By Carly Martinetti, 2x founder, publicist, and author at Authority Magazine<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As part of my series about the leadership lessons of\naccomplished business leaders, I had the pleasure of interviewing Romy Antoine.\nRomy is a millennial engagement expert who\u2019s actually a millennial! He\u2019s the\nauthor of the Ultimate Guide to Engaging Millennials, as well as the founder\nand CEO of One Stop Wellness, an award winning digital workplace wellness SaaS\ncompany empowering employees to make informed health decisions, have better\nrelationships with their doctors, and improve their mental wellbeing. In\naddition, these employees are rewarded for helping their company reduce health\ncosts and turnover. One Stop Wellness is currently a semi-finalist for the 2020\nHarvard Business School Black New Ventures Startup Competition. Romy was also\nthe 2018 recipient of the National Wellness Institute\u2019s inaugural Young\nWellness Professional Award. His work has been covered by Men\u2019s Health and he\nwas named Top 100 Modern Man Influencers of 2017 by Black Enterprise.\nFurthermore, Romy is a fitness trainer and nutritionist who\u2019s coached clients\nall over the world! He is a renowned speaker and thought leader on how\norganizations can inspire well-being, as well as how managers can better engage\nmillennials to attract and retain top talent while navigating through a\nconnected and multigenerational workplace. Romy is a graduate of USciences with\na BS in Biology and minor in Exercise Science & Wellness Management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us the\nstory about what brought you to this specific career path?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n While running my fitness coaching business I came across a\nclient who had a lot of issues with work-life integration and managing her\npriorities when it came to health. Within a short amount of time from starting\nher job, which involved traveling from the east to west coast over 50% of the\nmonth, she told me she gained a great deal of weight and was unhappy. I helped\nher to get back on track, which led to her asking if I could come do a workshop\nat her job because her company would benefit from my guidance. I said of\ncourse! After doing that workshop, I did many more and discovered the corporate\nwellness industry. I started networking on LinkedIn, attending conferences,\nspeaking at conferences, and eventually publishing a book on millennial\nengagement. At the same time, I was booking workshops at many companies and\npackaging a wide range of on-site services to engage their employees. This\neventually resulted in me building a team and scaling my small workshops into a\ndigital workplace wellness platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Can you share one of the major challenges you encountered\nwhen first leading the company? What lesson did you learn from that?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Anyone can be opportunistic, even if it\u2019s to your detriment.\nCertain people are looking to find gaps or vulnerabilities in your business,\nleadership style, etc. and will be the first to take advantage. I learned that\nwhile not everyone is out to get you, it\u2019s good to consult trusted\nadvisors\/mentors, be vocal about your opinions, and take a step back to assess\nthe situation. If it doesn\u2019t align with your vision, you need to decide whether\nyou should conform to just taking a check or risking it all and going a\ndifferent route.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What are some of the factors that you believe led to your\neventual success?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1) Not asking for permission to take action led me to\nsuccess.<\/strong> Nolan Bushnell, known as the father of electronic gaming, said,\n\u201cEveryone who\u2019s ever taken a shower has an idea. It\u2019s the person who gets out\nof the shower, dries off and does something about it who makes a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2) Being self-aware<\/strong> \u2014 aware of who I am, who I am\nnot, and who I can become. When you\u2019re self aware, you can easily look at a\nsituation and decide whether it\u2019s more efficient for you to learn how to solve\nit or when its best to ask for help. I dedicated the last few years to inner\nwork \u2014 meditation, journaling, kundalini yoga, and so much more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3) Having a strong enough \u201cWHY\u201d drives me to my individual\nsuccess.<\/strong> In my teens and early 20s, my \u201cwhy\u201d was really driven by\nsuperficial things \u2014 cars, money, etc. However, after dealing with depression\nafter my mom\u2019s passing coupled with the joy of having my son, my mentality\nshifted. I now had someone who was watching my every move and fueling my desire\nto create an impact. I\u2019ll be able to teach him that if you have a mission, be\nof value to others, and be relentless, success is inevitable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What are your \u201c5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I\nBecame CEO\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. You will be on an emotional rollercoaster.<\/strong> Being a\nCEO or even just an entrepreneur is one of the most stressful jobs on the\nplanet and it takes a certain type of person to do it. Social media influencers\nglorify being an entrepreneur mainly because they\u2019re posting highlights.\nAfter-all, posting a picture of you on a conference call or sending out emails\nwon\u2019t get any likes. But a CEO has to be responsible for the entire business,\nall the partners, clients, employees, and they still have their own life. You\nneed to take time to keep your mental health in check, because it can and will\nlead to self doubt, anxiety, and depression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. You need to be patient.<\/strong> The market will let you\nknow if you\u2019re doing the right thing. Even if you\u2019re not getting the traction\nyou\u2019d like, you need to trust in the process. Jeff Bezos said it best: \u201cAll\novernight successes take 10 years\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. I wish I learned about the VC world while I started my\nfirst company.<\/strong> There is so much money out there if you make the right\nconnections, have a good story, and good business model. I just assumed getting\nan investor wasn\u2019t for my type of business. At the same time, there was a\nsimilar company doing exactly what I was doing and growing rapidly. I kept\nseeing that the company was getting funding, but I just assumed it was because\nthe CEO went to Harvard and had connections to capital. That company had an\neight figure exit a few years later, and my company just continued as a small\nbusiness. Venture Capital is still a foreign concept, but you don\u2019t know about\nit unless you get involved in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4. Be prepared to work harder than anyone<\/strong>, be more\neducated than everyone in your business, and always be ready to negotiate. The\nonly way you\u2019ll be successful and be respected is how well you know your work,\nhow clearly you can articulate an idea, and how effectively you can turn a\nmaybe into a yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. Be authentic.<\/strong> I say this especially with the\nexperience of being a young, black man. As many can relate, there\u2019s times where\nyou try to be someone you\u2019re not to \u201cblend in\u201d and get the deal. Yes it works,\nbut if you\u2019re not being your true self, you\u2019ll always feel deep inside that\nsomething isn\u2019t right. Your authenticity and experience can be your superpower.\nThat\u2019s part of how I was able to brand myself as The only Millennial Engagement\nExpert who\u2019s actually a millennial!<\/p>\n\n\n\n What advice would you give to your colleagues to help them\nto thrive and not \u201cburn out\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n On a podcast, Arianna Huffington said: \u201cFor the human\noperating system downtime is a feature, not a bug.\u201d \u2014 Arianna Huffington<\/p>\n\n\n\n You need to take time and relax otherwise you become a\ndisservice to your business and family. If you think of yourself like a fully\ncharged battery, as you go through the day, you get pulled in so many\ndirections, multiple conversations, conflicts, meetings, obligations, family\nand each interactions are taking some of your energy. For many of us we can\nreach 5% before the afternoon and when this becomes the norm, burnout is on the\nhorizon. Ideally, I\u2019m talking about making it a goal to get adequate sleep each\nnight so that you\u2019re able to give 100% each day. In some situations, time may\nnot be on your side, but even if you\u2019re taking 5 minutes a day to close your\neyes and just be present in the moment will help you to leave the world of\nchaos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n None of us are able to achieve success without some help\nalong the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who\nhelped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n My younger sister Gaelle has helped me in so many ways. As\nan entrepreneur, especially in startup mode, you tend to go all in and be\nextremely risky with your money. There were times where I literally was close\nto running out of money, or did run out of money, but I knew I needed $300 to\ntake a flight to get to a conference where I can make the right connections to\nget a client or grow my business. My sister would help me. As long as I could\nmake it to where I needed to go, I would do whatever it took even if it meant\nsleeping in the airport or a bench on a quiet floor in a hotel. Gaelle would\nsometimes be that person for me that came through during these rough spots. The\nthing is, she didn\u2019t have loads of money; she\u2019d even borrow money to loan me\nbecause she believed in me. She\u2019s seen my highs and lows and always continues\nto support me. She is also an entrepreneur and started her own clothing line.\nThe crazy thing is she said she always looked up to me as a role model, even to\nthis day. Not necessarily because I was successful, but because I was out\nmaking things happen, being dedicated, and not letting anyone or anything get\nin my way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What are some of the goals you still have and are working\nto accomplish, both personally and professionally?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I need to sometimes take a step back and celebrate my small\nwins. I tend to overlook certain accomplishments because they are not the big\ngoal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I need to practice more gratitude because even if you may\nnot have everything you\u2019d like, there\u2019s still someone in the world who would\nliterally die to have something you consider insignificant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I want to make time every day to unplug completely, even if\nonly for an hour to give my undivided attention to my loved ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I want to complete my private pilot training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What do you hope to leave as your lasting legacy?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes what seems like a setback may be a blessing in\ndisguise. I hope that my story inspires someone who is working with an\nunrelenting passion, without the results they\u2019re hoping for, to not give up.\nIt\u2019s ok to change the strategy, but don\u2019t give up on the end goal if it\u2019s\nimportant. I also hope that is a lesson my son can learn as he grows up and\nsees. That even the little guy, the underdog, could create an impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You are a person of great influence. If you could start a\nmovement that would enhance people\u2019s lives in some way, what would it be? You\nnever know what your idea can trigger!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Given the public health emergency caused by COVID-19, I want\nfor us to bring the human back to humanity. We live in this fast paced world\nand now when we are forced to finally slow down, we\u2019re noticing the small\nthings to be grateful for. We\u2019re learning the importance of coming together as\nhumans, as a world, to spread compassion. There are so many people downplaying\nthe severity of this pandemic. I\u2019ve been sickened by the amount of people\ntraveling, going to crowded bars, and celebrating while so many of us educated\nabout this pandemic are truly in fear. While many may not be affected directly,\nit can affect a parent, a relative, or the elderly neighbor living alone. I\nwant everyone to do their part in spreading love by doing one random act of\nkindness a day to someone they come across. I\u2019d love to build a social app in\nwhich we are ranked by where we are on the compassion meter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As part of my series about the leadership lessons of accomplished business leaders, I had the pleasure of interviewing Romy Antoine. Romy is a millennial engagement expert who\u2019s actually a millennial! 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