Pursuit of Wellness - Mari & Greg on IVF, Imposter Syndrome & Building a Brand Together

Episode Date: March 24, 2025

Ep. 185: It’s a big moment for Bloom, so Greg and I are sharing the behind-the-scenes story of Bloom Pop—our brand-new soda! From unveiling it at Expo West to the inspiration behind our favorite flavor (hi, Shirley Temple!), we’re breaking down what this moment means to us as partners in business and life. We also answer your Qs about burnout, imposter syndrome, and how I’m navigating IVF while slowing down professionally. This one’s part business update, part life chat, and part real talk about shifting priorities and staying grounded through change. If you’ve ever chased a big dream while juggling real life—this one’s for you. Leave Me a Message - click here! For Mari’s Instagram click here! For Pursuit of Wellness Podcast’s Instagram click here! For Mari’s Newsletter click here! For Greg’s Instagram click here! Sponsored By: Experience radiant skin with BON CHARGE’s Red Light Face Mask. Save 15% at boncharge.com with code PURSUIT. Control body odor anywhere with @lumedeodorant—the #1 whole body deodorant. Get 15% off with code PURSUIT at LumeDeodorant.com! #lumepod Check out SKIMS best intimates including the Fits Everybody Collection & more at skims.com/pow #skimspartner  Show Links: Bloom Sparkling Energy is our clean, better-for-you energy drink—zero sugar, natural caffeine, prebiotics & lychee for focus without the crash. Get delicious gut health in a scoop with Bloom Greens, packed with 30+ superfoods to support digestion, reduce bloat & boost energy. Support gut health, immunity & glowing skin with Bloom Colostrum—our 3-in-1 blend of colostrum, collagen peptides & probiotics. Topics Discussed 00:00:09 Welcome 00:00:31 Expo West 00:02:20 Bloom Pop 00:05:43 Too many prebiotic sodas? 00:10:04 Middle and high schoolers drinking Bloom energy drinks 00:11:34 Dessert for breakfast in Gloucester 00:16:18 Struggling with new phase in life  00:21:16 Boundaries with emails and texts 00:24:22 Imposter syndrome 00:29:38 Relocating for partner 00:31:56 Social media approach in today’s landscape 00:35:09 Best exercise routine recommendation 00:36:27 Navigating marriage with busy lifestyles

This is the Pursuit of Wellness podcast and I'm your host, Mari Llewellyn. Cheers. Hello. Hey, how are you? Good. It's Monday. You'll be happy. I was just going over my next two, three months. I have very little travel. Really? As of right now, who knows? I mean, you kind of can't. I'm trying to get people to come here. Yeah, I think that makes sense. What, you just going over travel in general or like work? Work travel. So you just got back from LA for Expo West. Anaheim.

Okay, Anaheim. Orange County maybe, yes. I think it's an Orange County. Can you explain to everyone, you know, what Expo West is and like why it's such a big deal? People have maybe heard of it. It's big. It's called Natural Foods Expo West. West just referring to West Coast is also one on the East Coast once a year. Yeah, it's once a year. It's in March. It's in Anaheim, California across the street from Disney World. I always mess this up as Disney World and Disneyland. You're asking the wrong person. I'm not a

Disney girl. It is a place to debut your new product innovation or new brand innovation, depending on what stage your business is at, to generally the retailers of the world. So Amazon's there, Costco's there, Target's there, and you have the chance to not only debut to those buyers, the people who make the decision to bring you into the store, but also to just the general public of our industry. And there's probably a good 100,000 plus people that are there and you can get real time. I mean, for context, we've had this brand for six years.

We've never debuted a product in any type of real life scenario. We have only debuted our hundreds of products in our living room, in our office. Well, online. Yeah, yeah, digitally, right? So it's always just been like Mari and I in a room and like the only real hype you see

is like Instagram comments. Yeah. So Mari was at home, I assume at her home and here in Austin and you launched it digitally. Yeah, cause I, guys, this is my first year not going to Expo West, which we can get into afterwards. But Greg was there physically.

I was there physically with that 70 of our team members, seven zeros a lot. We had a large booth. I don't even know if you call it a booth once it gets to like 40 feet by 40 feet. But we debuted our soda. And we're so excited to kind of take what is this? You know legacy category of sodas that we feel like are are the opposite of bringing wellness to y'all's stomachs And meeting like real soda meaning Coca-Cola Pepsi Mountain Dew, whatever it may be We're hoping to bring you a not only healthier better for you alternative, but but quite literally a good for you product, which will be releasing this July.

Yeah. And for context, Greg literally like pulled a curtain off the wall. Like it was a very dramatic unveiling. It was really fun to watch from afar. I was obviously so sad I couldn't be there for this big moment, but it looked incredible. And this product I mentioned in my previous episode, I think will be my favorite because I was saying how much I love the flavors of the energy drinks and I wish I could drink three a day, but I can't, because I can't handle that much caffeine. But with the sodas,

I can have multiple a day. They're fun little treats. The Shirley Temple seemed to make the biggest wave at the expo. And it's also my favorite. It tastes like a Shirley Temple. It's so good. I mean, guys, just for like some context on how natural and awesome this product is. The Shirley Temple, which for people who do not grow up in America, such as the woman to my left, Shirley Temple is sprite with cherry syrup, and 12 year olds order it at restaurants. I actually didn't know it was Sprite.

It's like a lemon lime soda and grenadine cherry syrup, and it comes with some maracino cherries, which are the most delicious syrup filled, potentially have some sort of cherry actually in there, but they're normally three years old. What's cool is our product is so natural that we didn't even know if we'd be able to launch it this July but they're normally three years old. The cherry crop was so crucial to us actually being able to make the millions of cans that we need to make that we didn't know if we'd be able to make enough. Yep. No preservatives. No preservatives. It's pasteurized. So the can just goes through like a hot tunnel.

And so there's no preservatives in it. I mean, this type of conversation that we're having right now, they've never had that conversation in Coca-Cola's boardroom. Yeah. Apple cider vinegar. It's a gorgeous ingredient panel that I'm a big fan of. And you guys are going to be obsessed. I mean, what's sad is we've just announced it and it doesn't come out till June or July, which sucks, but you guys are going to freak out. Yeah. And we haven't announced this yet, but what's cool and I think potentially the most special that we're able to do with our careers and bring to you guys is that it's coming to Walmart, right? So we're taking this product that is truly good for you and making it as accessible as possible

to anyone in the United States, especially a place where, of course, there's a ton of unhealthy product consumption. There's 5,000 Walmarts in every city in the country, and we are bringing this truly healthy soda alternative to their doors. I would say Walmart's the most accessible store in the country. There's the most of them. Yeah. I mean, unless's the most accessible store in the country.

There's the most of them. I mean, unless you were going to talk about like 7-elevens, right? I think there's like 20,000 7-elevens. Or there's a store called Dollar General. I think there's like 20,000 of those. But in terms of like big box retailers where Bloom is pretty prevalent, I mean, there's more than twice as many Walmarts as there are Targets. What would you say to people who are like, oh my God, there's enough prebiotic sodas,

like enough with the sodas? Yeah. I mean, I think I would respond to them in a more general statement, which is just speaking from our perspective, there are 50 other greens powders, there are 1000 other energy drinks. I hate to break it to you, Mari, maybe you don't know this, but there's a hundred thousand other podcasts. And I think for somebody to not do something because somebody has done it before, especially if you think that you could do it better, which we know that we can, that's so disappointing.

And if nobody did an alternate version or a better version or the same version, if you want, of something that's already on the market, then you're never gonna be able to release everything. Anything. Any, everything's already been made before. And I hope that anyone out there who wants to start their own venture or, or partner on a new venture, if their biggest concern is this has been done before.

That's not a concern. Erase it from the whiteboard. Just do it better. Do it your way. Bring it in, bring a new story to it. And I think launching this soda has me really reflecting on our journey as entrepreneurs. And it's just so crazy. Like it feels like yesterday that we were like in my dad's kitchen, sampling pre-workouts.

And I was like, this is crazy. It's never going to work. How are we going to do this? Or like coming up with the name of it in the car and Boulder and like sketching the logo. Like it really, it was just a crazy idea that we were like, why not? Like, let's just give it a go. And now we're launching a fricking prebiotic soda at Expo West.

We have the biggest booth. It's like insane to see how excited people get. And our PR news got leaked early because someone like crazy, someone found out early and then put it in the news. And I was like, the fact that people are even talking about us, about our brand is insane. Like I, I feel like we have a child, like Bloom is my child and it's out in the world, like just making noise and it's crazy. Like I feel like Expo West is like our child's biggest recital. Like it's, it's just a funnyital. It just has me reflecting. I think my biggest thing is if you have a crazy idea and you feel really driven

and passionate to do it, just fricking do it. Like, yeah, just chip away at it. Like there were so many moments where I was like, Oh my gosh, are we going to make it out of this alive? Like, is this really going to be a thing? Yeah. Two things. One, Mari posted on her Instagram, your, your collaboration with Shopify. I did a partnership with Shopify. Which, partnership aside, this was one of the coolest pieces of content that I've seen, maybe I'm biased here.

But your A to Z in 30 seconds of us making bloom. When I got the opportunity to partner with Shopify, this is not a sponsored episode by any means. But I was so excited because genuinely it was a platform that changed our lives and it's how we grew our business. So I took the opportunity as like, yeah, I want to put together a montage. And going through all those videos, I think like reminded me of those days of like, you know, sitting there watching people on the website, like us in our apartment in Brooklyn or us in Colorado launching the brand, like how young we look and how we had no idea what we were doing, but we figured it out. Like the light box, the camera, like it's just so funny. And I, when people are like, how

do you start a business or they're excited? It just, it makes me excited for other people. What's proprietary about what you're doing. That's all you need to bring to the category. So we made a healthier version of an energy drink in a category where there's hundreds of other energy drinks. And everyone said the same crap when we launched this energy drink, which is, there's already so many other energy drinks, you can't do something unique. This is unique. And there's already a billion people a day drinking an energy drink.

And we wanted to make a better version of it. And we did. And clearly it worked. So please do not ever stop yourself from a venture because you feel like quote, it's been done before. Yeah. And not many people say, said that that was just like the only negative feedback I saw about our launch. It was like a couple people. The other thing I was going to say is with bloom, I feel like Greg and I always envisioned bloom as like a platform brand. Like it was never like, we're going to be a greens company. We're going to be a pre-workout company.

It was like, we want to be a family name. Like we want to have products for everyone. Like if you don't like caffeine, then we have a soda. If you don't like greens, we have a claustro. Like there's something for everyone. And we just have this bigger vision for Bloom. I just feel like it's meant to be this platform name. But I recently found out and I just

thought this was very funny and they would like to hear it, that we have become like middle school and high schoolers like favorite beverage, which I don't know if that's like, like should 13 year olds be drinking energy drinks? I did. Yeah, I think a lot of them drink. Check with your doctor, but I did. Check with your doctor, but like a lot of my mom friends have been like, my kids are obsessed with bloom. Everyone has a bloom on their desk. So the soda is like good timing. What did you drink in high school? Dunking donuts with milk and sugar. Ice coffee? Yeah. At the end, like, because the, I realized everyone thought it was cool. I did not like how it tastes and I did it anyway, because I was like, everyone thinks this is cool

That's hilarious. Do you remember the iced coffee you were drinking college? Do you remember what I was from Little Miss Sunshine? That was the movie happy sunshine So we had we had food trucks from school in Philadelphia. So Mario and I lived in Philadelphia for five years I would get sugar in it. No, there wasn't an option. It came out of like, you know a keg and it was Sweetest whitest coffee because it was probably you know, a keg and it was the sweetest, whitest coffee because it was probably 90% milk or whatever it was. And it was, it was a lot. They had the best egg sandwiches. I feel like I would get a buttered bagel. That's something you would order. And do you know what else I would get? I remembered that Starbucks in the LeBeau

building. That was new. Yeah, that was new. Yeah. Frappuccino, like the white bean frappuccino, cake pop or pound cake. You were heading the cake pops? Like in the morning. But like now that you know where I'm from, like you've been to Gloucestershire

and you've seen the cake shops. Okay, this is something that needs to be spoken about. In the UK, it's normal to have a slice of cake for breakfast. The most stable, consistent home that Mari's- Stable? Not stable, meaning like they haven't moved. Like granny has lived in Gloucestershire. Sorry, consistent. Gloucestershire UK. Gloucestershire. Gloucestershire UK. There is probably on every block four cafes that if you were just an American walking in, you would think is this also a bakery? And everyone is eating like a slice of cake with their coffee or tea in the morning.

Like Granny's Town is just cake shops and coffee shops and book shops. I just have never seen anything like it. It's a big part of the culture. I get the sausage roll though. Oh, I mean, you know I'm a sausage roll girl. I'm a savory guy. I'm same. I'm a big savory girl, but for some reason in college, I just look back on my decisions and I'm like, what the frick was I doing?

Like a morning cake pop and a frappuccino. No wonder I felt like shit. Breakfast of champions. But yeah, happy sunshine. I really wonder if it still exists at Drexel. If you go to Drexel, please DM me and tell me if happy sunshine is still there. You guys know by now I am obsessed with red light therapy. I think it's so beneficial, not just for aesthetics like scarring and acne, but I've even been using it on my body for egg quality and inflammation. Such an amazing tool and I personally love Bond Charge.

Bond Charge's mission is clear to empower individuals to live a more fulfilling life through science-backed beauty and wellness products. It can be really hard to find time to do all of these wellness habits at home. But what I love about Bond Charge's red light face mask is that it's super easy to incorporate in my routine. You can wear it while you're cooking, meditating, reading a book, making the bed, whatever it may be. You just do it for 10 minutes a day and you are on your way to clearer, firmer, and more

radiant skin. It's a go-to skincare device for me to feel refreshed, confident, without costly spa visits. So I think it's really worth the investment to have one of these at home. I've noticed my skin looks so much better. I had acne for 10 years and this has really helped me with my scarring. Plus it's helping me feel like I'm glowing from within. It has made such a big difference with my skin and probably it's like my staple when it comes to skincare Really helps with redness scarring in general, etc Bon charge's red light devices promise a non-invasive approach that utilize specific wavelengths of red and near infrared light to penetrate skin

Offering a range of benefits that continue to garner attention from researchers and health professionals alike Go to bond charge comm and use coupon code PURSUIT to save 15%. That's B-O-N-C-H-A-R-G-E dot com and use coupon code PURSUIT to save 15%. The only downside with spring is that warmer weather plus more activity can be a recipe for feeling a lot less fresh a lot faster. And that's why I'm so happy to have started using Lume Whole Body Deodorant because unlike the other deodorants I've tried, it can actually handle anything. You can use it anywhere and it helps you stay fresh all day long.

I love that it's created by an OBGYN who saw firsthand how normal BO was being misdiagnosed and mistreated. It's clinically proven to block odor all day and control odor for up to 72 hours. They have a solid deodorant stick, a sweat-controlled deodorant and a spray deodorant. They have a brand new scent, vanilla bliss. It's gorgeous. And I love the fact that all the products are baking soda-free, paraben- free and pH balanced and safe to use below the waist so you really can use it anywhere. Pits, under boobs, thighs, belly buttons, butt cracks, volvers and feet. So you're covered head to toe. Lume's starter pack is perfect for new customers.

It comes with a solid stick deodorant, cream tube deodorant, two free products of your choice and free shipping. As a special offer for listeners, new customers get 15% off all Lumi products with our exclusive code and if you combine the 15% off with the already discounted starter pack that equals over 40% off their starter pack. Use code POW, P-O-W for 15% off your first purchase at lumideodron.com. That's code POW at L-U-M-E-D-E-O-D-O-R-A-N-T.com. Please support our show and tell them we sent you. Smell fresher, stay drier and boost your confidence head to toe with Lumi. You are very much in your grind era, right? You're the CEO of a company. Work is like a huge part of your identity. Like is like a huge part of your identity,

like accomplishment is a huge part of your identity. A year ago, that was also me, obsessed with work, didn't know who I was without it, my calendar was ding ding ding ding ding ding, like cortisol, fight or flight, masculine era, whatever you wanna call it. My life has like completely 180'd where I've like kind of been forced to stop.

And now I'm enjoying it and I feel like I needed it and I think I wouldn't be able to handle this IVF journey without stopping. But I have this, like I still have this underlying guilt of like, I should be working, I should be going 100%. Like I'm a very black and white person, it's either 110% or it's nothing. And I'm in this weird in between that I'm kind of like a

bit uncomfortable with. So I'm reading these comments of like, where are all the guests? Where are the experts? It's just solos right now. And I've told you I'm focusing on solos because it's difficult for me to prep for these experts and like give it my all right now because my mind is just not there. They'll be back in a couple weeks, few weeks, but right now I just can't. I used to be number one or two on the charts and now I'm not as much because I haven't been doing as many guest episodes. If things are just reflective of the time that I'm in, I kind of started to spiral this morning and I was like, oh my God, my hard work is slipping, like my accomplishment, like who I, just that feeling, or even me not going to Expo West,

like it is hard to say no and have boundaries. And I think it is, you know, tough on my brain. And I know I'm in a season of life where it's okay, and there's bigger, more important things. What do you think? I think that there's certain decisions that are obvious because there's this tangible risk.

So you go into expo with a hundred thousand people from around the world, you were going to get sick. We cannot get you sick right now. So it's like, that's obvious. Or like South by, like I had all these opportunities for South by that I said no to. I agree with what you're doing 100%. There just needs to be chapters. You can't be at a full sprint for a decade straight.

I know. You know, we meet so many people who, they did dedicate 100% of a 30-year sprint to one thing. In my experience, it's normally when I talk to entrepreneurs who are now like 50, and some of them are still fucking single, some of them are, you know, don't have the family, some of them, still fucking single. Some of them are, you know, don't have the family. Some of them, uh, you know, have to have a hundred percent of one thing,

but zero percent of another thing. So they're, they're, they're older and they don't have that, that balance of, uh, you know, fulfillment to reflect on. I guess this is why we're lucky. We have each other as well. Yeah. But I think, yeah, cause we can kind of tag team, but I think you need to look at your life in, in a multiple decade, but I think you need to look at your life in a multiple decade run.

And you're gonna look at this six month taking your foot off the gas of the career and going full throttle on family as, oh, that was an interesting blip. Right now it just feels like a ton of time. I know, but then I think for a woman it's hard because now I'm like, okay, fingers crossed, knock on wood. Hopefully I'm pregnant soon.

And then I'm gonna be having a baby. And it's like, how do you balance work and big? I'm also in a weird time with this transfer where I don't know dates of anything. So it's like, oh, are you available in April? Well, maybe. But if it didn't work, I'm doing it again. And if it did work, then I'm sick. Or how do I know when I'm going to feel good? Like, I just, I feel like I'm in a very uncertain time

where I've had to let go of control. I just wanna talk about it, because a lot of women can relate. And then I have friends who are like, oh, I really wanna have kids, but I'm so into my career and how do you do both? And it's just, for a woman, it's weird. Like, because it feels like,

and not everyone feels this way, but a lot of people feel like they're put on earth to have kids. Like, I feel like they're put on earth to have kids. Like I feel like it's a big part of my purpose, but then they also feel really driven to have fruitful careers and social lives and things like that. So it's like, how do you do it all? Yeah, I mean, obviously Bloom is 90% plus female team.

I don't know, I've thought about it too. Like it's definitely like just a, you have different outside variables that the male career does not need to quote deal with. No, literally your life just continues entering this phase of my life. I have like such a bigger appreciation. I used to hear women talk about it and I never really understood it,

but even just being at this point in my life, I'm like, just confused on how, how to handle everything. Well, you're obviously an entrepreneur and you don't have a legitimate maternity leave. just confused on how to handle everything. Well, you're obviously an entrepreneur and you don't have a legitimate maternity leave. Your output is day-to-day correlated to your return of work ethic or work effort. I would like to think that people that are employed by good businesses like Bloem feel supported in that journey. employed by good businesses like Bloem, feel supported in that journey.

Obviously you're employed by Bloem, but you operate a little differently. Nothing's clear cut. You don't have like this six months maturity leave or whatever it is, where you can just literally like not respond to emails for six months confidently. You know I don't look at my emails anymore. Well, you have a great team around you.

I know, I thank goodness I have such a great team. Also a lot of people reach out to your phone directly. It's just funny because I used to live in my emails. I used to respond to every email within 10 minutes. Yeah. I mean, that's a funny thing. I was just listening to this older entrepreneur or older CEO. He used to travel internationally for business and he would bring a stack of papers on the

plane to work on because there was no laptops, there was no cell phones. Even if you were hustle mode back in the day, at least you weren't getting like live time emails and texts constantly. Yeah. On a Saturday evening, on a Friday night, it almost becomes like this competition of if there's five people cc'd on an email,

who responds first? Yeah. Yeah, or if you're in a group chat, who reacts first, even if it's not even a productive message? I don't know. There's the barriers of work-life balance. I feel like COVID probably disrupted that quite a bit, even though it brought a lot

of people at work from home. Opportunities, I don't know. The modern-day workplace is pretty scary with all this. You can reach anyone at any time. It's so stressful, and I am so envious of people who are boundaried with their phone. It's a big goal of mine to get there because the last thing I want is to be on my phone a lot around our kids. I find that to be really bad. I do feel this sense of guilt and stress. If I look at my phone and I have tons of notifications I'm like, oh my god I need

to answer people immediately. If I don't answer immediately, I feel awful. Or I feel like I'm a bad person, like the guilt is overwhelming. You can't respond to everyone. I think people live in this dissociated state because they're walking around on their phone. I mean, you and I do it. We're not good at this. I think we need to get better. Walk around the house, glued on the phone,

doing things at the same time. Where if, when I put my phone down, like this weekend, when I put my phone down and I do the dishes and I make breakfast and I'm in my life, I feel so much happier. Yeah, I think there's also this element of like, if you're on your phone checking your emails and your text messages, refreshing things,

you like think you're being productive. Yeah. And so it gives you kind of like that dopamine hit of like, I'm doing things. It's reactionary. And it's like just clean out the fucking dishwasher. Like you don't need to be refreshing this live time every 15 minutes to see if anyone's reached out

or if anyone, you know, I don't imagine in your world if someone's commented or messaged you or, and it's like. I don't really do that with my comments. Sure, but someone in your position maybe. Something needs to change. Yeah, it's a lot. I feel like we all need a collective agreement that we are not blowing each other up or like expecting responses immediately.

That's what it would be. Right. It's totally fine for people to reach out 24 7. It's more so like, what's your relationship with that device? I know people who have like away messages. Have you ever received one of those? It's automated text message. a text message? Yes. That's crazy. I've seen multiple people like CEOs that have that.

Yeah. I respond right away. I know I'm really- Or I'm not responding. At some point you're going to have to figure out how to have a little more balance. Yeah. But we're just launching a soda. When we have a baby you have to fill that up. Yeah, of course. We're going to pull up some voice messages.

Hi Mari. I'm Irena from Italy. I love your podcast. I know you've suffered from the imposter syndrome, but I want to know if Greg has never had that. And if yes, how you and your husband deal with it. And thanks. Bye Mari, you're doing great and finger crossed for your IVF journey. Bye. So sweet. Thanks, Irina. Have you ever had imposter syndrome? I've probably expressed it on the podcast before, but I'm by far not an academic.

And a lot of people in my position that I do business with are like, finance whizzes, number whizzes, and have a very different but useful way of thinking about business. And so sometimes if I'm in a room with people like that, I'm very, I more so used to be very intimidated and felt like I couldn't hold my own.

And then there's different paths to the same destination now and you don't need to be one of those types of quote business people. But how do you deal with imposter syndrome when you have it? Like how do you build confidence before you walk into a room like that? First of all, it's always okay to answer a question

and say, I don't know, which I think in my youth I was very concerned about doing. You always try to like answer the question or maybe right now I should try to do that. But I think it's totally okay to not know something, have no experience doing something or to try something you've never done before. And no matter who you're in the room with, even if it's someone that to not know something, have no experience doing something or to try something you've never done before. And no matter who you're in the room with,

even if it's someone that you're asking, like join you on that journey, to admit what you don't know, but explain what you do know, then that's totally an okay answer. And I think people will appreciate the honesty and transparency. Yeah, and just respecting that there's different paths to the same destination.

And just because someone has a certain skill set that society recognizes as the correct skill set for doing something does not mean that your skill set is not potentially even better than that. Yeah, I feel like I've gotten really good at this because I used to have such horrible imposter syndrome that I started, I don't know what to call it. I need to come up with a name for it. For example, when I went to Harvard Business School, when I'm on a stage and in my head I'm like, wow, I would never get into a school like Harvard. I am not academic. I got bad grades, like why am I on this stage? I just like assume this role as if I'm an actress going into a movie

where I'm like, I am the Mari that they think I am. I have this amazing biz and I'm not bragging, I'm just like, this is what I have to tell myself in order to get on the stage. I have an amazing company, I've built a platform, I have a podcast, like you have to remind yourself of all the amazing things you've done and almost like, I pretend I'm in a movie and I'm someone else, really it's me.

Living my actual life, but for some reason, if I convince myself I'm an actress, it helps. And I kind of assume this role, if I go in a social situation where I'm nervous, I'm like, I am the most talkative social person in this room. I'm smiling, I'm asking questions, even if I'm like, I am the most talkative social person in this room. I'm smiling, I'm asking questions, even if I'm like, and maybe a little bit of it is fake it till you make it, but then it actually becomes who you are. And now I feel very comfortable in social settings because I know I have that ability

in me. I think the older you get and the more people you meet, the more you realize that everyone feels the same way. And a lot of times you walk in a room and you're like, oh my gosh, all these people, they know each other, they are super smart and knowledgeable and they've been here a thousand times and I'm the new one. Nope, most of the time everyone else is new too.

They're shy, they're embarrassed, they're insecure. Like you have to remind yourself that everyone's just a freaking human being and everyone's having their own experience and they're also worried about their own shit. Like they're not worried about you. So I think reminding yourself of that. If you know me, I avoid bras and underwear at all costs, but only because it's so uncomfortable. I've always disliked it until I found Skims.

I think we all know, love, and are obsessed with skims at this point. Literally just wore it the entire weekend I was at the wedding. I wore a lot of like see-through gowns and it was the perfect thing to put underneath. Coverage but still cute and sexy and I am obsessed with how comfortable skims are. I literally grab for them every single day. My drawer is filled with the best, most stretchy, amazing, supportive fabrics. They make me feel comfortable and confident all day long

under T-shirts, jeans, whatever it may be. I know everyone who's tried skims are obsessed. I personally wear the Everybody Triangle Bralette pretty much every day. I also have the sports bras that I love. It makes me feel super supported and cute and look so flattering under a t-shirt, but I literally can't even tell that I'm wearing a bra.

You don't have that same feeling of like, oh my gosh, I can't wait to get this off. It's digging into me. It truly is so comfortable all day long. Shop Skims best intimates, including the fits everybody collection and more at skims.com and skims stores. After you place your order, be sure to let them know we sent

you, select podcasts in the survey and be sure to select our show in the drop down menu that follows. Hi, Maureen and Greg. I am so excited to be chatting with you. I've gotten so much from listening to your solo episodes and I have a question about navigating change in a relationship. I'm engaged to my partner and we moved to a new state about a year and a half ago and we made the decision together, but the move ended up being really tough for me. I ended up changing my career and I just launched a new one and I finally have friends here and now we're talking about moving again because my partner is unhappy in his career

here. I totally support the decision and I'm on board with moving but I would love any advice in navigating this situation. I know you both have moved together more than once in your relationship and I would love to know how I can stand up for my career as I'm afraid of the same situation to happen again. But I also want to support him and I want him to be happy in his career as well. Let me know your thoughts. Can't wait to hear it. Thanks.

Great question, Erica. I mean, it's exciting that you guys are moving and trying out new things. I would applaud you in that way because I think a lot of people get stuck in one place and they're afraid. I guess this is also where we're lucky because we've always worked together and we've kind of moved as one. I feel like it's definitely worth having a conversation and being like, I really love where I'm at and it took me a minute to get here.

I'm loving my career and my friends. Is there anything we can do to help you find something where we are right now or like kind of come to a compromise? What do you think? Yeah, I think that like it's pretty rare in life that you get to try to do something again and hopefully each time you get a little bit better at it. So hopefully whatever pain period there was in this last move will be expedited in this new move and you'll kind of know like oh well in the last Move I showed them XYZ. Maybe they don't have to go. What about her career? What about her friends? But if it's like you have to yeah, that makes sense. You've done it once before you're gonna be fine Like you've already like built those skill sets. I just feel like maybe if you delay it, he'll find something where you live right now

I think follow the opportunity like build those skill sets. I just feel like maybe if you delay it, he'll find something where you live right now. I think follow the opportunity. If the opportunity makes sense for the two of you, then I think hop on it. And I think the universe will like reward you in that new city. Okay. And I would kind of trust the process.

But you could always go back. Hi, Mari and Greg. First of all, I just wanted to say a really, really big thank you to both of you. Your products and your content are the number one reason I became interested in health and wellness. And I think that that's the case for a lot of people. So thank you for sharing a lot of valuable information and being such a positive influence. I did have a question.

I know that you guys were able to see a lot of organic engagement early on when Mari made the post that went viral and you were able to put in the hard work and build off of that. If you were starting out today and you didn't have any organic engagement, let's say you were given just a blank Instagram page, a blank TikTok page, and you had to start completely from scratch, what would your approach be in today's landscape? Would it be the same? Would it be different? Do you have any advice for that?

Great question. I can speak as like a content creator. Maybe you could speak more from a marketing angle. I would focus more on TikTok. I think I would post probably like three to five times a day, just anything and everything. I would collect data on what worked the best. So for example, I've noticed my TikToks with pomegranate seeds seem to perform the best right now. I would focus on pomegranate content, seriously.

And I would go all in on that and I would do more and more and more and more. And I would I all in on that. And I would do more and more and more and more. And I would, I would stay vulnerable. That's the thing. I would keep the same vulnerable, transparent, candid, show the real me, show the ups, the downs, but I would post way more frequently and I would focus on TikTok. I am a huge believer in Facebook ads, Instagram ads, TikTok ads. If you have anything that you are able to monetize, like a service that you offer, or a business that you sell, or a product that you sell, anything where you can run ads and have the action taken with that ad be,

go follow your profile. A lot of the initial traction that came to Mari's posts, there was a small amount of organic activity, but the algorithm is only so powerful for anybody. If you can find what does do remotely well in the algorithm organically, and then use that as a, call it a boosted post through Facebook and Instagram or TikTok ads. You basically have the greatest ad that you can create. I mean, any advertising agency, that's what they try to do all day

is create ads that people wanna watch. So if you could create something about pomegranate seeds in this case, or pomegranate juice, and then monetize something based off of that topic, even if it's so small, just to allow you to have the fuel to fund ads, you can supercharge the growth of your page so much while continuing to create a volume of content

that's candid and vulnerable, as Mario was speaking on. I mean, that's the formula right there for having a large following very quickly while being able to control things that you can control and not relying 100% on the algorithm or how TikTok feels about you that day. What do you think will be the best exercise routine that you would recommend?

Let's say, how long do you need for it to change? How many cardio hours per week? How many strength training? Or what tip would be the most valuable for you guys to tell us about exercise? How to perform the best exercise routine or exercise program. I think four to five strength training sessions a week for 30 to 40 minutes and getting 10,000 to 12,500 steps per day, seven days a week. What, that's easy.

That's intense. No, it's not. I would say for women. That's only two hours of work out a week. Three to four, I think three to four weight training. All right, we'll call it four. Four weight training a week and then just walk as much as possible. But at least 10,000 steps a day. Sure. Yeah. 10,000 steps a day.

Unless you're trying to have a baby, then tone it back. Throw some Pilates in there. But if you're trying to like, see a big change, weight training movement. Yeah. I think you planned it, see real changes in a month. If you're going from zero, let's do this last one. Hi, Mari and Greg. First of all, I absolutely love your podcasts and I'm loving what you guys are doing in the health and wellness industry.

I just wanted to ask a question around navigating a marriage with such a busy life. I recently started working full time and my husband also works full time and we're finding it a little bit difficult to find time for each other and really prioritise our relationship when everything else is crazy. So I'm sure you guys understand what that's like. So I would love to hear any thoughts or any tips in this space. So yeah, thank you so much. Sending lots of love from Australia. Hi to Lucy in Australia. Yeah, this has been, I think, an ongoing journey for us and we've really

figured out ways to make it work. You know, we are both very busy. Well, I've been busier than I am now, which is good. But we started a business together. We used to work side by side all day long, and then our roles definitely drifted. And we were both very busy on separate schedules. So I think we found rituals to come together during the day. We used to spend mornings together. I think it's shifted to evenings now. We always have dinner together when we can, which I think is huge. We go to bed at the same time. We spend weekends together. I'm a really big planner.

I like to have reservations. I like to have activities. I create a note of like ideas of things to do on the weekend. We like to, you know to plan special trips together. And then I think also I would emphasize the small moments in your day. The moment you say good morning to each other, the moment you see each other at night when you get back from work and being really present, putting the phone away, eye contact, asking questions, making the other person feel special. Greg just got back from Expo West, he crushed it.

I made sure I had a card waiting for him, a little present. I got him chocolate covered strawberries. Like I wanted him to feel like I was really proud of him because I was and just like showing him how much I care and appreciate him. Yeah, I think little bits of effort. Mari holds the house together 90% of it in terms of our activities.

Greg doesn't like to do anything. Here I am complimenting you. But Mari holds the house together with those types of things. I think 15 minutes in the morning goes a really long way to have a present moment. And then we've been relying on at least like a good half of the day together, solid on Saturday and or Sunday. And you send me flowers when you were away. Always, yeah.

I like that. And figuring out each other's love languages. Just creating clear signs of effort. And figuring out each other's love languages. Greg's more of an acts of service and I'm more of a words of affirmation and I think fulfilling those needs for the other person. Therapy is also really helpful in in figuring that out I think. Anyway guys, thank you so much for the questions. Greg, thank you so much for coming on the show. Thanks for having me. We cannot wait to launch Bloom Pop and we'll see you guys soon. Bye. Thank you for joining us on the Pursuit of Wellness podcast.

To support this show, please rate and review and share with your loved ones. If you want to be reminded of new episodes, click the subscribe button on your preferred podcast or video player. You can sign up for my newsletter to receive my favourites at marieloellen.com, it will be linked in the show notes. This podcast is a Pursuit Network production, brought to you by Michaela Phillips, Joel Contartese, Davielle Waldner, Jen Lauren, and Mackenzie Meisel. You can also watch the full video of each episode on our YouTube channel at Pursuit of Wellness podcast. Love you, Power Girls and Power Boys. I will see you next time.

The content of this show is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a of Wellness podcast. Love you, Power Girls and Power Boys. I will see you next time.