Crissy Fishbane is the co-founder of HER Health Collective, an organization dedicated to improving postpartum care for women in the United States, where maternal outcomes are often ranked last compared to other developed nations. Crissy is passionate about bringing together experts from a variety of fields to foster collaboration across disparate industries and move postpartum care and women’s health forward. HER Health Collective offers a fun and supportive community for moms where they can create authentic relationships with other women while also providing educational opportunities around topics such as postpartum depression, racial inequality, avoiding burnout, and overcoming workplace barriers.

Can you tell our readers about your background? 

A helper by nature, I began as a high school psychology teacher. When I made the difficult decision to leave the classroom I knew I still wanted to do something that would have an impact, but I didn’t know where to begin. I opted to pursue my passion for health and wellness and became a Certified Therapeutic Exercise Specialist, Personal Trainer, and Wellness Coach specializing in postpartum care. 

In 2019 my business partner, Cindi Michaelson and I founded HER Health Collective in response to the huge need we saw among our postpartum clients who were being grossly underserved by the current model of care. 

What inspired you to start your business? 

Motherhood rocked me to my core. In 2017 I gave birth to my beautiful daughter, who would forever change my world. In that early postpartum period, my mind and body were overcome by severe postpartum anxiety. The meager one-page intake form given at my 6-week postpartum check-up with my OBGYN failed to get me the support I so desperately needed. 

Through my work as a Therapeutic Exercise Specialist and Wellness Coach specializing in postpartum care, I interacted with dozens of moms every week. It is through those interactions that I quickly discovered I was far from alone in my postpartum experience. 

Once a child is born, care for the mother comes to a screeching halt. This is the exact period of life in which most women will face some of their biggest health and life challenges. This gap in care is a serious flaw in our healthcare system. When you look at postpartum care in other nations, both formal and informal, women have access to a far more comprehensive system of care. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the United States ranks last in terms of family-friendly policies.

I have never before felt so called to do something. I knew women were being underserved by our current system of care. I knew women were falling under the radar, being forced to seek out answers on their own, navigating a disparate system of care, and feeling frustrated at not knowing where to turn. I saw a need for more support and I set out to make it happen.

In 2019 I was lucky enough to meet Cindi Michaelson, who would become a treasured friend and my business partner. Cindi and I share the same views on postpartum care and both have a deep passion for supporting mothers. Together we envisioned a cohesive system that supports women through their entire journey of motherhood. We have been working tirelessly to bring that vision to life and I couldn’t imagine building this business with anyone else by my side.

Where is your business based?

We are based out of Raleigh, North Carolina, but many of our events are online and welcome mothers from countries all over the world. We are also in the planning phases of rolling out chapters in other cities across the United States.

How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?

HER Health Collective began in countless coffee shops over numerous long and impassioned brainstorming sessions between me and Cindi. We knew we wanted to connect moms with other moms, while also connecting them with vetted and trusted experts. After countless conversations with past clients and mom friends, we felt we had a firm grasp of what our target market wanted and needed. 

We immediately began planning a soft launch event while simultaneously setting up the back-end of the business. This was a lot of moving parts all at once and I don’t necessarily recommend it, but this was a great way for us to begin building our connections and is what launched us into the spotlight within our community.  Once the ball was rolling, HER Health Collective took on a life of it’s own. People reached out to us looking to get involved and suddenly we were successfully juggling multiple initiatives and campaigns.  The next stage involved welcoming members and really building up HER Circle, our supportive community for moms while simultaneously building out our expert network. Our moms are why we do what we do and we always return to our committment to support and lift them up in every way we can.

What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business? 

Word of mouth has been huge for us. We put a lot of energy into making sure our moms always feel welcome, are making authentic connections, and feel well cared for. Our moms appreciate that care and attention and they in turn tell their friends about us. We’ve also had great partnerships with local businesses and experts in the community and have been featured in various publications and local news segments which have helped get the word out.

What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them? 

We’ve bootstrapped the entire business ourselves which means we have often found ourselves needing to learn how to do things that fall outside of our wheelhouse. We took the time and learned what we needed to, but that often meant steps took longer than anticipated and involved a lot of frustration along the way. It has been essential having a trusted partner to navigate these challenges with. We kept a long-term mentality and relied on each other, dividing and conquering each new piece of the puzzle. Now we have each grown our areas of expertise and are excited to bring on new challenges.

How do you stay focused?

I find that my passion for this work makes it easy for me to stay focused. I live and breathe our mission, so the hard part for me is actually turning my focus off to be fully present in other areas of my life. I do this by making sure I strategically schedule my work day around the times I know I am most productive, batching activities as much as possible, pausing to take several short walks or breaks in nature every day, and planning a mini-getaway every couple of months to reset. This is what allows me to keep my passion going strong, which in turn makes it easy to stay focused on our mission.

How do you differentiate your business from the competition? 

I discovered I needed to stop paying attention to our competition. I found I was getting bogged down with imposter syndrome and comparing our progress with everyone else’s. When I noticed a competitor launching a project similar to ours it would leave me with a defeatist attitude for days on end. Now I keep a loose pulse on our competition with periodic social media check-ins, but I strive to keep my focus solely on our mission and serving our moms. 

In the end, this is likely what differentiates us. When you get sucked into constantly watching what the competition is doing it forces you into a kind of dance with them where you are each trying to one-up each other. By setting them out of my mind I am better able to unleash my creativity and think outside of the box. Rather than focusing on what the competition is doing I can better focus on serving our moms in the best way possible, and in the way only we can.  

What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business? 

Word of mouth and strategic partnerships have been our most effective marketing strategies. We rely on happy members sharing about their experience with friends. We are also growing our social media presence and have gained some traction there as well.

What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs? 

Do not give up. Persistence is the only difference between the business that makes it and the business that flops. Dedication to your cause, and showing up day after day, are what will carry you through to the finish line. We all have projects or initiatives that don’t pan out. The entreprenerus that are successful look at those failures as learning opportunities and keep working toward their ultimate goal. Build flexibility into the how of your business, while always staying true to your why.

What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?

Libby is my favorite app at the moment. It is provided through our local public library and let’s me check out audiobooks and magazines for free right to my phone. It has been a lifesaver for my sanity in 2020 and I’ve greatly enjoyed all the audiobooks I’ve started listening to on my daily walks or while running errands.

My favorite blog is Marie Forleo. She always seems to provide the message I need to hear. It is inspiring on a professional and personal level and has offered so much great advice for launching and running a business.

A recent favorite book is Simon Sinek’s Start With Why. This book inspired me and helped formalize our business model. It has been a source of great power to examine the merit of every business effort by simply starting with how it contributes to our why. I created our own Golden Circle after reading his explanation of the concept and now look at it every day as a reminder of what the purpose of HER Health Collective really is.

What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?

Currently, my two favorite business tools are Canva and Later. Social media is so important to our business and our ultimate growth strategy, but it is also the one piece of our business that winds up taking a huge toll on my personal life if I let it. Canva lets us design appealing content even with no design background. Later allows us to curate our social platforms in the way we want while still setting limits around how long we spend on the various platforms each day.

Who is your business role model? Why? 

Marie Forleo. I appreciate her “everything is figureoutable” approach to business and life. I love that she has found a way to create a successful business while never losing sight of her desire to bring about positive change for others. That is what we need more of in this world and I always look forward to the information and resources she puts out to her community.

How do you balance work and life? 
I’ve come to accept that there is no true balancing of work and life. At any moment home life, mothering, and personal responsibilities may take precedence and at others, it may be work that takes the front seat. I have learned to instead focus on how I can integrate my work and home life together in a way that meets my core needs. I have spent a lot of time doing value work and determining what is truly important to me. Those are the things I make non-negotiable. I’ve determined what time of day I work best and what time of day I need to be present with my daughter. No two days ever really look the same in our house, but I like that.

What’s your favorite way to decompress? 

Long walks around my neighborhood listening to a podcast or audiobook have become my favorite part of the day. I try to do it early in the morning and right after lunch. It’s a great way to step away from my desk, ignore emails and social media for a bit, and just take a moment to let my brain dive into something completely unrelated to whatever it is I’m working on. I always come back in a better mood and feeling refreshed and ready to dive back into my projects. 

What do you have planned for the next six months? 

We are currently going through nominations for our 2021 expert panel and conducting interviews in order to bring together a well-rounded panel of rockstar women’s health, mental health, and parenting experts. We are also in the planning phase of our soon-to-be-launched podcast which will be another great way for moms to learn from experts and access trusted resources. 

How can our readers connect with you?

Find us at www.herhealthcollective.com 

Instagram @HER_HealthCollective 

Facebook @HERHealthCollective

Twitter @HER_HealthCo