We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Hilary Meade. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Hilary below.
Hi Hilary, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?
I feel like as a woman this can be so hard. Women are constantly tested with their self-esteem and confidence from a very early age. This is something I am always working on. Something I think about daily, because I know when I am feeling confident, I shine from the inside out. I develop my confidence and self-esteem by practicing with it daily. Trying activities out of my comfort zone, public speaking anytime I have the opportunity, teaching yoga and trying new things every month helps with my confidence. I had a mentor tell me once that if I am uncomfortable then I am growing and if I am growing, I am changing. I believe the more we learn, grow and expand, this in turn helps with our confidence. I also surround myself with positive, uplifting people that radiate good energy. Keeping toxic behaviors, toxic people out of my life and being around fun, loving, happy people only helps with esteem too. Having good supportive friends and family can make all the difference in some people’s lives. Connecting with others, getting feedback from mentors and peers and using that feedback to help myself grow increases my confidence. And endorphins, I can never give enough credit to endorphins, they always help me when I am feeling a lack of confidence and or motivation. A walk, a run, a yoga class, a bike ride anything where you move your body, I always feel better a bit more confident after a good workout.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
For the last 15 years I’ve primarily worked in corporate wellness/employee wellness. I’ve worked with all different types of corporations and helping them incorporate wellness into their daily lives, while at work. Some of the companies I have worked for have been hospitals, casinos, government agencies and health benefit companies. I got my masters in health education and have used certifications I have earned along the way to help me in these roles such as personal training, health coaching and teaching group fitness including yoga. My role has been to help educate, inspire and motivate individuals to not only have a healthy lifestyle outside of work, but also at work by changing small habits such as walking meetings, bringing a lunch, taking stretch breaks and implementing wellness champions. One of the best parts of being in corporate wellness is building relationships with employees whether it’s through one-on-one work or being their onsite yoga instructor. I get to see these people get stronger physically and mentally, start to change their daily habits, lose weight, improve their biometric screenings as well as build a community with their peers at work. It’s been shown if employees feel more connected with others at work, they are more likely to stay at the job. Wellness at work has been proven over and over again to create a culture of health in a positive way for employees.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Looking back, I think working in the service industry during college really helped me before I got into the corporate world. At the time, working in a restaurant can be really hard, however, it teaches you how to talk to people, how to read people’s body language, how to approach people and teaches you patience. This has led me to feel more comfortable talking in big meetings, presenting at meetings as well as with engaging with people you have no relationship with.
I also think becoming a certified group fitness instructor and yoga instructor was a great skill to have. It gets you comfortable talking in front of others. It teaches you humility. You get feedback within in minutes from being in front of a group of people ready to exercise.
My advice to people working their way up the corporate ladder is to continue to do things that challenge you. Even if you don’t do it well, you tried something new and you learn from it. We only grow when we are uncomfortable. We can’t stay the same and the do the same thing day in and day out. Meet new people, go to new places, try new things, volunteer for something out of your wheelhouse, say yes to more opportunities and more opportunities will come your way.
Tell us what your ideal client would be like?
My ideal client is a company that fosters a culture of wellness day in and day out. I love when my clients provide healthy eating options onsite to make it easy for employees to choose a healthy meal. My ideal client has a yoga studio and a fitness studio onsite for their employees. They have a safe walking path outside for walking meetings and daily breaks. They offer outside picnic tables and make sure smoking is banned. My ideal client is open to trying new activities for their employees such as Reiki, Sound Healing, Guided meditation breaks, mentorship breaks. My ideal client leads by example by having their CEO, COO, CFO etc all participate in some wellness activities and encourage their teams to do the same.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://healthierhabitswithhilary.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/healthierhabitswithhilary/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hilarymeade/
