Written by: Deborah Davis Huberfeld, H.G. Services, Inc
Carol M. Pate, Ed.D. - Envision2bWell
If you met Carol Pate sometime prior to this past summer, she would have introduced herself as the EVP at She’s It, LLC, partnering with founder and CEO Tammy Williams to create corporate wellness programs for employees.
Since the summer, however, although the mission to democratize Social Health Empowerment for 360-degree Well-Being remains the same, the firm has undergone a rebranding to Envision2bWell, powered by She’s It. Their work is “inspiring people to take ownership of their health and well-being by bringing knowledge to life through their lifestyle technology and vetted content.”
“We want to empower people to move beyond the scale (and steps) to receive a solid return on investment and value,” Pate says of the firm’s programming. “Our corporate wellness solution provides, knowledge, support, access and autonomy for all things supporting a healthier lifestyle.”
Pate credits the Women’s March of 2017 with helping her reconnect to what she’s always intuitively known: Women (and men) have been left out of many conversations that affect their lives. “However, it also became clear that we leave ourselves out of many conversations that are important to us and the world. I met Tammy Williams through a kindness walk in Philadelphia. She had just left corporate America and was considering moving her then-company She’s It, LLC to full time creation,” she says. “Her health and wellness focus and understanding of how we don’t take care of ourselves resonated with me, and with my content, conversational leadership, research and administrative background, we became partners in August, 2017.”
In two years, they have created their Envisionwell mobile platform, rebranded from She’s It, LLC to Envsions2bWell empowered by She’s It and brought on staff and employees to bring the program to corporations. Pate believes is changing the shape of what can be done by bringing resources and materials right to the user. Consequently, multiple modes of communication for wellness including mobile, audio, video, push notifications, wellness-related newsletters and more, reach employees where they are. “Everybody is different and every BODY is different," she says. “That’s why it’s time to go beyond steps, food and the typical challenges with a program so employees can engage, learn and be motivated.”
Envision2bWell provides many materials and resources, from equipment that gives real-world information to users to the Social Health Empowerment App, known as the SHEapp by She’s It. The first version was launched toward the end of 2018, and was directed primarily toward women. After listening to feedback, the company evolved, rebranded and replaced the app with the EnvisionWell App and the Workplace Wellness Program. “Same product, more features and a platform for both men and women to learn and be motivated to live healthier lives,” she notes.
Pate says her formative years taught her just how small the world can be when we live with blinders. She has worked hard to create “larger sandboxes” so that more of us live in ways that support and help one another. This mind-set fueled her careers as educator, administrator and professor. This new challenge came along when she felt she had come to the limit of what she could contribute. “I know this is where I need to be now,” she says.
The greatest challenge to running Envision2bWell is residing in the in-between space; after extensive product creation and development and before outside funding. “We have doubled the side of our company to begin meeting with and obtaining corporate clients,” Pate says. “We are working to be more visible, to receive invitations to speak about our mission of social health empowerment® outside of our presence at health and wellness expos up and down the east coast.” Pate and Williams have attended numerous venture capital meetings, appeared at a number of women entrepreneur workshops, with a continuing focus on obtaining business and funding.
“If you go by the numbers, female entrepreneur partnerships receive .38 cents out of every venture capital dollar awarded to male-run companies,” she says. “Even more challenging is that as Founder, Tammy as a black woman entrepreneur typically receives 2 cents out of every dollar of VC funding. Add to this the fact that we are technology company and that we’ve created a mobile planform that hasn’t been done before – the challenge is real.”
NAWBO has been an incredibly helpful and supportive organization thought its member services and programs, Pate says. In addition to what she’s learned about running a business through seminars and NAWBO signature events, she is a member of the 2019 Semi-Circle mastermind program. “The monthly meetings allow us to help one another through our experiences, and I’ve found that everyone is incredibly generous with their ideas and specific support, she adds. “I now have a fabulous mentor who has been an invaluable part of my learning and growth.”
Pate says she is up to the challenge of bringing Envision2bWell to the world. “My motto has been, it’s not how you begin or start in this world; it’s one‘s life of learning, creating and loving that will decide your legacy.”