… Vision: Having a vision is essential to keep you going when difficulties arise. As I said before, the entrepreneurial journey is not for the faint of heart. It’s a journey with a lot of highs and lows. And having a vision for a more significant cause helps propel you forward and grounds you through the turbulent journey of running your own business. My greater vision is to help women feel their best so they can accomplish their greater calling. I firmly believe that women are world-changers. Each person has a special message for the world — a particular assignment to complete. But we often miss the assignment because we’re bogged down and trying to survive life.
The global health and wellness market is worth more than 1.5 trillion dollars. So many people are looking to improve their physical, mental, and emotional wellness. At the same time, so many people are needed to help provide these services. What does it take to create a highly successful career in the health and wellness industry?
In this interview series called “5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career In The Health and Wellness Industry” we are talking to health and wellness professionals who can share insights and stories from their experiences.
In this particular interview, we had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Lara Frendjian.
Lara Frendjian, RHN, CPA, CA, is the founder of Nutrition Her Way. She is a former corporate controller turned Nutritionist. After going through her own health struggles, she transitioned from being a corporate CPA and went back to school to becoming a Registered Holistic Nutritionist. She believes that we can transform our health if we are intentional about our nutrition & lifestyle.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you grew up?
I was born in Lebanon and immigrated to Canada when I was 8 with my two sisters and parents. We moved to Canada for the opportunities it provided us to have a better life free from war.
Was there a particular person or event that inspired you to live a wellness-focused lifestyle? Can you tell us about your main motivation to go all in?
I’ve always had an interest in nutrition. Initially, my interest stemmed from an unhealthy place as I wanted to know how I could manipulate my diet to lose weight. My dieting journey started at a young age. Ultimately, I decided to study accounting and became a CPA, but I never lost my interest in nutrition. Later on in my life, when I began to experience health issues and change my food for the better, I realized that I wanted to pursue a career in nutrition. As I began to feel better, I started to help others within my circle. The progression to studying and becoming a certified nutritionist seemed to be a natural extension of who I was.
Most people with a wellbeing centered lifestyle have a “go-to” activity, exercise, beverage, or food that is part of their routine. What is yours and can you tell us how it helps you?
My go-to activity is the addition of a drink that I have each afternoon that I describe as my ‘energizing bled’. It’s a blend of veggies and coconut water, all of which are rich in potassium. This blend helps keep me energized through the afternoon and prevents me from reaching for sweets or coffee to keep me going. It’s my favorite healthy habit.
To live a wellness-focused life is one thing, but how did it become your career? How did it all start?
In my 30s, I worked full-time in Finance as a Corporate Controller for an organization I cared deeply about, which meant I worked long hours. I was also taking care of two young kids and was trying to foster a healthy marriage. The stress of managing it all took a toll on my health. And at some point on this journey, I realized that I wasn’t feeling all that great. I thought it was just age and life getting the better of me. I was tired all the time. I often fell asleep with my kids. I was bloated and had put on some midsection weight. I couldn’t go without my afternoon coffee, and my PMS was getting better. I thought all this was normal, by the way. So I exercised more, tried to eat clean, and managed as best as I could. It wasn’t until years later that I realized these experiences were messages sent from my body trying to tell me that I needed to change things.
During the same time, my husband was experiencing minor health issues, and we went to see a holistic practitioner. Like me, he was perfectly healthy according to his bloodwork, so we needed an alternate solution. As we addressed my husband’s concerns, I decided that I may get checked out since I was already there. As I began to address my health and made strategic changes to my food, my interest in nutrition started to peak again.
Can you share a story about the biggest challenges you faced when you were first starting? How did you resolve that? What are the main lessons or takeaways from that story?
When I first started practicing nutrition, I joined a friend who was expanding her Chinese Medicine practice. We worked together for a couple of years, and over the course of those years, I became painfully aware that I needed to branch out on my own. I had this vision of creating a community of women struggling with their weight and health the way that I was in my 30s when I was in the corporate world.
Community is such a significant value for me. I know firsthand that it’s easier to do things with community and support. And health is no different. So creating a community and focusing on harnessing a supportive environment is critical for doing something hard and new.
That’s why I believe moving away from working with my friend was such a difficult choice. Saying it was a difficult choice is an extreme understatement. It was an emotional rollercoaster ride. I felt like I was letting down my friend and an entire team.
As difficult as it was, I knew that I had to remain true to myself and my vision. I hadn’t done all this and made all these sacrifices to play small or silence my vision. So we parted ways, and I branched out on my own.
Can you share with us how the work you are doing is helping to make a bigger impact in the world? Can you share a story that illustrates that?
I firmly believe that women are world-changers. Each person has a special message for the world — a particular assignment to complete. But we often miss the assignment because we’re bogged down and trying to survive life. And often that happens because we don’t feel well. We are overwhelmed with the stress of life, and we’re exhausted. How can we be world-changers when we don’t have enough energy to make it through the day? I don’t believe we can. And that’s what fuels my passion for helping women and helps anchor me through the ups and downs of the entrepreneurial journey. It’s not an easy one. But the most rewarding journey I’ve ever dared to embark upon.
When I was in the Corporate world, just barely making it through the day, I was hanging on for dear life. I certainly wasn’t thinking of my greater purpose in life. I simply didn’t have the energy or capacity to think about those things. But once I was able to feel better, I began to take action, volunteer, and began to dream about new possibilities.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?
I’m currently wrapping up my first 12-week group coaching program that I launched in January of 2022. The program’s goal was to put into a group setting my Transformation Method Program that I previously used to help women on a one-on-one basis. I know that community can be a helpful aspect of making complex changes, so I decided late last year that I would launch my one-on-one work into a group setting. It’s going quite well! I’ve had 13 women go through the program, and I hope to launch it to a bigger group of women this late spring.
I’m also working on a chapter that I’ve been invited to write alongside a wonderful team of successful women to launch a collaborative book project called “Where Is Your Boat Headed?”
The book is based on true stories from 16 amazing contributing female entrepreneurs that made the decision to set sail on the entrepreneurial journey.
Our collective stories serve to inspire and empower budding entrepreneurs and make a positive impact on all of those who pick up the book.
You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each
Passion — I believe to succeed in your business, you need to be passionate about what you are doing to succeed in your business. Once I found my passion for nutrition, I have had difficulty letting go.
Determination — It takes determination to stay the course. The entrepreneurial journey is a bumpy one. However, I believe determination has been an essential character trait to keep me moving forward even through challenges.
Communication — I believe it’s essential to set clear expectations for myself and my team and have open communication lines. To listen to different ideas and be present with the team when sharing thoughts and ideas. We all add value have something powerful to share, I believe allowing people that opportunity is important and can help lead the business forward with speed.
OK, thank you for all of that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. Let’s begin with a basic definition of terms so that all of us are on the same page. Wellness is an incredibly broad topic. How would you define the term “Wellness”? Can you explain what you mean?
I believe wellness is feeling your best and living with awareness to help your life thrive. There’s no standard prescription for wellness. We are bio-individuals with individual habits, thought patterns, nutritional needs, and lifestyle. I believe we need to understand our bodies and really connect with them in order to assess what wellness looks like for us. I believe the most important thing I do is to teach and empower women to really listen to their bodies and not take any symptoms for granted. For instance, not to accept a symptom as being ‘their normal’ but to think of it as a message from their body asking them to try something different in order to eradicate that symptom. For instance, many of us simply accept that our energy dips in the afternoon, and we crave a coffee or sugar as a pick-me-up. When in fact, that’s our body trying to tell us that we perhaps need to adjust to the nutrients we’re getting in our breakfast or lunch or that we simply need a break from our workday and need to schedule a quick mid-day break to reduce our stress levels.
As an expert, this might be intuitive to you, but it will be instructive to expressly articulate this. Can you please share a few reasons with our readers about why focusing on our wellness should be a priority in our lives?
As my mother has always said to me, our health is our greatest asset. When you are sick in bed or in a hospital, it’s hard to accomplish things. I believe taking care of ourselves is a way of honoring ourselves. It’s easy to be a martyr and take care of others, especially for women. But when we focus on our wellness and put on our oxygen masks first, we can better take care of what we want. We can show up better for our work, have clearer, more focused thinking, have more creativity, and get a lot more accomplished in less time. We can show up and be present for our families and be in a better mental space. I firmly believe that taking care of your health is the best thing you can do to improve the quality of your life.
Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career In The Health and Wellness Industry”? If you can, please share a story or an example for each.
My 5 things would be as follows:
Vision
Passion
Community
Compassion
Love for Service
Vision: Having a vision is essential to keep you going when difficulties arise. As I said before, the entrepreneurial journey is not for the faint of heart. It’s a journey with a lot of highs and lows. And having a vision for a more significant cause helps propel you forward and grounds you through the turbulent journey of running your own business. My greater vision is to help women feel their best so they can accomplish their greater calling. I firmly believe that women are world-changers. Each person has a special message for the world — a particular assignment to complete. But we often miss the assignment because we’re bogged down and trying to survive life.
When I was in the Corporate world, just barely making it through the day, I was hanging on for dear life. I certainly wasn’t thinking of my greater purpose in life. I simply didn’t have the energy or capacity to think about those things. But once I was able to feel better, I began to take action, volunteer, and began to dream about new possibilities.
If I hadn’t addressed my health concerns, I know that I would not be here, doing what I am doing today.
Passion: Follow your passion! Choose a niche that you feel strongly about. It helps if you can relate to your clients of focus and have once been in their shoes. When I first started in this field, many people wanted me to focus on weight loss. Many clients came to me to lose weight so it would have been a natural choice for me. But I wanted to move past the focus on weight and wanted to help women have long-term health. Weight-loss is part of what I offer but it’s so much more! It’s helping them become well! Feel energized and bring their body into balance. It’s about helping them embrace and love their bodies. Moving away from perfectionism and habits that prevent them from making long lasting changes. And then the weight can come off naturally without placing the primary focus on the weight loss. Truly, if I hadn’t followed my passion for helping women deal with their root cause issues and simply had focused on losing weight, I likely would have quit when the entrepreneurial journey became challenging.
Community: Creating community and surrounding yourself with people who will support you through your journey is important. I learned early on that I need community. I need people to keep me accountable and focused and support me when the entrepreneurial journey becomes difficult. Community is something I focus on in my programs as well and is the reason I began the group Transformation Method program. Going through anything new and unknown by yourself can be difficult. I noticed this in my one on one work. Of Course I provide my clients with support and accountability, but once I connected them with a greater community that they can relate to and glean from, I noticed that they grew and progressed at a faster and more consistent pace. So I personally learned early on in my journey to connect with other entrepreneurs and help each other maintain accountability.
Compassion: Compassion is a critical value for me and one that I bring into my programs. Having compassion for yourself and others really helps navigate the challenges you face in the wellness industry. Having compassion for myself helped me understand my clients better. As you venture into business on your own, you will have difficult days. Having self-compassion and allowing yourself to take time off and cultivate self-care is important. Often, things will not go as planned. People may not respond to you as expected. You will be misunderstood. And that’s where compassion comes in. Compassion for others, trying to see things from their point of view and compassion for yourself. Self-compassion is also woven into the Transformation Method. As women, we tend to be hard on ourselves. Expecting a lot and often expecting ourselves to be perfect. We expect our bodies to heal quickly and respond to whatever we’re doing with ease. We expect our bodies to shrink down overnight if we begin to exercise. We expect to put away our favorite foods and never crave them again. And when this doesn’t happen, we’re disappointed, and we beat ourselves up. That’s where self-compassion comes in. Throughout my program, I teach women to be self-compassionate. To not excuse their behavior but to approach themselves with compassion and understanding.
Love for service: I am more of an introvert than an extrovert. I sometimes like to hide and stay behind the scenes. But I often remind myself that when I play small and hide, I am doing others a disservice. People need my message. They need to experience hope and a positive voice to help them become well again. I needed this when I was struggling with my health as I juggled a career in the corporate world and tried to raise kids and manage a household. And my love for serving others helps me to show up authentically when it’s easier to hide behind my work.
If you could start a movement that would promote the most wellness to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I would love for people to drop the all-or-nothing approach. Most people focus on ‘being good’ and ‘eating clean’ and exercising and try to do it perfectly. And then it becomes hard, so they drop it entirely and do the stark opposite. It may not sound sexy, but I would love people to approach health and wellness in a balanced way. To not expect perfectionism, but make small gradual changes that will help them feel their best over the long run.
We are blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world or the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? They might just see this if we tag them.
I would have to say, Brene Brown. I am such a fan of her work and her as a person. She is herself through and through. So open and vulnerable, and I would love to spend an hour just talking to her about her life’s journey. I have so many quotes of hers that inspire me, but this one, in particular, is one of my favorites and one I share with the women I work with “Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing that we will ever do.”
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Instagram @nutritionherway or my website www.nutritionherway.com
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this. We wish you continued success and good health!