IFundWomen Winners Part 2 with Emilie, Joslyn, and Brittney
IFundWomen Winners Part 2 with Emilie, Joslyn, and Brittney
Seven years ago, I had an idea for a business that took me on the wildest journey filled with my highest highs and my lowest lows. From the second I became an entrepreneur, though, I felt a kinship with other founders, especially female founders. This summer, when it seemed like the world was blowing up and we were trying to decide how to respond as a business to the world around us, my gut told me that supporting Black Female founders was the path that we should take.
The Financial Gym partnered with iFundWomen to identify five black female founded businesses to receive a scholarship from us as well as business coaching and any other resources the Gym could provide to help these women create even more successful businesses. A few months back, we highlighted Take a Break Babysitting and Pathway to Purpose, and this month we’re highlighting Joslyn and Brittney from Fit and Nu and Emilie from Ashe Birthing Services. They join me today to share more about why they decided to start a company, how 2020 has impacted their business, and where they’re taking their businesses next year and beyond.
What are we drinking?
Brittney - Iced Chai Latte
Joslyn - Ginger Chamomile Tea
Emilie - Iced Latte
Shannon - Black Cherry Schweppes
Podcast Notes
Emilie’s background is in veterinary medicine and medical anthropology. The anatomy of a dog and cat is the same as a human and that has helped her with birth work.
When Emilie became pregnant, it was still a huge learning curve. She didn’t know very much and people don’t talk about the details unless you ask. During her pregnancy, she transferred from a hospital birth to a birthing center and she eventually had a home birth.
She had a very empowering home birth with a doula, and because of that she decided to switch careers five years ago and do that full time.
Ashé Birthing Services offers birth and post-partum support and sacred intentionality around healing. A doula provides informational, physical, and emotional support to a birthing person in labor and post-partum.
Shannon wanted to have a doula, but when she was pregnant, she was living in Tampa and those services weren’t readily available.
Doulas support all types of birth, including hospital births. A little less than half get epidurals. The goal is to support you and your goals and to make sure you walk away feeling empowered and that you have informed decision making.
People find Emilie mostly through referrals. She also mentors with a company called Manhattan Birth, which is a training group for other doulas, and they offer birth education. Other people find her on Google and Instagram.
You can deny anything during the birth, including the vaginal exam. With a little more training, medical staff can know where a woman is at without the exam.
Joslyn and Brittney are sisters and earlier they were on different health journeys. After Joslyn graduated college with a degree in construction and interior design, she got a job designing elevators for an elevator company. Being an adult became hard really quick.
Joslyn gained weight and thought she needed to be in a relationship, so she started on an emotional rollercoaster. She didn’t feel like herself and she wanted to fix that, so she started with her health.
The engineering firm she worked for celebrated everything and there was always pie in the refrigerator. She didn’t realize her weight gain until she and Brittney were at their parents’ house and Brittney drew a picture of Joslyn. She was in a good place emotionally, until she saw the picture.
Joslyn was on her nutrition journey when Brittney was living in L.A. It was difficult for Brittney to meet people, so she decided to get a gym membership. She was going to the gym but wasn’t meeting anyone, because everyone was in their zone.
Brittney thought she was an athlete, but she didn’t find it easy to work out on her own. Everything other than cardio was intimidating. She went to the gym later and later to avoid people, so she could take time to read the instructions on the machines.
This was much different than being on a sports team. Brittney ended up meeting a friend, who saw her reading the instructions, and he offered to help her.
Brittney moved from L.A. to New York, and she joined a gym right away and became a membership advisor there. She was selling a lifestyle to people that she didn’t live, because there was still a lot she didn’t know.
Brittney took it upon herself to be trained by every single trainer at that gym and she took notes and applied it to molding her own body. Her goal was to have a fitness model physique. She wanted every woman to know how to do this, so they wouldn’t find coming to a gym so daunting.
Joslyn and Brittney got together, quit their jobs, and took a trip to Central America to expose themselves to the Latin American culture for three months. They were in that world, but at the same time they saw what was missing in their world, which was health and wellness spaces for women of color.
When they came back to New York, they became Zumba instructors, because they became certified in Nicaragua. They thought they would start with fitness. The Zumba class grew to 100 people in a class. People asked what else they did to stay healthy, and Joslyn started helping people with juicing. The customers wanted more and more.
They decided to go from being Zumba instructors to being mobile fitness coaches to a real boutique club. March 2015 was the inception of their business. They had a physical office in 2016, but they opened their physical doors to customers in 2019. March 2020 was the anniversary of the opening.
Their space is back open, but they are going to close for flu season. Their customers have already adapted to the virtual classes and coaching earlier this year.
The high of being a founder for Joslyn is to have the autonomy and freedom to do what she wants to do and not feel caged. Her low is having the responsibility to keep everything together and to stay consistent, because so many people depend on them.
The high of being a founder for Brittney is seeing how their vision has changed lives. They were dreaming very small to start, with Zumba, and that is how it all began. Their customers pushed them to do more. The low has been trying to figure out their growth strategy, especially now with COVID. It feels like they are moving laterally.
The high of being a founder for Emilie is having full autonomy and the low is if you don’t work you don’t make money. Emilie had COVID earlier this year, and she was out for two months.
When you follow your feet, everything else comes. If you walk in your passion, the universe conspires with you. Make sure you have a qualified team of advisors.
Joslyn and Brittney plan to scale up in the virtual world in 2021. Emilie is going to focus on sustainability in 2021. Only 7% of women giving birth in NYC have doulas.
Takeaway: My biggest takeaway is that running a company, especially in a year like 2020, is beyond challenging, but if you have passion combined with purpose, like these women do, anything is possible.
Random Three Questions
What has been your favorite thing to binge in the last eight months?
What do you do to relax?
If this was your last meal on earth, what would you choose?
Connect with Emilie, Joslyn, and Brittney
Emilie
Website: ashebirthingservices.com
Campaign: Ashe Birthing Services
Instagram: @ashebirthingservices
Joslyn & Brittney
Website: fitandnu.com
Campaign: FIT & NU
Instagram: @fitandnu
If you have any topics you would like me to cover on this podcast, or if you’d like to get in the financially naked hot seat, I encourage you to email me to Shannon@fingyms.com, or join the private Martinis and Your Money Facebook group, and let me know what you want to hear.
If you’d like to talk to my team at The Financial Gym to help you manage your finances if you have a business or if you are thinking about starting one, we’re offering a number of great deals right now, and our team is more than happy to make your plan and take money stress off of your plate. So head over to, or send friends to, financialgym.com to get set up today.