We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Savannah Parr a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Savannah, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
My purpose is to help women feel amazing at baseline. I fell in love with nutrition when I started dealing with difficult. embarrassing, and uncomfortable health symptoms at about 18-19 years old. I struggled with unexplained weight gain, painful bloating, digestive issues, acne, hair thinning, and chronic fatigue. I wanted to learn how to support my body and heal naturally, so I turned to nutrition. There were so many confusing opinions about nutrition in the world/on the internet, so I decided I was determined to learn the truth. I declared my major as dietetics when I started college and never looked back. Now, I have a bachelor’s in dietetics, a master’s in nutrition, and I am a nationally registered dietitian. I healed myself with nutrition. I completely eradicated all the symptoms plaguing my body and I became obsessed with the science and physiology of nutrition. Now, my drive to help all women heal and feel their best naturally is what keeps me going.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
My focus is women’s hormones and holistic health. So many women live their day-to-day life in pain, exhausted, bloated, and unhappy with their body. It’s accepted as normal to be “always tired,” “always stressed,” etc. I do not accept that. My mission is to help women feel amazing at baseline using nutrition, whole foods, lifestyle, and exercise. I have helped hundreds of women turn their lives around, heal their hormones, lose weight, and live happier lives. I love using food as medicine and helping women feel better.
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?
I would say my three most valuable qualities/skills are First, a really solid understanding of whole-body health. Nutrition and food affect every aspect of people’s lives. Understanding hormones, the gut microbiome, mental health, body image, fertility, and so on has really helped me see my clients as a whole person so I can help them on a deeper and more lasting level. Food is fuel and so much of health depends on that fuel, but food is also culture, connection, celebration, and so much more. Having a really well-rounded grasp on that holistic perspective has consistently served my clients, my business, and myself in this journey.
Second, compassion. Helping people to do life-changing and lasting work brings up a lot of emotions, fears, and failures. Body image, health, and how you feel are all matters that run very close to the heart. Having compassion for people as their coach helps people to have compassion on themselves, which builds confidence, consistency, and self-love. The only way you can make long-term lifestyle changes is by becoming best friends with failure, which requires constant self-forgiveness. Being a natural softie has helped me to connect deeply with my audience and my clients to inspire lasting change.
Third, perseverance. There have been so many (SO MANY) moments on my journey as a business owner where I have wanted throw in the towel. It can be so discouraging to try so hard without always seeing results. I was pregnant when I started my business and I had my baby shortly thereafter. Finding balance, and honestly finding myself, in motherhood while trying to get a business off the ground was so hard. But I had this fire in my heart that helped me get through. I just utterly refused to give up. Even when I was crying on my husband’s shoulder like, daily. Showing up in my business has looked different in different seasons, but I have never given up.
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
One challenge I have consistently faced in my journey is standing out. There are a million different health coaches out there, so why would someone choose me? It’s something I still struggle with, but there are a few things that have helped:
1. Getting really clear about who I help and how I help them. Specializing in hormones and holistic health has helped me reach a certain audience, which has helped me find my people.
2. Having a clear outline about what I’m doing next. I don’t have a super-exact 5-year plan, but I do have vision about where I want to go and what I want to create to help people. This has helped me to send clear messaging to my audience about what they can expect from me.
3. Being vulnerable and sharing my own story and my own failures. Being a real human drives so much connection and connection drives trust. I try to build trust with my audience by showing them how my nutrition approach helps me in real life.
Contact Info:
Image Credits
Taylor Gardner Photo
