→ Me, literally climbing the corporate staircase
I recently left a corporate career in the beauty industry to start building something completely from scratch in wellness. And while the exact “what” of that something was initially a work in progress, the “who” and the “why” have been crystal clear from the very beginning.
I have spent the last (almost) two decades marketing to and innovating for women, and in the world of corporate beauty, “the target” was usually a sterile demographic or generational term belonging to a “tribe” or “persona”. But what drives me when I think about what I am building today, is that the woman that I want to address is a real, individual human, with idiosyncrasies and contradictions.
She’s the high-achieving woman who is serious about her career and just as serious about her wellness. She’s time-poor and ambition-rich but she’s not just busy for busy’s sake. She is international and intentional in how she moves through the world. She’s the woman who gives her all to everything and everyone in her life, but every so often needs a little nudge to remember to leave some “all” for herself.
I know her well…because I am her.
→ Opted for Cornell for its slightly more optimized degrees (Fahrenheit that is)
Like many self-made immigrant daughters, university was the big crossroads of my life, it was my ticket toward social mobility. Growing up the daughter of parents who left Haiti to build a better life in France, then in Miami, I knew by the end of high school that there was nowhere else to go but up. But having little exposure and zero connections to the world of white-collar professionals meant that my college major would determine many of the opportunities that I would be presented with going forward. Ultimately, I had a choice: pursue my love of writing as a journalism major at Northwestern, or go the slightly more vague Communication route at Cornell. Being climactically-inclined, I ended up choosing Cornell because somehow in my Miami-girl logic, Ithaca at least didn’t have the lake wind chill of Evanston.
And that is how my writing would eventually be applied to product concepts, names and taglines and later on (when I was a bit more senior), to strategic meeting talking points. When you are in global marketing, your writing skills are essential but not the main course; you’re chiefly orchestrating all the components of bringing a product launch to life. Despite this, my love of writing never went away, it was just never truly exploited beyond a single-minded, commercial use-case.
→ They say all the world’s a stage. This one had a dress code
My corporate chapter in beauty began and ended in luxury marketing within beauty licenses for high fashion houses. This was the glossy version of working in beauty that everyone thinks about. But in between there was a non-linear career move: a 4-year stint where I changed functions completely and moved from New York to Paris to join the Global Skincare Innovation team.
This move would awaken my curiosity in science, sharpen my ability to critically gauge claims and elevate my ability to evaluate formulations. I got to work with scientists from all over the world, listen to a rich diversity of consumers and search for skincare and consumer trends in Korea, Japan, South Africa and Brazil. But most importantly, it was during this time that I was first introduced to the term “Longevity”, and I found myself researching more and more in my personal time to go beyond the surface and see what it could mean from a biological and health standpoint.
→ Beach reading, but make it biomarkers
So right before I turned 40, when the gap between my values and my day-to-day felt like it was only widening, I took my own doctor-mandated medical leave (the result of years of accumulated chronic stress), as a turning point. This was the clear sign that my career pivot toward wellness had been a long time coming, and I channeled this newfound clarity to begin building something entirely on my own.
That something is Status CWO.
Status CWO is more than just a fun pun name. It’s a mindset shift: proof that an accomplished woman can change her status quo to get ahead of overwhelm or burnout rather than just recover from it. For me this isn’t just theory. I have lived that life, have been in those very privileged rooms, and know what is realistic and achievable to get to a place of sustainable wellbeing (all the while navigating the peaks and valleys). If that sounds familiar, pull up a chair.
→ Traded the slide deck for yoga by the pool deck
As I set off on this new wellness journey, I want to share what I am learning, the interesting female experts I am meeting and the compelling products, services and places worth exploring. You’ll notice that this publication borrows a little from the world that I spent nearly 20 years becoming fluent in. That’s by design. It's also my return to actual writing, something I didn't realize I'd missed until I picked it back up.
The goal is for Status CWO to become your go-to resource (with me as your dedicated Chief Wellness Officer): the one you can turn to for relevant and reliable wellness intelligence that takes into account the realities of being a woman in business. Whether you’re climbing that corporate ladder or creating your own. My dream is to build a supportive community of like-minded women in the process, who get that this isn’t just a “balancing” act but a constantly evolving endeavor. We want the wellness cake and the business pie too, and Status CWO is about living at the intersection of the two.
That was the intro handshake, nice to meet you!
There’s a longer version of how I got here that I’m still working out how and when to tell. I’ll save that one for later.
As a burnout market (albeit freelance and in the tech sector), I’m pulling all the virtual chairs 😂