IAM136- Dietitian Nutritionist, Certified Yoga Teacher and Author Helps Brands Convey Health Eating Messages

Keri Gans is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, Certified Yoga Teacher, and author of The Small Change Diet, a Shape Magazine Advisory Board Member and blogger for US News & World Report. The Keri Report, her own weekly blog and newsletter, helps to convey her no-nonsense and fun approach to living a healthy lifestyle. Gans is a sought-after nutrition expert and has conducted thousands of interviews worldwide. Her expertise has been featured in media outlets such as, Glamour, Shape, Self, Women’s Health, The Dr. Oz Show, ABC News, PIX11 Morning Show, Good Morning America, and FOX Business. She lives in NYC and East Hampton with her husband Bart, and is a huge dog lover, Netflix aficionado and martini enthusiast.

• CEO Hack: Yoga to relax and manage every day
• CEO Nugget: (1) Don't let others tell you what you can't do (2) Don't give up (3) Be the deciding factor 
• CEO Defined: Be the one that does it all and ultimate decision maker

Website: https://kerigansny.com/

Facebook:https://web.facebook.com/KeriGansNY/?_rdc=1&_rdr
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kerigans 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kerigans/

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Transcription:

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:27

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from me the I AM CEO Podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Keri Gans of KeriGansny.com. Keri, it is awesome to have you on the show.

Keri Gans 0:37

It's awesome to be here.

Gresham Harkless 0:38

Great, great, great to have you. And what I want to do is just read a little bit more about Keri, so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. And Keri is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, Certified Yoga Teacher, author of The Small Change Diet, a Shape Magazine Advisory Board Member, and a blogger for US News and World Report. The Keri Report, her weekly blog, and newsletter help to convey her no-nonsense and fun approach to living a healthy lifestyle.

She is a sought-after nutrition expert and has conducted 1000s of interviews worldwide. Her expertise has been featured in the media outlets such as Glamour, Shape, Self, Women’s Health, The Dr. Oz Show, ABC News, PIX11 Morning News, Good Morning America, and FOX Business. She lives in NYC in East Hampton with her husband Bart and is a huge dog lover, Netflix aficionado, and martini enthusiast. Keri, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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Keri Gans 1:34

I am ready to speak with them.

Gresham Harkless 1:36

All right, let's do it. So first question I had was just to hear a little bit more about your CEO story. What led you to start your business?

Keri Gans 1:42

It's funny, you talk about like CEO, I didn't think of myself that way. Yes, I run everything here. My business is me. And it just kind of had a life of its own. My passion for nutrition and my passion for communicating sound messages just took off. And it's an interesting thing. When I think back did I say one day I'm going to be a CEO? And it's even when you asked me to talk about being a CEO, I still don't think of it that way. But I just kind of launched into being the only of what I do.

Gresham Harkless 2:14

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And it's funny because I know when we talked offline, we talked a little bit about that. But it's great to hear kind of how I think in true entrepreneurial form. Sometimes you just kind of go with, I guess how things are moving. And then you follow like what probably is your passion something is surely passionate about, but also what you do very well, it sounds like.

Keri Gans 2:32

Right, and it kind of sometimes just naturally, organically. I mean, I'd like to say that it was a really strict path. But I kind of want to when I look back, I was just open to new things. Open to networking with others, I think that one of the biggest things that I could talk to anyone about starting their own business is networking and being open to meeting others, listening to others, and learning from others. And you'd be surprised sometimes where that takes you.

Gresham Harkless 3:00

Absolutely, absolutely. And then sometimes you never know for one where the universe sometimes takes you, but you never know who other people know. So as you start to connect with people, and you start to build your network, you never know what opportunities present themselves, but as you said, you have to be open to what happens.

Keri Gans 3:13

Correct, and not be set and say, This is what I'm going to do. Because if you asked me, God, maybe it's been 18 years now, would I be talking Gresh to you right now, I'd be like, what are you talking about? I'm going to have a small little business, I'm going to be a dietician who just works one on one with patients. And that's what I'm going to do.

But it's not what happened. And I you know, you're talking about the universe having other ideas for us. I think that if your specific type of person, sometimes standing still is not what you're meant to do. And you're just meant to move forward and take on new exciting opportunities. And that's then what probably led me to where I am now.

Gresham Harkless 3:52

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And obviously, it sounds like you're doing a phenomenal job. So I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper and hear, I guess a little bit more about how you support the clients that you work with. I know you have a bunch of things that you're doing, including your book. So could you tell us a little bit more about like what you do to support the clients?

Keri Gans 4:05

Well, basically what I do, I mean, I work with a variety of brands is probably what I do most so food companies, I mean, I'm in the nutrition space. So food companies approached me and they want me to help them convey healthy eating messages, which typically include their projects, I'm sorry, their products. And I wouldn't work with one of these brands if I didn't believe in their product. They have to align with my beliefs in nutrition. And what I do is I work with them a lot of times in today's world, and social media is a huge part of that.

So it'd be sharing their messaging on my social media channels and sharing it out there. It's a lot of doing blog work for them whether on my blog, The Keri Report or on their blog, whether it be doing media events and influencer events, as they're called. And getting other healthcare professionals or editors to learn more about the product.

So, it can vary. There are a lot of different things that I do in that space. And it's what makes it exciting is it's constantly changing. Social media was not a part of the work I did five years ago. And now it's a major part of what I do. So it's also I think, also hears the messages, you constantly have to be willing to change if you want to stay relevant.

Gresham Harkless 5:23

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And I can be imagining probably speaking to this more than anything else. Because I imagine as you mentioned, social media change. But I imagine the industry as a whole probably has changed dramatically. So if you would be kind of stuck in I don't want to call it a bad place. But not maybe the best place that you are now if you stayed is kind of stuck in the way that you were doing business before is that correct?

Keri Gans 5:42

Exactly. I mean, before it was you speak to magazines, and then you could also get your brands mentioned in any magazine. Today, no, they are not going to just mention brands, I mean, they will but we fully disclose, I mean, anything I do with brands is disclosed. I have to say I have this partnership. So the consumer knows. And for years, the consumer was unaware if individuals were working with brands, but it's changed, and the business has changed. And you have to be willing to change along with it.

Gresham Harkless 6:11

Yeah, that makes sense. And I imagine with a consumer having a lot more power at their fingertips, so to speak, where they can do all this research and homework and find out who's connected with who, and all of that stuff, it is very important for brands to be very transparent about who they're partnering with, and also influencers like yourself.

Keri Gans 6:27

Correct. And it's very important, I feel to also remain organic. So going back to that I'm not just going to work with any brand, I'm going to work with a brand that is passionate about health in the same way I am. And also that's why I've also launched into working with various avenues of yoga because that was also something relatively new for me becoming a Certified Yoga Teacher. But it was a passion of mine, it was something that I've been doing for years and years yoga.

And I was like, Okay, now how can I get that passion into my nutrition, passion? So I became a Certified Yoga Teacher. Now a lot of my brands are like, wow, that kind of makes her a little different in the nutrition space. So let's have her feature one of our products in a cool yoga pose because it's not necessarily what other nutritionists do. So we think about building our business as what also can make us stand out different than everybody else who's in the same space.

Gresham Harkless 7:20

Yeah. And I love the fact that you enabled it sounds like be able to do that and build that. And that might be the example of the secret sauce that I was going to ask you but even able to figure out you probably know yourself more than anything else. And just be true to yourself. And then those brands find you or you kind of connect with those brands that are in alignment with who you are as a person.

Keri Gans 7:38

Yes, I mean, I think that's very important. What we do is be true to ourselves. And when you do the type of work I do, that also means that you just don't take you don't take on too many brands, because that wouldn't be looking good either for me. If all of a sudden I'm working with every Tom, Dick, and Harry, it's, I need to be specific to communicate the message. And what happens is in my type of business, I am my product.

So it's also an interesting way to look at it. I mean, people build businesses a lot of times and what are they selling, they're selling a particular product. With me, I'm selling a concept. And that concept has to stem from me. So I have to be organic, I have to walk the talk as the saying goes. And it's very important, because otherwise brands are going to be like, what does she stand for, and you need to be very clear on what you're standing for. So others will have faith in you and be able to feel that you can carry through what they need to communicate.

Gresham Harkless 8:36

It makes perfect sense. Yeah, if you align yourself and describe I guess exactly who you are, and stay true to that, then those brands will kind of flock to you just like any clients or customers do as well.

Keri Gans 8:44

Right. And it's not easy being what's the expression goal when you do everything when you're like the bottle washer? I mean, you do everything?

Gresham Harkless 8:53

Yes.

Keri Gans 8:53

I mean, some companies who do what I do build the team, and then have a lot of people who do various outlets for them. There might be someone who does their social media, and there might be someone that helps through their writing, but I still do everything. And I'm probably even if we have this discussion Gresh, years from now, I probably still will do everything. Not that I'm saying that's the only way. I mean, sometimes it's great to build a team around you. But I have a specific voice not just sounding but communicating. And for me, it's always been important to just totally be hands-on. But with that comes challenges.

So I think with people who are launching into various businesses, for them to understand, can I do everything? If I can't, that's okay. If you have the means to hire and disperse some of the projects that could be very helpful. So there's nothing wrong, it can go either way. I think you just need to look at yourself because it can be overwhelming when you do try to take it all upon yourself.

Gresham Harkless 9:50

Absolutely, absolutely. And that makes perfect sense. And now what I want us to do is switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app a book or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient as a business owner.

Keri Gans 10:03

Hmm, God, that is a good question. I am going to say yoga. I think that when I do my yoga practice, it's like I kind of zone out for a while I practice my yoga and honestly, I don't meditate. But my vinyasa flow kind of helps me get it helps me to relax in some way that then I can get back with and running into whatever needs to be done for the day. So for me, Yoga has helped in managing my day-to-day.

Gresham Harkless 10:33

Absolutely. So you do yoga on a regular everyday basis, just to make sure you're getting that

Keri Gans 10:37

I don't get on my mat every day, I would like to get on my net four to five days a week. But the beauty of yoga is that it doesn't have to just be practiced on your mat. And what I mean is, it's like a concept. It's so if I'm going to have, it's helped me to be patient. So if I have deadlines, and something comes up that I didn't expect, in my day, I just go back to like, okay, take a deep breath, you're gonna get this done. And I think that's the yoga from practicing for so many years, that can help me be more present when I need to be.

Gresham Harkless 11:12

Wow, that's powerful. It makes you feel good. Not so much of a practice, but actually like a lifestyle, as you're saying.

Keri Gans 11:17

Yes, because it is. And it's not only it's like a pain, it's even waiting for online and day-to-day activities. You know, like, I've always picked the wrong line to stand in a slow-moving line, then I will be like, All right, take a deep breath. And just try to stay present, it's so hard to stay present in today's world. I mean, social media, I have to do it for work a lot. And I can get sidetracked. So I have to get back to I catch myself, I'm like, alright, you're now not doing this for work, you're kind of like looking at various things that like dogs or other interests, and I have to bring myself back in to be present in what I'm doing. And I do think that yoga has helped tremendously with that.

Gresham Harkless 11:58

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, I love that CEO hack. And now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this might be a word of wisdom, you might have already given us some I know you've already given us but you might have anything else you want to add. This is like a word of wisdom or piece of advice or something you might tell your younger business self.

Keri Gans 12:13

Don't give up. And that's probably not anything novel. But when I tell stories of how I began, it's really funny. I mean, I didn't even get accepted into my first internship as a dietitian. All right. So if I had said at that point that, I didn't get the internship, then I've never would have gone on to do what I'm doing today. You think like I never thought I was a writer, because I was told oh, you're not a great writer, you're a great public speaker, but your writing style, is not so great. But here, I'm an author of a book. So I think you can't let others tell you what you cannot do. I hate the word can't. And I think the least we all owe to ourselves is to try and let ourselves be the deciding factor, not somebody else.

Gresham Harkless 13:01

I love that. And it's a great reminder, sometimes just because you don't fit into a certain paradigm or certain box, that doesn't necessarily mean that maybe you're not an innovator, maybe you're not doing things ahead of where everybody else is doing it. So they might end up following you and writing a book because you did one largely because you follow in and are aligned with who you are.

Keri Gans 13:20

Correct. And it goes back to being who you truly are. Not ever being afraid to do that. I mean, yes, we follow social norms and in this world, but still, there is no set path. And sometimes just that's what makes an entrepreneur, it means brave enough to set out and create your path that sometimes that's what one needs to do. And then others decide, hey, I kind of liked that path. And who knew that you were the trendsetter, and they're following you?

Gresham Harkless 13:48

There you go. Exactly, exactly. And now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question. I know we touched on it a little bit in the beginning. And it's the definition for what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote-unquote, CEOs, entrepreneurs, and business owners on the show. So, Keri, I wanted to ask you, what does it mean to you?

Keri Gans 14:02

What it means to me, it means to be the one that does it all. I am to me, it's almost synonymous with my name. I don't think of it as a specific title. I never thought of myself as a CEO. But I think of CEO then as it relates to me as the one that makes decisions about everything that I do. I am the decision maker. And ultimately, it all falls on me. So it's freeing that I don't have to confer with others in what I do, for say. But it can also be difficult, because at the end of the day, it's just me, but it's a challenge that I'm always willing to take.

Gresham Harkless 14:42

Absolutely. You seem like you're doing an awesome job with that challenge. So Keri, I truly appreciate you for taking some time out of your schedule. What I wanted to do is pass you the mic just to see if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and our listeners know and of course how best people can get in touch with you.

Keri Gans 14:55

Well, it's been a pleasure being on the show. The best way to get in contact with me is to visit my website and that's kerigansny.com. You can find all my social links there. And you could subscribe to The Keri Report. Lots of ways to stay connected to me and I hope that all your listeners do.

Gresham Harkless 15:16

Absolutely. We'll have those that link in the show notes just so that anybody can follow up. But again, I appreciate you. I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Keri Gans 15:23

Thank you to Gresh.

Outro 15:25

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co

I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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