Today we’d like to introduce you to Sara Thomas

Hi Sara, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?

My name is Sara Thomas and I am a 28-year-old multiracial woman from Massachusetts, USA living with severe chronic depression, anxiety, and mild psychosis. My entire life, I have been fascinated by other languages, cultures, history, psychology, and people. These interests have influenced both my educational and career paths. I have my B.A. in Art History from UCLA and am currently completing my M.S. in Psychology from SNHU. With a professional background in human resources, recruiting, plus diversity and inclusion, I decided to make a change and start a mental health advocacy mission-driven organization. With the break of COVID-19 in 2020, I felt compelled to find a way to help others on a deeper level and use my skills to help improve the general quality of life for all. As mental health relates to all parts of our lives, but there is still a harmful stigma surrounding it, I felt especially drawn to mental health awareness.
When coming up with the idea for Ask The Stubborn Optimist LLC (ATSO), I drew on a lot of my personal experiences living with mental health. While attending UCLA, I began to be more open about my mental health, and I realized this led to everyone in my network and their network of friends and family feeling comfortable coming to me with mental health questions. I realized that many of us have questions we want to ask about mental health, but don’t know where to start or feel comfortable asking. All of these experiences led to me founding ATSO, a mental health advocacy mission-driven organization dedicated to spreading mental health awareness, breaking the mental health stigma, and connecting people with diverse and inclusive mental health resources and support. We also offer our mental health blog and personalized mental health support sessions to help people connect with customized mental health support plus improve their day-to-day life with mental health. Our ATSO Shop offers products that help raise awareness, break the stigma, support mental health, and promote better well-being.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?

It has not been easy starting a business, and since we are a mental health organization having to constantly go up against the mental health stigma, we often have to work harder to meet our goals since the stigma puts many blockades in our way. However, 100% of this journey has been worth it. Through ATSO I have been able to create a caring, diverse, and inclusive community and a company that truly values and prioritizes employee well-being. I can’t describe how rewarding it has been to receive messages from people saying ATSO helped them with their mental health and that they feel more optimistic about their future because of us. Having burned out myself in traditional 9-5, creating a safe and understanding work environment for those with mental health has been incredibly fulfilling. We now have two additional employees, Kenise and Rachel and I am so thankful every day for their help and all the amazing work they put into growing ATSO with me. It’s been difficult, and my imposter syndrome tempts me to give up sometimes, but I know that ATSO is capable of helping others, that our mission is worth it, and that dreams don’t work unless you do.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?

What sets ATSO apart from other organizations is that we act as a hub for diverse and inclusive mental health resources, constantly growing our community and connections so that whenever anyone asks for help, they can receive customized support that understands and respects their backgrounds and intersectionalities. I am most proud of our growing mental health blog and building a diverse and inclusive online mental health resource library organized by 45+ and growing categories based on disabilities, genders, racial and ethnic identities, LGBTQIA2S+, socioeconomic status, and intersectionalities.
We are also a for-profit instead of a non-profit as we want to set a new standard for how employee’s mental well-being should be respected and inspire other companies to do the same. While it is not a requirement to have a mental health condition to work for ATSO, we have set up our entire organization with equity, diversity, inclusion, and employees’ best interests in mind to create a work culture that prioritizes and promotes better mental health and well-being. A few ways we do this is by offering unlimited paid time off including pre-approved mental health days, completely customizable schedules to fit everyone’s schedules, and resources like our Guide to BioHacking Your Menstrual Cycle to help employees take care of themselves and play to their strengths. We donate 5% of our proceeds to the mental health non-profit TWLOHA, and in the future, I plan to launch an ATSO counselor network and a research department committed to diversifying mental health research and support plus innovating better treatments for mental health conditions. I also plan on having ATSO act as a parent company in the future for several community-focused non-profits that will help support the community’s well-being in different ways.

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?

Growing up I was extremely shy, and I felt uncomfortable and unsure of myself a lot of the time (I later learned this was due to my at the time undiagnosed mental health conditions). Looking back now, I know little me would be super excited about ATSO, and I feel good knowing I’m making her proud. I was an only child and lived with my mom, dad, and our bird, Cupid, and dog, Tammy. I have always loved animals, staying active, spending time in nature, reading, cooking, learning about other cultures, learning other languages, and a good daydream. I did gymnastics, basketball, and dance growing up, and did cheerleading in high school which helped me come out of my shell. I used to want to go into fashion, but as I grew older and learned more about the world, I decided I wanted to do something where I could have a more direct positive impact on society and my community.

Pricing:

• Our mental health support sessions are $40.
• We offer the first mental health support session for free!
• We offer reward cards so after your fourth mental health session, you get the fifth one for free.
• Want to help support our mission and show your stubborn optimist spirit? Shopping at our ATSO Shop directly funds our work.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://askthestubbornoptimist.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/askthestubbornoptimist/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/askthestubbornoptimistATSO
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/askthestubborno
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4qV2o6Drp1jwxC0LKNSenw
• Other: https://linktr.ee/askthestubbornoptimist