Transforming Communities Through Wellness: The Blue Zones Experience
In this episode, Karen Nowicki has a dynamic conversation with Kathleen Gramzay and Sarah Kearney, delving into the transformative impact of the Blue Zones Project in Scottsdale. Kathleen brings her expertise in holistic wellness, stressing the vital link between individual well-being and community health. Sarah elaborates on the Blue Zones Project’s mission to promote longevity and wellness based on lifestyle principles from global longevity hotspots. Together, they explore the project’s community-driven approach and collaborative efforts with local organizations to tailor initiatives to Scottsdale’s needs.
They both share the importance of aligning values and fostering connections for long-term well-being, seamlessly tying together the episode’s overarching themes of personal empowerment and community engagement in pursuit of healthier, more resilient lifestyles.
Blue Zones Project is a community-wide well-being improvement initiative designed to make healthy choices easier through permanent changes to surroundings and environments – places where people work, eat, live, walk, learn, ride bikes, and spend time together. By helping people live better, longer through behavior change, communities can lower healthcare costs, improve productivity, and boost national recognition as a great place to live, work, and play.
Sarah Kearney leads Blue Zones Project Scottsdale as the Executive Director. Her leadership experience is diverse and rooted in community well-being, service, and forward-thinking optimism. She most recently worked for Experience Scottsdale, a destination marketing organization whose mission is to enhance the Scottsdale community through tourism.
In Sarah’s 16+ year tenure at the organization, she held several senior leadership roles and specialized in partner development strategy, membership and community engagement, program development, and more.
Driven by her passion for the Scottsdale community, Sarah has served, led, and guided several local organizations, leaving a cross-sector imprint. She has served as the Board President for Scottsdale Leadership, the Board President for Community Celebrating Diversity, a Board Member for Scottsdale Sister Cities, the Officer of Membership for Millennials in Travel, and the Vice President of Community Outreach at GiGi’s Playhouse Phoenix/Scottsdale.
Sarah holds an MBA from the University of Phoenix and a B.A. in Communication from Arizona State University. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, reading, sports and spending time in the Scottsdale sunshine. She is a proud wife and hockey, dance, and dog mom to her two children and golden retriever.
Follow Blue Zones Project on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.
Kinessage LLC provides organizations with resilience strategy and body/mind resilience training, teaching leaders and teams to reduce stress, burnout, and pain for more resilient workforces and healthier, happier people.
Kathleen Gramzay, LMT and Founder of Kinessage LLC operates as a fractional Chief Resilience Officer, resilience strategy consultant, and body/mind resilience trainer to optimize organizational and individual sustainability.
Kathleen has been a body/mind resilience innovator for over 20 years. In addition to her practice as a 20-year board-certified massage therapist, she developed and taught Kinessage® Massage Through Movement and Kinessage® Self Care to occupational, physical, and massage therapists around the country.
Kinessage is a unique massage method and method of self-care that uses the nervous system and movement to self-release the chronic tension patterns underlying musculoskeletal disorders without drugs or need of a practitioner.
Her own entrepreneurial experience with chronic stress and burnout bringing the do-it-yourself Kinessage® Virtual Self-Care System to business and the public necessitated her discovery of body/mind reset tools to restore her own mental function and well-being.
Connect with Kathleen on LinkedIn.
