Female Founders: Beverly Price of Nastava Jewelry On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Emotions are a rollercoaster — they never teach you in business school about the emotions involved with starting a business. Moods can swing up and down with revenue. Fear can paralyze you. I know that I wondered why I had a down day; then I realized I hadn’t earned any revenue the prior 5 days.
As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Beverly Price.
Beverly Price, founder of Nastava Jewelry, is an intuitive designer whose custom creations reflect the journey of self-empowerment, self-expression, and beauty. Inspired by the elements, Beverly lets the internationally sourced stones speak to her when crafting her bespoke pieces. Through her methodology and endless style options, the artisan jewelry she creates energizes and connects to her clients, reflecting their true self while empowering them to try different looks.
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 a financial services and advertising corporate executive for most of my career (and also a single mom). When I started my career in corporate America, women were taught to dress similar to men and identical to other women. There was even a book called “Dress for Success” to guide us. There was practically a basic uniform — a gray or navy suit with skirt, rounded collar blouse, little bow tie, and black low-heeled pumps. There were no accessories, no makeup,and no jewelry except for a small string of pearls! Everyone looked the same, scattering the workplace.
I went along for several years, until I moved to an advertising agency where everything was creative, colorful, and exciting. But I was insecure because I didn’t know how to dress. So, I made an investment in myself and visited a fashion stylist who showed me that color, style, and accessories including jewelry could change the look of any woman from drab to exceptional, professional elegance. I could express myself in bold statements and feel empowered.
I had always done something creative on the side of my leadership and managerial roles. Being creative let me create visible and tangible outcomes that my corporate life could not. I gave my daughters a gift certificate to a jewelry making shop, and they had fun but I loved it and became obsessed. I began making bold statement jewelry to accentuate everything I wore.
One day a woman that I worked with said, “Is that your piece?” and it was. She said, “It’s gorgeous! You need to sell your jewelry.” That was just the nudge I needed, and Nastava Artisan Jewelry was born. Named after the three women I admire most — my daughter Natalie, my daughter Stephanie, and my mother Virginia — Nastava fueled me with energy and excitement. After a year or so, I decided to take a leap of faith and move full-time into my jewelry business, selling to boutiques and stores. Creativity fueled my choices.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
I was hosting a jewelry sale as a part of a fundraiser for a nonprofit, and I got to meet the daughter of Reverend Martin Luther King. She was inspiring, and she fell in love with my jewelry. She modeled several pieces. I felt so blessed. I’ve gotten to meet so many impressive women on my journey. Meeting Cokie Roberts was another thrill.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I was working towards my MBA, studying entrepreneurship, and we had two international summer study abroad trips — one to South America and the other to Asia. Since I made all one-of-a-kind pieces, unusual beads were essential to my strategy. So, on both of these trips, I looked everywhere and found lots and lots of unusual beads. So much so that I couldn’t fit them all in my suitcases. I asked all my fellow students to put some in their suitcases. As we were leaving at the airport,one by one, each suitcase went over the weight limit. The heavy bag fees mounted up! Then, when we reached the airport on our return, I had to get beads from over 10 people! Looked pretty silly actually, but those beads let me create some very unique pieces.
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 are so many. I would say most of all it would be my daughter Natalie who encouraged every step of the way, even when times were tough. She’s an intelligent, capable, creative woman who has developed strong business acumen and strength. She’s also provided me with a lot of her marketing expertise and a sounding board to bounce things off of. I’m very proud of her.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this EY report, only about 20 percent of funded companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from founding companies?
I think there are three reasons that women are held back from founding companies. The first is a lack of self confidence and fear. So many women have old tapes playing in their head that they can’t do it, entrepreneurship is too risky, they are not talented enough, etc. There is fear of the unknown and fear of failure. This is a great deterrent because as we know, entrepreneurship takes strength and belief in yourself.
The second reason is financial stability. With the gender pay gap continuing to exist, many women do not have the financial resources to create a company and be financially stable while it’s in its early years. Also, single parent homes shouldering the entire financial burden don’t have excess resources to get a strong start. In addition, women may have a difficult time raising the funding necessary for the business set-up.
The third reason women are held back from founding companies is time. Many women have their hands full with raising a family and a full-time job. There is little time left for the investment required for a start up.
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?
Many of the changes that need to be made need to happen at a variety of different levels: changing laws, changing social norms, and changing perceptions passed down from generation to generation. The deepest change needs to be how society sees men and women — a change to see them as equal but different. This could change the double standard by letting the men in power see women as an asset rather than a threat. This could then create changes in work distribution at home, acceptance of stay-at-home parents being men or women, more affordable day care, and pay equity. There’s also a crucial need to provide greater physical, emotional, and financial support for single parent households.
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?
1. Creativity — many women have a high degree of creativity for start-up ideas.
2. Tremendous work ethic — many women have a voracious work ethic.
3. Determination to prove themselves — women who have grown up being told they can’t do something that is more of a man’s role develop the motivation to prove themselves by proving others wrong.
4. Empathy — research has shown that women have the capability for a higher degree of empathy allowing them to build strong teams, relate well to customers, etc.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?
1. That entrepreneurism is only for those who can’t get a “real job.”
2. That you have lots of free time.
3. That life is much easier if you don’t have to answer to anyone.
Entrepreneurship is ultimately a creation of a new path, whether it’s your first job or something you’ve started later in life. It’s a valid career choice, but it takes much more effort and work than society gives credit for.
Is everyone cut out to be a founder? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful founder and what type of person should perhaps seek a “regular job” as an employee? Can you explain what you mean?
Not everyone is cut out to be a founder or an entrepreneur. Founders and entrepreneurs can handle uncertainty and are willing to take risks. They can survive without the security of a regular paycheck and healthcare benefits. They have stamina and patience for the long haul and a stellar work ethic to tackle the times that the amount of work seems insurmountable. They are willing to take a leap of faith to see their vision through and reap the benefits.
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. That you need a support system — as a single working mom, I didn’t have time for developing friendships and support systems, but creating your own business has a significant emotional rollercoaster that you need a strong support network for. I had to build my support system after I started my business. I could have benefited greatly from a support system when I first started.
2. Believe in yourself no matter what — no matter what anyone says or does, no matter what old tapes are playing in your head, you need to believe in yourself. Believe that YOU can do it! I use daily affirmations to help with this.
3. It will take longer than you might thin — patience is a virtue. Most startups don’t have rocketship revenue. It takes time to build a strong and stable business. Hard work pays off.
4. You need to delegate things you don’t like and aren’t good at — let go of doing everything. You can find help, even if you’re on a tight budget, to help you do things you’re not good or an expert at and for things you really hate to do.
5. Emotions are a rollercoaster — they never teach you in business school about the emotions involved with starting a business. Moods can swing up and down with revenue. Fear can paralyze you. I know that I wondered why I had a down day; then I realized I hadn’t earned any revenue the prior 5 days.
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
I have supported a number of nonprofit agencies with causes near and dear to my heart. I have worked on fundraisers, donating my jewelry products for live and silent auctions, donating a portion of my proceeds to the cause, and providing jewelry for awards at large fundraising events.
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.
1. Self-expression is key to women’s self-empowerment. I’m creating a program that helps women walk through insecurity and doubt with the use of self-expression to become empowered to lead different lives.
2. Believe in yourself, no matter what. If we could inspire these beliefs in all children, we could drastically increase their success while also greatly reducing many forms of depression and anxiety.
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.
1. Cate Blanchett — her sense of style is the essence of what my jewelry brand offers.
2. Oprah Winfrey — her accomplishments in the face of all odds is heart-stopping.
3. Amal Clooney — her style and grace combined with intelligence and efforts to make the world a better place is amazing.
4. Melinda Gates — her dedication to making this world a better place is inspirational.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Lessons from a Thriving Power Couple, With Dr Travis Fox and Michelle S Fox of Ultimate Business Quest
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
We always stayed calm, cool, and collective, which would be the second one. Stay calm, cool, and collective within your communication, and remove the tit for tat because the tit for tat is where you start keeping score of everything your partner isn’t doing. As opposed to our model,, we do a tit for tat differently. We look at wow, here are all the things you have done for me or have done, and I appreciate and thank you.
As a part of our series about lessons from Thriving Power Couples, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Travis Fox and Michelle S. Fox of Ultimate Business Quest.
Ultimate Business Quest is in the business of igniting transformative change. Their proprietary platform delivers business basics, blueprints and practical coaching, presented in a world of immersive fantasy gameplay. Those willing to embark on the quest will find that blurring fantasy with reality is a powerful tool for stoking imagination, inspiration, and impact, empowering entrepreneurs to level-up business and life. The company was founded in 2020 and has additional learning gamification apps planned for release this year.
Emmy-award winner Dr. Travis Fox has been architecting lives and uplifting entrepreneurs onstage for 30 years. Holding doctorates in both psychology and clinical hypnotherapy, his mission is to help move entrepreneurs from founder to funding to fortune, and because of this, he was named by Yahoo Finance as a Top 20 entrepreneur for 2020 and a Top 10 Instagram influencer by BuzzFeed. As a business coach, entrepreneurial advisor, and trainer, he has spoken to more than 1M attendees, spent tens of thousands of hours on stage, and has 28 years of CEO-level experience.
Michelle S. Fox has a diverse corporate and entrepreneurial career, having sat on multiple Boards before the age of 30. As the Co-Founder and CEO at Ultimate Business Quest, she’s the first female tech CEO in their headquarters of St. George. Instead of being educated by a traditional institution, Michelle chose to go the mentorship route, and she became a mentee of a Harvard Grad billionaire. This mentor offered her an opportunity to build out the C-Suite at their company, where she oversaw everything from breaking ground to the successful acquisition exit strategy. The move led Michelle to become a serial entrepreneur through investing, business consulting, and her own mentoring. Outside of the office, she is an award-winning competitive bodybuilder who loves challenging herself in new ways.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you two to your respective career paths?
Dr. Travis: When I was five years old, my father put a golf club in my hand and I just took to it; it was natural.From that moment on, pretty much all the way through high school, I thought I was going to be a professional golfer. Everybody knew it; that’s what my father wanted me to be. And I adopted that philosophy intensely from a conscious perspective because I wanted my father’s attention, love, and approval. And after a subconscious realization my first year in college, I decided to have a meltdown. I also ended up becoming a a first-time father, and having my heart completely broken.
I was ill-prepared for all three of those things simultaneously, but thankfully that’s when I met my mentor Dr. Neves and my life changed. I realized from learning under him that I wanted to be involved with psychology. I wanted to be involved with the subconscious mind, I wanted to be involved with how we actually transform. And that’s what I’ve been doing for the last 31 years. working with every kind of entrepreneur corporation, multilevel marketing, solopreneur, online and offline, on how we transform ourselves and do that in business. And then ultimately, how do we do that for our body and ultimately with our relationship, and that’s how I arrived here three-plus decades years later.
Michelle: I applied for a position that was an Office Manager position. When I was hired, the entrepreneur was traveling so much, they just gave me a concept versus systems already in place. So it felt as though I was an entrepreneur because I was building and creating everything from the ground up. After I left that position, I became an employee. It was actually the individuals who purchased the first original business and I had escalated into that company to the COO of their tech company. I stayed in the C-suite Executive role for quite some time, until I was approached by an individual that asked for a side project.
That was when I got a taste of, wow, I can be an entrepreneur, I can consult businesses and it was that first step to entrepreneurship. So I moved away from Corporate America and started my entrepreneurial journey. It was client after client after client that I began to obtain based on referrals and word of mouth. That is how I originally started getting into entrepreneurship and building my businesses. From there, it expanded based on the knowledge and experience and the new people that I had met, and more opportunities were created organically.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened since you two got together?
Dr. Travis: Well, I’d say it’s kind of like you saw an Indiana Jones movie meets some secret super spy agent meets natural disaster movie: you slam those all together, and you’ll come to watch one of the most interesting periods since Michelle & I have known each other and been working together. We were in the Philippines working on a corporate turnaround at the time and establishing deeper offices and a larger employee base there. We got caught in the eruption that happened in 2020, which sent the entire country of the Philippines into disarray. We had to make preparations to help not only our office but also the Filipino people that were working for us at the time. While we’re doing all of that, and going into this near-emergency situation, Michelle ultimately started to get this symptom called vog, which I had never heard of before. I thought it was some strange thing from Mars, but sure eenough, it’s an actual situation where you get a bronchitis type of scenario in your lungs from the volcanic ash in the air. So it started to worsen over a 24 to 48-hour period, and we had to get out of there. Simultaneously and concurrently, I was racing back to get back for the premiere of “Beyond Rhe Secret, The Awakening” at Universal Studios. We thought, how are we going to do this? We can’t fly out of Manila because it’s covered under volcanic ash. So we flew on every plane possible, got down to Dumaguete and then Dumaguete to Cebu (both are in the Philippines), and then jumped a plane over to Bangkok going the other way away from volcanic ash, and we ended up spending three days in Thailand.
We flew from Bangkok to Manila, jumped on another flight, flew all the way back overnight, and landed in Las Vegas. I got up the next day to fly down to LA, and as I’m getting ready to go to the premiere and I got a call from my ex-wife. She said, hey, I need to let you know your father died. I said oh, okay, and I start doing the first part of the press and interviews for what we were doing for “The Secret” film. And the first podcast I was on was David Meltzer’s podcast, David and I had been friends for a long time. On the show, I announced right then that I had just found out my father had passed. And that entire experience between the two of us — if you could survive that over a three to four-day period and do that all over the world, you can survive anything.
We knew we were going to be able to work together as a team, it was almost intuitive and innate that we just knew each other’s next move. We knew when that person needed to step in the lead and guide the couple, and it was always done smooth as silk. And that’s been the craziest situation,we knew when we got through that experience, we were going to be in a great partnership.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting out in entrepreneurship? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Michelle: I was consulting a Med Spa, and had no idea about Botox, fillers, nothing of the sort. The staff was asking for more product to stock up on. So me, not being the wiser, started Googling and looking online for places to buy Botox and Fillers and found a bunch of different sources. Well, I came to find out that where I was trying to source from was highly illegal. I had no idea until I was told, it was very embarrassing.
What I learned though is that you really need to understand the industry before you get into it, especially what the rules and regulations are. Do your due diligence before you jump in to helping a client, or if you jump into a new industry make sure you have mentors or do the work and understand the industry that you’re getting into.
What do you think makes Ultimate Business Quest stand out? Can you share a story?
Dr. Travis: I think what makes Ultimate Business Quest stands out is that it’s entirely based on fun. It’s real, it’s relatable, it’s not just a game that you play to kill time and distract yourself from that what you want. And yet it simultaneously gives you all the steps in a blueprint kind of way to go from the founder, to funding, to fortune, rooted in experiences that we all have experienced. I think that makes it stand out because it’s easy to understand yet so rooted in common sense principle, but beyond, hey, here’s a couple of ideas or going to the extreme on a spiritual side. Two, we have fun doing it, and three, our culture is about fun. And every step that you see us doing as a company and whatnot is exactly what you get in the quest. So we’re moving through each map right along with you; it’s not, hey, let’s stand on a stage and tell you how great we are, and then you go figure it out on your own.
We’re questing too; we’re building in a completely fantastic company and doing it exactly as you do it in the quest. And I think that rule is still a more profound sense of connection and confidence in what they’re doing and why they’re doing it and why they’re doing it with us. We’re building a community, we all speak the same language and as a collective we’re making business fun again.
Michelle: Why Ultimate Business Quest stands out is that it is the very first full gamified way of learning entrepreneurship for free. There’s nothing out there that gives you the whole blueprint, the map on how to start your business from the moment of conception or idea to implementation and how to move through even expanding your business. Along with what fears come up as being an entrepreneur or a business owner or moving up the ranks in an organization as an employee. When I was in business consulting, it was sad to see how many businesses had launched, but they really didn’t have any of the fundamentals.
How will the launch of this app help people to uncover their true passions and take the first step toward them?
Michelle: The sequence that we positioned all of the training within the app in really gives individuals a beautiful look at what is deep down there — that burning passion, a burning desire? Whether it’s starting a new company, expanding, pivoting, wherever someone may be in their current entrepreneurial journey, we can provide them the tools to mitigate the stress, the fear, the anxiety around those passions to really bring them to life. We help entrepreneurs bring ideas to life in a system that makes it fun and exciting to learn and grow their business, as opposed to, hey, here’s just some enthusiasm but no step by step guide of actually how to do it.
Dr. Travis: I actually think that’s the biggest misnomer when people say, well, how do I find my passion? Or, as the question was asked, how do I uncover my passion? That implies that you need to go out and find it, which means you never had it, or that someone’s got to give it to you, or uncover it as though it was buried. And uncovering it is, because it is an uncovering.
You’re supposed to just kind of innately know it, okay. That model doesn’t work, we’ve tried that for decades now, and it still hasn’t happened, so let’s do this differently. The UBQ app is going to help you not just uncover your passion but more important, reignite that spark in you — that was once there that has been diminished and dulled and shut down. And not from a motivational point of view or an inspirational, although that’s there, from a depth within you. Because that’s what it takes for the visionaries, for the adventurers, for the entrepreneurs, the onliners, the influencers, they’ve got a burning passion, and they’re willing to keep it flamed, and the rest of us out there have let ours be dull and this app is going to walk you through that. It’s going to do it in an adventure style because the truth is we’re all deep visionaries, we’re all deep adventurers, we’re all explorers, and we all want to experience all the zest of life.
What advice would you give to other CEOs or founders to help their employees to thrive?
Dr. Travis: Well, I’m not one to give advice, but if I were to give someone a guidepost and help them through their own quest, I would say that to make your employees thrive it’s about figuring out the puzzle of who are the archetypes within your organization. Who are the wizards and the warriors and the barge and the jesters? If you don’t know what that means, go through the Ultimate Business Quest app and learn so that you can make it fun for them too. Because we’re all programmed that work equals not fun, work equals necessity, and work equals what you got to do to live a fun life. So when we look at it from that perspective, it’s one of the things that a founder and a CEO or an entrepreneur can do.
Employees wants to be a part of something bigger than themselves; they want to feel like they’re on point in passion and purpose. And most importantly, people want to feel like they’re playing and it’s fun so that the time that they’re investing in as an employee or a partner, or a senior manager or a sales director. Whatever their role is; it’s not just being given away for a paycheck, but is something that they can feel a part of. That’s that deeper sense of vision that really comes from the CEO to ignite those parts of them and let them fly with it.
How do you define leadership?
Michelle: Leadership to me is understanding who is on your team to lead. Do you genuinely have a relationship with them? Do you understand them? Then the next piece is where are you teaching them — do you know what your company culture is? Do you know what your mission-vision is for the company, and are you staying true to that? And last but not least, a powerful leader is not leading from I’m the CEO, and everybody is beneath me. On the contrary, it is I’m the CEO. I’m at the bottom of the funnel, and I’m lifting everybody and guiding them out because that’s what starts to create that substantial wide span outward, as opposed to your bottleneck. You can’t expand that leadership, because your team doesn’t grow. It’s a very different concept from leading from the bottom up.
Dr. Travis: I define leadership as not just, I go first or I’m the last one. I think it’s about being with the entire team, getting to know the team and understanding them at a deeper level, moving from “I” to “We.” I think good leadership is always thinking from a “We” perspective and not necessarily without the I involved, but when you really look at leaders take the time to connect with every one of their senior executives or salespeople, their senior customers, you essentially see masters at inviting people to become the better version of themselves, not telling them how to do it.
Guiding them to say why not, guiding them to go have fun, guiding them to make better choices for themselves based on what they know and the instincts and knowledge they have possessed to be in the position they’re in. And yet, at the same time, allowing them to learn and learn new skills and techniques and ways of doing it. It’s about bringing out that beautiful unrealized potential sitting on the bench of their subconscious asking the right questions for them to unlock themselves and become the leaders that they are finally born to be.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person you are grateful for who helped you get to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
Dr. Travis: There have definitely been people who have helped me. I always go back to Doc Reeves, because Doc has the one that kind of guided me through my entire journey. He was always kind of that rock in the river, so kudos to him. Another person is my ex-wife Jessica — I learned so much from her, and she’s one of the people who have made me who I am and I will always love and cherish for that.
Michelle: My very first mentor, his name was Glen and I’m very, very grateful for him. He taught me how to be an entrepreneur, but I was still an employee. How he helped me achieve success was by putting me into this big role and then stepped back and said, create it, figure it out. But not in a dismissal way, but in an invitation. That invitation was one of the best experiences for me to really understand what it took to build a business from start to finish. And then my stepfather, my stepfather when I really stepped into business, was my mentor.
Every single day I talked to him so many different times and I’m extremely grateful for how much he mentored and taught me. Now in my life, I have Travis. I am extremely grateful for his patience, teaching, love, guidance, and most importantly, the partnership that I have with him and how we can create together.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
Michelle: How I have been bringing goodness to the world is with everything we do within our companies. I test and implement everything, whether that be our products, all of our business tools, the foundation, everything that we do and creates, I test. The reason why I test is I want to honestly know that it works before it gets brought out to the world because I don’t want to put out anything that I really can stand true behind.
Dr. Travis: I think I’m just beginning to use our success and my success personally to bring good to the world. The free app and communities across the world that are starting to jump into the quest are also beginning a whole new piece of “good global work” for me. I’ve been preparing my entire life for this company. I’ve been preparing my entire life for this team; I’ve been preparing my entire life for this relationship, I’ve been preparing my entire life for me to get to this space. So I would say my successes in the past have all taught me different versions of it.
What are the five things you need to thrive as a couple? Please share a story or an example for each.
Michelle: Communication is extremely vital. We have been in the most stressful situations as a couple and the very first one was a company turnaround, there was so much stress and pressure. There was a huge lawsuit involved, and our job together was to mitigate the risk for this particular company. How we did that together is through our communication. Our communication was so on point that we didn’t have any friction or frustration because we were constantly communicating together, but it was all done in a healthy and productive manner.
We always stayed calm, cool, and collective, which would be the second one. Stay calm, cool, and collective within your communication, and remove the tit for tat because the tit for tat is where you start keeping score of everything your partner isn’t doing. As opposed to our model,, we do a tit for tat differently. We look at wow, here are all the things you have done for me or have done, and I appreciate and thank you.
Now the third thing is taking time for each other. Taking time to take care of each other. Because we’re both working together as a couple, it can get so easy as one is supposed to take care of the other. In our relationship, we’re constantly checking in with each other, especially when one of us is maybe going through a hard week. Travis will come to me and say, hey, you need a bath. He’ll turn on a bath for me, put on some music, and gives me that time to relax because he knows and he can feel that I’m stressed or that I’m having a hard day. And the same goes in reverse.
Dr. Travis Fox: The fourth is laughter by far, and I mean, I don’t think that’s anything I need to go too deep into, most people get it. But to laugh with each other and, most importantly, laugh at yourself. I mean, I have been guilty of being caught up in an image and thinking I was supposed to look this way or act this way or talk this way. ‘m sure many others have been as well, but realistically, come to laugh at yourself, man. Life is short, we all know that, but I think we often hypnotize ourselves to believe that we have time, and we get examples every single day where that is just not true. So laugh your butt off, have a great time, laugh at each other, laugh at yourself and let it go. There’s such healing us in laughter, and it keeps the relationship alive on another level.
The last, and certainly not least, is to keep the adventure in the relationship. It doesn’t have to be going on a worldwide trip and spending a bazillion dollars, although that’s great, and it’s one of the experiences everyone should have while they’re here on planet earth. Instead think of new things you can do every single day that are within ten miles of where you are, but could give you a new perspective that you never thought of before. Because that’s essentially what constitutes an adventure, otherwise it would be called a memory or an experience of the past that you’re repeating. Keep the adventure alive and learn new things, see the monuments out there, explore the geography and how the planet is constantly changing. Go into the water and mountains and experience everything with the sense of awe that you did when you were a kid. Because everything, when you were a kid was new and it was amazing, it was exciting and you didn’t have to be inspired or motivated, you just naturally were on fire and that came from that sense of adventure.
You are people 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 idea you can trigger.
Michelle: I would say BPR, and that stands for Business Personal and Relationship Ratio. So the times that we talk about the work life balance, there’s no blueprint out there. There’s no “how do I do this?” There’s no secret sauce. So I created a formula that really helps individuals with the blueprint on how to really balance your business, your personal and your relationships simultaneously throughout the day. The movement that I would love to see is that everybody starts utilizing the terminology, have you balanced your BPR? What’s your BPR percentage? Or wow, you really got that BPR down. Everybody is really present in every moment of their day and experiencing it and enjoying it.That’s what the BPR helps balance, is truly living your life on a daily basis.
Dr. Travis Fox: I’m going to be a bit of a dork here and say I would be exactly what I am because I believe that’s exactly what the quest and the all realms company are doing. We’re bringing true entrepreneurial and self-transformation together simultaneously in a fun way where we can make business fun again, and we’re giving the app away, so everybody can have it on a global scale: to me, that is the movement. The movement of cooperation and creating a fun environment and living and chasing your dreams in a fun blueprinted kind of way, just like the game of Life that we all played as a young kids.
Can you please give us your favorite life lesson quote? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Michelle: My life lesson quote is actually one that I created and it is fear is excitement without breathing. Now, there was a time in my life that I was very afraid of so many different things and it was based off of trauma. I devoted myself to conquering all my fears or battling all my fears in one day. While I was going through that process I would freeze, and when I felt that freeze, I noticed that I stopped breathing, literally stopped breathing, and then it took me into that fight or flight. That’s when it triggered for me, fear is excitement without breathing.
As soon as I started to breathe, I was able to turn that fear into excitement and really move through all of my fear. I started using that about seven years ago and it has significantly helped me throughout difficult business choices or situations in personal and in so many relationships where, when I feel myself starting to hold my breath, I start to consciously breathe. With that, I’ve been able to move through my fear and really take that fear and move it into excitement.
Dr. Travis: Ellen Watts has a famous quote that says life doesn’t define death; death defines life and that impacted me, it still impacts me to this day to be honest. Candidly, we all have a date with destiny and it’s something that, you know, I have been my own way for the last three decades, inviting people to look at. And I always say, hey, if you only had 30 days left to live, would you be doing anything in any part of your life that you’re doing right now? And if any part of your answer is no, I wouldn’t be, and then you owe it to yourself to transform.You can’t take it with you, but you can leave an amazing legacy behind; an amazing adventure that you experience as you go on to the great beyond.
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?
Michelle: I would ike to have a meeting with Donald Trump. I am not a political person in any way, shape or form, but what I am interested in is how he still takes two hours a day to plan his day out. What about that process works for him? How does he do it? What does he do during those two hours? What is his step by step blueprint? Because of the BPR and how passionate I am about that work life balance. How does he fit everything in his day? And are there things that are out of balance and what would he do differently? That’s why I would want to sit down with him and have lunch.
Dr. Travis: Believe it or not I’ve always wanted to meet Shaquille O’Neal. Shaquille O’Neal to me is truly someone who has balanced life and relationship and himself and his business, and he is still very good managing all the wealth that he has and all the reach and the fame that he has acquired. He never forgot who he was and where he came from and always has time for the people, he laughs at himself, he makes fun of himself. He can be serious when he needs to be, he’s never a bully. He’s always polite, he stands up for the underdog and he’s a good, smart businessman who’s willing to do things that people weren’t willing to do. And so for me sitting down with Shaquille O’Neal and hearing his story and learning some more lessons from him or having him be a part of the quest in some form another. I think that would be absolutely, you know, the best half court, three point shot I could ever do at least in the near foreseeable future. Hey, Shaq, if you’re out there, man, I’d love to do lunch.
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
Female Founders: Chelsey Roney of Proxi On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Learn how to communicate the progress you’re making in your business/successes in a succinct way. People want the ‘TLDR’ and will be able to help you much faster once you’re able to condense your thoughts. I used to be indirect in my communications. I worked on my first business with my husband. He once told me he had no idea what contributions I was making because I was being too indirect with my value-add. This taught me that I need to say what I mean without hesitation.
As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Chelsey Roney.
Chelsey Roney brings her business-building and strategy experience to Proxi, where she serves as COO and leads a team of 5, growing the business through sales and marketing. After graduating from Texas A&M, Chelsey joined Boeing where she worked in financial planning and analysis and Microsoft where she worked in a demand center that focused on B2B omnichannel marketing. She grew and sold two businesses: a SaaS business in the University space, and a local services business.
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?
Sure! Looking back, there were signs that I was going to be a female founder very early in my life. I started my first operation at around age 5. I set up a restaurant in my grandmother’s kitchen complete with menus, prices, and table settings. I took orders, ‘cooked’ and of course collected a little extra change. As a child, I went on to sell flower bouquets to neighbors, start a very profitable pet watching business, a very busy private swim lesson company, and in high school repackaged my notes for others. I went on to start my first SAAS company at age 21 (I sold it in my late 20’s) and bought my second company at 30. Meanwhile, I went to Texas A&M University to study Finance, which is what I thought and was told would lead to a very steady career. I subsequently worked at Boeing, earned an MBA and then worked at Microsoft. I very much enjoyed my time at both companies and learned a lot while I was there but looking back at my passions and how I spent my free time, I was always called to spend my time as a founder.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
The most interesting thing happens to us daily — people and businesses find and use Proxi for use cases that we never would’ve imagined! Proxi is a free technology anyone can use to create and share interactive, branded maps. We have had thousands of maps made on Proxi. Many of our highlighted use cases are ones customers have come up with. Individuals have created such varied maps as guides for their out-of-town wedding guests to spots that marathon attendees can cheer on their loved ones. Businesses and non-profits have mapped everything from volunteer events to the stores that carry their inventory. One of our most unexpected but exciting use cases was Seattle Restaurant Week creating a map to show where all participating restaurants were located! There were several hundred thousand views by the end of spring 2022 restaurant week.
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’ll tell you the (now) funniest mistake I’ve ever made in my career. When I was at Microsoft, I sent emails to customers who were interested in the Surface line of products. Once, on accident, I sent a completely blank email to several hundred thousand people. I still feel horrible about it, but now I laugh about it too. It had the highest open rate of any email sent around that time. If only I had included a single link to a product in that email! I’ve learned to have an outbox delay set and have extra eyes on any outward communication that goes to a large number of people. You can never do enough double checking!
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I am most grateful towards my parents. They consistently told me I was/am an intelligent, strong human who could do whatever I set my mind to. They spoke this into me so often, that I really believed it and still do. To this day, my parents are invested in whatever I am passionate about and devoted to. It gave me the confidence to go after big ideas at a young age and think ‘Why not?’ to things that seem out of range.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this EY report, only about 20 percent of funded companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from founding companies?
I absolutely think it’s the support she has around her. Women need other people to 1) pour education and encouragement into them and 2) physically support her dedication to her company. If you are a founder, you will have less time for household activities of which women typically bear the load. The people around a woman can make or break her dream of being a founder. In my opinion, women should verbalize what they need from the people closest to her in order to start a company and people should help her remove as many barriers to entry as possible.
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?
Two things. 1) It would be very helpful for governments to provide (limited time) stipends to live on if you are a woman (or anyone) starting a business. Starting a business is oftentimes saved for those who have the financial capacity to reduce their earnings for several months or even years. To open founding a company to more people, there must be financial support. 2) This is probably top of mind because I happen to be a mother of two young kids, but as a society, and especially during COVID, childcare for working parents (especially for moms) has been an incredible burden. Childcare is enormously expensive, and therefore prohibitive to start a business and have children at the same time. We need to find a way to subsidize this expense and make it very reliable (you can’t make much progress when your child is at home every other week due to closures!).
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 can think about many aspects of a situation at once and organize the workstreams for each because a lot of the time they are doing this outside the workplace and have been doing so for their whole lives (not saying this is the way things ‘should’ be but it does so happen that it is the way things are a lot of the time). This is a highly applicable skill as a leader of a business because there are lots of facets to work through and many things/people to care about.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?
I think the biggest misconception about founders from the public is that they always know what to do next. This couldn’t be farther from the truth! Most founders do not know what the exact next step should be, but they make educated guesses based on research or experience to move forward. People ask me often, “How did you know to do that?” I research, plan, and take moderate risks. I act confident about my decisions and then learn from the outcomes.
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?
No, I do not think everyone is cut out to be a founder. I think everyone has the *ability* to learn how to be a founder, but you must really want the career path because it is grueling and impacts all aspects of your life. If there’s even a 5% doubt on if founding a company is a good idea, then it may not be for you. Being a founder means figuring things out with the resources and connections you have, much of the time on your own. If you feel like you need to ask someone the next step for a new topic you are learning, it will make life as a founder difficult, because you must learn to move fast on you own. Being a founder means working toward something against doubt and odds. It means pushing through on days when you think things might fall apart. But pushing through is where the magic happens! Consistency is key.
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.)
You’ll need to learn how to bounce back from adverse situations quickly. A growth mindset is key to development. When you hit an uncomfortable situation, acknowledge the negative feelings, but then turn them into learnings. If you can reframe thoughts about how you wish you could change something to ‘I learned this for next time…”, you’ll start to see yourself grow over time. I’d recommend keeping a list of your lessons learned! One day, it will be fun to look back at. When I was early in my career at Boeing, I was surrounded by very experienced professionals. If I made a mistake, I used to get incredibly embarrassed. It led to me keeping my opinions to myself and making myself small. When I got to Microsoft, ‘growth mindset’ was talked about often. I began transforming any negative interaction or feeling into a learning. It truly transformed the way I conduct myself in the workplace and how I interact with my employees today.
Train your brain to speak positively about yourself to yourself. Turn every thought about imposter syndrome into something you like about yourself. Eventually, you’ll believe the positive thoughts more than the negative thoughts. Like many people, I have struggled with self-doubt. About 7 years ago, I read somewhere that every time you have a negative thought about your abilities you should turn it into a positive thought about yourself and repeat it over and over again. Now, in situations where I feel I’m out of my league (especially as I learn more about growing a rapidly expanding venture backed company), I pump myself up with positive thoughts when I feel nervous. But that was a learned behavior!
Always speak with confidence. Remove any doubt, extra words and “I’m sorry’ s” from your vocabulary and speak with conviction. You’ll notice a huge difference in how people respond to you. It took a long time for me to realize being apologetic about myself or my hopes/dreams was not doing me any favors. I edit my communications to remove language that might convey anything but confidence and conviction. These written edits also help me when I am verbalizing.
Be the most prepared person in the room. Come with agenda items, good questions, and thoughtful insights about what others are staying. I sometimes ask myself, “What can I do to have the most informed opinion in the room?” The extra prep might take 10–15 minutes per meeting/interaction, but it will help you get so much more out of your scheduled time with others as well as improve your image. When I was at Boeing, one of my mentors gave me this advice. I couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t able to participate meaningfully in meetings. He told me that I need to come to the meeting as the most prepared person in the room. Putting this into practice radically changed people’s perceptions of the value I create. Sometimes now, I don’t have the time to prep for certain meetings, and I notice the impact. Coming prepared is the biggest factor in future success, in my opinion.
Learn how to communicate the progress you’re making in your business/successes in a succinct way. People want the ‘TLDR’ and will be able to help you much faster once you’re able to condense your thoughts. I used to be indirect in my communications. I worked on my first business with my husband. He once told me he had no idea what contributions I was making because I was being too indirect with my value-add. This taught me that I need to say what I mean without hesitation.
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
I have used my ‘success’ to employ people both at Proxi and at my prior two companies. I think job creation is one of the best ways to support your community. However, it’s not just enough to be an employer. I work hard to create a positive environment for my employees in which they never dread coming into work. It’s my hope that happily and gainfully employed citizens contribute to their communities in positive ways.
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 teach people how to find a job that aligns with their passions. This might mean helping people feel confident enough to make a career change or learn ways to monetize what they enjoy thinking about and doing in their free time. I strongly believe there’s a way to at least have some portion of your job align directly to your biggest passion. Personally, I am so much happier when I concentrate on what I love every day. For me, I am most engaged and gratified when I spend my days figuring out the pieces to put together a ‘successful’ company. If everyone were able to feel as happy as I am to wake up in the morning, I think the world would be a better place for everyone.
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
I’d love to have a private lunch with Sarah Blakely. She’s got incredible work ethic, treats her employees well and sticks to the vision!
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Insiya Hussain of The University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business: 5 Things We Need To Do To Close The Gender Wage Gap
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
To start, investing in women’s education is shown to reap huge social and economic rewards, particularly within the developing world. Women’s education is associated with lower rates of infant and maternal mortality, lower rates of disease and infection, and greater female labor force participation that spurs economic growth.
As part of my series about “the five things we need to do to close the gender wage gap” I had the pleasure of interviewing Insiya Hussain.
Insiya Hussain is an Assistant Professor of Management at The University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business. In her research, she examines the challenges of speaking up at work to share ideas and opinions, advocate for social issues, and negotiate for personal rewards. Hussain’s research has been published in top-tier academic journals such as Academy of Management Journal and Journal of Applied Psychology. Her work has also been featured in practitioner outlets such as Harvard Business Review. She is a member of the editorial review board at Academy of Management Journal and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. Prior to joining academia, Hussain worked at J.P. Morgan’s investment bank and as a project manager at technology companies. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in economics from Columbia University, and her doctorate in organizational behavior from the University of Maryland.
Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us the “backstory” that brought you to this career path?
My journey to becoming a business school professor didn’t follow a straight path. Although I was incredibly bookish and always did well academically, it never occurred to me that getting a doctorate was a viable option. It just seemed niche, obscure, and something that other people did — “geniuses,” if you will.
So when I graduated from Columbia, I did what was typical of most other economics majors at the time — try to get a job in either finance or consulting. I ended up working at J.P. Morgan, doing equity research. With a “good job” firmly in hand, I presumed that all I had to do over my hopefully illustrious career was steadily climb the corporate ladder, one rung at a time.
Except, of course, life doesn’t always work out that way. Within a year of my very first job out of college, the Great Recession happened, and I was laid off. It was a difficult time, but also, looking back, a blessing in disguise. I’m definitely grateful to have gotten the singularly unique experience of New York City investment banking. That said, the work had left me burnt out and with the quiet knowledge that it wasn’t quite the right fit. I just wanted more from work–more color, creativity, and autonomy. That’s why when I wasn’t burning the midnight oil, I was dreaming up new product ideas and charting a more entrepreneurial path.
After a brief period of adjustment, I followed my instinct to create by working as a project manager at digital agencies, building apps and websites for small-to-midsize companies. That’s really when I started to get more interested in work from an intellectual standpoint. In talking to friends and thinking about my own experiences, it struck me that no matter what we’re doing or where we’re doing it — whether we’re in finance or tech, or working with a startup or Fortune 500 — we all struggle with the same issues.
We sometimes find great meaning in work and other times feel that it’s all futile. We experience the joy of being in “flow” and other times struggle to stay motivated. We feel “stuck” in our careers, and also surprise ourselves by how far we’ve come. Of course, we almost always complain about our bosses and wonder who put them in charge. And all the while, we try to bring home a bigger paycheck, just to feel like we’re keeping our heads above the water.
It soon became clear that I was much more interested in the nature of work itself than in any particular job I was doing. I wanted to explore the many ideas and questions I had about how to make work better for everyone, but I didn’t know how. I thought about going back to school for a master’s or MBA, but neither path seemed quite right. In a flash of insight, I asked myself, “Wait a second, who teaches the MBAs?” And the rest, as they say, is history. The minute I started learning about getting a doctorate in organizational behavior, it all clicked. My penchant for reading, writing, and thinking; my interest in business and the workplace; my desire for creativity and autonomy, all seemed to come together for the first time in a single career path.
And so I went for it. I spent the next few years earning my Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, surrounded by some of the smartest and most inspiring people I’ve ever met. Today, I’m beyond lucky to be a professor at UT Austin’s McCombs School of Business. The work is challenging in the best of ways and is always evolving. I get to research the topics I’m interested in, work alongside fantastically bright and witty colleagues, many of whom are some of the biggest names in our field, and teach incredibly talented, hardworking students. As Steve Jobs said, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backward.” I’m glad that all the dots converged to bring me here, and I am excited for whatever is next.
Can you share a story about the funniest or most interesting mistake you made when you were first starting? What lesson did you learn ?
This is more of a funny story than a mistake per se. When you’re a professor, you come to realize that while you get older every year, your students stay exactly the same age. So you need to make sure your cultural references are up to date. I once cracked a joke based on the movie “Jerry McGuire,” proclaiming to my class , “Help me help you!” I got blank faces. When asking who had seen the movie, only two students raised their hands. Fortunately, my next wisecrack, “I’m officially old,” landed well! Relatedly, Gen Z wisely seems to be watching reruns of “The Office,” which provides perfect and timeless fodder for any organizational behavior class.
Jumping to the main focus of our interview, even in 2020, women in the United States still earn about 81 cents for every dollar a man makes. Why is that?
I think it’s important to first distinguish between the unadjusted and the adjusted gender wage gap — two key numbers that are often confused when people try to draw conclusions from stats about the gender pay gap.
The 81–83 cents number represents the unadjusted gender pay gap — that is, the overall gap that exists between all working women and working men, when we don’t control for relevant factors that could be contributing to pay differences. These factors might include differences between men and women in the number of hours worked, education levels, choice of occupation, and years of job experience.
The adjusted pay gap, meanwhile, does control for these variables, allowing for more of an apples-to-apples comparison. Specifically, the adjusted pay gap can help us understand the difference in earnings between a woman and a man working in roughly the same job, for the same number of hours, and having the same level of education. Fortunately, the adjusted pay gap is smaller, as it should be, though not ideal — around 95 cents to the dollar.
But the adjusted pay gap only helps us isolate the extent of discrimination along one narrow dimension — difference in pay for the same work. The gender pay gap — whether adjusted or unadjusted — can’t tell us about the other issues women face because of their gender, such as equality of opportunity. Women, for instance, might have to bargain a lot harder at home and work when wanting to invest in higher education or take on a demanding job. So even if women and men end up getting equal pay for equal work, they might face very different levels of challenge and struggle to get there.
Can you explain the main factors causing the gender pay gap?
First, women and men might be making different choices about their careers. Women, for instance, often prioritize jobs that offer fewer or more flexible hours, but that are also less well paid. This difference in hours worked is one piece likely contributing to the unadjusted pay gap. There are, of course, a lot of questions about the extent to which women’s choices are driven by nature versus nurture. Do women freely choose less well-paying and more flexible occupations out of personal preference, even when other, higher-paying but less flexible jobs are completely available to them? Or, do women make these choices out of social pressure, because they still take on primary caregiving responsibilities at home? There’s evidence for both possibilities. But suffice it to say, for a number of reasons, women and men often make different career choices that end up affecting their real and potential earnings.
Second, research suggests that women may not be choosing low-paying careers, but that careers become low payingas more women choose them: When women join an occupation in large numbers, wages in that occupation tend to stagnate and trend lower. The opposite is true when large numbers of men join a profession. Take nursing for example — a predominantly female profession. Wages in nursing tend to rise as more male nurses join the field. This is certainly depressing, and it points to society valuing women’s labor a lot less.
Third, and relatedly, you have good old-fashioned bias and discrimination. I know this can be a contentious issue, but there’s an abundance of field and experimental research demonstrating all the ways women are dealt a worse hand. Most notably, women face a “double bind.” When they engage in assertive behavior like trying to negotiate for a higher wage, they can be seen as less likable. If they don’t negotiate for higher pay, they obviously won’t get it. This creates a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation.
All that said, it’s encouraging to note that every year the pay gap seems to be narrowing, albeit slowly. Andt in certain U.S. cities like New York City and Washington, D.C., women under 30 are actually out-earning men. This is likely because these cities have jobs requiring high levels of education and women now hold the majority of bachelor’s and advanced degrees. Altogether, it suggests that women’s investment in their education is paying off, and can help further narrow the wage gap.
Can you share with our readers what your work is doing to help close the gender wage gap?
I’m currently examining the role that men play in helping raise gender equity issues at work, like the gender pay gap.
There’s a real tension. On the one hand, we expect that when men speak up to advocate for gender equity, they’ll bring greater gravitas to the movement. This is because men, for better or worse, still have greater status and influence in organizations, and they’re also seen as less self-interested and therefore more credible advocates for gender equity.
On the other hand, many people think it’s not men’s “place” to speak up about an issue largely pertaining to women. The idea is, “This is about the challenges that women face, and about women’s advancement… what do men know? They should just shut up and let women do the talking.” It’s no wonder that men report walking on eggshells when it comes to talking about gender equity. They’re afraid of saying the wrong thing. The truth is, men’s fears aren’t unfounded. My research shows that compared to women, men are, in fact, seen as relatively less legitimate spokespersons for gender equity issues.
So what does this mean for men’s role in the movement? Do we expect men to be mostly silent supporters of whatever women say, or is it okay for men to share independent — perhaps even challenging or controversial — ideas about gender equity? Are people more likely to support the exact same idea about how to tackle a gender equity issue when it’s raised by a woman?
These are the types of questions I’ve been exploring in my research. What I’ve been finding is that people are more likely to support gender equity proposals when women and men come together in mixed-gender coalitions to advocate for them. This is because a mixed-gender coalition brings the “best of both worlds.” Men’s involvement as advocates signals that gender equity is an important issue, while women’s involvement signals the coalition has the legitimacy or “right” to speak up about the issue.
So it seems that one way to tackle identity-based issues like gender equity is to create a coalition of both beneficiaries (women) and non-beneficiaries (men). This suggests that although men’s support for gender equity is useful, it might be “wise” for them to let women lead the way.
I want to note that research on this topic is still developing, and the above preliminary conclusions are descriptive rather than prescriptive. Arguably, in a more perfect world, we would to a greater extent judge proposals for change based on their objective value and content, rather than on who is raising them (e.g., whether a constructive idea for change comes from a man or a woman).
Can you recommend five things that need to be done on a broader societal level to close the gender wage gap? Please share a story or example for each.
There are several things we can do as a society to create gender equity, which again, includes closing the gender wage gap.
To start, investing in women’s education is shown to reap huge social and economic rewards, particularly within the developing world. Women’s education is associated with lower rates of infant and maternal mortality, lower rates of disease and infection, and greater female labor force participation that spurs economic growth.
Second, we can create greater equity by increasing salary and negotiation transparency in the workplace. Research shows that when you reduce ambiguity about whether and what employees can negotiate at work, women no longer feel inhibited to ask, and the gender pay gap closes.
Third, we should implement opt-out (rather than opt-in) policies for promotion, so workers don’t need to ask for advancement. Women are unfortunately less likely to compete or self-promote under an “opt-in” promotion scheme, where you have to actively raise your hand to self-nominate. They hesitate. However, where the default is to be promoted, women are much more likely to remain in the promotion pool.
Fourth, mentor and sponsor junior female employees. It sounds so simple, but it works. People in higher-level roles who take young women under their wing play a huge positive role in their future success and career trajectories.
Lastly, there needs to be greater support for working parents. The U.S. is one of very few advanced countries worldwide that lacks paid parental leave at the federal level. The current Family and Medical Leave Act policy only guarantees eligible employees 12 weeks of unpaid leave, and even that is only within organizations with more than 50 employees. So although the FMLA is a start, it’s not living up to its full potential. Paid family leave can give women a strong financial rationale to return to work after childbirth rather than necessarily prioritizing their partners’ careers. Relatedly, organizations should take steps to encourage men, and not just women, to take paid parental leave. It takes a village to raise a child, and so long as men feel stigma in actively using their company’s childcare benefits, the whole family suffers.
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.
Wow. There are so many important issues plaguing the world — war, poverty, infanticide, lack of sanitation, political polarization, and more. It can feel overwhelming. I also don’t have the data on which of these would lead to the greatest good for the most people.
What I can say — perhaps unsurprisingly — is that I care deeply about education as both a social and economic issue. Three points about this.
First, I’d love to see more free and high-quality education in the developing world. A good education is a force multiplier that benefits entire families and generations.
Second, at a national level, I’m concerned about the decline in reading for fun among children. This is not for purely sentimental reasons. Research shows that reading literature helps increase empathy — it quite literally makes you see the world through someone else’s eyes. Given the level of divisiveness and lack of nuance we see in the world today, something tells me that cultivating a love of reading among kids is one small step towards solving a lot of problems.
Finally, I’m a strong advocate for exposure to liberal education, rather than a purely vocational education. To be clear, I don’t mean politically liberal, or liberal with a capital “L.” What I mean by liberal is an education committed to deep inquiry, critical thinking, analyses of the big issues facing humanity, and reflection on challenging and opposing ideas. Schools shouldn’t just be trying to educate the next finance mogul or tech billionaire, but clear-thinking human beings all around, who are capable of contending with complexity in all its forms. This means engagement with philosophy, literature, and the social sciences as much as with business and STEM fields. They’re all important.
Can you please give us your favorite “life lesson quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
I especially love this quote attributed to the poet William Blake: “Without contraries is no progression.” I mentioned it in my undergraduate admissions essay just under 20 years ago, and I find that it still speaks volumes for me today, well into adulthood. We’re constantly coming up against contraries in life — such as by trying to reconcile good and evil in the world, and trying to navigate pain and joy in our work and relationships. I find that black-and-white answers are rarely satisfactory. Finding just the right shade of gray is the stuff of life.
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 U.S. whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might see this, especially if we tag them.
I’d love to have a meal with Tim Ferriss. I’ve always been a fan of his books, and his podcast is fantastic.
Tim is sort of a rare specimen in the business world, with incredible range on a number of fronts. He combines this vibe of being the “most interesting man in the world” with an “everyman” relatability. For instance, he has just enough confidence to accomplish big things — write bestselling books, invest in blockbuster startups, and host one of the world’s most popular podcasts — but also shows just enough self-doubt to remain humble and continuously learning. His interviews go broad — featuring writers, artists, scientists, entrepreneurs, celebrities, political figures, and sports legends — but never sacrifice depth. His content can be incredibly serious, technical, and reflective, as well as goofy and just plain fun. There’s almost always an episode for the mood I’m in, and I learn something new every time. Tim can be easy to dismiss as the shtick-y “Four Hour [Something]” guy, but those who’ve been following his work for years know there’s much more on offer. I just enjoy hearing him think out loud on an eclectic bunch of topics, and so he’s the type of person I’d be interested to meet not because he’s famous, but in spite of his being famous.
I know Tim is extremely judicious when it comes to emails and meetings. Respect. That said, we’re both currently Austin-ites, so maybe we’ll bump into each other somewhere… Who knows! ☺
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
Modern Fashion: Sarah Carson of Leota On The 5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand Today
An Interview With Candice Georgiadice
Get a coach. I’m really good at leading groups through strategy, figuring out what needs to be measured in order to be improved, zeroing in on the problems to be fixed. My view is that business is ⅓ vision, ⅓ execution, and ⅓ trouble shooting. Even though I am a strong coach and strategic facilitator, I always bring in someone else to lead me through it. Having an outside perspective help reduce group think and allows me to be doing the work rather than leading the work.
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 Sarah Carson of Leota.
A former Wall Street investment banker, Sarah was on the hunt for the perfect dress that could do it all whether it was for work, going out, or travel all while ensuring comfort and quality. Unsatisfied by what the market had to offer, Sarah decided to make it herself. One perfect dress made on Sarah’s sewing machine turned into a multimillion-dollar brand sold in over 500 major retailers globally.
Sarah is a two-time Inc. 500 CEO and SmartCEO Future 50 award winner. She’s also been honored in Women2Watch in Retail Disruption and won Game Changer of the Year for two years straight.
Sarah believes in giving back to the community whether that’s through donating excess stock to women in need or serving as a Director on the board of the LGBT Center in New York. Her commitment to philanthropy, mentorship to emerging entrepreneurs, and mission-driven philosophy are changing the game. Just like her first dress. ‘
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”?
I grew up in a tiny town in southwest Michigan drinking well water where my dad was the only doctor. My little sister and I learned quickly how to be socially acceptable because we had to represent the family appropriately. My dad had delivered every baby and cared for everyone’s elderly relatives so everyone knew us. This was the 80’s so we wore a lot of matching Laura Ashley outfits, puffy paint sweatshirts, and itchy wool next to the skin. My curls got brushed out into a frizzy lampshade shape and my sister had a blonde bowl cut. My mom was a community organizer, always mobilizing the town for a project. She campaigned for a School Board seat and was active with Planned Parenthood. I saw the backlash she received as an uppity woman but that never stopped her. In spite of my parent’s ambition for me and sharp intelligence, my life dream as a child was to go to Stanford, become a check out lady at a store, and have a Ken Doll husband.
My family moved to California when I was a tween, and my mom signed me up for kung fu lessons after I saw a demonstration at the Fourth of July parade. For the first time in my life, I felt strong and competent in my body. It was an amazing feeling. I became obsessed with kung fu and was willing to do anything to succeed. I realized quickly that symbols of femininity were not going to get me any respect in the ring or on the mat. There was no way I was going to let being a girl stand in the way of dominating this sport I’d come to love so much. I shaved my head, wore my groin cup on the outside, and showed everyone how serious I was by behaving and appearing as traditionally masculine as possible. Over my martial arts career, I hid every aspect of my femininity to gain respect. It worked. I ended up a national and international Kung fu champion many times over.
I came out when I was in college at Brown University. It became clear at that point that my life was going to be different. There was not going to be a Ken Doll husband, for one thing. I’ve always been out in my personal life since I was 19 but not professionally. We all know how women need to obscure our personal lives in business because it could be held against us professionally. I’m not sure how much of my code switching was sexism and how much of it was homophobia, but fear of both kept me compartmentalizing.
I found my covering to be exhausting and it made me angry after a while. It struck me as quite unfair that some people got to show up and be themselves and some of us had to leave a part of ourselves at the door. This inspired me as an entrepreneur. What if there were a workplace where you could truly be yourself and not have to worry about your intersectionality being an issue? I decided to create that environment myself and made inclusivity a cornerstone of our workplace culture at Leota.
Can you tell us the story about what led you to this particular career path?
I had never worked in the fashion industry before, but I had a good idea for a brand. I was 30 years old, cooped up in my tailored work clothes at my investment banking job. Fashion was moving toward more casual dressing, and it made me think: What if there was a fashion option that felt as comfy as yoga pants or jeans and a tee-shirt, but was actually appropriate for women’s lifestyles today? I looked all around for this elusive garment, but I couldn’t find the perfect thing anywhere. So I made it myself. I received a lot of interest in the clothes I was making on my home sewing machine, and eventually I decided to go for it. I quit my Wall Street job and started a fashion brand. I named it Leota, after my great grandmother.
Leota struck a nerve with women (women who control 73% of U.S. consumer spending). They love the effortless style and embrace the move away from the traditional power suit (inspired by men’s fashion) toward something completely our own: comfortable, vibrant clothes that are feminine, fearless and unapologetic. Gorgeous and practical. This was my idea of power dressing.
My business achieved astronomical growth — Leota was named on the Inc 500 list of fastest growing companies in America two years in a row. We were in the top 10 fastest growing companies run by women. At one point we had a 1228% three-year growth rate with zero outside funding. I invested around $10,000 of my own savings in 2011 and grew the business to the point where we just shipped our 1.5 millionth dress. My company became a global force in fashion on a literal shoestring.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
My original career plan was to become an attorney. I went through the recruiting process at a few firms and got a job at one of the most prestigious corporate law firms in NYC right out of college and was set to do a couple years as a paralegal before law school. I was thrilled! After graduation and a couple days before my training began, I was chatting logistics with my HR onboarding rep and asked her if she knew how many of their partners were women and/or people of color. I was just curious because diversity was important to me. HR said they didn’t have any idea what the demographics of their leadership was, but they’d see if they could find out. The next day I received their answer via email. Their response? They rescinded my job offer. I think I was so stunned that I changed course completely. I ended up getting an internship at a digital agency and then taught myself investment banking because I couldn’t afford my rent. I am decisive and strategic, but still, some random events shaped my direction.
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?
Compulsively forward moving. I am compulsively forward moving, meaning that regardless of what impossible-seeming obstruction occurs, I keep the rhythm of doing the work. I ask myself what is the logical next step, and do that. Big things get built out of lots of small decisions and actions, and I keep it moving no matter what. That didn’t work? Ok, try the next thing and the next thing. Just because I’ve never done something doesn’t mean I can’t figure it out (examples: navigating the PPP and SBA situation, China shutting down in Feb 2020 with all my product half done, suppliers stealing my designs and trying to work directly with customers). I attribute some of my success to being relentless. And impatient.
Comfort with chaos. Behind the scenes, growth is messy. I call it the “scrappiness olympics”. There’s no manual for how to start a business from scratch, so I had to find creative ways of getting information. I followed delivery guys around the garment center and hopped in freight elevators with them to find my fabric suppliers. I found sales reps on other brands’ websites and went door to door in the showroom buildings. I got a lot of no’s. Mostly “no’s.” That’s why entrepreneurship requires nerves of steel. I learned to take action quickly and move on quickly, and there’s definitely no time for hurt feelings. I was always in a rush during my years of fastest growth. I hustled everywhere and never did one thing at a time. You could find me literally jogging down 8th avenue in my uniform of colorful flats, patterned dress and red lipstick, with an 80-pound roll of fabric hoisted over one shoulder, a heavy sack of samples on the other, while inhaling a slice of dollar pizza from the corner joint and talking on my cell phone to my sales rep. I’d think my day was over, then there would be a blizzard and the freight elevator would break and suddenly we’re running pallets down 15 flights of stairs to make our first Nordstrom delivery. This is the reality of fast growth. It was thrilling to be building something from scratch, and without the sense of urgency, there’s no way I would have been able to compete in wholesale and e-commerce with my larger and better funded competitors. Fast fashion would have eaten me alive. You have to be pretty hardcore to build a fashion business during the decade that Amazon was eating everyone’s lunch, and every other headline was about the latest retail apocalypse.
Willing to have the hard conversations. I have challenging conversations all the time but there is no way around it. I have to say no all the time, tell designers that their color ideas aren’t sellable, kill projects that people like, nudge teams to hedge against future risks even though things seem fine right now, explore why this or that metric isn’t being met, and negotiating, negotiating, negotiating. All the bad news usually goes with the leader’s job. This is very uncomfortable. When an organization is going great, only the worst news gets funneled up because the rest is being handled. This is the beauty of replacing yourself in the organization. My view is, there is always a way, and unfortunately for those work with me, I’m usually right.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
Leota delivers amazing dresses that are beautiful, trend right, crafted with care and intention and with an unrelenting focus on comfort. Those that know us love us for our buzz-worthy prints and comfortable designs that are inclusively sized, figure-flattering with the added benefit of being wrinkle-resistant and fast-drying. Beyond that Leota stands out as a brand with our commitment to eco-minded practices and inclusivity whether that’s through the clothes we create or in the workplace.
Do you have a favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story of how that was relevant to you in your life?
“i don’t pay attention to the
world ending.
it has ended for me
many times
and began again in the morning.”
― Nayyirah Waheed, Salt
To me, this poem is a meditation on how to handle crisis, which I have gotten very good at. Your body can only take so much crisis physically, because the panic has an effect on your body chemistry. I obsessively prepare for crisis, and try to recognise it as early as possible, and then just do my part. The pandemic showed me that some things are out of my control and that was hard for me to accept. I’m a former professional athlete so I grew up on a steady diet of limitless self-talk. In my mind, everything was within my reach as long as I put more perfect practice into it than anyone else. If anything didn’t work out, literally anything at all, it was my fault no matter what. The pandemic was humbling. During Leota’s early years, I became a scholar of entrepreneurship. I consumed start up and operations books like they were my last meal. I drank the kool-aid of those mantras such as “work on your business not in your business.” “Hire slow, fire fast.” A solution for every fool, as the Indigo Girls song goes. When the pandemic shut the world down, no amount of “1-page business plans” or Myers-Briggs optimizations were going to reopen the supply chain or stop the spread of a lethal disease that killed over a million people in the US alone. All the strategy in the world, all the hard work and effort in the universe would not reopen things. I accepted that I could only do my part, and the rest is out of my control.
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?
Mission driven brands continue to be the ones that can compete with the big girls. Independent brands continue to struggle though, because the fixed costs of doing business are burdensome, and founders burn out. That’s why I’m creating a conglomerate of mission-driven wellness centric brands that can benefit from economies of scale and world class shared services, and the unique point of view of the brand can reach more people.
Can you share how your brand is helping to bring goodness to the world?
Fashion’s feminism-lite, toxic positivity has resulted in vapid calls for self-confidence, while pushing the same dangerous beauty standards limited to the young, thin, straight, light skinned, and surgically enhanced. Leota makes fashion for all, with a radically inclusive message. I want to bust open the definition of beauty and welcome everyone to the party. I want anyone to be able to put on Leota and feel like a million. Leota is for all — I mean men, women, non-binary, trans, everyone. Fashion is about self-expression and I want to be a part of the freedom that comes from dressing up as yourself. My contribution to fashion and culture is coming from a diverse team of creators.
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?
Ethical business, meaning adhering to a strong set of core values that we establish early on, is foundational. I went into the fashion industry to change it. In an industry — and economy — that is chronically discriminatory and wasteful, doing the right thing isn’t just innovative — it’s disruptive.
Let’s be honest: Our industry has a reputation for being kind of icky. Underneath the shiny, contoured veneer, it’s still largely run by dudes obsessed with women being young and thin and is perfectly content with questionable production processes.
With ever-tightening profit margins and constant supply chain drama, running our companies ethically is a challenge, but it’s also an opportunity that pays off in brand loyalty. Our customers want us to keep ethics front and center in everything we do. Leota customers pay attention to the details. They want fabrics that are tough, durable, easy to take care of, AND still feel great on. We’ve developed our own stretch knit fabrics that are machine washable because it’s what our customers want. It eliminates the expense of dry cleaning and the toxic, polluting chemicals of dry cleaning.
Leota fabrics are comfortable and breathable, but they also last longer, which means less waste, smaller carbon footprint. Low price, high-volume Fast Fashion falls apart after an average of 5 wears and gets tossed after about 35 days. Leota garments are worn an average of 300 times. Our silhouettes are timeless and figure flattering so our gals keep them for years.
Some say fashion is the second most polluting industry, after oil and gas. A big part of that is the less-than-ethical production practices, but it’s also what we do with our product after the season ends. Most brands destroy excess merch…incinerating it, dismembering it and putting it in landfills. Google it, it’s shocking to me. This waste and pollution is just the tip of the iceberg.
That’s why Leota made a decision early on to never trash a dress. We donate all our excess inventory. In 2021, we donated 2,000 dresses to women re-entering the workforce, escaping domestic violence, and living with HIV/AIDS. We worked with breast cancer survivors to tell their stories and raise money for life saving research in women’s health through the American Cancer Society, and donated to the LGBT Community Center in NYC where I am a board member. It’s the right thing to do, and frankly it’s what our customers expect from a socially responsible company.
One more thing about the trend toward ethical operations. It’s not just about what we make and how we make it. It’s about how we treat our employees. Leota is a diverse meritocracy that is absolutely, 200% dedicated to a workplace free of harassment and discrimination. And in the wake of the #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter movements, it is — and should be — expected of all workplaces. Safe self-expression matters. Representation matters.
What are your “5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand”. Please share a story or example for each.
Focus on your core. What exactly are you selling and how is it differentiated? Stick to that in order to avoid having a product that doesn’t have a reason to exist, and a team that is spread too thin. Feel free to say “no thanks” to opportunities and ideas that are a distraction. My business makes one thing really really well. Just one thing. I wasn’t trying to be everything to everybody. I make wash and wear comfortable clothes that are unapologetically body positive and come in all sizes. That’s it! No one else does this exclusively. Maybe other brands have a random comfortable item or try plus sizes once as a fad (which is offensive). We stand for those things, are authentic about it, and are fiercely committed to empowering our customers with convenience, comfort, and body positivity. They reward us with their loyalty. When I did expand my products, I did so thoughtfully — for example selling separates in the same fabrics. In this way, I expanded the customers I could sell to while increasing the products I could sell to my existing customers, and the new products could go through the exact same manufacturing process and be sold through the same channels. This is part of how we grew so fast without breaking.
Hire for your weaknesses. I’ve made tons of hiring mistakes but the one thing I did right was hire for my weaknesses. I am honest about my knowledge and experience gaps and hired people specifically for those things at first. I’m willing to be wrong. There was no way I could know everything, so I need to have a direct and immediate connection to people that fill in my gaps. Since I am self-taught in fashion, my first hire was a classically trained designer who also knew manufacturing. I purposely hire people who are different from me and people who will disagree with me. Not people to make me feel special. If I want to feel good about myself, I’ll call my mom and she’ll tell me how awesome I am. In many cases my vendors and customers became my best teachers: I let them teach me the business. I’m proud that Leota to this day is a 100% women, LGBTQ+, and minority owned and operated company.
Manage financial strain and personal risk. “Growth” is essentially another word for “financial crisis.” The lumpiness of the cash cycle and the personal risk are things I never got used to. Fashion has a particularly challenging cash cycle, wherein we design, develop, and produce garments (cash out the door) 6–12 months in advance of when we can actually sell them (cash in the door). We have humongous working capital requirements because we need to pay for next year’s growth on this year’s receivables. Forget about getting a deposit from retailers. Underfunded businesses have to be ruthless in how they spend money. At Leota, this discipline has made us highly efficient and more profitable — I never had the luxury of making tons of financial mistakes. I didn’t spend money on PR or runway shows, I only spent money on sales. I learned exactly how to spend money to make money. They call that “capital efficiency,” but women and minority owned businesses are often having to do more with less, since we have access to a tiny fraction of the bank and investor funding. One season I received a gigantic order for Spring dresses from a retailer I’d been chasing for a while (one of the no’s I turned to yeses) and I was over the moon with excitement. It felt like my idea was being validated and made all my hard work feel worthwhile. Amazing, right? Then I realized this huge purchase order came with a new problem that took the fun out of it. In order to make these dresses I needed help beyond my vendors floating me for 30 days. My factories came to me saying, look, we need to pay our workers. I felt horribly guilty for putting my vendors in this position, but they actually understood. They told me that’s the way it is for everyone. It wasn’t personal. It was financial. I cashed in some of the goodwill I’d built with these partners and they and my banks floated me for a couple months. Not everyone believed in me. Most people underestimated me and thought my vision wasn’t going to happen. But I didn’t need everyone. I needed a couple of people to want to be a part of the massive growth trajectory, and decide to take a chance on me. Now we’ve done over $100M at retail, so I guess I was right.
You need endurance and intensity. Leading a company through a 1228% growth rate was very intense and required a lot of personal sacrifice. Growing that fast meant that I had to learn to embrace the unknown, and that is scary. Of course, I do my best to analyze every decision and set my team up for success, but ultimately, I have to just go for it and hope for the best. That big order went through just fine and the retailer became a consistent and reliable customer. But I learned the hard way that there is so much out of my control — things that could kill my business. I can never be 100% sure of anything, no matter how much I prepare. I once had a senior employee fail to submit invoices that the company owed to suppliers even though we had a process for doing so. I started getting calls from my factories asking for money, and that’s when I found out that over a quarter million dollars of bills were past due that I didn’t even know about. Of course, we didn’t have the money. When something gets screwed up (which it inevitably does because startups are a shit show no matter how organized and well-funded you are), there is no time to be upset. I learned to recognize the crisis, act swiftly and move on. Entrepreneurship requires endurance. The press loves stories of people whose businesses skyrocket after working on it part time for 5 minutes. They look all perky and well-rested. The fact is, being an entrepreneur takes endurance. You have to be in it for the long term. I studied martial arts, so I’m the queen of getting up after being knocked down. It’s all about using failure to begin again more intelligently. I think balance is overrated. To strive for balance is to strive for mediocrity. Strive for something that matters. Balance itself is not really meaningful. We’re not going to win this game doing Yoga all day. The way I’m going to win is by working the hardest and the smartest in my chosen field. I didn’t stay in business during the age of Amazon by following the “4-hour work week” myth. My biggest challenge professionally has been within myself, finding the courage to continue no matter what. Sure, I’ve faced obstacles like sexism and cash cliffs and having my designs knocked off just like everyone else. Next! I’ve come to think those external challenges are inevitable. All I can control is how I bring it every day. Make no mistake, growth is hard. This has been the ultimate test of my drive. But it’s the best job ever.
Get a coach. I’m really good at leading groups through strategy, figuring out what needs to be measured in order to be improved, zeroing in on the problems to be fixed. My view is that business is ⅓ vision, ⅓ execution, and ⅓ trouble shooting. Even though I am a strong coach and strategic facilitator, I always bring in someone else to lead me through it. Having an outside perspective help reduce group think and allows me to be doing the work rather than leading the work.
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. 🙂
In general, focusing on the helping the most vulnerable people makes the most difference. Right now that is focusing on the safety and rights of transgender people.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Follow me @sarahcarson_leota and @leotanewyork
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Joe Kryszak of Stirling Oils: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a Cannabis or CBD Business
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
The biggest way to fail in this industry — spend too much $$ with marketing companies. Marketing companies are the only ones getting rich in this industry. Learn the basics of marketing and do a deep interview of all the marketing companies.
Joe Kryszak is the founder and owner of Stirlingcdboil.com & Stirlingprofessional.com. Joe completed his undergraduate at San Diego State University and received his MBA in 2002 from Pepperdine University. Joe has run billion-dollar businesses at HP, Lenovo, and Amazon. In 2014, Joe launched Stirling with the goal of providing a healthy, natural alternative to over-the-counter and prescription medication.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you share with us the story about what brought you to this specific career path?
Growing up in California, I had a passion for Cannabis — it was a part of my social upbringing. In college, the cannabis industry was not a traditional career path and I had some amazing opportunities to develop myself and my business career. After amazing successful years of corporate experience at Fortune 500 companies like Black & Decker, HP, and Amazon, I determined it was time to follow my passion and help lead the wave of holistic health solutions for people. The CBD / Cannabis industry was the logical place to put my energy and passion.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Unfortunately, the Cbd/Cannabis industry is full of what we Californians call “posers”. In my 8 years in this industry, I have met 10X the amount of unprofessional, unscrupulous, and arrogant people I have met in my 30 years in the corporate world. The good news is that my experience working with all types of people with different backgrounds and skillsets makes me an excellent evaluator of talent. The biggest lesson I can tell people who want to enter this business? Trust but verify, and then verify again. A bad partnership in this industry means you are doomed.
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?
A potential partner indicated that they had extracted one of the “Holy Grails” of Cannibionodis — however, he was unwilling to get his product tested and was adamant that all 3rd party testing was a scam and the testing companies were not able to verify his solution. We passed on the partnership and he quickly got bought out. Just 3 months later, that partnership blew up and he potential partner came back to us with a radically reduced fee. We passed on him again…Trust but verify — and then verify again!
Are you working on any exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?
We are working with leaders in the retail, extraction, B2C and telehealth communities to develop a complete solution for people who are interested, but nervous, about CBD. This will open up a whole new avenue to this amazing solution.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person you are grateful for who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
I continually lean on people who are smarter than me in specific areas. As we are in over 200 Chiropractic offices, I have continual contact with people who love, own, and practice healthy solutions. I appreciate all the partnerships I have made and will continue to lean on them for procust advice.
This industry is young dynamic and creative. Do you use any clever and innovative marketing strategies that you think large legacy companies should consider adopting?
The biggest way to fail in this industry — spend too much $$ with marketing companies. Marketing companies are the only ones getting rich in this industry. Learn the basics of marketing and do a deep interview of all the marketing companies.
Can you share your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a Cannabis Business”? Please share a story or example for each.
This is not a get rich quick scheme
You will spend far more time making your company successful than you expect
Trust is earned in this industry
Marketing companies are better at marketing themselves than you
This business is like a good golf shot — “Keep your head down and follow through”
What is the best way our readers can follow you on social media?
Cyo Ray Nystrom of Meadow: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started Leading a Cannabis or CBD Business
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Even though cannabis might be legal in your state, it is still considered a vice industry. Do not expect to have the same access to banking, marketing or advertising services, technology, or payment processors.
As a part of my series about strong women leaders in the cannabis industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Cyo Nystrom.
After dealing with persistent vaginal health issues her whole life, Cyo began making her own proactive vaginal health products at age 23. In 2015, she started as the head of sales at Meadow — a Y Combinator backed company building software for the California Cannabis industry — where she learned about the medicinal benefits of the cannabis plant (specifically for vaginal health and sexual wellness purposes).
Her involvement in the industry is deeply personal, as her father was incarcerated for nonviolent cannabis crimes during her childhood. Resounding support from her earliest product testers inspired Cyo to bring in childhood friend, Rachel Washtien, to create a line of proactive, plant-based intimate health products with a goal of revolutionizing the feminine health aisle one product at a time.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
In 2018, Quim was featured on an episode of VICELAND TV’s show Slutever. This exposure was huge for our business and — as it turns out — for me personally as well. After the show aired we received an email to our customer support line simply saying, “I’m so happy for you and I couldn’t be more proud.” That was the subject line, with no body text. I have a background in sales and consider myself to be pretty adept at sleuthing on the internet so I was confident that I could figure out who sent this kind message with only their email address as a clue. It turned out to be my father, whom I’d never met. I was raised by a single mom and my father was incarcerated for nonviolent cannabis crimes for the majority of my childhood. Turns out Viceland was his favorite TV network and he recognized my name when he saw me on the television. I ended up meeting him for the first time a few weeks later, which was a truly life changing experience. I’m so grateful that he reached out after seeing the show because he died shortly after we met. This experience reminded me that timing is everything. Also, when things get tough at Quim — which is par for the course at any start up, it’s reassuring to remember all the amazing things that have happened in my life because Rachel and I decided to start this business, including meeting my father.
Do you have a funny story about how someone you knew reacted when they first heard you were getting into the cannabis industry?
Not really. I was pretty vocal about both my interest in the cannabis industry and the fact that I consumed cannabis. Growing up in the bay area, I really didn’t feel like there was much of a stigma, which made my entry into the cannabis industry easier than some. I do know of many folks who had a much harder time coming out about their cannabis use, and I’m grateful to have always had the support of my friends, family and community.
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?
There would simply be no Quim without my co-pilot and business partner, Rachel Washtien. I had been making vaginal health products for years and probably still would be but she’s the reason those home brewed topicals can now be found in Urban Outfitters and Madewell and so many other shops across the world. She has the most impressive work ethic of anyone I know and her stamina is unmatched. We are so different in our skill sets and I couldn’t think of a better person to run Quim with.
Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?
Yes! We’re working on launching a number of exciting new products this year and we’re also bringing on a notable new partner who will accelerate our brand awareness in key demographics. We also JUST launched the travel-size version of our Happy Clam Everyday Oil and Smooth Operator Intimate Serum — the perfect on-the-go companion for summer!
According to this report in Entrepreneur, less than 25 percent of cannabis businesses are run by women. In your opinion or experience, what 3 things can be done by a)individuals b)companies and/or c) society to support greater gender parity moving forward?
I think as a society we can do a better job at raising women with a higher appetite for risk and better self-confidence. I think those are qualities we do a better job at fostering in young boys and I think those are two qualities that are very helpful to have in your toolkit if you’re going to start your own business.
You are a “Cannabis Insider”. If you had to advise someone about 5 non intuitive things one should know to succeed in the cannabis industry, what would you say? Can you please give a story or an example for each.
I actually think that many of my recommendations on how to succeed in the industry are pretty intuitive, but here are a few things I think are really important to understand –
Even though cannabis is legal for adult consumption in many states (CA, NV, CO, OR, WA, etc), that doesn’t mean you can sell your products across state lines. I can’t tell you how many many prospective investors have encouraged us to sell our THC products in other states without understanding the implications of that suggestion. For that to be feasible — and to be clear, it’s something we’re planning on doing eventually — we’d need to either set up a licensed manufacturing/distribution/sales operation in that state which takes a huge influx of capital or negotiate a licensing deal with a vertically integrated MSO (multi-state operator).
THC and CBD are derived from the same plant but in many states dispensaries are not legally allowed to sell products hemp-derived CBD products or products w/o any amount of THC in them. Same goes for manufacturing. This varies state to state — another reason why its so important to understand the regulations in the state or states you are operating in — but in California a business that manufactures THC products CANNOT legally manufacture products without THC or hemp derived CBD products. This means if you plan to sell both THC and THC-free products, you’ll need separate manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and potentially even websites, social media handles, and business entities. It’s a lot more complicated and less intuitive than other industries which can make it more difficult to expand, fundraise, and even survive.
Even though cannabis might be legal in your state, it is still considered a vice industry. Do not expect to have the same access to banking, marketing or advertising services, technology, or payment processors.
Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the cannabis industry?
Scientific backed research to illustrate the broad spectrum of medicinal uses for the cannabis plant.
National legislation and interstate transportation.
The fact that when states legalize cannabis they see a decrease in opiate related deaths.
Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest?
Outsiders regulating the industry w/o out a comprehensive understanding of the industry
Insanely high taxes stymying growth in the market and pushing people to the black market
Black and brown people who felt the brunt of the war on drugs being locked out of the growth opportunities of the industry.
What are your thoughts about federal legalization of cannabis? If you could speak to your Senator, what would be your most persuasive argument regarding why they should or should not pursue federal legalization?
I think it needs to happen and it needs to be done right by people with a deep understanding of the industry dynamics.
Women In Wellness: Dr Kristine Brecht of Aesthetic Rejuvenation On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Create a list of gratitude- Writing down 3 things that I am grateful for, no matter how small or big, has helped me immensely in remaining positive and appreciative of being alive.
As a part of my series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Kristine Brecht.
Dr. Kristine Brecht has over two decades of specialized training and experience as a Cosmetic Surgeon and currently practices at her State of the Art facility in Burien, Washington; Aesthetic Rejuvenation. After completing her Plastic Surgery Fellowship from University of South Florida, she served as president of the American Society of Liposuction Surgery and on the Board of Trustees for the American Academy of Cosmetic surgery. Dr. Brecht has also held numerous leadership positions within the medical community, most notably as Chairwoman of the World Congress on Liposuction in 2017.
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?
After completing my Plastic Surgery Fellowship from University of South Florida, I served as the president of the American Society of Liposuction Surgery and on the Board of Trustees for the American Academy of Cosmetic surgery. I then had the opportunity to hold numerous leadership positions within the medical community.
One of my most notable accomplishments is serving as Chairwoman of the World Congress on Liposuction in 2017. I have spoken at many conferences over the years regarding cosmetic procedures and techniques. My goal has always been to educate others about these treatments and help them make informed decisions about their own care. I am currently treating patients at my state of the art medical center, Aesthetics Rejuvenation. I focus on providing the latest technologies and treatments for the face, body and breasts. These include face and neck lifts, tummy tucks, facial skin treatments, breast reduction and Liposuction.
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?
A large part of my career has been focused on not only educating myself but educating others. The treatments and topics of skin tightening, liposculpting, fat removal and medical aesthetic procedures were once very “hush hush”. People were afraid to have these procedures done and ashamed to tell others of the treatments they received. I find this very interesting and honestly exciting now. I am excited the beauty industry is headed into a direction of improving confidence and not placing shame onto those who are looking to feel better about their personal appearance. I faced the fear of new technology head on, it has become my mission to make this topic less scary by providing ample education and details to my clients while also consistently educating myself. I know that learning will always be a part of my job; as technology improves, my practice will improve with it.
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?
Beginning my own practice and beginning Aesthetic Rejuvenation was difficult. I trusted my capability and ability to perform procedures and give my patients the best results possible but it is not only me in my office. It is important that everyone in your facility meets the standard that you believe your patients deserve; from medical assistants to receptionists. Luckily I learned the importance of a great team early on and am proud of the team we have at Aesthetics Rejuvenation.
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 am a medical professional that is dedicated to making people look and feel their best. I understand the importance of providing a space where women can come in and take time to focus on themselves. Women spend every day taking care of others, children, families, work problems; they deserve to make an investment in themselves.
I find motivation and drive to keep advancing my practice when I see my patients satisfied with their treatments received by my team and I. Everyday, I am working to make men and women more confident through the results we provide.
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.
Dynamic Stretches- begin or end your day everyday with dynamic stretching. This does not have to be a long workout but rather a 10 minute portion of your morning or night to connect with your body. There are many stressors people face throughout the day and unfortunately they are held within the body. Dynamic stretching releases those tension points and allows your body to release and relax.
Mindful Meditation- Along with stretching I believe it to be very important to incorporate meditation into your day, every day. With a busy schedule, stressors and life moving fast it is important to take 5–10 minutes to check in with yourself, ground yourself and better your mind.
Do Not Check Your Phone First Thing in the Morning- It is becoming increasingly normal for people to check their phone first thing in the morning. A challenge for those reading is to not look at your phone right when you wake up; stretch, meditate, get ready for the day, enjoy a coffee or tea, then check your phone.
Increase your Water Intake- staying hydrated and drinking enough water plays a huge role in the health of your body. Check in with yourself, how much water are you typically drinking a day? Chances are it should be increased.
Create a list of gratitude- Writing down 3 things that I am grateful for, no matter how small or big, has helped me immensely in remaining positive and appreciative of being alive.
If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?
I believe that many people need to invest in themselves. Everyday we are constantly influenced by our surroundings, the negative topics in the media, other people’s opinions and more. This takes a toll on how we feel about ourselves. Some people may feel bad on the inside due to the appearance on the outside or look great on the outside but need mental support. I believe that when people invest in themselves, and take time to focus on themselves they will treat others better. This is why I see it so valuable to invest in making sure you are confident, content and satisfied with yourself.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
Invest in your team- My team is an extension of me so it is very important for my team to hold the same level of expertise, professionalism and eagerness to learn as I do.
Be Comfortable Adjusting- adjusting to the climate of the world, technology and patients’ needs can be scary but it is inevitable.
Invest in Technology — if you are not moving forward with technology you will get left behind, so never stop learning and trying new things!
Invest in Marketing- in the age of social media I have found it very important to take time to build my online presence by posting informational videos, before and afters, client testimonials and more so that people are able to see my work and gain trust in me before even coming into the office.
Never Stop Learning- in order to provide patients with the best and most effective services I constantly am having to read up on new techniques, advancements in technology, medical methods and more.
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 the most dearest to me. A lot of my patients are very unhappy with their appearance and that affects everything around them as this lack of confidence holds them back. Mental health is something that should be of utmost importance and I look forward to more resources being available as more and more people come to this realization as well.
What is the best way our readers can follow you online?
Women In Wellness: Lousia Mojela of Akanda Corp On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Patience is virtue and a necessity — it takes time to realize fruits of one’s labor, key is to not deviate from strategic objectives of but keep focused on executing what’s in the plan, tweaks can be necessary so long as that does not create massive deviation from the plan.
As a part of my series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Louisa Mojela.
Louisa Mojela is the Executive Chairman of Akanda Corp. She has held positions at Lesotho National Development Corporation, Development Bank of Southern Africa (during which time she was seconded to the World Bank in Washington DC), and Standard Corporate and Merchant Bank. In 1994, Louisa together with three other women colleagues founded Women Investment Portfolio Holdings, a company dedicated to the empowerment and women and youth. In 2018, Louisa founded Bophelo Bioscience and Wellness, a company that grows and cultivates medicinal cannabis and in 2021Louisa became one of the founders of Akanda Corporation.
Louisa graduated with Bachelor of Commerce from the National University of Lesotho. She has also completed the Executive Leadership Program at Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2000 Louisa was selected as one of 40 women from different continents and countries for “The Leading Women Entrepreneur of the World”. In 2008, Louisa was recognized as one of South Africa’s most influential women in business and government. In May 2009, Louisa was the winner of the Inaugural African Business Leadership Award in Dakar, Senegal by the African Development Bank (AfDB). In January 2010 Louisa received ’The Builders of the African Economy Award’’ in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Louisa served on several boards including Distell, Sun International, ABB SA, Sasol Mining and Life Healthcare Group Holding (Pty) Ltd. In 2022, Louisa was recognized by Forbes as one of 50/50 Leading Women Entrepreneurs.
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 am the Executive Chairman of Akanda Corporation, an international medical cannabis that grows and cultivates medicinal cannabis in the Kingdom of Lesotho through Bophelo Bioscience and Wellness campus that I founded in 2018. I hold a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from the National University of Lesotho and Honorary Doctor of Commerce from University of Stellenbosch and University of Lesotho.
I am a proud daughter, mother, wife, grandmother, aunty, entrepreneur, and a staunch believer of women and youth empowerment all of which I enjoy the roles I play. As a women in business and a trailblazer in women in cannabis in Lesotho and South Africa, I have learned that failure is not an option as such I have to work hard, practice integrity, respect, accountability, transparency, and uphold high measure of corporate governance because in the end this is still a man’s world and we have to have a dogged determination to be our very best whilst still maintaining our femininity.
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 founded Bophelo Bioscience in 2018 and at that time all I had was a license to grow and cultivate medicinal cannabis from the Ministry of Health in Lesotho. I had no experience working in a cannabis industry nor had I ever seen a cannabis plantation. All I had in mind was I do not need to be an expert in the industry so long as I can surround myself with people who are experts in the industry. I then started the search for a strategic partner that will bring in the know-how and expertise. First, I went to The Netherlands as it is known to be the cannabis capital and met with few companies which initially expressed interest but ultimately nothing concrete worked out. Then I was introduced to Halo Lab’s CEO Kiran Sidhu who then made the trip to come to Lesotho. Following some extensive negotiations in 2019, we agreed on a strategic partnership, and I was appointed Executive Chairman of Halo Labs. Two years later Halo embarked on the reorganization of its portfolio and decided to split its medicinal cannabis operations from recreational and Bophelo Bioscience and Canmart from United Kingdom were flipped into Akanda Corporation a newly established company focusing on the cultivation, production, and distribution of medicinal products internationally for the healing of patients.
Today I am a proud Executive Chairman of Akanda Corporation, very diversified company in terms of race and gender which is listed on NASDAQ, working alongside our CEO Tej Virk, Trevor Scott CFO, Vidya lyer VP Finance and Dr. Asli our President. The lesson for me is that it is important in business to focus and keep your eyes on the price. That I did not have any requisite experience in cannabis did not deter me from wanting to be in the business and playing an important role but noting that in order to succeed I needed to surround myself with experts in the industry.
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?
When I started, I expected that it will be relatively easy to raise capital within the South African Capital Market once a strategic partner was secured and a clear business plan was articulated. I did not realize that in this market cannabis business was still very much shunned even though this was for medicinal purposes. The lesson therefore was it is important to expand one’s horizons and never limit oneself to home market. With the listing on NASDAQ, Akanda has a very wide international shareholder base.
Let’s jump to our main focus. When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?
The cultivation and distribution of medicinal products will have a bigger impact in the world. For a very long time the benefits of cannabis as alternative medicines have been ignored. However, more and more evidence is confirming that cannabis if properly used and administered professionally by doctors can cure many illnesses such as anxiety, epilepsy, inflammation, chronic pain, etc. More and more patients especially adults with chronic pains are switching to the use of cannabis medicines. It will be very beneficial if more pharmaceutical companies can embrace this and put money in the much-required research.
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.
My lifestyle tweaks towards better wellbeing is healthy eating, which includes less red meat, a gluten free diet, avoidance of saturated fats, lots of fruit and vegetables but avoiding those high in acid to avoid inflammation, and lots of water. I am not good at going to the gym, but I compensate that with mornings and afternoon walks. Lastly my grandchildren keep me on balance as I get to do many activities with them. I play tennis and do make time to travel the world to watch tournaments which enhances my wellbeing as I get to relax and enjoy the sport.
If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?
The movement that I think would bring the most wellness to the most amount of people is jogging/walking. It is free, no gym fee required, and it is outside where there is lots of fresh air and because of the world we now live in of covid pandemic, this also provides good social distancing. In my view, every one of us would benefit from this free exercise.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
Getting funding for greenfield projects is a nightmare — typical funders want matured projects. It doesn’t matter how good the business plan may be.
Project preparation is risky and costly. It also takes a lot of time to research and effort to put together the business plan- mostly funded out of pocket as funders do not typically fund a business plan.
Operating from a small developing country with underdeveloped capital market is a challenge — access to capital is limited to fund bankable projects, pool is small and demand for funding high.
Government bureaucracy can delay implementation of projects — pace for urgency in public sector is different from that of private sector. In private sector time is money and that may not be the case in public sector.
Patience is virtue and a necessity — it takes time to realize fruits of one’s labor, key is to not deviate from strategic objectives of but keep focused on executing what’s in the plan, tweaks can be necessary so long as that does not create massive deviation from the plan.
Sustainability, veganism, mental health and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?
All these causes are important, but if I were to choose one, I would choose Sustainability. For me sustainability is an embodiment of many things, environment, social cohesiveness, corporate governance, stakeholder awakes and accountability. A company that embraces Sustainability will ensure that it advocates for environmental issues such as green economy, employee social cohesiveness is transformative and embraces diversity and corporate governance and accountability is always adhered to. For me this ensures that the whole company’s ecosystem is in place.
What is the best way our readers can follow you on social media?
I am generally a private person and stay away from social media. The best communication for me is via my email or iMessage on my mobile
Women In Wellness: Dr Jessica Cho On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Practice every morning 3 things — 3 gratitude lists and 3 small things which bring you joy and happiness– it can be even something like “having my coffee in my bed for 5 minutes to set my intention for a day”!
As a part of my series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Jessica Cho.
To Dr. Jessica Cho, wellness goes beyond an absence of disease. Wellness is a life of happiness, health, and vitality. In 2000, Dr. Cho founded Wellness at Century City, located in the heart of Hollywood’s entertainment business, creating a practice that reflects her years of experience and knowledge. Her background as an internal medicine physician along with her integrative philosophy grants her the unique ability to treat patients as a whole.
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 believe wellness goes beyond an absence of disease. My mission is to educate and help the patients re-create wellness, enabling a life full of happiness, health, and vitality. Together, we must uncover the root causes of your health problems to achieve long-term wellbeing.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?
For more than 25 years, I am honored and humbled to have the privilege of doing what I love every day: practicing medicine. But my journey didn’t start this way. Growing up in Korea, I was expected to become a concert pianist. When I came to the US, I initially studied bioengineering until I fell in love with the wondrous dynamic of the mind and body, working together in perfect synchronicity. Becoming a physician aligned my actions with my heart’s passion and mind’s curiosity.
Fresh out of medical school, I was ecstatic to start practicing internal medicine: the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of illness. Then, a storm hit me during my first few years of practicing. I struggled with sleepless nights, thyroid storm, spiking sugar levels with precarious moods, and unbalanced hormones, losing all my hair and wearing a wig as a cover-up. My specialty doctors couldn’t help me, and the medications I was given caused more side effects than relief. As I faced the isolating emotional repercussions of my health problems, I felt like I had become a shell of my previous self. I lost myself. I could no longer see myself as a wife, as a mom, or as a woman.
Out of my despair came my quest to repair and to heal. I sought to broaden my knowledge beyond conventional Western medicine. After years of re-educating and re-training in integrative & anti-aging medicine as well as Eastern medicine, I discovered how to use all the complementary tools in healing, not only pills and prescriptions.
I am grateful for the life I have lived to get me to this point. My own health experiences helped me become a better physician to my patients, immersed in more empathy and purpose as a partner in healing, as I understand their frustrations and worries on a personal level. Today and every day, I become more inspired to help others heal from within, to achieve long-term wellness, not a quick fix. This is my divine calling and my driving force behind what I do and why I practice medicine every single day.
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?
During one of my first on-call shifts of my internship, my attending doctor tasked me with taking care of his ICU patients overnight. I remember feeling dead on my feet, yet relieved, after 30 consecutive hours. The next day, I found out that one of the patients I was responsible for suffered warfarin-induced brain hemorrhage. I had made a dosing mistake that could have been fatal. The patient luckily made a full recovery, but over 24 years later, I remember how sick to my stomach I felt waiting for news from his surgery. This experience ingrained in me a deep respect for the responsibilities of being a physician. In my work, every small detail, whether it be a piece of history, an offhand complaint, or medication dosage, can make all the difference to each patient. This has been my grateful mistake that has been an eternal blessing, reminding me a humility and respect for what I do for each patient.
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 started Wellness at Century City with a unique, integrative approach to medicine that blends Western Medicine with Eastern medicine. My personal value of empathy and service to others is what I want my practice to embody as my philosophy. And it should be an extension of what I do in my life. This has been reflected in long years of global medical missions to serve marginalized communities all over the world. Over the past decade, I have served Romani, repressed Kurdish communities in the remote Turkey countryside, Syrian refugee efforts in Greece, and indigenous Amazonian tribes and more on my mission. In my local community, I began a yearly tradition of hosting free clinic days at my office every November in the spirit of Thanksgiving. My medical mission is what has been so fulfilling personally, which has illuminated my purpose and passion.
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.
Deeper, more REM sleep which will reset, restore, and replenish you and more & dietary restrictions of gluten and simple carbohydrates.
Practice every morning 3 things — 3 gratitude lists and 3 small things which bring you joy and happiness– it can be even something like “having my coffee in my bed for 5 minutes to set my intention for a day”!
Incorporate HIIT exercises for 5–10 minutes daily. Even taking a walk 10–15 minutes can do much more than you think.
Practice intermittent fasting by fasting for 12–16 hours in between your mealtimes whenever feasible.
Cultivate & optimize your gut microbiome by taking prebiotics and probiotics. Your gut microbiome is the most frontier of the latest anti-aging recipe. Gut restoration yields anti-aging effects by improving your digestion, inflammation, metabolism, immune protection, and brain health.
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 start a movement, I would revamp the American healthcare industry. At a time when the current healthcare landscape is forcing physicians to sell their practices or depersonalize care with extended wait times and rushed appointments, I too am challenged to maintain a high level of patient-centric care and service. I believe patients deserve their physician’s best, which is impossible under insurance restrictions and quota mandates. At my practice, I protect and foster the patient-physician relationship by ensuring each visit has enough time, so I can truly understand my patients, their backgrounds, and how these complex dynamics affect their health today.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
Don’t be pressured to know your passion in your life. You don’t have to know what it is exactly, however, engage fully your mundane daily life. Embrace all your disappointments, failures, and rejections and even anger. Your passion and purpose are being carved out of your daily life when you take one day at a time.
You must stay authentic and true to yourself: you must find answers from within.
You will gain perspective from rest. When you slow down and take a moment for yourself, you will be able to reflect and gain inspiration to forge onward.
Learn to live in the present.
It is simple: Let yourself choose happiness and laugh.
Sustainability, veganism, mental health and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?
Mental health is dearest to my heart. As someone who has been treating successfully mental health for the past 24 years, I cannot emphasize how important it is in your overall physical health. I have embraced this new era of speaking openly about mental health and understanding mental health as an illness. It has been my great honor to have the privilege of listening to each of my patients’ intimate, personal, even traumatic life stories. As a physician, I approach mental health the same way I might approach calcium or Vit D3 deficiency of your bone as it simply represents the deficiencies and imbalanced harmony of your brain neurotransmitters, which also affords the natural remedies to balance and replenish when you understand it in such fashion. It is okay to talk about it and seek help, which truly represents your strength and kindness to yourself.
What is the best way our readers can follow you online?
I often write about newest medical discoveries and the innovative clinically proven treatment options for common health problems in my blog on my website. I am also active on Instagram, where I enjoy sharing more about my daily life and providing free, accessible health education @jessicachomd and Facebook at Wellnessatcenturycity.
