Audacious Impact: Pamela Wirth Of Hello Health On Leading An Audacious, Visionary, Impact-Focused Program
An Interview With Russ McLeod
Put your audacious idea on a sticky note on your bathroom mirror and look at it for a month. Continue to look at it and think on it. Taking time to absorb and become entrenched helps to process the how and when.
In an era where social and environmental challenges are increasingly pressing, certain organizations stand out for their bold and innovative approaches to creating meaningful impact. These trailblazing organizations are not just meeting the status quo but are setting new standards for what can be achieved through dedicated, impact-focused programs. What does it take to pioneer such transformative initiatives, and what can others learn from their successes? I had the pleasure of interviewing Pamela Wirth.
Pamela Wirth is a lifelong learner, Carnegie Mellon trained MBA, former public company executive, management consultant, author and health enthusiast. She founded Hello Health with doctor formulated supplements following a neurodiversity diagnosis of her son and is dedicated to nutrition, education and building a marketplace with community to help support more people — particularly those with Neurodiversity, Autoimmune and Autism syndromes that need nutrition, supplements, lab testing, telemedicine and more.
Ms. Wirth enjoys health and wellness, traveling, family and helping others, specifically enabling people to feel better from the inside out. She combined these passions along with her experience while living in Europe and Asia with doctors and other families to write “Saving My Son”. Ms. Wirth’s consulting, life experiences and attention to detail has allowed her to work with a number of purpose-led and mission-driven people and organizations.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you share a bit about your background and what has led you to your current role?
My background is both as a mom of two and as a natural problem solver with a wide variety of work experience from semiconductors and consumer electronic companies to consulting to hospitality ownership/management and technology. I founded Hello Health after struggling with the costs needed to find the root cause when my son was (mis)diagnosed with disorders including depression, anxiety, OCD and autism. Inspired to bring brain, gut, and immune education and resources to more people, I discovered access to community, honest natural supplements, cost-effective lab testing and telemedicine wasn’t easy to come by, and Hello Health was born. While the community is largely North American based, there is support to expand globally.
What inspired you to start or join your organization, and what is its core mission?
At one point, I had to sell my car to pay for the doctor appointments and lab testing to find out what was wrong with my son. No one should have to go through this.
There are currently no companies focused on an integrative health and wellness model to bring the root of symptoms, including those associated with autoimmune and autism diagnoses to light while also infusing community and a marketplace like concept. This includes not only practitioners but also community, connection, communication, research and products and services including but not limited to nutrition, supplementation, testing for food allergies, the presence of infections and genetic markers.
At its core, Hello Health was founded to provide access to health and wellness through its podcast, blog, community, draft protocol, published book and growing options for cost-effective lab testing and telehealth. When a family member is sick, it largely rests on the mother’s shoulders and it is hard to find options.
Could you tell us about your journey in the industry and any significant experiences that have shaped your approach to impact-focused programs?
I started with the book “Saving My Son” co-written with other families and doctors to share our stories and encourage people to explore blended health and wellness options. Then I moved to building the EnCOURAGE Your Wellness Hello Health podcast by interviewing practitioners that believe in root cause diagnosis and treatment as well as sharing incredible stories of healing. Next, I create the supplement company and the last piece is layering in the cost-effective lab testing, telehealth and robust community. Unfortunately, the industry can be full of people and companies that exploit and do not share information or provide good services and products. It has been difficult to find resources that also believe in our mission to collaborate and grow together. This has really inspired me to work hard in building a robust ecosystem.
It is my hope that by being transparent and helping others, we all will trust and experience our highest level of health and wellness.
Can you describe your company’s mission? Does your organization solve societal problems? If so, tell us how. What customer problems are you solving?
Our mission is to provide cost-effective access to root cause health and wellness. It is important to find out what has triggered our bodies to exhibit such symptoms and solve the root cause before or in conjunction to working on the symptoms. In society, we tend to solve the symptom before the root cause. This can lead to additional symptoms or later reoccurrences of the initial symptom.
Historically this is available yet hard to find and expensive. We aim to change this and help more families.
Do you have a big hairy audacious goal for your organization and its impact on the planet?
Absolutely! We aim to help those all of the world to understand how to cost-effectively test and treat a variety of symptoms for better family health and wellness. In collaboration with doctors, we have found this may be due to viral, bacterial, fungal infections, genetic markers and certain nutrition leading to inflammation. By understanding why the body is inflamed and why the body is showcasing symptoms, we can help more families.
Can you describe one of the most audacious impact-focused programs your organization has pioneered? What was the inspiration behind it? Hello Health addresses a complete supplements, diagnostics, telehealth & community for parents need in a new, big, and bold way. It is original, innovative, and promotes inclusion and independence.
The entire organization is audacious as we have been told that people will never understand and practitioners will never adopt root health and wellness and testing ahead of treating the symptom. Thankfully, we are experiencing growth and adoption by both consumers and practitioners wanting to understand and do more.
What were the biggest challenges you faced while developing and implementing this program, and how did you overcome them?
The biggest challenge is collaborative partners and funding to build and grow. We would encourage anyone interested in this area to please reach out to pamela@hello.health This is an important mission that needs more people interested in seeing it succeed.
Tell us how your program has been received by customers. What struggles have you had generating customer interest? Please share what successes you’ve had with customers.
Our POV is when we target the root of why someone has a symptom, we can reverse the diagnosis with supplementation, food and medicine targeting inflammation, detox and any underlying bacterial, viral & fungal infections. “Healing From The Inside Out.”
Historically, people have had trouble with access to information and having their practitioners believe and trust them. Thankfully, our 40,000+ customers are happy and sharing their success with their practitioners which is generating more interest and success.
How do you measure the customer success, business success and impact of your programs? Can you share any specific metrics or outcomes?
Customer success is measured through testimonials, stories and ideas of innovation to grow and care for more. We also measure success through the growing backlog of practitioners that want to be on our podcast and showcase how they address root cause health and wellness. We are very encouraged about support for our growing ecosystem.
How do you ensure that your programs are sustainable and scalable over the long term?
People look for and consume information in different ways. We strive to provide information, products and services in a variety of ways on a variety of platforms with a variety of customers and practitioners.
What are your “5 Things You Need To Bring An Audacious Idea to Fruition”?
1 . Put your audacious idea on a sticky note on your bathroom mirror and look at it for a month. Continue to look at it and think on it. Taking time to absorb and become entrenched helps to process the how and when.
2 . Write your thoughts in a journal and revisit them regularly. Don’t be afraid to cross things off and add new items. Remember bring an audacious idea to fruition is not linear and different steps will move at different speeds.
3 . Surround yourself with a group of people you trust to be positive, honest and helpful.
4 . Put out a survey of your audacious idea and receive feedback. This can be shared on a variety of platforms to ensure a wider audience and learn where and who may best support this idea.
5 . Be patient. If your idea isn’t moving on a certain day, month or year, give yourself some grace. Situations, customers and markets change over time. Understand what success means to you and measure it. Sometimes success can be measured in inches and not feet.
What piece of advice would you give to other organizations looking to pioneer their own impact-focused programs?
Stay focused and true to why you created the organization. Many people will say it is impossible but you can do this.
Can you share a story of someone who has inspired you in your journey?
I will never forget Kari Kling telling me I have to pull my son’s tonsils (that even though they look healthy on the outside and he was negative for strep throat) that they are harboring bad bacteria and viruses behind the protective biofilm. It was so controversial to pull them and yet once we had them biopsied and tested, they were in fact harboring one of the most difficult forms of strep known to man. It was new to me that tonsils can hide infection behind the biofilm and most common antibiotics won’t pass through to attack.
How can our readers further follow your work or your company online?
We are available Please visit our health tips and blog at www.gethellohealth.com, our podcast “EnCOURAGE Your Wellness”, “Saving My Son” book on Amazon by Pamela Wirth or our Instagram and YouTube at @hellohealthnutrition.
Watch a 1:30 minute video at https://youtu.be/BY-RMv_qBfU
Additionally, please find us @hellohealthnnutrition on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn.
This was great. Thanks for taking time for us to learn more about you and your business. We wish you continued success!
About the Interviewer: Russell McLeod is an experienced business leader, social entrepreneur, and mentor. A champion of profit with purpose, the circular economy and of collaboration for positive progress. Russell is the founder of Mightyhum a Toronto-based impact enterprise dedicated to supporting growing organizations. And, while it’s not a requirement, the Mightyhum team has a passion for collaborating with purpose-driven businesses. Mightyhum specializes in providing consulting services and turning hairy audacious concepts into achievable ventures & projects. The Mightyhum team work with C-suite executives and leaders, developing new product offerings, effective go-to-market strategies, building for profitability, and streamlining operations. Before Mightyhum, Russell was involved in the world of social enterprise as the Executive Director of ME to WE, one of Canada’s best known and most awarded social enterprises. While at ME to WE, the team demonstrated that being profitable and impactful was indeed possible. During his tenure, ME to WE delivered $20M in cash and in-kind to WE Charity, helping transform the lives of over 1 million people through access to clean water; the lives of 200,000 children with access to education; and 30,000 women-led businesses launched globally.
Russell’ personal mission is to inspire others that there is ‘a better way to do business,’ ‘that through business we can solve some of the world’s problems at the same time.’ You can follow Russell’s work at https://www.linkedin.com/in/russell-mcleod1/ or www.mightyhum.com.
Audacious Impact: Pamela Wirth Of Hello Health On Leading An Audacious, Visionary, Impact-Focused… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.