Meet Jessica Mantell | Dietician/Nutritionist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jessica Mantell and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jessica, how does your business help the community?
At NextGeneration Nutrition we believe that everyone is able to improve our health through good nutrition, physical activity, and lifestyle change. We do not support setting shame-based goals and encourage embracing our bodies, genetics, and personality. Our philosophy is abandoning the “One Size Fits All” mentality to create a personalized wellness plan based on your biological makeup and your lifestyle. At NextGeneration Nutrition, it is our mission to help individuals feel their best, improve their health, and prevent future complications. You may wonder how one’s personal nutrition habits can impact the community and even the world. Healthcare costs can be controlled by the prevention of chronic disease with nutrition education. Eleven million people die each year as a result of an unhealthy diet, from diseases that can be prevented or reversed such as diabetes and heart disease. The CDC found that the top 4 contributors of chronic disease in the US (poor nutrition, inactivity, alcohol, and tobacco) cost $28.2 million a year in productivity loss! In the next 35 years, $95 trillion will be spent on chronic disease through direct healthcare costs, sick leave, and productivity loss. Imagine how those resources could be better used towards education, the environment, or infrastructure. We teach our members a new way to think about healthy eating. Many people believe that to be healthy they need to eat less, not be able to enjoy their favorite foods, and fear the holidays or social gatherings. Our members are educated to prepare meals and eat in a way that incorporates all food groups, even their favorite foods! With our nutritional assessments, our members receive personalized meal plans with recipes, grocery lists, daily health checklists, and other resources to guide them throughout their health journey. Good nutrition makes a huge difference both to ourselves and our community.

What should our readers know about your business?
With any new business comes many obstacles! I take each obstacle or setback as a lesson and understand I am learning and growing more each day. The most major setback of this last year was definitely the pandemic. I lost many of my clients as non-essential businesses were ordered to close down. At first, like many business owners, there was a shift since so much changed instantly – priorities, fears for the future, and implementing a routine. I took this time to strengthen my business and since health is the most important thing we have, I am continuing to provide support and be accessible for those ready to make a change. I am thankful that now more than ever, people are making health their priority and there is an emphasis on preventative medicine as it is important to increase longevity and improving quality of life. I also have switched to an online platform to make it even more accessible to everyone all over the world, like a client in Australia! Since making huge adaptations to my business and moving to an online platform, I am able to connect to more people in an exponential way! I am able to connect on Zoom with clients in NY and even with Australia when in the past, I was only giving in-person consultations. This time has also taught me a lot about life and myself. With everything going on this year, it is very easy to give up. I understand since I was starting a business during a worldwide pandemic but I chose to adapt, look for opportunities, and grow my business. In addition, as being the CEO of a company, I needed to take on many new roles. I had to learn how to legally start a business and all of those steps needed in order to set a new business. I had to learn about accounting, managing money, and budgeting as a business owner, which is something I have never learned to do. It was extremely challenging to start marketing as I did not know the first thing about advertising and being engaging on social media. Now as my business grows, am starting to feel more comfortable in my new roles and really embracing each one. I have also learned that for the roles I don’t feel so comfortable, I can outsource those to other companies e.g. digital marketing, web design, and financial advising.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
For eating I would suggest: Mandolin, Bakan, Byblos, Bombay Darbar, Mr. 01, Lung Yai Thai Tapas, Ice Box For drinking I would suggest: Lagniappe, Cerveceria La Tropical, Bakan, Glass and Vine, Broken shaker, Lost Boy, Sugar For hanging out: I would always suggest the beach! I like to go to South Pointe and Key Biscayne. For walking around, Wynwood is always fun to look at the walls and art galleries. The design district is fabulous for people watching. I also love exercising outside so anything like yoga on the beach or rollerblading along ocean drive or the Venetian causeway.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My grandma has been encouraging me and my business since day one. She always cheers me on and helps me to learn to celebrate little wins because that is important. I always call her if I am feeling discouraged and she gets my energy right back up! She reads every article, email, and blog I post and actually puts my advice into action. I don’t know how I could have done any of this without her!

Website: http://www.NextGeneration-Nutrition.com

Instagram: @Nextgenerationnutrition_

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-mantell-323256126/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NextGenerationNutritionMIA

Image Credits
MJ Magnum Photography