Modern Fashion: Mark Kohlenberg of Moral Code On The 5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand Today
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Have a bias for action. Speed matters. Tenacity matters. You can win business and customers just by executing correctly when your competitors don’t. Master the simple things.
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 Mark Kohlenberg.
Mark Kohlenberg is the founder of Moral Code and Milwaukee Boot Company, as well as the founding partner and CEO of WDM Footwear and Accessories. He is a veteran of multiple start-ups and has a long entrepreneurial history with leading consumer brands in the fashion and footwear arena.
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 Green Bay, Wisconsin. We were a lower middle class Jewish family in a blue collar community. My dad was a plumber and my mom was a housewife. Most of my classmates chose not to go to college, but my parents instilled the value of a great education and also giving back to others. I saw how hard my Dad had to work to earn a living — manual, dirty, physical work, oftentimes outside in the winter. This convinced me I needed to get a good education and find a future outside of my hometown.
Can you tell us the story about what led you to this particular career path?
When I graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the job market was terrible. I had a Political Science degree. The only companies recruiting were Department Stores. The May Company was recruiting at Big Ten schools and offered me a position in their Executive Training Program.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
There have been many. I think one that stands out is when I had been trying to get the attention of “The Sharper Image” catalog when I was running Elefanten. In those days it was the pinnacle of Conspicuous Consumption and really put a brand on the map. I had contacted them many times and got nowhere. Eventually, I found out the name and phone number for the CEO, Richard Thalheimer’s assistant. After several calls to her, she got to know me and started to think I was one of Richard’s friends. One night I was in New York in my hotel room for the FFANY show and my phone rang. It was Richard Thalheimer talking to me like we were old friends. A week later I flew out to San Francisco, met with his team and my shoes ended up on the cover of the Sharper Image catalog.
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?
Integrity — I think nothing else matters if a leader lacks integrity. Even if my customer over orders, over pays, makes a mistake in my favor — I have a responsibility to be truthful with them and make them aware of any errors.
Tenacity — Tenacity is something I live and breathe. In all of my jobs I have always had to prove myself. Nothing was ever easy and I was never handed anything. Tenacity is a trait that is an equalizer. If you continue to push and persevere even when you have self-doubt or don’t think you can continue, you always have an opportunity to compete and win.
Be Comfortable Being Uncomfortable — My old friend from Green Bay, Harvey Kanter wrote a book with this title. It took me a long time to do this but it has served me well. Be comfortable asking the hard questions. Be comfortable speaking up when others won’t. Be comfortable asking for the sale.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
My current company is a bit unusual in the footwear/accessory world in that we are vertically integrated and produce all of our own products in our own factories on site. 95% of the footwear and accessories produced in the world are done by third party manufacturers. This is a big advantage as we can be faster and more efficient than a contract manufacturer and control our own quality. This has been a big advantage in our Private Label business.
Do you have a favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story of how that was relevant to you in your life?
I try to live by Never Give Up. I have pioneered a lot of brands trying to enter the US market. There is no lack of anything in our market so you have to have a great brand with quality and workmanship. Every day there are doors slammed in my face but if you have confidence in your product/service-tomorrow is a new day with a new door.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Do you see any fascinating developments emerging over the next few years in the fashion industry that you are excited about? Can you tell us about that?
Brands that stand for something and take a position on issues. Being able to select a brand that have values that align with your own.
Can you share how your brand is helping to bring goodness to the world?
We have taken steps in the Sustainability area that are meaningful. We pay our workers fair wages and provide a safe and comfortable environment for them to work.
Can you share with our readers about the ethical standards you use when you choose where to source materials?
We operate our own tannery, our own outsole factory, our own footwear and accessory factories so many oft he materials that most brands have to source from third parties, we are able to manage internally. When we work with outside suppliers we build long term relationships with ethical suppliers that produce safe materials.
Fast fashion has an advantage, that it is affordable for most people, but it also has the drawback that it does not last very long and is therefore not very sustainable. What are your thoughts about this? How does your company address this question?
We don’t produce fast fashion and never will. This type of fashion is the equivalent of plastic grocery bags. They end up in landfills and never go away. We produce long lasting products that can be used for years (and oftentimes even reconditioned for many additional years). We believe in buying less quantity and higher quality to avoid filling landfills with cheap footwear or accessories.
Thank you for all that. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand”. Please share a story or example for each.
Have a great product. Without a quality, compelling product-nothing else matters.
Tell your story. You have to work to separate your brand from the pack and differentiate your story.
Actively manage your supply chain. Know your factories. Build relationships with them. Make them want to do business with you. When times get tough, relationships can save you.
Hire for passion. Skills and knowledge can be taught. Passion from your team is something they have or they don’t.
Have a bias for action. Speed matters. Tenacity matters. You can win business and customers just by executing correctly when your competitors don’t. Master the simple things.
Every industry constantly evolves and seeks improvement. How do you think the fashion industry can improve itself? Can you give an example?
Diversity/Inclusion. Go out of your way to mentor others. Help people find jobs. Make introductions and open doors for people. Pay it forward.
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. 🙂
Kindness. Tolerance. Acceptance. I am very concerned about the polarization of people, opinion and viewpoints in our country. Notably LGBTQ rights, Women’s‘ right to choose and Voting Rights. Diversity, inclusion, equality and tolerance should be pillars of business leadership and are under threat in our country.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
They can follow me on my LinkedIn!
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Women In Wellness: Rebecca Parekh and Sarrah Hallock On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Move a little every day. If you can’t squeeze in a workout in, take a walking meeting, stretch off the side of the couch while you are watching TV, take a walk after dinner. Just move.
As a part of my series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Rebecca Parekh and Sarrah Hallock.
Rebecca Parekh is the Co-Founder and CEO of THE WELL, a New York City based wellness provider pioneering a new way to care for your health. Before transitioning to the health and wellness sector, Parekh spent 10 years at Deutsche Bank Securities, focused primarily on structured credit, covering hedge funds and private equity firms as Head of the US Private Institutional Client Group and Head of Cross Product Sales. She is on the Board of Directors of Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation and was previously the COO for Deepak Chopra Radical Well-Being.
Sarrah Hallock is the Co-Founder and COO of THE WELL. Prior to founding THE WELL, she was the Brand Director for vitaminwater, where she oversaw triple digit growth from the brand’s inception through to the sale to The Coca Cola Company. Hallock was also former VP of Marketing and investor for bai, an enhanced water beverage that was sold to Dr Pepper Snapple Group, and WTRMLN WTR before earning health coaching certifications from Duke Integrative Medicine and the Institute of Integrative Nutrition.
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?
Rebecca Parekh: I’ve always been interested in wellness. In fact, I took my first yoga class in utero — my mom was the teacher! But before dedicating myself to the health and wellness industry professionally, I spent a decade in finance working at Deutsche Bank Securities where I was Head of Cross Product Sales and Head of the US Private Institutional Client Group.
I later became COO of Deepak Chopra Radical Well-Being, which was a big step toward my ultimate professional goal — CoFounding THE WELL, where I serve as CoFounder and CEO. I envisioned a better way for people to care for themselves — with an integrated, personalized approach. Nobody was tackling the flaws in our fragmented healthcare system quite this way, so I decided to take it on.
I’m also deeply interested in the intersection of food and health, which is what inspired me to become an advisor to the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Entrepreneurship Program. In addition, I serve on the Board of Directors for Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation along with several non-profit organizations, including Breakout Foundation and LIFE Camp.
Sarrah Hallock: My own personal health struggles with Hashimoto’s Disease are what started me on my wellness journey about 15 years ago. I experienced first-hand how finding the root-cause of symptoms and treating them holistically is critical to healing. That foundational truth is at the core of what we do at THE WELL, where I am CoFounder and COO.
Prior to starting THE WELL, I spent the bulk of my career in branding and marketing. I’ve served as Brand Director for Vitaminwater, overseeing triple-digit growth and the multibillion-dollar sale to The Coca Cola Company. I’ve held VP of Marketing positions for both bai, an enhanced water beverage, and WTRMLN WTR. I’ve also advised and invested in many other consumer brands. Eventually I left my career in marketing to earn health coaching certifications from Duke Integrative Medicine and the Institute of Integrative Nutrition.
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?
Rebecca Parekh: In 2011 I took a trip to Tanzania with Jane Goodall and her organization JGI. I studied Biological Anthropology and was deeply inspired by Jane and her life’s work. As one of the world’s most dedicated conservationists, it was fascinating to see how she approached protecting chimpanzees and their natural worlds. She identified the drivers behind deforestation and poaching — two of the largest threats to chimpanzees — and started problem solving creatively and holistically. For example, JGI set up family planning clinics to help Tanzanians manage how many mouths they were desperate to feed since chimps were sometimes being killed for bushmeat.
Chimps are also valuable on the exotic animal trade market, so JGI developed coffee farms to provide good-paying jobs and eliminate the need to resort to this terrible trade. They planted quick growing forests where trees could be used for building homes and firewood, thereby preserving the slow growth canopy and its nutrient dense leaves which chimps relied on for both nourishment and habitat. Jane looked at systemic issues, addressed them head on and worked to provide alternatives. Seeing that really shaped my approach to problem solving and inspired me to look at the root cause of systemic issues to find sustainable solutions.”
Sarrah Hallock: It’s going to sound strange, but getting sick is the best thing that ever happened to me. It forced me to get serious — and curious — about my own health, and that in turn changed the trajectory of my career. It motivated me to become a certified health coach and planted the seed for creating an integrated wellness experience.
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?
Rebecca Parekh: I wish I had followed the adage: ‘Start before you’re ready.’ I wouldn’t say it was a mistake, per se, but I do sometimes regret not starting THE WELL in 2010, when I first had the idea. That said, I try to grow from so-called missed opportunities. Hindsight is always 20/20, and I trust that things are unfolding as they are meant to. Still, next time, I’d start sooner!
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?
Sarrah Hallock: One of the most frustrating parts of traditional healthcare is how often those institutions and their practitioners dismiss patients’ concerns or suffering because they don’t see a textbook etiology of a problem. This happens to women most often. What we’re doing at THE WELL is modeling a better system and creating awareness and community for people who might otherwise be ignored. We practice functional medicine, which again, looks at the root cause of a problem and treats the whole person, taking into consideration things such as diet, stress level, gut health and more.Research has proven the effectiveness of this approach, but mainstream institutions have been tragically slow to adopt it.
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.
Sarrah Hallock:
1). Drink water as soon as soon as you wake up to flush out toxins and rehydrate your cells. (Aim to drink half your body weight in ounces of water on a daily basis.)
2). Get exposure to natural light (or use a light-therapy box) soon after rising to trigger your brain to release chemicals that regulate sleep cycles.
3). Prioritize getting enough sleep at the expense of almost everything else — Netflix, social media, work, socializing, sex. Well, maybe not sex.
4). Move a little every day. If you can’t squeeze in a workout in, take a walking meeting, stretch off the side of the couch while you are watching TV, take a walk after dinner. Just move.
5.) Nourish your gut. The health of your microbiome impacts so many aspects of health — immunity, mood, skin health, weight management and more. Eat probiotic foods that nourish your gut and steer clear of ones that harm it, like sugar.
If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?
Sarrah Hallock:
1). Everyone has an opinion about what you should do — and that can take you down a lot of different paths. Find your trusted advisors and tune out the noise.
2). Your business plan is a roadmap, but many of your early assumptions may not hold true and that’s alright. Pivoting is part of the process.
3). Focus is everything. There is no shortage of good ideas, but you have to stay maniacally focused on your mission in order to bring it to life.
4). Ask for what you want. In general, people don’t hand out opportunities — you need to go after them with some gusto.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
Rebecca Parekh: I can’t pick one because many of them are inter-connected. For example, I am mostly a plant-based eater. We know that factory farming is damaging to the environment because of the amount of methane gas it generates, which is contributing to the climate crisis. A warmer world, in turn, spurs droughts, pests and makes it difficult to grow certain crops. We can’t sustain life the way we’re going, so we need to re-evaluate the entire system. That’s my general thesis in life — we have to care about the whole, not just certain parts.
Sarrah Hallock: One of the most pressing, universal issues is the mental health crisis. The pandemic has taken a toll on just about everyone, everywhere — our team is no exception. So on a company level, we were very thoughtful and intentional with our re-opening process to ensure that everyone felt safe and supported. We produce editorial and social content that focuses on mental health issues and how to ameliorate them in a 360-degree way. Mental health challenges are at an epidemic level and we need to treat them with every tool we have access to, without an ounce of judgment.
Sustainability, veganism, mental health and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?
Rebecca Parekh: I think we should be covering the wider array of wellness (nutrition, emotional trauma, soil health, etc) from grade school curriculums to medical school training. We need to start the education process much younger and include science-backed techniques, such as mindfulness and meditation. In his book Mindful Nation, former presidential candidate Tim Ryan talks about how we ask kids to pay attention but don’t teach them how. Managing stress and emotions, learning how to nourish our bodies and care for our community, these are life skills that we should be talking about in all forums at all ages. When you look at what’s happening in our country — a skyrocketing mental health crises and widespread chronic illness — we can’t afford for wellness to be fringe. The need is too urgent and dire.
What is the best way our readers can follow you online?
Modern Fashion: John Gray Of 1000 Kingdoms On The 5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand Today
An Interview With Candice Georgiadice
Another extremely important element for leaders of fashion brands is the need to be persistent. Not every product is going to sell well, and not every quarter or year will be better than the previous one. Do not get discouraged. Take an unemotional approach to problem solving and work diligently to find areas of improvement. If something fails, it may only need a few tweaks before it can turn around and become successful, and persistence is the key to this turnaround. No fashion brand ever became successful without an extremely high level of persistence from its leaders.
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 John Gray.
John Gray is the Managing Director of 1000 Kingdoms, a Men’s sleep and loungewear fashion brand whose products are made from 100% silk fabric. John has business experience over a range of industries and has been involved in the textile and fashion industry for nearly a decade.
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 was born in Vancouver Canada, and then spent most of my childhood growing up in the Canadian Prairie cities of Winnipeg and Calgary. My Father was moving to different regions of Canada for work and so the family moved city to city as well, usually in 4 year intervals. By the time high school came around we had moved back to Vancouver, which is where I finished high school, graduated university, and remained until 2013.
Can you tell us the story about what led you to this particular career path?
My path to this point has been a bit peculiar, as most of us could probably say. My business journey really started when I purchased a small logistics company a few years after I had graduated university.
Operating a logistics business is interesting because you have access to a broad range of companies warehouses doing business across a diverse set of industries. When you’re in a company’s warehouse to get to learn about their production lines, their storage facilities, which products they sell, how much they sell, who they are selling to, and where they are buying from. I learned a lot about business during these years, not only because I was operating my own business, but also because I was observant and curious about the businesses I was serving.
In the course of operating this company I happened to work with many Chinese business owners, which is no surprise since 21% of Vancouver’s population is ethnically Chinese. So one day I decided to start taking Chinese lessons on the weekends because I thought it would be a good way to communicate with some of my customers.
As all this is taking place, the Chinese economy had been growing at a frantic pace of around 10% GDP per year. Being an ambitious 25 year old who was starting to speak pretty good Chinese, I decided to sell my flourishing logistics business so I could roll the dice in China where everybody seemed to be profiting.
Fast forward to 2013 and I am now living in Shanghai, getting started in the export industry. I created a trading company and started exporting a range of products back to many of the customers that I had originally met through the logistics business. My business continued to grow and as my time in China went on I had begun to take a keen interest in fashion, and had amassed an immense collection of tailor made clothing; particularly suits, jackets, and shirts. I had also come to work with many men’s fashion retailers and was sourcing products or managing projects in China for them.
It was during this period that I first met the love of my life. Silk. The colors were so vibrant, the sheen was so bright, the fabric was so smooth, and the feel was so luxurious. The more I learned about silk the more I fell in love with it. It was a natural, hypoallergenic, and ancient fabric that has a long history dating back to the year 3000 BC.
I started wearing silk all the time, with every outfit. And just like that, through my love for silk and my obsession with men’s fashion, paired with all the knowledge and wisdom I had picked up from my apparel clients in the trading business, 1000 Kingdoms was born. I hired a designer, started touring silk production facilities, found the right manufacturing plant, and got to work.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
The most interesting aspect of my career that took place since I started 1000 Kingdoms is, by far, learning about SEO. When I say learning about SEO, I mean really learning about SEO, because most of the “SEO professionals” out there unfortunately have no idea what they are talking about. SEO is an extremely vast, dynamic, and complex space that requires a lot of attention, especially in the internet era and particularly since the pandemic began.
I’ve spent a lot of time focusing on SEO and working with experts in the field, to not only develop the business but to also expand my personal knowledge as well.
3 years ago I did not expect to have large portions of my day taken up by work and meetings relating to SEO. The time spent focusing on SEO is well spent and it’s been an incredibly interesting and rewarding learning journey.
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?
The first and most important character trait that I think anyone can have is the willingness to be yourself. The ability to truly be yourself manifests itself in a number of different ways, and one of the most important things I think it leads to is passion. If you are true to yourself you will end up doing something that you are extremely passionate about and devoted to. Without an extreme level of passion for the fashion industry, or whatever business you wish to enter, it will be difficult to overcome the intense competition and obstacles that will inevitably come your way. Being yourself also makes you more likable, and likeability is a big contributor to success in business. When I am trying to sell our merchandise to an owner of a retail store, the more they like me, the more willing they are to work with me. Be yourself and good things will happen.
The second character trait that has helped in my success is having the ability to be a team player.
I’ve always understood the value of teamwork and how it applies to business. Your business is only as strong as the relationships you have with your employees, vendors, manufacturers, and retailers. Being a team player has been of tremendous value to me, and has helped me overcome many difficult obstacles. When everyone involved in a project shares the same common goal, zeal, and lack of ego, it makes things a whole lot smoother. With the current global supply chain issues it forces our company to work as a team with individuals from our silk vendors, production center, shipping partners, and retailers, to make sure we are adequately meeting the challenges currently facing us.
The last character trait is something that most people consider to be a negative, but I actually consider to be a positive, and that character trait is impatience. Being impatient doesn’t mean getting angry. Being impatient means you have high standards for the speed and efficiency of how things are executed. Patient people never never get anything done because they are content to wait around and accept missed deadlines.
Impatient people are constantly looking for ways to make systems and processes more dynamic, efficient, and effective. The fashion industry requires you to set strict deadlines for things like design, production, and marketing, because one delay in any of those areas can end up having a negative and severe domino effect. Being too patient can quickly lead to lingering delays and missed deadlines, which is why I like to remain impatient as it relates to business.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
1000 Kingdoms stands out because of its affordability. Silk has only been accessible to a small demographic because the high prices placed most buyers out of the market. We want all men to be able to experience the luxuries and comforts of silk, which is why we offer our silk pajamas for the most affordable prices possible.
When you love something as much as I love silk, it is really gratifying to see other individuals get introduced to and subsequently fall in love with it as well. I think because of our affordable prices we have been able to reach a wider audience that would not typically be in the market for a pair of 100% silk pajamas.
In this market buyers are careful with how they spend their money and also have the ability to quickly compare prices across the web. With these buyers being so price conscious it is important to sell your products at a reasonable and affordable price, especially if you are a newcomer.
Do you have a favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story of how that was relevant to you in your life?
I recently read a story that Jay Shetty shared in his book “Think Like a Monk” that describes a Taoist farmer and how he reacts to different situations in life. The moral of the story is that the farmer reacts indifferently to any good or bad situations that occur in his life. He doesn’t get too high during the good times, and he doesn’t get too low during the bad times. The farmer embraces uncertainty, lets go of the past, focuses on the present, and cultivates inner peace.
We’ve all seen the twists and turns that life can throw our way, especially over the last 2.5 years. For me, because of this story about the Taoist Farmer I was able to understand that we never truly know what’s around the next corner, so don’t judge the moment, because some of the worst situations in life are directly followed by some of the best situations in life, and vice versa.
I read Shetty’s book while we were deep in the middle of the pandemic, around September 2020. During this time business owners in a variety of industries saw their revenue dry up and maintaining their businesses seemed like a hopeless wish. Then as the pandemic continued to progress, a lot of those same hopeless business owners began to see new lucrative opportunities emerge and some began to thrive to an even greater degree than before.
This taught me to not get too high or too low in the moment. Focus on what you can do today in order to maximize the strength of your business, don’t worry about the unknown challenges of tomorrow, and don’t hang your head about the losses of the past.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Do you see any fascinating developments emerging over the next few years in the fashion industry that you are excited about? Can you tell us about that?
One of the developments in the fashion industry that I’m excited about is the consumer’s willingness to take risks and try new things. You are starting to see a lot of innovation and variety amongst new products in the fashion industry, and they have been very well received by consumers. I think I first started to notice this within the footwear industry. Some of the new shoes are totally unlike anything the market has ever seen before, and a lot of those unique designs have become the standard and are being widely imitated by competing brands.
This willingness to try new things is showing itself in the clothing market as well, as we are seeing the reemergence of garments containing more eccentric designs, patterns, and colors. At 1000 Kingdoms we like this trend because silk is meant to be an over-the-top, eccentric type of fabric. Silk absorbs color better than almost any other fabric, and its dazzling sheen brings these sparkling colors to life. Silk clothing is known for its flashy printed patterns and designs, which makes it an ideal product to be selling during this colorful period in fashion.
Can you share how your brand is helping to bring goodness to the world?
1000 Kingdoms uses natural environmentally friendly 100% silk fibers to produce our pajama sets, which means we are minimizing our environmental impact. One of the biggest problems in the fashion industry is the negative effect it has had on our rivers and oceans. We want to produce our clothing sustainably and with the smallest environmental impact as possible.
We also believe in the importance of a good night’s sleep. Getting good quality sleep is important not only for your health, but also for your career and personal life. We all know the effect a few nights of bad sleep can have on our lives. It makes us cranky, tired, unproductive, and more likely to get sick. Things can start to feel like they are falling apart once you are slightly sleep deprived.
We truly believe that our silk pajamas will help customers to get a deeper and more restful sleep, which leads to better health, a better life, and more goodness in the world!
Can you share with our readers about the ethical standards you use when you choose where to source materials?
Coming from a product manufacturing and trading background, I was very particular about the types of vendors that we identified and chose to work with. I visit factories personally, and choose my production partners carefully based on a range of different criteria.
One of the most important things I look for when I visit a factory, and something that tells me a lot about how the factory is being run, is the level of happiness and morale amongst the production workers.
Working in a production center is a tough job, and some bosses can under-staff and over-work their factory employees. When I see that a factory’s production staff has a high level of morale, it immediately indicates two important things to me.
One is that the bosses are good, fair, and equitable people that could potentially be good business partners to work with.
The second is that the factory will be consistent in the quality of work they perform.. Production employees with a low sense of morale tend to quit more often, which leads to higher staff turnover and a lower quality product. Overworked production staff also tend to rush through tasks in order to keep up with the heavy workload, which again leads to a lower quality output. Treating your production staff well is the right thing to do, and is also good for business.
We also had ethics in mind when we chose to make our flagship products out of silk. Once you become aware about how harmful fast fashion clothing is, it is hard to want to buy clothes made from synthetic fibers ever again. I became acutely aware of these issues because of my first hand experience witnessing the lack of environmental ethics involved in the production of these products.
The reason we make our clothing out of silk is because it is an ethical, natural, and environmentally friendly fabric that we can feel good, both physically and mentally, about wearing.
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?
More and more buyers are becoming aware that fast fashion is a problematic industry, which is why we have seen the explosion of clothing companies that use natural and recycled fibers to create their garments. Fast fashion creates a lot of pollution both during production as well as after, because oftentimes these cheap, low quality fast fashion garments end up being on a garbage heap in a landfill only 2 or 3 months after purchase.
1000 Kingdoms was created directly because of this issue. A growing demographic of buyers are demanding high quality clothing products that are also ethically sourced and sustainable. Buyer’s don’t want to buy something that is going to end up in the garbage shortly after purchase, nor do they want to buy clothing that is heavily damaging to the environment.
Our men’s silk collection is both high quality as well as sustainable, so our customers will be able to enjoy it with a clear conscience for years to come.
Thank you for all that. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand”. Please share a story or example for each.
One of the most important things for fashion brands these days is having a leader that understands SEO. Every fashion brand wants to be successful online, and without an intermediate understanding of SEO amongst the brand’s leaders, it will be very difficult to stand out from the competition. Everyone thinks selling online will be easy, until they realize they have just opened up a shop in the darkest corner of the world’s biggest and most competitive shopping mall. A lack of knowledge relating to SEO will lead to wasted time and money, as well as deep frustration and maybe even failure. The holy grail of online marketing is being able to get customers to your website organically for free. Using SEO correctly will help you to get more customers, increase margins, and to have a more predictable sales cycle.
At 1000 Kingdoms we have successfully used SEO strategy in order to lower our paid marketing costs and get more customers from free organic search. People are already searching for your products, you just have to get your brand in front of their eyes. SEO is the best way to do this over the long run.
The next important thing you’ll need to lead a successful fashion brand is the ability to analyze data. It is crucial to effectively analyze the data you receive online through your website, SEO, and paid marketing in order to make smarter business decisions. Running split ads, testing out different email campaigns, and studying seasonal trends are just a few of the areas that you are able to extract data from in order to make smarter business decisions and increase your sales. If you do not understand how powerful data and analytics can be, then you should read Big Data by Bernard Marr to learn about the magic powers you can gain by becoming competent in data analysis.
We recently used testing and data analysis to figure out that our sales increased on our mobile website when we displayed our products in rows of 2, as opposed to rows of 1 or 3. By simply making this quick adjustment to our mobile site, we allowed ourselves to instantly increase sales and revenue. Magic!
Being a good planner is the next important thing for leaders of fashion brands. The importance of being able to create detailed and realistic plans for weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly objectives cannot be overstated. Being able to plan well will help your brand to move more efficiently, make less mistakes, create more momentum, and ultimately become more successful.
Another extremely important element for leaders of fashion brands is the need to be persistent. Not every product is going to sell well, and not every quarter or year will be better than the previous one. Do not get discouraged. Take an unemotional approach to problem solving and work diligently to find areas of improvement. If something fails, it may only need a few tweaks before it can turn around and become successful, and persistence is the key to this turnaround. No fashion brand ever became successful without an extremely high level of persistence from its leaders.
Unfortunately, many of life’s most valuable lessons are learned through failure, and my lack of persistence is what led me to fail in the creation of my first business. Immediately after university I started an online business selling a wide range of men’s toiletries that included shaving supplies, cologne,deodorant, hair care products, and more. I was young and business was difficult, and after a few challenging situations I decided to close up shop and take a loss. I knew I had made some beginner’s mistakes during the course of the business and that was valuable but also painful. What was even more painful was having to watch as other companies (Dollar Shave Club for example) became successful in the exact same space that I was trying to compete in. I knew that with a higher level of grit and persistence I could have made it work, and I didn’t want that to be the reason I had failed at something ever again.
The final important thing that you need to lead a fashion brand in 2022 is to make sure your product fills a genuine need or solves a specific problem. There are so many brands out there now and many of the successful ones have a unique value proposition that focuses on solving a specific problem. Find your niche and hit it hard.
We’ve seen this in the past with the rise of plus size clothing and clothing for big and tall men. In more recent examples I’ve seen brands become successful by making formal clothing and suits for athletically built men who may have trouble finding suitable clothing because of their muscular body type. These brands use fibers like spandex or nylon in their garments to give these athletic men more flexibility and range of motion while wearing a suit. A good example of this is the makers of the X suit; Google them if you have a chance. When you solve a specific problem for a niche group of people it will help your brand to stand out in an incredibly crowded fashion retailing space.
Every industry constantly evolves and seeks improvement. How do you think the fashion industry can improve itself? Can you give an example?
I think the use of harmful chemicals to produce fast fashion clothing is the biggest issue currently facing the fashion industry. Most people aren’t aware how harmful the chemicals being used to produce their polyester, polyurethane, rayon, spandex, and nylon clothing are. Even the people who are aware of the problem have most likely only heard or read about the issue.
I’ve been in the manufacturing plants that are producing these types of synthetic fabrics and I have seen the damage it does not only to the environment, but also to the health of the workers. Take polyester for example; polyester is an extremely popular fabric that is used to make t-shirts, sweaters, suits, sweatpants, athletic wear, bed sheets, and more. Polyester is made from ethylene terephthalate, a chemical that is mainly used to make plastic water bottles and packaging. Your t-shirt is made from the same chemicals as your plastic water bottle or plastic container. These compounds break down into tiny non-biodegradable microplastics which are extremely harmful to marine life and the oceans.
In addition to the chemicals, the textile dyes used to add color to fast fashion garments are the world’s second leading polluter of water. The chemicals used to dye fast fashion garments often leak into waterways and contaminate nearby farmland.
On top of all that, fast fashion is named that way for a reason. The garments produced for the fast fashion category are often low quality or just cheap “throwaways,” like a 10$ black t-shirt from H&M that you may only wear 3 or 4 times before discarding. These garments eventually find their way into the landfill and begin to pile up extremely quickly with no ability to biodegrade.
The solution to this problem is to produce more clothing made from sustainable fibers such as silk, sheeps wool, hemp, linen, organic cotton, bamboo, or cashmere. These fabrics are better for the environment, better for our personal health, and are generally more luxurious and desirable than fabrics made from synthetic man made fibers.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I would start a movement to promote the importance of laughter. In my opinion, the amount of times we laugh in a day is directly related to our level of happiness, as well as our overall well being and mental health.
Laughing feels good, and actually triggers the release of endorphins in our body. I would want people to be conscious about how many times they laugh and smile per day. When you meet with a humorous friend or watch a funny movie and begin to laugh, all of the other problems or worries you may have had seem to drift away. We have all seen a nasty mood or situation get turned around when a little bit of humor gets added to the mix. Laughter is the great diffuser, common ground, and olive branch.
Everyone wants to smile and everyone wants to laugh, so find good friends, books, movies, shows, or comedians that make you laugh, and make sure you are smiling and laughing enough throughout the course of your day. The more time we spend laughing, the less time we spend arguing with each other or stressing over small things. Laugh lots in order to live a happy life.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Female Disruptors: Megan Fitzpatrick of The Fitz Solution On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Life has given me many lemons that I have turned into many different flavors of lemonade. As I have navigated the world of entrepreneurship, some lemons have come in the form of judgment for my decisions. I was raised Catholic, and while I am no longer practicing, I still live by the Mother Theresa quote, “It was never between you and them anyway.” I believe there is a higher purpose and staying true to your own core values is the key. While this quote has carried me though most of my adult life, there is one more that I have lived by since I was a teenager. “The Rose that Grew from the concrete” by Tupac Shakur was what I imagined when things got challenging as a young teen. When I was 16, I tragically lost my mom and I stepped up to raise my younger brother and sister. I would imagine myself as the Rose when things got really tough. Today my brother and sister are successful engineers and the three of us have an unbreakable bond.
As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Megan Fitzpatrick.
The founder of The Fitz Solution and creator of The Ultimate Selfie. Megan Fitzpatrick is the “What’s Next? Educational Guru” empowering tweens, teens and young adults to lead passion driven lives without filters. The Ultimate Selfie is a combination of Megan’s experience in and out of the classroom. #UNFILTERED www.thefitzsolution.com
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?
Growing up in South Florida was an experience where I learned about loyalty and pride for your neighborhood. I am a graduate of Miami Southridge and then attended Saint Mary’s college which was not only 1000 miles away in physical distance but also worlds away in culture. Being able to see education from all different avenues is one of my special powers. I also consider this to be a differentiator in my views of education.
Returning to Miami after graduation I was filled with hope and excitement. Entering my first classroom, I still remember the overwhelming feeling of happiness I experienced from a teacher who showed empathy and compassion for me when my mom tragically passed away when I was just 16 years old. My 10th grade math teacher humanized teaching and showed me the real role that a teacher plays in the lives of their students. This was my commitment: if I could impact one life the same way she impacted mine, I was doing my part. Thank you Ms. Carmenate!
Education and I are partners in crime. Working for many years in the public school system had its challenges and deciding to walk out of the classroom to found my business was also one of the hardest decisions I have ever made; I felt as if I had abandoned my students. Fast forward 13 years, and today I have founded The Fitz Solution and created The Ultimate Selfie. As my business grew, so did my desire to make students better future leaders and more confident citizens. I founded The Fitz Solution with the mission of ‘Empower Tomorrow’s Leaders Today.’
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
Initially, when I founded my company, I began offering private tutoring, college preparation, and test preparation services. While providing these services, I began to build relationships with my clients by creating a holistic approach to private education services. After completing my first business plan at Florida International University (FIU), I made a connection between its components and my desire to make better students. You see, developing a SWOT analysis, an exit strategy, and projection goals can all be applied to creating a successful plan for teens. The Ultimate Selfie is the legacy of The Fitz Solution. Combining my years in the classroom, personalized educational consulting, and business planning make this curriculum unique — developing students on academic, social and professional levels.
As the creator of The Ultimate Selfie, I call this ‘facilitating Non-Googleable knowledge’ for my students. When Ms. Carmente humanized teachers for me, I realized how impactful education truly is and how it transcends the classroom. The Fitz Solution is a business committed to making generations better one filter-free selfie at a time. The Ultimate Selfie is curated using the Instructional Design ADDIE model (Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate) keeping the content learner focused and always relevant to a teen’s needs outside of the classroom. This includes creating a non-judgmental place for teens to explore who they are and define their core values. The Ultimate Selfie allows participants to explore their strengths and aligns them to their passions to confidently answer the question: “What’s Next” after high school? We explore all post-secondary options: college, trade school, gap year, internships, or starting a business. Our current system asks teens, “What college do you want to go to?”. The Ultimate Selfie empowers teens to confidently answer the question “Who are you?” first to be able to define themselves and then take full responsibility for their plan. As a society we are asking teenagers to make adult choices on next steps in their lives while at the same time asking them to raise their hands to use the restroom. The Ultimate Selfie is designed to empower the participants to make these decisions based on who they are versus what they are told they should do. #UNFILTERED
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?
Mistakes are the fun part; a mentor told me this a long time ago. I did not fully understand how facing “failure” in the face like this could be the fun part. Entrepreneurship is a journey filled with these fail forward moments, each one getting us one step closer to the answers to the problem we are trying to solve. Now mistakes come in all different shapes and sizes. When I first started teaching I was filled with so much hope to change the way students learn and think about math. I know, I know… a way bigger mission than I even understood. Fast forward a few years and I left the classroom to pursue my dream of building The Fitz Solution. Starting out as a new business owner, a fun part of the business is naming your company. One of my first ventures was an on-demand tutoring app that would use geolocation and iOS to connect learners to tutors. As my business partner and I discussed names, we ended up using Whiz on our first iteration. After a few months of development we added the tagline, Become a Whiz in one Flick. #WhizFlick. In a meeting to review our business plans one of the potential investors asked “Where we’re going to Whiz” and the whole room laughed a little because he accidentally said, “So where are we going to take a wiz?” We had never made the connection of Whiz also having the same sound as taking a wiz. Let’s just say, our hashtag of Whizflick was also quickly changed. While the naming of the program was fun, the lesson here is to test amongst others to ensure we do not have a double entendre that aligns to bodily functions.
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
Gratitude is a key component for me as a person and a core value of my company. My story has unfolded in a way that has chapters of tragedy and triumph. I lost my mother at 16. She was my best friend and my number one reason for making the decisions I have made in my life. Her way of connecting with people, even strangers, is how I run my current client relationships. Clients are family.
In her loss, she gifted me with her best friend, Barbara Blanck who I fondly call Aunt BJ (Barbara Jane). My mom and her were soul sisters that met in college. Throughout my childhood, she was the fun aunt who would get us ice cream before dinner and at the same time, lend an understanding ear. As I have grown into adulthood, she has become a confidant for me. She has guided me with love and acceptance through my failures and my victories. My sister and brother, Sarah and Thomas, have been two of my biggest inspirations. My sister’s ability to see through negative situations and objectively react is an inspiration. My brother has been able to see me for all the gifts I bring to the world and reminds me of this regularly. His calm and caring nature is exactly what I need during tough times of running a business. To each of you, Thank YOU!
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?
Disruptive in the world of entrepreneurship is common to me. As entrepreneurs, we often are creating new ways of working, of thinking — perhaps something that hasn’t been done before or thought of. In the other half of my world– education — disruptor is more of a foreign concept to some — a new found pathway. However, the pandemic sped up the need for more disruptors in education. This time showed the world how much change is needed in education. As I have built my company, when I am in a room filled with other entrepreneurs and say “College is not for everyone,” they agree and understand the importance of educating on different paths. However, it is not always met with so much understanding in the education spaces. I am building a company that is committed to disrupting education as we know it today; this type of disruption being positive as it encourages new ways of thinking and innovation. The way I define disruption is about creating innovation for many industries — including education. While innovation can create many solutions to industry challenges, in my experience in education, some of the solutions previously created have lost touch with the end user, the student.
Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.
Let’s start this one as cliche as possible, “Keep Going.” Life as a disruptor and an entrepreneur can test one’s ability to keep going. Things come up everyday and being able to go back to my why has been my number one way to keep moving forward. When I first started The Fitz Solution, I created an MVP for an on-demand tutoring app with a fellow business school student. At our first pitch, I was asked “What makes your business different?” my response, “Me.” Today I realize my naivety in my answer. At the same time, I know my why is what kept me going. I knew then and I now know, creating a business with the mission to “Empower Tomorrow’s Leaders Today” is how I was able to take all those NOs and create The Ultimate Selfie.
Fast forward years into building The Fitz Solution, I joined a business mastermind under the leadership of Michelle Villalobos. Part of this journey was understanding the advice of “Put Your Oxygen Mask On First.” If you have ever been on an airplane, you have heard a version of this advice. On an airplane the value of this is overlooked. As a business owner, pouring from an empty cup is a disservice to you and your clients. In working with teenagers, having an overflowing cup is the only way I can provide the support needed to make The Ultimate Selfie effective. In my time with Michelle, putting myself first allowed me to heal and learn from my past. Each of these lessons are part of the driving force behind the magic of The Ultimate Selfie.
“I am going to take some PTO on Friday.” As the boss, this is not something I tell myself often. Yes, in the above advice I do put my oxygen mask on first, however, in keeping with the first piece of advice, I also “Keep Going.” Building something that changes lives allows me to follow one of the best pieces of advice, which is not to listen to advice but rather seek wisdom. All of the above can be considered wisdom because it’s proven by experience. You see, anyone can give advice, however it takes a true leader to give wisdom. As I continue to seek wisdom on this journey I keep in mind a great quote: “Listen to understand versus Listen to Respond.”
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
As an educational advocate, I am committed to providing our younger generations with vetted resources on how to best move forward after high school; part of providing these resources is to stay up to date on the most current iterations in technologies and opportunities available for the next generations. These changes include training opportunities and the newest Web3 ecosystems. This whole new world includes a new way of learning, communicating, and interacting with each other. Recently, I have joined an international initiative called Web3Equity to learn more about how NFTs, Cryptocurrency and the Metaverse are changing the world. Web3Equity was created to provide resources to create gender and minority equity in WEB3 while also gaining equity. These all present different avenues for teens and adults alike to pursue when answering “What’s Next?” Becoming a member of Web3Equity is my first introduction to this whole world and I am working on creating partnerships in this space to be able to mentor teens interested in Web3. This iteration of my company is new to all companies and we are still exploring how to create beneficial and effective uses of these technologies. We look forward to seeing how — with a little guidance — the next generations can grow and contribute to this ecosystem.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by ‘women disruptors’ that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?
Not sure if I can say this here or not, but hey why not? Don’t be a bitch, be a boss. In the past, there have been many occasions where I was the only female in the meeting or room. This is becoming less and less the case for me because I seek to be in rooms filled with powerful, inspiring, successful women in business. As I have curated my list of networking opportunities to include more women-aligned initiatives, in the past this was not always the case. Being a boss for a woman can be perceived as being a bitch for a woman. As a woman in business, I have also been treated slightly differently than my male counterparts. I recall one meeting in particular where one of the men at the table used a profane word and turned to me to apologize, “Oh my apologies, I forgot there was a woman at the table.” At the time I thought nothing of it however, I now know today that the conversation was filtered just because I was at the table. Similarly, another driving force for expanding my network to be more equitable was the ever annoying “Oh, you are smart too” comments after I have explained my business and mission. As a ‘woman disruptor’ I am committed to creating and advocating for rooms where #SMARTBOSSES are celebrated and empowered.
Do you have a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?
My signature program starts with the Strengthsfinder, an assessment which identifies the students top five strengths. When I first took this assessment, my top strength was positivity. My entire life I have always had an innate ability to see a positive side of any situation. This assessment solidified this for me as a strength and the book Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath from Gallup allowed me to see that not everyone sees the world in this way. My world took on new meaning and I was able to empathize deeper with those that did not see the world in this way. Positive thinking came full circle for me when I was introduced to the book, Flourish by Martin Seligman. This book talks about the science of positive psychology ending with a researched back definition of a flourishing individual which is someone who has positive emotions, is engaged, and their life has meaning and purpose. They also need to exhibit three of the following traits: self-esteem, optimism, resilience, vitality, self-determination and positive relationships. The book also provides tools to increase one’s positivity in life and the practical nature of folding in positive psychology into our day to day lives.
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. 🙂
Create a life that is filled with purpose and significance. My life’s purpose is to inspire our younger generations to confidently define who they are so they can take next steps with great self-awareness and self-worth.
Could you imagine a world where 15, 16, and 17 years olds:
Knew who they were?
Knew that life would throw things at them that would require them to pivot?
And that they had the skills to be able to know that it will work out?
This is the goal of The Ultimate Selfie.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Life has given me many lemons that I have turned into many different flavors of lemonade. As I have navigated the world of entrepreneurship, some lemons have come in the form of judgment for my decisions. I was raised Catholic, and while I am no longer practicing, I still live by the Mother Theresa quote, “It was never between you and them anyway.” I believe there is a higher purpose and staying true to your own core values is the key. While this quote has carried me though most of my adult life, there is one more that I have lived by since I was a teenager. “The Rose that Grew from the concrete” by Tupac Shakur was what I imagined when things got challenging as a young teen. When I was 16, I tragically lost my mom and I stepped up to raise my younger brother and sister. I would imagine myself as the Rose when things got really tough. Today my brother and sister are successful engineers and the three of us have an unbreakable bond.
How can our readers follow you online?
We would love to connect to everyone on our social media channel @thefitzsolution
Women In Wellness: Author Kyra Evans On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Take tiny new actions. Martha Beck calls this “one degree turns”. I’ve learned that no matter how lost we feel, taking small micro actions and trying new things can open up opportunities we wouldn’t have otherwise had access to. Worst case scenario, even if you’ve made a mistake, you’ve learned something. You don’t have to do the same thing twice if it doesn’t work. Just be willing to try.
As a part of my series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Kyra Evans.
Kyra Evans is an author, speaker, and certified mindfulness instructor who lives in Muskoka, Ontario. Prior to transitioning into wellness leadership, Kyra spent over 15 years working as a tech and finance writer for some of Canada’s biggest brands including RBC and Telus. Now certified in the Unified Mindfulness method (a straightforward, no-fluff system backed by Harvard), Kyra offers 1:1 training and corporate group sessions, bringing a relatable, no-nonsense approach to her teachings. With a robust portfolio of clients ranging in size from multinational corporations to startups, Kyra utilizes her firsthand knowledge of the challenges faced by corporate teams to deliver practical, results-oriented wellness services including multi-day executive retreats and tailor-made corporate wellness curricula. You can learn more about Kyra by visiting https://www.kyraevans.com/, and can find her work in publications such as HuffPost and Introvert, Dear.
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?
Thanks so much for chatting with me! I spent the majority of my career as a finance and tech copywriter, writing for big brands in banking, telecommunications, and software. I like to say that the biggest skill I learned during that time was how to turn complex concepts into easy explanations. I enjoyed copywriting, but the thing about it is that you’re always writing in someone else’s voice. After 15+ years, I felt pulled to pivot and begin sharing my own writing, under my own name. Much of my content centres around mental health — topics like anxiety, overwhelm, and people pleasing.
After seeing enormous benefits in my own life from the practice of mindfulness, I gained certification as a mindfulness instructor and began teaching corporate groups. Today, I use many of the skills I learned from copywriting for the purpose of teaching. And my firsthand understanding of the corporate world sets me apart from other mindfulness instructors who come from, say, a yoga background. I think it’s a good example of how the Universe works: Nothing goes to waste. Everyone’s story is perfectly orchestrated to get them where they’re meant to be.
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?
5 years ago, I read an article about a charity called “The Period Purse” that was collecting menstrual products for people experiencing homelessness. The story tugged at my heart, and I felt pulled to contact the charity to offer my copywriting services for free. An hour later, I received a message back from the founder, Jana Girdauskas, that said something like, “This is so crazy that you just wrote to me. Earlier this afternoon I was telling my husband that I needed a copywriter, but had no idea where I would find one!” I’ve donated my writing to The Period Purse ever since. It’s been one of the most meaningful client relationships I’ve ever had.
The moral of the story is this: If you feel a sudden nudge to send an email, jump on an opportunity, go to an event, or even read a specific book… do it! I really believe that we’re given these impulses for a reason. Follow them in a timely fashion and magic will unfold.
Can you share a story about the biggest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I’m a recovering people pleaser. Many of my biggest mistakes have been related to the tendency to self-abandon in order to be liked, accepted, or avoid conflict. When I first started my Instagram community, I was always reaching outwards for things to post, trying to figure out what would get the most “likes” and “follows”. And I kept hearing crickets! Nothing I posted gained any traction until I totally gave up on pleasing the algorithm, and instead started shifting my focus inward. I began sharing insights from my personal journey — the things that felt interesting to me. Ironically, that’s when my community started to grow. When you lean into your own authentic path, embracing who you truly are and sharing your unique perspective, that’s what magnetizes the people and opportunities you’re seeking.
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?
Right now, the world is feeling pretty out of control: War, the pandemic, the climate crisis… When everything feels like it’s falling down around your ears, it’s tempting to just pull the covers over your head and stay in bed. But today, we need all hands on deck. The trouble is that if we are not individually well, healthy, and thriving, we don’t have the energy to help anyone else. One of the most significant ways I’m influencing change is through my work with corporate groups. When organizations invest in mental wellbeing (including practices like mindfulness) from the top down, they have the opportunity to impact the lives of countless individuals. Not only their employees, but their employees’ children and spouses and friends. I see my teaching work as influencing corporate culture, which creates infinite outward ripples.
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.
Get curious. We’ve been raised to believe that there’s an answer for everything and that our job is to get all the answers right, just like in school. But the truth is that our job is not to know the answers — our job is to ask the questions. Questions like, “What if this thing could be easy?”, “How can I cultivate a sense of peace inside myself?”, and “What am I resisting?” place us in a seat of equanimity rather than control. Not only does this decrease anxiety and overwhelm, but it enhances creativity and resilience.
Take tiny new actions. Martha Beck calls this “one degree turns”. I’ve learned that no matter how lost we feel, taking small micro actions and trying new things can open up opportunities we wouldn’t have otherwise had access to. Worst case scenario, even if you’ve made a mistake, you’ve learned something. You don’t have to do the same thing twice if it doesn’t work. Just be willing to try.
Know your Self. Over half of women identify as “people pleasers”. 70% of girls grow up feeling like they’ll never measure up to the culture’s expectations. This causes us to reject who we truly are, and try to live up to an external expectation of who we “should” be. But it’s a losing game! No matter how good we are at pretending, it won’t make us happy. Getting to know your Self, and allowing her to steer the course of your life is the only route to happiness. This is actually the topic of my second book!
Face the facts, and shed the story. When I’m feeling overwhelmed or freaked out, I have a practice of removing the emotional charge of a situation by looking at only the facts. So for example, right now I’m writing the proposal for my second book. I’m very hopeful that a traditional publisher will want to buy it. It’s tempting for me to dive into a story like, “This proposal has to be PERFECT! I can’t make any mistakes! It’s the most important document I’ve ever created!” Instead, I peel it back to simply, “I am writing words.” It takes my anxiety way down. Sounds simple, but I’m telling you — it works.
Cultivate present moment awareness. When we worry about the future, or ruminate about the past, we’re signing up for suffering. If you find yourself feeling anxious, worried, or regretful, instead direct your attention to this moment, right now. What do you see, hear, and feel? That is what’s most real.
If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?
It would be teaching people how to journey back to the true Self. I think many of us feel lost because we’re playing this cosmic game of musical chairs. Imagine that when we arrive here as babies, we each have a chair — some greater purpose we’re meant to fulfill. As we grow, we’re taught that we “should” have another chair. For example, maybe we’re taught to swap our “artist” chair for an “accountant” chair because that’s perceived to be more financially viable. The trouble is that every time you swap chairs, you’re taking up a seat that someone else was meant to be in, fulfilling their own destiny. I think the original seating arrangement was perfect! So much of our existential suffering could be eased if each of us just quit this game and sought out our own chair — the true Self.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
Only five? Oh boy. There are so many things I wish I’d known.
1. Your own story is perfect. I’ve often felt like I needed to pretend to be someone else — someone with a different background or qualifications. That’s nonsense. There are people out there who are looking for exactly YOU! To change anything about yourself will make it harder for them to find you.
2. You don’t look smart when you pretend to know things. The smartest people in the room admit when they’ve reached the edges of their knowledge. Ask lots of questions. Cultivate what they call in Zen Buddhism, the “beginner’s mind”.
3. As Brene Brown says, clear is kind. Say what you mean. When you dance around your feelings, you make other people work even harder to figure out what you want.
4. When you’re facing conflict, lean into the truth of your heart. If you keep that as your compass, you’ll never have any regrets.
5. Listen to your instincts. If someone feels like a bad match, or if someone gives you instant “mean girl” vibes, run in the opposite direction, even if you can’t put your finger on why.
Sustainability, veganism, mental health and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?
My work is centred entirely on mental health. I love Jane Goodall’s perspective that when we think locally, we have the courage to act globally. Right now, our world needs all the kind-hearted, generous, sensitive souls to nurture their own wellbeing, so that they can then step into positions of leadership within their communities. If we are not mentally well at the individual level, and if we can’t lend ourselves compassion, we won’t ever have the energy or care to invest in solving larger global issues.
What is the best way our readers can follow you online?
Women In Wellness: Gabriela Ramirez Ortiz of OCA On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
You will need to be resilient. Hearing “yes, you are approved,” or “no, maybe next year,” from retail buyers makes you realize how difficult it is to have a dream and actually pursue it.
As a part of my series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Gabriela Ramirez Ortiz.
Ortiz serves as the Global CEO of OCA, a globally distributed plant-based energy drink powered by tapioca, an extract from cassava root native to Brazil. The groundbreaking beverage is part of the WeBelivMagnus venture between Beliv, Latin America’s fast-growing bec-tech company with 40 brands in 35 countries, and Magnus Media, the media venture of Grammy Award-winning artist and Latino icon, Marc Anthony. In her role, Gaby has led OCA through massive expansion, with the product now being distributed by grocery stores and online retailers throughout the world, including Kroger and Amazon.
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 had been working in the beverage industry for many years, starting with PepsiCo. It was the best way for me to start my professional career, because I was able to gain a lot of knowledge while there, but because it’s a big organization with so many different products, there are challenges to being nimble. Eventually, it got to a point where I wanted to be part of something from the ground up and be a category leader and gamechanger — so I moved to Beliv, where I have been for the past 11 years.
The company values creating, developing and distributing products that are better for you, was very appealing to me. Slowly, I started expanding the markets I was in charge of and growing the new ventures team, which led to me co-creating OCA, a plant-based energy drink powered by tapioca. I led functionality and consumer studies, marketing, branding and investing for the brand, and helped launch it at retail. I am also involved in every process on a ground level — this includes speaking to consumers directly, and using that data and that personal connection to inform current and future strategy for OCA.
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 have always been an entrepreneur and I have always loved to travel. On a trip to Mexico I found out about a donut company that everyone was talking about, but I couldn’t try them because the earliest delivery was one month after my initial order. When I came back, one of my best friends at work talked about the company, and how “easy” it would be to do a company like that one. She agreed with me, and we set off to do the same, but better. We created our company in 2 weeks (logo, slogan, business plan, recipes, packaging, go to market and marketing campaign). Everything seemed easy and it was flowing well; at the end of the day, we were two marketers who were used to doing this for a living. We decided to launch only on social media so we could control the sales and deliveries. We even ran some tests with family and friends and everyone loved it and encouraged us to launch — which we ended up doing in time for Valentine’s Day of that year.
After launching our paid media campaign, we didn’t check our progress since we didn’t think we’d do as well as we were actually doing. We had to upload a sold out post since the demand was so big that we couldn´t deliver. We had our friends and family helping us with the cooking, packing and delivering. It was crazy! Even though we were passionate about it, we realized we had no experience in the food industry so we closed the company a few months later. It was a very profitable business and we were doing well, but it wasn’t the right fit for us.
I learned that oftentimes, you only see successful businesses and it seems easy, but you don’t know all the work behind getting to that point. I also learned how adaptable, easy, fast and fun it is to do something without overthinking too much about it when you have the right partner to do it with. And last but not least, I wish I could have handled it a little more and sold the concept or the business to an investor within the food industry, or at least pitched the idea to the owners of that Mexico business, as it was the first food-pastry business to be sold only by Facebook at that time.
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?
A few years back, I launched a product for the kids’ segment that sought to improve what was out there in the market. It was especially dedicated to moms, so they could buy the best product available for their kids. These products had no strong value proposition, and had no differentiation attractive solid enough for moms to choose ours vs a leading brand, but the most important thing I learned is, I was not listening closely to what consumers and shoppers had to say about our product. It was exhausting trying to explain, justify and adapt, but most importantly not hitting our goals every month until the decision came to kill the innovation.
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?
With OCA, one of our main goals is to make people more mindful of what they’re putting into their bodies. So many people drink coffee or high-sugar energy drinks across the world — while feeling energized is important, products like that can be addictive and are filled with ingredients that are not good for your physical health. The goal of OCA was to find a way to keep consumers energized while providing them a product that is all natural, organic and plant-based. It was quite a challenge, but we did it and it’s been a successful story not only in retail but from a consumer’s perspective.
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.
Working towards a plant-based diet. I started with a ‘Plant-Based for Dummies’ book at the top of my journey, and ended up losing some weight with a combination of plant-based eating and exercising but most importantly I was feeling energized, I was sleeping better and actually feeling good about my day to day choices. I love my new lifestyle!
Expand your palettes to different tastes and flavors from other cultures. With OCA, we currently offer four different flavors inspired by fruits that are popular in Latin America, like prickly-pear lime, guava-passionfruit and mango.
Adapting quickly to your environment. When I moved to LA, I started from zero: I was away from my friends and family, and had to learn to live in a new environment by myself. I was fortunate enough to be able to create new friends and memories, and learn to call this place home.
You are never done learning. Overseeing a business demands learning and updating your knowledge, from sales and co-packing to freight and marketing. It’s scary, but at the same time, learning about things I don’t know energizes me to keep transforming myself and keep the learning mode always on.
By surrounding yourself with a multifunctional team, you will have the opportunity to impact and copy what other great leaders have done, and learn to be a better and more influential leader for your team. Teamwork makes the dream work.
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 would encourage everyone to pay attention to what you put into your body, whether that’s food and drink or alcohol consumption. Everything you consume to recharge yourself has the potential to either help or hinder your physical health down the line, and having an understanding of what you’re taking in each day can only help you on your road to a healthier lifestyle.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” in relation to OCA, and why?
1.You will need to be resilient. Hearing “yes, you are approved,” or “no, maybe next year,” from retail buyers makes you realize how difficult it is to have a dream and actually pursue it.
2. Choose your best team — as Kobe Bryant said in his Mamba Mentality “we don´t quit, we don’t run, we don’t cower, we endure and we conquer.”
3.You will need to be able to celebrate every little step forward. Trying to disrupt a highly competitive segment is very tough, so make sure you enjoy every small step.
4.You will need to adapt quickly. Having moved 3 times from different states, living in a hotel while finding a new home all while working… it’s easier when your passion and your dream is at the forefront.
5. Dream, but dream big — dreams come true, but especially for those who work hard enough to get them.
Sustainability, veganism, mental health and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?
It’s impossible to just choose one, because they’re all connected, and all lend to each other. There are studies that show that your mental health can be improved by eating and living well. Eating and living well will have a better impact on the environment around you, and vice versa.
What is the best way our readers can follow you online?
You instill your values in your children and they in turn grow up with a solid foundation of values like faith, family, grit, integrity, kindness, etc.
Growing up in a poor, mountainous region of Puerto Rico, I had no idea I would end up where I am today: an executive shaping the future of health care and public policy in America and a father dedicated to faith, family, and perseverance.
Today, as an executive of a health benefits company, I get to see hopes and dreams lived out in the lives of members every day as I work to advance improvements in health care quality, access, and affordability.
Over the last two decades, I have held a variety of roles, including serving as chief strategy officer of a multi-national hospital company, leading my own consulting company, growing a successful not-for-profit organization, investing in real estate, and enjoying a rewarding career in public service.
Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us your “childhood backstory”?
I grew up between a poor community in Puerto Rico and in my teenage years, in a poor, working-class urban city in Massachusetts. The backstory is simple, I grew up fighting my way out of poverty in search of a better future that often seemed all but unattainable.
Can you share the story about what brought you to this specific point in your career?
A lifelong journey of learning important values from my parents and understanding how the choices I made daily would impact me in the future. I knew I did not want to be poor, but I did not know how to achieve better. I learned from watching others around me either fail or succeed and I held a deep passion for personal improvement and growth. I embraced the tenets of faith, family, and grit to get where I am, and those are the key themes I share in my new book: American Familia.
Can you tell us a bit more about what your day-to-day schedule looks like?
I lead a health benefits company that provides health coverage for almost 200,000 state employees. My day starts at 5am:
5am: pray and read the bible
5:30am: read emails and the news
6:00am: wake up my two sons and my wife and prepare breakfast
7:15am: share drop off duty with my wife
8:am: meetings / calls
12pm to 1pm: lunch with my wife
1pm to 6pm: meetings / calls
6pm: dinner with my family
7pm: emails
8pm to 9:30pm: family time
930pm to 11pm: work out and read
1130pm: bedtime!
Weekends: family time!
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the core of our discussion. This is probably intuitive to many, but it would be beneficial to spell it out. Based on your experience or research, can you flesh out why not spending time with your children can be detrimental to their development?
You can either instill core values in your children or let schools and strangers do so. Your children are like sponges, and they absorb and learn from your actions and words. The more you let others shape them, the more they develop traits and values that are not your own. I structured American Familia as a conversation with my sons to help communicate the direct role of parenting in instilling the values that helped shape my personal success.
On the flip side, can you give a few reasons or examples about why it is so important to make time to spend with your children?
You instill your values in your children and they in turn grow up with a solid foundation of values like faith, family, grit, integrity, kindness, etc.
You can “re-engineer” or correct false information or erroneous information they may learn from others
You can teach your children to be productive adults and embrace work ethic and entrepreneurship, vital to self-reliance
You can advance personal responsibility and critical thinking to teach them how to think, not what to think
You can teach your children to embrace and appreciate the freedoms we enjoy in American and learn to be grateful for the constitutional freedoms we enjoy in America
According to this study cited in the Washington Post, the quality of time spent with children is more important than the quantity of time. Can you give a 3–5 stories or examples from your own life about what you do to spend quality time with your children?
Reading time — read the bible together
Critical thinking time: discuss current affairs and argue pros and cons
Put away all technology and eat together
Play pool together
Take long walks
Take long drives
We all live in a world with many deadlines and incessant demands for our time and attention. That inevitably makes us feel rushed and we may feel that we can’t spare the time to be “fully present” with our children. Can you share with our readers 5 strategies about how we can create more space in our lives in order to give our children more quality attention? Please include examples or stories for each, if you can.
Intentionally schedule family time on your work calendar
Shut off your emails and cell phone during family time
Take time off work at least three times a year to spend time with family
Proactively let your company know about certain family events that are mandatory and for which you will not be available to work
Ask your supervisor or staff not to email or call during family time
Sacrifice your time or sleep for your children’s activities
How do you define a “good parent”? Can you give an example or story?
A good parent is someone who selflessly sacrifices their time and energy to raise strong, confident, loving young men and women. In my case, I declined a multi-million-dollar job to raise my two sons and restore my relationship with my wife and children.
How do you inspire your child to “dream big”? Can you give an example or story?
I expose my children every day and every weekend to remarkable people and I encourage my children to aim to do better than my wife and I have done. I also remind them that they are capable of achieving more than they can ever imagine. We remind them that the only obstacle is the person they see in the mirror. We also discuss with them the tactics thy can take to achieve their dreams. For example, if they want to become doctors, they will need to go to college and medical school and then they can strive to not just be a doctor, but the CEO or owner of the hospital. One of the key takeaways from American Familia is that any young person, from any background or circumstance, should dream big and become more.
How do you, a person who masterfully straddles the worlds of career and family, define “success”?
Success is my ability to instill faith, confidence, kindness, integrity, and love in my children by my actions. My family and their welfare always comes first.
What are your favorite books, podcasts, or resources that inspire you to be a better parent? Can you explain why you like them?
The bible — the source of truth, love and redemption. The psalms, proverbs, and the book of Ephesians and Romans are especially powerful
Conversations with my parents
My wife — she is my pillar
Pastor Tony Evans (YouTube sermons)
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“People don’t have to believe what you say, they have to believe what you do” — Coach David Dempsey (my high school football coach)
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. 🙂
Tell everyone how blessed you are, no matter the circumstances or challenges you may be facing.
Thank you so much for these insights! This was so inspiring!
Women In Wellness: Tracy MacNeal of Materna Medical on The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Never burn bridges — always leave places and jobs better than you found them, and when you leave, be gracious. That means thanking people for their contributions to you and for the opportunities that you had, letting the hard times go on your way out.
As a part of my series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Tracy MacNeal.
Tracy MacNeal is a healthcare pioneer with an engineering background and strong business acumen, with leadership expertise at successful start-ups, mid-size companies and Fortune 100 corporations. 20+ years in pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, digital health and medical devices combined with her expertise in FemTech has led Tracy to lead Materna Medical as President and CEO.
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?
My background is in Engineering, having graduated with a BE in Chemical Engineering from The Cooper Union and an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. After 20-plus years in the healthcare industry, I’ve witnessed the failure to focus on women’s health firsthand. I’m a deep believer in the importance of contribution and collaboration within our shared healthcare ecosystem. We’re seeking to transform the standard of care for women in our product categories, potentially improving millions of lives.
As National Chair for the Advamed’s Women’s Executive Network, I work to amplify the voices of women leaders who are shaping the future of healthcare. While we work on making lasting, impactful change in the healthcare industry at large, I am also committed to helping women take charge of their own health.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?
The most exciting moments of my career involve negotiating deals with big companies. The details of those are confidential, but they all center on principle-based negotiation. My deals have included acquisitions, divestitures, licensing arrangements, angel investments, venture financing, and complex supply agreements. In every situation, my approach has been to make sure that the healthcare patient is at the center of our plan — if we’re not focused on the patient’s best interest, the deal is no good. Once we’ve set our intentions, we seek to understand what’s truly important to both parties. If those principles are not aligned, no amount of negotiation can get the deal done, and that’s why so many deals fall apart, seemingly last minute. Being candid, deals that fall apart often didn’t have enough common ground to begin with. If there is common ground, then there is usually a way to “get to yes” that appeases everyone and allows us to make progress in healthcare innovation.
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?
In my early years as a business professional, I let one of my customers know that they had really irritated me. You know the old saying, “the customer is always, right?” That customer never forgave me, and it created a tension that never healed. I think about that a lot, wondering how I could have handled it differently. Maybe he was more deeply offended because I was a young woman and he was an older man. It wasn’t a career-altering error, but I learned to really consider my words before I speak. I now devote significant time and energy to building understanding in all my relationships, personal and professional. There are some situations that are unavoidably challenging, but I always seek to honor everyone’s humanity, first and foremost.
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?
Our primary goal is to bring pelvic health solutions to every woman and healthcare specialist in the US. Our focus is on women’s pelvic health, a part of healthcare that is extremely understudied. Too often women’s painful symptoms are dismissed, and they are told that their issues are considered a ‘standard’ part of life that must be tolerated. We understand that not everyone wants to speak about their vaginal and pelvic health, but women shouldn’t live in unnecessary or avoidable pain, nor be made to feel like the problem is in their head.
At Materna Medical, we combine medical rigor with emotional intelligence to create products that empower women to take control of their pelvic floor health. Our pioneering devices include Milli, a vaginal dilator indicated to help relieve the symptoms of vaginismus and related dyspareunia. Vaginismus is a type of high-tone pelvic floor disorder with symptoms that include pain and anxiety with wanted penetration, including tampons, pelvic exams, or sexual intercourse. Milli is a single, FDA-cleared dilator that expands inside the vagina, at her pace, at her control, millimeter by millimeter. Materna Prep is an investigational device which is currently the subject of a clinical study to determine its ability to reduce pelvic floor injuries during childbirth. Materna Prep is placed in the vagina during the first stage of labor, and gradually expands to pre-stretch the vagina and surrounding pelvic floor muscles over a longer period than would occur when the baby comes through the vagina. The device is currently investigational and is the subject of an ongoing clinical study to evaluate if this pre-stretching reduces pelvic floor injuries associated with vaginal delivery. Both Milli and Prep seek to improve women’s pelvic health by combining innovation and empathy to transform the standard of care in women’s pelvic health.
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.
Meditation — I take 30 minutes nearly every morning to meditate. There are so many ways to meditate, and so many resources online to get started. I recommend that everyone takes the time to explore their inner lives more fully. At an inner level, what we often want is just a quiet moment to remember who we really are and connect with a sustainable source of energy.
Exercise — We all know this. It doesn’t have to be a fancy gym membership or a hot yoga class. For me, it’s often just taking a business call on the phone; instead of using Zoom at my desk, I’ll ask my meeting partner, “I’ve been sitting at my desk for three hours straight. Can I take you for a walk while we talk?” They inevitably laugh and say, “Absolutely! I wish I could do the same!” These walking meetings are often better conversations because they started with humanity first.
Hydration — Drinking water makes a huge difference for me. I love my morning coffee, but I switch to water by 10 am and stay with it all day.
Grounding and relaxing — I recommend finding mentors who can help manage energy. Grounding your energy, relaxing, and staying calm and open-minded — from simple physical therapy or massage to other forms of energy work like Tai Chi or Reiki. There are many types of research that show better creativity, more happiness, better productivity, better outcomes when we’re not in “fight or flight” mode. It’s a mindful discipline to notice when your shoulders are tense, when your jaw is tight, when you have tension in your stomach, or whatever your body’s signals are when you need to just center, ground, and relax.
Vegetables — I love fried food, chocolate and bagels with cream cheese, but too much of those are counterproductive for my health. Rather than eliminate them, I crowd them out with very veg-focused foods. After a big bowl of yummy butternut squash soup with a coconut drizzle and toasted pepitas, I’m happy with just a bite or two of a treat.
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 when we invest in women, we all win. Investing in women’s healthcare transcends more than just solving physical health problems. By working in this mindset, we can inspire future generations of women to create and preserve the future of female health care. Designing healthcare that truly supports women will be the legacy of FemTech leaders in this country.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
It’s a small world — you’ll meet many people, and you’ll see them again. Your credibility and honor are everything, so treat all people well.
Never burn bridges — always leave places and jobs better than you found them, and when you leave, be gracious. That means thanking people for their contributions to you and for the opportunities that you had, letting the hard times go on your way out.
Just say yes — life brings tremendous opportunities to try things that you have no idea how to do and which you’ve never done before. Just say yes. Don’t be afraid to fail — everyone fails, and everyone succeeds. If you’re not sure, ask for help, ask for training, buy a book, get a mentor, but go for it!
It’s a marathon — there are times when you need to burn the candle at both ends and really push through tough deadlines and overcome challenges, but there are times when you should take a break and recover. Burnout is real. Learning how to manage your energy and self-care is key to enjoying the whole race.
Every journey is non-linear — society emphasizes “Hero’s journey” stories that have a classical storyline of beginning, middle, and end. In retrospect, we can usually fit our life experiences into those molds, and that’s why they’re timeless. In the middle of the story, however, it can seem confusing and linking it all together feels like a challenge. In my experience, trying to tell my life story in a linear way is a distraction. Life is an adventure, and I’m enjoying it just the way it is.
Sustainability, veganism, mental health and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?
Sustainability is a topic I think a lot about. Our family has chosen a few ways to try to be sustainable in this crazy, unsustainable chapter of Earth’s existence: gardening, composting, fuel-efficient cars, and eating at home in a plant-forward way. Professionally, devoting myself to women’s health is connected to sustainability; we know that when women are happier and healthier, the world is happier and healthier.
What is the best way our readers can follow you online?
LinkedIn is my most active social channel (https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracymacneal/), and you can see my amateur photos and silly sense of humor on my Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/tracymacneal/)
Thank you so much for these insights! This was so inspiring!
Women In Wellness: Chik Lai Ping of YTL Hotels on the Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
To invest earlier and I wish I had learned the term “compound interest”. As a result, I shared what I have learned with the people around me, encouraging them to invest even at the start of their work lives and how to compound their interest.
As a part of my series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Ms. Chik Lai Ping.
Ms. Chik Lai Ping is Senior Vice President of the Spa Division at YTL Hotels, and oversees operations of the group’s award- winning spas under the brand, Spa Village. Her passion for the industry stems from her profound interest in the indigenous beauty rituals long practiced in the multi-racial society of Malaysia. Today, with more than 200 associates, 11 luxury spas and a destination spa, Lai Ping is set to take YTL Hotels’ Spa Division to even greater heights.
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?
My career started in the hospitality industry, but I only began to focus my attention on the spa industry in 1999. Beginning with a humble fitness center in the JW Marriott Kuala Lumpur and a team of 15, I was given the opportunity to develop a unique spa brand for the YTL Hotels. Extolling the healing culture of the region each spa resides within, Spa Village made its debut at Pangkor Laut Resort in 2002, and, under my guidance, expanded and eventually went global with the launch of its first international spa resort, Spa Village Resort Tembok, Bali in 2007.
Fast-forward to today, we have an international presence beyond our home-ground of Malaysia with Spa Villages in locations around Europe and Thailand, each with its own unique offering. Take for example the Spa Village Bath in The Gainsborough Bath Spa, opened in United Kingdom in 2015 which offers a contemporary perspective of the city’s thermal water heritage, and Spa Village Koh Samui in The Ritz-Carlton, Koh Samui — offering a 3,800 square meter sanctuary with pre-treatment rituals inspired by the Songkran festival.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?
The most interesting story has to be how I started in the spa industry. I was the Recreation Manager for JW Marriott Hotel pre-opening team in 1997. Right after we opened the Asian Financial Crisis hit and in 1999, the said hotel was purchased by YTL Hotels. I was interviewed and selected to be the head of the newly created YTL Spa Division to work alongside our spa consultant to develop the Spa Village brand for YTL Hotels.
During the transition of the hotel takeover, many of my colleagues chose to quit, worried about the uncertainty of new ownership but I stayed on. It turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to me. It enabled me to join the spa industry and transition from the fitness industry. I was able to grow with a new career from what I felt was my darkest moment professionally. Having a background in fitness, I was immediately able to create wellness experiences long before that term became popularized. I have since opened 12 Spa Villages globally in Malaysia, Bali, Thailand, UK and China.
The lesson learnt was not to simply follow the others; assess your situation and make your own choice. It could be a make or break situation.
Can you share a story about the biggest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
One crucial thing I learned is not to cover up my mistakes or give excuses for wrongdoings. This is a lesson well taught by my superior who studied law and is the
Executive Director of YTL Hotels. His way of understanding is to interrogate and examine both sides of the coin before he makes a decision. It helped me develop my critical thinking and that being straightforward was the wisest.
Apart from my work, I regret not having picked up the ability to cook for most of my life which has resulted in me eating out very often. The Covid-19 pandemic forced me to stay at home due to the governmental movement control order. During that period, I watched YouTube videos and made my own meals. Surprisingly, I now enjoy shopping for ingredients and cooking calmed my mind and soothed my soul. It was nurturing to me. I also started sharing the food I cooked with my family and friends. It was such a joy to see them enjoy my food and also a way to convey my love.
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?
In developing and building the Spa Village brand of YTL Hotels, we have positioned ourselves with the concept of “Honoring the Healing Traditions of the Region”.
My focus was on the ground researching the methods of healing in each region by speaking to healers and the elderly in the village. In the process we found a Malay family connected with the royal house willing to share their traditional secrets of beauty and health care. Transforming their traditional healing methods into the modern spa experience has been very rewarding. Authenticity, respect, and involvement and blessing of the people is extremely important to me.
We strongly feel that healing traditions, along with the indigenous herbs and plants, should be preserved and shared with the rest of the world.
In the year 2002 the first Spa Village was launched in Pangkor Laut Resort (a private island in north west of peninsula Malaysia). The spa treatments were based on honoring the healing cultures of the Malay, Chinese (Traditional Chinese Medicine) and Indian (Ayurveda).
I have also found satisfaction in hiring staff members from the local villages such as Tembok, Bali. At Spa Village Resort Tembok, Bali we have successfully engaged close to 100% local employees. We provide English and hospitality classes and train them to be professional spa hoteliers. Most of them are quite talented, are able to multi-task and are very artistic. For example: The pool attendant is able to perform Silat classes (Balinese martial arts). The musician who plays the traditional music is able to teach drawing on the lontar (crafting words/art on dried wood). All spa therapists generally know how to make boreh (body scrub), canang (flower offering) and Jamu (traditional herbal tonic). We are able to raise productivity and offer more traditional activities to the guests. We also provide meaningful employment that enables the young people to remain in the home country while supporting the traditional culture. In the end I find giving back to the community is one of the greatest aspects of this project.
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 grandparents operated a coffee shop from the 1950’s before I was even born. Naturally, drinking coffee has been part of my life since I was young. I started to have “zero sugar” in my coffee for the last 10 years. I would advise my fellow colleagues, especially the hotel General Managers who consume coffee with a few packets of sugar daily throughout the day to reduce the amount of sugar by half and slowly omit it. It has shocked me that they, like many people, never count how many coffees multiplied by how many packets of sugar they in-take daily. The good news is that Ayurvedic teaching says that your taste buds are trainable.
I “drink warm water” every day. It started 5 years when I was traveling during the wintertime outside of Malaysia. The drinking water was so cold in the morning! My mentor gave me a thermos bottle during that trip that warmed my heart and I remembered listening to a Hong Kong celebrity’s interview. He said drinking warm water is healthier. That concept is true in both Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine. I also consume warm water at home from a thermos bottle and I keep it by my bedside when I sleep at night for easy access. It is very soothing to my body. This doesn’t mean that I don’t consume any cold drinks. When I eat out I allow myself a lime juice or ice lemon tea.
Eating regularly and sensibly is critically important to wellness. My morning breakfast usually is fruit and yoghurt, except when I travel. I used to have Chinese noodles most days in the morning when I was much younger. Now lunchtime is when I will have my noodles. Dinner can be anything but no rice or carbohydrates. Most of the people I know are on brown rice but I have decided to omit rice and keep traditional Chinese noodles in my diet.
Considering that Malaysia is truly a food paradise, I realized that I could not let go of all my favorites. So I indulge sparingly in “sin food”. Once a week I enjoy food like Char Kwey Teow (oily Chinese fried noodles), Nasi Lemak (Malay coconut rice with chili), Roti Canai (oily Indian pancakes).
I wake early to set aside 30 minutes for morning exercise. Like many people, I used to think that going to the gym three times a week would be sufficient. I realized that if I missed one day I would be left with only two days. If I commit myself to daily exercise, even if I missed two days I still have five days left. Being a strong business woman, it is not surprising that I was finally able to convince myself with a bit of math.
You may notice a pattern from my answers above. 80% of the time be disciplined. 20% of the indulge. I believe life is about BALANCE!
If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?
My friends said that I am a positive minded person, highly disciplined. I am able to influence and convince people, am solution driven, self-motivated and a good counselor. With these qualities I would like to motivate and give strength to women to step out of their comfort zone. Most women focus too much on their family and work. They care about everyone else and hardly take any time for themselves. I would like to start a movement for all women around the world to walk outdoors, ideally at the park on certain days so they could feel the difference. Hopefully, this “movement for movement” will lighten and brighten their days and create a global community of walking women.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
I wish I had been advised about my new career path from A to Z. My current job has allowed me to be involved in the company’s Talent Development program where we chart out the talents’ career path as soon as they came out of our YTL International College of Hotel Management.
To invest earlier and I wish I had learned the term “compound interest”. As a result, I shared what I have learned with the people around me, encouraging them to invest even at the start of their work lives and how to compound their interest.
That I should balance spending time with my family and not solely focus on work. Because I have worked hard I was able to purchase a penthouse for my mother to live comfortably. Fortunately, we have recently started spending more time together. I take her to the supermarket every couple weeks and now I am even cooking for my lovely mother, as well.
To look after my skin. I was always very active, swimming, diving, and enjoying the outdoors without sunscreen. Sunspots are stubborn and hard to correct.
I spent my first 7 years working in food and beverage departments prior to the fitness industry. During this time, I wore high heels for work and injured my ankle while working. The injury had a knock-on effect, affecting my entire body including my back. I wish someone had warned me about this beforehand and that high heels for female employees were not mandated or strongly encouraged. Thankfully, through years of stretching and yoga practice my back condition has improved.
Reflecting on my comments above, even if they could be reversed and someone had told me what I should do before I started, the stubborn ME may not have listened.
Sustainability, veganism, mental health and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?
Addressing mental health is dearest to me. In my generation when we got stressed or depressed we would have to somehow overcome it and move on. As I have been mentoring young ones that graduated from our College, more and more are claiming they have mental health issues and visit psychiatrists. To be honest, I have not figured out fully how to mitigate these challenges.
To me mental health begins with mental strength. Brain muscles are like body muscles: they need exercise, too. In my early years of traveling, I carried along with me a sudoku book; I played mental challenge games on my phone. In my free time, I like to sketch. I go on hikes with friends and when I am tired I go for a swim to recharge. If I have the luxury of time to travel, I love the freedom the sea has to offer.
Finally, I find it essential to have one or two close friends and mentors. Someone that listens to me and I can pick their brains when needed. I count on them a lot to give me strength and for my mental health.
It was a great opportunity for me to reflect and share my career and life experiences through this interview. Hopefully the professional and personal journeys and insights I have shared in this interview will go some way to inspire someone to make a positive change for their well-being, however small that change is.
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Modern Fashion: Anifa Mvuemba of Hanifa On The 5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand Today
An Interview With Candice Georgiadice
Perseverance without validation — When I stopped trying to fit into an industry that unfortunately wasn’t ready to embrace me, I quickly began to see milestones of success. In an industry where designers rarely “make it” without a helping hand of some sort, I’m incredibly blessed to say that faith and hard work have gotten me here.
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 Anifa Mvuemba.
Anifa Mvuemba is the Founder and Designer of ready-to-wear contemporary brand, Hanifa. DC-based Hanifa was born with an ambitious spirit to make edgy, feminine, size inclusive clothing that compliment the natural curves of a woman’s body.
As the first brand to livestream a virtual runway show on Instagram via Pink Label Congo of May 2020, Hanifa has been credited by Vogue, Essence, Forbes, Elle, Teen Vogue and more.
As a Congolese American designer, Anifa M. is dedicated to creating spaces for emerging designers through her platform CBYAM.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood “backstory”?
My journey into the fashion industry was a lot different from many. I didn’t go to a fancy design school in New York or interned at Vogue. I studied fashion merchandising at a local school in Maryland while balancing a retail job where I learned more about the business side of fashion. My passion for fashion expression actually started at a very young age. As a child, I remember watching my mother get dressed for work early mornings and later raiding her closet. She was my introduction to fashion, and I took inspiration from her well-tailored suits that later became our signature look.
My family fled to the United States when I was three years old to escape war and start a new life, and I’ve since then, found a way to embrace my Congolese heritage — through African-influenced color palettes and silhouettes that pay tribute to the women from my country and all of the continent.
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?
Tech is essential. We are living in a digital era where 3D models, virtual fashion worlds and NFTs are changing the way we see ourselves, our day-to-day lives and how we dress. The industry is technologically advancing by the year, and it is up to designers to keep up by challenging the traditional ways of showcasing new designs to the public.
What do you think makes Hanifa stand out in your industry?
I’ve been fortunate in being able to build my business click by click and by truly understanding my target customer, the power of tech, digital marketing and having the right team!
I consider my designs to be celebratory statement pieces that truly compliment the female form. I take pride in crafting bold, sophisticated body-loving silhouettes for women of all sizes.
To further separate my brand in what feels to be such a competitive market, I challenge myself daily to redefine the norm, and I’m always thinking ahead when finding ways to connect with our customer. For example, my first-ever virtual runway presentation went viral during the pandemic. The clothes were 3D modeled on floating figures who walked down the runway like the real thing. I’ve always been very intentional about creating for the future of our brand. The world is changing, things are shifting, there is no need to follow what everyone else is doing…chart your own path.
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?
Stay Inspired — I admire things that cause me to shift my mindset and put my phone away from time to time. I take pride in being able to find inspiration in almost anything. That is incredibly important to me as a creative and a huge factor (I think) in becoming a successful fashion designer. For instance, I could be on a flight and see a cloud and think to myself, ‘that would make a really nice skirt.’
Gratitude — I will forever be grateful for the opportunities I’ve received over the years and I’m very intentional about paying it forward. In 2020, I started a mentoring program for other emerging designers called Concepts by Anifa Mvuemba — to provide access to the industry for designers who are just getting started, especially those from the DMV like me. It means everything to me to be able to help mentor other designers, providing them with the guidance that I needed back then.
Diligence — I started Hanifa with no external funding, but through diligence, faith and countless research — I’ve managed to build a business that thrives off of its loyal customers despite being based outside of what is considered a “fashion” city. We’re doing BIG things on our own, and we always will!
Can you share with our readers about the ethical standards you use when you choose where to source materials?
We’re always researching ways to improve our sustainability and production practices for the present and the future. We do thorough visits, background checks, and make sure that our sources are compliant to ethical standards. We have a relationship with our manufacturers and work together to source the best fabrics for our customers that won’t harm their skin or the environment.
With this process we incorporate thorough quality control procedures and are very honest with our customers when it comes to providing fabrication details.
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?
There have been times where I’ve personally witnessed my own designs on a fast fashion retail site and while it feels incredibly disheartening, it is also problematic when they duplicate the efforts and designs of growing brands. Unfortunately, for us, there are no laws set in place to protect our designs from being replicated unless there’s something incredibly unique to them and their trademark.
What are your “5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand”. Please share a story or example for each.
Perseverance without validation — When I stopped trying to fit into an industry that unfortunately wasn’t ready to embrace me, I quickly began to see milestones of success. In an industry where designers rarely “make it” without a helping hand of some sort, I’m incredibly blessed to say that faith and hard work have gotten me here.
Know your audience — I pay close attention to the needs of the women that support me and have supported Hanifa from the beginning. And while I still have plans to expand the brand, I am always keeping our audience top of mind.
Stay True to Self — As a brand owner, I’ve always tried my best to avoid being put in any sort of box. It’s easy to feel pressured into what you see regularly. I’m thankful to have found a way to cut through the noise and build a business that speaks to many while still remaining true to myself. I refuse to limit myself. I design for the limitless woman so why not be that and live that in every single aspect of my life.
Utilize your resources — I always tell young designers to put in the dedication and look at all the resources that are available to them, even with mentorship. You may not get DVF or Michelle Obama to be your mentor or sign off on your brand, but you can go buy their books and find inspiration by reading about their journeys. When I started my business, I soaked up all the knowledge that I could like a sponge. YouTube was my best friend, and while I didn’t have access to a lot of industry knowledge growing up, the videos helped me to reinforce what I was working on in real life to become a self-taught designer.
Practice, practice and more practice — I think it’s important to make sure that you are not only fueling your passion, but consistently working on your business. As a designer it’s important to constantly stretch your creativity, however, it can’t hinder your progression as a CEO — you still need to put in the time to learn a new skill set, you can still find ways to improve your professional development to benefit your team and your business. There will always be room for practice.
Every industry constantly evolves and seeks improvement. How do you think the fashion industry can improve itself? Can you give an example?
I believe there is room to create and design in multiple spaces as you see fit. The fashion industry specifically, tends to push creators to exist as one specific thing, and that rings especially true for people of color. Black designers are constantly fighting the belief that their designs remain in only one space, or for one audience. I don’t believe that’s true, and I will continue to divert my brand down every path that interests me — whether that is footwear, tech, or even a combination of all three.
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?
With the help of my team, I have already begun my own give-back movement with Hanifa Dream, our social impact initiative to give back to women from any background with a diverse set of needs. I am always keeping my eyes open for ways to pour back into the communities that have given so much to me.
