Meet Jessica Lynn Oistacher

We were lucky to catch up with Jessica Lynn Oistacher recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jessica Lynn, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

For me, resilience comes from experience, from reframing adversity as growth and from hearing the stories of other founders and leaders who’ve done the same.

I’ve always loved a good challenge. Growing up, I rarely acknowledged or understood my emotions. I was surrounded mostly by boys (my brother, a crew of male cousins, and close male friends) and I learned early on how to hold my own. I loved being “one of the guys.” I was competitive, driven, and determined to prove that I could keep up, no matter the circumstance.

That environment shaped me in powerful ways. It taught me grit, confidence, and discipline. But it also left me disconnected from parts of myself I didn’t yet know how to access. For years, I equated strength with control and success with independence. I didn’t realize that true strength could also mean softness — that empathy, vulnerability, and emotional fluency were forms of power as well.

As I grew older and began leading teams, launching businesses, and navigating challenges, I started to understand resilience in a new way. It wasn’t about outperforming others but understanding myself. It was about learning how to be present, to process emotions instead of outrunning them, and to lead not only with clarity, but with compassion.

Early in my career, I experienced something incredibly traumatic. I brushed it off as if it hadn’t happened — never spoke about it, never asked for help. Years later, I found myself at the lowest point in my life, unable to see a path forward and feeling guilty for not having handled that moment differently. I can still remember the day when it felt as though my entire world was collapsing — and in that breaking, something shifted. I began to understand that resilience isn’t about pushing through; it’s about pausing, feeling, and ultimately transforming pain into purpose.

One of my favorite books on the subject is Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy by Sheryl Sandberg. In it, Sheryl shares her journey through unimaginable loss and how she learned to live fully again. It’s a powerful reminder that while we can’t always choose what happens to us, we can choose how we respond.

Resilience is not about returning to who you were; it’s about becoming who you’re meant to be.

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?

Redefining What It Means to Thrive at Work
I founded Élavive to redefine what it means to truly thrive at work. After years of leading teams and witnessing burnout up close (both in myself and in my managers), I wanted to create something that went beyond surface-level wellness. Something that didn’t just offer temporary relief, but actually restored people from the inside out.

Turning Wellness Into a Performance Strategy
At Élavive, we design luxury corporate wellness experiences that bring restoration, clarity, and connection directly into the workplace, transforming wellness from a perk into a proven performance strategy. Research shows that for every $1 invested in employee well-being, companies can see up to a $6 return through increased productivity, reduced absenteeism, and higher engagement. Our programs are built around that principle: measurable impact, delivered with intention and elevated design.
From our signature reset lounges and executive immersions to mindfulness activations and retreats, each Élavive experience blends science, hospitality, and luxury — helping teams feel their best, think more clearly, and seamlessly integrate well-being into the workday.

Witnessing Transformation in Real Time
What excites me most is witnessing transformation as it happens — when a team collectively exhales, when presence replaces pressure, and when well-being becomes culture rather than a calendar event. One of my favorite moments was hearing a participant say, “I feel relaxed, yet energized.” That’s the essence of Élavive: grounded energy that elevates performance.

Expanding the Conversation Through The Élavive Edit
We recently launched The Élavive Edit, a podcast exploring the intersection of luxury, leadership, and modern wellness. Through candid conversations with founders, creatives, and thought leaders, we uncover what it truly takes to design a life — and a company culture — that feels as good as it looks.

A Multi-Dimensional Approach to Well-Being
Beyond Élavive, I’m a partner in Nice Day Moto, a motorcycle-inspired coffee concept that brings connection, creativity, and a touch of joy across New York City. I also continue to work part-time at Matono Salon, where clients indulge in precision hair cuts, embrace natural styling, and unveil customized color mastery in Greenwich Village in NYC.

What’s Next
Looking ahead, Élavive is expanding into global and local retreats, online courses for personal transformation, and deeper partnerships with companies that understand that people are their greatest investment. Because when wellness becomes effortless, everything else aligns.

📩 For those who would like to stay connected, you can follow us on Instagram @elaviveus or explore more at www.elavive.com.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

My advice for anyone starting out: trust your vision, nurture your resilience, and lead with heart. The combination will take you further than strategy ever could.

I studied Entrepreneurship at Baruch College and it was one of the top programs in the country at the time. We learned how to write a business plan, and that’s an important skill to have. That said, vision is what anchors everything. It’s the ability to see beyond what exists and design the future with intention — to build something that reflects both purpose and possibility. The world is changing so rapidly and you have to be ready to adapt.

Resilience is what keeps that vision alive when things get hard. It’s the quiet strength to recalibrate, adapt, and keep moving forward, even when progress feels invisible.

And emotional intelligence is what brings it all together — the capacity to understand yourself and others deeply, to lead with empathy, and to create environments where people feel seen and inspired to grow.

To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?

The most impactful thing my parents did for me was encourage me to follow my heart and work hard, while always grounding me in strong values. They led by example, not perfectly, but honestly, and that made all the difference. I watched them navigate life with integrity, show up for others without expecting anything in return, and take pride in doing things the right way, even when no one was watching.

They never pushed me toward a specific path, but simply taught me how to stay true to myself while giving my best to whatever I chose. That balance of freedom and discipline shaped everything about how I live and lead today.

Their belief in me made me brave enough to take risks, build businesses from the ground up, and trust my intuition even when the outcome wasn’t certain. I’m grateful every day for the foundation they gave me — built on hard work, kindness, and the quiet confidence that if you lead with heart, you’ll always find your way.

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Image Credits

Paul Swanson Photography

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