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Conversations with the Inspiring Alysia Pope

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Alysia Pope.

Alysia, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I’m a girl in her late 20’s that has a pure passion for EVERYTHING health, wellness and event planning. Born and raised in Chicago, I now live in Los Angeles full time with my s/o and partner in crime, Nick.

A majority of my career has been dedicated to planning a variety of events from social soirees to festivals with 20K+ attendees, with my main focus being on corporate event planning. The thing I loved most about my job in corporate event planning was the creative outlet it served, and that every day brought a different challenge (I was once asked to source a llama for an event!), I’m a DMCP (destination management certified professional), which in layman’s terms is like having your CPA as an accountant.

I’m now the Director of Events for HelloWellness, a company dedicated to creating an inclusive space for people to meet, connect and explore wellness IRL. We host monthly events bringing the wellness community that’s thriving on social together during live experiences in NYC, Boston, Chicago, and LA. We’ve also begun to host yearly retreats – check that out here!

This role has been nothing but perfect for me, as my other passion is my obsession with everything health and wellness related. All of my closest friends always look to me to let them know what the new healthy trends are, where to get the best workouts and what are the best ways to nourish your body. To take this a step further, I’m currently a student at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition and will become a Certified Health Coach in January 2020.

PurelyPope is a way for me to share all of the tips and tricks that have helped me along in my wellness journey, as well as showcase my favorite experts in nutrition, fitness and event planning. I truly love sharing the knowledge that I’ve learned about wellness and events for anyone that is the slight bit curious, so this is my outlet to do just that!

I feel truly lucky to be doing exactly what I’m passionate about – event planning and wellness! It’s a beautiful thing when two passions collide!

Follow along on my journey as I document the things that I’m the most passionate about in life – hope you enjoy!

Has it been a smooth road?
There are ups and downs with every journey, that’s the beauty of life! Especially in the world of events, you can get burnt out very quickly. I had to deal with being taken advantage of and knowing how to both be a hard worker while also being able to set reasonable boundaries at the same time. Work-life balance is definitely something I’ve learned to be protective over! There’s a difference between staying late once in a while to meet a deadline vs. not having a life outside of work, so be able to see the difference here.

Additionally, I’ve found that you may not find your passion IMMEDIATELY when you begin your career. A lot of people ask how I was able to intersect my passion for wellness in my career and the answer isn’t always what people want to hear. My advice: get good at whatever your expertise is i.e. marketing, sales, finance, communications, etc. and then look to apply it to the industry you want to be in. If you can do this from the get-go, amazing! But if not, don’t fret. I got really good at event planning and then, I was able to apply those skills to my current role in the wellness world.

Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I’m the Director of Events for HelloWellness. We host monthly events in NYC, Boston, Chicago, and LA creating an inclusive space for people to connect, bond and learn about wellness. We aim to bring the wellness community that is thriving on social media into real life. We truly believe that we’re unique in the space and can offer our consumers and guests of events an experience that is going to be worthwhile in their wellness journey.

At each event, we bring together brands, consumers and influencers in the space and allow them to form meaningful connections amongst each other. These events range anywhere from discussing a certain topic in wellness with an influencer or authoritative figure on that topic to baking cookies with your favorite health food blogger using their recipes to working out live with your favorite fitness trainer.

For my blog at PurelyPope, I blog about different topics in health and wellness, as well as create easy to make, healthy recipes. My recipes are inspired from traditional favorites turned healthy. Soon, I will be a certified health coach and will help guide clients through their own wellness journey.

What do you feel are the biggest barriers today to female leadership, in your industry or generally?
I think that the biggest barriers facing the wellness industry are that there are a lot of big player brands that may advertise to consumers as having a health food product, but in reality, it isn’t the best option for the consumer. Everyone needs to focus on the facts and education rather than being overcome by the noise in the space.

In terms of female leadership, I think each and everyday females are taking a more powerful stance, especially in the wellness industry. This space specifically is very inclusive in my opinion, and the biggest barrier is getting women to truly support other women and focusing on collaboration over competition. So many people have amazing ideas and goals for the future and there is no reason why all of them shouldn’t be able to be accomplished.

Contact Info:

Image Credit:
Nick Ehret Photography (Photo #1), Nathalie Kossek (photo #2), all other photos: Nick Ehret Photography

Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

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