We recently connected with Lynnette Price and have shared our conversation below.
Lynnette, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you come up with the idea for your business?
In one word…burnout is why I decided to start Hope+Wellth Media. I started my corporate career over two decades ago as a marketing and advertising executive. I had the chance to work with some of the biggest brands in the industry. I had so much fun. For me, being creative is like breathing the freshest of air. However, I worked super long hours, was in problem solving mode 24/7, and my anxiety started to kick in full force. At one point, I was pregnant on bedrest, taking conference calls, creating proposals and executing marketing plans. It was insane and though I really loved what I did, it began to take such a toll on my mental health. So, a few years after I delivered my son, I left the field and decided to take on a different type of problem – the mental health of working mothers. After going to therapy myself, I went back to school to obtain a master’s of science in psychology and started mental health coaching women with anxiety and depression. I even started a mental wellness company called MoodWellth dedicated to helping women of color heal. I spent a total of 11 years listening to people’s problems, exploring how people think and helping them think in ways that elevate rather than deplete them. It was so gratifying to help people achieve their ‘aha’ moments. However, I realized that so many clients, like many others, had unknowingly gotten stuck in what I call “the healing loop.” They were doing all the things like going to therapy or life coaching, the journaling, the shadow work…but they weren’t actually living. Healing had become its own comfort zone, just as toxic and limiting as the stress or trauma they were trying to escape. Then it hit me. I was them. Psychology and healing had become more of an obsession because I was determined to never feel the way I felt when my former job took a toll on my mental health.
That realization was the spark that lit the entire Hope+Wellth Media/Magazine platform. I created it not only to help my clients and others (in a different way), but to hold myself accountable, too. The truth is, it is possible to get obsessed with healing and figuring things out all the time. However, it is also true that you don’t have to get stuck there. Healing doesn’t have to be a full time job. You can start a business without getting burnt out, explore new passions, deepen your relationships, reinvent yourself, write that book, start a media company or finally feel at home in your own space again. Our media company, starting with our magazine, gives women a blueprint to do just that. Every issue is intentional with content that is designed to help you LIVE, not just heal. It lives at the intersection between wellness and purpose and each issue is a reminder that you don’t have to choose between growth and grace, ambition and alignment, or wellness and wealth. Not to mention, it allowed me to get back to my first love – being creative.
As the Editor-in-Chief, I get to decide what the primary theme/message is for each issue. I get to carefully choose writers who will deliver the best content and I get to intentionally choose who will be on the cover. From the color selections to the layout of the magazine, my hand touches and my eyes see everything before we publish an issue. More importantly, I now blend strategy, storytelling and a little bit of science to shape the vision behind Hope+Wellth, and I feel so blessed to wake up everyday to do what I love -WITHOUT THE BURNOUT! And you know what, after three issues (we publish 4 times per year in both digital and print), we have received an overwhelmingly positive response indicating that readers actually do want to read this type of content. Our last issue was released on July 1 and our digital version received nearly 20,000 views in just 9 days.
The most important thing that my Co-Founder and I have learned while on this journey is that any business that starts not just with an idea, but with intention and a purpose will naturally build deeper connections with its audience, attract authentic partnerships and a brand legacy that goes beyond just social media or selling a product. It’s something we try to live by when it comes to our business and our lives. It helps us stay on track when we do run into obstacles, and more importantly, it helps us avoid the stress that many entrepreneurs face while trying to build their business.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I talked about myself and how I got in the industry with my answer to the last question, so I’ll talk about Hope+Wellth in this answer.
Hope+Wellth Magazine is a digital and print lifestyle publication at the intersection of wellness, purpose and empowered living. Created by the founders of MoodWellth, Hope+Wellth was born out of the radical realization that healing should not be a holding pattern. Our mission is to help readers break free from the “healing loop” and move boldly into the life they’re meant to lead; one rich with joy, ambition, alignment and abundance. Every single issue is a vibrant, soul-centered blend of storytelling, wellness guidance and intentional living that features the voices that reflect the complexity, creativity and power of women of color. From wellness and entrepreneurship to identity, creativity and leadership, we spotlight real stories of transformation, purpose and more importantly, possibility.
What we’re most proud of is that we believe that influence isn’t just about numbers (social media or otherwise), but it’s more about impact. No matter the size of your platform, your voice, your story and your gifts matter and those are the women we want to highlight. For most of our cover stories, our magazine gave that woman or women their first cover and we’re proud of that. We don’t sell cover space because we are intentional about who we choose to be on the cover and we don’t want money to influence our decision. Lastly, we give visibility in other ways, too. For example, we have an ad exchange program where we provide free ad space to up and coming businesses under a certain annual revenue because we believe businesses deserve visibility as well and we understand how difficult it is when you can’t afford it.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Hope+Wellth Media/Magazine was actually a pivot from MoodWellth, our mental wellness app and virtual coaching/therapy company. We started MoodWellth during the height of the pandemic and though we were able to obtain app subscribers, therapists and coaches, app contributors and build a viable app, funding was a problem for two women of color founders. Through bootstrapping and small investments from family, we were able to build something amazing, but needed funding to help sustain what we were building. However, it was a blessing in disguise because sometimes things don’t work out because you are supposed to pivot to something even better. The truth is we were getting really burnt out running MoodWellth and had always considered starting a media company (starting with a magazine) at some point. We just weren’t exactly sure what the media company would be about until we had the experience of running MoodWellth for five years. It all just clicked and all of a sudden we found ourselves pivoting into our purpose without the burnout and doing something we can’t wait to get to every single day.
For us, this pivot made sense. At first, we thought it was giving up on a business we had worked tirelessly to create, but after several meetings we realized that it just made sense. We both had previously worked in marketing, advertising and branding. I am the storyteller and strategist while my co-founder is a graphic and web design guru. We could build a product (the magazine) totally in-house, with less overhead and our advertising dollars fund the business. The most important lesson we learned through this experience and by talking with other entrepreneurs is knowing when to let go, when to pivot and how to fail. So many people just want a business, so they will hang on to it for dear life even when it doesn’t make sense. Others will just start business after business with no real purpose, intention or strategy. We learned how important it is to know when to cut your losses, but more importantly, always know your why and if that why is totally ruled by money, it won’t be enough to sustain you when things get rough.
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
My business partner and I actually met in high school but we weren’t friends in high school. We reconnected 20 years later as fellow photographers. We realized that we had so much in common, especially when it came to business ideas, work ethic, communication, etc. and we decided to start a business together. This decision, however, wasn’t made lightly. We had several discussions and meetings about our working styles, communication styles, our ‘why’…before we even entertained the idea of working together. Having a business partner is one of the most important relationships in your life and like any other relationship, we had to make sure we were aligned before starting the business. And even after 6 years of working together, we still revisit these conversations to make sure we’re still aligned.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.hopewellthmedia.com
- Instagram: @hopeandwellth
