Women In Wellness: Jessica and Melissa Medri of FGBG Lifestyle on the Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Eat healthy and take vitamins: How you fuel your body will determine how your day goes. Providing your body with nutrients by eating healthy and taking vitamins will give you the energy you need.
As a part of my series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jessica And Melissa Medri.
Jessica and Melissa Medri are twin sisters and managing members of PharmaCenter, a supplement manufacturing and packaging company in Davie, Florida. Health has always been a priority in their lives, but like most young entrepreneurs and college students, achieving a perfect wellness score was a challenge. That’s why they recently launched Feel Great, Be Great (FGBG), a wellness brand for busy women.
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?
During college, we focused our time at PharmaCenter. We were juggling going to classes, studying, working and having a proper healthy lifestyle with meal preps and working out. We always spoke about the irony of being in the supplement industry but forgetting to take vitamins and supplements ourselves. This is when we noticed a major gap in the industry and realized that many millennial women struggle with similar issues as us. We wanted to create a product that is easy to take on the go.
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?
Starting FGBG, we wanted to take a different approach than the majority of supplement and vitamins brands. We wanted to remove the “chore-like”, medicinal feeling and we wanted women to feel excited to take their vitamins. That is why we created something that not only tastes great but looks great too. We love that our customers display our products on their kitchen counters and vanities. At first, we were nervous about doing something different, but the main lesson is to trust yourself and take the risk.
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?
Our biggest mistake is overthinking. We had been working on the concept of the brand for a few years before we actually launched. We wanted everything to be “perfect” in all aspects, from matching the colors of the box to the packets, to taste and shape of the gummies. Looking back now we realize nothing will ever be “perfect” and we can always make changes as we grow and learn from our customers.
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 mission with FGBG is to be more than a wellness brand. We embody the philosophy that when you feel great, you are great. We are a whole lifestyle brand, because we support women as they handle everything life throws at them. As busy women juggling work, kids, health, social events, travel and life in general, it is critically important to remember to LOVE YOURSELF, not only by taking vitamins but also making time for other forms of self-love.
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.
Eat healthy and take vitamins: How you fuel your body will determine how your day goes. Providing your body with nutrients by eating healthy and taking vitamins will give you the energy you need.
Enjoy life: Sometimes we can get so caught up with daily responsibilities, that we forget to appreciate the present moment. It’s so important to enjoy life and be grateful for the people and places around you.
Get sleep: It’s vital to have a routine to end the day so you can get the sleep you need. While you rest, the body goes to work repairing cells and regulating hormones.
Move the body: Exercise helps release stress and clear your mind. We personally love working out in the mornings. It’s the perfect time for us to focus on ourselves before we take on the day.
Make time for YOU: When you take care of yourself you allow yourself to be the best you that you can be. Then you can support everyone else.
If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?
We are passionate about a self-love movement. Making yourself a priority and taking care of yourself is extremely important. When you love yourself, you’re unstoppable! We printed “Love yourself” on the back of our boxes as a reminder.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
1) Enjoy the process: We get so focused on the result and forget to enjoy the process, which is actually the most fun part!
2) Trust yourself: It’s easy to doubt, especially if you are doing something different than everyone else. But if you believe in yourself then nothing gets in your way.
3) Don’t overthink it: This was our biggest mistake. We took longer than we needed to because we would overthink every single detail. This is still something we are working on today.
4) It’s okay to make mistakes. This is the hardest one, but at the end of the day, that’s how you learn and grow. We see making mistakes as a learning tool for our whole team.
Sustainability, veganism, mental health and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?
We live in a world that is fast paced and so much happens in a day. Mental health needs to be a priority. You don’t know what people truly go through, so we always make sure we are available to our friends and family anytime. You never know when someone just needs a shoulder to lean on.
What is the best way our readers can follow you online?
They can follow us on Instagram or Facebook @FGBGLIFESTYLE
Female Disruptors: Jessica Sikora of 3ontessori On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Trust that everything will be okay: I firmly believe that releasing the fear of failure and thinking of every moment as an opportunity to learn has allowed me to take great strides in my career, and in my life. As I have taken leaps of faith, despite any apprehension, I always remind myself that it has always worked out in the past — it’ll all be okay.
As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jessica Sikora.
Jessica Sikora is turning Montessori on its side at 3ontessori, as Co-founder and COO. By expanding access to Montessori education through curated boxed collections and monthly themed sensory activities that provide an all-in-one solution for at-home learning, the skills of our young budding leaders and future entrepreneurs can flourish.
She is also passionate about bringing Montessori education to those in low income and underrepresented communities because, in her eyes, every child has the chance to change the world.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
I grew up in a traditional Asian-American household, and as a first-generation American, I was expected to pursue a career in healthcare as a part of my parents’ “American Dream.” While I knew early on that I was very much creative-focused, finding a love of art and storytelling, I quickly suppressed that side of myself to do what I was expected. Because of that, I felt that I never had a chance in my childhood to explore my interests, skills, and passions — and it wasn’t until I moved out as a young adult at the age of 23, that I finally had a chance to “meet myself” for the first time. For the first time ever, I had the opportunity to explore my strengths and weaknesses, seek out learning opportunities in the topics that I truly loved. Between corporate careers, I took up a nannying job and fell in love with the curiosity and wonder in the little boy that I cared for. Eager to preserve his love of learning and foster his confidence, I discovered Montessori education and was instantly drawn to this child-led learning. Spending hours researching activities and scouring the Internet to order the right toys and tools, I realized the gap in the market and wanted to make bringing Montessori education easy for busy parents.
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
Montessori education has been known for years as a school system for the wealthy. With sky-high tuition rates even for part-time enrollment in these schools, it is no surprise that many families across the world are actually unaware of what Montessori learning actually is. It has only been within the last few years that we have seen Montessori-inspired products emerge, and the natural wooden toys are flocked playroom shelves posted on social media. But the work I’m doing at 3ontessori with my co-founder Christian goes beyond the aesthetic, and instead focuses on the need to expand access to these crucial learning principles to nurture the innate curiosity and love of learning of our littlest leaders. We aren’t just providing a Montessori all-in-one solution for families to have these learning tools at home, but are working to ensure that every child has a chance to learn and to change the world.
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?
Not sure I would necessarily classify it as a mistake, but when I first stumbled across the company at its very early stages, I bombarded my now-cofounder and business partner, Christian, with endless emails with my thoughts about the company, sharing about my own experiences with learning and Montessori education, and ideas about the company roadmap and its possibilities. Eventually, after maybe about 2–3 months, he did give in and schedule a call with me to discuss it further and, the rest is history.
Looking back on it, I laugh and wonder what would have happened had Christian not seen my flood of emails as a sign of passion for the company. I think in many other cases, business owners would have been annoyed with my constant communications and blocked me — thankful that he gave me that chance to chat with him about the company and be a partner to this adventure.
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
I am incredibly thankful to have so many mentors across industries who have believed in me, and my many ideas. From building a nonprofit organization (SUPERBANDS) right out of college, to starting other small businesses — like a small creative agency plus a (failed) entertainment-focused subscription box.
I would say that one of my mentors came from a full-time job I had, where there was a mentorship program offered. I had searched through a list of available mentors and something about her bio stood out to me. I could tell she had a personality that would be a match for mine, and her role in the creative space really appealed to me as I was eager to pursue a creative role in the company. We spoke for months, and she constantly encouraged me to seek out new opportunities and calmed my fears about seeking roles externally. When I was finally offered a role that aligned with my creative pursuits at a startup, she was the one who truly encouraged me to take the leap. She reminded me of how opportunities like the one I had were few and far between and made me realize that if I didn’t take the chance, I would spend years wondering “what if.” While the startup role didn’t work out, it was the biggest — and best — decision I could have made in my career because it was my “proof” that my talents, skills, and passions could truly excel elsewhere, and all I had to do was to trust myself. Without her encouragement, I would have never taken the leap and without that leap, I would not be in this role at 3ontessori.
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?
Disruption can be so powerful, in a positive way, when it opens up new opportunities for communities who may have been overlooked in the past, when resources are expanded across regions, and when new solutions are identified (or developed) to solve ongoing issues or pain points.
However, despite this, ‘disruption’ means change, and many people feel friction when it comes to changing their routines, lifestyles, and ways of thinking which can be frustrating or difficult for them. There are processes and systems that have been tried and true for decades, that people aren’t ready to change.
Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.
Trust that everything will be okay: I firmly believe that releasing the fear of failure and thinking of every moment as an opportunity to learn has allowed me to take great strides in my career, and in my life. As I have taken leaps of faith, despite any apprehension, I always remind myself that it has always worked out in the past — it’ll all be okay.
Networking is an investment in your business: I grew up being very shy and afraid to speak with people I didn’t know. I even remember telling people I knew about my first business idea and them telling me that they weren’t sure I would succeed because I didn’t know anyone — in any relevant roles or industries — who could help me. However, I had to silence my fears early on and I began cold emailing and cold pitching on LinkedIn, putting myself out there — and it was through building that network that I was able to grow, and I keep that in mind every day now too, ensuring I continue to surround myself with people who are smarter than me and more experienced than me, eager to learn.
Fail fast: I used to be so afraid of failure, which had stopped me for years from pursuing ideas I’ve had. I had to learn to stop thinking of small hiccups as failures, and instead re-frame them as learning experiences that allow me to pivot and find the right footing to progress forward.
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
Once we build our foundation through our curated boxed collections of Montessori tools and then roll out our monthly activity kits, we hope to open a network of Montessori schools that, for the first time, formally integrates the essential components of STEAM education with the foundational principles of Montessori learning. Not only that, but we will be offering discounted tuition and sliding scale tuition in low income communities or families that need financial assistance, as well as providing a “Giveback program” with our boxes, so that every child has a chance to discover (and retain) their curiosity and love of learning regardless of their background or location.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by ‘women disruptors’ that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?
Coming from my own experience, I had spent a lot of time sitting in the shadows thinking that I was not “good enough” to take on roles of leadership, pursue business ideas, or jump into industries when I didn’t meet 100% of the qualifications. It can be easy for a woman to discredit themselves and take a backseat to their male counterparts, or to avoid speaking up when it comes time for a raise or promotion, but I hope we will continue to take great strides to show the world what we can do.
I also do think sometimes, a woman’s persistence when advocating for themselves, especially to be in a leadership role. can very easily come across as “annoying” while a male’s persistence is more likely to come across as “passionate and driven.”
Do you have a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?
One of the TedX talks that I reference all the time is “Montessori = Creativity Unleashed” by Judi Bauerlein. I stumbled across this video around the time that I began nannying for a 5 year old boy who gave me a glimpse of the love of learning that I had forgotten was so innately programmed into every child. As I started to research Montessori education and figure out what I could do in my 9–5 hours him, this lecture really opened my eyes to this child-led learning and I was hooked. I compared it to my past experience working in early childhood development centers and daycares, realizing the gap in the things we were teaching children and the gaps in the accessibility of Montessori learning across communities. While I continued to introduce Montessori education to the children I babysat in future years, it wasn’t until recently that Christian and I combined forces to really take action through 3ontessori.
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. 🙂
I’m actually hoping to do that through 3ontessori! If you look around at existing Montessori schools and their tuition prices, it is disheartening to think that there are so many children who are unable to learn these foundational principles simply due to financial reasons. By bringing Montessori education to as many children as possible –
regardless of socioeconomic status, location, or background — 3ontessori is shaping our future leaders, our budding entrepreneurs, our passionate philanthropists, and our unstoppable creatives of tomorrow. We are allowing the child to lead us, and in the work we are doing, we will help them build a pathway to their desired future… and that’s how you change the world.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“To have something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done.” As a kid, I spent a lot of time staying quiet, fearful of what others might think of my ideas or think of me as a person. I realized in my early adult years, when I had my first business idea, that I couldn’t let myself just stay quiet anymore and had to learn to step outside of my comfort zone. As new chapters of my life have unfolded, and new milestones have blossomed, I have learned to be more comfortable with being uncomfortable. Looking at my greatest blessings and biggest accomplishments, I realize more and more that these all came from taking a leap of faith and trusting that everything will work out.
The quote is something I still reference to this day, in all aspects of my life beyond just business. When making a decision, I constantly think to myself: Is my fear greater than my desire to have this outcome?
How can our readers follow you online?
You can follow the work we are doing at www.3ontessori.com, follow us on Instagram (@3ontessori), and sign up for our newsletter (on our website) to stay up-to-date on this exciting journey to turn Montessori on its side.
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Learn how to observe your thoughts instead of attach to them. Once you can do this, you can realize when you’re taking on limiting beliefs, fears, or doubts from the external world.
Teen dance and acrobatic phenomenon, Zara Silver, is a fierce soul with a tender heart posed to become a world-renowned dancer. Zara is currently a student at Hussain College In Studio, and travels between Miami and LA for dance and school. She enjoys making content to inspire young women to develop confidence and follow their dreams.
Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to ‘get to know you’ a bit better. Can you tell us your ‘backstory’?
I was adopted at the age of 4 by an American family. When I first came to the US, I was very sick and weak. I was fortunate enough to have a loving family who nurtured me emotionally and physically. I feel so blessed — they have allowed me the freedom to explore my dreams and passions instead of raising me in a traditional setting.
I have been able to find my love for dance on my own instead of being forced into a traditional school setting and activities that I would not have personally chosen.
When I was adopted and came to the US, I began teaching myself acrobatics. I spent countless hours watching Autumn Miller videos and copying them on my own. I worked one-on-one and in group settings with professional ballerina Kimberly Thompson (The Redhead Ballerina) and acclaimed Miami dancer, Julian Mireles (So You Think You Can Dance), among others, which inspired me to keep pushing forward.
Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?
As a first-year student at Hussain College in Studio, I am working on my academic portfolio, attending dance classes, while working on my content creation. I notice that my consistency helps me grow stronger mentally, which allows me to show up more confidently in my content and structure my time more efficiently to interact with my audience.
In your opinion, what do you think makes your company or organization stand out from the crowd?
I believe it comes back to my story. From a young age, I had the deck stacked against me. I was blessed to be given the privilege to get to where I am today. I never want to lose sight of that, and always remind my community the importance of gratitude and humility. I like to use inspiring quotes, affirmations, and mindset messages to remind my audience to connect with themselves.
Ok, thank you for that. I’d like to jump to the main focus of this interview. Has there ever been a time that someone told you something was impossible, but you did it anyway? Can you share the story with us? What was your idea? What was the reaction of the naysayers? And how did you overcome that?
When I was younger, I had a classmate make offensive comments about my appearance, and told me I wouldn’t be able to become a full time dancer. I was really hurt at the time, and believed this to be true for a long time. It really affected the way I showed up on social media for a while.
In the end, how were all the naysayers proven wrong? 🙂
Soon, I realized that it didn’t matter what anyone else said. At the end of the day, people will pick up on my character and energy as a person. I knew I had to keep going and show up as my best self, so I continued to make my videos, and built an incredible online community across my social platforms over time. I’m so grateful to them for reminding me why I do what I do, and thankful to myself for continuing to move forward even when others doubted me.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
My mom has been my biggest cheerleader along the way. She noticed my passion for dancing when I was watching dancers on TikTok, and encouraged me to continue perfecting my skills, auditioning for performances, and putting myself out there on social media. Without her support, I’m not sure I’d be where I am today.
It must not have been easy to ignore all the naysayers. Did you have any experiences growing up that have contributed to building your resiliency? Can you share the story with us?
Based on your experience, can you share 5 strategies that people can use to harness the sense of tenacity and do what naysayers think is impossible? (Please share a story or an example for each)
Prove to yourself what you thought you couldn’t do. I did this by putting myself out there on social media at a very young age even when I doubted myself.
Learn how to observe your thoughts instead of attach to them. Once you can do this, you can realize when you’re taking on limiting beliefs, fears, or doubts from the external world.
Be consistent. If you can remain disciplined, the results are bound to come.
Learn to validate yourself by identifying your strengths, positive traits, and how you’ve impacted others.
Continue to exit your comfort zone. The most magical outcomes tend to come from taking risks.
What is your favorite quote or personal philosophy that relates to the concept of resilience?
My favorite quote is “everything happens for a reason.” I am very hard on myself so when something doesn’t go as planned I get upset with myself but then I have to tell myself that there are many more opportunities to come and that one was just not the one for me.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
I would start a movement to increase accessibility to dance schools for those who are socioeconomically at a disadvantage from doing so. I would like to promote equal educational opportunities for all youth, no matter their financial status or nationality.
Can our readers follow you on social media?
Yes!
Insta: @zarasilverofficial
TikTok: @zara.silver
Thank you for these great stories. We wish you only continued success!
Female Founders: Hanna Mandelbaum and Alison Blumberg of Evermore Pet Food On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
A good founder will always prioritize the health of their business over their ego. Effective founders need to be self-aware and open to learning from others. They need to strike that fine balance between working autonomously while also remaining conscious of their own knowledge gaps.
As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Hanna Mandelbaum and Alison Blumberg.
Hanna Mandelbaum is the Co-CEO and Fairy Dog-mother of Evermore Pet Food. As a big picture, out-of-the-box thinker, she crafts a broader strategic vision for the Evermore brand. Whether it’s a dog-food eating campaign or canine office parties, she has innovated in ways that the entire “fresh food” category has followed.
Alison Blumberg is the Co-CEO and Sourcer-ess of Evermore Pet Food. In her role, she painstakingly researches and vets their ethical vendor partners, oversees all aspects of production and related logistics, works closely with the lab, and generally keeps order whenever it can fit into a spreadsheet. Her passion for animal welfare and sustainable food systems drives every decision about Evermore Pet Food.
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?
We came together as two animal lovers — a dog walker (Hanna) and her health-supportive chef client (Alison) — in a moment of crisis. Another one of Hanna’s clients ran a home-cooked dog food business and suffered a life-changing, and ultimately life-ending, health event. We stepped in to help out on a temporary basis, but the universe had other plans. It was far from a turnkey operation, and we both completely shifted gears in our lives to start Evermore Pet Food. Doing so involved a steep learning curve, with a lot of work to develop a product we could responsibly sell to the public. It’s actually a remarkable story, which we wrote about here.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
Very early on we had no marketing budget and decided that a good way to get our name out there was to “eat our own dog food.” We called the endeavor Evermore Me in a nod to the documentary Super Size Me and proceeded to stream live “feeds” of ourselves eating Evermore daily for the whole month of March (2011). We also limited our food intake exclusively to the ingredients in the food for this time period. The press around this snowballed beyond our wildest imagination, including Kathie Lee and Hoda eating it on The Today Show and Jeanne Moos coming to our office to interview us — the resulting segment aired on and off for a month. We even got international coverage.
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?
Besides the fact that we did all that work to pull off Evermore Me and actually got the attention we were hoping for BUT didn’t have the infrastructure in place to meet demand. We couldn’t have been in business more than a month, when ADP approached us about payroll services. Being the rookies we were, we assumed that we could take a salary right away. Needless to say, we ran a grand total of two payrolls before we realized that paying ourselves was a long way off — nine years to be exact. Those were two early cart-before-the-horse lessons that made it abundantly clear that growing Evermore was going to be a marathon, not a sprint.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
We definitely had our angels along the way, especially the friends and family who have gone above and beyond over the years, but oddly one of our biggest debts of gratitude is to someone we have no doubt almost ruined our company. We initially felt immense pressure to raise capital and came very close to taking a deal that involved a significant amount of money. This would have forced us to pursue an aggressive growth strategy at the expense of our ethos and authenticity. At first, backing out of the deal put a lot of strain on us, but ultimately it helped us understand who we are — and who we are not — both personally and professionally.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this EY report, only about 20 percent of funded companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from founding companies?
The expectations around motherhood and the lack of societal support for childcare are a huge factor — especially when there’s a cult of personality around the archetype of the single-minded founder who puts everything but their business on the back burner.
Many industries are so male-dominated that there is still very much a “boys’ club” mentality. Breaking in and being taken seriously requires an extra level of assertiveness. Women are socialized to be cooperative and even accommodating, but starting a company requires us to be demanding. Founders have to demand that they belong, that there is a need for what they have to offer, that they have the best (or only) version of whatever it is they do. We can get so paralyzed by imposter syndrome that it can be hard to unapologetically forge a path forward.
Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?
Government-subsidized childcare would help women and the economy as a whole, not just founders. On a societal basis, we need to keep re-evaluating, questioning, and dismantling the expectations around gender. For better or for worse, certain attributes like empathy and collaboration tend to be perceived as feminine, regardless of who embodies them. Leading with these traits, however, can yield great results and need to be rewarded in the workplace as much as the traditionally masculine ones that have been historically associated with success.
This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?
Maybe we’re biased by our own experiences here, but women do often operate from a place of community and relationship building. We’re able to build the sort of companies that we would want to work for and see our employees as people with lives outside of work, allowing them the flexibility and support they need. If you don’t buy into the idea that you need to be singularly focused and grow as quickly as possible, achieving a healthy degree of work/life balance is also easier when you are the one setting the benchmarks.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?
You can’t have a life outside of your company, and the only way to be successful is to work 24/7. Toiling nonstop may seem heroic, and it may lead to success, but it’s definitely a recipe for burnout.
Mistakes are bad and should be avoided at all costs. Frankly, some of our best outcomes began with some seriously worrisome mess-ups (don’t worry, nothing that put any dogs at risk). The reality is that mistakes happen, and there’s nothing you can do to avoid them. The most important thing is how you (or others involved) address them, because that speaks directly to your (or another’s) accountability and integrity.
Your business plan is your business reality. Once your pro forma and strategies hit the real world, any number of factors can derail even the most meticulous planning. As long as you are able to react and shift accordingly, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Is everyone cut out to be a founder? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful founder and what type of person should perhaps seek a “regular job” as an employee? Can you explain what you mean?
Being a founder is not for the faint of heart. It requires a high level of stamina and risk tolerance. A lot of people may not be interested in testing their limits on those fronts.
Running a business means living in the gray and adapting to change at a moment’s notice. If you are someone who likes things more black and white or wants predictability, don’t be your own boss.
A good founder will always prioritize the health of their business over their ego. Effective founders need to be self-aware and open to learning from others. They need to strike that fine balance between working autonomously while also remaining conscious of their own knowledge gaps.
At the end of the day, you’ll be remembered for the rules you broke and the risks you took. Thinking outside the box is a crucial trait for a founder, so people who prefer to play it safe might not thrive in this role.
Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)
It’s up to you to make people believe in your business. Even though we knew from the get-go that our food was special, it wasn’t immediately apparent to everyone else. Passion, however, can be infectious. In our first meeting with an important distributor, we were waxing poetic about the virtues of Evermore and Alison absentmindedly took a bite of the dog food. Her genuine enthusiasm won over everyone at the table, and we’re pretty sure that helped us secure the distribution deal.
Be ready to pivot. At the time, working with a distributor was THE way to do business in the pet food industry, but it wasn’t the best way for us to do our business. It took us years to recognize this. However, once it became clear that we needed to shift to a direct-to-consumer approach, it was like the seas parted and our business started to truly take off.
There’s no white knight. There have been times when running our company was a genuine struggle, and we couldn’t see a path forward. In some of these dark moments, we’ve been approached by business advisors, would-be investors, and other “experts” who claimed to hold the keys to our success. In every case, it quickly became clear that their proposals were more about lining their own pockets and taking advantage of our perceived naivete. If someone sounds too good to be true, they probably are.
There is not one way to define success. By conventional metrics, we are not the most successful food in our category. As far we’re concerned, however, we’re so proud of what we’ve accomplished: bootstrapping our way to profitability, providing health insurance, 401(k) plans, and a living wage to ourselves and our employees, and forging strong relationships with our vendors and customers — all while keeping our integrity and commitment to humane sourcing practices.
Savor the valleys, not just the peaks. We used to live for the highs — like the great Evermore Me press and breaking sales records — and get depressed when the dust settled. Over the years, we have come to be grateful for the lulls. Those “down” times keep us going because they allow us to take a moment to breathe and gather the energy needed to face the next hurdle.
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
We’ve certainly made the world a better place for a lot of dogs and their humans. Our customers are constantly reaching out to let us know that the switch to Evermore has been life-changing for their pups.
On a broader scale, we feel deeply about supporting a sustainable agricultural system that prioritizes animal welfare. The more dog food we make, the more we get to vote with our dollars and guarantee income for farmers and ranchers who are doing truly good work. We genuinely solve a problem for our vendors, by providing a regular source of income for parts of the animal that might otherwise go to waste or be sold to rendering facilities for far less than they are worth.
We often have to make the case to our customers for why we are more expensive than other brands. This gives us an opportunity to provide the education to help them distinguish genuine animal welfare practices from humane-washing claims.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
We would love to inject nuance and awareness into the conversation around animal welfare. 99% of the meat in this country comes from factory-farmed animals — that’s 99% too much. Most education and advocacy around this gut-wrenching issue promotes veganism as the only solution. The reality is that dogs are not vegans, and this binary approach is alienating for many individuals. There are concrete steps that can be taken to both improve the lives of farm animals and have a positive impact on the planet.
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
Each other! We are a bi-coastal business and have been working from our respective homes for more than a decade, so we don’t get to connect in person often enough. As two very different individuals (practically strangers) who were brought together in partnership by very unusual circumstances, it turns out we are eerily aligned on a very deep level and have come to share a strong sisterly bond.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this!
Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech: Roja Boina of Evernorth On The 5 Leadership Lessons She Learned From Her Experience
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Know yourself first : Always know yourself first. Know your skills, strengths, passions , triggers and try to understand your own value and what you bring to the table. By doing this reflection it helps to build better relationships, do more purposeful work and helps you to accomplish great things.
As a part of my series about “Lessons From Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Roja Boina.
Roja Boina is a Software Engineering senior Advisor .She is Originally from India and has come to the US to pursue her masters in computer science. She is a data enthusiast and as an Engineering Senior Advisor for a Health Care Domain, she has skill-set to provide data-driven solutions to business users .She takes pride in her get-it-done with a high-quality product spirit. She loves defining requirements, designing, developing, testing, and delivering backend applications. She likes to communicate data through Visualizations.She is very passionate about being a Women in Tech Advocate and being a part of WIT communities. Apart from her 9–5 she loves to volunteer for non-profits and mentor the fellow women in stem.She believes in a growth mindset.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
Growing up in a small town in India, I had no idea how my career would unfold. I studied computer science as an undergraduate. I easily secured employment post-graduation in an independent testing company in Hyderabad, one of India’s technology hubs. However, the role was largely process oriented and mundane. I had always sought a challenge both academically and professionally and decided to apply to graduate schools in the United States.
Thanks to my strong undergraduate academic performance, I was easily able to secure admissions in several competitive universities, and decided to complete my Masters in Computer Science at the University of New Haven with support from a generous scholarship.
Data carriers were on a rise and being an immigrant I thought entering into a growing industry like this is more likely to open doors for many new opportunities. Hence after graduating , I have joined a healthcare giant as a consultant. While working there, I have recognized my passion for working and solving the problems with data. I have been able to combine my strong foundation in computer science and my passion for working with and solving problems through data.
By working in the healthcare domain on various projects, I have gained knowledge on developing BI solutions and data-driven insights into decision making. I also improved my teamwork and communication skills by interacting with stakeholders from cross-functional teams to understand and analyze technical and functional requirements, dependencies, and potential roadblocks. I am now confident in communicating ideas and solutions with both technical and non-technical audiences through my strong storytelling capabilities.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began at your company?
I have initially worked as a consultant(Tableau Developer) when I started my career. I am glad that in the last 4 years, people have identified my willingness to learn , grow and have given me incredible opportunities to work on some of the leading technologies . During this time I have recognized that working with the smartest brains is the easiest , fastest way to learn things and I am glad to have got the opportunity to work along with a few of the smartest people.. After three years of working through various tools , technologies and gaining domain knowledge I was hired as Software Engineering Senior Advisor which has opened doors for me to grow further in my career.
Ok super. Thank you for all that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. Are you currently satisfied with the status quo regarding women in STEM? What specific changes do you think are needed to change the status quo?
None of us should be satisfied with the status quo regarding the gender pay gap that exists within STEM. Women earn 82 cents for every dollar a man makes and one in four women are considering leaving their workforce or downshifting their careers during the pandemic.
We all have a part in this to make the change happen. At a personal level, women shouldn’t be accountable for the majority of the unpaid household labor, child care and family responsibilities. There must be an equal division of work at home.
At the corporate level it’s important to not only hire the women but also retain them by providing flexible work options, providing educational and job-training opportunities and also promoting the right talent . Often women are praised for the sacrifices they make for their families , rather we should build solutions so that women can choose not only the career but also the life they want without having to sacrifice on their personal lives and time.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by women in STEM or Tech that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts? What would you suggest to address this?
According to a Harvard business review the standard for parenting is different for both men and women and it is the most devastating effect for promotion . It’s almost like re-climbing the corporate ladder when you return from maternity leave. Often a woman will never know if she isn’t promoted because of the parenting bias.
The intense difficulty of a work schedule that is not compatible with men or women would lead to women leaving the workspace all together. Though it is a bias & workplace inflexibility it leads to this decision of her unwillingness or inability to do the job.
To resolve this , we should reconsider what we are willing to allow the workspace to demand from employees. As individuals , families push back against the overwork that will pave for others to follow .
Also there must be an equal responsibility and sharing of the work when it comes to parenting and household responsibilities.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a woman in STEM or Tech. Can you explain what you mean?
People skills are not as important as technical skills: people skills are equally important as technical skills.Communication, curiosity, critical thinking are equally important as technical skills.Part of this problem stems from the fact that soft skills are harder to measure than technical skills.
It’s easier to determine if someone can build an app than if they can navigate organizational politics. In the first case, there is a tangible product. In the second, the outcome is intangible, changeable, and depends on many factors.
People think you should be only mentored by women within the stem, but it’s equally important to have both men and women as mentors as it helps to see the different perspectives and to grow relationships that will accelerate your career.
What are your “5 Leadership Lessons I Learned From My Experience as a Woman in STEM or Tech” and why. (Please share a story or example for each.)
Know yourself first : Always know yourself first. Know your skills, strengths, passions , triggers and try to understand your own value and what you bring to the table. By doing this reflection it helps to build better relationships, do more purposeful work and helps you to accomplish great things.
Network is net worth : find both mentors and sponsors in your career. It is so crucial to have people not only to guide you but also who can advocate for you and say your name in a room full of opportunities. It is important to spend time building meaningful connections throughout your career as it helps with career advancement opportunities, strategy and introduces you to important people within and outside of the company.
Have a strong purpose and identify what success means to you : Most of us tend to do well on the days we feel good, but for one to keep going forward despite the situation, circumstances and adversities, it is important to have a strong sense of purpose and Everyone’s definition of success looks different in their career, identify what it means to you, so you can start taking action to bring that success into your life.
Advocate for yourself : Because most times people do not know what you want, be it a raise , promotion or working on a different technology completely. Ask for what you want, it is important to communicate.The best way to get what you want is to ask for it.
It’s not about the goals themselves : Reaching any goal is only a small part of the reward but the person you ‘ve become along the way is the greatest reward.
What advice would you give to other women leaders to help their team to thrive?
Communicating the vision and strategy to the team clearly — It’s important for you to not only understand the vision, but also be clearly able to communicate and explain the vision you hold to others so they can understand and work on it.
Adapt to the challenges put in front of you: There’s no denying that change is uncomfortable but if you’re not willing to at least try to navigate the uncharted territory that’s ahead of you, you’re more likely to be left behind.
Stop believing your mistakes are setbacks — start seeing them as necessary steps for growth : Mistakes are proof that you are trying , they are proof that you’re taking action towards something challenging . This kind of mindset work is so important when you are looking to advance in your career.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
Definitely my family, from the place where I come from and I grew up even at this age and time people still consider it’s important for girls to get married early and you aren’t considered settled unless you are married. I am extremely thankful that my family has prioritized my education and when I thought of moving to the US to pursue masters they have agreed to it.
There are so many people that have directly influenced me throughout my career, it’s difficult to choose just one person. I am so grateful to everyone that has taken a chance on me, saw my value. Being an immigrant it’s really challenging to navigate your career without the right sponsors and mentors. I am thankful for all my mentors and sponsors in my career.
Also last but not the least I am thankful for myself too, for showing up on the days when it was not easy and pushing myself to do the work when it was not easy.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
I am “paying it forward” . I have amazing mentors, sponsors in my career who helped me navigate to where I am today.
I am very passionate about being a Women in Tech Advocate and being a part of WIT communities. I actively participate in mentoring , volunteering activities and pay it forward by sharing the knowledge that I have been shared with.
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. 🙂
Lately I have been reading a lot of books on psychology and neuroscience . I sure would love to have a movement that would help build habits that drive results, help people stay focused and allow them to do deep work without getting distracted ( in a world where it’s so easy to get distracted ).
Also,If I haven’t received a decent scholarship I am unsure if I would have pursued my Masters.Education is something that must be easily accessible to each and every single person . I always wish quality education- graduate, undergraduate degrees from reputed universities are available for free of cost and one need not worry about paying debt .
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
It’s more of a statement rather than a quote that I tell to myself — “In a world where you can be anything, be and stay true to yourself” . Culturally there are so many things that I have learnt growing up.It needed a lot of work and energy to unlearn some of them that wouldn’t serve me to grow as a person.
I constantly remind myself just because that’s how things have been for a long time doesn’t mean they are right or just because everyone else is doing it doesn’t mean you have to do it too.I apply it both to my career and personal life. Always have some alone time to reflect on what you want and what brings you peace and joy . It is utmost important to me.
We are very blessed that very prominent leaders read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂
Definitely Sheryl Sandberg . I have admired her work throughout the years andI love her quote “We need women at all levels, including the top, to change the dynamic ,reshape the conversation ,to make sure women’s voices are heard and heeded ,not overlooked and ignored”
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Female Disruptors: Madeline McKinnon Of ‘Feels’ On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Better to have it not need it, than need it not have it: My mom has said this to me for as long as I can remember, usually in the context of bringing a jacket when I go out. But the principle applies everywhere. I’ve learned to come prepared, have a backup plan and expect things to not work out seamlessly. Our U.S. launch strategy at Feels has changed significantly since we first started, and as we progress, we’ve iterated and continue to build back up plans, because you never know when you’ll need it!
As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Madeline McKinnon.
Madeline McKinnon is a co-founder and U.S. General Manager of Feels. Before joining the Gen Z dating app, she led user acquisition at Lover App, funded by Tinder’s founder Sean Rad among others, and The Action Network, a sports betting media company acquired for $240 million. Madeline studied Entrepreneurship and Innovation at The University of San Francisco before joining five startups on their growth and marketing teams. Based in NYC, Madeline is passionate about ethical social media usage, environmentalism and mentorship.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
I’ve always been an athlete, and I think some of my best personality traits come from being on sports teams as a child. I went to college in San Francisco where I was able to intern at several tech startups and early on realized that building a business felt like play to me; it was scrappy, required wearing multiple hats, and being part of a team, similar to sports.
Actually, many aspects of startup culture mirror being on a sports team — from working to each other’s strengths, unearthing a fierce competitive drive, showing up as an empathetic team player and simultaneously as a leader. I fell in love with the startup world, but even more, the promise of a team that I could count on and lead.
I moved to New York after graduating and saw a friend become very successful in online advertising.
I told myself I want to do that.
I found a mentor, took a course online and started a position at an agency where I lead the media department. After a few years, I left the agency to run online app marketing and paid media affiliate business of a sports betting startup. After they were acquired, I ran the Growth Division for a UK-based sex-tech app before co-founding Feels in the US and developing our launch strategy.
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
We’ve been conditioned to believe that to find someone you are compatible with on a dating app, you must swipe right, judging them on their appearance alone. Who created this standard? Two men, 10 years ago. The way we use dating apps today is broken and dehumanizing. Feels vehemently rejects this norm and has completely transformed how we interact on dating apps.
On Feels, there’s no swiping — you scroll through a fully immersive video-first interface and react to another user’s content, similar to a social network. We’ve successfully integrated a key component that has been missing from the dating app experience: context to your connection. Profiles on Feels are playful and authentic, composed of videos, photos and personality-based questions. Inbound messages are also broken out into two categories: users who only reacted to your content and users who wrote you a personal message. Our focus is to facilitate true connection between two people, not inundate them with superficial conversations and matches.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I was fired from one of my first internships at a well-known corporate retail and e-commerce brand. I spent the first 3 weeks at one of their brick-and-mortar stores to get a sense of their product line where I met and connected with several sales associates. They asked me to take some feedback back to the corporate headquarters, including the lack of Wi-Fi in the stores, 15-year-old computers and unrealistic sales goals.
When I finally started at the corporate office, the CEO welcomed the intern class and asked us all what we had learned from the previous weeks. I promptly stood up and gave the criticisms — yikes! Again that week, I spoke out at a meeting I had been invited to with C-level executives, criticizing an embellished narrative the company had adopted about sustainably sourcing their products.
I was quietly dismissed soon after. But this was a good learning experience I needed at that time in life. I learned to listen and evaluate a situation from multiple perspectives and people. I’ve actually integrated this principle into the Feels user tests I conduct, making sure to seek out people from different backgrounds to gain greater insight and feedback about the product.
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?
My mentors have all been my managers at some point in my career. I credit one for outlining the path of what I have built in the last two years; without him advocating and supporting me I wouldn’t be where I am today. During the pandemic we spent hours on video calls every day, him patiently walking me through new media and leadership strategy — providing gentle, constructive feedback and celebrating my wins. In a time when we were all physically isolated, I filled a void of loneliness through our friendship and grew professionally.
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?
Democracies are a great example of a structure that continue to be the most progressive and equitable form of government. In the U.S. this past year, and recently in Europe, we’ve seen standing democracies disrupted followed by civil unrest, civilian casualties and widespread fear. Though not perfect, a democratic government with decentralized power is one system that we should stand to preserve.
I always try to look at product and service innovation in a human-centered design framework, which allows me to sympathize with individuals outside of myself and weigh the pros/cons of industry disruption. One easy way to distill if an industry is ripe for disruption is to identify if there is a resounding pain point from its target audience. If there isn’t one company in the space addressing this concern, it’s time for things to change.
Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.
Don’t react emotionally: I used to dread yearly reviews where it’s inevitable you’ll receive good and bad feedback. It’s natural to be defensive with the bad, and it’s still a learning process for me to sit with critical feedback, but I’m working on listening more, digesting and looking at situations objectively.
You’re the sum of the 3 people you spend your time with: One way I take care of myself is surrounding myself with positive, motivating and inspiring people. I’m a firm believer in the universal theory of attraction, and when my friends are making moves, it seems we all ride that wave.
Better to have it not need it, than need it not have it: My mom has said this to me for as long as I can remember, usually in the context of bringing a jacket when I go out. But the principle applies everywhere. I’ve learned to come prepared, have a backup plan and expect things to not work out seamlessly. Our U.S. launch strategy at Feels has changed significantly since we first started, and as we progress, we’ve iterated and continue to build back up plans, because you never know when you’ll need it!
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
I’m really excited about some of the new features we’re launching on Feels this spring. No other dating app has explored the UX integrations we’re working on. Feels’ users will be able to connect with each other in a digital landscape that is fully immersive, playful and secure. You might be able to guess — we’re moving into the metaverse.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by ‘women disruptors’ that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?
Being heard the first time, coming off too sharp or ‘bitchy’, finding women in similar positions, biological pressure to start a family.
Do you have a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?
I read “Sex At Dawn” for the first time several years ago which expanded my position on relationships greatly. I grew up in a traditional family with married parents and never questioned lifelong commitment or monogamy.
In “Sex At Dawn,” I learned that humans aren’t programmed biologically for monogamy, and the relationship norms we have today were inherited from Puritanistic thinking.
After reading this, I gained perspective and empathy for unconventional relationships, and allowed myself the grace to explore that. This has been transformative in how I approach connection, loyalty and the possibility of marriage.
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. 🙂
Our society has come a long way in destigmatizing mental health, but talking about personal mental health struggles with a significant other is still taboo and often awkward. I would love to see increased comfortability in dating today to be out and okay with having a mental illness, similar to coming out about one’s sexuality or gender preference. For many, it’s a part of their identity and something they deal with every day, so this should be a topic we embrace and normalize instead of shut out.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
I come from Scottish descent, and on the McKinnon Clan crest is the quote “Fortune Favors the Bold’’ which feels like a gift from my ancestors. The motto pushes me to bet on myself, with the promise that great reward only follows great risk.
At Feels, we err on the side of nonconformity and being a leader in the online dating industry. We’re unapologetically bold — rejecting relationship/gender norms, labels and the swipe-and-match model. It’s a risky swing that we believe will improve dissatisfaction in online dating and facilitate fortuitous human connection.
How can our readers follow you online?
You can find me on Instagram at @madelinefromdenver or TikTok @themadelinemckinnon.
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Women In Wellness: Anna Chokina of Cellular Goods On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
… Find what makes you tick: This might be bigger than a simple tweak, but I believe that the journey towards better wellbeing begins with people finding what they love and building their life around it. People that carve out time in life to do the things they like and are meaningful to them are happier and feel more fulfilled, especially if they’re lucky like me and find that their job is their passion too.
As a part of my series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Anna Chokina, CEO of Cellular Goods.
Anna Chokina is CEO of Cellular Goods, a UK-based wellness company that provides premium products based on lab-made cannabinoids, and has more than 20 years’ experience in senior level roles in the personal care and fast-moving consumer goods industries. Anna was previously Vice President of Global Colour Cosmetics, Global Face Care and Personal Care at Avon and, prior to that, she was General Manager of L’Oreal Paris for Russia. Her other previous senior roles included Marketing Director at PepsiCo Russia and Business Leader for Femcare and Healthcare products at Procter & Gamble in both the US and UK.
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 have spent the last 20-plus years working across senior level marketing and executive management roles in the beauty and FMCG sectors.
I love what I do: marketing and business and my work has taken me all over the world; I was born in Russia and have since lived and worked in the US and the UK as well as my home country.
I have a passion for new challenges and for developing strategies to help brands grow and following this passion has taken me to exciting companies such as Avon where I was Vice President of Global Colour Cosmetics, Global Face Care and Personal Care; and also L’Oréal Paris where I was General Manager for Russia. I am now CEO of Cellular Goods, a UK-based wellness brand providing premium consumer products based on lab-made cannabinoids.
I’m a big believer in what cannabinoids have to offer in a wellness context and in the opportunity for a brand in this space that can offer high-quality and high-trust products. I’ve seen this firsthand: as part of my experience at Avon, I actually launched the company’s first-ever line of Cannabis Sativa based products for the personal care and skincare market. This experience introduced me to the world of cannabinoid consumer products and the many benefits they can offer.
My interest in wellness is longstanding. Over my career I’ve found that staying in touch with yourself and having a motivated and fulfilled team are vital factors when it comes to delivering meaningful results, and the bedrock of this is often individual wellness and wellbeing. In fact, it is because of the importance of wellness and maintaining a healthy work-life balance that I always try to make the most of my downtime by doing things that help me recharge. For example, I enjoy shopping solo and I always try to book time in my diary for Pilates and my regular retreat at the beauty salon. I also love travelling and, when possible, I try to book-in trips to remote places like Alaska and Patagonia as they help me recharge and give me energy that I can take back with me to function better in life.
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?
Whilst working at Avon, I was tasked with overhauling one of the company’s brands. This was a difficult job as the brand’s sales had been declining and there was a lot of skepticism not just among the customers, but also internally that this could be done. To help address this, I teamed-up with colleagues from the company’s Research and Development (R&D) team to find an ingredient that would provide credibility to the refreshed brand’s positioning, messaging and packaging.
For several weeks we looked at ingredients used for skincare until I suggested a component the company came across accidentally while developing another product. The component looked promising, and we had a long-term patent on it, making it unique to the company. So, together with the R&D team, we decided to use science to further our understanding of this ingredient which, to our surprise, turned out to contain an amino acid capable of restoring up to seven years of collagen loss. From this point onwards, it was all hands on-deck until the final product was on the shelves.
Looking back, I would say this project was one of my biggest professional achievements. Not only did we turn around the brand from decline to growth and expanded the use of the ingredient to several product ranges, but this experience also taught me that when marketing and R&D work together from the onset, they can deliver excellent results. This is a lesson I’ve kept close throughout the years and the reason why as CEO of Cellular Goods, I’m committed to ensuring our scientists are working with suppliers and the marketing team at every stage of the product development process.
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?
Throughout my career I’ve faced many difficult situations that have taught me some valuable lessons, with one of the most important ones being the value of a good working environment.
This did not happen right at the beginning of my career but took place as I began to become responsible for entire teams. As part of one of these teams, I had a direct report who was excellent at her job, but she had a difficult relationship with her colleagues, to the point that some members of the team told me that her attitude was creating a toxic working environment. Notwithstanding these complaints, I decided not to act immediately as the employee, despite the reports of her negative attitude, was over performing so I wanted to wait to see if things would settle down.
Six months later, I let the employee go and that’s when I noticed the change in my team. All my colleagues became less on-edge which helped improve their mental wellbeing and, to my surprise, they also started performing better. Now I’m keen to emphasize the importance of the work environment, take prompt action to address any factors that may be affecting the mental wellbeing of my team and dedicate more time to helping individual team members strike a balance.
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?
At Cellular our focus on wellness is holistic, it’s about ensuring that people can look, feel and function better by taking a scientific approach to delivering products with one of the most exciting breakout ingredients of our times. Cannabinoid compounds are capable of reducing stress, regulating mood and even helping you get enough sleep. A wealth of anecdotal evidence and a growing basis of scientific studies have shown that cannabinoids can deliver a host of wellness benefits.
Our goal at Cellular Goods is to use these latest scientific findings, alongside our own research, to develop products that can help people take advantage of all the benefits of cannabinoids, including CBD and Cannabigerol (CBG). As part of these efforts, we recently launched the UK’s first CBG-powered skincare products that use the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of CBG to help people maintain a healthy skin and combat the damaging effects of UV-radiation and ‘inflammaging’. This skincare range is supported by scientific research we’ve conducted that bears out these properties.
As well as helping people look better, we’ve also focused on the latest in scientific research into the benefits of CBD to inform the launch of our ultra-pure lab-made CBD ingestibles to reduce stress and improve sleep, helping people feel better throughout the day.
All the CBD and CBG used in our products is lab-made to maintain purity, consistency and quality to a higher degree than can be achieved through traditional field grown cannabinoid production. Our use of lab-made cannabinoids is also helping to make a big impact on the world from an environmental standpoint because lab-made cannabinoids aren’t just purer, they’re greener too and by a huge margin. Lab-made production is the clear future in responsible cannabinoid production on several counts including more efficient land usage, the removal of the need for pesticides in production, and the significantly lower requirements for energy, water and heavy machinery in the production process. All of which also contribute to a much smaller CO2 footprint.
There’s still much more we can do to help improve people’s health and wellbeing which is why we’re committed to continue developing products that are not only environmentally friendly, but that also allow people to take advantage of all the benefits lab-made cannabinoids can offer.
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.
Every person is different so while some of my top five recommendations may not work for everyone, I hope they can at least help some people with their wellbeing. My top five ‘lifestyle tweaks’ that have helped improve my mental and physical wellbeing by reducing stress and helping me maintain a better work-life balance are:
Find what makes you tick: This might be bigger than a simple tweak, but I believe that the journey towards better wellbeing begins with people finding what they love and building their life around it. People that carve out time in life to do the things they like and are meaningful to them are happier and feel more fulfilled, especially if they’re lucky like me and find that their job is their passion too.
Avoid bad company: Throughout the years I’ve learned that socialising with bad company brings nothing but trouble and stress, which is why it’s important that we try to stay away from bad influences and focus on getting closer to people that challenge and support us. At the end of the day, they’re the ones that will be there during the hard times and that will help us reach whatever goals we set ourselves.
Sleep well: From allowing the body to repair itself, through to enabling the brain to consolidate memories and process information, getting at least seven hours of ‘good quality’ sleep is key for people to improve their wellbeing. However, achieving good and uninterrupted sleep is easier said than done, especially after a long and stressful day. I personally find that, in addition to having a good nighttime routine, lowering my room temperature to 18–19°C and using CBD-based products, which research has demonstrated to help reduce stress and aid sleep, can help me sleep better.
Find the healthcare routine that works for you: While staying active is key for people’s mental and physical wellbeing, maintaining a regular workout routine can be difficult, especially for those of us who don’t enjoy traditional activities like running or going to the gym. This is what happened to me before I started doing Pilates and the reason why I recommend that, instead of committing to any workout plan, people find activities that are not only fun and good for their physical health, but that can also help them relax and recharge — it’s much easier to make a habit of something when you enjoy it.
Get a pet: As a proud dog owner, I can testify that having a pet can have a very positive impact on people’s wellbeing. A pet will not only require people to take it out for walks which can help them stay active, but it can also help reduce stress and, for those who live alone, keep them company!
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 launch the ‘good quality sleep’ movement to raise awareness about the dangers of getting limited and poor-quality sleep while providing advice on habits and innovations designed to help people sleep better.
Getting a good night’s sleep is key for people’s mental and physical health. However, many people, especially parents and working mothers like me, often cut down on their uninterrupted sleep time as part of their efforts to balance their work and personal responsibilities.
While these efforts might work at the beginning, people that don’t get enough sleep will eventually become less productive and will be more prone to getting sick. So, to help people maintain and even improve their wellbeing, we should put sleep at the top of the conversation about healthy lifestyles.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
A career is a marathon, not a sprint: I started my career at 26, much later than some of my peers at the time, so I spent a lot of time worrying about whether I was progressing fast enough. After many years I worked my way up to senior marketing and management executive roles at Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, L’Oréal and Avon, culminating in my current role as CEO of Cellular Goods. Looking back, I wish someone would’ve told me earlier that my time would come and that I should just enjoy the journey.
Don’t obsess about career progression, lateral career moves can be good too: Some people are obsessed with moving up the career ladder as quickly as possible, but the reality is that lateral career moves can help people develop skills and build networks that they will need throughout their careers. Time spent looking for opportunities to develop a range of skills throughout your career is valuable and can be an accompaniment to progression.
If the company culture doesn’t fit, leave or you will burn out: After working at a company that wasn’t the right cultural fit for me, I learned that being in a situation like this affects people’s mental and physical wellbeing until they eventually burn out.
Look for stretching jobs: Sometimes we stay in roles where we’re not learning or being challenged because they’re easy or comfortable. Despite the challenge, I’ve consistently gotten most from stretching roles and opportunities, as those are the ones that forced me to learn new things and pushed my career forward.
Always be open to new possibilities, don’t just stick to the plan: Before embarking on a new personal and professional project, we usually make plans about how we will achieve our goals. I wish someone had told me earlier that while these plans sometimes go awry, the important thing is to be flexible and open to new ideas about how to reach the final goal.
Sustainability, veganism, mental health and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?
If I had to choose one from this list, I would say mental health.
From the moment we wake up until (as is all too often) we put down our phones before going to sleep, we’re overwhelmed with information about work, politics, COVID and climate change, to name a few. Access to immediate information in the digital age has in a sense made us all more connected, however, it has also taken a toll on mental health for many by making people more anxious and stressed.
Poor mental health not only harms a person’s wellbeing, but it can also affect those around them and society as a whole. We must take care of ourselves by taking the time to disconnect and relax, helping protect both our own and other people’s mental health.
What is the best way our readers can follow you online?
The best way to follow me is on LinkedIn. I suggest that people interested in learning more about cannabinoids and our products also visit Cellular Goods’ website or follow us on Twitter.
Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech: Jessica Sikora of 3ontessori On The 5 Leadership Lessons She Learned From Her Experience
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Be yourself — Authenticity is such an important trait that cannot be overlooked. I think owning who you are, not letting others dictate your path, and being proud of your story is so important. Your authenticity attracts the right people into your circle, and empowers you to continue moving forward in your career. You get to where you need to be through your authenticity.
As a part of my series about “Lessons From Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jessica Sikora.
Jessica Sikora is turning Montessori on its side at 3ontessori, as Co-founder and COO. By expanding access to Montessori education through curated boxed collections and monthly themed sensory activities that provide an all-in-one solution for at-home learning, the skills of our young budding leaders and future entrepreneurs can flourish.
She is also passionate about bringing Montessori education to those in low income and underrepresented communities because, in her eyes, every child has the chance to change the world.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I grew up in a traditional Asian-American household, and as a first-generation American, I was expected to pursue a career in healthcare as a part of my parents’ “American Dream.” While I knew early on that I was very much creative-focused, finding a love of art and storytelling, I quickly suppressed that side of myself to do what I was expected. Because of that, I felt that I never had a chance in my childhood to explore my interests, skills, and passions — and it wasn’t until I moved out as a young adult at the age of 23, that I finally had a chance to “meet myself” for the first time. For the first time ever, I had the opportunity to explore my strengths and weaknesses, seek out learning opportunities in the topics that I truly loved. Between corporate careers, I took up a nannying job and fell in love with the curiosity and wonder in the little boy that I cared for. Eager to preserve his love of learning and foster his confidence, I discovered Montessori education and was instantly drawn to this child-led learning. Spending hours researching activities and scouring the Internet to order the right toys and tools, I realized the gap in the market and wanted to make bringing Montessori education easy for busy parents.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began at your company?
When I first stumbled across the company at its very early stages, I bombarded my now-cofounder and business partner, Christian, with endless emails with my thoughts about the company, sharing about my own experiences with learning and Montessori education, and ideas about the company roadmap and its possibilities. Eventually, after maybe about 2–3 months, he did give in and schedule a call with me to discuss it further and, the rest is history.
Looking back on it, I laugh and wonder what would have happened had Christian not seen my flood of emails as a sign of passion for the company. I think in many other cases, business owners would have been annoyed with my constant communications and blocked me — thankful that Christian gave me that chance to chat with him about the company and be a partner to this adventure.
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?
One of the funniest mistakes, looking back on it now, was that I was tasked during one of the interviews for my first full-time tech jobs to create a presentation about myself using technology. Eager to get the role, I thought up ways to present myself to the panel of interviewers and came up with the idea of creating a website about myself and my skills. It took me three days to create a site, and it came out to be a multi-page website. During the interview, I found our that the instructions meant to create a PowerPoint presentation… but I rolled with what I had anyway, and did my presentation. I ended up getting that job offer, though I meet only about half of the required skills listed on the job description!
When I later asked my hiring manager, who was one of the interviewers, why they had selected me for the role without a tech background, he said “You made a 12 page website when everyone else did a PowerPoint. I knew it meant you would always go above and beyond to be creative.”
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
3ontessori provides an all-in-one out-of-the-box solution for parents to bring Montessori into the home, as well as offers busy parents easy set-up for their children’s activities every month with our themed activity collections that integrate STEM learning with Montessori principles. We make it easy for families to integrate child-led learning into their daily lives. Passionate about helping those in underrepresented, low-income communities, we are also ensuring that we offer opportunities for all families to have access to our products and learning. Not only that, but the cherry on top is that we are the first Montessori company that is being rolled out by a direct descendent of Maria Montessori, as my co-founder Christian Montessori is her great, great grandson!
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
3ontessori has been my biggest project this year, but I continue to work on my nonprofit SUPERBANDS in parallel. Both projects have a spot near and dear to my heart, based on my own personal experiences and personal passions.
At 3ontessori, we have been working to not just roll out our curated boxed collections of Montessori tools to help age groups meet crucial developmental milestones, but as our next step, we have been working on our monthly sensory activity boxes. Coming from a creative background, I’ve been having a lot of fun with coming up with monthly themes and their matching activities.
At SUPERBANDS, I’ve been also playing around with setting up themed boxes too since the organization sends teen music fans care packages to promote positive mental health. That’s been fun since I always picture 13-year old Jessica and how much joy she would have had receiving a box like this — I love being able to do this for teens today.
Ok super. Thank you for all that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. Are you currently satisfied with the status quo regarding women in STEM? What specific changes do you think are needed to change the status quo?
There have been so many wonderfully inspiring women in STEM who have carved out a path for many of us to follow, and even today, there are be milestones and achievements in STEM thanks to women which continues to inspire our future female leaders. I do think that the status quo has improved since years ago, but there is still a long way to go.
STEM careers are on the rise, but even presently, women only make up around 50% of the STEM workforce. We need to continue to encourage and empower girls to pursue their interests in the STEM field, and continue to offer programs and support for them to explore these interests and skills.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by women in STEM or Tech that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts? What would you suggest to address this?
Generally I think we are all still under the cloud of the gender norms from decades ago, and in a mentality that girls aren’t as likely to excel in STEM or tech as boys. Thus, they may feel less encouraged or supported — leading to the false impression that girls just aren’t as interested in STEM careers as boys are. I love that there are programs like GirlsWhoCode and different products like monthly subscription boxes to help foster these skills and interests, and build up our girls to ensure that they never once feel less-than.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a woman in STEM or Tech. Can you explain what you mean?
A myth would be that women aren’t as skilled as men are in STEM or tech careers — that is certainly not the case. There are amazing women who have made huge breakthroughs in the field, and many more who are outshining their male counterparts. As we continue to empower more women to shine in their careers, and encourage girls to pursue careers in STEM and tech, we can slowly work to dispel this myth.
What are your “5 Leadership Lessons I Learned From My Experience as a Woman in STEM or Tech” and why. (Please share a story or example for each.)
Be yourself — Authenticity is such an important trait that cannot be overlooked. I think owning who you are, not letting others dictate your path, and being proud of your story is so important. Your authenticity attracts the right people into your circle, and empowers you to continue moving forward in your career. You get to where you need to be through your authenticity.
Speak up — I struggled for years to tell those around me how I was feeling, when I was needing help. I needed to learn how to be my own best advocate and constantly have to remind myself that it isn’t selfish to speak up about my own wants and needs.
It’s okay if you don’t know it all (you don’t have to) — I’ve always felt this immense pressure to prove myself and show others that I was ‘worthy’ of my role or career and, because of that, I would really beat myself up if I didn’t have the answers to something. This situations of not-knowing made me feel less-than. I’ve instead now, learned to be resourceful to find the answers I needed or ask for help, and be excited about learning along the way.
Mistakes do not equal failure — I think every hiccup, or every pivot, should be thought of as a learning point, versus failure. I’ve had to learn to reframe my mind and allow myself to take risks, thinking of each step as an opportunity to get closer to my goal.
It doesn’t matter what people think! — I’ve been guilty of this since childhood, and still working on it today (but getting better with it). I think the fear or worry about what others think about you can really hinder you from owning your own path, pursuing new endeavors, or taking chances. Silence the worries and ignore the critics, go do big things!
What advice would you give to other women leaders to help their team to thrive?
I personally am guilty of this, but I do think many women tend to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders, juggling so many things between work and home, and putting themselves on the back burner. You don’t have to say yes to everything and can set boundaries for yourself for the sake of your sanity. Prioritize your self-care and your mental health — “You can’t pour from an empty cup” has become a mantra that I try to keep in mind.
What advice would you give to other women leaders about the best way to manage a large team?
I think of all of the wonderful leaders I have had in my life, and the not-so-great ones, and firmly believe that those who have stood out to me are the ones who have really sat down and made the efforts to get to know me. The leaders who have welcomed the role of mentor, eager to build me up and guide me toward success in my career and my desired path. I try to do the same for those on my own team — giving them a chance to learn new skills that they have expressed interest in exploring, learning about their pets and their families, hearing about their weekend, sharing advice for their career journey, connecting them with those in my network who may be helpful. While it may not be possible for every team, I think keeping your door open and allowing opportunities for your team to connect with you and learn from you is crucial.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I am grateful to say that I’ve had many mentors along the way who have inspired and encouraged me. I would say that I’m incredibly thankful to have had the support of one of my college professors, who not just was an educator in the STEM field but also became one of my college advisors. I shared with her so many thoughts about my career journey and she supported me every step of the way, between writing me recommendation letters to giving me advice on next steps to pursue to cheering me along for my accomplishments. I was even so thankful to have her hand me my diploma at graduation! We still keep in touch to this day and I would say that she was one of the most noteworthy mentors in my STEM career.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
I think my journey of success continues to be a work in progress, but I think from what I’ve learned from my experiences in the workplace as well as my entrepreneurial endeavors, that I see solutions to problems and have the confidence to go for it. My hope is to take some of the problems I see in the world around me and to offer solutions, whether it was building my nonprofit SUPERBANDS based on my personal experience of feeling alone during my mental health struggles as a teen or through seeing gaps in the accessibility of Montessori education to build 3ontessori.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I’m actually hoping to do that through 3ontessori! If you look around at existing Montessori schools and their tuition prices, it is disheartening to think that there are so many children who are unable to learn these foundational principles simply due to financial reasons. By bringing Montessori education to as many children as possible –
regardless of socioeconomic status, location, or background — 3ontessori is shaping our future leaders, our budding entrepreneurs, our passionate philanthropists, and our unstoppable creatives of tomorrow. We are allowing the child to lead us, and in the work we are doing, we will help them build a pathway to their desired future… and that’s how you change the world.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“To have something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done.” As a kid, I spent a lot of time staying quiet, fearful of what others might think of my ideas or think of me as a person. I realized in my early adult years, when I had my first business idea, that I couldn’t let myself just stay quiet anymore and had to learn to step outside of my comfort zone. As new chapters of my life have unfolded, and new milestones have blossomed, I have learned to be more comfortable with being uncomfortable. Looking at my greatest blessings and biggest accomplishments, I realize more and more that these all came from taking a leap of faith and trusting that everything will work out.
The quote is something I still reference to this day, in all aspects of my life beyond just business. When making a decision, I constantly think to myself: Is my fear greater than my desire to have this outcome?
We are very blessed that very prominent leaders read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂
I would love to have a private meal with the Jonas Brothers — no real professional reasoning here, just always been a fan since a teen and it was them who helped inspire my first business endeavor, my nonprofit… but I would say that maybe, in a work sense, to have their buy-in with the organization would definitely help it take off and really impact more people!
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
… Abundance. It’s about being open. We get to be abundant with love and respect, generous and open. So, when something comes up, if our arms are open to receiving, we create possibilities instead of barriers. A flow. Moreover, the two of us, working together, create potential for success exponentially.
As a part of our series about lessons from Thriving Power Couples, I had the pleasure of interviewing Katia Ravé and Steve Hunt- Ravé Strategy Studio.
Katia Ravé, a French-born American entrepreneur, author of three books, and speaker, and Steve Hunt, a cybersecurity-executive-turned-executive-coach. Together they train entrepreneurs and professionals in leadership, speaking, the art of living the life you always wanted.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you two to your respective career paths?
Katia: I was the daughter of an entrepreneur power couple. They gave me the love of working on my own, being in control of my income. I also saw many people around me learning a trade, but not knowing how to run a business. When I saw heartbroken entrepreneurs who were amazing people with excellent craft, and beautiful abilities, but when I saw them struggle with asking for money, and running the business, that showed me I have a special gift. I know business. I know entrepreneurship. I a love supporting entrepreneurs.
Steve: Over many years as a corporate executive, advisor to governments, and industry analyst, I asked my colleagues what they loved about working with me. None of them said because I was so good at cybersecurity. They all said it was because I helped them get a budget approved, or get a promotion, or even improve their marriage. I learned I had a special gift of bringing out the authentic leader inside people. Now that I’m a coach, I get to support people every day.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you two got married?
Shortly after we got married, we faced a haunting reality: We both have a ton of baggage around our past relationships and money. We decided to “take ourselves on” and see each other and ourselves in the present — without the baggage — and to focus together on a vision for our marriage in the future. We crafted new language to identify when we were operating from old stories of our past, and when we were “stepping into the future.” One time, Steve was anxious about speaking at an event and was rehearsing constantly. He couldn’t sleep. Katia asked him what happened in the past to make him think he wasn’t ready to give this presentation. Steve relaxed and recalled a time as a child when he was scolded by a parent for being unprepared in school. We both realized that childhood memories relay like videos in our heads even as adults.
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?
Thinking we had to think alike. Steve is very analytical, and Katia has a big “just dive in” personality. One afternoon, Steve created a detailed outline for a video we were about to make, and Katia said it seemed sterile and that we should just press record and see what happens. Steve said “Oh, so instead of being clear, we should jump around and be happy.” We both stopped and laughed, realizing we had different personalities.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
Katia is French and her voice is unique. But that’s not what really makes us stand out. Our company is built on a vision, a grand dream to empower thousands of people to live the life of their dreams. We run this company like it is our mission to be the wind beneath the wings of our clients as they fly toward their most exciting future.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
This year after a long wait we launch Entrepreneur Academy Mastermind, a 12-month program to transport entrepreneurs to fuller, richer lives. Start-ups make their first six-figure income. Established companies head to seven- and eight-figures. The Academy is built around remote training plus quarterly retreats in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. And while that is our top project of the year, we are also excited to produce six additional trainings now completely available online, addressing every need of the entrepreneur, and every budget.
What advice would you give to other CEOs or founders to help their employees to thrive?
CEOs should be “star-makers,” empowering every member of the team to become the best leader they can be. Too often, company leaders look at their personnel as “employees” rather than teammates. Winning is never accidental. It takes a team of leaders — everyone seeking to improve continually — to win a championship.
How do you define “Leadership”?
Leadership is a fashionable word these days and cannot be overemphasized. Leadership shows up in time management, communication, problem-solving, giving and receiving feedback, authenticity, and enrolling others in a vision. Leadership, especially self-leadership, is the most important characteristic of a team member.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
Katia found a wonderful mentor in motivational speaker and bestselling author, Larry Winget. Larry has guided Katia to dig deep within and to find the powerful leader inside herself. With Larry’s mentorship, Katia wrote three books, spoke on international stages, and aimed for the stars. She brings the same vision and mentorship to each of her clients today.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
We do a lot of volunteered work; we support with our leadership skills.
We also buy little libraries that we enjoy planting in different communities. We leave our marks that way with empowering others through reading.
We give back a lot, charities, food hunger, human trafficking.
What are the “5 Things You Need To Thrive As A Couple”? Please share a story or example for each.
Love. Working together can create strain, like the time when Steve took a day off when Katia thought there was important work to be done. We both remembered to approach each other with love and understanding. Steve felt respected and Katia knew that everything would get done.
Connection. Working together from home means that work leaks into breakfast and dinner conversations, and even comes into the bedroom. We make sure to block times on our calendar to unplug and focus on “just us.”
Faith. We set audacious goals. When we hit goals easily, we set bigger goals next time. On the other hand, when goals are illusive, like launching one of our programs that took a month longer than expected to fill with clients, we get to have faith that everything will work out in a fruitful way.
Unity. We are in this together. We bear the burdens together and we celebrate together.
Abundance. It’s about being open. We get to be abundant with love and respect, generous and open. So, when something comes up, if our arms are open to receiving, we create possibilities instead of barriers. A flow. Moreover, the two of us, working together, create potential for success exponentially.
You are people of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Entrepreneurs purchasing real estate. When both partners are entrepreneurs, banks are not lining up to give them loans for real estate. We help entrepreneurs to finance their dreams of owning a home, and we’d love to grow that into a movement.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
100% is possible 100% of the time. This reminds us that our relationship, our marriage, our business all can create magic all the time. It is relevant because whenever we feel down, or disempowered we know that everything is in our power.
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂
Ray Dalio, because we follow his leadership teaching and believe his is one of the prophets of our age, calling us all to stretch into the best versions of ourselves.
How can our readers follow your work online?
We invite everyone to follow our blogs and speaking at ravestrategystudio.com
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
Write down your accomplishments as a Truth anchor to come back to. When you see your Imposter Syndrome showing up, read that list and re-center yourself around what’s really True, vs. the false story it’s trying to tell you.
As a part of our series about how very accomplished leaders were able to succeed despite experiencing Imposter Syndrome, I had the pleasure of interviewing Ashley Reed.
For 18 years, Ashley Reed helped shape marketing initiatives for leading global brands, including Amazon, iHeartMedia, Audi, and the NBA. Although she built a successful career, she always felt like something was missing or off. She left corporate and pursued her own inner work, leading to a powerful awakening experience. Now, as an Inner Work Teacher and Coach, Ashley supports other high-performers on their awakening journeys, helping them re-find internal balance and true freedom.
Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’?
Thank you for having me, I’d love to.
I worked in corporate marketing for 18 years, mostly in sports and entertainment with organizations like the NBA and iHeartMedia, and then I finished my marketing career in tech with Amazon as their Head of Global Events for Amazon Advertising.
I built a lot of success, but I wasn’t happy. I always felt like something was missing or off, and I had this ongoing craving for freedom.
So, in 2016, I started looking at ways I could create financial stability so I could step away from my corporate career (at the time I directly correlated freedom to no longer working in corporate).
I learned about real estate and built a real estate investment and management business, I started learning about cryptocurrency and became an investor in the space, and then I was always intrigued by awareness and human potential work, so I also got my Coaching Certification and ended up organically working with clients as a High-Performance Coach.
And in November 2019, I hit my goals and gave Amazon my notice.
My last day was scheduled for January 2020, and I planned to turn my high-performance coaching into a full-time business. But, on December 31st, 2019, one week before my last day at Amazon, everything I had taken on for all of those years caught up to me.
I was hospitalized with a severe case of burnout called Rhabdomyolysis, and I almost died.
I was in the hospital for a week followed by a pretty intense recovery, and finally sitting still for the first time since I could remember, I could feel the overall extreme burnout. Not just physically, but also mentally and emotionally.
I paused on formally launching my high-performance coaching business, and a couple of months later I felt called to deeper inner work. Something I knew nothing about at the time.
And during what was arguably one of the most difficult years in history, the infamous 2020, I had the most powerful experience of my life.
I created space and turned all of my focus inward, and I moved very quickly and deeply through what I now know was an internal rebalancing and spiritual awakening. All while quarantining by myself in my New York City apartment.
It was like a factory reset for life. It brought me back to my true self and allowed me to see myself and everything around me for what it is, instead of through the lenses and limitations my ego had convinced me to adopt. And I finally experienced true freedom.
After moving through my awakening, I didn’t connect to high-performance coaching anymore. It felt too head-heavy.
I knew my new mission was to help other high-achievers wake up and re-find themselves, and in turn, find that true freedom they’ve also been searching for.
Can you share with us the most interesting story from your career? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that?
I feel lucky to say there are so many, especially from my sports and entertainment days. I’ll leave the inner work aside for this one because that’s a different type of interesting 🙂
The first one that comes to mind is when I was leading the partnership between Michael Jackson’s Estate and Cirque du Soleil, as they were creating a temporary museum at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas to celebrate the new Michael/Cirque residency show.
I and the Creative Director on the project were in charge of working with Michael’s Estate to select pieces from his personal life and career that really showcased and celebrated who he was as a person and performer. We went through his personal storage for days selecting everything from living room furniture to iconic costumes. It was a bit surreal.
Others include being on the floor for Game 7 of the NBA Finals, going to the Grammys and Emmys, activating at the Dubai Polo Gold Cup, and being backstage at iHeartRadio Music events.
What I learned from all of these was to stay present. We move so quickly, especially in the world of high-performance. Our ego is always trying to get us to focus on the past or future, but it’s so important to remember to pause and celebrate and be thankful for the wins and cool moments and experiences while they’re happening.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
We’re a little counterintuitive in the high-performance space, which I absolutely love.
I support high-achievers and high-performers on their inner work and awakening journeys. And I love that balance and dance between the two.
In the world of high-performance, we often feel like we have to choose between achieving and inner work or spirituality, but that’s not the case. We’re spiritual beings, but we’re living in a human body and a human world, and it’s OK to celebrate and embrace both.
It’s something I’m really passionate about because I’ve experienced, and still experience it, myself. That feeling of not fully belonging in either world.
I love how my work helps to bridge that divide.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
I had so many amazing mentors throughout my career, it’s challenging to call out one. But those that I found the most impactful all had one thing in common: They stayed human in their approach to business and managing their teams.
They challenged, pushed, and taught me how to be a high-achieving Marketer and Executive, but they also reminded me I’m human, and so is everyone I work with.
We all feel, have stress, have lives outside of work, and so much more. The mentors that I admired the most treated everyone around them with respect, compassion, and empathy, while still having high expectations and excelling in their roles.
I found that balance so impactful. It organically mirrored who I am and how I wanted to show up as a professional, so when I found mentors that were anchored in that side of themselves, it felt very refreshing and I naturally gravitated towards them.
Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of this interview. We would like to explore and flesh out the experience of Impostor Syndrome. How would you define Impostor Syndrome? What do people with Imposter Syndrome feel?
Imposter Syndrome is when you feel like a fraud and you’re irrationally doubting your abilities.
A common version of it is when you feel like you don’t deserve or aren’t qualified for your job or role (or the one above it, etc.). It’s very normal and common.
And it’s so easy for us to see it when it’s happening to other people. I’d see these uber-talented and qualified people suffering from Imposter Syndrome and would think to myself, “Why can’t they see how amazing they are?”
But it’s so hard to see how our own ego and limiting beliefs are showing up. If that script was flipped, I’m guessing they would’ve been thinking the same thing about me.
People with Imposter Syndrome feel small, like they’re not good enough, and like someone’s going to find out at any minute they don’t deserve to be where they are. It’s very draining to live with, because you always feel like you’re having to work extra hard to prove your worth, and to prove the success story about you that other people bought into (because your ego has you believing it’s not true).
What are the downsides of Impostor Syndrome? How can it limit people?
Imposter Syndrome is one of the ego’s favorite tools. It uses everything I described above to keep us small. To keep us from taking risks and making changes, and to keep us from growing and achieving.
Our ego’s main goal is to gain and maintain control as a means of “protecting” us, and the smaller it keeps us, the easier we are to control.
When we buy into our Imposter Syndrome, we might stay in the same role for a long time because we don’t feel we deserve a promotion, or not speak up in a meeting because we’re nervous our ideas aren’t good enough, or not go after a new job because we feel we aren’t qualified.
When in reality, we’re more than qualified and ready for all of the above. Our ego has just gotten us to buy into limiting beliefs and stories that make us see ourselves through a false lens.
All of this can dramatically impact and slow down your career.
How can the experience of Impostor Syndrome impact how one treats others?
I’ve seen the impact show up in a couple of different ways.
When you have Imposter Syndrome, because of the false view of yourself we touched on, you often idolize the people above you and/or feel not good enough when you’re in the room or communicating with them. This can create a more passive or submissive approach to how you work and to how you show up as a professional overall.
Another way it shows up is through talking down to people around or below you. The ego steps in and might belittle subordinates or junior people to help make the person with Imposter Syndrome feel bigger and better (all as a way of compensating for the insecurities they’re really feeling inside).
We would love to hear your story about your experience with Impostor Syndrome. Would you be able to share that with us?
Definitely, it was such an interesting journey.
Imposter Syndrome showed up for me in a big way throughout my career. That’s much easier to see now with the level of awareness I have, but I also had awareness around it at the time, my ego was just so strong, it wasn’t enough to release it.
My Imposter Syndrome had me worrying I was going to get “found out” in terms of not being as smart or qualified as everyone thought, it had me not speaking up as often as I should’ve, not trusting my ideas, not seeing the full value in my voice and work, and not asking for raises and promotions when I should’ve.
And it also had me doing a version of all of these things anyway because I still wanted to progress, but in such a draining and challenging way, because I was fighting my head and ego the entire time.
Did you ever shake the feeling off? If yes, what have you done to mitigate it or eliminate it?
I was able to navigate it during my corporate career using head tools that would quiet it enough to allow me to continue to achieve and succeed, which is what most people tell you to do.
But Imposter Syndrome is just a symptom of a deeper source, and mine was no different. To resolve or release it, you have to go to that source or limiting belief that’s driving it. So it wasn’t until I did my deeper inner work that I fully released it.
For me, it was creating awareness around and solving for the deep-seated limiting belief that I wasn’t good enough. It was a powerful one my ego had gotten me to adopt a long time ago as a way to keep me small, and one of the major symptoms it was creating was my Imposter Syndrome.
In your opinion, what are 5 steps that someone who is experiencing Impostor Syndrome can take to move forward despite feeling like an “Impostor”? Please share a story or an example for each.
The only way to truly release Imposter Syndrome is by doing the deeper inner work as I mentioned above. Once you create awareness around and solve for its source, the symptom, the Imposter Syndrome, will release on its own, because the source programming fueling it no longer exists. Anything else will, unfortunately, put you in a place of symptom chasing and managing.
That said, here are four other tips and tools you can use to help navigate those symptoms until you’re able to dive deeper:
Write down your accomplishments as a Truth anchor to come back to. When you see your Imposter Syndrome showing up, read that list and re-center yourself around what’s really True, vs. the false story it’s trying to tell you.
Close your eyes and center into a moment where you were experiencing success and let that energy and confidence fuel you. Really feel and embody the emotions that came with that experience. This does what we call an energy shift from catabolic to anabolic (from draining to energizing energy), which makes it harder for Imposter Syndrome to function.
Use visioning to envision how you want to (and are going to) show up in a situation that your Imposter Syndrome is creating doubt around. This can really powerful. That’s why so many professional athletes use visioning as a preparation mechanism. Envision yourself showing up confidently and successfully to the situation your Imposter Syndrome is making you feel nervous or intimidated by (and feel what it’s like to be in that moment). This not only shifts your energy, but it also makes it feel like you’ve already had the experience and it went exactly as you wanted, making it less intimidating to face in real life.
Watch, learn from, and mirror someone you admire that’s owning their confidence and power. How do they act, talk, speak up, etc. Learn from those actions and mirror them yourself when Imposter Syndrome shows up to help you navigate the false beliefs you’re experiencing.
I want to be clear that these are all band-aids. Imposter Syndrome will keep showing up in different ways until you release or change that source belief driving it, but these can at least help you navigate the symptoms you’re experiencing in the meantime.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Thank you. I’d have to say awareness. Everyone taking the time to pause and create the space to do their own inner work. To create awareness around their ego, to re-find themselves, and to live a more conscious life. That action has a ripple effect in the world. I’ve seen firsthand how the journey I’ve taken and the change I’ve perused have impacted other people. It’s like Gandhi’s famous quote, “If you want to change the world, start with yourself.”
We are blessed that some very prominent leaders read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them 🙂
This is a fun one to think about. There are so many, but the first that comes to mind is Jay Shetty.
I love his work and story. He’s a former Monk that is now a Purpose Coach, Author, and Podcast Host. I admire his courage to turn his focus inward, and how he’s handled and navigated reintegration.
I think our paths will cross at some point with how similar our work is, but I’m sure he has so many interesting stories from his inner work journey. I’d love to get a chance to hear some of them over any meal 🙂
How can our readers follow you on social media?
They can find me at @ashleyreedofficial on Instagram, and /in/ashleyreedofficial on LinkedIn as well.
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
