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The Period Girl
by Nicole Jardim

 

Nicole Jardim, creator of Fix Your Period, a series of programs that empower women to reclaim their hormone health using a method that combines simplicity and sass, takes away all the taboo and the pain of having a period.

She empowers women to reclaim their feminine vitality by taking charge of their hormone health and her personal journey may bring tears to your eyes…hey, I’m not crying. You’re crying.

A girl after my own heart, she admits her big picture plan is world domination. Go get it, girl!!! And after learning about her life and business triumphs, you’ll be sure to see exactly how she’s going to achieve that.

Don’t miss her #1 piece of advice for building your business. I sat and thought about it for hours.

1. Tell us about your business – what’s your mission; your soul’s purpose and why you created your wellness business or service?

I’m a Certified Women’s Health & Functional Nutrition Coach, also known as The Period Girl. I’ve picked up a few other cute nicknames over the years, like professional period fixer upper, period queen and the period magician! 

My mission is to empower women in their 20’s, 30’s and early 40’s to take back control of their hormonal health in a fun and sassy way. In other words, I’m here to teach women how to make their hormones work for them, rather than against them. I do this through my Fix Your Period series of programs, which provide women with the tools they need to make radical and long-lasting changes so they can live their best lives.

My big picture plan – definitely world domination of periods!!

I’m outspoken and opinionated about women’s health issues, and I am fiercely dedicated to empowering women, no matter where in the world they live, to take back control of their hormones and ultimately their health.

My purpose is to show women that they don’t have to give their power away, and they can indeed become their own health advocates. I believe women have the right to be educated about their bodies, and that they can be trusted to take care of themselves! Ultimately, it’s up to us – not our doctors – to decide what is best for us.

2. Tell us about your journey and your story….what got you to this point today?

I was born and raised on a tiny Caribbean island called Antigua. My childhood was amazing, but then my dad died suddenly when I was 11. The stress and trauma from that loss contributed to the massive digestive and subsequent hormonal imbalances I experienced throughout my teenage years. These imbalances led me on a rather harrowing journey to reclaim my health, that involved 5 years on the birth control pill, countless doctor visits, endless testing that was always  “normal”, and many unnecessary procedures.

In college, a friend suggested I see her acupuncturist. At that point, I was completely fed up with the conventional medicine approach to my health, and figured I had nothing to lose. He immediately explained what he thought was happening with my health, and suggested that the birth control pill was part of the problem. WHAT?

I had seen about 16 different doctors for all my seemingly unrelated ailments – horrible digestive issues, dry skin and melasma, hair loss, painful sex, chronic UTI’s and yeast infections, and chronic colds – AND not one of them had ever said the birth control pill could be linked, much less causing the problems I was having.

So, I changed my diet (started shopping at Whole Foods – my first time walking in there felt like I was leaving planet earth and visiting an entirely new, foreign land!), started exercising in a way that wouldn’t hurt my hormones, started a supplement and herbal regimen to rebuild my gut and hormones, and tried a whole bunch of other healing modalities. I was on a mission!

This newfound approach to life got me thinking about how I could help others. At the time I was just finishing college and moving into freelance film and TV production (my dream), so I put it aside to focus on my career.

Unfortunately, over the next 4 years that career did a number on my health, and I decided it was time to make the switch! I moved from Florida to New York City to go to the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, so I could study to become a health coach. I then did more training specifically on women’s health and hormones and became a Certified Women’s Health Coach through the Integrative Women’s Health Institute. And, the rest is history 

3. How are you changing the face of healthcare and/or the wellness industry? How do you create, innovate or break the rules in healthcare?

I should start by saying I am a total rule breaker. I literally don’t even know how to follow the rules! As the quote goes, “well behaved women rarely ever make history.” 

I distinctly remember trying to figure out what was wrong with me in my early twenties. I wasn’t getting a straight answer from anyone about what exactly was wrong, much less an actual reason why these problems were persisting. Modern medicine’s biggest flaw if you ask me. It was literally the most frustrating part of being unwell – not knowing WHY all of this was happening to me. So I set out on a mission to change that!

The biggest untruth being perpetuated on women is that our menstrual issues are unfixable. This is false. We don’t need a great deal of medical intervention to be healthy, and we certainly don’t need to medicate our cycles for our entire lives with various forms of hormonal birth control and other drugs.

I fundamentally believe that women want to know WHY their bodies are rebelling against them. They have a deep desire to understand how their hormones work, so they can make changes from a place of informed consent. I create all of my programs from this core belief.

I teach women to become the leading experts on their bodies, so they can be active participants in their care, and fix the root cause of their period problems. My approach is a complete reversal from the way women have always been treated by conventional medical doctors – and it works!

4. What personal and professional legacy or impact do you want to leave on the world?

I used to say, “If I could help just one woman not experience what I went through, then my mission is complete.” That was a little shortsighted haha! At this point, my work has impacted hundreds of thousands of women (to some degree) all over the planet and I intend to keep going for as long as possible.

More than anything, I want people to remember my straightforward, no-nonsense approach to helping women see there is a better way to improve their health and their lives than just taking a pill or getting that surgery.

I want to be remembered for my fierce advocacy for body literacy, because I believe every woman and girl should be able to have an ongoing conversation with her body. I don’t want women to stay on the same old path, expecting a different outcome. Instead, I want them to be empowered to reach for something bigger, more intentional, more aligned with who they are at their deepest level.

5. In your opinion, what is the most significant factor in healing or overall wellness?

I think this is two-fold. First, it is understanding the interconnectedness of every system within your body. And second, it is the deep knowing that no one is going to take care of you, better than you.

I believe that healing yourself engages every aspect of your being – physical, emotional, mental, social and spiritual. When any of these aspects are unbalanced, you suffer in all areas of your life. What this means is that vibrant and abundant health comes from so much more than eating healthy food.

You are your only responsibility, and it’s your job to take great care of your body, mind and spirit. Achieving your highest and best health starts with prioritizing your health above all else. This mindset shift will put you in the driver’s seat, and empower you to make change!

6. What do you wish people realized when it comes to their health or about the wellness industry?

There is so much I can say here!

First, for anyone who is struggling with a hormone imbalance or other condition, there is hope and there are answers. Educating yourself and taking ownership of your body is the first step. Please don’t just accept whatever diagnosis you’ve been given as a life sentence. There is literally so much you can do to either improve your symptoms or eliminate them completely. You just need the right protocol!

Second, it’s actually NOT normal to have period problems or any other kind of chronic condition. It may be statistically normal, as in, your mom, your sister and many of your friends have it, but it’s not biologically normal. We weren’t designed to need a great deal of medical intervention to function optimally.

7. How long did it take you to reach important milestones in your wellness business? And, what has really helped you move the needle in making your vision a reality?

What has helped most is continually coming back to my WHY. Why did I start doing this work in the first place? Why do I want to help people? Why am I not okay with the status quo? The answers to these questions keep me going. In addition, my tenacity and desire to see things through have helped me move the needle in making my vision a reality. I’m a very persistent person! LOL

8. Tell us about the start-up scares: Was there a moment where you ever seriously contemplated giving up?

I think I’ve thought about throwing in the towel about 100 times over the last seven years! Haha. Owning a business is certainly not for the faint of heart. It will stretch you in ways you never imagined! From technology failures, to having to let go of employees, sometimes wasting significant amounts of money on business coaches and other trainings, program launches that didn’t go as well as expected, huge amounts of credit card debt and everything in between – these are some of the reasons I’ve almost given up over the years. Despite all this, I have never seriously contemplated quitting. This is what I was put on the planet to do, so there is no way I’m going to stop!

9. Did you ever fail or make a substantial mistake in business or organization? Any serious challenges? How did you overcome and resolve it?

This year I’ve had to let go of 6 employees. I certainly didn’t hire these people with the intention of firing them so quickly, but that’s how it played out. This has been a really humbling experience – admitting that I made such big mistakes in my hiring process, and then having to make the hard decision to let go of people I had invested a substantial amount of time and money in. Not to mention, letting them down too. Of course I learned along the way, took lots of notes, reflected, made adjustments and improved my hiring process. I’ve also learned to ALWAYS go with my gut. In every instance I had reservations about the hire, but I ignored them. Never again will I do that. I’ve now got my dream team in place and I couldn’t be happier.

10. What action has the most impact that you’ve taken to reach your goal/s?

Being as organized as possible. I am a Virgo through and through, and I must have every single task written down, assigned to the right person, tracked and then checked off when it’s complete. This is hands down the best way to tackle small and big goals for me. Otherwise, I feel directionless and find myself floundering, which leaves me in a place of inaction.

11. What would you tell your younger/earlier self about following your dreams?

You must do it, no matter what! And you must do whatever it takes to get there!

At 14 I read an article in Marie Claire about a woman who had changed careers to go work in the movie industry. It was a massive shift – she started at the bottom as a production assistant after having been successful in her previous career. I went to my mom and said I wanted to be a production assistant in the movies and she kind of rolled her eyes. But I just knew that was what I was meant to do. I worked and saved, got scholarships, got a student visa and came to the US. I really had nothing but I busted my ass in college and graduated with honors then worked for free, cold called producers, traveled long distances at my expense for jobs, so I could achieve this dream.

The same goes for my career as a health coach. I’ve just refused to give up.

12. What’s the best piece of business or personal advice YOU’VE ever received?

Know thyself. Stay true to who you are and stay in your lane. It’s soooo easy to do that whole compare and despair thing. The thing is, once you go down that rabbit hole, it’s very difficult to dig yourself out of it.

13. What’s the #1 piece of advice you would give a new Wellness professional who really wants to make an impact in healthcare and people’s lives?

Act in spite of fear and take the risk. There are people out there who really really need to hear your message, and the only way that will happen is if you make a decision to move forward regardless of how scary it feels. Once you start building momentum, there will be no stopping you. Of here will be inevitable challenges on the path, but the way to reduce overwhelm and get through these challenges is to get still and ask yourself “what is the next right move”? From that space, make the next right move and then the next, and the next.

14. What does a typical work day look like for you?

I mostly run my business from my desk in my New York City apartment! Not super glamorous but I feel most productive when I work from home. But then there are the times I can work in a cafe in Buenos Aires, or a garden in Rome, at my family’s house in Antigua, or wherever I feel like. It’s pretty awesome.

When I’m in NYC, I usually start the day with my little morning routine – Sometimes I’ll go to the gym in the winter, or ride my bike or take a walk in the park during the warmer months, or sometimes I’ll work out later in the day. Depends on how busy I am and what projects I currently have going on.

The next hour includes breakfast, a shower and a presentable outfit. I find that I fall into the trap of staying in my pajamas all day, especially in the winter, so I’ve made it a priority to put on makeup and proper clothes most mornings!

Other days I’ll go to my co-working space to avoid sitting alone all day or getting up to do laundry in the middle of the workday. Yup, it happens to the best of us! Plus, I love being around other entrepreneurs doing cool stuff, and find it to be highly inspiring and motivating!

I start working around 9:30am and I spend an hour processing emails. I usually spend the rest of the day working on special projects, program launches, blog posts and my weekly email. Then there are some days where I have podcast interviews or teaching calls for my group programs.

I always try to finish working between 6-7pm and then I’ll go meet friends, go to an event or make dinner at home with my guy.

15. Stevie Wonder or The Beatles? (this, I personally must know.) 

Haha! The Beatles fo sho!

***

Nicole Jardim’s incredible work has impacted the lives of thousands of women around the world in effectively addressing issues like PMS, PCOS, infertility, amenorrhea, and many more. She’s  also the co-host of The Period Party, a top-rated podcast on iTunes—be sure to tune into that if you want to learn more about how to fix your period—and she’s the co-creator of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition’s hormone health continuing education course.

Nicole has been a keynote speaker for the highly acclaimed Cycles and Sex, a platform and event series devoted to building awareness and education around sexual, menstrual, hormonal, and reproductive health.

Rather than treating problems or symptoms, Nicole treats women by addressing the root cause of what’s really going on in their bodies and minds. She passionately believes that the fundamentals to healing any hormonal imbalance lie in an approach that addresses the unique physiology of every woman. This is essential to reclaiming and maintaining feminine vitality at any age.

Take Nicole’s Period Quiz to find out what your period is telling you about your body!

When you take the quiz, you’ll also get her Fix Your Period Quickstart Kit, a FREE 7-Day E-Course, to discover the top secrets doctors don’t tell you about your hormones, your symptoms & how to finally fix them!