Celine Ivari - Founder, WholyMe

Celine Ivari

Founder of WholyMe, Celine Ivari is a natural-born entrepreneur, who has impressively launched two businesses by the age of 28. While she’s currently based in London, Celine has a diverse background, from her Iranian heritage and birthplace in France.

Celine has an extensive scientific background, having studied Human Biology at Queen Mary University in London, and Genetics of Human Disease at UCL. Following her education, she started her career in medical education at DNA Comms, supporting large pharmaceuticals in their launch of new medicine, globally. Celine later joined forces with her mother and sisters to set up a high end hair loss clinic, Meshkati Hair Centre, which is based in Central London.

Celine witnessed the physical consequences her mother’s stressful lifestyle had on her health. Wanting to help her mother any way she could, Celine made it her mission to create something that could alleviate the physical aches and pains her mom was experiencing. 

The major problem was that an effective, evidence based natural solution did not really exist in the market. Looking to fill the gap and use a holistic and completely natural solution, Celine started experimenting with natural ingredients and created a product that would later be called “The Relief Balm”. This experience highlighted a much bigger problem - our modern lifestyle is filled with endless stresses, aches and pains are now common, yet they are mismanaged and misunderstood. After establishing this hero product, Celine developed the brand, WholyMe, containing three core products to help target, soothe and recover the body, naturally.

I’m excited for you to connect with Celine, check out her work WholyMe, and follow along as she continues to share her mission to transform the approach to health and help people discover the power of holistic health. WholyMe combines its knowledge of science and the power of nature to bring people the healthiest most effective remedies.

I'd love it if you'd introduce yourself, what you do, and what you're working on.

My name is Celine Ivari. My background is in science, I studied Genetics of Human Disease and Human Biology, and today I am the founder of WholyMe, a wellness startup offering natural remedies for everyday stress, aches and pains.

How did you get started?

I already had a formula for what would later be called the Relief Balm, which I had developed for my mother. Before deciding to launch WholyMe I did a lot of research, pilot studies, analysed the market and asked questions. Once I felt there was a real need for what I was working on I took the plunge and started WholyMe, I was very lucky and managed to raise funds early on, enabling me to produce goods with a real obsession for quality.

What Inspired the work you’re doing?

It really stems from a personal experience, having witnessed the impact of my mother’s stressful lifestyle on her health I made it my mission to help her in any way I could. I was determined to find an effective and completely natural solution but I could not find that anywhere. I started digging deep into natural solutions and formulating products myself, which helped my mother tremendously. 

This experience highlighted a bigger problem: the way people address lifestyle inherent stress, aches and pains is completely flawed, we either ignore our bodies alarm systems or turn to pain killers, medical solutions for lifestyle issues, and that does not make any sense. That is when I decided I wanted to transform consumer behaviour towards a more holistic approach to health. 

That is how WholyMe was born, starting with a first range of products to integrate as part of your self care routine that work effectively to soothe body and mind.

What is your biggest passion? Do you feel like you're living your passion and purpose?

Nothing gives me greater satisfaction than helping people. I deeply care for others and feel passionate about living life with purpose. I think that is why I always loved science, understanding humans down to the molecular level, researching and developing solutions to truly help is something I always enjoyed doing. In that sense, yes I am absolutely living my passion with WholyMe.

What is your joy blueprint? What lights you up, brings you joy, and makes you feel the most alive?

It really always comes down to caring for others, when I see how much the remedies we developed help our consumers with the feedback we receive that truly brings me a tremendous amount of joy. In terms of my joy blueprint, it’s always about bringing positivity and joy to others and that comes back to you, whether it is smiling at a stranger, helping someone in need, lending a caring ear to a friend or offering solutions for health and wellness, it all boils down to spreading joy, that lights me up and makes me feel alive.

How do you live intentionally? Are there tools/resources/practices that you rely on to help you stay mindful and grounded?

I think it’s extremely important to find tools that help you feel grounded and in charge of your own health and wellbeing. For me it’s a mixture of practices, I enjoy journaling a lot, running, and carving time to take care of myself. Sundays tend to be my mindful self care days where I do things that give me a sense of self love. It can be cooking a nice healthy meal for myself, taking a bath, meditating, anything like that.

What would your younger self think about what you're doing now?

That’s an interesting question, I wanted to be a doctor when I was younger, I think my younger self would find the path I have taken interesting, helping people in a healthy and more scalable way.

Do you have a go-to mantra or affirmation?

I don’t know that I have one go-to mantra or affirmation, but lately I like: In the end only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived and how gracefully you let go of the things not meant for you.

What is your biggest dream?

My biggest dream is to build a company that helps people all around the world live healthier and more empowered lives.

To learn more and connect with Celine visit her website www.wholyme.com and on Instagram @WholyMe_Official Facebook @WholyMe and via email: hello@wholyme.com

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