WellBuilt

Jon had a blast chatting with Juliet & Kelly Starrett, founders of The Ready State.

Their passion, knowledge, and candor around the wellness space as well as their own healthy habits and perspective on what needs to change on the systemic level for us to see positive change was inspiring.

Kelly & Juliet met 21 years ago when they were both professional whitewater paddlers at a world championship. They fell in love and did what any young and fit married couple would do... open a gym.

In 2005, they started San Francisco Cross Fit as the first CrossFit gym in SF, and the 21st worldwide (there are now more than 15K).

Their time in and around their fitness community and Kelly's experience treating members as a physical therapist inspired him to start creating digital content that would help people take care of their bodies and avoid injury in the first place.

This led them to build one of the first online subscription businesses in the world of health and fitness. Kelly focused on taking the practices and routines of high-performance athletes and making them accessible to the everyday person. In many ways, his work actually birthed the "mobility training" part of the wellness industry many of us benefit from today.

Beyond their story, Jon, Kelly, and Juliet covered a lot of ground and got into fun topics like: Why Juliet believes you need to earn the right to measure things like your heart-rate variability, why they're protective over their (and their kids) sleep, their non-profit and the awesome work they're doing with schools, universities, and fire departments, and much much more.

Jon had a great time speaking with Padmasree Warrior, Founder & CEO of Fable, a social platform and digital community for books and stories.

Padma is an impressive technology leader who really embodies her last name. She's had vast business & career experience and has spent plenty of time operating in the trenches.

Before Fable, Padma was the CTO of Cisco and Motorola Solutions, she's on the Board of Advisors for Microsoft and Spotify, and was the CEO of NIO (one of Tesla's main international competitors).

It was super interesting for us to hear Padma's take on reading as a core part of the wellness space. Her thesis is that in 10 years, mental wellness will mean a lot more than therapy and meditation just like physical fitness is no longer tied to the gym and pumping weights.

There were many gems in the conversation but some of our favorite parts were when they spoke about the importance of risk-taking, building teams and recruiting talent, and balancing work and life as a mother.

On the first episode of WellBuilt, Jon had a meaningful conversation about mental health with Zak Williams, Founder & CEO of PYM.

PYM stands for "Prepare Your Mind", and Zak created the company after struggling with his own mental health and trauma after his father, the late Robin Williams, died by suicide. Their first product is a gummy with an amino acid formulation of Gaba, L-Theanine, and Rhodiola that helps promote neurotransmitter health.

Longer-term, Zak and his team want to create a global brand that stands for mental health advocacy. Building an open dialogue and creating greater access to products and practices that can help people feel better.

Enjoy this broad-ranging chat where Jon and Zak geek out on topics adaptogens and dopamine, Zak shares his advice to his 18-year-old self and more.