The Power of Partnering (POP) is a half-day event where women entrepreneurs, business leaders, corporations and procurement professionals come together to train, network and create matchmaker opportunities to help create and reach procurement and business goals.
Each agenda includes educational resources from thought leadership and subject matter experts and the opportunity to showcase your capabilities statements in a meet the buyer setting or matchmaker sessions.
Dr. Michelle Clay, affectionately known as “Dr. Michelle,” achieved her lifelong dream by graduating from Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine. Her journey into the world of medicine nurtured a perspective deeply rooted in her upbringing, where understanding the core of an issue was paramount.
In the world of clinical medicine, Dr. Michelle began to feel a disconnect. The patients appeared to be caught in a revolving door of treatments, while she sensed that something more profound was missing. Health, to her, was a holistic concept, encompassing physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. The conventional approach was not in alignment with her beliefs.
This spiritual conflict led her to temporarily step away from clinical medicine, searching for her true purpose in the realm of healing. It was during this time that she encountered the incredible power of herbs, a journey sparked by her own experience with uterine fibroids. Driven by her success in using natural methods to address her health concerns, she realized she could help others who sought a more natural path to wellness.
With a newfound passion for holistic well-being, Dr. Michelle enrolled in the Academy of Natural Health Sciences to become a Certified Holistic Health Counselor and Clinical Nutritionist. She understood that true health encompassed not just the physical body but also mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects. Chronic stress, she believed, had a profound impact on all these areas, and natural medicine was her chosen path to address them.
Dr. Michelle’s journey took an even more personal turn when her father was diagnosed with throat cancer. In a moment of unwavering dedication and love, she put her life on hold, leaving New Orleans to be with him in Indianapolis.
For four challenging months, she accompanied him to every treatment and appointment, striving to provide him with the best nourishment possible during his battle with cancer. Because he was unable to eat by mouth, a feeding tube was placed in his stomach. She juiced, prepared herbal tonics with FREEALITEA, and made ALL of the nutrition with whole foods for his feeding tube. Once again, she saw first-hand the power of herbs and plant-technology to heal and restore.
This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.
TRANSCRIPT
Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, it’s time for GWBC Radio’s Open For Business. Now, here’s your host.
Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here broadcasting live from the GWBC Power of Partnering event at Georgia Power Headquarters. I’m so excited to be talking to my guest, Dr. Michelle Clay with FREEALITEA. Welcome.
Dr. Michelle Clay: Thank you so much for having me. I’m so excited to be here.
Lee Kantor: Well, I’m excited to learn about FREEALITEA. How are you serving folks?
Dr. Michelle Clay: So, how I serve folks is through premium loose-leaf herbal teas and wellness coaching programs. So, FREEALITEA is really what I call a premium wellness experience. Everyone is looking for solutions, natural solutions to prevent chronic health conditions or a relaxing escape with a lot of stress that’s going on in the world, and so that’s what I provide.
Dr. Michelle Clay: FREEALITEA teas are not just teas. They are truly relaxing escapes of wellness in a cup. As well as I do wellness coaching programs, because I am both a physician as well as a certified holistic health counselor and clinical nutritionist. And so, I curate wellness coaching programs. I really focus on fabulous women over 40 to help them age with elegance and maneuver menopause symptoms with grace and ease.
Lee Kantor: So, how did you kind of get into the tea business?
Dr. Michelle Clay: You know, my heritage is that of natural healers. So, my great grandfather was the natural healer in his community of Kokomo, Indiana. And in the back of their house they have what was called the Victory Garden, and in the Victory Garden, he grew many fruits, vegetables, and herbs. So, when people in the community were unable to get the relief that they needed from their physician – and you have to remember, my great grandfather was born in 1873 – back in that time, many times African-Americans weren’t allowed or didn’t have access to go to a doctor, so they would come to him. And so, using many of the plants and herbs that he grew in his backyard, he would make teas and tinctures and balms and salves to help people with their ailments.
Dr. Michelle Clay: And so, it’s an interesting story, he was born, like I said, in 1873. He was the seventh son, born in the seventh month, and he said that the gift and the information of healing needed to go to the child born in the seventh month. He had one daughter born in the seventh month, who he gave the knowledge to, but she just kind of poo-pooed on it. She didn’t do anything with it.
Dr. Michelle Clay: Now, of course, I never met my great grandfather, but here I come many years later, born in the seventh month, on the seventh day in 1971. From the age of five, I knew that I wanted to be a physician. And so, there must have been something in me that my purpose was sparked that I knew I needed to help people and be a healing helper. And so, by being a physician and then later going on to get my certification in holistic health counseling and clinical nutrition, I started making different herbal formulations for people with the wellness coaching, and it just evolved into a whole line of premium loose-leaf herbal teas.
Lee Kantor: So, how do you source your teas?
Dr. Michelle Clay: So, how I source them, there are, you know, supply chain or something else.
Lee Kantor: Yeah, that’s a whole other conversation.
Dr. Michelle Clay: It’s a whole other conversation, right. I’m very particular about my resources. So, a lot of times I will source from Starwest Botanicals. They’re a very reputable company. They have quality products as well as frontier co-op quality products. I blend these by hand, so I’m not buying a blend already and then putting my label on it. I source each ingredient. Two other of my favorite companies are Monterey Bay Company as well as Essential Organics, which is out of the state of Washington.
Lee Kantor: So, now how are you kind of curating the teas so they help with certain wellness issues?
Dr. Michelle Clay: So, my main focus was always stress. And every blend, except for one – and I have nine, getting ready to have ten as of next month – has an ingredient in it that scientifically is proven to help reduce stress, either by lowering the cortisol or studies show that help relieve anxiety, and we have a lot of that in the world today.
Lee Kantor: That’s for sure.
Dr. Michelle Clay: So, that is how I curate them and blend them. And, honestly, my blends, the formulations are divinely inspired. I’m a very spiritual person, so meditation is my practice, and I do what I call meditation walks. Like people often say, “I can’t get my mind to slow down, to sit still.” And I’m like, “You can walk in nature, and that’s a meditation, a moving meditation.” And so, while I’m driving, walking, in the shower, it’s like a group of herbs will just come to me and that is how they’re curated.
Lee Kantor: And then, like you mentioned, stress and anxiety, is there some things for sleep or is there some things —
Dr. Michelle Clay: Absolutely. Because I focus on the fabulous women over 40 helping them to maneuver menopause with grace and ease, before you hit menopause, there’s perimenopause, which can last up to ten years. There are 36 symptoms of perimenopause and menopause. Sleep disturbances are one of those. So, I do have a blend called Release and Rest, that is sleep support. I have Release and Relieve, which is a turmeric-based, turmeric-and-ginger-based, a very, very powerful anti-inflammatory. So, if you have issues with your joints, muscle tension, joint aches and pains outside of arthritis, one of the 36 symptoms of perimenopause and menopause. And next month, I’m coming out with a new blend specifically for menopause support in honor of World Menopause Awareness Month is October.
Lee Kantor: Now, why was it important for you to become part of the GWBC community?
Dr. Michelle Clay: Well, I, of course, am a woman-owned business and this is a very, very powerful community and organization. After I first got certified, I went to the national convention held in Nashville. My mind was blown and that let me know that I always need to be a part of this organization. The reason why, when I got there, the sense of sisterhood and community, women were like, “Oh, you’re here. How can we support you? How can we stay in contact? How can we help one another?” And I’ve never been in a huge community like that that was so supportive.
Lee Kantor: Now, who is your ideal client? Like, I understand individuals, but in terms of coming to an event like this and talking to corporates, how are you partnering or trying to get into corporate clients, or are they prospects for you in your business?
Dr. Michelle Clay: Absolutely. And the reason why, not just from the tea perspective, but from the wellness perspective, a lot of corporate organizations have toxic culture that is extremely stressful. So, according to the American Institute of Stress, three of the top causes of stress are going to be financial, and that spills over into your job, family, and health. And then, toxic work cultures, think about it, people are spending at least eight hours of the day at their job, that’s spilling over into their emotional well-being, their family life, things like that.
Dr. Michelle Clay: Now, what’s happening is that a lot of the leaders, especially women leaders, are at that age when they are 40 and above. And statistics show that at least 29 percent of women have considered quitting their jobs due to the debilitating symptoms of perimenopause and menopause. Things like the hot flashes, if you’re giving a presentation, you have a hot flash, you’re embarrassed. Brain fog, brain fog is a whole situation, so that can affect your productivity.
Dr. Michelle Clay: So, moving into more corporate arenas, corporate wellness, talking about menopause, how to manage it, how men can be more supportive just with the knowledge of what is happening, and also corporate wellness programs focused on stress and mindfulness. I use my blends and blending a cup of tea, making a cup of tea as a mindful moment to slow down and relax.
Lee Kantor: So, you’re looking for opportunities in corporates to do webinars, to do coaching, and to do this type of education like lunch and learns, things like that?
Dr. Michelle Clay: Absolutely.
Lee Kantor: And if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team, what’s the website, what’s the best way to connect?
Dr. Michelle Clay: My website is FREEALITEA, and that’s www.F-R-E-E-A-L-I-T-E-A.com. And for the listeners, I have a free gift. My listeners who are over 40, you want vibrant health and to age with elegance, then I share with you the ten essential herbs to have vibrant health with herbs and you can get that at www.vibrantwithherbs.com.
Lee Kantor: Well, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.
Dr. Michelle Clay: Thank you. Thank you so much. Have a positive day.
Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor, we’ll be back at GWBC Power of Partnering event.
