There is nothing quite like being inspired by the drive of the women around you. At StrongHer, we are all about empowering one-another and the fantastic women we are surrounded by, and when we got the opportunity to attend Balance Festival this year, we could not be more excited to get to meet all the incredible female-founded brands that were present this year. As a female-founded and female-focused brand, we are always aiming to learn from other women in the health and wellness industry and we wanted to highlight a few of the women at Balance that we were immensely inspired by.

Below, we’ve compiled a list of the five amazing women we got to speak with at Balance about their inspiring journeys to becoming a female business owner and how they prioritise their own personal wellbeing.

Claire Turpin, Founder of CONTUR

CONTUR is a sustainable activewear brand for women made in the heart of London. The brand was created with a mission of promoting body confidence for women by Claire Turpin, the heart and mind of CONTUR. Always having a love of fitness, her career began as a fitness instructor and she studied Sports Science in university. She then pivoted to HR and worked in the field for close to a decade.

Her interest in fitness never wavered, and in 2019, she was inspired to get back into the fitness world. She’d become a mum of two and experienced unexpected body changes that came with having two little ones, and had also become an increasingly conscious consumer about sustainability. Finding a gap in the market for sustainable activewear brands, Claire took it upon herself to create the body positive, chic and sustainable brand we see with CONTUR today.

As a fitness lover, Claire prioritises her well-being within her busy schedule through ensuring she has time allotted during her day to include working out. She manages this through getting up at 5 in the morning, getting her work out done at 6 and allowing herself some time to be active and ground herself before her kids get up and the day begins. She does 3-5 HIIT or strength-training classes per week and is currently in the process of incorporating more mindful meditation practices into her day.

Karen Sharon, Founder of Karen Eats

Karen Eats is all about providing healthy, delicious plant-based nut snacks. Founder Karen Sharon originally worked in an investment company and began trialing different plant-based nut snack recipes on the weekends. Before long, she quit her job and pursued this passion, which has now grown into an incredible business listed with an international wholesaler and available online, including at TheVeganKind Supermarket, Fodabox, and Amazon.

Her advice for aspiring female business owners is to keep at it, find a solid support system and structure during the day and prioritise their own self-care in the process. Albeit not an easy road to go down, entrepreneurship can be incredibly rewarding, and there’s no reason why a weekend passion project can’t turn into a great business someday.

To Karen, wellness as a word encapsulates mental health and physical health. She loves going to the gym, but is often faced with the struggle of being intimidated by the predominant male population that can be quite discouraging. She gave us a shoutout for being a women-only gym space that highly prioritises the safety, comfort and enjoyment of our members, which in turn aids in maintaining peace of mind whilst getting physical activity in. We couldn’t agree more with Karen, and we hope to help as many women as possible get that peace of mind necessary to maintain overall wellness.

Lisa Macfarlane, Co-Founder of The Gut Stuff

The Gut Stuff is on a mission to empower gut health in everyone through education and healthy snacks to aid in the process. Founded by Lisa and her sister Alana in 2015, The Gut Stuff aims to increase awareness and education about the importance of gut health and how to get it right in an accessible, affordable manner.

The story behind The Gut Stuff begins when Lisa and Alana (also known as The Mac Twins) were DJs back in 2015. Their interest in health and wellness first began through them volunteering as part of a research project for the British Gut Project at King’s College London. Even though they have 100% the same DNA, the research project found that they only shared 30% of the same gut bacteria, the identical twins then took on the mission of sharing the knowledge gaps they’d found in gut health awareness with the rest of the world. You can learn more about their incredible journey on their website here.

Lisa stressed the significance of knowing each and every inch of your business as a business-owner, and for any business-owners just kicking off their own businesses to not underestimate how essential their thirst for learning more needs to be. She also highlighted the importance of choosing the right team to support your vision.

Laurie Hooper, Founder of The Natural Deodorant Co.

After being on the search for a natural deodorant that didn’t compromise on effectiveness to be natural, Laurie Hooper created The Natural Deodorant Co. These are natural deodorants that provide all-day freshness for all skin types and come in a wide range of soothing smells as well as unscented for those with more sensitive skin.

Starting with her own at-home recipes over 13 years ago, she trialed the product through offering it to friends and family and gauging the effectiveness of the deodorant against other competitors on the market. It did not take long for the effectiveness of the product to help it get to the next level, and it was quickly picked up by yoga studios that were aiming to adopt a highly effective and highly natural product for their members.

Smelling nice and clean is something that can really help instill body confidence in anyone. Laurie saw the need for this 13 years ago and decided to create a product that would have anyone who wore it secure in both the safety and health of the product they were putting on their body as well as confident in knowing that they would smell fresh all day. With her product, there’s no need for touch-ups or fearing that we might not smell great at the end of the day.

Helen Richie, Founder of Gym For Your Skin

Gym For Your Skin (GFYS) is here to strengthen up your skin! Yes strong skin is a thing.  It’s a simple yet active range of skin care that’s fortifying, balancing and vegan friendly. A skincare industry veteran, founder Helen Richie has been part of the industry since 2009 and decided to create her own range in 2019. She saw first had how we’ve relied on attacking our skin problems when strengthening the skin is the answer. Many skincare products encourage us to over-strip our skin’s natural barrier which weekends skin and creates a vicious unhealthy skin cycle and she’s tackling skincare in quite the contrary manner. Her brand focuses on simple, multi-active formulas that strengthen and nurture  your skin and keep it healthy and younger for longer.

When it comes to prioritising her own wellness, Helen has incredible tenacity and drive which can at times make any business owner prone to overwhelming themselves with how much there is to do when running a business. As a doer, she admits it’s difficult not to be actively doing or working. She takes some time to herself through walking her dog every morning, stepping outside to take a breath of fresh air each hour and a half and taking the time to go on mindful runs.

Massive thank you to all the lovely ladies above for sharing your stories with us. We are incredibly inspired by you! Let us know of any other female founders or female-founded brands that you have been inspired by this 2021.