Oct. 31, 2023

Keri Glassman on Building, Selling, and Reacquiring her Business

On this episode of Tough Stuff Podcast I had the privilege of sitting down with Keri Glassman, MS, RD, CDN — a renowned celebrity nutritionist, healthy cooking expert, and wellness thought-leader. She candidly shares her experiences and lessons learned as the founder of Nutritious Life and Nutritious Life Studio — including her journey of reacquiring her business, the highs and lows of entrepreneurship, and the importance of embracing the unknown in life. Tune into this episode for Keri's inspiring story of unwavering determination for success, personal growth, and the pursuit of fulfillment in the face of unexpected challenges.

 

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⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

[00:02:45] The beginning: scaling the business to help more people

[00:06:09] Selling the business to investors amongst the pressures of COVID

[00:08:42] Finding a sense of accomplishment and security in life, finances, and career

[00:11:50] The whys and hows of reacquiring Nutritious Life

[00:17:02] Making the most of the unexpected paths in life

[00:20:55] Finding fulfillment again in helping others despite challenges

[00:25:11] Rediscovering marketing in 2023: lead gen, organic marketing, AI

[00:28:14] The challenging and rewarding life of being a mom and entrepreneur

[00:33:21] Embracing and overcoming life’s tough stuff

 

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👋 STAY IN TOUCH

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✦ Your Host: Audrey Saccone ✦

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Learn more about Audrey Digital

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✦ Today’s Guest: Keri Glassman ✦

Website: https://nutritiouslife.com/

Follow @keriglassman Instagram

Follow @nutritiouslifeofficial on Instagram

Follow @thenutritiouslifestudio on Instagram

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Transcript

Audrey Saccone: Keri Glassman is a registered dietitian, renowned nutritionist, healthy cooking expert, and wellness thought leader. She's the founder of Nutritious Life, a lifestyle and media company devoted to helping individuals discover and live their most nutritious and happiest lives in the Nutritious Life Studio, which provides cutting-edge nutrition, coaching, and business education to passionate students across the globe. Her approach to providing accessible, science-backed healthy living advice that extends beyond food and diet to areas like sleep, stress, and exercise steers millions of people toward well-rounded wellness strategies that work for them. As a trusted, forward-thinking, renowned healthy living expert and author of four best-selling books, Keri is a prolific contributor and commentator for countless top media outlets. On a weekly basis, you might catch her on the Today Show talking about protein-rich snacks, on The Doctors, explaining sugar cravings, on The Rachael Ray Show, sharing recipes, or in the pages of Women's Health answering readers' pressing wellness questions. Keri, welcome to the show. 

Keri Glassman: I am so happy to be here chatting with you. I always love chatting with you any way I get to chat with you, whether it's on Voxer, on the phone, on email, or on your podcast, but I am really honored to be here on your pod. 

Audrey Saccone: Oh, thank you. I'm so happy to have you, especially because we haven't even known each other that long, but we're in a mastermind together. And it's been so interesting just getting to know you and your business over the past couple of months because you had a really interesting story over the past few years. 

Keri Glassman: A little crazy over the past 20 years, maybe not even the past couple of years. I would say the past 20 years since I started my business have been one big whirlwind of a roller coaster. 

Audrey Saccone: Well, we're going to get all into it. So here on the Tough Stuff, we talk about all the things we don't hear about on regular podcasts. And today with Keri, we have a few things on the docket, but I'd love to start with the story of how you sold your business a few years ago. So what inspired you to let go of what you had built and how did that transaction even come your way? 

Keri Glassman: Okay, so I’d had a vision to sell my business that ultimately I was going to sell at some point when I had taken my business from being my business had been a private nutrition practice, then I had the media side to my business, where I did everything from brand partnerships to speaking engagements to books, and then I had started also my Nutritious Life certification through the Nutritious Life Studio. So my business really encompassed three businesses at that point. And at that time I said, you know what, I'm going to focus and go all in on the Nutritious Life Studio, build this certification and other products along with that, still focus on the media but I'm going to pass off my practice. I actually did that to one of the dietitians that worked in my office. And when I did that, and I would say even before that, actually, but specifically when I did that, and that was about, let's say eight-ish years ago. When I did that, I said I was focused on the Nutritious Life certification through the Nutritious Life Studio because I knew that that was scalable and sellable. And the goal through Nutritious Life has always been… reach as many people as possible and help them raise their nutrition a notch. So through the Nutritious Life Studio, we certify people to be nutrition and wellness coaches, whether they're already a dietitian, whether they're already a yoga instructor, a trainer, a nurse… We train them to be nutrition and wellness coaches. So, I'm essentially helping people then reach more people. So it played into the mission of Nutritious Life to scale that as much as possible because I was able to reach more people. But then from a business perspective, it was also more sellable, right? So I had that vision, and then the media side of it supported the Nutritious Life Studio, my content on nutritiouslife.com, and all of my media partnerships really supported the growth of the Nutritious Life Studio and the certification. So anyway, that had been a vision, and I had been continuing to build it; I was looking to raise money, and this was 2019… gosh, I feel like the years all kind of blend together right now. But around 2019, I was starting to raise money and I was introduced to someone who introduced me to someone else, and they had said, oh, he'd sold his business, they were in the online education space, you have to meet him… So anyway, I met this person who then introduced me to someone else, who then connected me with this company and he said, wow, you're creating all this organic content and then you're not doing any paid media, and you're still converting people about 15% to 20%. That's such a high conversion. They were a paid media company; everything we were doing was organic. So he said, wow, you've been doing everything through content… we do everything through paid. It was a completely different model. Everything we did was e-comm. Everything they did was through salespeople, on the phone. I mean, a completely different model; yet we were in a very synergistic space. So I partnered with them at the time. So instead of raising money, or it wasn't even necessarily instead of, but at that moment, I created a partnership with that company, and it was really a rev[enue] share. They started selling my course through their model, and I was still doing what I was doing organically, and it was just a rev share. So it was additional revenue for me. So I was able to actually then not raise money and continue to grow my business. It was just this bonus revenue I was getting each quarter. So I did that and then COVID happened, because that was the middle of 2019… And then when COVID hit, we still had this partnership and we continued to grow. And I, at that point, like everyone else in the world, was like, what is going to happen in the world right now? I mean, obviously, things were crazy. Things were stressful for people, business, life, everything. I had two kids at home, like, doing school at home, and I was working around the clock and I was like, what's going to happen in the world anyway? But we were really doing well with our course. And so this company then that I'd had a partnership with came and put an offer in front of me. And I said and there was always sort of we'd already had the conversation, like, we'll grow, we'll see how this goes and then perhaps they would look to acquire me because they didn't want to keep it as just a rev share; they wanted to obviously own the asset if they were putting money into it and marketing it. So that happened… they put an offer in front of me, and at that point, I would not have said that I was ready to sell at all, except for, again, it was COVID, and I'm burnt out… I've been doing this for almost 20 years... just, I'm tired and it's been a roller coaster and I don't know what's going to happen in the world, and I'm trying to grow this online education company, but there's bigger people coming in that with massive amounts of funding, like, am I just going to get eaten up? What should I do? So they put this offer in front of me and I was like, yes, give me that. They obviously told me they were going to, and I was like, yes, I want to do this. Because I was just ready and burnt and tired. And again, even before this time, it had been a massive roller coaster for many years. And, you know, I'd have lots of ups and downs before that — we can get into that if we want or not. But anyway, at this time, they put the offer in front and I was like, Hell no, this is the worst thing... I was insulted, actually… I was like, this is awful... This is an awful deal. The structure of the deal was great in terms of just, again, the structure of it in terms of I would become an employee, so I'd have a salary, which, if you've been an entrepreneur for many years, all of a sudden working for someone else is kind of great. Like, yes, give me that paycheck every two weeks, deal with my health insurance, and do all that. I mean, I did pay myself, obviously, over the years, but you know what I'm saying, as an entrepreneur. Anyway, so I was going to be an employee, there would be equity in their company, I would have a certain amount of money up front and cash up front, and then there was also an earn out, so there was a revenue earn out, percentage of revenue for four years. The structure of the deal was great, but the actual numbers, I was like, absolutely not. I did not just bust my ass all these years, create all of this brand value and also all of this content and these products for that. No way. But I said, but the structure is good, so let's try to get this to a place… let's try to do better here. So I eventually got it to a place where it was livable. It was okay. I will not say, wow, that was a crazy deal. Sometimes people have those stories, and then all of a sudden it was the craziest deal. I never imagined it. That was not my story. I will not try to pretend it was that. But it was a nice, but it was a …but it was a fine deal, and it could have worked out really great had I gone through those four years of being with them. Now I'll explain to you what happens next, but any questions so far? I feel like I've just been going on telling you all these details. 

Audrey Saccone: I'm ready. Keep going. 

Keri Glassman: So yeah, I got it to an okay place, and again, in that first year, I was really first of all, it felt like a huge weight off my shoulders. It felt like a big accomplishment. And listen, I've had obviously, everybody's had lots of fails. There's been lots of fails along the way, but there's also been lots of, lots of wins along the way. And it felt like even though the check size wasn't the dream, it did feel like a big win. It felt like I tied everything up in a bow to some extent. I was moving forward into another chapter. I had a lot more security than I had in my whole, really, adult life as far as business goes and financials go. And I did feel accomplished and good and calm and excited to still be involved in this company, but now have a much larger team behind me. And so I was really excited, and there was a lot of great stuff. And I don't regret my time being under this company, in their world, in their orbit. I don't regret it at all. And I learned so much. So you're probably saying, well, what happened? So what happened was I went in, I felt great, we were moving forward. Again, like I said, everything they had done was paid media; everything I had done was organic. And I definitely felt like we were trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Everything that they were doing, marketing-wise, didn't feel on brand, didn't feel right, but I think that's very typical. And I wasn't actually super bothered by it… there were a lot of little things, but it was more like, you know what? I went in eyes wide open, and I knew I was doing this and I was ready to do it in my career. And I'm trading some of the control over every single word on my site and marketing and everything and every piece of content for the calm in my life, right? And that felt okay. And I was still the one creating the content, and educating, and doing the live calls with my students… so I felt as long as I am guiding and educating my students with me personally and doing all that, I'm okay that some of these other things aren't the way I want. So it was a pretty good first year. Fast forward basically what happened and without getting in, I can't really share the exact details here, but they had some of their own. They made a lot of changes. And again, without getting into I'm trying to figure out what I can share, what I'm not supposed to share, without getting into the exact details they made a lot of larger changes to the business, and I was then, at that point, not going to my company was not going to then Nutritious Life was not going to then generate the revenue we were supposed to because of the things that they had pulled back on as a whole. And then I said, okay, wait a minute. Now we're not doing a lot of the content and we're not doing the types of partnerships and I'm not putting things out into the world that I want to be doing and growing my brand and doing all of that and I'm not going to be generating the revenue. So now I'm kind of like, well what's happening now? And also where's the win here? And what if they continue now? Who knows what's going to happen next? Like I don't know what's going to happen next. I was able to get the company back as you know. And that was a whole long process on its own. And has been a massive journey on its own…. Do I keep going? 

Audrey Saccone: Yes. But I have more questions first. When you sold, did you go through a valuation process to know what your company was worth and to make sure you got what you deserved? 

Keri Glassman: When I sold? So I didn't, because when I was originally going to raise money, I had done that working with someone. I didn't go through necessarily traditional. I worked with a couple of people that consulted with me, friends in the business. So I had gone through that process. But when I sold, since I had already been in this partnership and they were selling my flagship product, they had their own idea of exactly what it would be worth based on how they would grow that product. So I really didn't need to. And they ended up they actually had acquired all of my assets. They acquired not just the Nutritious Life Studio, they had acquired my personal brand as well. So there was a lot of negotiating and going back and forth on that. But because they were so close to the business already and the financials of it, or at least part of the financials of it, we did not go through that process. 

Audrey Saccone: Well, I'm sure, too, since you had done a valuation fairly recently, you at least probably had that as an initial benchmark to measure against when they gave you a number. 

Keri Glassman: Right. And which is exactly why I was like, Hell no, first, bye-bye, no, not happening. 

Audrey Saccone: Yeah. I think it's always so hard for us to know, too, what our business is worth. I think different valuations come in at different numbers, and it can be a really helpful benchmark, but I think it can sometimes be overinflated; sometimes it can be undervalued for whatever reason. And I think that it can hurt you sometimes too. 

Keri Glassman: Right. And it also has to do with what's the value to the company that's acquiring you to another company that might be interested, that it might not be as valuable. It's checking a box in their maybe portfolio of brands that they need, but for another company, it's the missing link. You know what I mean? So there's so many different factors, I think, at play, and I think people always are. Not always, but I think a lot of people also try to come up with that exact formula. And there's not an exact formula. A lot of it's going to I mean, at least from my experience, a lot of it's going to depend on the person that wants to acquire you and you being able to say no or what's it worth to you, what's it worth it for you to get out of it, what's it worth? How much do you want to sell? And that was a whole other thing, by the way, too. Just so many people ask me to say, this is your baby, and by the way, I started my business before I had my first baby, who is now 20. So, I mean, this really was my baby, or still is my baby. And a lot of people are like, isn't that so hard? Wasn't that so hard? And I said, you know what so crazy? And it was funny, actually, because my son was going off to college at the time. And I said, it is so weird and ironic how this whole thing works. He's going off to college, I'm selling my business. It felt kind of like, to me, it was very analogous to when people are so sad when your kid goes off to college. Yes, you are. And you feel like and it's like that really hard feeling, but you also feel like it's time. They're ready. It's that next step. Like, you can't imagine it when your baby's two… “I'm never going to be ready for them to go”... And it is sad, but they're all like, so it's this bittersweet thing. And that's kind of how I felt about my business. Like it was time. So I didn't have this. Oh, my God, I can't believe it wasn't hard for me to let go. It was easier for me to let go of that than it was to let my son go to college, I'll tell you that. But it wasn't that hard to let go. I was really ready to let go. But then ultimately, when I felt like I didn't like what was happening, it was like, wait a minute, why am I sticking around here? I've got to figure a way out. I want to take this. And again, then at that point, a lot of people, I remember asking me, like, oh, God, you're taking it back? That's so stressful. And you have to grow this again. And I had these big highs and lows… I still do, but I remember there was a week when I decided to do it, and it was one of like, the lowest business weeks of my career because I just had this feeling of, I can't believe I'm going to go back to that like, and again, you don't have to go back to the grind of it, but I can't believe I'm going back to that when I thought I was like, on a totally other... I was on the total other side of this, and I was going to finish those four years there and then go on do another wellness business or invest in other startup wellness businesses, or who knows? There was going to be another chapter. I knew there'd be another chapter, but I didn't think this was going to be the next chapter. I had to say, okay, I can be bummed out about how this worked out with this other company, or I can say, holy shit, this is a massive opportunity and I have this back and I can do what I want with it. And it's like all of this work, everything I put in for the past 20 years, it's mine and I can decide… I'm in control of what I do with this going forward. And I can either wake up bummed out about how one thing turned out, or I can wake up so grateful that I have an opportunity to grow this again and do what I want with it. And the working hard part never scares me. I've been working hard… working my ass off my whole life, literally my whole life so that doesn't scare me or bother me. And I almost look at the time that I was with this under this other again umbrella of companies as almost an incubation period. Like I said, I don't regret my time there at all. 

Audrey Saccone: Well, I also think too, a way to look at it, and I'm going to put big air quotes around the word “safe”... but it was almost a safe way for you to experiment with a different business model that paid media can be very successful for so many people. And I think that's a narrative we hear a lot. I'm like, listen, I do ads. A lot of my clients do ads. I love ads. But I think you're an example of it does not work for every business, all depending on how it's run. 

Keri Glassman: And what type of paid media. Totally. And also, what are you doing that in conjunction with, and how are you? I mean, as you know, there's so many parts. 

Audrey Saccone: It’s so layered.

Keri Glassman: Yeah, it's not that we're never doing any paid media.

Audrey Saccone: Totally. Yeah. I very much feel that paid works best when it's amplifying organic and other activities versus it being like, the sole contributor… based on what I see be the most successful. 

Keri Glassman: Yeah, I'd absolutely agree with that. 

Audrey Saccone: Okay, you took control back of the business. When was this? 

Keri Glassman: Okay so this was… last summer. So summer 2022. End of the summer, I'd say, is when we sort of started the almost a year. Almost a year. But I didn't take it back until really right before the holidays this year. I look at at January 1 as my relaunch of having my business back again. So January 1, 2023, but I technically, I guess, had it about a month before that. 

Audrey Saccone: So what have the past nine months been like for you? 

Keri Glassman: Woo! Let's just say… I am tired. I am tired again. I am really tired again, I'm not going to lie, right? This podcast is all about the tough stuff, right? So I mean, I wouldn't lie anyway, but it has not been easy. It has not been easy and I will say… and it has also been awesome. So it has not been easy. There has been a lot of holy F I can't believe I'm working this hard again. I can't believe I'm waking up to these types of emails and stress again. Holy crap, I just turned 50 in January. Why am I doing this at this point? There's all that like, woe is me, I can't believe this again, blah, blah, blah. And then again I have to give myself a little smack in the face and say, are you kidding? Like you got your business back. I literally have to smack myself in the face and remind myself, you love what you do, you love your students… nothing is more fulfilling than when I see whether it's that someone consuming the content or it's an old client or it's a student sharing some kind of success in their health and life and happiness and I feel like, beyond fulfilled. So I'm like, I love what I do. I have to remember that. I feel like I just kind of went on my own little tangent there as I'm thinking about I'm just thinking about the highs and the lows here. Yeah, it's been tough. No, but anyway, it's been really hard. It's been very, very challenging. But again, also I would say it's been rewarding at the same time. And you've probably heard me say this before, I like the unknown. I like knowing that anything in the world is possible and anything can happen. I like knowing that a year from now, who knows where my business will be? It could be ten X what it is. It could be the same place. Hopefully, it's not the same place. But there are so many opportunities and they're… especially in my world… in the digital world and in the online education space, in the health and wellness space. I've been an entrepreneur for long enough… I've been in business long enough to know that you never know what's going to happen the next day, good and bad, but I kind of love that and I don't know, maybe that makes me like a masochist, I don't know? But I kind of love that. Unknown of like, who knows? You could wake up to this massive amazing email with a huge opportunity. So I almost feel like maybe I don't know if I'd be able to handle not having that. I'm so used to having that that I think it would almost feel weird not to have that kind of adrenaline. Those adrenaline-offer moments. But there's been a lot of challenges. Everything from I get on with my we have a fractional CFO, and I get on with him. And actually he'd worked with me before the acquisition, took me through the acquisition, and then he still worked with me at a much less hours per month, but he did still work with me throughout the time that I was in this other umbrella of a company. But anyway, so he's working with us again. And there are times when I meet with him because now I'm back to meeting with him weekly, where during those couple of years I met with him, much less. And I'd say, I can't believe I have to talk to you again… I love you, but I can't believe I have to talk to you again. I don't want to be doing these calls. I don't want to be doing these calls. I don't want to be talking about whatever like the health insurance for the company. I don't want to be talking about our PNL. I don't want to be doing that anymore. And there's a lot of that. Anyway, a lot of those things that I didn't enjoy doing that I'm back to doing again, I don't want to be doing. But then again, on the flip side, I love that I can say, you know what? I want to create this product or let's go do that and we can start doing it the next day. And then again, my team yells at me like, why are you taking us off in this direction? We said we weren't doing this until next quarter, but you know what I mean. 

Audrey Saccone: Oh, listen, when you get that entrepreneurial fire in your bones... I say this to my marketing manager all the time. She's implementing a lot of the things that we do. I'm outward facing side and I'll be like, hey, Sarah, I said we weren't going to do this for three months, but I really think we should start it right now. And she's like, okay… I'm like I'm so sorry. I know this isn't what you planned, but here's the rollout... Here is why. And I get the sense that you just like me, are kind of a gut and intuition-focused person. And sometimes you just have this feeling that this is the right time and this is the right opportunity, and you just kind of have to go for it. 

Keri Glassman: 100%. I absolutely relate to everything you just said. 

Audrey Saccone: Yeah. So in the past nine months, there's been a lot of ups and downs. What's the number one challenge or even the number one unexpected challenge that you faced since reacquiring your business? 

Keri Glassman: That's a really good question. There's been lots of different challenges, of course. I would say the biggest one probably because it relates to so many other aspects of the business, would be lead gen and what we were doing before we were acquired from an organic marketing perspective is so different now. And relearning all of that and getting caught up to date with where everything is, because obviously we were still in the world here doing all of it, but we were doing it in a much different way for the past few years. And so getting caught up there, getting the team reset there and just kind of getting used to where the world is, that has been a very, very big challenge. And then I would say, right when we were sort of okay, kind of up to speed, then so much happened with AI. So then that's been a whole other new thing to learn, right? So I would say organic marketing, lead gen, content creation has just changed so dramatically from when pre-acquisition to taking the company back that there's been a lot of, okay, we want to go back to kind of how we were doing things, but going back is literally like going back to dinosaur time, right? So there's so much has had to change.

Audrey Saccone: Yeah. I can almost imagine, just to give you an analogy from within your own world, but it's almost like what I can imagine moms feel like who's taking a break from working out through their pregnancy and post-pregnancy want to go back to where they were before, but now have this new body... Their endurance is different. And you can't go back to what you were doing before. 

Keri Glassman: Yes! 

Audrey Saccone: You have to relearn a whole new thing and restart a routine. And it's so tough to not be able to do something you'd be able to do a year ago. 

Keri Glassman: Absolutely. And that is actually a great analogy. I love that analogy. It's perfect. 

Audrey Saccone: I have a lot of pregnant friends right now, so I've got… I've got pregnancy on my brain. 

Keri Glassman: Oh, yeah. And by the way, and to me, I'm like, I haven't been pregnant in so long, I don't even remember… now I've just got that perimenopause body going on. 

Audrey Saccone: Well, shifting gears a little bit before we wrap up, you are a mom, and you're a single mom in one of the most expensive cities in the world that you and I both live in. I have so much respect for moms who are entrepreneurs because running your own business is hard and being a parent is hard... and doing them together… and knowing them as a single mom… just how has that even been for you? And now that your kids are semi-grown, how has that been for you? 

Keri Glassman: Just too… there's so much here, Audrey. Oh, wow. And again, we haven't known each other that long, like you said, although I feel like I've known you for so long, Audrey, and you're so fabulous. I don't think I've told you this story. So being a mom entrepreneur, and I always want to say my kids have a dad. My kids have an amazing essentially stepdad. My boyfriend, not my husband, but essentially their stepdad. So I sometimes feel bad when I say I'm a single mom although they live with me, my kids have lived with me for many years, almost fully, and moms are incredibly emotionally involved on every level. But I just like to say that, put that out there. Anyway, it has been really hard and really awesome, too. I'm incredibly close with both of my children… when I start to talk about my kids like this, I really do always start to cry almost because I just feel like we've been on such a journey together, really. I had to grow up in so many ways with them as a business person. Learning to be a mom, learning to be a single mom, doing so many things on my own that I didn't expect, going from one kid's bedroom to the next bedroom, not being able to say to someone, ya know, can you handle that breakdown while I'm handling this one? Ya know, like, it's hard. And being exhausted, I'll just tell you, it's exhausting. It's hard emotionally, physically, it's really been hard… I have also incredible, incredible, incredible friends, who, and family, an incredible family, incredible friends who I've really leaned on for a lot of support. But it has not been easy. It has not been stress-free adulthood, I'll tell you that. But I also like to say, it's also been awesome and fulfilling. Oh. So one thing I was going to tell you, though, is whenever I get to a point where, god, I have so much going on, I'm so over. Like the times that I think I've gotten my most overwhelmed is when I was dealing with something for work where I have to be on and my best self and looking good and sounding good and being clear and focused, but then also have something financial going on with work that's causing an insane amount of stress. And then I also have something really emotional and tough going on with my kids. And it's always sometimes when those three things would come together where I have to be my best self, but I'm having a heart attack about financials with work and life and now there's something with my kid which is more important than all of that... It's like, that just would send me into a spiral. And those were the things over the years. Those were the things. And when those times still happen, I'll get to that point of, okay, I've been through this, I've been through a lot worse. I know how to breathe and get through each moment. But yeah, there was a time I was going to go in and tell you a story from 2008, but I guess that's a whole other story. 

Audrey Saccone: Whole other podcast. 

Keri Glassman: That's a whole other podcast. But yeah, for those of you that remember the world in 2008, there was a lot of craziness there. But I will just tell you that there's been some really tough times and there's also been some awesome times along the way. 

Audrey Saccone: I'm not a parent, but I so relate to that. I was telling you just before we started recording that I've got something I'm dealing with in my personal life that has been taking up a lot of my time and energy and not in a way that I regret or resent or don't like… But it does take energy and takes time when you've got something going on with your family or with your friends and they are deserving of your attention and your support. And ya know, I found for me, just having my circle of people who I can call and just be like, I just need to… can I just get this off my chest? Can you just help me work through this? Because that's what saves me. And I'm curious, do you have a circle like that for you as well? 

Keri Glassman: Oh, I have some incredible, incredible girlfriends. Like, really incredible girlfriends. And I have a great partner... I mentioned my boyfriend. I have incredible parents. I have an amazing brother and sister-in-law. So I have really fabulous people in my life. And, like I said, I would never in a million years been able to get through the ups and downs of my life without them. Never. It does get easier to deal with, I think, the tough stuff in life when you've dealt with things before, like I said, sometimes I'm in a stressful situation now, and I'm like, this is nothing compared to what I've dealt with. And I also know how to manage it or say, like, okay, so let me just do what I need to do in this one moment. In this moment what do I do? In this moment, stay calm and present and breathe. And I can get through this moment, and I just have to get through each moment. And then you get through the day, and then you get to the next day, and it's like, wow, maybe there was like, a little surprise burst of sunshine. And then you get through that moment, and you get to the next one and then something. So you have to really teach yourself. You have to learn how to do that right. Or teach yourself, or learn to… or have someone teach you right. 

Audrey Saccone: Build that resiliency.

Keri Glassman: You have to build that resiliency. Yes. Wow. When I look back, I've got lots of stories to share with you, Audrey. 

Audrey Saccone: Well, we can definitely have you back on to talk about all of that at some point. But before we sign off today, where can people find you? 

Keri Glassman: So I guess the best place, maybe let's start with Instagram. So my personal Instagram is @keriglassman, my business Instagram is @nutritiouslifeofficial, and @thenutritiouslifestudio. You can also just go to nutritiouslife.com, to my site, and find every… find all my links there. 

Audrey Saccone: All right, well, Keri, thank you so much for your time and for sharing your invaluable insights here on Tough Stuff. Listeners, don't forget to share your thoughts on this episode on our latest posts at Tough Stuff Pod. And hit that subscribe button to always get the latest episodes in your favorite podcast app. I'll see you next time.

Keri GlassmanProfile Photo

Keri Glassman

Founder and CEO Nutritious Life and the Nutritious Life Studio

Keri Glassman is a Registered Dietitian, renowned nutritionist, healthy cooking expert and wellness thought leader. She is the founder of Nutritious Life, a lifestyle and media company devoted to helping individuals discover and live their most nutritious and happiest lives and the Nutritious Life Studio, (NLS) which provides cutting-edge nutrition, coaching, and business education to passionate students around the globe.

Her approach to providing accessible, science-backed healthy living advice that extends beyond food and diet—to areas like sleep, stress, and exercise—steers millions of people towards well-rounded wellness strategies that work for them.

As a trusted, forward-thinking, renowned healthy living expert and the author of four best-selling books, Keri is a prolific contributor and commentator for countless top media outlets.

On a weekly basis, you might catch her on The Today Show talking about protein-rich snacks, on The Doctors explaining sugar cravings, on The Rachael Ray Show sharing recipes, or in the pages of Women’s Health answering readers’ most pressing wellness questions.