Her Story
About Aleah
I'm a serial entrepreneur in the health and wellness space, and I've built my career around living naturally and helping others do the same. It all started from being a mom and wanting to do the best for my baby and family, which led me into natural health and even becoming a doula for years. After my divorce, I had to start over completely. I was a stay-at-home mom for 10 years, so I was behind everyone else running toward their career. I went to culinary school and got my associate's degree in 2010, then worked as a sous chef at a country club within 6 months. I started a cleaning business to earn money, and those earnings helped me open my first herbal store, which I've now had for 7 years. The herbal side of things came naturally because I live it for myself and my family, so it's easy for me to turn that into a business. When my daughter graduated from the cosmetology department as an esthetician, we added a spa to the store about 2 years ago, and she runs that for me. The business is called InnerGenesis. In 2019, I started a nonprofit called Lotus Health, Inc., which became a 501c3 in 2021. It's grown into something wonderful with a medical doctor, licensed counselor, nurse, and multiple support groups and classes. Our approach is holistic health, and we're working to bring the community together. About a year ago, I founded One Stop Media after collaborating with someone who handled audio at my Women's Wellness Forum event. We started doing commercials for local politicians and writing about community and tech. I've had to start over twice in my life - once after divorce and once when a business partner cheated me out of a business, and my lawyer said to cut my losses and go. But I've kept going, and now at 46, turning 47 in September, I'm managing multiple businesses and even studying to become a private pilot. I have four kids, and my oldest daughter is expecting my first grandchild, a girl named Aurora, in September. The last 5 years especially, I've added more to my plate, and I've learned that consistency and not giving up on yourself when self-doubt creeps in is what keeps you moving forward.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Aleah
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to consistency and not giving up on myself when self-doubt creeps in. We all hear those voices on a down day or bad day saying maybe I should quit, but I've learned to keep going. Even if something isn't profitable right away, I just keep fanning that flame. That's especially true with the nonprofit - I didn't have time to put into something that wasn't making me profit, and I was asking other women to bring their skills and talents for free. But I just kept fanning that flame and didn't hit the kill switch yet. I've changed and added a lot, especially in the last 5 years, but consistency and just not giving up on yourself is what matters.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've received is to not give it 100% full throttle all the time, but to actually stop and take time for yourself. I was reading these statistics recently that a lot of women don't really start thriving in their career until their mid-40s, not at 20 like we think. I was a stay-at-home mom for 10 years, so I was behind everyone else running toward their career. When you're trying to play catch-up, people along the way told me to be careful about burning out. The best advice has been that if you're finding joy in being with your family, so be it. If you're finding joy alone, then so be it. Self-care is important because it reflects back - if you're burnt out, you're not going to do good in your career. I had a few people tell me that along the way, so I started trying to do that myself.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say start with one business and let that become so successful that you can do it with your eyes closed, or with someone else's hands - meaning you can hire someone else to run it that you trust. Let that happen for at least a little while before starting something else. Because if you have one person you're depending on to run your business and they leave or try to steal your business ideas and do their own, then you're left with nothing that you've built. There's a balance between letting someone else do it and ensuring it's successful before starting something else, but always knowing that at the end of the day, if I have to go back and do these things, I can either replace that person quickly or jump in and do it myself without losing my business. Just one foot in front of the other. Make sure one's successful so you're not wobbling on two wobbly wheels. I started to do that and I corrected myself, so my advice is don't try to juggle too many things at once.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Time management.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values most important to me are loyalty, sticking to your word and following through, and truth and honesty. Actually, truth and honesty are probably more important than loyalty. If I say I'm going to do something, I follow through unless there's a good reason that it's no longer helpful - I'm careful about being overly loyal too. I value consistency in myself and look for it in other people when I bring someone on to help. I've had some liars in my life, so honesty is really at the top for me.
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