Wellness That Actually Works

Speaker 1: I have had challenges as a founder and entrepreneur. Sometimes you don't know if you're going left, if you're going right. That's where my next business was developed which is found and well because I went through a period of time where I was stressed as a founder was facing anxiety, depression and I started talking to some of my founder friends and they were also dealing with the same thing. I started talking to other founders and they were like, I wish there was like a community where we can actually speak about this and also seek help for this. That's where I developed founding well, which is my nonprofit to give back to founders to offer free mental health services for founders and entrepreneurs.

Speaker 2: I'm Melanie Bar. Welcome back to the Sheila Tip podcast, your go-to place to empower you to live the life and business that you crave. I'm here to talk about everything from having the courage to make life and career leaps to the details of how to lead effectively, create successful teams, implement strategies for growth, and infuse tech innovation. I'm here to celebrate your wins and navigate through your challenges. I live in the city now, but I grew up in a town of a thousand people. I've navigated major life leaps, a senior level corporate career, worked in professional sports, and now as a successful entrepreneur who loves business, technology, family, and making meaningful connections with you and the She Built It Community. I also love a good workout and dose of self-care.

Speaker 2: Magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy. So, turn up the audio, open your favorite notes app, grab your favorite drink, and here we go.

Speaker 2: Welcome to the Sheila podcast. Thank you for joining us. Somaya, what was the moment that sparked your wellness transformation and how did it lead you to building body complete RX?

Speaker 3: Thank you for having me, Melanie. The moment that sparked my wellness transformation was having my fourth child in 2014. I was a mom of four. I had picked up a considerable amount of weight in my last pregnancy and I went on a journey really initially just trying to lose the weight that I had picked up in my pregnancy but then started to really wanting to change my lifestyle. Not just wanting to lose the weight and then go back to not working out or maybe not eating as clean. I really adapted a new lifestyle and along that way in adapting that lifestyle I took a number of supplements, tried a number of things and I saw there were gaps in some of the supplements I was taking some of the ingredients that I didn't really care for in some of the supplements and I was speaking with a friend about it who's a nutritionist and she was like why don't you look into creating your own supplement and I was like that is a good idea maybe I should look into that. So that's what I ended up doing.

Speaker 2: So tell us about the supplement. I'm a mom of twins. I definitely struggled

Speaker 1: with that when the twins were born. I ran marathons and worked out and I struggled with going back to working out and had to change my mindset, too, cuz I thought, "Oh, if I don't work out for an hour, then that's not going to do anything." And I really had to shift that mindset. So, it's interesting the mindset shifts we go through as our daily lives change, if we become moms, if we take on a new career role, whatever makes us go through that shift.

Speaker 2: And I'd love to know what you created.

Speaker 1: Absolutely. So, Body Completer X started with a weight management supplement line because that was my focus at the time was weight management and looking for something clean to take to help me with my appetite. I was changing my eating habits, but also my appetite was still ravishing. So, I was looking for something to help me control my appetite and also help me to boost my energy levels so I could get back at the gym.

Speaker 1: This particular product helps with hormone balance as well. And so that was our initial line of supplements. And then as the brand grew, I saw the need to take protein and I was in the gym taking preworkouts and the pre-work workouts that I were taking were like super strong. And I went to my lab and I'm like, "Hey, can we do a plant-based pre-workout?" And they're like, "Yeah, we could do that." And so went to making plant-based pre-workout using lion's mane and different supplements that are natural for you and organic that ended up expanding the line to 27 SKUs. So we started at three SKs and then eventually expanded to 27 SKs.

Speaker 2: So interesting. And what challenges did you overcome during that time in creating the products? Because I love how you said this is what I need and you probably saw that other moms needed it too. How did you develop your products in that way based on the need because you saw the need and you filled it.

Speaker 1: The thing about it is that I saw the need. I had the brain of the business mind for it, but I was not a chemist.

Speaker 1: And so that was the most challenging part is what do you use? What do you need? So that's where it came in me working with Dr. Ruby Lean, who helped to develop all of our formulas, who really sat down and looked at the different products that I was taking at the time and me saying to her, "This is what I'm currently using, but these are the things that I really don't like about it, and what could we do to make something that's just a little bit better?" So, she literally went through all of the formulas and helped us to craft each of our formulas in our brand.

Speaker 1: But that for me has always been like a bottleneck in my brand because I am the CEO of my company, but I'm not the chemist behind the company. So, I still have to work with our laboratory, work with our chemist, work with the doctor that helped to develop the formulas to really drive down and get to what we need in terms of product development.

Speaker 2: You are a mom of four, a best-selling author, and now a multibrand founder, which we'll hear about your other couple brands in a minute. How do you stay grounded while building your brands that serve so many?

Speaker 1: Over the years, my business, Body Completer X, will have been in business for 9 years in September. Pretty incredible considering the way that I started as a small brand and continuing to grow. But over the years, I have had challenges as a founder and entrepreneur. It's a very stressful thing to be an entrepreneur. Sometimes you don't know if you're going left, if you're going right. And so that's actually where my next business was developed which is found and well because I went through a period of time where I was stressed as a founder was facing anxiety, depression and I started talking to some of my founder friends and they were also yeah I'm dealing with the same thing the uncertainty of business and are things going to go well the next year and growth and sometimes having rapid growth can also bring about stress. I started talking to other founders and they were like, I wish there was like a community where we can actually speak about this and also seek help for this. That's where I developed founding well, which is my nonprofit to give back to founders to offer free mental health services for founders and entrepreneurs, specifically minority founders and entrepreneurs, so women of color, and just really talk about the real life of a founder and entrepreneur and be honest about it and be able to seek help when we need help. because everybody doesn't understand this life.

Speaker 2: It's It's interesting.

Speaker 2: It's so true. You find yourself up late at night, up early in the morning, and then you find yourself skipping workouts. As we were just talking about the workouts, you're in a good flow, and then you're responding to clients or dealing with products and the issues that come up. And it is really hard to find someone to talk to because you don't necessarily want to go to your friends all the time or your family members. So, it is really challenging at times to find that community of like-minded people going through similar things that you're going through.

Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. And it wasn't until I started talking to other founders and entrepreneurs that it opened up a whole world for me because in my mind, I thought I was the only one dealing with certain life challenges. I had went through a divorce and so that was another challenge I was dealing with and business and splitting business and divorce. It wasn't until I started talking to other founders who were like, "Yeah, I went through that, too. And yes, it was stressful, but this is how I made it through." And then it made it feel not as heavy for me. And it made it feel like, oh, I can go on beyond this and I can survive these things because I was able to talk to other founders and connect with other founders who too had experienced those things. I think it's super important that we have that community. It makes you feel not as alone going through because we're all going through similar things and you never know when someone will introduce you to someone else who could make your situation better.

Speaker 1: That was a game changer for me to be honest and that's why I developed and well because I was at a brink of a point where it was like I don't even know if I want to do this anymore just because of the stress that was accompanied with it.

Speaker 1: And then when I talked to other people and they were like I've dealt with this, I've dealt with that. This is normal in business. Oh, when you're growing your business, having a lawsuit, that's something that could be normal in business. And if you're by yourself and you're not talking to other founders and being open and honest about what's going on, you would think it's only you.

Speaker 1: Someone had said we had a image on our website. There was a guy who had a lawsuit mill where he was targeting small companies and he would go to say, "Oh, you have a picture on your website that's something that I own and if you pay me $5,000, we can just give this away." And so I'm like stressed. I'm like, "Oh my god, I got a lawsuit and they wanted this and they wanted that."

Speaker 1: Then I talked to another founder and they're like, "That happens all the time. That happened to me. There's people out there who do that who basically target companies." But had I not known, I would have been like, "Oh my god, this is just me. I'm failing in business. Maybe I need to give it up, hang it up." That's why it's super important that we have this community.

Speaker 1: And it is hard to push through at times.

Speaker 1: And sometimes you might have a team member or something that isn't working out and they're no longer with you and then they leave and immediately write a negative review. There's so many of those things that founders go through.

Speaker 1: So it's great that you're creating a community of support because it there is that pushth through mentality of we have to just keep pushing forward and not necessarily take care of ourselves in the healthy way that we should.

Found and Well

Speaker 1: Absolutely. That part of my journey led to found and well and I'm happy that was born out of that because something that was a struggle for me actually turned into something that could be a blessing for others.

Speaker 2: I so love how you look at what is needed and create responses to that for women for entrepreneurs for your next brand is Creator Mate which I can't wait to hear.

Speaker 1: I just keep saying yes to all of the brands that you've created. Tell us about Creator Mate and how did you come

Speaker 2: up with that platform? Creator Mate is still in development right now. It's an app. It's a tech platform that I'm currently building to connect creators with non-creators. So, when I say you may be like a mom who you would love to be more social on the internet, but you don't know how to take the right photos of yourself, or maybe you might be going out tonight and you've dressed up and you want to take some cute pictures of yourself, but you don't know anybody to take the pictures. or maybe your husband or your boyfriend doesn't know how to really take good pictures of you. You can log into Creator Mate and actually find people geolloc in your area and find people who are actually content creators who can meet up with you on demand and help you create content. So that came about for my own struggle in content creation because I'm not a content creator, but sometimes I do want to post a picture or I do maybe want to make a real I get overwhelmed with the process of doing all of that. I live in a condo building. There's probably thousands of people that live in this building. I'm sure there's probably 10 people in here who are actually content creators. And how cool would it be if I could just go on an app and find them right now and send them an offer just like on Fiverr, but this is something that's geollocated. And so you can actually contact someone right there on the spot. Connect with them and say, "Hey, can you meet me outside the building in 30 minutes and take some content of me?" And they'll say, "Hey, sure. This is how much it'll cost." And it's a exchange in both ways. So, not only is it growing the creator economy because it gives now creators a way to monetize their skill and it also is growing the creator economy by creating more creators, people who are now posting more content because they had someone to assist them with doing so. I love that so much because when you're running and growing a business, you're thinking about the business side of the business and the creative side is such a different part of the thought process and sometimes it's hard to step away from that. Even if can do it or you're good at doing it, it's hard to step away from that. And sometimes you want someone just to work with you maybe for a couple hours or for the day and you don't want to necessarily hire a branding company to do that. You might want to just work with one person to come up with the creation.

Speaker 2: Absolutely. The goal of that is to connect creators with non-creators and close that gap where you can bring people together who are close to each other. Maybe you might even be out at a restaurant and look on the app and see someone's in the restaurant who's a creator who may want to come over and help you make some content. It's a little bit of a shift from my wellness side, but all of my businesses are always something that I needed, some type of gap that I saw. I want to create

Speaker 1: something to help with what I'm challenged with right now.

Speaker 1: When I was reading about your brands, I kept saying yes and yes, and I thought, wow, she's creating what all of us are thinking, which is good. And with Creator Mate, sometimes it's good to have a fresh set of eyes, too, and give new ideas because we get so siloed sometimes in our branding.

Speaker 2: Absolutely.

Speaker 1: How has culture shaped the way you're building your businesses and how do you make sure it's reflected in everything from your products to messaging?

Speaker 2: I would say culture is a part of a person. All of my businesses came from something that I needed came from my own spirit and idea. So I feel like I bring the culture to my brands. I bring who I am as a person. When I talk about creator mate, social media is such a huge thing now. Some people are very like like I still don't want to get on social but it's the way of the future. my creator mate will help those people to step into the space better and shift into the culture of what is now growing social media which is pretty much everybody's on social media no matter if you have a Twitter Facebook Instagram Pinterest some type of social interaction and then when you talk about my plant-based supplement company culture right now you've seen the culture of weight management products when it comes to drugs like Ozic goi and all of these weight management drugs that are currently on the market and some people are not really interested in using those drugs. They're really looking for plant-based alternatives or alternatives that are a little bit safer for them. So, I feel like over the past several years, we've seen a shift in the business when it comes for body complete or absent growth because there are people who are looking for something that is not as harsh as an osimpic or one of those drugs and something that's a little bit more cleaner for their bodies. So, that's where culture I think has stepped in there. And then with found and well when we talk about mental health that is something that is such a growing conversation right years ago people really didn't talk about mental health or when you talked about it it was hush people really didn't want to really speak on it that much now over the past several years everybody's speaking on mental health but not many people are speaking on mental health when it comes to entrepreneurship because I think there's still a veil with that because entrepreneurs don't want to be seen as oh they're not stable they can't run their business because maybe they're dealing with depression.

Speaker 2: So, this is another shift in conversation when it comes to mental health and entrepreneurship, but it's still a part of the growing conversation that culturally is happening around the world about mental health.

Speaker 1: Yeah. So true. And sometimes when you're going through something, it's really hard to start that conversation to talk about it even though it's so needed.

Speaker 2: Absolutely.

Speaker 1: You've been named Inc. Magazine's female founder 100. What does recognition like that mean to you and how does it reflect your mission?

Speaker 2: That was a great honor from Inc. Magazine, especially for myself at that time because being a African-American woman leading a supplement company that is white maledominated space to step into the space as a minority and actually receive recognition at that level for my supplement company was a great honor for me. I am meant to be here and that my brand is meant to be here and that my voice in this space is welcome and meant to be here.

Speaker 1: Magic happens when we focus on the part of our business and oursel that brings us joy. We talked a lot about business today. What do you do to make sure that you're finding and living your joy?

Speaker 2: I'm here in Europe right now for the summer and that is a manifested dream come true. I've been wanting to do this for quite some time and obviously as a mom who has kids in college and I have a young son, it's been hard to make this kind of dream come true. I am very much keen on finding what makes me happy and what my joy is and trying to do and create whatever I need to in my life systems, put people in place to manage things for me so I can chase after that.

Speaker 2: Because what I do know is that I can run myself ragged and I can run myself quite thin if I don't make space and time for me to be able to pursue those dreams for myself. So right now I'm actually living in something that's bringing me a lot of joy. And I know that's going to benefit my brands and my businesses because it's helping me with my mental health. what's helping me to feel good about my life and about taking time off to be able to take rest which is needed as an entrepreneur so you can come back just that much stronger.

Speaker 1: I love that so much. Thank you for that reminder especially for all the entrepreneurs listening and I know there are a lot.

Speaker 2: Absolutely.

Speaker 1: And thank you for sharing the brands you're building and for building the things that we need as entrepreneurs.

Speaker 2: Thank you.

Speaker 1: Please share with us how and where we

Speaker 2: can find you. You can find me on social media, just my name, Somaya Gore. You can find my brands on Body Complete X. We're currently sold at Vitamin Shop Nationwide and also launching at Target very soon, so look for that. And then also, you can find Founding Well on our website. Foundingwell has an Instagram as well.

Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us today. I'd love to hear from you. Reach out to me at hell@ shebiltit.com on our shebuiltit website or at shebuiltit on social. Thank you to my editor Rich Duffolino who always makes us sound good. Until next time, let nothing stop you from experiencing the life and business that you crave.