Today we’d like to introduce you to Karen Kennedy.
Hi Karen, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I think my business story, in a nutshell, is that after taking 10+ years off work to homeschool my kids, I wasn’t able to get an interview for any of the part-time jobs I applied to. So I said, “Fuck it, I’m starting my business back up.”
I had a few interesting careers in my life. The first was in biotechnology research in the fields of cancer and immunology. Then, my interests changed, and I went back to grad school to study nutrition at Bastyr University. From there, it was onto private practice.
Before quitting to homeschool, I did have a few w-2 and 1099 jobs, but I’m more of a private practice gal. Much as I love working with other colleagues, I’ve always needed the flexibility that being a solo practitioner provided me.
But when I jumped back into the arena around 2018 I was 49 years old. I was very out of practice, had lost a lot of my confidence, and was lost in the world of online marketing. My first obvious step was to jump into some updated functional nutrition training, but I never considered how much business and marketing training I would need.
I think I would have given up, but I’d joined a local networking group called “The MOB”, which stands for Mom-Owned Businesses. From them, I learned so much about mindset, marketing, “elevator pitches”, branding photos, and how to show up in your business. This group helped me build my confidence and changed my mindset around what it takes to be successful AND be a mom (because those priorities were still important.)
I then started to invest in my BUSINESS and myself. Decent brand photos, a decent website, a course in online marketing, a good patient portal system.
But what propelled my businuss and really piqued my interest was the advent of continuous glucose monitors, or CGMs. These are the biosensors which were just coming into more common use outside of type 1 diabetes. I had worked in the areas of type 2 and prediabetes and what we now call “longevity medicine”, and I was really excited about their use in prevention and education. So I made a decision that I was going to become an expert in the area.
Outside of the diabetes clinic, there was no training for their use. And nobody really had much experience using them clinically outside of type 1 diabetes either. I learned on my own with some unconventional methods. YouTube, online user forums, and most importantly, a beta user group.
Once I knew “enough”, I took a group of about 10 people, who did not have diabetes, through the process of getting a CGM, installing it, sharing data with me, and interpreting their data. We met weekly on Zoom. From this, I was able identify all the challenges users might face, and started to understand what “normal” blood sugar looked like, and how to interpret the various peaks and valleys of data.
Over the following years, I ran 3-5 groups like this every year and saw a lot of data. Between my clients, the increasing body of published research, and conversations with colleagues who I’d trained to do similar work, I realized that I’d become a bit of a clearinghouse for all things CGM.
After a chat with the woman who had taught my marketing course, she convinced me that I should write a book on the topic. That book has been published and was well-received by lay people and by my peers. It’s something I’ve always wanted to accomplish.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
One thing I didn’t mention here, but on reviewing what I’ve shared, it seems like a glaring omission, is that I had some major mental health issues along this journey way. Writing this without sharing the mental health part makes it all sound so sterile and simple. But it was anything but. My 40’s were awful. In hindsight, probably par for the course perimenopause with undiagnosed neurodivergence. But there were about 7-8 years where I literally could not sleep even 4 hours without heavy sleeping pills. And I was severely, severely depressed. But being a high-functioning and high-masking woman, I managed to keep a lot of it to myself (or at least in the family), push through, and keep going. Until I couldn’t anymore.
In fact, part of the reason I shuttered my business when my kids were younger is that I wasn’t because I wanted to focus just on homeschooling. It’s because I coudn’t sleep, and had major anxiety about meeting with clients. My mental health was keeping me from doing the work I’d trained for.
So what I have omitted from this story is the many years spent trying to fix what was wrong in me, finally finding a good therapist, finding psych meds that made my brain say, “Oh, is this how everyone else feels?”, setting better boundaries, and putting in the hard work to get off sleeping pills.
It turns out, for me, that a big part of my recovery was working again. I enjoy learning, working, and creating. I missed it. As challenging as it was, every step I took in building my business was a step towards healing my mental and physical health. It’s something I see in other neurodivergent people, especially women who leave their work for family or health reasons. We know now that finding purpose is a key part of both physical and mental well-being. And no, even our beloved children do not always provide that.
So my version of success is unique, just like yours is. I want to have work that feels meaningful to me, helps people, and pays the bills to launch my kids’ adult education and job training. I have one hire, and that’s my colleague Amy, who helps me with marketing and managing me. She keeps me focused and keeps an eye on how we are positioning ourselves and marketing our programs. She keeps me from spiralling in my own head. I pay a handful of others for periodic support like an editor, website development, graphic design, podcast tech support, etc. And the same therapist. Because when you help others, you need your own helpers too.
So right now, I’ve got my first book published and it continues to sell at a healthy trickle and get positive feedback from my colleagues. I’m back working 1:1 with my clients, mentoring colleagues, and running group programs. I feel like I have satisfying work, help others, have regular connection with my bright colleagues, and feel like I’ve made a positive contribution to my field. And my mental health is really good. My youngest is gearing up to start at university next month and, as I hoped, we can rely on my income to pay for it now that her older sister is financially independent.
That might sound boring, but I think it’s fantastic. And I never could have imagined how much better I would feel at 57 than I did at 47.
We’ve been impressed with Real Food Matters, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I’m a functional nutritionist in private practice. Metabolic health, type 2 diabetes and prediabetes are my areas of expertise as well as using continuous glucose monitors as tools for prevention and disease reversal.
I’m quite proud of my book, “Hack Your Blood Sugar,” which is the difinitive manual for how to use a continuous glucose monitor to prevent or reverse chronic disease, and do it on your terms. In it, I define the various blood sugar phenotypes or “glucotypes” to help people identify their unique profile and personalize their approach to health. It can be found on Amazon or wherever you buy your books online.
All my work is via telehealth, and I offer online group programs for people nationwide. I’m also still taking 1:1 clients.
Any big plans?
I think a second book is in the cards! I will keep on doing what I do. But I would like to start teaching in the next 5 years or so.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.hackyourbloodsugar.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hackyourbloodsugar
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karenkennedynutrition
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenkennedynutrition/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@HackYourBloodSugar
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/show/2hJi23l8GM6HfoFGYDQUaQ?si=1bd3a3f0fc604e87
