🎙️ She Lost 50 Pounds. And Everything Changed. Episode 34 with Wellness Empire owner Tanya Rosen

Today's guest is Tanya Rosen, founder of Nutrition by Tanya. Tanya didn't just start out wanting to be a nutritionist, but after facing her own health struggles, she made a pivotal decision to rebuild her life around wellness. What began in people's basements grew into a multi-location business with 12 locations, a product line, and a team of over 40, helping thousands of people live healthier, more confident lives. This conversation is about pivots, persistence, and body confidence, and what it takes to build a business without losing yourself along the way. Listen this week on Jewish Grad. Tanya, it is so nice to see you. Thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you for having me. Um, you grew up dreaming about being a lawyer, and somehow you ended up in the health space. And I want to know, when you when did you realize that that path was no longer what you wanted? It wasn't aligned with, you know, where you wanted to go in life. So, um, basically when I was pregnant with my first child, 21 years ago, I had gained 50 lb, 5-0, and at that time I had already taken the LSAT, and I was applying to law schools, and I was like sure that that's what I want to do. And I had never dieted or eaten anything healthy or moved or exercised in my life, but here I was with like 50 extra pounds, and I was like, let me lose it, right? So, I was trying to figure it out on my own. Like back then there wasn't all these million programs and nutritionists and whatever, and I got really into it. I was like, wow, this is cool. Like it's cool to eat healthy, it's cool to move, it's cool to exercise, okay. And then, um, also having a baby, I was like, how am I going to be like those crazy full-time, you know, corporate lawyers, which is what I wanted to be, right? Like litigation and courtroom, like that was my style. Like I wanted to be like if you ever watch Legally Blonde. >> of course. I think we all have. Right. So, I wanted to be legally blonde, right? Not like paperwork lawyer, like lawyer lawyer. And I was like, "You know what? Maybe I should go for nutrition instead, right? Like law school I could just do at any other time. I'm going to go for nutrition instead and like work part-time and raise my baby and have more babies and that's it. Changed my path. My parents were devastated. Everyone thought I was crazy, but that's what I did. Can you talk a little bit about the products and services that you currently offer? So, our main thing is nutrition counseling. So, people come in, whether it's to gain weight, lose weight, address a medical concern, just eat healthy. Some people come in with their kids um or even on behalf of their kids to learn how to um for their kids to eat healthy. Um and then we make a customized plan. So, we do a lot of one-on-one. We make a customized plan for each person based on their needs. Um this is really for men, women, kids, ages 5 to 95 or whatever. We've had oldest we've had was 95. Then we do follow-ups, right? So, um we're there for them. They have our cell phone numbers. They could text us if they're in the grocery or if they're going out to eat or if they're having an event or whatever. And we help them along the way. And then we monitor them. We see how their goals are going. If it's to gain weight, are they gaining the right amount of weight? If it's to lose weight, are they losing weight appropriately? That's our main main thing. And then we also sell a full line of food. So, we have meals, we have snacks, and that's sold at our locations and in all kosher supermarkets throughout the United States. And then we also have um online courses for working out as well as emotional eating and other programs that people could do online. Um and we also have kosher workout series. So, we have the instructors are dressed modestly, the music is non-secular, um short effective workouts for all levels. What kind of fears came up when you wanted to pivot like that? Cuz I can I can see that, you know, you go on plan A for so long and then all of a sudden you're like, "Wait, you know what? That doesn't fit with my lifestyle." So, what kind of fears came up when you did when you moved in that direction? I mean, definitely my parents' disappointment. Like, my parents are Russian immigrants. So, this was like their lifelong dream their daughter will be a a lawyer. Like, they used money they did not have for LSAT and for LSAT prep and for all these things. And this was like their dream. So, definitely my parents' disappointment. Um also just kind of like growing up in like a Russian culture is like you become a professional professional. Like, a nutritionist is like cute, but like it's not a profession. It really like kind of like changed the whole like what people expect of me, what I expect of me. You know, it made me like into a whole different era, category, whatever. But, it seems that you didn't just do like something small. You ended up building something incredible. Like, you have 12 locations, you have You not only have Nutrition by Tanya, which is products and sold in stores all over, right? You're also doing consulting. You're also um have a stamp of approval on all of your of your things. So, like, you don't do something small. So, how did that come about? So, it really wasn't like the plan wasn't for it to be big. Like, there was no like business plan or expansion plan expansion plan or like a growth plan. It really was supposed to be small. And then it just kind of organically grew, right? Um but it wasn't the plan. So, was there a moment in your as you were growing where you felt like this isn't going to work? There was no time for that. Like, there was no time. Like, I was just so busy and so like just in a growth mindset that there was no time. And I also like it's not even confidence. I mean, that's part of it, but it's like I don't second-guess things. Like, if I make a decision, I make a decision. And I'd rather fail at something than wonder what if. That applies to anything. Like, I will try something just so that I never have to wonder what it would have been like. >> Yeah. So, like, I needed to try what like if I wanted to try a different location or a different product, I needed to to it or it would like bug my head forever and ever. Like I just needed to like do it. Was Was the growth organic or was it strategic? >> Organic. So, talk to me a little bit about that process. Like how How did it start? How did you get in Like you know, you had a health a health situation. You started to You know, you got yourself out of whatever issues you had. Obviously saw a gap in the marketplace. But how did How did that organic growth happen? I'd love to hear your story. So, the reason I say it's not strategic, meaning if I had to look back now and like write it out as a business plan, maybe I could, maybe I can't, but we never did it like that. It was more like, let's say we had a Barcode and a Flat location. And people were coming in from Muncie and saying like, "Hey, you know, this is crazy. I love you, but like I'm in Muncie. Like open a Muncie location." Right? So, then we would open a Muncie location. Or let's say people were eating our muffins and cookies and saying like, "You know what? I wish I could have like a dreamy creamy cheesecake that like I'm still on a diet and I could eat that." So, we created a dreamy creamy cheesecake, right? So, it was more like based on what people wanted versus like, "Here's the plan." And you know, When you were growing, I want to take you back to a moment, a time where it was just hard It was hard. It was tough. Was there a moment in your growth journey that you felt that way? I just like sometimes it just felt like a too much. Like it didn't feel like failure. It felt like too much. Like am I really like am I doing too much, right? Why am I doing so much? What's the reason? Like I'm a deep reflective person and like I think I think a lot and I analyze a lot. So, like I would just ask myself like, "Why are you doing all this? Like do you need to do this much? Like are you just doing it like also as a mom, there's always like the guilt of like, "Am I neglecting my kids in order to do this?" So, I don't think I felt it in a sense of like, "Is this going well?" I just felt it more like, "Am I doing too much and am I neglecting my kids?" So, what do you tell yourself to get past that? I mean, I try to be honest with myself. I think that also like the fact that my husband and my kids are very supportive of what I do. They're all involved and they're all supportive, so that helps. You know, they don't give me the guilt that I give myself. So, can you share a little bit about your your Jewish upbringing and the things that you really pull from your faith in your growth of your business? So, I grew up not religious in Israel actually. My parents are Russian and we grew up like traditional but not religious. Like my mom would light candles. We kept some kosher but not much. When we came to America they put me in a care of school Bais Yaakov. And Bais Yaakov had girls like me who came from Russian backgrounds who weren't religious and a lot of the girls got inspired by their teachers and Shabbaton's and things like that. Then I went to college first for a year and then after that I decided to take a break from college and go to Neve which you can go at any age. Neve Seminary is in Jerusalem and it is a seminary that is for anyone. Like you could be you can come to class in like shorts and like 12 piercings or you can come there as someone who's been Hasidic her whole life but never understood why and like wants to learn and grow. So, it's really like all types, all ages. So, it's very accepting and very like grow on your own level or don't grow or whatever you want. So, how was that experience for you? So, that was amazing. Like that was very transform transformative and when once I came back in June I was there from September to June I was already fully religious. I was keeping Shabbos and kosher and modesty laws and everything. So, your Jewish journey started off you're not religious, now you are religious. How has your faith played in your business? So, it's it's very interesting because I always say that I don't know how people who are not religious run a business because you see God like in such crazy crazy ways. Like when you have a regular job, like you know exactly like you're getting paid x amount on x date and x date and that's it, right? Like you know exactly. When you you're in business, you see crazy things like like and you also see that you're not in control. Like like we could do like what I think is like an amazing idea, an amazing project, an amazing campaign, and then we're like, "Okay, crickets." Like nothing. And then we could be like doing nothing or doing something that I didn't think was amazing and like I guess I always say like God liked that one. So then then it does really really really well. So I've also had many times where I was very frustrated. Like let's say I need to fill a certain role and I'm just not getting the right person. Like I'm just I've done LinkedIn, I've done Craigslist, I interviewed a million people, and I literally like I'll turn to God and I'll be like, "Okay, I really did my part. Like you know I did my part. Like I'm like the definition of like doing your part. Like I've exhausted all whatever. If you want me to find someone for this role, bring it. If not, and like literally like like 5 minutes later someone will like message me, "Hey, are you looking to hire? I have a friend who's amazing." And like that person ends up being like a star employee and like literally just dropped from the sky. So so it's amazing. You see God a lot like that. >> I'm sure. How many employees do you have? >> So part-time a lot of them are part-time. So like like a little over 40. Wow. And what's it like to lead a team? It's great. It It comes natural to me. So like it's not hard for me. Like it's not hard for me to delegate, which is important. Um you just have to like really understand people and understand like what makes each person tick cuz everyone is different. So was there ever any situation that came up with your employees that you felt like, "How am I going to handle this?" Yeah, many times. I mean most of them are normal, you know, someone's just having a bad day or someone just needs a little extra like TLC or acknowledgement. And then I've had some drama as well. Um and it's you know, apparently it's part of the program. Part of your platform is emotional eating and how a lot of people struggle with it. Why is this something that you talk openly about? You feel passionate about it. It's very easy to tell people what to eat, right? Like when I first became nutritionist, I naively thought that that's all you got to do. Like just tell people what to eat, they're going to listen to you and they're going to live happily ever after. Like the end, right? But then I realized that there's so much more to it. Like there's the why people eat, right? And the answer is so much more than just oh, when I'm hungry I eat. Cuz that's like 5% of people and everyone else has a million other reasons why they eat when they eat, right? So I became very fascinated in it because I like psychology stuff and it's very interesting to me. So I started kind of like like listening to what like the reasons people eat and like let's say someone would cheat or whatever, I would ask why? What happened, right? Then I took a lot of courses on emotional eating. I'm actually even a certified life coach and I took um I learned directly from Judith Beck who's like the queen of emotional eating. I took her course in person. Um I wanted to really really understand it and get to the depth of it because if you don't get to the bottom of it and the why, someone could be on a thousand diets and it's never going to last if they're not addressing like the core root of why they're eating. So what would you tell young professionals who to be more not only conscientious of their body, but what would you tell them about body positivity or emotional eating? I mean it's really two separate things. Um so body positivity is um very misused these days. Like the whole body positivity movement is completely misused. It's basically giving permission to like become 300 lb and just love yourself the way you are. It's just giving everyone an excuse to like the way the body positivity movement is set up. I would say that everyone has their best body that they can get to, right? Meaning not everyone will be a size zero or two, right? Just like not everyone can be blonde and tanned, right? There's certain genetics that play. There's certain limitations, but everyone can be their best selves, right? And there's no reason not to be your best self. Besides, we're talking about vanity, but also for health, Right? All these like this whole body positivity movement, those people that are 300 lb are not healthy. What do you wish women understood more about their bodies and their self-worth? I'm not sure how to answer that, but I mean I I would say that everyone should stop comparing themselves to other people, right? Um you're not you're you're not going to you don't have the genetics of your friend, you don't have whatever your friend has, but you could be your best version and I wish people knew that you don't have to go to crazy extremes to do that, right? There's a lot out there like juicing and cleansing and detox and this and that. You don't have to do any of that. Like you could actually do accomplish this without being crazy or extreme. What advice would you give to a young professional standing at the edge of a pivot and they may be scared and they may not know what to do? Right. So, I would say that definitely have a mentor, someone who knows you well, um someone who's objective about you, doesn't have their own agenda in place, you know? Um and help let them help you figure out what it is you want to do, but there's going to come a point where you kind of just like have to pull the trigger and do it. Some people have a hard time with decisiveness, right? Um especially Libras, if anyone's a Libra, then you probably have a very hard time making decisions. That's a Libra thing. But some people have a hard time, but like there's got to be a point where you just like you won't know until you try it, right? So, if a young professional wants to go into the health and wellness industry, what uh what do you what would what what's a piece of advice that you would give them? Definitely um do research in terms of like what you want your message to be, right? Like don't just be generic. Like don't just tell people like protein and vegetables and carbs and whatever. Like people know these days what to eat. They could Google it. They could read a book about it. Like you want to offer more than that and there's hardly ever such a thing as like not getting into people's lifestyle and emotional health and mental health. Like you got to combine it. Otherwise, you're not different than Google or a book that they could read. When it comes to marketing, you know, how how how do people find you? How do people know you? So, mostly word of mouth. Um but we do um we do have an Instagram account and my WhatsApp status gets a lot of views. I post a lot of my WhatsApp status. Um of course, we do traditional print advertising in the Jewish magazines. Other than that, today's world is very much like about influencers. Like it's certain influencers are definitely worth it. Um they cost not much more than an ad and they have a further reach usually. So, that too. What what makes you proud to be a Jew? There's no other way really to be grounded and be it also leads you like you're I mean, of course, there's exceptions, but you're going to run your business honestly. You're going to have more honest dealings with people. You're going to have a guide, right? Like when I when I see people that running are running a business that is open on Shabbos or whatever, I'm like, when do you like relax? When do you disconnect? Like I love Shabbos. I love holidays. You know, you get to like totally To me, there's just it's the best way. It's especially for a person who's a workaholic, who's you know, go go go go go, you need that like disconnect. >> Thank you so much for joining us today and for all of your insightful knowledge. I we greatly appreciate you sitting with us today. >> My pleasure. Thank you for having me. >> Thank you for listening to Jewish Grit an Olami Mentorship podcast. At Olami Mentorship, we believe that everyone needs a mentor. What better way is there to tap into your personal and professional potential than with a Jewish mentor at your side? Learn more at olami.org/mentorship. Don't forget to keep listening on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.