Women In Wellness: Heidi Anderson of Nox Health On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
… Never turn down an opportunity to network. “Get” from your network, but also doubly “give” back by always making a point to pay it forward.
As a part of my series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Heidi Anderson, President and Chief Growth Officer at Nox Health.
Heidi Anderson is the President and Chief Growth Officer of global sleep health leader Nox Health. In her role, she is responsible for leading all commercial efforts to promote, sell and manage relationships with employer clients, health plans and partnerships at the enterprise level. Anderson has spent more than two decades building businesses and driving growth in emerging and mature B2B and B2C markets, especially in the healthcare industry, most recently serving as Senior Vice President of Strategic Clients and Initiatives and ASO Strategy at Teladoc Health. Prior to Livongo and Teladoc Health, she held senior leadership and officer positions at several start-ups, mid-sized and Fortune 500 companies, including Time Warner and WebMD. Anderson is an active board member of Solis Mammography, a strategic advisor at AliveCor and TaskHuman, and a graduate of the University of Minnesota Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
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 grew up in the Midwest, a kid anchored in the values of hard work, love of learning, and kindness. My dad is an architect and I learned how business and creativity intersect by watching him navigate working for others and then himself. I spent the first half of my life in Minnesota and the second half in the Chicago area (or on airplanes!). After journalism school, I worked at advertising agencies and media companies, building brands and leveraging smart storytelling to drive revenue — always with a throughline in the fields of health and wellness.
My entire career has been in the wellness and healthcare transformation space, usually B2B/C with commercial leadership roles. Most recently, the focus has been on the intersection of tech platforms, telemedicine, and human-centric care. I love the balance of rigor and creativity — the art and the science — that goes into the strategic evolution of healthcare transformation.
My greatest joy is setting a vision and then building high-performing teams and businesses to go after it. I recently had the honor of joining my first board this year at a company called Solis Mammography. I have benefitted from incredible women mentors and I love leaning in to pay that forward through women’s leadership empowerment: Chief, Fortune Most Powerful Women, and I started Power Women Windy. I live in the Chicago area with my family. Our three kids and two dogs keep me both grounded and always learning new things, which I love.
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?
Early in my leadership tenure, I remember leaving an intense meeting with our C-suite and feeling like I’d been through the ringer. There were lots of tough questions and challenges to my thinking and presentation. My mentor and boss met me after the meeting and asked me “How do you think it went?” to which I replied “Wow. That was tough.” She smiled and said “Welcome to the big leagues. That was actually fairly tame, compared to normal.”
That was instructive. It taught me to embrace the pressure, be confident in putting myself out there, and embrace the learning that comes with tough questions. Through the years, I’ve definitely learned much more from the challenges than the wins.
Can you share a story about the biggest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
When I was first starting out in the working world, I had an overly linear view of advancement. I was convinced that staying for years at one company and working my way up one track or channel was the only way to advance.
Over time, I learned that can be limiting. I’ve learned to resist the forces of comfort and complacency. Strategic thinking and leadership skills are highly transferable to new leadership opportunities. The important thing is to not be afraid and enter new situations with an open mind, do your homework, and look for the opportunities. I’m a pretty quick study and look for where I can add value and grow as a human and leader. The important thing is to keep growing, be confident in your ability, and get comfortable feeling uncomfortable. I recently read a great book called ROAR by Michael Clinton about reinventing yourself to roar into the second half of your life. It’s an inspiring, smart read that I am taking to heart.
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?
After more than two decades in the healthcare space, I’m so honored to enter a new chapter by joining Nox Health, a dynamic company founded in Iceland that is reimagining the sleep space, a fascinating and new-to-me part of healthcare. So many of us struggle with sleep health, and it affects us in so many ways — mentally and physically. Most people don’t even realize the effects poor sleep has on their bodies and their lives, and I am excited to be part of a visionary team that is working to change that.
At Nox Health, we offer people-centered products and services that address the worldwide sleep epidemic. A big part of this is providing new levels of access to sleep healthcare with long-term treatment and support. It is inspiring and powerful to literally help improve millions of people’s lives through our comprehensive sleep-testing devices, technology, and sleep-health solutions.
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.
Getting good sleep is #1. We know from our Nox Health research that a good night’s sleep helps us stay healthier, think more clearly, and feel happier. There are so many evidence-based reasons to put down that device and hit the sack earlier. I’ve learned the hard way (I sometimes struggle with insomnia myself) that sleep is foundational to every aspect of a balanced life. Prioritize sleep and it will prioritize you.
Hydrate! Drink at least 2x more water than you think you need. It helps everything function better.
Move. I try to do some form of exercise every day. Variety makes it fun — running, spin class, yoga, and more. When I don’t exercise, everything seems to go out of whack, and the insomnia starts again. It’s all connected, I’ve learned.
During these past 2 years of COVID, I discovered what a textbook extrovert I am. At first, my system was shocked to not be on the go-go-go every minute, surrounded by colleagues, clients, friends and my family, and always on a plane. I’ve since learned to embrace the quiet times. I try to teach my kids that unplugging and sitting with yourself quietly to write in a journal, meditate and recharge — especially for those of us who thrive being around others — is fundamental to a balanced life. I’m still an extrovert, of course, but now I don’t flee from the quiet moments and use them to recharge and reconnect with my values and priorities.
Deliberately CHOOSE happiness.
If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?
The Good Sleep Movement! Helping people understand the sleep-health connection and how small changes in lifestyle can promote really impactful improvements in their short-term and long-term wellbeing. Here’s why: We all need sleep but nearly half of us struggle with it. Humans are the only mammals who deliberately deprive themselves of sleep, and yet sleep impacts every aspect of our lives: how we look, how we feel, if we are sick or well, and how long we live. Obesity and most chronic diseases are tied to sleep issues, as is a weakened immune system. We know that people who sleep well are more productive, happier, healthier, and live longer. Getting good sleep has become a sign of status, yet it’s available to everyone. At Nox Health, we’re on a mission to help everyone wake up to a brighter world, simply by getting good sleep. I’m lucky that I actually get to be part of leading a movement that is so important to all of us.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
- Know your worth and value what you have to give. Women too often undervalue themselves.
- You become who you surround yourself with, so choose wisely.
- Be comfortable with being uncomfortable. You can’t remain who you are and become who you want to be.
- Always be willing and ready to pivot. Being nimble is vital.
- Never turn down an opportunity to network. “Get” from your network, but also doubly “give” back by always making a point to pay it forward.
Sustainability, veganism, mental health and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?
While all of these issues are important, I choose to focus my energy on promoting better sleep, which is intimately aligned to mental health. We know that our work at Nox Health positively impacts peoples’ mental health and reduces the risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and other preventable illnesses that can cause immense strain on one’s mental health. Identifying the barriers to good sleep can produce a ripple effect to overall wellbeing, and we have seen time and time again the positive life changes that come from identifying and addressing issues related to sleep. Sleep is what we do for one third of our life, and my mission is to help everyone get more out of this essential human need that is core to our universal health and wellbeing.
Thank you for these fantastic insights!
Women In Wellness: Heidi Anderson of Nox Health On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.