discipline. I have accepted that my to-do list will never be complete. Whenever I’m struggling, I return to my ‘nice things’ email folder and read the sweet messages I received from caregivers about how something I had shared or introduced them positively impacted their lives. This feedback propels and motivates me to keep going.

Caregiving will change your life in positive ways.

The sandwich generation caregiving years have been my most brutal consecutive years, yet I wouldn’t erase them. Caregiving brought my family closer together. I gained transferrable life skills such as compassion, resilience, patience, and stress management.

People can’t read your mind. Ask for the specific help you need.

This applies to caregiving and business. I’m learning to name my emotions and have ‘courageous conversations’ with people about what I specifically need. I coach caregivers to make a list of the ways others can help them.

Pitch your ideas to the people who can pay to implement them.

When I first started monetizing my business, my products targeted individual family caregivers. I found out quickly that this wasn’t a scalable model and that charging family caregivers to pay out of their pockets was uncomfortable for me. Pitching ideas to organizations and companies with large budgets and means to help family caregivers is now where I focus my attention. Not only does this bring in income, but the resources and support scale broader and positively impact families.

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

Mental health is essential to me. My family has a history of clinical depression and anxiety. I manage my general anxiety with medication, mindfulness, self-compassion, exercise, and time in nature.

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

You can subscribe to my podcast Happy Healthy Caregiver and on social media I am @happyhealthycaregiver.

This was very meaningful, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!

References:

AARP and National Alliance for Caregiving. Caregiving in the United States 2020. Washington, DC: AARP. May 2020 https://doi.org/10.26419/ppi.00103.001

https://adaa.org/living-with-anxiety/managing-anxiety/exercise-stress-and-anxiety

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Women In Wellness: Elizabeth Miller of Happy Healthy Caregiver On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Don’t believe everything you feel (e.g. challenge your anxious thoughts and overthinking in the same way you approach dating someone new — you don’t trust them immediately because you want to see if they’re for real. It’s the same with your emotions — feel them and see them but challenge each thought before letting it in).

As a part of my series about “How To Develop Mindfulness And Serenity During Stressful Or Uncertain Times”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Case Kenny.

Case Kenny is an entrepreneur, mindfulness expert, host and founder of the top 25 Apple podcast New Mindset, Who Dis. Beloved by some of today’s biggest celebrities including Hailey Bieber, Sophia Bush and Lucy Hale and featured on Good Morning America, you might recognize him from his viral coffee cup and post-it quotes on Instagram, which have been shared by millions and featured by Complex, Women’s Health, Cosmopolitan and many more.

Created in 2018, Kenny’s podcast New Mindset, Who Dis features his short, no-B.S.take on all things mindfulness in a relatable way, empowering people to be happier and live more fulfilling lives by changing their mindsets in all areas of life spanning from self worth and empowerment to dating and relationships, career advice and more. The podcast has received over 5,000 5-star reviews and accolades such as Spotify Editor’s Choice, iHeart Radio Top 10 Health, Deezer and Stitcher Radio Editor’s Choice and others, and has held a position as a top 25 podcast on both the Apple Podcasts and Spotify charts for the past 3 years.

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

My career path is a story of pulling on a thread of what interests me and what I’m passionately drawn to. For 10+ years, I worked in advertising and technology sales, but at the same time I was working on passion projects — writing, mindfulness, music production, and podcasting. When I turned 30, I found a way for all those creative outlets to merge together in the form of my podcast, “New Mindset, Who Dis.” On the podcast, I decided to share my thoughts on life, happiness and fulfillment. It started in a super organic way where I was simply seeking creative fulfillment and my own personal growth. Long story short, the podcast got really big quickly, and it led to me creating my own line of mindfulness journals, a candle line, collaborating with musicians/DJs and quitting my day job in 2021. Now I have the privilege of sharing my love of mindfulness with millions of people each month and make a living from it.

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

So many stories! From being on Good Morning America sharing my story to collaborating with artists like Martin Garrix to getting messages from people saying my podcast/writing has changed their life. It’s been crazy how supportive people are of me — I bump into people all the time (sometimes as they’re literally listening to my podcast when they say hi to me) and it’s amazing to hear how my perspective has helped them. It means the world to me!

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

Empathy. Leaders need to understand what motivates each individual person the best they can and recognize that it’s different at each level, stage of life and role within a company.

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

Anything by Thich Nhat Hanh. I love his message of being present amidst the frustration/suffering of life. His work has been an important catalyst for my understanding and practice of mindfulness as a means to transform discomfort instead of running from it.

Ok, thank you for all that. Now let’s move to the main focus of our interview. From your experience or research, how would you define and describe the state of being mindful?

Mindfulness is self awareness. Self awareness is honesty with yourself. Honesty with yourself is the daily practice of asking yourself “WHY” (and answering it).

This might be intuitive to you, but it will be instructive to spell this out. Can you share with our readers a few of the physical, mental, and emotional benefits of becoming mindful? Mindfulness (asking and answering “WHY?”) gives you TWO very important and life-changing things: Closure and Clarity. That’s closure from your past (not hanging onto experiences, memories or conditioning that doesn’t serve you) and clarity in the present (“is it a yes or a no?”).

Ok. Here is the main question of our discussion. The past 5 years have been filled with upheaval and political uncertainty. Many people have become anxious from the dramatic jolts of the news cycle. From your experience or research, what are five steps that each of us can take to develop mindfulness during such uncertain times? Can you please share a story or example for each.

1. Instead of wondering “what’s the worst that could happen?,” flip it and ask yourself “what’s the best that could happen?” Turn Murphy’s Law on its head and think of the most extreme, positive outcome possible (e.g. instead of “this is going to be an awkward first date” say “this is going to be the last first date of my life because it’s going to be amazing.”)

2. Realize that starting over is less about what you’re leaving behind, and more about what you’re bringing with you. (e.g. you’re NEVER starting from scratch — you’re ALWAYS bringing lessons and standards with you).

3. Approach the mundane as if you’re doing it for the first time. (e.g. ask yourself: what would you want to do/experience for the first time again?)

4. Remind yourself of what you have rather than what you don’t have. (e.g. instead of fixating on all the things you haven’t figured out yet and the ways you feel lost, remind yourself of what you do know for certain — even if it’s only a couple of things)

5. Don’t believe everything you feel (e.g. challenge your anxious thoughts and overthinking in the same way you approach dating someone new — you don’t trust them immediately because you want to see if they’re for real. It’s the same with your emotions — feel them and see them but challenge each thought before letting it in).

From your experience or research, what are five steps that each of us can take to effectively offer support to those around us who are feeling anxious? Can you explain?

1. Listen with empathy — don’t just listen to respond.

2. Remind them of what they bring to the table.

3. Ask questions — encourage them to ask themselves WHY and answer it as many times as they can.

4. Be present and available — this is the value of therapy! Having someone who can just listen and be there for them can be incredibly transformative)

5. Provide resources — read a good book, had a breakthrough therapy session? Share it!

What are the best resources you would suggest for someone to learn how to be more mindful and serene in their everyday life?

A few resources include my New Mindset Journals; simple no pressure journaling designed to help give you clarity and “catch feelings for yourself.” Additionally, I’d also recommend my Unbothered candles; scent and meditation candles, my podcast New Mindset, Who Dis Podcast; simple, no BS mindfulness in a digestible, relatable way and Zen Disco; which mixes together dance music and mindfulness.

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

“You deserve to feel the same love you so eagerly give to others.” This is my own quote and I think it’s powerful because it reminds us all of what we deserve. We deserve what we do ourselves. We deserve reciprocity. If we’re willing to act, we deserve someone who gives us that in return.

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’m doing it! Through the podcast, my writing, and my music, I’m encouraging people to practice radical self honesty. It’s an amazing feeling to watch the community and support grow.

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

Follow me on Instagram @case.kenny.

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

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Case Kenny On How To Develop Mindfulness During Stressful Or Uncertain Times was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Modern Fashion: Luke Lee of PalaLeather On The 5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand Today

An Interview With Candice Georgiadice

A Dedicated Team: Building a fashion brand takes a lot of hard work and dedication. Assemble a team of like-minded individuals who share your vision and are passionate about your label. This will help you maintain a high level of quality control and keep things running smoothly behind the scenes. PalaLeather has a dedicated team of professionals who are passionate about the products they create. We recruited the most skilled hand-sewing technicians and built a factory that is comparable to the Italian leather capital industries.

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 Luke Lee.

Luke Lee is the CEO of PalaLeather (https://www.palaleather.com/). He is a fashion designer who specializes in leather and leather clothing. He has skilled experience in advanced clothing customization, product sales, and brand marketing.

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”?

My childhood was fairly typical, but it laid the foundation for who I am today. I was born in Shenzhen, China, and raised in Shanghai, China. I’m grateful to have been raised in a loving home with supportive parents. My parents worked hard to provide for us and instilled strong values in me at a young age. I was a pretty quiet and shy kid growing up.

As a child, I was always interested in art and creativity. I remember my parents always enrolled me in art class during summer breaks and I always had so much fun. I never thought that one day, I will be a fashion designer. Even as a child, I loved to draw and paint, and spent many hours lost in my little world of make-believe. I had a lot of energy and could be quite mischievous at times!

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

As I shared, I’ve always been creative since childhood and I love working with my hands, so fashion design seemed like the perfect career for me. I decided to pursue my studies at the University of Southampton.

During these times, I was also working part-time as a freelance fashion designer. I worked on mini projects like sewing an outfit for someone’s music video at school. But the majority was spent on fashion illustration. I would take commissions from clients and create paintings or sketches of clothing designs that they wanted. It was through this work that I met some amazing people in the fashion industry who have become long-time friends and mentors.

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

Sure! My most interesting story since I began my career in fashion design happened when I was working as an intern at a small clothing company. One of my tasks was to help with the customizations of the clothing.

One day, our company’s head designer asked me to help her with a particularly difficult customization request. The client wanted a dress that would be impossible to wear without proper undergarments, so we had to get creative. We ended up designing a dress that could be worn with or without undergarments, and the client was thrilled! It was a great experience and I learned a lot about clothing customization.

Now, advanced clothing customization is something that I’m skilled and passionate about, and I was able to learn a lot from my mentors at that company.

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?

This is a nice question!

My willingness to learn, unlearn, and re-learn was most instrumental to my success. You have to be willing to accept that you don’t know everything and that there is always room for improvement.

Learning: I was constantly asking questions, observing others, and practicing my craft. Whenever a new trend came along, I made sure to learn everything I could about it. I read articles, watched tutorials, and experimented with different looks. As a result, I was always ahead of the curve and able to create looks that were both stylish and unique.

Unlearning: It’s part of what keeps me fresh and relevant in this ever-changing industry. But more importantly, I’ve had to unlearn some bad habits that were holding me back. For example, I’ve had to unlearn the need for approval from others. Early on in my career, I would constantly seek out the approval of my superiors, but I’ve since realized that the only approval that matters is my own.

Re-learning: It is also important to be able to re-learn something that was once learned before. As new information comes to light, previous understandings may need to be updated.

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

PalaLeather has more than 20 years of leather manufacturing experience and a large state-of-the-art facility. We have over 100 experienced craftspeople working on every specific production stage. From leather to accessories, our products are thoughtfully designed and meticulously tested.

We provide our users with a channel for their design and help them complete the entire design from the perspective of professional designers. We also combined the inspiration of fashion and trends to design garments making every product present unique characteristics and change from immutability to independence and individuality.

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

It’s a bit nerdy, I know but one of my favorite quotes is attributed to Socrates: “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”

I first encountered the Socratic method of questioning when I was in high school. I remember being very frustrated with my geometry teacher because she would often answer our questions with another question. At first, I thought she was just trying to be difficult, but eventually, I realized that she was trying to get us to think for ourselves and figure things out on our own.

This quote has been relevant to me in many different aspects of my life, but especially in my interior designing career. I often have clients who come to me with a very specific idea of what they want, but after asking them a few questions and getting them to think about things from a different perspective, they usually end up changing their minds and coming up with something even better than they originally imagined.

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?

Yes! Sustainable fashion, specifically eco-leather material, is one of the latest trends in fashion. It is made of natural fibers that are eco-friendly and biodegradable. The material is also lightweight and durable. This innovation can be used in a variety of different ways, such as in clothing, shoes, and accessories. Eco-leather is also being used in home furnishings, such as furniture and upholstery. This will help to reduce the environmental impact of the fashion industry and make it more sustainable.

New technologies and design are also changing the way that leather is manufactured, making it more durable and long-lasting. Artificial intelligence now allows for the customization of patterns and textures on fashion goods. This means that each piece can be unique, without the need for extra resources or waste.

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

Yes, PalaLeather is helping to bring goodness to the world. We strongly believe that fashion should be fun and accessible to everyone, which is why we work hard to provide high-quality yet affordable fashion leather products.

We also strive to be as sustainable and eco-friendly as possible, using only responsibly sourced materials. PalaLeather only uses vegetable-tanned craftsmanship in its designs. The company partners with local artisans in developing countries to create beautiful products that are sold at a fair price.

By shopping with PalaLeather, you can feel good knowing that your purchase is helping to make a positive impact on the world.

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

We’re proud of our leather jackets and how they’re made. We use a few different standards when it comes to sourcing our materials. PalaLeather jackets are handmade so we can ensure that they meet our high standards for quality and craftsmanship. We strictly use vegetable-tanned craftsmanship in our designs.

We also make sure that all of our workers are paid a fair wage and have good working conditions. We visit our factories regularly to make sure that everything is up to our standards.

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?

At PalaLeather, we believe that sustainability is important in the fashion industry. We strive to create long-lasting products that are made to order, so there is no wasted material or product. PalaLeather only uses vegetable-tanned craftsmanship in its designs. This type of tanning produces a beautiful, durable, and environmentally friendly product.

Additionally, we also use high-quality materials that will age well and only get better with time. So, instead of buying a new jacket every few months, you can invest in a PalaLeather jacket that will last you for years to come.

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.

A Dedicated Team: Building a fashion brand takes a lot of hard work and dedication. Assemble a team of like-minded individuals who share your vision and are passionate about your label. This will help you maintain a high level of quality control and keep things running smoothly behind the scenes. PalaLeather has a dedicated team of professionals who are passionate about the products they create. We recruited the most skilled hand-sewing technicians and built a factory that is comparable to the Italian leather capital industries.

A Commitment to Research & Development: Research & development is critical for any fashion brand that wants to be successful. By understanding the latest trends and customer preferences, brands can create products that are in high demand. Additionally, research can help brands to identify new materials and manufacturing techniques that can improve the quality of their products. Without a strong focus on research, fashion brands will quickly fall behind their competitors.

A Unique Selling Point: To succeed in the competitive world of fashion, it is important to have a unique selling point. This could be anything from a unique style to an ethical or sustainable production process. Having a USP will help to make your brand stand out from the crowd.

A Good Customer Service: Another important element of leading a successful fashion brand is providing good customer service. This includes responding quickly to customer queries and complaints, offering refunds or exchanges where appropriate, and generally making sure that customers are happy with their purchases. Good customer service will help to build loyalty and repeat business.

A Quality Product: Of course, none of the other elements of success matter if you don’t have a product that lives up to the hype. To lead a successful fashion brand, it is essential to ensure that your products are well-made and meet the needs of your target market. This includes everything from choosing the right materials to crafting garments that are flattering and stylish. Fashion brands like Saint Laurent and Tom Ford have built their businesses on the backs of high-quality products. These companies put a great deal of time and effort into ensuring that their garments and accessories meet the highest standards possible.

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

The fashion industry is often criticized for its negative impact on the environment and its reliance on cheap labor. However, there are many ways that the industry can improve itself.

One way is to focus on sustainable fashion, which is clothing that is made from environmentally-friendly materials and does not contribute to pollution. Sustainable fashion is becoming increasingly popular as consumers become more aware of the environmental impact of their clothing choices.

Another way the fashion industry can improve itself is by paying fair wages to workers in developing countries. This would help to reduce poverty and improve working conditions in the countries where most clothes are manufactured.

Finally, the industry can work to reduce its overall environmental impact by using less water and energy in manufacturing and shipping processes. These are just a few of the ways that the fashion industry can improve itself.

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. 🙂

If I could start a movement that would bring the most good to most people, it would be a movement to promote kindness and compassion.

In our world today, there is so much hatred and division. We are constantly at odds with each other, and it seems like we are rarely able to find common ground. However, I believe that if we could all learn to be a little kinder and more compassionate, the world would be a much better place.

Kindness and compassion are the two qualities that I think can truly change the world. If we could learn to treat each other with these qualities, I believe that we could finally start to heal the divisions that exist between us. It might not be easy, but I think it is worth the effort. After all, what do we have to lose by trying to be kinder and more compassionate?

How can our readers further follow your work online?

You can connect with me on LinkedIn or follow Pala Leather on Instagram.

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

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Modern Fashion: Luke Lee of PalaLeather On The 5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Female Disruptors: Tammy Wittren of NFM Lending On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

… It isn’t supposed to be easy. It is meant to be hard. As mentioned, great success comes from great struggle. Learning what does and doesn’t work. And sometimes, the majority of that is struggle over self.

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

Tammy Wittren is a licensed loan originator serving Portland, Oregon, and the surrounding areas. With over 30 years of real estate and lending experience, Tammy has a detailed understanding of the industry from all angles. From becoming a licensed realtor and assisting the nation’s top real estate agents to a branch manager at award-winning NFM Lending, Tammy has separated herself from the competition by building a team of professionals and community who share her same commitment to serve others.

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 have been in the residential mortgage and real estate industry since I graduated college in 1988. In the beginning, I was selling real estate alongside the #1 agent in the US. A few years in, I had decided to relocate to Oregon and was in the process of applying for a home loan when the mortgage lender helping me had mentioned that I had the most real estate experience he had ever seen. Humbled, he has asked if I was interested in the home loan lending process and working for his branch.

Quickly, I joined his team, was the branch manager for six months and the rest is history. I have been doing home loans ever since. My background in real estate has allowed me to see the industry from all angles and truly understand the needs and struggles of realtors.

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

In the residential mortgage industry, we just came off the lowest rates that we have historically seen. More people were able to buy a home than before. Mortgage companies were staffed up. Everyone was busy with leads. Now, as interest rates rise, we know that all of this will flip with a slower season ahead. Our team is prepared for this transition, and we know the market will flip again. It’s a cyclical process. It’s crucial for my team to continue to support and serve our clients and realtors during this time when it’s harder to create more product and guidelines are tightening.

When rates were low, we were able to fill requirements more for the underserved and diversify the inclusion in the homeownership marketplace. What makes are team unique is that we work one on one with clients to help them find the right loan for their home, that makes the most sense for their unique situation and finances. Sometimes that means getting creative with the ways we are able to qualify people for homes as prices and rates continue to escalate.

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

I’ve definitely shared this story before but the first thing that always comes to mind is one particular afternoon that a client was meeting me at my house during a huge snowstorm. Everything in Portland was shut down. At this time, the government was giving $8k credit to qualifying homebuyers and I had a client who needed to get their paperwork signed. They drove out to my house, in the storm, for me to review and sign the docs. Halfway down my 150-foot driveway, the client’s car got stuck in the snow. So what did I do… I threw on my snowsuit and started shoveling my way out to them.

When I got to their car, the husband was scraping the windshield and the wife got out in a dress, no coat and large wedge sandals. Without hesitation, realizing there was no way of getting their car down the remainder of my driveway, I tell the lady to jump on my back and I’ll carry her to the house since I had my snow boots on. The moment she did, the lady flattened me like a snowboard. Then, we were both rolling around in the freezing cold snow. I ended up giving her my boots and sprinting back to the house. All of their paperwork was signed and they earned their $8k in homebuying credit. It’s a day I’ll never forget and will always make me laugh.

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

I believe that it is huge to have someone who believes in you and sees your own potential, before you can even see it in yourself. Intentionally surrounding myself with people who encourage me to believe bigger, has been a life changing experience. Mike Russell was the first person who hired me and he would always tell me how he just knew that I would be successful in this industry. He saw something in me that I couldn’t necessarily see in myself at that time, and it allowed me to dream about the possibilities and want more for myself in this life.

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

When I hear the word change or disruption, it means that I’ll be problem solving at some point. Either I’ve made a mistake, there is a new home loan regulation, the list could go on… but I believe that we don’t grow unless we are faced with how to navigate those situations. From ashes, you will find great growth. And sometimes, the best growth, comes from a great struggle.

A system that has tested any disruptions is taking the time to know my numbers/metrics and what works for my team without the shortcuts. I think it’s like a phone conversation. Yes there is emailing, texting, the easier and quicker ways to send a message, but sometimes the best solution is picking up the phone and have a good ole conversation.

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

1. Do the work. Take the time to know your metrics because numbers don’t lie.
2. It isn’t supposed to be easy. It is meant to be hard. As mentioned, great success comes from great struggle. Learning what does and doesn’t work. And sometimes, the majority of that is struggle over self.
3. Have a clear vision. Ask yourself, what is my end result? And then believe that is possible.

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

Question all of our systems. All of our customer service. Ask our customers how we could be better and be present during the hard conversations. Be curious if what we are doing is competitive. We don’t rely on status quo.

We also aim to continue to be in the “Great Eight” at NFM Lending. But most importantly — to continue to serve our community, our realtors, our clients and our business partners, without financial regard for ourselves. We truly believe that by simply serving others, good things will come for us. I don’t think that is standard practice for most, but it’s the moto we’ve built our business around.

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

One of the biggest challenges I’ve seen that women are faced with is being labeled overly emotional. If you are assertive, then you are being “bitchy.” If you are emotional, then you are labeled as weak. Then this leads to not being taken seriously in the workplace.

I hope every female realizes that all of these labels that you may experience at some point in your life doesn’t mean that you are weak or uncertain or less capable of doing your job. Tears can be okay. Being empathetic because a client is going through a tough situation, builds relatability. Learn to lean into your personality traits, communicate clearly and use it to get people to work together for a better outcome.

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

One of my favorite books is “The Carpenter” by Jon Gordon. His books are so simple, and I love it. This one in particular is all about serving. If your heart is in the right place and you are serving, you will have more business than you know what to do with. Life is a big circle.

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

For people to be conscious of how powerful the words to themself are. What you say, becomes your truth. I’m poor. It’s too hard. I don’t win. Before you know it, you will wake up and that will become your truth.

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

I say this to everyone but “do the work.” Want to be fit? Take time and go for a run every day. Have great friends? Intentionally seek time to spend with them. For anyone you see around you that has abundance in any area of their life, they have done the work to get where they are. The work is hard. You just have to do it.

How can our readers follow you online?

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

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

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tammy-wittren-53483b11/

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

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

Female Founders: Catherine Leach of Leach Legal On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Start as you mean to go on. Set up your business like it is a big business and run it like that. My goal was to create a nice place to work, a place where I could regularly see my children, where everyone got along. I hired people because I knew them, or I liked them, and I didn’t always have the best person for the job. I didn’t have proper processes and procedures. I had no budgets and cashflows and every year I had no idea how much tax I had to pay and made no provision for it. If I started a new business I would set it up in a very structured way and I would be much more conscious of the big picture.

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

Catherine is the founder and Managing Director of Leach Legal, one of the largest female-owned Family Law firms in Australia. She works with divorcing business owners so they can retain their businesses. She is a Regional Director of the global Entrepreneur’s Organization and mentors and coaches business owners to provide clarity to enable them to be authentic leaders.

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?

Law was an “accidental” choice, as I did not really believe I was smart enough to go to law school. Through a series of unexpected events, I found an alternative way to become a lawyer that involved working full time and studying part time and less than a month after I decided to do law I had moved to another city, was working in a law firm and had commenced my studies. My business was also somewhat “accidental”. I was in partnership with another lawyer and that went sour, so I took the leap and struck out on my own. Again, a month after I decided to do this I was in new offices, with a team of four and running a business on my own.

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

I hired a lawyer from overseas through a recruiter and I had not met her before she started. On her first day I took her to Court with me. As we went through security I was waiting to get my bags when I saw her bag go through the scanning machine. There was a handgun in her bag, and I started to panic that I had hired a psychopath or worse! The security guard turned to me and smiled and told me that the software embedded images randomly to test them. I was so relieved.

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?

My funniest mistake was probably leasing premises that I thought had some strange security features, including a large light out the front which faced onto the street. The premises were on the edge of the entertainment district, close to the CBD. I later found out that the premises had been used as a brothel and that the light out the front was the infamous “red light.”

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 incredibly fortunate that my best friend joined my previous business and when I started this firm she jumped on board. We have worked together for 20 years, eighteen of them in this business and it is such a delight to spend each day with your best friend. She has always contributed to the running and growth of the business and sits on my management team. I can completely trust her, and I am incredibly lucky in that she is around if I am not available and I trust she will make the right decision. She will sometimes disagree with me, when perhaps others are not as confident to speak out and I have found this has created an overall culture of transparency. She calls me out when I know I should do something, and I just really don’t want to. And she is an amazing support and sounding board for all my new ideas and projects.

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?

Most women are not risk takers. Starting a business can be a big risk and it takes courage to take the leap. Many women value security and starting a business is the opposite of this. Many women also want to make sure everything is in place, that they have all the skills they need and that they are prepared. We know that men are often underqualified for jobs, and they take the punt that they will learn how to do things, whereas women will often not put themselves forward unless they feel they can do everything.

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?

One of the best things is to connect women with other women and other business owners and put them in a program where they are taught the fundamentals and they have the support of peers and mentors. Groups like Entrepreneurs’ Organization run an Accelerator Program which is outstanding for women to get that knowledge and support and confidence. It also exposes them to other successful women, and they can see examples of what is possible.

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

Women led businesses add diversity to the world and to the economy. They hire and train in a more diverse way. They are an example of what is possible to their children and to other women. They “normalize” women in the economy, so we no longer (in 2022!) have to exclaim they are “the first women to….”. Studies show that companies with women on boards are financially more successful. Fifty percent of our population should be heading up and founding 50% of our businesses. Intellectually women have identical capacities to men and there is no physical reason women can’t start and run businesses if they are given the right opportunities.

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

That business owners make a lot of money and having your own business is much easier than being employed. Only 25% of businesses make it to the 15th year. Only 2% of women owned businesses have revenue over $1 million so most women decide not to grow their business or unable to grow it. The reality for most business owners who survive in the long run is that they work extremely hard, they make sacrifices, and they are only successful if they are continually learning and growing and evolving.

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?

There is much debate about whether a founder can go on to be a successful CEO of a large business as they are two different skill sets. Some founders are terrible CEO’s and their business stalls or goes backwards until they bring in a suitable CEO — but some founders are amazing CEO’s as they know the business inside out and they are incredibly passionate about the business. A business founder eats last. Although they should always be paid first (commensurate with the size of the business), when things go wrong you need to be able to make financial sacrifices. You need to be able to make tough decisions. You need not worry about being liked. And you need a large appetite for risk as you will be continually standing on the edge of the cliff and jumping. And a founder will love that. And an employee will run a mile from it.

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. Start as you mean to go on. Set up your business like it is a big business and run it like that. My goal was to create a nice place to work, a place where I could regularly see my children, where everyone got along. I hired people because I knew them, or I liked them, and I didn’t always have the best person for the job. I didn’t have proper processes and procedures. I had no budgets and cashflows and every year I had no idea how much tax I had to pay and made no provision for it. If I started a new business I would set it up in a very structured way and I would be much more conscious of the big picture.
2. Have a long term plan. Work out where you want to be in one year, three years, five years, and work towards that. My business grew organically because I hired people as they were presented to me. I later considered specifically who I would like to hire and pursued them, rather than just waiting to see what happened. I had no idea how my business compared each year until I entered a business competition and compared 10 years of financials. I would be more deliberate about things, rather than opportunistic.
3. Understand the long term implications of your financial planning. When my business was small my accountant was fixated (as was I) on paying as little tax as possible. What I have learned is that you have to pay tax. The actions you take can impact outcomes later down the track and often it is a just a delay of tax. Also, understanding what that looks like when you sell your business.
4. Surround yourself with smart people. I joined Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) in 2013 and I have spent a lot of time with business owners. I have a Mastermind group that I meet monthly with, and I have regularly used them as a sounding board for decisions and problems. I regularly speak with people in different businesses, and I speak to them about their industries and look at how these things could apply to my business. I also mentor younger business owners and have found that I have also learned as much from them as they learned from me.
5. Learn about business. When I started my business I had worked in law for 15 years. In the early years of the business I obtained a Masters degree in Family Law, but I had no training about running a business. When I started in EO I did not fully understand my numbers and I watched with awe as my group reeled off revenue, EBIT, and gross profit numbers (while I had to keep googling EBIT to even know what that meant). I made it my mission to learn about business, management, and leadership, learn about myself and become a better business owner and I feel this has exponentially paid off in the last 8 years.

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

I have seen some of my employees go on to start their own businesses and be very successful. I am so proud that they are now employing others and contributing to the economy in this way. I am an example of what is possible, and I want women to dream bigger and to know that they can achieve more and that they have control of their destiny if they channel themselves in the right way.

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

I would like to see the feminization of business — where the world is full of authentic leaders who lead in a way that is not masculine or traditional but authentic. This is the key to a more sustainable future. One of the steps to achieve this is by attaining gender parity in legal (and in fact all) partnerships. The trickle-down effect of more women in business will actually be a tsunami — and impact the world in an incredibly positive way.

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.

Ayesha Vardag, the founder of blue chip Family Law firm Vardags in London. I love her vision and she has created an amazing business that is very inspiring. I am very keen to meet with her and listen to her story.

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

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

Kent Probst of Long Healthy Life Blog: 5 Lifestyle Tweaks That Can Dramatically Improve Your Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Keep Stress Levels Down. Let’s face it — stress is a fact of life. There are many sources of stress in our lives, but if you let stress overwhelm you, it can result in many health problems. One of the secrets of healthy aging is to keep stress at a level where it doesn’t have an adverse effect on your health. There are a number of options for reducing stress in your life. Taking a holistic approach will serve you well. Consider adding self-care activities such as meditation, spending time with nature, journaling and massage as ways of managing stress in your life.

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

As a personal trainer, kinesiotherapist and bodybuilder, Kent Probst has dedicated his life to optimal nutrition, fitness and natural remedies. He holds a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology and a master’s degree in exercise science. Now he’s taking his experience and knowledge to the next level by helping others through blogging.

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 saw friends and family suffering from health problems and a low quality of life that I felt could be prevented. I didn’t want to go through what they were experiencing. I was convinced that a high quality of life can be maintained and most health problems prevented with great nutrition, fitness and natural approaches to wellness. At that point, I embarked on a career in health and fitness to help others achieve optimal health throughout their lives.

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

Since I started my career, the most interesting thing that has happened to me is that people are always asking what my secret is regarding health and fitness. My health and fitness regimen works so well that people don’t realize what my actual age is.

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?

When I first started in a health and fitness career, I tried lots of fads to become healthy and fit. I realized that there are no safe and effective shortcuts to health and fitness. You have to do the work.

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?

For more than twenty years, I’ve successfully worked in the healthcare and fitness industries as a personal trainer and kinesiotherapist, amassing a wealth of experience, knowledge and skills. I’ve helped everyone from athletes to men and women wanting to become fit to people needing rehabilitation. I’ve made it my priority to live the lifestyle I impart upon my clients and audience — great nutrition, fitness and natural remedies. I’ve been a member of Life Extension for twenty years.

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

My parents gave me the most help and encouragement to become the person I am today. They were always there for me, making sure I got a good education, providing emotional support, discipline and a well-rounded childhood. Playing sports when I was growing up greatly influenced my interest in pursuing a healthy and fit lifestyle.

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

1. A common blockage that prevents people from taking action is that they may not be ready to change. Before they take action, they usually go through the pre-contemplation, contemplation and preparation stages of change. Sometimes people don’t realize their behavior is a problem.
2. Life events and lack of social support often cause people to relapse to their bad habits. John Lennon said, “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” Life events such as divorce, loss of a job and a death in the family can cause you to relapse. Realizing that there will be road bumps along the way will make it easier to stick to your plan.
3. Another obstacle that prevents people from integrating health and fitness into their lives is that they don’t have accurate information and they’re not sure which direction to go.

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.)

Follow a Diet That Promotes Healthy Aging

We’re constantly bombarded by diet advice and the latest diet fads in the media. It’s no wonder people are confused about what to eat. So let’s clear up the confusion. One of the secrets of healthy aging is to eat like people who live in the Blue Zones. Eating like people in the Blue Zones is essentially following the Mediterranean diet. Valter Longo, PhD, author of The Longevity Diet, has spent decades researching aging and improving the Mediterranean diet. Dr. Longo is the Edna M. Jones Professor of Gerontology and Biological Sciences and the Director of the Longevity Institute at the University of Southern California. The Longevity Diet is a clinically tested diet program, based on decades of research, to fight disease, maintain an ideal weight, and live a longer and healthier life.

Keep Stress Levels Down

Let’s face it — stress is a fact of life. There are many sources of stress in our lives, but if you let stress overwhelm you, it can result in many health problems. One of the secrets of healthy aging is to keep stress at a level where it doesn’t have an adverse effect on your health. There are a number of options for reducing stress in your life. Taking a holistic approach will serve you well. Consider adding self-care activities such as meditation, spending time with nature, journaling and massage as ways of managing stress in your life.

Get Adequate Sleep

Another one of the secrets of healthy aging is to not only get enough sleep, but to get quality sleep. The National Sleep Foundation says that a third of Americans experience insomnia. It’s an epidemic problem. A third get less than 7 hours of sleep per night. Did you know that chronic insomnia can lead to heart disease, poor learning and memory, diabetes, depression, weight gain, and premature skin aging? Insomnia also weakens your immune system by increasing levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), which promote inflammation. A weakened immune system also increases the risk of bacterial, parasitic and viral infections. Getting a good night’s sleep (7 to 9 hours) helps you detox your brain of beta amyloid plaque, the substance found concentrated in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. When you improve your sleep quality over the long term, you’ll be happier and more productive during the day. Beating insomnia means significantly improving your health by reducing the risk of all the health problems that go along with it.

Maintain a Good Social Network

Another one of the secrets of healthy aging that people often don’t think about is maintaining meaningful relationships.Emotional support may be just as integral as diet and exercise in promoting healthy aging. Meaningful relationships can help stave off depression that can result from spending a significant amount of time alone. Even having a pet, such as a dog or cat, can be a source of emotional support. Sources of building a social network:

• Volunteering
• Group exercise
• Church
• Hobby groups
• Book clubs
• Dog parks
• Neighborhood groups

Get the Right Amount of Exercise

We all know that exercise has many benefits. What’s not as well known is how much exercise is recommended, as well as the type of exercise and frequency. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity cardiovascular exercise, or 75 minutes per week of vigorous cardiovascular exercise to significantly reduce the risk of disease. Your maximum heart rate can be determined by subtracting your age from 220. If your age is 40, then your maximum heart rate is 180. Vigorous intensity is 70% to 85% of your maximum heart rate. Moderate intensity is 50% to 70% of your maximum heart rate. Not everyone can do this much exercise starting out. Breaking it up into 10 minute segments is a great way to make it more manageable.

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. Staying strong and maintaining muscle mass is a biomarker for longevity.
2. In addition to increased muscle mass, other benefits of strength training include increased walking speed and better balance.
3. Resistance exercise can improve cognitive function in older adults with mild cognitive impairment.

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

1. Weight bearing aerobic exercise such as jogging or walking.
2. Strength training 2–3 times per week.
3. Everyone should make flexibility a component of their fitness regimen for optimal fitness.

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

The Natural Physician’s Healing Therapies: Proven Remedies Medical Doctors Don’t Know by Mark Stengler, ND was a major game changer for me in how I approached my health. I’d been having side effects from prescription drugs and problems of efficacy with traditional treatments. This motivated me to look at alternative medicine. In my experience, natural medicine has been more effective and safer.

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

I’d like to see cities build more parks with outdoor exercise equipment and trails. This would give people more options for staying fit beyond just going to a health club.

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

“The first wealth is health.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson. This quote resonated with me because being healthy is such a huge component of quality of life. Life is miserable if you’re sick much of the time, not allowing you to live life to the fullest and shortening your lifespan.

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 🙂

If I had the opportunity, I would like to eat lunch with John Mackey, CEO and co-founder of Whole Foods Market. I’m impressed with what he’s done to pioneer natural, healthy and organic foods, as well as advancing conscious capitalism and leadership.

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

Readers can follow my work online at Long Healthy Life Blog https://www.longhealthylife.co/

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

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Kent Probst of Long Healthy Life Blog: 5 Lifestyle Tweaks That Can Dramatically Improve Your… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.