Meet Juliet Meskers | Co-Founder and CEO of Mental Health Global Network

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

Hi Juliet, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
Risk has played a monumental role in the trajectory of my lifestyle and career. Prior to Co-Founding Mental Health Global Network I was studying fashion design and working as a freelance fashion journalist throughout each NYFW season. My senior year of college I was interviewing with a high end fashion agency who after several interviews, gave me a tentative start date for the job. They told me I was a must hire and that they were excited to get to know me in the office. One week after graduation they told me that they had decided to go in a different direction.

The news was extraordinarily stressful as this job would come with a salary, health insurance, and stability. I felt frustrated, and led astray, but I did not feel crushed. In my heart of hearts, I knew working in the fashion industry was not meant for me, and this opportunity had merely been a safe bet over the idea I had been harboring which would head my career in a riskier direction. I had gotten super involved in the mental health non-profit space for the two years prior to graduating, and had come up with the idea for a mental health business in an entrepreneurship class I was taking. I decided I would give myself 24 hours to be sad about the fashion job falling through, and then I would start a company. After 24 hours had passed I reached out to the only person I could ever imagine starting a company with, my Co-Founder Kelly Marzoli.

Kelly and I had spent time together fundraising in the mental health non-profit space during college. Around that time, we had both lost good friends of ours to suicide. We spent countless hours ruminating and feeling a degree of guilt we couldn’t shake. We both considered ourselves to be passionate mental health advocates, yet we had missed the warning signs in our own friends. This led us to realize that we were never formally educated on mental health or how to recognize the warning signs in someone who was struggling. Kelly had graduated before me, and went on to get her certifications in teaching mental health intervention, suicide prevention, and Mental Health First Aid as a freelance instructor.

When my job in the fashion industry fell through, working with Kelly was the first thing that came to mind. I believed there was a way to expand Kelly’s expertise and services in a way that could truly change the trajectory of the world mental health and suicide crisis. I called her and after a very short period of convincing, she was in.

Not only was I taking a major risk by leaving an industry I had experience and references in to start a company in a space that was mostly new to me, but I was asking Kelly to re-allocate her time and re-direct her career towards MHGN. Starting this company meant sacrificing health insurance, a salary, our current living situations, and any free time either of us had ever had (AKA: much of our social lives).

Starting this company has certainly not been easy, and at times it has felt like the sacrifices have been never ending. With that being said, this journey has been the most rewarding and educational experience of my life. The social events that we’ve missed out on have been made up by opportunities to connect with the most intelligent entrepreneurs, mentors, and passionate advocates I’ve met in my lifetime. The sleepless nights filled with stress and anxiety have turned out to be some of the greatest tests to Kelly and I’s drive, resiliency, and relationship. And the endless “this won’t amount to anything” comments were made up by the powerhouses that have believed in us and backed us along the way.

Risks will always lead to reward, and here’s why. The risk is the reward. The risk is the experience, the journey, and the greatest test to our character we could ever ask for. Taking risks teaches us about sacrifice and struggle. It tests our ability to mange expectations, disappointments, and losses. Risks force us to stay accountable to our commitments, because when we take a risk in our career or lives, we’re setting out to accomplish a mission that there is no backup plan for. Taking risks heighten our confidence and sense of self. They teach us to be graceful when things don’t go according to plan, and how to pivot quickly when in a time crunch. When we set out to take a risk we are making a promise to ourselves to try our hardest regardless of the outcome. Even the risks we take that end badly, we learn from, and apply those lessons to our next great risk.

Now, I’m not talking about taking the risk of not wearing a seatbelt, or diving in an area labeled “No Dive Zone.” Don’t be an idiot, or do anything illegal. I’m talking about taking risks in our careers, in our social lives, and in areas where we know deep down we need to come out of our comfort zone. If you share a risk you’re excited to take with someone and they aren’t encouraging, don’t be surprised. They are not prone to risk taking, and apparently, you just might be. Risks shouldn’t be taken blindly and should always be accompanied by extensive research, but they’re yours to take.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Our mission to help others prioritize mental health on the same level as physical health, through mental health education and training. Growing up we had health class, and in our corporate institutions and universities we have sexual harassment training, and CPR. We learn at an early age that its important to respect our own bodies as well as others (although much progress is still to be made). With that said, we didn’t receive mental health education in the same way. We tend to fear what we don’t understand, and that fear leads to negative assumptions, those assumptions perpetuate stigmatizing behavior, and that stigma then serves as a pervasive barrier that prevents individuals from getting the help they need. In fact, 70% of individuals who receive a mental health diagnosis will not seek out treatment because of the stigma associated with doing so.

Through providing mental health education within schools, companies, and institutions, we can help make up for some of that lost time, and can help re-structure the way we think about mental health, as well as how we approach and respond to it. Our mental health trainings teach people about the spectrum of mental wellness, how to avoid stigmatizing behaviors, how to address and respond to a mental health crisis and connect someone to treatment, how to recognize and address the warning signs of suicide, and how to implement self help and coping strategies. We provide this training in person, live over video conferencing platforms, and are currently developing our self paced modules. In addition to our services we sell Mental Health First Aid Kits that include nine tangible tools that help decrease stress and anxiety subtly in any environment.

We stand out amongst other mental health companies on the rise (all of which we love to support and reference), because we are not mental health treatment or a peer support platform. We are an ed-tech company that provides preventive efforts towards mental health crisis in the workplace and classroom through educating and training community members within organizations. CPR training saves 92,000 lives each year due to certified individuals who can assist during a cardiac arrest until professional help arrives. Our training is like CPR but for mental health, the more participants we can train to assist someone whose struggling and connect them to treatment, the more lives that we can improve and save.

Building this company has been far from easy, and being two female founders has definitely not been a walk in the park. We have faced countless instances of sexual harassment, inappropriate behavior, and blatant sexism that has actually put us in physical danger. As a woman you have to be careful about who you trust – as their are often ulterior motives that expand outside the realm of interest in our company. These situations have been most frequent amongst raising money. To any women and especially young women out there who are raising a round of funding- my advice is to watch your back, do your research, remain skeptical until proven otherwise, plan all your meetings to take place in daytime, and avoid going alone at all costs.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If I could take a best friend on a trip anywhere it would be to Costa Rica. I hate itinerary’s on vacation! My work life is way too scheduled to make my personal life by the book. My goal on every trip is to be as spontaneous as possible. With that said, if I went to Costa Rica with a friend I’d definitely love to take surfing lessons with them, last time I went was the first time I surfed and I’m obsessed! There are countless amazing sea food and sushi restaurants in Costa Rica right on the beach so we’d definitely have to hit each spot. I really wanted to go zip-lining and sky diving last time I was there but I did not have a chance, so I’d definitely add that to the list of musts as well.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
To my Co-Founder Kelly, for taking the craziest ride of our lives together and for risking everything to be by my side.

Website: www.mhgn.org

Instagram: mentalhealthglobalnetwork

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliet-meskers-16bb89168/

Twitter: @mentalhealthgn

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

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0rJqStMFgJDg2-Oo6XoHWA/videos

Other: @mentalhealthglobalnetwork on tiktok

Image Credits
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness