Discover how Alluvita is transforming women’s health through integrated wellness, community support, and accessible medical care.

What does it take to build a women’s health solution that actually listens, includes, and empowers? In this episode, Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC, founder of Alluvita, joins me as she reveals the journey from her garage fitness sessions to creating a first-of-its-kind social wellness club and integrated clinic for women.

Get inspired by stories of perseverance, real-world business pivots, and the fundamental shift toward community-first women’s health.

Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, a wellness professional, or simply passionate about women’s empowerment, this conversation shines a light on what’s possible when you put women’s needs at the center.

What You’ll Learn:

• How Alluvita bridges small group strength training, medical care, and authentic community for women’s total wellness 03:11
• Why most gyms still cater to men, and what happens when women’s needs shape the model 13:05
• The challenges and mindset needed to “keep going” through obstacles as a founder and entrepreneur 20:13
• Why being heard, acknowledged, and advocated for is core to women’s health care needs 43:05
• How lifestyle, sleep, and community influence women’s health—and what practical support looks like at every stage 54:07

5 Frequently Asked Questions about Alluvita

1. What is Alluvita and what makes it different from traditional women’s gyms? Alluvita is a social wellness club and integrated clinic for women, offering small group strength training, wellness coaching, and collaborative medical services—all designed around community and the unique needs of women 03:11.
2. Why is community important in women’s health and fitness? Community creates belonging, support, and accountability, making it easier for women to stick with wellness routines, find social and emotional support, and feel understood 08:14.
3. How does Alluvita approach the medical side of women’s health? Alluvita collaborates with physicians, therapists, and nutritionists to provide integrated yet flexible medical and wellness care without replacing primary care—focusing on listening, advocacy, and real solutions for women’s needs 35:01.
4. What challenges did Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC face when founding Alluvita? She overcame business pivots, property challenges, self-doubt, and setbacks—relying on perseverance and learning to adjust expectations throughout the entrepreneurial process 20:13.
5. Why is sleep so emphasized in Alluvita’s wellness approach? Sleep impacts decision-making, hunger hormones, stress levels, and overall quality of life. Improving sleep is often the foundational step before nutrition and fitness for sustainable women’s health 57:03.

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Jessica, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me.

I gotta start with our audience to talk about how you and I met, cuz

it was kind of a blend of, uh,

serendipity and synchronicity and all that wrapped in, right?

So, um, I met your husband Nick. Mm-hmm. Um,

by way of another individual who actually was one of our guests on the

podcast. Um, nice. And He was

just kind of like, hey, I saw your this, I heard the podcast. Would you

want to get together for coffee sometime? And I said, cool. Well, if

you know Joe, then absolutely. So Nick and I

had coffee, really hit it off. I hope he still feels that way. Yeah, of

course. Right? Yeah. And it's just like, man, this guy's really great.

And post that, he was writing in Substack

and writing on leadership. And so spare you a

regurgitation of all that, but it was like, oh, I could use this guy's

content because some of my clients and on and on. So we're doing this and

doing that. So up in my feed in LinkedIn

comes this thing, AloVita. Mm-hmm. You know, and the story

behind that was really kind of cool. It's like, wait a minute, a focus on

women's health and all of that. And then I saw your name and I'm going,

wait a minute. Could that be that— I'm

wondering if she's— oh, gotta be related, 'cause your last name, would you

pronounce that for the audience for me? Sure. It's Gesue. Gesue, right? Yes. Not

a very common last name, right? And

I go, I reach out to Nick and I go, Nick,

I think, is it your— you're related to someone, Jessica,

same last name. Oh, that's my wife here. I said, oh my gosh, I'd love

to have her on the podcast. So our audience

can reference this part, um, with the episodes we've

done. We've had those episodes that focused on women's

health, not so much that we are practitioners in that realm. Mm-hmm.

But the emotion side that comes with that. Yeah. Right. And I'm

somewhat biased because my wife has experienced our

healthcare system in the United States, and it has not been the

most, uh, how would you say, inspiring? Mm-hmm. Um, And

sometimes quite downright demeaning, right?

And I've always been curious, like, well, why is that? Right. And then I'm starting

to read more and I'm starting to hear from other thought leaders that, wait a

minute, it's, if I didn't know any better, it seems

like maybe women are looked at as being not worthy or

not, they don't need, they're fine. It's all in your head. All the stuff that

just makes you cringe. Mm-hmm. I reach out to you

and I think I had Nick kind of, kind of, uh,

grease the wheel a little bit, you know? So it was like, who is this

guy? Spirit of EQ. Okay. But, uh, here you are. Yes.

And I got a lot I wanna ask you about. Okay. And, um, excited about

it. It, it's gonna be fun. So, um, for our audience, so

I gave a little, maybe a tease about AloVita and women's health and all that.

Can you talk about what your organization is? Sure. And then

even maybe more importantly, why did you start it? Yeah,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: yeah, of course. Um, so Alavida is actually

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: 2 different brands right now. We have Alluvita Social Wellness and

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: Alluvita Health and Wellness, um, all under the same family.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: And what we are doing is we're creating an integrated solution to

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: women's health and wellness. And so really what happened was

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: we started with Alluvita Social Wellness. So The

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: backstory of this is a long time ago in my garage, I

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: was training with women. And how we got there was

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: originally in corporate and then stayed home with my kids for 11 years.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: I knew I wanted to get back to work at some point and always loved

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: health and wellness on the side. It was a huge passion of mine. Yeah. So,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: did a deep dive into health and wellness. And there's this new thing called health

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: coaching way back when in 2017, 2018. Yeah. And

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: so, experimented with that and I did 2 different programs. So,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: the, Institute of Integrated Nutrition, and then I went through

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: the Institute for Functional Medicine as well and got two different coaching

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: certificates through them, and loved doing

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: that. And then I was on my own kind of health and wellness journey

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: after my third child was born and wanted to get back in shape, whatever

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: that meant. And so working with a personal trainer and

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: strength training, and really enjoying it, and really enjoying that

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: process. And, um, just sticking with it

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: for a 6-month timeframe. So I gave myself a

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: goal, gave myself a carrot, and I love apparel and clothing.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: So actually my carrot was I could get a new gym

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: wardrobe if I stuck with it for 6 months. How cool. So I was

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: like, okay, you, you have to give yourself a carrot. So, cuz it, it's a

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: lot of work, it's a lot of consistency. And so I did that

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: and, um, long story short, And the next year and a half, I was actually

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: up on stage as a bodybuilder. So— Wow. Transformed

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: through, you know, age 39, 40, started to compete.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: But what I really took away with that is all these years of trying to

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: find what works and the truth behind fitness and all of

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: this, strength training was really the only thing that gave me the results that I

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: could actually see. So I wanted to teach other women, especially

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: moms, um, what I had learned, because I had worked with

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: the trainers, but they were training me for progressive

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: overload and muscle. But there were a lot of things that I was doing as

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: a mom as well to work the pelvic floor and the abs and all of

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: that. Right. Back to shape there, whatever you want to call it. So,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: you know, I felt really passionate about sharing that

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: with women. So in addition to the health and wellness coaching, that's when I got

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: my personal training certificate. And then COVID hit, which put a wrench in

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: my plan and everyone else's plan. And I was like, oh gosh, I'm just getting

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: back into this. And, and women reached out to me and asked if they

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: could train with me in my garage. So it was literally women. I was

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: posting online, I was showing workouts in my garage, and

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: women around town asked me if they could come work out with me. And I

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: was like, sure, let's do this. So we socially distanced and all that. And it

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: was really in those sessions that

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: A La Vida was really born because we not only talked about

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: form and function. We talked about all the things and

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: hormones and sleep and relationship and kind of a funny little story as

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: Nick would always say, like, tell me when you have the women in the room

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: because I do not want to come into the garage. Because he never knew what

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: kind of conversation he'd be walking into. So I was just like, okay, okay, you

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: know, this, this is when we're training today. Yeah. But, you know, we were all

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: talking about solutions and answers and where we're going. And so

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: it was just a question that I had is, why doesn't this exist? Right? So

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: why, why doesn't a place for women who are training like

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: this in group, in community, getting to know each other—

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: why? You know, we have group fitness classes, but it's not the same. It's not

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: the same as these small group strength training classes that we were doing. So, um,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: that's where the idea started. And so, um,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: you know, started on that journey of looking for a space, and then I got

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: sidetracked for 4 years. We'll talk about that in a little bit. Mm-hmm. But then

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: last year, it kind of came back to this idea of women's health, but

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: it had evolved since then. So now that I'm older and I, I was

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: going through perimenopause myself, I knew that I wanted

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: to create a social wellness club for women. So

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: not just fitness, I wanted to create a place where women can find

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: community and to find the answers that they wanted. But then I also knew

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: that you can't just outwork your hormones. So then

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: the clinic was born. So there were all these different steps.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: And so now we truly are, we have wellness lifestyle on the

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: social wellness club side, and we have medical on the clinic side. So

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: we do truly have an integrated solution for women's health. Wow.

I got to ask the community component.

That seems to be, at least I think I'm hearing from you,

maybe the glue that keeps that sort of

together. Is that— am I on mark on that? Yeah, exactly right.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: So, you know, when I was looking at this

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: kind of fitness, health and wellness for women

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: and the whole fitness community, I wanted it to be

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: more than just fitness because health and wellness

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: and wellbeing is more than just your physical. What I— what we always

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: talk about with Alavida, it's physical, mental, spiritual, social, and

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: financial. So, when you're kind of looking at all of those pieces on

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: like this wheel of life on your kind of wellbeing, hitting all of those

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: marks is really important to me personally, being a health and wellness coach. Yep.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: And just living life and understanding that sometimes you're going to be

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: focused on one or the other and really getting a balance across all of

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: those different areas is really important. So, really looked

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: at the, instead of just calling it a fitness club or just

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: health and wellness, I really wanted to add this component of

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: community, and that's why I really looked at the social wellness. And so

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: how I describe it with the Alavida Social Wellness Club is that

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: it is a community-first approach to wellness, and we do that through

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: our design and through our membership and programmed events. So when

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: we are actually building out the space, we're looking at

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: each space and saying, okay, how does community work in this space?

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: How are women going to be social in this space? And we're leaving

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: room for women to take that pause and have those conversations in

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: each of the spaces in the club. The other

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: piece of this too is I really wanted this to be

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: community and wellness-oriented more so

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: than just fitness. And so with our base membership, it's a

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: community membership where women who are wellness curious women, is what

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: I call all of our members. Mm-hmm. They can come in and

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: have a membership to the club and just come in and use the community space,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: use the recovery room, get a discount at the spa, and come to our events

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: and be part of a community. And with that level of membership, they get

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: one free fitness credit to use. They can use that on small group strength training.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: They could go to a yoga class, sound bath. We're gonna have a lot of

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: different types of classes and stuff. So they don't have to use the club for

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: all of their fitness. They can if they want to, and they can increase their

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: membership level to add on fitness. But what I really wanted to do

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: was make this, take down the

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: barriers and really make it an approachable solution for

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: women who are, who are curious about their health and wellness and who want to

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: belong to a club and take down those intimidation factors of a big

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: box gym or anything else, especially with women who are just starting

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: out. It's interesting because before we recorded today or started

recording, I was telling you a story of my wife joining a gym.

It's just your basic gym, and I'm sure the owner of that gym would say

it's not basic; it's exclusive. It's marvelous. It's a

nice place, no doubt. But what is interesting to me, as I've

mentioned to you, it's heavily weighted

as far as the demographic is male, and.

I got curious, it's like, well, do you, what is it

about that? And it's like, well, it

doesn't feel, I don't feel as

comfortable, but I get in and I get out and then I leave.

And when she said that, I'm going, I start to go in my

imagination. She goes in, you imagine, and you're looking around.

It doesn't feel welcoming to you as, in this case, a woman. Mm-hmm.

And then you're like, I got to get on the machines. I'm only going to

be here for 30 minutes. It's okay. I'm going to put my earbuds in and

then I'm out. And I'm thinking, well,

you got your workout in, but that's all you got. And you also

probably were managing cortisol that was flowing because you're feeling—

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: You're all stressed out. All stressed out, right? And then I asked her,

if you had a gym where it was just, I used the term women only,

would you prefer that? And it took her like, a half a second ago, yeah.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: Mm-hmm. And that really kind of spurred me on in my thinking

because I

sometimes, I have this opinion,

Jessica, that we

as a culture have kind of

relegated leftovers to women. And when you think about

the things that, and I'm not bashing men, okay? Those of you in the audience

who are men, I'm not man bashing. Right, right. No, this is not male bashing

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: at all. I'm not male bashing. You guys do a lot too. Right, right. But

in this respect, I don't think it's really something we can deny.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: Right. And I think the community aspect of it

is so vitally important around that. And the model, right? So all of these

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: gyms were built by men for men. So that, that

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: has been the model. And I think as a woman, we try to

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: go to these gyms and then we are just following the current

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: model. And so what, what I saw in my

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: garage when I was training 4 women at a time,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: it was like literally like a light bulb went up, went off. I was

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: like, this is how women want to train. They, you know, we were still

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: doing the same things that you would be doing in a gym by yourself or

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: with a personal trainer one-on-one. Right. But we were doing it in groups of

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: 4 with community, and they were all— so it wasn't

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: just— it wasn't me. It wasn't— it wasn't me that they were there to see.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: Of course, I'm helping them with form and setting up the programming, but they were

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: then coming for each other. Yeah, it almost allows you to just kind of take

a step back. Yeah, right. And so then, you know, it was, you know, oh,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: where's Nicole today? If Nicole wasn't there, and I was like, this— there is something

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: here. And the women were— we were still doing progressive overload, we were learning

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: form, we were doing all the things that you do in a typical gym, but

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: you typically do it by yourself or one-on-one with just a personal

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: trainer. Right. And in this model, with the small group training model,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: we not only were learning all of the fundamentals of strength training,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: but the women were also getting the community that they

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: craved and the socializing that they want to do. So it's a

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: great hybrid solution. And so the way that we are setting it

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: up in Alavida at the Social Wellness Club is we have a

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: large gym space, but I have pods set up. So we have an

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: upper body, a lower body, and then a total body conditioning pod. So

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: as a member, you're signing up to be in one of those pods while you're

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: working out, and then you have the 3 other women. So it's 4 women total

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: with the trainer who gives you the programming for the day. Mm-hmm. So it really

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: has this very personalized feel

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: because you are getting a lot of attention from a personal trainer, but you're also

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: getting the community. And so kind of like your wife's story,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: that really encourages women to actually stick around and

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: talk afterwards. Yeah. 'Cause you grab a coffee, grab a tea, take a pause

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: before we go, you know, in the car again and go about our day. Yeah.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: So it's a, it's a different, it's a different model, which I think that's

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: how women want to train. We just haven't been able to find that.

And Jessica, that interaction I had

with my wife left me thinking, well,

if you don't feel comfortable, but you're pushing through the discomfort because

you've committed to doing this, what does that say about the women

that maybe have said,

yeah, I can go for a walk every now and then, that'll be okay? Because

they maybe not realize, and obviously, Your gyms are not in

every city and every town and all that kind of stuff. But that's

what kind of made me feel a bit

disappointed maybe, or concerned that there might be

somebody who they really, they realize

I need to get after this for whatever reason. I need to make a commitment

to doing this. But there's this barrier that's up that,

and it's easy for anybody to say, You just need to

get over it and push through. Well, okay, granted,

but who will you be just by doing that, right? I

mean, why do you have to do that? Why is it always the default to

say you just got to grind it out? You know, that kind of thing. Um,

I want to pivot for a moment to something that maybe is not so obvious,

but from an entrepreneurial perspective, um, when you describe this,

even when we first met, um, I thought of it as you You were given

a dream, right? And we all like

Hollywood type of scenarios where you get the dream and then

it's unicorns, rainbows. But I don't think your

story was that, just even what you just

divulged. But did you feel like it couldn't,

or how would I say that? Did you feel like it wouldn't leave you alone

even in the times when you either had to pause or you had to

pivot to something else. Did it, did you feel that about it or? Yeah, I

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: think that it was always in the back of my head. So I took a

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: little break. So I ended up working for a local coworking company

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: and working as a business operations and helping with some of their,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: um, periphery businesses. But, mm-hmm, in the back of my head, it was like,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: it was always there. And fortunately I got to oversee, they owned a gym as

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: well, so I was still kind of, filling that need for the health and

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: wellness and giving back that way. Yeah. But, you

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: know, I feel I tend to talk to women about

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: health and wellness and fitness. So even though I'm running restaurants at the

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: time, I was helping run restaurants first, we would always gravitate towards health

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: and wellness. Like it was just a constant, like— So you couldn't help yourself. I

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: couldn't help myself. Right. Yeah. And, and I think that that's always, you know,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: and women do talk about their health and wellness. I mean, our, our health is,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: when you don't have it, then you know that it's the most important thing in

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: your life. And, and so I think it's, it's definitely

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: was the back of my head. And, you know, like you said, I, I, I

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: couldn't leave it alone. And it was evolving though.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: I think that— Mm-hmm. If I would've started this project 5

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: years ago, it would be much different than it is today. I think a

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: couple different things happened. I think, I think we went through COVID. I think that,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: The whole, our society has changed a lot. Yeah. I think

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: there's a great emphasis on midlife women right now and

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: understanding that strength training is really important. So

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: there's a lot more out there for women to get

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: information about why it's important. But also for me

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: personally, I was able to learn a lot through my experience with

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: the coworking company I work for and learn about development and

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: partnerships and different things that I'm able to now incorporate into

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: my business. And make it that much better. So it's definitely

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: evolved. And on top of that, just really

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: honing in on community and the social wellness part wasn't something that

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: I was 100% on 5 years ago.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: And then it just built in momentum that that was the most important thing for

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: me is to really call it social wellness and to bring

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: people in real life again. Yeah. You know, it's interesting,

my experience, um, because entrepreneurism, at

least again, my experience has been one of heights,

lows, in-betweens, 2:00 AM wake

up, what am I doing? I don't, who does that? Who does that? Right, right.

And, and I do one specific time, I, I remember

I was on a walk and I remember saying to myself,

maybe I just made this all up in my head. Because it wasn't going

the way I thought it was. It didn't look the way, you know, I wasn't

getting the, I wasn't getting the kind of reception to the ideas that I thought.

And I always felt like, um, I call it a God

moment, you know, where it's like a whisper in my ear that, and it was

just 2 words, keep going. And I

didn't, I just, just such a, I, I,

pure honesty, transparency. I, I kind of, what?

What? That's it? Keep going. That's your thing. But

you know what? As many, many years have

gone on, the wisdom of just keep

going. Mm-hmm. Is so unbelievably

powerful. Yeah. Def— I definitely had a moment like that after

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: I, I left the company I was working for and it,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: it was, kind of abrupt that when I left. So it wasn't like I had

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: a fully baked plan or anything. I was like, okay, what am I gonna

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: do? And, and kind of exploring that idea of, of women's

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: wellness, health and wellness again. And— Yeah. Just unsure. And,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: you know, just thinking and taking some time to think. And I had,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: I, it was, it, I was drinking coffee. I was like writing out who knows

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: what in a journal. And I literally, there was like,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: Not a keep going, but it was more like, you know what you wanna do,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: just do it. Because I'm looking for answers. I'm, I'm look, what, what should I

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: do? Questioning everything. And it was like, no, you know. And I think since that

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: moment I'm like, okay, let's do it. And, you know, hopefully

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: it's gonna work. But there were a lot of hurdles. And so I

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: questioned that a lot. Yeah. Um, we bought a building

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: that had been abandoned for 10 years. Oh my. And

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: so it was in really rough shape and

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: aesthetically not pleasing

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: whatsoever. Yeah. But there was just something about it

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: and something about the setting. It's on 2 acres. It's just south of

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: Old Worthington. So I wanted to be near

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: a small town and really be part of a community. So that was

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: a part of it as, as well. I didn't want to be out in an

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: industrial part of town. I wanted to be in

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: a community so we could talk to other business leaders and

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: business owners in the area and work with the city. And that was really important

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: to me. So finding this land in Worthington,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: um, with this very rundown building that had been abandoned for 10 years,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: on top of that, the owners had a very

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: contentious divorce and there was a lot going on and it

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: wasn't easy to get signatures from people. And then

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: we had a break-in and people were living inside the building.

Oh. And then we had theft. So every single time

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: that something would happen, I would

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: question it 100%. You know, I'd be like, oh, it, Should I

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: be doing this? Is this a sign that I should stop? Yeah. And I

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: think my response to myself, that sounds weird, but the

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: response I would always think about was like, this is the reason that

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: some things don't exist in the world is because you have all

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: of these hurdles and people stop and they don't keep going.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: So what if I did? And so I would just keep,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: so it'd be a keep going moment for me right there. You know, just like,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: Let's get through it. And, you know, I mean, sometimes it didn't

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: feel great renegotiating contracts and

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: trying to get all that done. But, you know, I learned, I learned a

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: lot with this first building. And I just keep thinking any

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: building in the future is going to be way easier than I thought.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: So I learned, I learned a lot on that first time around. Wow. You know,

it's funny. I had this

My son is 24,

and I think you'll get the connection to what we were talking here.

And he met this girl and just

over the moon, right? And I was kind of like, wow, I haven't

seen you like this before, right? Even brought her to meet

us, my wife and I. Both. I was thinking, wow, yeah, okay, you must

be. And then there was this,

shall we say, collision, major

bump, and it was done

type thing. And when he told me about what

happened, in my head I'm going and remembering

Dad's been walking the planet for a while now. Right. I was thinking,

man, that might be a little overreaction. to something like that.

But for him, it was really, really big. Right. Right. And I've learned enough in

my relationship with my son is that just because you may have the

lens that sees it one way, he has a different one, whether you like it

or not. Right. And, um, so I'm kind of

just letting him get it out and I'm kind of disappointed because

just selfishly, you know, the dad in me is going, wow, she was a

Really, I thought special girl type thing.

So next day in the morning, I decided

to because I'd really been like I was praying like okay I want to say

the right thing. I don't want to like jump in and tell him this is

what you should do and this is what was wrong. No no sermons, no

lectures, Eric, and that kind of thing. So I decided to do a

voice memo, you know, with your text message. Yeah. And I just said to him,

you know, I'm not trying to tell you you overreacted. I said,

but it seems to me if it's really, really important to you, maybe

it's something that you just kind of have to expect. Because I

say, hey, when we start with something that we're really

into, that we really love, we're very passionate about, you're up in the

clouds and everything is at this— the clouds part

when you go by, the sun is shining, the temperature is great. Great. You're

just on top of the world, and then there's the

inevitable dip. And I think sometimes I'm

voicing this because I couldn't write it right. I just be too difficult. I said

sometimes maybe that's there for a reason. I said because all

relationships are messy. We all bump up

against one another. We all say things we shouldn't say. But maybe the

difference is those that decide. And I said, maybe you should

say, hey, can we at least just talk? Yeah. And maybe it

isn't meant to be, but at least it's worth that.

And what we're talking about with the businesses, you know, the, the dreams,

I sometimes had that happen, right? Where something didn't go as

I expected. Everything was great up until then. And then I was like, maybe

it's like, don't overreact, man. Mm-hmm. Maybe

this inconvenience, this

frustration is actually there

to make you that better version. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, uh, absolutely. And, and when you

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: were talking, I was just thinking about like, it is about expectations. And I

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: think that that's going into it, I'm

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: thinking, oh, this is gonna be great. We're gonna get this done and then this

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: done and this done and every single one of those roadblocks,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: it was catching me off guard. And I'm like, I sh—

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: this building has been abandoned for 10 years. I knew that they had

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: issues with it, with homeless and different things. Like, why

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: didn't I expect this? Right? Like, and I think that that's the learning that

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: I, I'm taking away from it. Yeah. Is like, you know, it's all

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: about the expectation. And I was, I guess I was

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: expecting it just to go smoothly. And so I feel like that was on me

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: though, right? Yeah. So that's, that's something where I think I'm still

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: learning that lesson and learning it with partners and

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: different things that when you're, when you're talking with people, kind

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: of like the relationship with, you know, your son and his, his girlfriend, it's,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: it's what was, what was his expectation? And so maybe his

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: expectation was super high because they were in that honeymoon fun

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: stage, right? Yeah. And so when sometimes when other people

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: aren't meeting that and you're frustrated, I try to take a

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: look at what was my expectation and why am I frustrated

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: right now with this person? Because maybe they didn't communicate

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: with me and, but they're thinking something completely different. So it wasn't in a

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: malicious way or anything else, right? It's, yeah, let's ask some questions

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: and be curious about what happened. Yeah. Boy, and Jessica,

it really strikes me about the age that we

live in where we have so much messaging in our

ears about get the answer.

This is how it should look. Mm-hmm. Full stop. Mm-hmm.

Very rarely, at least for me in my exposure, do I ever get

posts that, I mean, in not to

make you— embarrass you, but your posts that I read

are authentic. They're not all, well, we just did this, and I'm honored to

say that we're now a point. No, it's real. It's like, oh my

gosh, she's encountering a valley with this thing.

I sometimes think, if maybe oftentimes I think, as an

entrepreneur, I'd rather read more of that. I'd rather, because I relate more

to that than I do, well, I was just awarded the

next Right. Okay. Because all that does

oftentimes is create this, well, what am I not doing? Because

I haven't got— and that's on me. I want to be very clear that

nobody has forced me to interpret anybody's content as

that. I choose that. So I have found

the healthy way for me. I don't linger. I don't stay on for very long

because it just, it, there's For every post that,

like I just said about you, there's probably 10 or 12 others

that are more of the other variety. Right. And I, if I

just boil this down to, regardless if it's women's health or emotional

intelligence or whatever, if it's a business, any kind of business,

we would do better to course correct our expectations. Yep.

Um, and it is a mindset thing. It's definitely a mindset thing.

Right? Because if you would've gone in going, okay, wait a minute,

I'm loving where we're at, but let's be real. This building's been abandoned

for 10 years. I've got information that says the potential for this.

And okay, divorce situation. Could

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: be an issue, right? Could be an issue. There might be a spouse that says,

I'm not signing anything that's going to benefit him. He'll wait. He'll just

wait. I mean, all of that stuff, right? Right. Um, and

I think especially for younger entrepreneurs. Right.

Right. And I'm not saying that to say, well, you and I are, we've been

around, we know. We've, we've been around. But I, I think the point is

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: like the way I was thinking about it when you were just talking is what

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: I, my internal dialogue a lot is that

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: a lot of people are posting their year, year 10, and I'm

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: on year 1. And so what I'm seeing as a result

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: of all of the work that went in over the years, and then sure,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: they're getting an award. Well, they've been working for 10 years. Now, they might not

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: have been posting for 10 years. They might've just started posting this year, but it

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: looks like. Yep. So I always think about, don't compare your year

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: 1 to year 10. And that can relate in business. I think

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: that can relate in relationships. I think it can relate in fitness,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: all of those things. And so, you know, You know, I, I think about that

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: a lot too. And what I, thank you for recognizing my post. Mm-hmm. Cuz

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: that's one of the things that I wanna show is that it,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: it is, it is hard. And the other thing I've been writing about a lot,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: not only entrepreneurship, but also even just going back to work

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: after taking a break and being home. So I've started talking a lot more about

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: that because that is another hurdle that I think we don't see

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: enough and we don't, we don't get to read enough about that. Usually it's,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: It's either you're a stay-at-home or you're a mom or you're

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: working full-time. And so sometimes when women are trying to think

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: about making that transition, there's not a lot of resources for— Yeah.

And you described it well. It's a transition. And even

though it was many, many years ago, I know my wife's

confidence in reentering into a career

was not very high. And granted,

yeah, I'm her biggest fan, and I'm going to encourage her and all of the

above. And I don't want to diminish that. But

at the same time, that's one voice who, you know,

and I think just as I'm going to

segue a bit to the health side of things, but I think

you do need, and that goes back to the community. Yeah. I think a lot

of times if you've got a community around you that

might just be there to put their arms around you to say, you're going to

be great, it's going to be fine. And to share

that versus the isolation thing, which you and I both know

can be very dangerous. So let me pivot to

the health side of things. So it's obvious the community side for the

social and the clubbing type thing, but You

decided that there was going to be a true clinical nature to this.

And I think when we talked previous to recording, I mentioned to

you the experiences not only of my wife, but other women

that I know who have gone to the traditional medical community

and have been met with things like, you

probably are just having issues with your stress. Just, you know, it's

probably just in your head. And this is someone who is in perimenopause

or might be in the midst of it. And they're going, no, this is

real. This is, this is happening. Your

perspective on the why behind the clinical side of things, and I'm not

going to ask you to speak clinical, right? But, but the reason why you

wanted to offer women that option too. Yeah. So

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: I, at first I was convinced that I was not going to do medical.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: So I was like, this is going to be a wellness lifestyle community and we're

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: providing resources. And sure, we'll be partnering with

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: physicians and get people set up with, you know, with referrals and

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: different things. But I didn't want to go that down that route. But

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: I kept meeting physicians who had left the big healthcare

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: systems. Mm-hmm. And they're now on their own and they were

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: now entrepreneurs. So they were medical doctors for 20+ years,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: and then they're part of big healthcare systems taking care of patients.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: And then they leave the medical, the big

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: healthcare systems, and now they need to create a

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: business for themselves. So now they're, you know, they're marketing, they're

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: operations, they're finance, they're trying to do all these things and care for their

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: patients. And what their words, not mine, were, they would

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: say, you know, I'm not a business person. And I heard this

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: repeatedly from multiple physicians and other

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: practitioners as well. Mm-hmm. And, You know, just this whole

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: focus on community and being collaborative. I'm like, well, what if we

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: all collaborated? And so, you

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: know, part of this is I have the business operational

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: experience. Let me take some of that burden off of you so you

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: can do what your unique skill is. And your unique

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: skill is offering that care to women and, you know, lessening that

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: burden for these individual. Mm-hmm. physicians who were trying to do everything

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: on their own. And so, um, I have currently with

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: the clinic, we have 2 physicians. We also have a mental health therapist and a

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: nutritionist. And so all of the women had their own

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: businesses and were doing their own thing, a lot of them virtually. And so

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: by creating an actual in-real-life, uh, clinic,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: they can now offer their services in person. And so, uh,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: they all work for Alavida, and I was able to help with all of the

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: backend setup and do all the marketing. And for me, it truly

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: becomes an integrated solution for women across wellness,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: lifestyle, and medical, but they're not combined. So, the

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: other piece of this, when I was researching social wellness clubs, is there's a

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: lot of social wellness clubs on the East and West Coast right now. Mm-hmm. And,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: um, I said there's, there's 2, 2 different models. Um, one is a coworking

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: plus model. Um, there's a beautiful club that just opened in Austin,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: um, where it looks like a coworking company with the

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: coworking space, offices, meeting rooms, all of that. And then they're adding on

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: wellness services. So they added on a gym and they added on sauna. Mm-hmm.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: Um, lovely. It looks, it looks beautiful. The other, the other

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: business model I've seen in the social wellness space is more of

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: an all-inclusive where they include the medical

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: piece within the wellness. So a lot in New York right now, you go to

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: a club, then you get So many doctor visits, you get the I, you know,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: you can do IV and you can do all the gym stuff and the chambers

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: and all the, those are several thousand dollars

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: just initiation fee plus hundreds if not thousands of dollars a month.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: So that does not fit with the Midwest

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: at this point. And I, and I didn't want to make it a combined solution

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: like that. So combine separating them on

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: purpose at the beginning, not wanting to do any medical in

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: the space with the club to keep membership affordable and approachable was

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: my, one of my main missions. But after talking to physicians

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: and hearing their stories, not only did they tell me, you

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: know, they have to learn all these things and learn social media, it's lonely.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: They also wanted to be part of a community. So it's interesting how

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: that thread has now carried through to not only the

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: members of the club, but also when we're building out the clinic,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: how the practitioners and the physicians are now able to collaborate.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: And we're doing events together, and we're doing, you know, holding

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: informational sessions. And so now they feel like they're part of a community

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: where before they were doing their own businesses, all virtual,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: kind of all by themselves. And now they get to be part of a community

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: as well. So healthy for them as well. For them as well. And, you know,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: it's, it's great, that mix of me being a

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: non-physician and then the physician perspective,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: because when I looked at it, I said, I know a lot of private

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: pay practices right now are moving towards a membership model

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: and moving towards this concierge medicine, which I think there's a place for that.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: But what we see with women is they already have a

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: primary care physician, they already have an OB-GYN, typically they have

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: insurance, we don't want them to abandon their insurance, we want to help them with

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: all of these nagging issues, the issues that are commonly dismissed in

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: the kind of healthcare system. Yeah. And I do

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: try to always blame the system and not the doctors because really the system is

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: set up for volume and it's set up for 10 to 15 minute appointments.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: And as a woman, you cannot get all of your symptoms out

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: of your mouth in that amount of time and have a productive

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: conversation. So what we're doing is we're keeping the membership

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: with the Social Wellness Club where you practice your wellness. You, you're doing all

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: of your wellness things weekly, monthly, all of that. And then with

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: the medical side of the business, I really wanted to give women

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: an opportunity to kind of be the CEO of their

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: health. That's what I always like talk about. Mm-hmm. Because I want, when women come

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: to us, I want them to be able to meet with the physician, but then

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: because we have the mental health therapist and the nutritionist as well, they can

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: decide what they wanna do. So, They can meet with the physician. And then let's

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: say they need a little bit of extra help with the nutrition, they can add

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: that on, but it's not all-inclusive. So you're not paying this huge

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: astronomical fee to get all of these pieces. It's all about

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: what— meeting that woman where she is and giving her

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: the tools to help her through any sort of life transition.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: The other thing that was really important for me as we were building this

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: out is Right now there's such a focus on midlife women, which is

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: amazing and I love it. I do think that younger

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: women need help as well with their hormones. They don't even know

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: kind of what they should be expecting for a period, or if they're

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: having issues, sometimes they don't even know it's hormonal. So we want to

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: act— we want to help anyone from late teens all the way up through

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: post-menopause is our— is who we're looking at helping.

Looking at So it's so interesting, um,

as an aside, you know, from a— and I don't think it's

specifically a male issue. I think it's addressing, again, the system.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: Mm-hmm. Um, I know that for me, I had a

specific issue, uh, with autoimmune and,

um, it took me almost 4 years to find a physician

that would slow down enough be

curious enough to dig into it.

And actually, in all— and just for the purposes of the record,

actually, my primary care, who was limited, he's not

a specialist, right? But his— he had curiosity.

And he would kind of say, hey, maybe you should look at finding, right? So

then I'm on my own to go find. And up until that 4-year

period, Right? I mean, I hadn't found one. And it's interesting

is that he happened to run the

specialty for this large hospital system, but

he left. And one of the reasons he left was because

the system. So he went to a smaller practice

where he pretty much is the guy as it comes to this specialty.

And he has the kind of personality that I'll

spend as much time as I want. Yeah. Type thing. And, and I, and I

wanna be fair, Jessica, I know some people maybe don't

have my dogged, I'm gonna figure this out

mentality. Right. But it goes to,

and it's painful to say, is that a system where you've gotta push

really, really hard and advocate really, really hard to get

to something that we might say is even close to an answer.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: Right. So again, applause for that, because I think

what I imagine is someone, in this case, a woman walking into a

place where she's going to be heard and potentially understood.

And to me, that's a big part of the process of

healing and getting answers. Right. So

in that same spirit, because you're a woman

and you you've had your experiences in the healthcare system.

Take your thoughts about it and the thoughts of maybe women you've talked

to in the world in which you run. What would you say they want

from the hospital? Not the hospital, but the system.

If they, if you could say, here are 3 things they would say, I would

want them to this, I would want them that. How would you answer that? Yeah,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: I think, I think you were alluding to it is They

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: want to be acknowledged that their symptoms

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: are real. Mm-hmm. So, and in order to do that,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: they have to be listened to. And I think they want to

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: feel that they are being cared for.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: So in a very— and not that the system doesn't have doctors

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: who can care for them, but I, again, I think it's the way that

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: we're set up and the time blocks that they're— the doctors are

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: given. And if you think about if a doctor's at a hospital for a

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: 10-hour shift, how many patients they're actually seeing

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: in that amount of time. So again, I, I think it's all about

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: providing that time for

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: women to actually tell their stories and then

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: listening and acknowledging, and so that they feel like they've been

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: heard. Mm-hmm. And then for us, you know, we are very

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: small, but you use the word advocate and we're

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: also able to advocate for women. So even if it's

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: something that it doesn't fall, um, kind of in

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: our care plans or something that we can do, we're gonna be able to help

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: women through, navigate through that as well. And just,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: just to be an extra kind of advocate for them

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: to encourage them to go out and seek and seek more. answers.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: Most of the women who are coming to us are looking for just

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: all of those nagging issues. So most of, most of what they're

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: looking to get help with, we can handle. But I did like your word

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: advocate, because that's another core value of ours is to be an

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: advocate for women and to— Yeah, because I gotta— I gotta tell

you, again, I'm, I'm blessed in the sense

of my relationship with my wife. And my own

drive, right? I can take it when a doctor is

dismissive, 'cause I know how to fire right back. But there's some people,

maybe a number of people who, well, the doctor said, so

therefore I should just be quiet and do what I'm told.

I kind of feel like, man, wouldn't it be great? And it is great,

'cause you're in this world now, you're part of the system,

I don't wanna say it that way cuz you're, you're in the system, but not

of it. Building a new, a new system. Yeah. There you go. That, I like

that. That's much better. Right. So I can imagine

that in your case, that woman going,

I felt like I wasn't heard there. It seemed like they were just ready to

move on to the next patient. I'm gonna talk to Jessica

at Alavida or Susan or Robert, and I'm gonna ask, I'm gonna say,

hey, I just wanted to bounce something off of you. I was in, I had

the visit. It was like, I felt like I was in the grocery store line.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: Right. Maybe somebody from your world's gonna say, well,

what did you talk about? I'm sorry that happened to you. Right. And

maybe just by the fact that you said, I'm sorry that happened to you, she

goes, I'm heard, I'm understood.

And you might not— Olivita may not be able to point her into the

right doctor or the right clinic or whatever. But the fact that

I was heard, I was, yep. You know? Yeah. And that's, and that's what,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: you know, women, women crave that. We want that. We want that in our relationships.

Yes. You know? Right. So why wouldn't we want that with, you

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: know, our physician that we're sharing a lot of really personal

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: details with? And I think that's another piece of this is a lot of times

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: women will go to the doctor with a list

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: of questions. And there's, there's a timing constraint, but

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: there's also a very transactional feel when you're in that

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: space. And so, you know, that was another thing that we thought a lot about

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: as we were designing the clinic and setting it up. We have rooms

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: that, yes, we do exams. We also have rooms that it's just

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: chairs. We're just sitting there. We're just having a conversation with you. So

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: the way that we work is everything is automated in the the

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: front end so that the physician can actually review the intake form

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: prior to your visit. So when you have your visit, you're having a conversation

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: just like we are here. Yeah. And it's not, you know, this like

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: filling in the chart as you go and all of that. You're really having a

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: conversation with a physician who's listening to you,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: acknowledging you, you know, telling you they're sorry that this has happened and

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: that you're really being heard. And then creating that care plan,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: or offering other services or advocating in different ways. So

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: I think there's a uniqueness

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: there in that we're not looking to be concierge

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: medicine, because when you're doing concierge medicine, you're kind of saying, oh,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: I'll take everything away from your insurance. I'll be your

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: new primary care physician, all of that. We're not saying that. We're saying,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: Keep your insurance, keep your primary care, keep your sick care. We want you to

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: have that insurance, you know, if you break a leg or, you know, you have

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: strep throat, right? Right. We really want to be there to listen

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: to the women and to help them navigate these different transitions in

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: life and really get them to feel their best, not just,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: here's some medication, hope this works for you. Really work together. You know what's amazing

to me? And this correlation

If you said, okay, healthcare system, you're going to be a business

for profit, right? You would say, okay, we need to know

who our customer is. What do they

want? Right? And then we build a product or a service

to meet what they want. That doesn't describe— No. Where we're at, because

the things that you just said that women want, they're not getting. Right.

So why is that? And then that's what leads me to when the

company's missions start to, it starts to

divert from who it was intended to serve.

Right. Right. And

I just gotta, you know, I know easy for me to say I'm not

on Wall Street. I'm not, you know, I, I haven't run a publicly traded

company, all that stuff. But

you, we talk a lot about how we want to be,

um, that if we as a culture, as a society are healthier,

right? Our lifestyle, right? We, we're making better choices. We're

exercising, getting sleep. We talk about that so much

as a way to prevent the major stuff. Mm-hmm.

Yet we don't have a system that supports that. Exactly.

That's so incongruent. Right. Right. Because if

those things that I just rattled off are going to increase the chances that I'm

not gonna have the cancer diagnosis, the

whatever the case may be, wouldn't you create a

system that supports that?

I have some thoughts about why that isn't, but that's for another show maybe. Yeah.

Yeah. That's, that's a big question right there. Yeah. Right. That's a But

I love how you're set up because you

mentioned a new system. And I don't know if the

women that are coming to your, the 2

places recognize it. Maybe some of them have thought about it, but

in many ways you're setting them up to not have to be

in that system. Right. And I've said this to family and friends

and Even further out, I would do

everything you can to be as healthy as possible

so that you do not have to go into that system.

My son was in a very, very serious auto accident in

2024. 35 surgeries

type stuff, right? And it was, as a parent, it was horrible.

But we were in that.

System. And certainly accidents happen. It's the way it is. You

mentioned, hey, you break your leg, you got to.

But lifestyle is a different story.

And on that note, I want to talk a bit about lifestyle for a second.

So I was curious. I had a doctor that

had a specialty in hepatology, and then I had a doctor who

was involved in sleep, whatever that

discipline is called. And we were in a

social environment. It was casual type thing. And I asked him, I said,

what percentage of the problems that you see can be directly

attributed to lifestyle? 90%

from both of them. Now, observational data, I know,

right? It's not— no, that's right. But I thought it

was interesting, and I think many of us would say,

yeah, I get that. Because if we choose not to get the proper amount of

sleep, if we choose not to eat the right types of

foods, and on and on, it's going to have some

impact. So when—

and maybe it's too early, but maybe just observational from you—

how is lifestyle contributing to the shape of women

today? Well, I,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: I think as you were talking and we were thinking lifestyle, I

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: think from a woman's perspective, a lot of times

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: we're— we are so stressed or we are,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: you know, sleep deprived, and it all feeds

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: into making good choices from a nutrition perspective.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: to being active, because to, to, you know, then

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: all of a sudden, because you, you weren't active and you didn't make good

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: choices, then you're stressed again. And so I always think about it as

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: it's like all related and it's, it's a cycle. And so you have

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: to, you have to break that cycle. Can I interrupt you? Sure, sure. You mentioned

about sleep deprivation, right? And it just occurred to me,

if I'm sleep deprived, It's going to impact my decision-making,

which means if I need to make the best choice for eating that

morning after, I'm probably just going to grab whatever. And

someone could say all day long, no, no, no, no, don't eat that cereal. You

know that it's not good for you. You've got to make good choices. But this

person is sleep deprived. They're sleep deprived. I mean, it just— Yeah,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: it's difficult to make choices. But also,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: I'm not gonna get too medical here because that's not my specialty, but I

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: also know that it increases your hunger hormones as well.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: So your lack of sleep increases your hunger hormones. Wow. So

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: you have, you know, you have all of these things working against you. And I,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: I think that you do need to break that pattern and

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: take kind of that pause and rest. I believe in

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: that 100% and kind of that reset and resetting, resetting the nervous

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: system. Mm-hmm. And we'll have a lot of those types of

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: practitioners in the space as well at the

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: club. But then I think it's all about like

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: being prepared early. So what I mean by that is,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: you know, there are times in your life, I'm thinking when I had my babies,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: where you are gonna be sleep deprived and you can try all you

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: want, but your baby's waking you up in the middle of the night, right? You

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: can't tell that baby no. Mm-hmm. So I think that a lot of times

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: it is about building habits and building small

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: habits and knowing that, you know, again, there,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: there are times where you might be, you might've just had

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: a baby and what health and wellness looks like for you

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: in that moment might not be what health and wellness looks like for you

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: 10 years later where your kids are now in school all day. So, Yeah. A

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: lot of it is, I, I believe in the nervous, nervous system reset. I

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: believe in giving yourself some grace. But I also believe on like habit stacking.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: So there needs to be some action, but it's a lot for women to

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: handle all of this. So what we look at in both the

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: clinic and the club is just meeting women where they are and

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: understanding where they are in the life cycle. This is so

mind-blowing for me. It's like, I gotta remember I'm the host

because I'm thinking, Jessica,

Could it be that— I mean, you tell me. I mean, because

do you work— would you work on sleep first before the other

sort of pillars, if you will? Because it seems to me that you could

give somebody a great workout plan and a great diet plan.

And then, oh, by the way, you need to get your 8 hours of sleep.

But if that sleep thing isn't happening, right, it seems like

it's going to conspire to mess with the other.

Am I, am I tracking? No, you know, absolutely right. And our physicians at the

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: clinic, we will talk about sleep first. And so if women come in and they

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: are, you know, they're, they're talking about all of their symptoms, um,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: our physicians will say, well, but how's your sleep? Let's work on that

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: first before you're trying to lose weight and do all these things and run the

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: marathon. And I feel so embarrassed now

Because I'm thinking about my wife, you know, the morning

conversation. How did you sleep? Right. And

I remember the times when she would say things like, I

just couldn't stop my mind from going. Or in the case of

menopause, mm-hmm. I'm waking up and I'm, I'm drenched.

And it was kind of, it, you know, I felt the empathy of, I'm sorry

that happened, but I didn't think of it as, that's a big deal. And as

you just described it, I'm going, oh my gosh, it was a big deal.

So for the audience, I am, when I go home,

I'm going to tell my wife, I'm sorry that I maybe

didn't know, because I didn't know. I, I, it just didn't occur

to me, but now I know. And now I'm going to tell her. So

I'm sorry, Brett. I am the host of the Spirit of EQ podcast.

Am I not? This is so great, Jessica. It

just— I'm sorry, it just dawned on me. Like, wow, when I'm going back

in time, I'm going, I remember her saying those things. I'm going, oh my

gosh, that, that was a conspirator.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: Yeah, well, I think what you're pointing out is really important too. And it's really

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: having your partner support through all of these different changes. I

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: think everything from, you know, having children

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: and kind of what happens there with your hormones and your sleep deprivation and

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: how you're making decisions and all of the newness that comes with that

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: time of your life. And then through perimenopause and menopause as well,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: because we really, as women, it's, it's a huge

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: change with our sleeping habits, but also with our mood and how

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: we're just seeing the world. And so, you know, having

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: a partner and men being able to understand kind of

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: what women are going through, I think it just creates a much stronger front. Well,

and I think if you're a man out there listening to this show, And maybe

you're younger than me and haven't experienced the— but now is your

awakening. Now is your awakening. Regardless of where your

wife or your significant other, your partner is, you can

get yourself prepared and kind of gird yourself up to

be that encourager that, okay, this is big. Let me

slow down here. This is not something to just, I'm sorry, and then you

move on. That's my hope. And I would

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: love for men to ask, how can I help? Right? I know you guys are

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: fixers and you wanna give us an answer, which is lovely. I love that. But

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: maybe ask us, how can I help? How can I help? I

love that. Jessica, this is the, uh, curse of having

a great guest. We run outta time. I, I, but I do, I'm gonna, I

wanna make sure I get to this. Tell our audience what's got you

really psyched right in the current. I mean, I know, Opening the club, opening the

clinic and all that is part of it, but what else would you want them

to know that's exciting for you? Wow,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: that's a big question. I think that I'm

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: really excited to bring a true

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: integrated solution to women's health where we look at wellness and

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: lifestyle and medical combined and creating

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: that overlap of the two and getting the resources set up.

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: And hopefully this will be something that we'll see popping up in other

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: cities and that we'll have more resources going

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: forward. But I think that it's never just one

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: thing. It's never just lifestyle. It's never just the medical side. It

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: really has to be a multiple-prong approach. And so I'm

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: excited and thrilled that we are, you know,

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: we're seeing more of the private pay. models coming

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: to different areas, and I'm just really looking forward to see what comes next for

Jessica Gesue MBA, NBC-HWC: us in the healthcare. That's awesome. I am too. I'm out here on the

sidelines, but I'll be cheering. All right. Good. So with

that, uh, thank you so much for coming on. Really appreciate it. Enjoyed it.

Enjoyed it. For our audience, as always, we're glad that you tuned in and we

look forward to the next time that we're together. Take care.