Meet Marisa Abzug

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Marisa Abzug a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Marisa, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?

I honestly believe I was born with it. My Dad used to tell me (he died in September, 2024) at five years old he knew he could put me on a plane to New York and within a week, I’d have a job and an apartment. This was a blessing and a curse. I was very parentified as a child and forced to grow up fast. That said, I am grateful because it has helped me to deal with a lot of adversity. I also owe a lot to the personal counseling I’ve received. I would not be where I am today without it!

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I have been an entrepreneur for over 15 years. It has been in my blood! I first learned the wonders of working for myself in 2010, when I got my first office: I was doing private practice therapy one day a week in addition to working for a Non-Profit Counseling Center. I didn’t know how much I would love being my own boss. Of course it isn’t always easy, yet it is always liberating.
I had no idea that this would be the start of so much more to come.

Although I decided to leave the Non-profit I had worked at for almost 5 years, I knew I wanted to create a community, a space where people would love to work and where clients would love to be. In 2013 I made that dream a reality and opened up the Santa Cruz Wellness Center (SCWC) with 2 other psychotherapists, The SCWC was a labor of love, where at one point we annexed 2 other offices and had a total of 12 suites and over 15 practitioners ranging from Psychotherapists to Acupuncturists. It was incredible. Then Covid hit. Given that we had to collect rent in order to pay our bills, everything changed. We had to negotiate with our landlord and luckily, he was very flexible yet the community we had created was gone. Everyone was working from home, and the life of the center was gone. It was during this time I decided to step down from being a co-owner and focus on my own practice.

It was after this decision that I took a deep dive into Attachment Theory, and this is where my new business, Date with Intention, was born. In addition to my psychotherapy practice, I was also diving into Attachment Based Dating Coaching. During my time at the SCWC, I enrolled in and completed an 8-month Coaching Program at iPEC. This program was life changing and enabled me to add coaching skills to my therapy practice and have coaching clients as well.

This is where things get very interesting. In November of 2023 I decided to take a virtual class called “Sourdough Boot Camp,” which I found on the Scotts Valley Moms Facebook page. With this class came online instruction and tried and true sourdough starter. I started making breads and one day I made BAGELS. Bagels are a love language for me. Yet seriously, I was so stoked that I could make something so near and dear to my heart. I posted a picture on my Facebook page and my community went nuts! Knowing my entrepreneurial spirit and my drive, I was literally asked to start selling my sourdough bagels. Given my 2 other businesses, there was no way I could do this alone, and this is where J and M Sourdough Bagels was born. My partner, Josh (J), was in between careers and decided to take a risk. This was after we had called a Commercial Kitchen and was literally told, “You HAVE to do this! You have a niche product that will kill it if done right.” With help from the Small Business Development Center (SBDC), crowd sourcing, tons of networking and so much more, in less than a year we went from doing small First Friday events to having a storefront! This is just the beginning…..

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

There are so many things that have impacted my journey, yet I would highlight these three:

1) Ability to take risks. There is no way one can make it as an entrepreneur without the ability to get out of your comfort zone. It is scary to not have a paycheck to rely on, to not have someone else to make the decisions for you.

2) Being open to feedback. One cannot thrive without being open to constructive criticism. I have learned so much from my mentors and sometimes the feedback wasn’t pretty.

3) Humility! OMG so many mistakes are made, and one must be able to forgive oneself and move on

I am a firm believer in self-work. I went to therapy as a teen, and it was life changing. I also have sought coaching, mentoring, etc. and would not be where I am today without asking for HELP!

What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?

My late father, who died in September 2024, used to say to me, “At 5 years old I knew I could put you on a plane to NYC and within a week, you’d have a job and an apartment”.

I will NEVER forget those words. To me, this meant that at an early age, my tenacity, drive and independence was fierce. I remember these words when I doubt my abilities and am scared AF.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jmsourdoughbagels.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jandmbagels/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jandmsourdoughbagels/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/j-and-m-sourdough-bagels-felton
• Other: https://g.co/kgs/zuNfMyB