Women over 50, meet Michelle Zive – Kuel Life’s latest addition to the Kuel Life Thought Leader roster.
Michelle Zive, PhD, MS, RD has been a registered dietitian for over 30 years. She realized early in her career she wasn’t interested in doing one-one-one nutrition consults, instead she found her passion in getting funding to lead large public and community health projects at UC San Diego. In her 40s, Zive was told she’d become invisible at 50. So, she got her PhD at 52.
Michelle joins the roster of Kuel Life Thought Leaders this month and will be bringing us her deep expertise in women’s health.
Let’s Welcome Michelle Zive:
KUELLIFE: What type of business do you own/run?
Michelle: I founded Representation Rebellion, which is a movement to disrupt the stories they sell and tell us by telling our own. I’m writing a book entitled, “Disruptive Leadership Through Storytelling: A Woman’s Guide to Using Her Voice to Change the World” or as my writing group told me call it, “Pick Up the Goddamn Book.”
I’m creating a journal/workbook, webinars, coaching, and other products and services to encourage women to practice self-devotion and to disrupt the societal stories they’ve embodied that’s led to imposter syndrome and shrinking and silencing themselves. Once these narratives have been identified and disrupted, women can write and tell their stories. ONWARD!
” In my first leadership class, there wasn’t one woman leader mentioned.”
Michelle Zive Is A Storyteller:
KUELLIFE: What prompted you or drove you to become an entrepreneur? When?
Michelle: I’m Irish and inherently a storyteller, but I’ll tell the short version. When I was in my 40s, I was told by three or four women within a month’s time that when I turned 50, I’d become invisible. WTF? So, I decided to show them and went back to school at 48 to get my PhD. In my first leadership class, there wasn’t one woman leader mentioned. Here was my first lesson in invisibility which continued throughout my four years at University of San Diego.
I was pissed that despite going to USD for a PhD in leadership, I felt small, unseen, and not represented. When I graduated in 2017 at age 52, I founded Representation Rebellion. I wanted a movement we could find our voices, tell our stories, and be represented the way we are as leaders, badasses, and the hero of our story and not the sidekick.
Women Over 50, Walk The Walk:
KUELLIFE: What’s your biggest struggle?
Michelle: Imposter syndrome. No matter what I’ve accomplished in my life, and there’s been a lot, I still have a voice saying, “Who the hell do you think you are?” or “Who gives a flying fornication what you have to say?” or “Be quiet. Stay small.” I’ve committed myself to silencing these voices in my head and practicing self-devotion. I need to walk the walk so I can support other women on this journey.
KUELLIFE: What is your biggest fear as an entrepreneur? How do you work through it?
Michelle: My biggest fear is the fear of failure. It’s not related directly to power and money, although I know that women who are doing this heart-centered work deserve power and lots of money. No, I fear that I will not be able to reach many women with my message. I fear that women won’t know how beautiful and powerful they are. At age 60 and being an activator, I feel like time is running out.
“I need to walk the walk so I can support other women on this journey..”
Bold And Achievable Disruption:
KUELLIFE: How do you measure your success?
Michelle: I love this question because success for me is how many women I’ve been able to impact to tell and share their stories, how many communities of women have been created because of Representation Rebellion, and how we’ve changed the narrative about what a successful woman looks like.
KUELLIFE: Finally, what advice would you give other women about taking an entrepreneurial path?
Michelle: We need you. We need you to help disrupt the status quo. We need more heart-centered, story-driven businesses as opposed to brain-centered, data-and money-driven institutions and businesses. The keys to success are to practice self-devotion, live your most authentic badass life, and show other women to do the same. If you’re not your most whole, centered, and loved self, you cannot do the work that needs to be done.
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