Today we’d like to introduce you to Jackie Cherkas.
Hi Jackie, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I battled with my weight for 10+ years.
Throughout my life, food was always the center of my world. My family is from Ukraine, which means we are ALWAYS around food.
After graduating college, I started working in a fast-paced, high-stress tech environment. I loved it, but all of my time and energy went into work. I didn’t know a thing about eating healthy, what to eat during the day, or what to order when I was out with friends…within months, I gained 30 pounds. As a young adult, I was overweight, and I had no idea what to do about it — I didn’t even know where to start. I was also food blogging and my passion project turned into a full-blown career.
My life sounded amazing: I was getting treated to the best restaurants and my favorite brands were sending me incredible food. The glitz and glam were there, but the confidence and happiness in my own body was not. I told myself there had to be a way to lose weight in a sustainable, healthy, and natural way. I even took a step back from food blogging – my desire to feel good outweighed everything else. I did the research, applied what I learned, and the results were mind-blowing: I lost 30 pounds in three months and never looked back.
Following this experience, I became so deeply passionate about weight loss so I decided to go to school to become a Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner to become an expert in nutrition. During this time, I worked 60 hours a week and studied an additional 40 hours a week. Once I graduated in June 2020, I had nothing but time to write out my business plan.
Being in corporate America for ~10 years and understanding the struggles around balancing work and prioritizing health, I knew there was a big gap I could fill. I felt like the majority of people in today’s world wanted something that was quick, delicious, sustainable, and easy to apply to their daily lives. That’s how the idea for Weight Loss for Go-Getters: The Program was created.
I also noticed a ton of confusion around food during work hours. Regardless of if I was working IRL or from home (both pre and post-pandemic), I would constantly hear frustration from my teammates about not knowing what to eat, how to cook, or what meal prep even was. Everyone felt like they had no energy throughout the day, they didn’t know what to eat, and that they couldn’t find anything nutritious or delicious around the office or in their fridge (no matter how many times they walked over to open and close it).
That’s how the idea for Eat Smart Academy (aka meal prep classes) came to be. I wanted to create something that allowed people to learn about nutrition, understand the strategy behind creating smart, delicious, and easy meal plans, and look at food as fuel to keep energy and productivity high, all while fitting into the busy schedule of a young, successful go-getter.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It definitely wasn’t a smooth road! The hardest part of starting my own business was just that – starting. I had serious imposter syndrome, it felt like I had “golden handcuffs” on me with my stellar sales career, and I was absolutely terrified I wasn’t going to succeed.
If I could go back in time and do it differently, I would only change one thing: I would start sooner.
When I made the leap to quit my corporate job, I realized that by prolonging the start of my business, I was withholding priceless knowledge and support from those who really needed it. I have yet to have a client who hasn’t called my program life-changing because quite simply, it is. Of course, hindsight is 20/20, but if I knew then how much the lessons I teach impact people’s lives, I would never have hesitated to get started.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I’m known for my signature weight loss program, Weight Loss for Go-Getters, a program specifically designed for busy millennials to own their relationship with food, lose weight, and ditch unsustainable fad diets for good.
I wanted to create something that felt applicable to everyday life: from being in control of your trips to the grocery store to your time abroad, my program teaches you how to make healthy decisions in real-time wherever you are, be smarter with your money when it comes to food, and feel confident in you, at all times.
This is the program I wish I had when I first embarked on my weight loss journey. It’s practical, and it combines the lessons I’ve learned from my personal experiences with the philosophy I’ve developed since becoming a certified Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner.
Eat Smart Academy (virtual meal prep classes) are also something I wish I had when I first started my corporate career. While I desperately wanted to care about my health and what I was eating, I didn’t know where to start! It seemed like everyone in the health world knew about macro-counting, portions, how to read nutrition labels, how to create meal plans, and execute smart shopping lists, but I personally felt helpless when trying to understand these ideas myself. Once I mastered this information in school, I knew I had to bridge the gap and make the information digestible, fun, and applicable to your everyday millennial.
I created this so no one had to feel like they “just didn’t get it” ever again. There’s also nothing else like it on the market – there are many cooking classes and team-building exercises you can do, but no one teaches you the art of meal prepping, how to fuel yourself and set up your week for success, and feel energized and productive throughout your work day, with the added benefit of saving time and money, too.
How do you define success?
To me, this is simple. Every day, every week, every month, and every year, I’m always striving to be the best version of myself. This means I’m constantly growing, learning, facing challenges, getting comfortable with being uncomfortable, and getting at least 1% better every single day. I want to look back on my life and know that I made a big, lasting impact. To me – that’s the best success in the world.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jackiecherkas.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jackiesfoodaffair/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacquelinecherkas/
