Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
The Wellness Creator Podcast is your go-to source for expert insights and actionable tips in the evolving world of health, wellness, and spiritual-based business. Join us as we explore proven online growth strategies, chat about current trends, and interview fellow wellness creators who’ve managed to turn passion into profit by helping people live better, healthier lives.
Jeni (00:01)
Welcome back to the Wellness Creator Podcast, the place where we break down what's trending in wellness, what's changing in online business, and what it all means for those of us building soulful businesses in a noisy world. Today's episode is packed with the kind of stories we love, cultural shifts, creator moments, and just the right amount of intrigue. We're talking about why Gen Z and millennials are giving the wellness market a total glow up and what they actually want.
plus the TikTok trend that's less about getting out there and more about locking in, literally. We'll look at why Pilates is quietly taking over where spin left off and the global data showing that wellness has officially become as valuable as a salary, a major signal for anyone building offers around health, healing, or lifestyle design. And finally, we can't not talk about her. Disgraced female founder Elizabeth Holmes has returned and whether you love her or loathe her,
Her redemption arc has us all watching with bated breath and popcorn. And we think there's something in it for every woman building something big. Trust us, you're gonna wanna stay around until the end. Let's get into it.
Sandy (01:12)
Okay, I got the first story. So according to McKinsey's latest Future of Wellness report, the global wellness market is now worth a jaw dropping $2 trillion and Millennials and Gen Z are driving that growth with major changes to how wellness looks and feels. Instead of viewing wellness as a luxury or a once in a while thing, this next generation is treating it like a daily lifestyle strategy. They're spending on sleep, movement, recovery, mental health,
and beauty, not just as an indulgence, but as identity. They're also prioritizing personalization, tech-driven tools and brands that match their values. So if you're someone listening who hasn't yet nailed down your niche, consider younger millennials and Gen Z. They want wellness woven into everyday life, not just a treat, but a daily ritual. That means your content, your offers and your message need to meet them there.
in their routines, their values, and their scrolls. What do you think about this one, Jenny?
Jeni (02:16)
I think that's so important. And I know for some of you, you already have your niche nailed down and it's a different generation. Maybe it's Gen X or boomers, you're doing chair yoga, things like that. But if you haven't nailed down your niche, I think the biggest takeaway from this story is that kind of young millennials in Gen Z are huge market and a huge opportunity. And so to really consider that as your niche and really looking at what
motivates them and what they're eager to purchase, sign up for, and be a part of.
Sandy (02:52)
Yeah, I think the daily thing is fascinating. I think you and I grew up with like self-care Sundays. Like it was like a treat that you had to kind of schedule as a special day or a, you know, a girl's weekend away or something. And this generation wants it every single day. So I think it's, yeah, I think it's worth knowing how that that desire is changing with the younger generation. And as you pointed out, it's probably younger millennials. It's not all millennials because some of them are, you know, in their forties and this.
Jeni (03:01)
Yeah.
Yeah,
some of them are my age. Yeah, no, I would just say that the reason this is happening is likely because of the tech world, to be honest. It's likely because of the prevalence of wearables and apps for every kind of wellness. And it's just so much a part of the fabric of our lives at this point that it would be silly to think that that wouldn't be part of what you as a wellness creator need to incorporate.
Sandy (03:22)
Yeah.
Jeni (03:51)
into serving that market. And I would say some of the trends that are really targeting younger millennials in Gen Z are also maybe appropriate for other generations as well too. just start to think about like what is getting attention, like open up some of the younger social apps and just start to see what are people talking about and maybe you can get some inspo for your own business.
Sandy (04:01)
Mm-hmm.
Yep.
Okay, let's move on to story number two. You've got the next TikTok trend.
Jeni (04:17)
Okay, so I love this trend. It's TikTok's great lock-in, which is really an anti-glow up challenge. This really started, I started seeing rumblings about this in September for kind of like Q4 going to the end of the year strong, but TikTok is always good for some chaotic wellness content. And this is no different. It's called the great lock-in of 2025. There's tons of hashtags around this if you go on TikTok. And instead of the typical glow up or hot girl challenge,
The lock-in invites users to commit to small personal goals between now and the end of the year. So think walking every day, going to therapy, getting serious about sleep, eating better, really habits. It's less about getting shredded in 60 days and more about getting intentional before 2026. So this matters if you're running a membership or you offer coaching. You want to say something. You want to respond to this trend through
your newsletter, your social posts. Could you host a lock-in with your community? Could you run a workshop to help people set sustainable goals or even a single goal going into Q4? This is a super low-lift, high-trust trend that you can jump on. And I would say this is even spreading off TikTok at this point. I'm seeing this on YouTube. I'm seeing this kind of everywhere.
Sandy (05:38)
Yeah. Yeah. Like I, I think in this podcast, we're going to continue to bring some trends like this that some of you may not be following as closely as we do because there's, this one is so easy to jump on, right? Like, you know, between now and December 31st, we're going to do X and just like create a little challenge and talk about it. And you can just easily go into TikTok and like Jenny said, just go into the hashtags or search the great lock in and you'll find tons of examples. I think it would be really
⁓ Easy to do and what all of you teach is so perfect for this kind ⁓ of a challenge. Yeah, I think it's great.
Jeni (06:16)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Sandy (06:19)
Okay.
Jeni (06:20)
All right, what's next in the news in the wellness world? Yeah.
Sandy (06:22)
Yeah, let's talk about what's happening in Pilates. So
we're going to talk about something that's quietly been trending and no, it is not saunas or fiber maxing, it's Pilates. According to recent reports, Pilates is now one of the fastest growing movement modalities, especially in the boutique fitness world. Since 2019, participation has jumped from 9.2 million to nearly 13 million people. That is a 40 % increase in just a few years.
Meanwhile, cycling, once the darling of the boutique scene, has seen a significant dip. One study cited a 33 % drop in participation. And it's not just about who is sweating where. Industry data shows that Pilates, yoga, and bar now hold the largest market share in boutique fitness studios globally, ahead of boxing, HIIT, and yes, of course, cycling. Part of that rise comes from people wanting lower impact, strength-based, longevity-friendly movement.
especially after years of high intensity everything. And part of it, we also think that everyone got a Peloton during the lockdowns and we're kind of over it. So if you are someone out there who teaches Pilates, either online or off, the moment is now. The demand is rising, the vibe is hot and your clients are hungry for instructors who know what they are doing. And even if you don't teach Pilates, this trend is still telling you something.
People want movement that feels smart, strong, and sustainable. This is your cue to lean into programs that support nervous system safety, functional strength, and graceful aging.
Jeni (08:00)
Yeah, that's such a great story, Sandy. And we've seen this trend take place over the last five or six years. Like we've witnessed it in our client base. We've witnessed it in what people are purchasing on our platform. And I don't think it's going anywhere soon. Like every trend, I'm sure it will slow down. And, you know, once the market reaches saturation, especially in the IRL market where there's already kind of a Pilates studio now in every strip mall in America and probably all around Canada too, it's just, ⁓
I do think that this trend is something that if you are a yoga teacher, which I know a lot of you are, if you're doing just sort of like fitness instructions, start to incorporate more, you know, of Pilates-esque kind of content, if that is something that would be appropriate for your audience, for your market, for your clientele, because Pilates is...
you know, really good for everyone, even if it's not what they're doing as their primary workout, like even having it as rest and restore once a week or something like that. So I think it's really worth following this trend. Another really interesting thing I think in the wellness industry about Pilates is that like, typically these classes are more expensive, right? So even a mat class is gonna be typically more expensive than a yoga class, a group class. And so just thinking about, I know,
2025 has been kind of a funny year financially for a lot of folks in the world, but people are paying for things like Pilates, right? Like, so what is that signal? It's not like everything is pulling back or everything is tightening. Like people are just redirecting where they're spending their money, which is interesting to follow.
Sandy (09:34)
Yep, yep. I
love that they don't want the hit, the heavy impact. They really want the gentle. And so, you know, as you said, even if you don't teach Pilates, like really lean into that lower impact side of things and that sort of graceful aging that people are seeking. Yeah, that's great. Okay. Next story is about work life wellness.
Jeni (09:39)
Yeah.
Okay, so this is about how a study came out. Wellhub's global survey of over 5,000 employees came out and 88 % of people now say that wellbeing is just as important as their salary when it comes to a job or a career. So 82 % of people have reported that they're actively working less in order to feel more balanced. I mean, that's shocking to me.
Sandy (10:23)
Cute, cute.
Jeni (10:24)
like absolutely shocking. I wonder if some of that is like sort of post pandemic burnout and fatigue. It's interesting. But the top self-care strategies that people are turning to are running, lifting, sleeping more, socializing and eating better. So nothing fancy, but foundational health and wellness. People are going back to the basics. They're setting boundaries to protect their energy.
And this matters to all of you in this market because wellness is clearly no longer a nice to have, it's a need. And you as a creator in this space are not just a service provider, you're a part of a massive global shift. So don't underestimate the value of what you offer. You're not selling a class or product, you're helping people to live better and you should own that.
Sandy (11:11)
Mm-hmm. This sort of ties in with story one about the millennials and the Gen Z wanting it daily. I think the message here is that all of you wellness creators that are listening to us, like the potential for what you're doing is so huge. And I think even taking this into like approaching corporations, ⁓ know, cold calling or...
Jeni (11:34)
Yeah.
Sandy (11:36)
doing lunch and learns or whatever. Like obviously this is like huge. People want this and all those HR people know that. People who plan the programs for the corporations, they know that. And so you can just, in theory, you should be able to waltz in there and do some classes, do some education. people like that, those numbers are staggering, just staggering. Like virtually everybody wants this in their life. So I think that just, it's exciting. It's really exciting for the wellness creators.
Jeni (11:38)
Yeah.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Yeah, and for humanity. It's a great shift, I think, in our social consciousness that we want to take care of ourselves and rest and heal. And that's more important than hustling and making more money or climbing the corporate ladder.
Sandy (12:07)
Yeah, for humanity.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Okay, so something weird and kind of incredible is happening. Elizabeth Holmes, yes, that Elizabeth Holmes has quietly reappeared on X from prison. She's commenting, observing, writing like a comeback is in progress. And we're not going to lie, we're watching it like hawks. Jenny's giving me daily, daily. Did you see what she wrote today?
Jeni (12:43)
Harks.
Sandy (12:48)
Say what you will about her dawn fall. And yes, was, it certainly was a fall. There is something brewing here and we're not the only ones who feel it. Substack writer, Jessica Reed Krause recently posted a long and fascinating take on Elizabeth Holmes redemption arc and it's making waves. This isn't about excusing wire fraud, which is what she was charged with. It's about asking what happens when a woman dares to dream too big, move too fast and play the game like a man.
Holmes was once the youngest self-made billionaire. She modeled herself after Steve Jobs. She had the black turtleneck, she changed her voice and she gave some big promises and she got obliterated for it. Elon Musk breaks things all the time and gets glorified. She did it once and got 11 years. And yet here she is writing again, choosing visibility, telling her version of the story. Maybe, we don't know, but maybe starting over and we just can't stop looking.
This is important because if you're a woman building something, a business, a brand, a body of work, you've probably already felt it, the pressure to be perfect, to stay soft, to be visionary, but never too loud about it. Elizabeth was a woman who dared to take up massive space in a male-dominated industry. And while what she built did fall apart, the speed and the viciousness of her downfall tell us a lot about how we treat ambitious women who break the rules.
This story is also a reminder that reinvention is possible. So even from the lowest place, it's about owning your narrative, even when the world wants to write it for you, which we really think has happened here. It's about asking yourself what kind of leader do I want to be and what am I willing to let die in order to become her? Because in this next era of feminine entrepreneurship, success won't come from being perfect. It'll come from being sovereign.
Jeni (14:44)
Mm-hmm. my gosh.
Sandy (14:45)
Jenny, I'm going to challenge you to keep this
within a few minutes, a few minutes.
Jeni (14:49)
I almost don't even wanna talk about this because it's hard to keep this to like commentary on a news story. But so I think we will have to have some more conversations about her. just so everyone knows, she's technically not allowed to be posting to social media from federal prison. And so there's a lot of mysteries surrounding like who's actually posting. She says in her bio on X that it's...
mostly her words posted by like her words mostly posted by others. So I don't know if it's her mom or her husband or her best friend or whomever posting for her. But it's there's a lot of very personal content about her children. I mean, she went into prison with two very, very little children. She was pregnant during her trial. And
And so there's posts about her kids. There's also posts about what happened to her and the downfall of her company that, ⁓ you know, she's essentially saying in these posts that she was prohibited from speaking publicly. The government forbade her from telling her side of the story during her trial. So, I mean, it is like something is going to happen with this.
I don't know, Sandy. It's like the first thing I check when I wake up and the last thing before I go to bed is her account. I mean, it's so fascinating. And I think we've networked and talked with our friends with a lot of other women founders. And I feel like almost every one of them has been hooked into her story since the beginning. Her story is the story of us because she was the youngest self-made female billionaire.
Sandy (16:09)
Mm-hmm.
Jeni (16:33)
and the way she was sort of systematically targeted and taken down was shocking, I think for many of us. And it was chilling in the way that like when something happens to someone like you, even though we're not operating at the scale of her and her, not billionaires, but like you start to hold back a little, right? Like you start to think like, is this safe? And I think that what happened to her has caused a chilling throughout.
Sandy (16:49)
billionaires.
Jeni (17:01)
kind of the female founder community for years now. Yes. Yes.
Sandy (17:02)
Yeah, you become cautious, right? Because you don't want anyone to make claims against you
and so you're a little bit more hesitant to make the bold claims, which all the male founders like Adam Newman have made claims, promises, and he just gets more money and she gets to in years. I just, can't, I can't.
Jeni (17:11)
Yes.
Don't get me started on him. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yes. And there
are very technical reasons for why that happened. But there are also, I mean, that's like a whole extra conversation about like, how you sort of cherry pick what you go after someone for. you know, it's complicated by the fact that like,
the main people going after her were people who wanted her patents, who were fighting her on the patents that, you know, whatever, were the basis of her company. So it's a really important story, I think, maybe not interesting to everyone, all of you listening, but for some of you, I think it's really worth following. I mean, just to see how is this even happening? And what is the next?
chapter of this story. ⁓ I don't know. I mean, it could still all be a joke. There are people who are saying that there, I mean, obviously it isn't her posting unless she's, you know, secretly illegally doing that, which is very unlikely because she I'm sure is looking to try to get released from prison early to be with her babies. ⁓ And so, you know, like how much creative discretion, how does that even, how do you, because she's like,
I mean, they're interacting. It's not just posting once a day. Like it is, it's commenting and interacting with people and comments. Like she's starting a book club, like a book club with the Alchemist, the novel, the Alchemist as the first book of the book club, which is like also a whole conversation. anyway, I just, don't know, Sandy, what is your take? Like what is...
Sandy (18:44)
Yeah, she's commenting on the comments. Yeah.
Yeah. What? Yeah. Yeah, I know. It's, it's fascinating. Yeah. Yeah.
Right.
Well, I was really skeptical like when you were like, my God, Elizabeth Holmes. I'm like, that's not her. I just thought it was a joke. so, yeah, but there's something that switched in the last week before Jessica's article came out. ⁓ And I was like, my God, I actually think this is her speaking. And I think there's a whole other story of what happened to her. Like I believe that she didn't get to tell her side of things.
Jeni (19:07)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. Well, she didn't. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Sandy (19:33)
And I think there is a deep, yeah, yeah, but I I want to know it. And I think that's
what this is about. Like she's, and I think the world has changed so much since this happened to her, right? When she, don't even know what year that was, but I don't know, like before COVID anyway. ⁓ And the world has changed. And I think people are much more willing to listen to like, wait a second, what actually happened? Cause I think people are like so much more suspicious of.
the systems, the bigger systems, right? Like, yeah, so.
Jeni (20:03)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And what she was
building in many ways has come to be. I mean, people accuse her of defrauding the public and defrauding investors and defrauding the government. And it's basically saying there was no there there behind her technology. And yet now we see a world where diagnostic blood testing is like
Sandy (20:09)
Yeah, a lot of it is in play.
Jeni (20:29)
obviously the future, at least the current future of healthcare. I mean, you see like very prominent doctors like Peter Atiyah and Mark Hyman and like function health in the United States. Like you see like this is the direction of sort of the future of preventative care. And she was just so early. I mean, she was a child in college who dropped out because she had a vision that this was going to be the future. And I think
it would be wrong not to give her credit for this future that we all now kind of are getting to live into where that is becoming true.
Sandy (21:05)
Yeah.
Yeah.
I would love to know from our listeners if they would like us to do a whole podcast on this because we've kind of toyed with the idea. It's a little, you know, little tangent from what we normally do here, but ⁓ I do think it's, I do agree with you. It's a really important story of what's going to happen, what she's going to say. So let us know if you want a whole ⁓ episode and we will do it. ⁓ So let's wrap it up. ⁓
We are just ask if you enjoyed this episode, know someone who would be helped by it to share it. And yeah, we'll be back in a couple of weeks with a bunch more new stories. Thanks, Jenny.
Jeni (21:51)
Thanks, Sandy.
Thanks, everyone. We'll see you next time.
Sandy (21:54)
Bye.