Meet Elizabeth: Immerse in Health
Elizabeth is incredibly transparent about all of the ups and downs of her entrepreneurial journey. There are truly so many relatable stories and lessons that we can gather from her experience, and I am grateful she shared them with us! Not to mention, she is also a Founding Member with The Everyday Series! Enjoy all the twists and turns of her story below but most importantly, the peace she is found by being okay with exactly where she is at in her startup success with Immerse in Health!
Tell us about who you are and your journey to where you are now!
Going back to my childhood, I was a heavyset kid. I got bullied in grade school for being overweight and as a result not only turned anorexic in high school but ultimately turned to partying in my 20's to try and cover up that hurt. There was a lack of self acceptance at that point. Skip ahead a few years when I was 29 when I met my husband (online of course) - there was a 7 year age difference but that didn’t matter! We got engaged within two months and married three years later! We found each other at the right time- we needed each other, and I came to accept myself more.
Our relationship helped me to understand how health and wellness could be a regular aspect of our lives. Many of our family members have such debilitating diseases- this is what sparked a new desire for the both of us to make changes to our health and wellness habits and lifting weights became a huge part of that.
I have been on this health and wellness journey for six or seven years now. Working in corporate America and the apparel industry where I got my degree made it so challenging to be healthy with working 60 or 70 hours a week. It made me think of what’s really important in life. So I stepped back- I got out of corporate for a little bit, and tried to do a little bit more on my own with health and wellness.
Now, health and wellness is at the forefront of my husband and I’s life. When I witness others doing something harmful to their bodies, I get really emotional about it. I want them to understand what I went through so that I can share my story not only through the lens of health and wellness but also from the lens of the holistic person.
I discovered Meditation as a way to connect every aspect of us as a holistic being. We have to understand the mind body connection which is where I’ve done most of my research. From this research, Immerse in Health was born to integrate technology with meditation- you can mediate anywhere you want in different parts of the world in the comfort of your bedroom. I want to bring this work to teenagers in particular because of the impact I know it would’ve made on my life had I had it when I was at that age.
2. What is the mission of your brand? How does it empower women?
The mission of my brand is to create a fulfilling life for everyone. I want to open up the mind to create your own life. And that’s not for everybody. As an entrepreneur, you have a lot more going on than most others in the workforce, and on top of that, as women in the workforce, we have even more that we are trying to prove. My mission is to help others understand that you can meditate to be centered and be fully alive/ in the flow. You can be all possibilities. I think for women, we need to understand that we need to have that positive self talk. In meditation, there's a lot of guidance around this to generate those positive self talk thoughts. To have that on a daily daily basis means we can start to thrive fully.
3. What is the biggest challenge you've had to press through as a female entrepreneur? What are the steps you've taken to overcome it?
The number one challenge is the unknown. The unknown of: what the hell am I doing? (Lol) When I'm going through this, I have completely no understanding of virtual reality, or the technology involved to create that within my business. When I started my business, I had no idea where to start. Even when you do the “how” you're going to mess up. It's just inevitable, because you're never going to have the perfect answer. You're never going to have the perfect product or service. You're just going to have to go through it and learn from it. So that's been my challenge. Because a lot of times even knowing that, there has been some of the fear that keeps me back. I don't have a degree in this. I don't have specialty in app development. But the only thing that I do have is a mouth. I have a mouth, and I could reach out to people. That's what I think makes a good CEO or entrepreneur is utilizing people around you and bringing this to light.
I think what gets me up, day in and day out is my passion for it. Not going to lie, there are some days I'm just like, “Oh my God, this feels like work.” It's the time you put in but it's also understanding the power of saying no. So when you put a lot on your plate, you kind of have to step back. To anybody who is going through this: you're going 100 miles an hour, but then you think you have that little time. Yes, I could take that on. And then all of a sudden, that one thing ramps up a little bit more and now what you thought you could handle, you can't.
So then you get so overwhelmed. And you think, I have to take a step back. Figure out what is priority. And I literally learned how to do that last month. I had to take take a step back and think, you know what, listen to myself. I was focusing on the wrong thing. I was basically so overwhelmed, that I was not doing anything. I was on social media scrolling more and not able to focus. So sometimes you just need a break. I needed a mental break. It felt good, it was a wake up call on how much I was overwhelmed and how I was not doing the priorities that are needed to move the needle.
4. How do you collaborate with others working towards creating a better world?
I am always open to collaborating and am always prepared to bring my ideas to the table. I've already collaborated and still am with a neuroscientist. So collaborating with what he knows and with what I know puts the pieces together. That's why I made it so substantial with the neural feedback. Yes. This week, I'm actually jumping on a call with a creative director in the VR world. My board advisor connected me with her because she's working with her. So I'm hoping to collaborate with her about her expertise and get the creative part of the stories. The journey of the vision through the drive, I can only understand so much. Especially with this new technology. I know there's a lot of possibilities. But I don't know what I don't know. So that's why I reached out to people who are professionals in their field. I'm hoping that the team that I want to create, (the ultimate team), not only will collaborate and give me their ideas or talk me through, but also be as passionate as I am about it. Because that's what I want too- a team who wants to work through something to better an idea!
5. What sets your brand apart from others?
I think first and foremost is that IIH is woman owned in a male dominated industry (Virtual Reality/gaming), there are more women coming into this industry now but it is still seen as male dominated. IIH is service based with an emphasis on the ultimate experience through a journey. Dysregulated teens and kids need to feel safe and understood in a world where there is a lot of uneasiness. Immerse In Health goes far beyond the health and into the soul. We are the first to implement in schools setting the path to empowering future thought leaders to use their full potential in mind, body and spirit!
6. What advice would you give to a female entrepreneur in the beginning stages of launching her brand or business?
The best advice I could give is to keep going- To keep going even when we hit a lot of walls. There's a lot of times I can count that I've taken steps back. But it's only because I changed direction. It's only because things got better. The image that comes to mind is miners- They keep going until they reach that diamond. Know what's at the other end, and if it works out, awesome. If it doesn't, fine. Then you know at least you gave it your all!