Stop Managing Wellness. Start Watching it Work.

Class Is in Session

Long before the hospital, before the business, I had a classroom. It was my bedroom, and my students were stuffed animals. They were very well behaved.

I always wanted to be a teacher. I also wanted to be the one sharing the news, the person who tells people the good stuff they need to know.

So I went about it my own way. I got my bachelor's in Arts for Children, and a teaching certification to go with it.

Little did I know where that would take me.

Where Teaching Took Me

My plan was the Peace Corps. The Peace Corps had other plans.

The hospital didn't. I found myself in child life, a world I barely knew existed. A child life specialist looks after the psychosocial needs of kids in the hospital: their feelings, their fears, their play, their families. The real job was to make something that was anything but normal feel a little more normal, because being that sick, in a hospital, is not how childhood is supposed to go.

I prepared kids for procedures and helped them understand the scary things. I helped their parents, and their brothers and sisters, so the whole family could cope.

It turned out to be teaching after all. Just with IV poles instead of chalkboards. And sometimes a big blue wig. That's me at work, dressed like a Dr. Seuss character. You can see by my face I didn't expect the news to show up.

The wig wasn't the point. It was about connection. Way before I owned a corporate wellness business, I was a child life specialist, and a damn good one.

Every Kid Taught Me Something

That's me with Sam, putting his handprint on the wall. I connected with Sam, and he's who I think of when I think of that work.

Every kid I worked with taught me a skill. Here are three.

Max. I went bounding into his room, all energy: "Let's go!" He just said, "Out." Right there I learned that we don't all connect the same way. I had to be thoughtful about how I showed up.

Eli. He'd had a terrible diagnosis. He was a boy from the woods who had never been to a city, and now he was in one, in a hospital, scared. He wasn't going to talk to me about any of it. So we put targets up all around his room and handed out Nerf guns. We got to the hard stuff eventually, but first we needed a way in.

After Eli passed, I was pregnant with my son. Whenever I see an eagle flying, I still think of him. These kids don't go away.

The girl upstairs. I was called up to prepare a little girl for what had happened to her mom, who had been badly hurt and was going to die. My job was to help her through it, and to hold my own feelings so that the moment stayed hers, not mine.

We Listened

I always had a special place in my heart for the teenagers. The ones who would name video game characters after their doctors so they could kick them.

They didn't feel heard. So we listened. We built a group of teens and told them: you have a voice here. Then we did what they asked.

In 2013 we built a prom in the hospital lobby. Teens aren't supposed to miss prom because they're on oxygen. Administration didn't find it necessary. So I went door to door at small businesses for dresses, hair and makeup, a caterer and a DJ, all donated. People are so, so good when you give them a chance to be.

Twelve years later, the prom is still going.

I try to do that all the time now: listen first, then build what people actually asked for.

The Power of Yes

Ah, young Jessie, about to give her first-ever wellness webinar back in 2019. We'd turned the guest bedroom into an office and watched YouTube to figure out the background. Day one of my new business.

I didn't know what I was doing. I tried sales. I tried a lot of random things. What it came down to was simple: say yes, trust your gut, and see where the adventure goes.

Wunsupona started as a passion project. Then it turned into other people's passions too. That's how we built our team: by finding passionate people who really care about this stuff, some of them my old prom planners.

Since that day, Wunsupona has led 4,867 remote sessions, hosted 264 on-site experiences, and shared stories with nearly 100,000 employees.

And btw, I still run the business from that guest room slash office.

We Belong on the Top Floor

Jenna and I were in the elevator heading up to the top floor of a $10 billion company, with our cart and our fake trees.

There have been plenty of times on this road when I felt like an imposter. Like we didn't belong in rooms like that one.

But we found a tall, clearly stressed VP with his shoulder up in his ear. I offered to help. "Sorry, I don't have time." "Three minutes, then kick me out." He said yes. Three minutes turned into twenty, and he busted into the meeting next door to bring the other execs over.

Honestly? We deserve to be there. We have the background. We have the expertise. We have the team.

I Am, and We Are

I am a teacher. I am a connector. I am here to listen, to learn, and to love on this work.

And now it's we.

We've worked with 400+ companies, and every one of those stories started the way yours might: with an HR team that wanted something better than stress PowerPoints and pamphlets.

We love the work we do, the people we work with, and the mission we created together.

Your team's story can begin here. Let's start writing.

Meet our coaches and the rest of the team