We were lucky to catch up with Madeline Gourley recently and have shared our conversation below.

Madeline, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?

Growing up, my parents were all about health and wellness. We always had home-cooked, balanced meals and were encouraged to participate in school and club sports. My three sisters and I were the odd ones at school with our Thermos lunches filled with dinner leftovers – always a healthy, elaborate affair. We cringed at the time (smelly lunch kid wasn’t cool!), but now I have a different perspective on those lunches and family dinners. Growing up a club swimmer and student-athlete, I experienced the intensity and aptitude that goes into physical wellness. The ability to wake up at 4:00 am every day for high school swim practice is a skill I no longer practice, but boy, did it teach me a thing or two about time management and discipline!

I owe my parents a huge debt of health! They unknowingly (or maybe knowingly!) instilled a healthy nutrition and fitness foundation that’s still with me. Raising my own healthy kids, I often think back to those meals – roasted chicken with honey-glazed Brussels sprouts and mashed potatoes – and 4:00 am swim practices, and send a silent “thanks, Mom and dad!” for their healthy eating wisdom.

Huge props to them for requiring family dinners too! No matter the day or our crazy after-school sports schedules, Mom made sure we all sat down together for dinner. We’d connect over the day’s ups and downs, bonding as a family over a delicious and nutritious meal.

Those “do rights” quietly shaped my personal and professional beliefs about health, always ready but unsure how to surface. They laid the groundwork for how I maintain my well-being now!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My entry into the health and wellness world? Let’s just say my career path looked like a seismograph – all over the place! Seriously though, it was a journey of trial and error and some serious soul-searching with myself and mentors. My “aha!” moment hit in 2017 while working for a chiropractor and naturopathic doctor. I was energized by their focus on natural healing through nutrition and fitness. From there, my passion for the powerful impact of nutrition on everyone, from babies to seniors, truly blossomed.

After earning my CPT in 2017 and my Master’s in clinical nutrition in 2024, I set my sights on opening my practice, offering nutritional medical therapy and person training. In the next 3-5 years, I’m focusing on women’s and children’s health, particularly the pre-, intra-, and postpartum phases, as well as menopause. As a mother of three, I also understand the challenges of building healthy eating and movement habits in kids, and that’s a key area I want to address in my practice.

My client approach is multilayered. Someone new to whole foods won’t be asked to go all organic and track every macro and micro, or someone new to strength training won’t have a heavy focus on using heavy weights. Instead, we’ll start at the foundation: food as medicine and fuel, and movement for longevity, understanding how what you eat and how much you move dictate how your body functions. For clients already tracking macros, getting enough protein and fiber, and actively lifting weights, we’ll take a deeper dive, analyzing their current diet, blood work, body assessments, and more.

Ultimately, as a nutritionist and personal trainer, my goal is to equip clients with the tools to move beyond illness and truly thrive (hence the birth of the name Thrive by Design Nutrition). What sets me apart is my focus on longevity, achieved through this gradual, multilayered approach.

Looking back, I’m most proud of the strong foundation I’ve built for myself, one that aligns perfectly with everything I advise my clients. Growing up, I learned that food, herbs, vitamins, minerals, and physical fitness will result in longevity, and that’s a core message I’m now sharing with others in my career!

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

The most valuable asset in medical nutrition therapy is the adaptability to work with diverse clients. It pushes you beyond your usual perspectives and challenges you unexpectedly. This also unlocks new understandings of the intricate links between various conditions, deepening your knowledge of how the body can malfunction.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Truly connecting with other business owners in related fields has been the most effective way to grow my clientele. When building a client-focused business from scratch, those referrals and connections are absolutely crucial – they can really make or break you.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://my.practicebetter.io/#/67832cb79168d49b375efb53/profile
• Instagram: @thrivingwithmads

Image Credits

McKenzie Myers Photography