Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Melanie Shafranek. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Melanie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

The first seven years of my career were spent in the photography industry as a creative in a field I sometimes felt like I didn’t belong to. From the ages of 23-29, I dealt with chronic symptoms that guided me down a path to health I never expected.

I always knew helping people was something I was passionate about, but until I went through my own health crisis, I didn’t know being a Functional Nutritionist was actually my calling. For years, I went to work exhausted, dealing with food sensitivities and symptoms, surrounded by people who didn’t understand what I was going through. I felt more alone being around people every day than I had my entire life. It wasn’t until I met with my first functional doctor that everything started making sense.

It took many years to start seeing improvement in my own health, but I found something even more incredible along the way: community. The health and wellness community made me realize I wasn’t crazy and that the difficult decisions I had made throughout the years were valid and necessary. I went back to school to get certified simply to help myself understand what it takes to heal. I never planned to leave my full-time job to pursue this as a career.

With my own team of practitioners, I was able to get better. More and more friends/family began asking me what I did and of course it was all I ever wanted to talk about. The healing power of food and lifestyle changes were life altering for me and I realized it was important to speak up about my own experience in order to help others.

It wasn’t until I was quarantined in 2020 as I watched thousands of people struggling with a virus none of us expected that I realized I had to do something. Everything I had gone through was leading me to this moment where I took a huge risk and quit my full-time job to pursue nutrition during a global pandemic.

I started my business, built an online course for others struggling with chronic symptoms, and began building my own community of like-minded people looking to better their health. It was terrifying, but fulfilling in ways I never could have imagined. I’ve been lucky enough to have students, podcast listeners, and over half a million TikTok viewers learn from what I have been through. All I want is to guarantee no one will have to go through the same crisis I did in their 20s. Our body is meant to heal, all we have to do is give it the right tools to do so.

Melanie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I specialize in autoimmune disease, leaky gut, and mold toxicity. I personally was dealing with symptoms like bloating, gas, constipation, fatigue, hair loss, weight gain, and food sensitivities after being exposed to toxic mold in my living space for 5 years. I didn’t realize, but because my immune system was on high alert throughout those years, I unfortunately developed multiple autoimmune diseases like Hashimoto’s and Arthritis.

What we are not taught by Western medicine doctors is that it’s possible to treat these symptoms with more natural things than prescription medications. Getting down to the root cause of our symptoms is how we can get our autoimmune into remission and find our way back to feeling good from day to day. Everything we put in our body, and on it, can affect inflammation that contributes to our illness.

As a Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, I have one-on-one consultations, an online course, eBooks, and a podcast with resources and information to help educate and empower my clients on changes they can make to begin to heal. I work alongside anyone trying to discover their root cause as a resource to help guide them to find the right doctors, the right diet, a mold-free home, and a proper diagnosis.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

There was a period right as I launched my course when I was living in New York City barely making it on my savings I had accumulated from my photography career. I was so scared that I was going to run out of money that I had to cut back on the higher quality food I’m used to eating and the supplements I had relied on for years to keep my own autoimmune disease under control. I was stressed, but excited, and that’s what kept me going.

I was creating content constantly and wasn’t getting a big response from interested clients. I began to get nervous, but I kept going. I couldn’t afford NYC any longer so I ended up moving to upstate NY and back to Dallas, TX after a long journey of discovering that it takes sacrifice to get to where you want to be. Building your own business takes time and a lot of energy. After a year of trying to make it work, I found an incredible job working for a Functional Doctor who has the same vision as me and decided to go back to working full-time while I built my own business on the side.

The week after I took a full-time job, my TikTok blew up. Of course after 2 years of putting out videos, recipes, pictures, and resources the timing wasn’t coincidental. Life has an interesting way of showing you where you’re meant to be and I realized how much more I could provide my clients if I was working alongside a Functional MD who could provide testing and support to me as I continued to pursue my dreams in a more sustainable way.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Time, patience, word of mouth, and social media. Some of the best advice I’ve ever received was to just start posting online even if you don’t have a plan. It takes many years to grow your audience on any platform and you’ll figure it out as you go. I started posting on Instagram in 2019, Tiktok in 2021, and I just finally reached over 10K followers for the first time this month. You don’t know what is going to resonate with people until you start creating and see what gets a response.

Paying it forward is something that I strongly believe in. I have many entrepreneurial friends that have been doing this for years before me who helped give me guidance, resources, and support along the way and I wouldn’t be where I am without them.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.everybodybymel.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everybodybymel/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/everybodybymel
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melanie-shafranek/
• Other: TIKTOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@everybodybymel

Image Credits
Sierra McGee