We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Vanessa Rogers a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Vanessa , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

First, I started out as my own client. I was a college athlete and could not figure out how to fuel my body properly — which continued after I stopped playing sports. I relied on convenience foods mostly, and I was curious about a better way, so I started experimenting. At the time, I was studying Behavioral Science at UCSD and leaned into mindset, cognition, and change/growth in my courses. I jumped into the workforce but kept studying after work, eventually receiving my certification from the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, followed by a Health Coaching Certification from The Mayo Clinic, and a National Board Certification.

While I was utilizing my new practices on myself, my food and body issues started to ease up, and wow, what a different life I had discovered. I had a whole new toolkit now, and I felt empowered instead of shameful, confused, or frustrated. I had created a secret sauce, one that was working not only for myself but now many clients from various places, ages, and backgrounds. I knew this was a worthwhile endeavor, not only because it was innately my calling, but because I was seeing people’s pain and struggles with food and body start to fall away. Their lab results were improving as well and they would send me regular screenshots from their appointments. It was unbelievable at first. It was like they were gaining new life. Having lost my father to heart disease, those client results were deeply meaningful to me. It felt somehow indescribable, but doing this work felt completely natural and very right.

Thinking about food constantly (whether eating or not eating), the awful dieting cycle truly robs people of the joy of their day-to-day lives. I take that personally. Seeing my clients with new levels of freedom and confidence, I knew I needed to get this in front of as many people as possible. So, after running my coaching business for about five years, I created the Food Relationship Online Course, and the Food Relationship Workbook, to extend these lessons to audiences everywhere.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hi! I am Vanessa Rogers, NBC-HWC, a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach, specializing in the psychology of eating. I was a collegiate athlete and I received my Health and Wellness Certification from The Mayo Clinic and completed a degree in Behavioral Science from The University of California, San Diego.

I have guided people around the globe to sustainable behavior change with regard to food, eating, and overall wellness. My approach is unique, as I have overcome my own challenges with food, I am coming from a place of personal experience. I have a passionate drive for others to release their burdens and step into joy and ease with food once and for all.

Clients usually come to me and say, “I cannot feel like this anymore.” They have maybe had a baby in the past couple years, or they are just tired of the back and forth on the yo-yo dieting cycle. They are at the end of the dieting rope and ready to be done for good! I love that because it is exactly the right place to be if you want to dive into a new way of creating change. In that space, you want a long-lasting solution and to take great care of yourself; you don’t want to harm yourself with another diet, and you also don’t want to keep doing “nothing.” That is a very real feeling and a very real place to be — it is the ideal feeling to have to jump into my Food Relationship Online Course!

The thing that I’m really proud of is that the work I do is able to help someone on their journey, no matter what the goal or type of background, to utilize the art and the science of behavior change. Without doing both of those, you’re going to leave a lot of possibilities behind, and/or you might find yourself regressing down the line. I am really happy to be able to bring people both sides of the equation — and people can access all the information online or in the book, on their own time.

I love to share information on Instagram, including a free video course, and you can find me at @well.nessa. That is with regard to health and wellness of course, and also content on body relationship, and relationship with self. It all starts there! I know it sounds like hard work, but I promise it is simple and it is worth it. YOU are worth it!

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

There is one un-learning opportunity that hit me hard more than once. It was the old adage that you have to work yourself to the bone to get ahead. It sounds so simple and I don’t know if it is because of being an “older” millennial if you will, but wow that was really ingrained in me. Having spent years in corporate sales and collegiate athletics, I learned to push myself. I also am a team of one (with some fantastic contractors) and I am supporting myself in California, so the financial pressures can be heavy. I slowly realized that taking on more clients felt like helping more people, but the truth of the matter was that I was spreading myself too thin. When it comes down to it, my main focus is my clients’ getting powerful results, and how can I be potent if I have too many people I’m serving? I can’t. My next hurdle was then judging myself for having too few clients. I took this to my IFS therapist and we did a lot of very helpful work on it. I realized that 2-3 clients per day, 2 days a week, is my maximum and that is what is true for me, period. It was really nice to have a manageable calendar, and I can feel well-positioned to serve as my best self. That discovery also led me to create my Food Relationship Online Course and Workbook, so I can serve people who are not private coaching clients!

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

The best source of new clients for my business has been Yelp! It has been a huge help. I can appreciate that their website gives honest feedback, so people can get a better understanding of a practitioner, especially for something as personal as coaching. It’s a great resource, and a good place for me to also read their thoughts and feedback.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.vanessacrogers.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/well.nessa
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vanessa.rogers.5/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessacrogers/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/vanessacrogers
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzOMvqM67OhGxctT0hoVeYA
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/vanessa-rogers-health-coach-walnut-creek-6
• Other: Course website: vanessarogers.teachable.com Free Food Relationship Video! https://vanessarogers.lpages.co/food-relationship-video/

Image Credits
Photos by Dirt Pearls & Curls Photography and Ashley Janine Navarro