Jillian Berstein
Jillian Berstein
Founder & CEO of The Wellness Extension
Instagram - @wellness_extension
Who is Jillian Bernstein?
Jillian Bernstein, CEO & Founder of The Wellness Extension, LLC, has over 20 years of experience in the human resources and consulting fields. Jillian’s passion for bringing well-being to the workplace led her to start The Wellness Extension. Jillian believes organizations need to see the whole person when they show up at work, which means investing in the team’s well-being. Through The Wellness Extension, Jillian offers innovative and creative programs to her clients with the mission of building community and engagement among team members, all the while bringing her HR knowledge & expertise to the table. In her spare time, Jillian enjoys traveling with her family (her favorite place to date has been Copenhagen), hopping on her Peloton, hiking and spending time in her kitchen experimenting with different gluten-free recipes. Jillian can be found on Instagram @wellness_extension and via email at jillian@wellnessextension.com.
Please briefly summarize your life's journey in 3-4 sentences, highlighting the significant chapters and pivotal moments.
Well-being has always been top of mind for me but even more so after I lost my mom to cancer when I was 27 – before I had kids and hit my professional stride. I was at the beginning of my career in Human Resources and could have benefited from more support for my personal well-being at work – after all, I spent most of my weekday hours there. Fast forward 17 years, and as an HR exec, what I have come to realize is that employees crave connection and will be more loyal to a company that cares about them as a whole person and their well-being. Through The Wellness Extension, I hope to bring that service to corporate leaders and HR teams that are strapped for time to truly focus on implementing meaningful well-being programs for their most important asset - their people.
What motivates you to keep going during difficult times?
My kids - them seeing me build The Wellness Extension inspires me to keep doing the hard work
How have you been able to prioritize your passion, purpose, and well-being alongside motherhood?
Through a lot of planning and communication while prioritizing self-care. First, I listen to my body - if I need to move, sleep, I try to be mindful of that. Then, I structure my days through time-blocking so I can be there for the softball or soccer games and the school pickups as needed. But, I also ask for help and have augmented help as I am building The Wellness Extension. All of this allows me to focus on my own well-being so I can also bring meaningful well-being programs to others. My husband and I also do a winedown (sometimes with the wine, sometimes not depending on the week ;) where we talk through the weekend ahead and the following week so we know when the pickups and school schedule events are happening so we can tag team or call in reinforcements.
How do you define self-care, and what does it look like for you?
No matter what the day, I try and carve out 10 minutes for me and that does not include working out, which I think everyone should be moving their bodies for their own mental health - that's a given. I encourage it with my kids and my husband. I think of self-care as an indulgence, whether it is enjoying a treat, meditating or getting a massage. Or, it could be sitting on your porch and reading a book. Sometimes for me, it is putting down the phone and reading before bed; sometimes it is taking a brain candy break between intense meetings and looking on Instagram - whatever it is that you can indulge in, do so in bite-size ways so you feel you are taking care of you.
Share a moment of MOM GUILT, and what you do to manage it?
Not getting to every sports game my kids play - I just cannot given that I have many meetings throughout the day. I reconcile this by thinking to myself, I am working hard so that we can have that special family trip together or that we can all sit down at dinner tonight without me checking my email or missing hearing about their day. And, if I get to a few of their games throughout the year, that is OK (plus my husband cannot get to all of the games either, and he does not seem to feel so guilty :)
Why do you think it's important for mothers to share their journeys and inspire other mothers?
Honestly, it takes a village. Both in how we parent and how we build our businesses. I see this more and more through the coaching programs in which I participate, but I also built The Wellness Extension with this as a key component. I want to be able to prop up other female entrepreneurs in the well-being space (from mindfulness to financial to nutrition to movement) so they can have a greater platform for their services too via corporate organizations.
What is one lesson or piece of advice you would like the community to learn from you?
Incorporating new well-being habits takes time and does not happen overnight. Just focus on being consistent...and that goes for building a business too and being a Mom. You are not going to get it right every day - I sure do not - but I keep showing up, course-correcting when I need to, and the consistency ultimately builds something great.
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