Meet Eleonora C. Bastos of Flow – Live Well, Work Well

Today we’d like to introduce you to Eleonora C. Bastos.

Eleonora, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I was born and raised in Milan, Italy and moved to the United States on my own at the age of 22. I am now a Health and Wellness consultant although I did not always know that this was going to be my calling (I have a college degree in P.R. and Marketing). But let me take it back a second…

am the oldest of two, and I come from a family of entrepreneurs. I have been quite blessed in my early years as my parents were very loving, always present, and provided me and my brother with an amazing life, traveling the world since kids.

At the age of 11 my parents split up, with a very nasty divorce, on top of which I started getting bullied at school, all while a member of my family started abusing me sexually for a few years. Needless to say that all of this opened up the doors to years of hell. Drug abuse, eating disorders, depression, and self-injury where just the mere consequence of enduring all of that. I call these my “dark years.” I kept all my secrets buried deep within me and never spoke with anyone about the bullying or the abuse until a few years ago.

It was only after I reached out for help to my mom that I began my healing journey, I stopped taking drugs and started flourishing. Unfortunately the eating disorders stuck with me.

Anyways, you can now imagine after all this mess why I needed to start fresh, right? So at 21, I hopped on a plane alone in the direction of Miami, and I met a group of people from Chicago. In that group of people there was a guy from Chicago, we started a long distance relationship, and once I graduated at Uni, he proposed. So at 22, I moved to the Windy City, excited for my fresh start and looking forward to building the new version of myself.

Unfortunately, it was shortly after we got married that I realized I have misjudged the relationship terribly and all of a sudden that “ever after” sounded more like a threat than a dream. Pointless to tell you that it did not work out.

Long story short, I left him and moved to Miami by my self at the age of 23. Note to self: turns out that whether you move across the World or across the Country (and the U.S. is a pretty damn big Country), your eating disorder moves with you. Funny how that works right? Anyways, I got to Miami with my eating disorders and all (at the moment I was headed back to anorexia after binging Chicago days), and I got a full-time job. My degree is in Marketing and Business communication, so I started freelancing part-time, and that’s how my life REALLY changed.

In fact, a few days after I arrived in Miami I met this guy Alain, a life coach that started mentoring me for a few months. After a few months, he introduced me to his wife Jill who happened to be a model that wanted to create a brand teaching women to not be scared of food and make healthier choices. We started working together daily, and I slowly healed my eating disorders, and my depression was finally gone. So thanks to these two amazing people I was finally able to finally heal my soul and take my life to the next level.

I encouraged Jill to take a certification to teach others what she has done for me, and she then encouraged me back to do the same as I was the living breathing proof of it. We both got certified at IIN, and we started a program together to help women create a better relationship with food and their bodies. We moved from Miami to LA and then took our practices in different directions for the past couple of years. I now run a program for women to create a healthier relationship with food and their bodies, I create health and wellness programs for small businesses and I recently wrote a book sharing the steps that brought me from battling with eating disorders to live an amazing, balanced, guilt-free life, with no restrictions (which basically was the program we ran together).

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It has not been a smooth ride at all. I STRUGGLED to make money at the beginning, and when I moved from Miami to LA I lived in an RV with no A/C in the summer for four months, working a full-time job and having to take my little dog to work with me cause he would have died in the RV. Then the owner of the RV wanted it back, so I had to move out, which left me stranded. I stayed with a friend for ten days scrambling to try to find an apartment not having money for the downpayment.

I only owned a motorcycle which I had to sell to rent a place. Then, since I had no vehicle and in LA you need one I had to rush and get a car with no downpayment. Luckily, CarMax in Burbank had a Fiat 500 that would allow me to have an affordable monthly payment, so I scored a car.

The issue was that between the time I could stay with a friend and the time I could get into the apartment there was a 2-day gap, so I found myself homeless, sleeping in my car with my dog and showering at the gym. Then I finally had an apartment but no money for furniture. Which means also NO FRIDGE in LA! So I lived on a blow-up mattress borrowed from a friend for a month and a styrofoam container from Walgreens buying ice every morning for a week until I found a used fridge for $50.

I let go of my health practice dream and got a job in Marketing as the Regional Director for a company in Woodland Hills. I stayed there a year just to let the dust settle, pay back credit cards, buy furniture and breathe for a second. Then I met an amazing, loving and supporting man who allowed me to go back and pursue my passion and the rest is history.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into Health and Flow’s story. Tell us more about the business.
I create affordable health and wellness programs for small businesses. The reason why I now focus on health and wellness in the workplace is that I wanted to share what I have learned with more people and have an impact on a much larger scale. Besides, we spend the majority of our time at work, and if the workplace supports a healthy lifestyle, it becomes MUCH easier for people to make a change since we have such busy lives.

What sets you apart from others?
Everyone that does what I do are all going after the big corporations and no-one is taking care of the small mom and pops shops, the attorney offices, accountants, etc. No one cares for the 5 to 100 employees companies, they don’t even have softwares available to manage so few people but THEY ARE PEOPLE TOO, and they do need help!!!

My approach is also different as I applied what I have learned in my years of 1-1 practice in the model for businesses.

Everything starts with nutrition. This means that all of my programs have a nutrition foundation and the reason is that you cannot pretend to have any lasting impact if you don’t feel good in your body.

I offer different modules, depending on the needs of the company and its employees. Before creating a proposal, we survey the owner and the employees and make recommendations based on the overall need.

The modules are divided in:
-Nutrition & Physical Health
-Mental & Emotional Health
-Personal Development& Performance

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Absolutely NO LUCK. I am a huge believer that you create your own luck. There’s something to be said to be at the right place at the right time, but if you are not the right person at the right place at the right time the opportunities will pass you by, and you won’t even realize it.

Pricing:

• Starting at $500 a month

Contact Info:

• Website: www.healthandflow.com
• Email: info@eleonoracbastos.com

Image Credit:
Isaac Zapata

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