Beyond Kegels: Why Pelvic Health, Community & Whole-Person Care Matter with Sarah Nestor

Emily Harrington: Hello, welcome to this episode of Let's Network the Podcast. Today, Tally and I are joined by Sarah Nestor, who's the owner of the Nest Wellness and a fantastic local entrepreneur. We are so excited to sit down and chat with you because I think we've both fallen in love with your space and the essence of everything you're doing at one point. So for anyone who may not know you yet, can you give our audience a brief introduction?
Sarah Nestor: Yeah, sure. Well, first of all, thanks for having me. this is a huge honor. I've followed along your journeys and I'm super excited to be here today. so for those of you who don't know me, as as just mentioned, my name is Sarah Nestor. I am a registered physiotherapist with a focus on pelvic health physio. so I've been practicing physiotherapy since twenty ten, which is impossible because like I'm still twenty one.
Talia: We're still high schoolers, that's weird.
Emily Harrington: We're basically twenty five.
Talia: Yeah.
Sarah Nestor: Absolutely. So so that's an impossibility of time. But but yeah, I've been I've been practicing since then. I started my career mostly in sports physio and then transitioned to pelvic health and pelvic health physio pretty much for the last half of my career. So that's
Talia: And that's amazing. And I kinda wanna dig into that a little bit a bit a bit more. You have a background in competitive sport. How did athletics shape your approach to health, wellness and helping others?
Sarah Nestor: Yeah, so I think a lot of physios probably come from athletic backgrounds in some capacity. Many do. So I did competitive gymnastics growing up. I did a competitive mogul skiing and I played pretty much any sport that I could physically like run into things. so
Talia: Okay.
Sarah Nestor: like most athletes or people doing sports growing up, I spent a lot of time in physio myself, rehabbing injuries. So just kind of getting an idea behind that. loving sports and activity and being a huge nerd for anatomy and biology, it just kind of meshed together and seeing a job where I could find something where I wasn't sitting behind a desk and being able to chat with people all day seemed like a pretty good fit. so I kind of found my way into that. But I think kind of coming from an athletic background, you also get an idea of how much kind of rehab is not just physical but mental. So really kind of getting to understand that there's a lot kind of that goes behind getting through injuries or or being able to kind of figure out where your goals are and how to kind of take these steps along the way to be able to achieve sustainable goals. So I think that's kind of where athletics really translated into my my career now.
Talia: I bet. Because it is a mental game. It's not just the physical game. And like anytime I go to a physiotherapist, I'm like, I'm gonna be your worst patient because we're gonna do the exercises here and then when I leave we won't do them again until I come back. And then I'm
Emily Harrington: This is
Talia: just like, Why am I not getting better? And it's like and I'm not even an athlete who wants to really get back out there. So I'm sure it is a mental
Sarah Nestor: yeah, it's
Talia: game.
Sarah Nestor: it's pure mental. And like I I tell people that all the time. I'm like, the hardest work is the work that you're doing on your brain during it. And especially with what I do for pelvic physio, like some of it is physical exercise and activity, but a lot of it's education. And I like neuroplasticity, like rewiring the brain and coming up with kind of new pathways to do things. So it's a lot of brain power. but being able to kind of like look at whole person and not people is just one body part is huge. And I think that's really what differentiates like the success of treatment is being able to kind of look at all of those different elements and understand those those different sides of it.
Emily Harrington: Well, and I think especially too when you're working with postpartum women or like any person who's trying to bal like get their physical their their physical health, their pelvic health back in order, like there's such a strong mental component to it because yes, you want, you know, the quote unquote the bounce back, but it's not that simple. So the fact that you are able to address that up front is huge.
Sarah Nestor: Yeah. And I mean, isn't that the case? Like the pressure that women feel to kind of be like back into this perfect form. And like, I mean, we live in the world of social media too, right? It's it's there's a mental game right there, right? Like you're watching online and seeing these people who are like bouncing back and like doing all of the things. And it's like if you're sitting there like scrolling your phone, doom scrolling and like feeding your baby at two in the morning, like that's psychological warfare. And people come in at six weeks and they're like, I'm so upset because I'm still leaking, or I'm having pain with intercourse, or I'm not back to intercourse, or like I I might have like diastasis recti or something like that. And they're just like feeling like they're so behind at six weeks. And I'm like, man, like our our language and understanding about like what our bodies go through and like. the reality of like all of the different demands of life, like as women, but as people in general, like there's so much that goes into things. And and we really believe in here about looking at people like the entire system, because like what's happening mentally? Like, are you sleeping? Like where's your social support? like all of those factors play into how we expect you to respond to treatment. Do you have the capacity to even be in treatment right now. Like what are going to be the best things for you? And we'll completely rejig what our expectations are and what our goals are and exercises are based on the entire human being who's presenting to us as opposed to like, you're leaking. We're going to give you these exercises. We expect you to do them 30 minutes a day for the next six weeks. Like it's not realistic,
Emily Harrington: Yeah.
Sarah Nestor: right? Like we have to be able to really get who who people are and where barriers are and what's actually gonna help us overcome those barriers so people can succeed and not feel defeated along the way, like doing the Doom scrolling, right?
Talia: And add in, you know, moms of multiple kids too. So you're not just focused on your own healing now. You're expected to bounce back even faster because you have to take care of your other kids. You have to still be the perfect mom. And, you know, and and you talk about like stigmas where I thought, you know, it was normal to pee all the time when I sneezed, when I jumped. I thought that was just a typical thing because my mom did it and my aunts did it, right? And then all of a sudden you start learning more and you're like, wait, we don't have to suffer anymore. The more we talk about it, the more we're open about it, the better we all end up in the end. So it's amazing
Sarah Nestor: Right?
Talia: that you have that conversation. And in in creating your space, and I want to jump into your space right now. I've seen like my favorite thing is Tuesday mornings when all the babies come in for baby yoga. And I just get to sit in my office and stare at all the babies. You've created this amazing space where moms can come together, get, you know, stronger and and create. that community where they can have those open conversations. I went away for the weekend with my friends. Man, the things we talked about, like you you need that community and you're building that. So at what point did you realize you wanted to create your own wellness space and eventually open the nest? And like, can we all just point out the name? It's just so perfect for
Emily Harrington: Yes.
Talia: you. The Nest Wellness with Sarah Nestor.
Sarah Nestor: yes, my last name is Nestor, and I am a sucker for puns, like gigantic nerd. My husband's my husband's last name is Aslan. Okay.
Talia: Mm.
Sarah Nestor: I didn't take his last name because let's all acknowledge that the nest is more inviting than the ass as a pelvic clinic.
Emily Harrington: Ha ha.
Talia: So I'd like to point out that was maybe one of the first things you ever said to me. I went to your grand opening and I made the comment about the name and you're like, Well it could have been the ass and I was like, What?
Sarah Nestor: Fuck.
Talia: And then you like went into it. I like, Gotcha, still good. I would have gone for both.
Sarah Nestor: Yeah, bit more literal, but like let's let's be a little bit more warm and inviting.
Talia: Ha ha ha
Sarah Nestor: Yeah. So
Emily Harrington: We're getting spicy in downtown Kempville.
Sarah Nestor: here we go. Here we go. Yeah. Don't don't ignore what we sell. Absolutely. Yeah. But yeah, it's
Talia: Yeah. Someone walk in and be like, yeah, someone walk and be wrong wrong venue. Sorry, so sorry. So tell me what made you want to create this space.
Sarah Nestor: yeah, so I mean I've I've dreamed about having a space like this for for quite some time. a couple of things, like I've I've wanted to have a place that feels non-clinical. So where you walk in, you immediately feel like a nervous system reset where it's like calming, inviting, warm, welcoming. but a space where there is the opportunity for community connection and collaboration. is for me what really kind of drove me to to doing this and opening it. I had my daughter during COVID and any mom who had a kid during that time, Knows how isolating that was, like having to commute all over the city to try and find services. If you were even able to find services that were open at that time and not virtual, there were no mom and baby activities, like there, like maybe a handful, like there was so little. You were literally learning how to become a mom in a silo. And I was like, where is this village that I keep hearing about? I am not finding this. so essentially like I like that spearheaded it and and I wanted to create something in our community and within the community that I live in to be a village that that I wanted to have and a space where there's accountability. You can show up and and you have the other people there supporting you in a fitness journey if you're coming to parent and baby yoga, or maybe it's coming into one of our spaces where we're supporting people through more challenging stages of life and where they're working in collaboration with psychotherapists or art therapists or things like that. So it really is a place where we wanted it to be a village for other people, not just our space, but a space for the community. And that's kind of a big part of our why. Like community is one of our biggest values driving the Nest. we believe in it. We have a great community of clinicians, but we have a great community of of Clients and practitioners and people supporting us. Like, like it goes throughout the entire essence of what we believe in. And it's it's led to tons of collaborations. You see people come in into our classes and you watch their babies grow, and you're seeing people go to each other's kids' birthday parties. And like it's so beautiful to see. Like, I I went out the other day and I was at the grocery store and I ran into two people who were in our series together and they were just there together. And I was just like, you see those bonds form. And it's it's beautiful because I mean, at the end of the day, like I think connection is so important for for all elements of health. Like it gets us out and moving. It improves our mental health. It it makes us feel like we're not alone doing life when life can feel very lonely. So It's it's it's been a beautiful thing. So we yeah, we've been really fortunate to be able to see this happen and like we're constantly asking for feedback from the people in our community, like what more can we do to kind of build services that would be beneficial for you? So we hope to continue to build that.
Talia: And I want to take take a second here because you really walk the walk when it comes to community. And I remember I had known that Tara was opening up the yoga studio across to me before you did. And I was like, I don't really know this Sarah that well. I think she'll be okay, but you never know, right? If competition comes in. And we were at a Let's Network event and Tara's like, Hey, just so you know, I'm opening up a yoga yoga studio. And you were like, That's amazing! And you were So excited for it. And I was literally like this. I was like, a little sweating, like getting the meat sweats, being like, I hope this is okay. And you are fantastic. You were so encouraging and so welcoming. And you've encouraged each other. I've seen your conversations. You know, you're like, hey, how are things going? I'm doing this. You really, really do embody, you know, that community and that collaboration. And it's just absolutely beautiful to see.
Sarah Nestor: Yeah, I mean there's there's room for everyone in this. Like there there is if you if you go in the mentality of everything is competition, like how exhausting is that? Like everybody has something different to offer and like everybody has different whys and different values and different things that they're bringing to the table. And I mean We are so lucky to be in a community that has so many businesses run by badass women who are just
Talia: Yeah.
Sarah Nestor: crushing it. And like it's it's led with passion. And everyone who is showing up there is authentic and like you're watching them and like if you're sitting there like Looking at that as competition, you're missing what they're bringing to the table. Like I sit here and I'm like scrolling everybody's feeds and being like, that looks amazing. Like I can't wait to go to a class there or I can't wait to go to do this. Like just because we offer services that might have some crossover doesn't mean that what I have has more value or what you have has more value. Like we can all kind of work together and like keep supporting. We're we're so fortunate that way. And that's how we thrive, really. I think.
Talia: that. Now starting a business can be really intimidating. What gave you the confidence
Emily Harrington: Yeah.
Talia: to take the leap, especially in this day of brick and mortar? It's not super easy. Yes. All right, Jack, we're good.
Sarah Nestor: Postpartum insanity. Honestly, I really don't think I could have made this leap without my husband. Like he is a a serial entrepreneur and I am the person who doesn't ever take risks. And my husband, I I must say, like, I think he believes in me so much. He sees my passion. Of what I do. And he believed that I was going to be successful before I thought I was going to be successful. And he stood there and basically said, like, you have to do this. Like he said, I remember having the conversation and he's like, You dream about this all the time, you talk about this all the time. You have this opportunity now. If you don't take this, you're going to look back and regret it. And there's no good time. Like I was literally coming, I was like maybe seven months into my second Mat leak.
Talia: Your baby's a real nugget when you open it. I think back to like when I took the picture on a paper, I was just like, this reel is pretty intense.
Sarah Nestor: I it was a baby. Yeah. Baby wearing, painting the walls, like
Talia: Yeah.
Sarah Nestor: probably not the best for health, but I mean we got it done. but
Talia: Yeah, they're fine.
Emily Harrington: Yeah.
Sarah Nestor: yeah, like I I don't think I could have done it without that support. Like, because I mean I mean we self talk ourselves down so much, right? Like I feel like it's so easy to be like, I have all of these dreams, but what if I fail? And then You just kind of get to a point where you're like, I mean, even if I fail, I'm gonna fail beautifully, you know, I'm gonna
Talia: Yeah.
Sarah Nestor: put it out there, and failure's not a bad thing, right? It's data. Like, I'm gonna put it out there and I'm gonna fail spectacularly in the most vulnerable way that I possibly could, but I'm gonna do it with passion, right? You're never gonna say that I didn't go in with like my heart fully in it. And if I still fail at that point, then I do, whatever. But I mean. I I I was so encouraged by like my husband who's not in in this field at all. And he sat there and he just believed in me and how much I believe in what I do. And at the end of the day, like he just kept saying he's like, he's like, I think the community would would support this and like get behind you. So it gave me that confidence and that boost to to do it. With probably
Talia: It's important.
Sarah Nestor: a lot of tears in between.
Talia: The We talk we talk about so much about being like this strong individual woman and that's amazing and you are,
Sarah Nestor: Whoop.
Talia: but it's okay to lean on people. It's okay to lean on the person in your life or the people in your life. And it doesn't mean that you're any less amazing. It just means that you just you can't do it all and no one should do it all.
Sarah Nestor: Yeah. And and I think too, like, all like because he is kind of a business person and he's kind of been through it, he's built businesses, he's he's done a lot of things there too. that that gave me a lot of confidence. And like since making this decision, I've sat down with a lot of different business owners and like picked their brains and like I haven't been afraid to reach out to people in different fields and be like, hey, like what's your experience? What's been your biggest failures? What's been your greatest success? Like what do you think differentiates you? What do you think makes people really love what you do? And like I I've got to meet some incredible business owners and people. And I did the starter company plus program and like
Talia: Mm-hmm.
Sarah Nestor: put myself out there and learn new skills. And like I the amount of the amount that I've learned in this process has been outstanding. Like I feel I've had more professional growth in the last two years than I have in the last like almost 16 years of my career. And like that's just spawned so much more passion because I've realized too, like, okay, I'm good at this. And I I've stayed in the role that I've felt good at for so long. The idea of jumping into something unknown where I'm like, oof, I know I I'm not good at numbers and finance and things like that, but I'm gonna jump into this anyways. And like there's the growth, right? This is the personal growth and learning new things and then feeling so much more confident as a person, as a woman, as a business owner, being like, okay, that was really scary for me for a little bit, but now I've kind of stepped to the other side of it, or I got a really good bookkeeper. But you know, but like learning those things.
Emily Harrington: Little bit of A, little bit of B.
Sarah Nestor: Yeah. But like being able to to kind of step into the unknown and like willing to make those jumps and knowing that like we don't know where we're gonna land. Like we don't know always that this is going to be perfect. We dream that our business is going to be successful. But at the end of the day, if you don't take the leaps, like man, I look back at it now, like how much I would have missed if I didn't take this chance on myself. I'd I'd be kind of just Huttering in my safety lane, and like I wouldn't have had this this growth and these connections and experiences. So I'm super grateful that I did it.
Emily Harrington: Now, can we dial back for a quick second into that like that art of retraining your brain to like to appreciate failure and to take a chance on yourself? And I think there is a part of that that ties into that competitive athlete in you, but also a part that feels like it might be counterintuitive because you're spent so much to train for perfection as an athlete, right? That I would love to know how you trained your brain to appreciate the failure or the idea of failure.
Sarah Nestor: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I mean that that's a great point. It's like you I think we strive so much for perfection, right? Perfection is always the goal. I have to be perfect. But we also forget about when you're striving and you're learning and you're you're gaining new skills, how many little micro fails you have along the way. Like I always say kids are the best learners. You watch these kids walk in. And they're learning how to crawl or they're learning how to walk and they're faceplanting, they're bailing, they're going everywhere. And they get up and they keep going. And I'm like, is that not the perfect epitome of what life should be, right? You're working on these little micro steps to get somewhere, and it's failure all the way through in micro doses until you get this incredible goal at the end of the day. But if you only strive for perfection, man, that's a really crummy way to go about it because you're gonna miss the mark, right? And when you miss the mark, you're not gonna see that as a learning opportunity. You're gonna see that as just negative and failure. And then you're probably gonna get discouraged and not kind of jump into the ring again. And to me, like failure is inevitable and and it does not have to define you. And again, like I we're out there now in the public as businesses. And yep, we're we're going to fail. Sometimes it's not going to be perfect. People aren't going to love every single thing that we do, but we can also learn from it, right? And and that's how we grow as a business, and that's how we grow in our community, and that's how we kind of fine-tune what's what's important to not only us, but everyone around us. But I think the most important thing is as long as you keep your like your passion, as long as you are authentic and you are leading with heart, then. You can fail as much as you want and you're gonna have the people around you who genuinely care about what you do picking you up off the ground and supporting you. So
Talia: You know, it's funny when you talk about failure too. So today I had I worked in the morning and then I was just like, I'm just gonna run and get groceries and then I'm gonna come back and do this. And I stopped when I was taking out groceries. I was like, my gosh, had I not failed spectacularly spectacularly with déjardet, I still would have been in a nine to five job.
Sarah Nestor: Right?
Talia: And because that's just what you were taught to do, you were taught to just go with the status quo. And I was literally like picking up the strawberries. I was like, I would have been so miserable and I don't know how I would have been a mom of three. And people do it, don't get me wrong, and I think they're amazing, but I myself could not have done it. And that little moment of clarity wouldn't have come without failing. I would have just been in the rat race. I would have been doing it. So I attribute not just the failure of like my entire career career to these moments, like it's the little things that I've gained from that monstrous failure. So it's just like you have to kind of look at the whole thing, not just, you know, that one. that defines you because so many things come from it and it's beautiful and it's amazing. So
Sarah Nestor: Absolutely. Just puts you on a different path.
Talia: it does. Now kind of looking back to the early days of building the nest, what were some of the biggest challenges? Because and not just you had a nugget and a like your daughter wouldn't have been much older. You had two little nuggets.
Sarah Nestor: Yeah, I mean there there was there was quite a few challenges along the way. Like definitely finding balance in there, like between like family life and everything like that was challenging. for our particular business, like education. Education on what our services were, but also like education about pelvic health and women's health, right? I mean, we're I I think our generation is kind of starting to get it. Like we're having more talks about pelvic health. We're having talks about perimenopause. We're having talks about like things that impact women specifically now, but this is not general knowledge. And I in my head being in it, am always like, yeah, like everybody knows about pelvic health, but they don't. And it's not across the board. And we're not talking just like The general population. We're talking even like family doctors, OBGYNs, like everything like that. Like this isn't just general understood knowledge. So I think for me it was really eye-opening starting the business of like that people didn't even know what we do, what services that we offer, what we can what we can help with. And so I spent probably a A larger portion of the first year or so going around and doing lunch and learns, educational talks, going down, talking to family doctor groups, having conversations with midwifery groups, OBGYNs, and just kind of disseminating the information and the research and saying like pelvic health physio is considered like gold standard grade A, level one evidence. Like this should be the first intervention before. surgery before medications. Like the research is there and it's fantastic, but it's still not being told. Or people are going and they're seeing their primary healthcare practitioners and they're being told to do kickels. And it's
Emily Harrington: Yes.
Sarah Nestor: like, okay. I I mean in some cases. And I honestly I think keels have got like a little bit of a bad rep late lately. Like there is a time and a place, but there's also a time and a place when that's not appropriate. And so like a lot of the early stages was really kind of going down, beating down the doors, like really, really trying to educate the general population, but also referral sources about what we what we do and what we offer and why it's so important. And like most things in women's health, it's just kind of like starting to grow and it takes loud voices to advocate and push and not be quiet about this stuff and I'm seeing this group of like powerhouse women in their like 50s, 60s who are like, I'm not taking no for an answer. I'm talking about my health. They're spearheading. It's fabulous to watch. But this is what it's taking. It's it's ground roots up to change the system so that we're actually allowing people to have great options of healthcare management in their community. But it it's starting from like, kind of like a backwards health model to make that happen. So that was that was definitely a challenge in the beginning. I thought I I think I just assumed there was a lot more understanding and and knowledge in in the medical field around what we do. But but alas we are changing that one doctor at a time. But but it's fine
Emily Harrington: I love that.
Sarah Nestor: because I I love to nerd out. I love to nerd out. I love to educate. Like I was be when I was choosing career path, I was between teacher and and physio. And so this is like how I combine it together. And I could sit and talk pelvic health for an eternity and like never get tired of it. So I've kind of enjoyed that role too.
Emily Harrington: And that's fantastic. the point
Sarah Nestor: Yeah.
Emily Harrington: where you said a lot of this isn't common knowledge. I think even just that like very basic of, go do some keegels, we're not taught what that means. We're taught of just find this arbitrary idea of what it means to, you know, work your muscles. And it wasn't until I actually saw a pelvic floor physiotherapist myself that I was taught how what what that means and how to do it properly. So like this is such a key component to women's health and education. And especially in these critical years where you read all the books about what happens, you know, before you have the baby and then you're left high and dry afterwards. So what you're doing is so crucial. And I love that we can have these conversations where we can help spread awareness for expertise like yours.
Sarah Nestor: Yeah. What and and it's having it's having conversations that I think like a lot of times were taboo for for a long time. Like we're talking about like pain with sex. We're talking about menstrual cycles, we're talking about urinary leaking, fecal leaking, constipation, all sorts of things where people are like, like I don't want to have those conversations. But this is quality of life changing. And we're talking like one in three women, one in five men have some form of pelvic health condition going on. I'd say that those stats are probably significantly higher. That's like reported stats going on, right?
Talia: Mm-hmm. That's what we know of.
Sarah Nestor: That we know of. Absolutely. Like it is prevalent and it is across the board and like massively quality of life impacting where we see people withdrawing from social, we see them withdrawing from physical activity, we see them their their mental health status being impacted from here, their their intimacy with partners is changing and like. All we have to do is have these conversations that, hey, there is stuff that can be done. You just don't have to live like this. Like there's so much management that's available there. And so it's it's it's re-kind of framing how how we have the conversations and making it kind of open and available, but definitely more than just Kegels. And like, I mean, I I I always say women's health, you get like these really small talks in like grade nine. Health or like grade seven, eight, like sex ed. And like it's pretty much like, don't have sex, you're gonna get pregnant. And like that's it. And it's like, did you know that you have all of these muscles in your pelvic health or in your pelvic floor? Do you know that you have a pelvic floor? Like, do you know more about your whole body? Like, I feel like we should be having these educational courses, like at least into our like twenties, thirties. Like this should be general knowledge for us as women. We shouldn't have to be like discovering this down the road. There should be management. We should be able to kind of understand these things a lot earlier. And I always say like it's more than just leaking or prolapse or things like that. Like we even see there's studies that show that ninety five percent of women with lower back pain have pelvic floor dysfunction. So like this is this is across the board. Like and yeah it's it's all encompassing.
Talia: And I love what you're talking about because you really do talk about the holistic thing. You know, when I first think of pelvic floor therapy, I'm like, I don't want to pee when I sneeze. But you're talking about like, hey, pelvic floor can lead to better connection with your partner, better relationships, better happiness, better quality of life. And it really does come back to this full circle of stop ignoring your health. Because it be can be, you know, like even myself, I hadn't gone to the doctors for so long. I finally went, I was like low B12, low iron, all this stuff. And it's like if I just would have focused on myself, I and I, you know, started taking all the supplements, I feel so much better. And that's like one small thing. And if we start paying attention to ourselves and what we need, our whole lives can change. And so stop putting it off. The resources are there for you. So I I really appreciate you looking at the whole thing. Now you know, kind of leaning back into the small business kind of ownership, it's not just about opening the doors. And I've I've got to see you like quite literally opening your doors because you're right beside me, but it's about sustaining and growing. What's one lesson you've learned about building a business that lasts?
Sarah Nestor: Well, I think I'd say there's a couple things. and I kind of touched on it at the beginning. Like, I think really understanding your why, like really understanding what it is that drives your business. like for for me, the the big thing that drives us is like making sure that people are seen and heard and and connected to. And we just happen to get people continent along the way. Like so
Emily Harrington: Exactly.
Sarah Nestor: really understanding like that value for yourself. the other thing that I think is incredibly imperative for for success is collaboration. Like there's so much that can be gained from collaborating with other people in the community. acts getting people connected to other resources, especially for what we do, like We collaborate with so many other practitioners and things within town. and I think that that really helps to drive our business because we we've had like healthcare get-togethers here where like practitioners have got to meet and greet, and then you understand what everybody has to offer. And so that just kind of like helps to build up the business. Cause when people know you and they know you as a person, then they're going to be more trusting in when they're referring someone or sending someone over. So I think like being willing to kind of sit and have collaborations and and network and get out there. Right. I think that's put yourself out there. Like I think everybody gets like fearful about like reaching out and and at the end of the day, like you don't know what you're gonna gain. Like you can end up with these incredible collaborations and raving fans from like across the area because they just get to to know who you are and and what you get to offer. So to me, like yeah Living your values, like knowing knowing your why and then like collaborating, I think is essential.
Talia: Speaking of collaboration, you're one of like my favorite success stories for Let's Network collaboration
Emily Harrington: Yeah.
Talia: because you had met Larissa, like a photographer through Let's Network. And then you guys did a mommy and me photography yoga session. And that that was like at the early days of Let's Network. And I was like, that was like one of my whys. I just like, this is why we're doing what we're doing. It's because we're building the platform where people can make those connection connections. Cause you wouldn't think like pelvic floor therapist and a photographer, whatever kind of work together. What kind of pictures are you taking? But you guys ended up coming up with something really beautiful together. So it that that was really amazing to see. But you know, like looking back kind of the early days and now, how has being a business owner changed you both personally and professionally, other than just having to balance a million things at once? So I laugh, I see you Lucky in the laundry and everything, it's like that girl, she's
Emily Harrington: Mm-hmm.
Talia: working hard on both ends here.
Sarah Nestor: man, yeah. I mean, I I think it's taught me to continue working on being a recovering type B personality and actually get organized. My my husband always laughs. He is he is the type A he is like the organizational list has like three different notebooks of like everything that he's doing. I've got like receipts here and like written stuff there. So yeah.
Talia: You're going on vibes and I appreciate it. I'm here for it.
Emily Harrington: You made it
Sarah Nestor: Yeah, it's I again like I think it kind kind of comes back to to what I mentioned before. It's just it's just continuous growth, right? It's like identifying these kind of areas where your strengths don't lie and spending the time to kind of like work on that. So yeah, it's I it it my confidence is just really gained notably. Like I I didn't really I there was so much self-doubt at the beginning, like, is this a good idea? Is this a bad idea? Am I gonna put my family in like financial jeopardy doing this? Jeopardy by the f by the way is my favorite show. So I like to throw Jeopardy in anyways.
Emily Harrington: Yeah.
Talia: That is a key point. I'm here for it.
Sarah Nestor: Yeah. but but I think like having taken those big risks, I've gained so much confidence in what I'm able to do. that that I I don't think I would have got that if I didn't take the chance on being a small b business owner. And like being able to get involved and feel like you're adding something to the community is is a beautiful thing. Like I'm constantly just in awe when we get a positive review or you see somebody write about like how you've impacted their journey. And it's like you feel like you're actually making a difference in your own community here. And it's it's a beautiful thing. So we just hope that we can kind of keep the ball rolling and keep supporting kind of women's health, pelvic health. And I think we're we're going to continue to just keep learning more about ourselves as clinicians in here and what we're capable of doing. And like it's it's hard to to do it all. Like we've talked about that. As a as a mom, as a, as a wife, as a friend, my family's all back in Toronto and my friends. And like sometimes I don't get the opportunities to go back and do things because the commitment is here and we've had to build. And at the same time it's a season and you kinda learn that and know that like this is kind of the beginning stages, but how beautiful can this venture be? And you're leaving your town a little bit more beautiful than it was, hopefully.
Talia: Something I think you're also doing spectacularly well is you find pockets of time throughout your day. And you know, entrepreneurs sometimes have trouble with that. And not that I want to do what you're doing because all of a sudden you're like, I'm just gonna go for a run for an hour, and I'm just like, hey,
Emily Harrington: Mm-hmm.
Talia: don't sign me up for that. But you do do that really well where you kind of you find a pocket of time. And you build it. Either you're going to Costco or you're doing the run, you're taking care of your self-care and stuff. So I really do appreciate that as an entrepreneur because so often entrepreneurs are just so encompassed in the business and that's all they see and that's all they do. And then they burn out. So I really do appreciate that you're working really hard to find that balance when you can.
Sarah Nestor: And let's be honest, I'm just running to the crusty baker to get some bread.
Emily Harrington: Mm-hmm.
Talia: Which I respect. It's fine. That's good. You're good to go. But you'll do it. You're like yeah, you'll
Sarah Nestor: Yeah.
Talia: be like gone for 30 minutes. You just you fit it in when you can. And I was just like I'm sitting there. By the time you're like gone and back, like I literally had just eaten my lunch. Like I was like, damn it, I could have gone for a walk too. Not a run, a walk, but now we
Emily Harrington: Meanwhile, I'm over here trying to figure out how I up my video editing game so I can isolate all of these clips where Talia talks about going for a run.
Sarah Nestor: Ha ha.
Talia: Yeah, right. He was wanna do a let's run club. I was like, you're breaking up. Yeah. Yeah, great, great.
Sarah Nestor: Hey, there's our next community mission, Downtown Run Club. I'm in.
Talia: you know what? We're gonna cut this episode short now. Thanks, Sarah.
Emily Harrington: Yeah.
Talia: so you've talked a little bit about being a mom of two. How has motherhood changed the way you approach your career and leadership? You know, you're kind of not just thinking about yourself and building your career, you're doing it as a mom.
Sarah Nestor: so this comes back to my why. So yeah, this is this is a biggie for me. Like I I was definitely like nervous going into it, but I had this kind of moment where I was like, man, my kids are gonna be able to look at this and say, look what mom built. Right. My mo my daughter walks around and she tells her friends, she's like, mommy's the boss. And like, It's those things where I'm like my kids, even though I'm not kind of like always talking about the business, they're picking up on the fact that look what mom can do. Mom can be a mom and I can still show up, but I can also run a business. I can do whatever I want to do. And like I'm not sacrificing to to to just kind of like be in that one part of the role. And Massive, massive kudos to stay-at-home moms. I could not do that role. That is not how I am built as a person. I need the outlet, and I have wonderful caregivers who look after and raise my children. And I'm so grateful without that, I could not do any of this. But I have the privilege to be able to sit here and then show that role for my kiddos. And I remember seeing. There was like a little like meme or something like that or whatever that popped up on on Instagram a while ago. And it was something like, one day my child might ask me, like, did you give up your dreams for me? And I want to make sure that the answer is no, I chase them with you by my side. And I'm like, How cool is that? Right. Where like We're we're doing it all. We're showing up. It's not perfect. My house is a mess when my husband is not there because he is the cleaner. my kids eat McDonald's some days because I pick them up late. And but at the end of the day, my kids are happy. I'm happy. We're building a business together and they're gonna be able to see that we that we're capable of doing really, really hard things. And I I'm so I'm so proud to be able to. Have that reflected as who their mom is. And I hope one day they look at it and and appreciate the the time and effort and sacrifice that kind of went into it. But hopefully they'll be able to look at it and be like, wow, that was pretty badass.
Talia: You know what? You talked about something really, really important. And there was just someone who won, I think, a Tony Award. And she gets up to do her acceptance speech and she goes, I wanna thank all the nannies who were there so that I could be here and doing these things. And you know, Laura, Emily, and I talk all the time. I would be a fantastic stay at home mom with my kids at school. So that's when I would absolutely thrive. And like my kids are at camp right now. And they sent me a picture today that my son found a spider and he was so excited and it's a little bug sling. And I was that's lovely. Make sure it stays there. Or they saw frogs yesterday, and it's just like he is thriving there. Don't ever look at me to pick up a frog. I would never do that. So, you know, there is so much to say that, you know, again, kudos to the stay-at-home moms. I respect them. I appreciate them. But it's
Sarah Nestor: Respect.
Talia: okay to acknowledge that. that having outside help also makes you a great mom. You know what I mean? Know your strengths, know your weaknesses. And it's okay. My kids love camp. They love all that. You know, and and sometimes you feel guilty. You're like, am I missing things? It's like, no, you know what? When they're with me, I love them. We do things, but it's okay to accept that help and acknowledge that you need that help. So I really respect that.
Sarah Nestor: yeah. Yeah. And like full like full time daycare. If I didn't have that, I would not be able to run this business. It would be an impossibility. And like this is a massive issue that's going on right now is the shortage in access to affordable childcare, right? The amount of moms that I have coming in who have multiples and say the after having to pay out of pocket for home daycare is because getting into a center is an impossibility. it makes more sense for them to stay at home. So I have to sit and acknowledge that a big portion of my success is childcare coverage because I would not be able to do this without them. So that's part of my village, right?
Talia: And I mean we could go down the rabbit hole with daycare because that's a whole other beast. At one point, I was paying more than I ever made, like when I was at my first job. But they're if you want to stay in the workplace, just do it. And I had benefits in there, but that's a whole different kettle of fish that we can go into. But you know, we can kind of dive in a bit more. So many women do struggle with balancing the family, career, and personal wellness. What have you learned about managing those competing priorities? And you know, we talk about it all the time. We'll come in sick, but we don't get sick days. You know what I mean? And we have to do it because our our kids are in school. So tell me how you kind of deal with those competing priorities.
Sarah Nestor: It's a it's a it's a juggling match. Like it's constantly juggling. And like my kids are two and a half and five. We have the plague like from September until February. Like
Emily Harrington: Mm-hmm.
Sarah Nestor: somebody's always sick with something, right? And so same thing. Like again, kudos to my husband. He since I've opened this, he has stepped up and like if the kids need to be at home, he has been the one who has had to sacrifice that time to make it happen when he's available there. Or I I'm changing Clients around to make it happen. But I mean, because we've built this space that talks about family and stages of life, like our clients are incredibly understanding about a little bit of wiggle jiggle move. And we give them the same respect as well. We know that life isn't perfect. And we encourage, like a lot of times, like a barrier for access to healthcare is I don't have a sitter. I can't like come to an appointment. We have toys here. We have Jolly jumper. Like we've got all the stuff. So we have moms come in and like bring their kiddos along with them. Like babies are down on the floor. We're we're bouncing them, like whatever needs to happen. this is this is the same thing. We get it. We are all humans in this kind of life together. And we're just kind of understanding that sometimes life isn't perfect and we're gonna have to rejig things around. And if we're understanding with our clients, then we see that same thing reflected back to us. So it it's been it's been pretty, pretty reasonable. But again, at the end of the day, like it, you just gotta be able to accept that it is what it is. There's only so much that you can do. I keep laughing with a couple of other business people and like, have you figured out how to clone yourself yet? I guess
Emily Harrington: Yeah.
Sarah Nestor: like at the end of the day, like that would be the ideal, but but it's not perfect. And I think like because our business kind of speaks so much from like who we are, they know us, they know our family and like we know them. Like we're we're able to kind of juggle and make it all happen and perfectly imperfect way.
Emily Harrington: I think there's also sorry,
Talia: I think COVID did open that up. go on.
Sarah Nestor: Yeah, go.
Emily Harrington: I think there's also so much strength in that idea of like you really walk the walk of you are showing people that it's okay to adapt your priorities based on the needs of your family. And you're also showing your kids of it's okay for them to adapt to your like where your priorities need to be. If they need to be with you and, you know, sitting in a corner with a book or a tablet or whatever for an hour while you do what you need to do. Or if you need to bump a client or whatever the case may be, there's so much value in the way that you're running your business, not only to teach your community that it's okay to run a business like that, but to teach that next generation that we can adapt the way businesses run to accommodate families.
Sarah Nestor: Yeah. And I think I think you're starting to see a bit of a changing face of businesses, probably more flexibility of it in small business entrepreneurial land where we're kind of dictating the rules. Like my clients know I'm gonna show up. I'm probably gonna be wearing Lululemons and like my hair is not gonna be done. It that's the reality. But this is this is the stage of life that I'm at. I would love to have Talia's outfits. But it's not happening because I will end up with cereal and like neutral grain bar smeared all over me before I leave the door. So like it it's just it's kind of part of who it is. It's it's part of like like what you see is what you get in our business, whether it's Caitlin Arkyro or our other two pelvic physios, like everybody here is like just that's what you're seeing is what you get. We all kind of understand the stages of life and And I think people just kind of reflect it back to us. So yeah, it's it's nice to be able to have that. When you build your business like that, then it's kind of the expectations and the understandings that that come around with it.
Talia: And you know what? I really appreciate you saying something, not just about my outfit. That's great. Thank you so much. thank you,
Sarah Nestor: You are always beautifully dressed.
Talia: thank you. But you talk about we've we've mentioned how important holistic approach is, and I love that. I think it's great. When you talk about your team, I've seen your team grow. And when you're looking at hiring someone, you know, you just brought someone onto your team. It wasn't just about who has the best credentials because on paper this is the top person in their field. You looked at the whole picture. Did they have the same values as me? Did they have the same beliefs? And you know, when you look at your team online, you can feel that love of the people and the community, and they too believe in the holistic approach. So Talk to me about that kind of growing your team, how you were like, you know what, this is how I'm gonna do it in order to have an overall success of my business.
Sarah Nestor: Yeah. Yeah. This is where I'm probably not the best business person because I I don't care about just bringing more people onto the team for the sake of running more business through. Like I care
Talia: Mm, mm-hmm.
Sarah Nestor: about the people first. I I I say to the clinicians in here, I'm like, the skills can be grown. You can always learn and expand skills. You cannot change the soft skills. Can you sit and Listen to someone. Can you hold space? Can you give somebody a chance to be there and be vulnerable and feel heard? Because that's what we care about. That's what I care about in the nest is that you can sit there and somebody can actually feel like their healthcare was heard in this environment. The skills anybody can do what I do, but this is kind of what I think differentiates us, is you will leave here and know that we looked at you as a whole person. We understand what your goals are. We care about you. We care about everything kind of going on in your life. And that's going to support. So for me, when I'm looking at who's joining the team here, I'm very particular about who the person is. And we just happen to have some incredible clinicians with great experiences to have been prior small business owners themselves. They know the kind of understanding of that. But they are genuinely their reputations kind of preceded them as somebody who is empathetic, understanding, authentic, understands how to listen to people and not just dictate expectations for them. And at the end of the day, like the resounding feedback that we hear is like, I actually feel like somebody understands what I'm going through, or somebody finally is listening to. What I'm experiencing. And I'm like, and how sad is that that that is the exception in our healthcare? That should be the across the board goal, is that somebody feels like they've been hurt, right?
Talia: Yeah. And and I can I can vouch personally that I've seen so many people go into your business very nervous. You know, you can tell it's their first time and they don't know what's happening, they don't know what's normal down there, they don't realize that everything is kind you know what I mean? Like it's all in you know, in perspective to what's normal to you kind of thing. And and I see them walk out with a sense of a calm. You know what I mean? So and it's it's regardless if the if the problem got solved that day. Or it's gonna get solved a little later. That was the first barrier that they had to overcome was feeling comfortable with your space. And you know, you've done a really good job of that. So I hope you're super proud of it.
Sarah Nestor: thank you. Yeah. And I mean, we do too take into consideration that a lot of our population is skewed with a trauma history as well. So we are very, very trauma informed walking into appointments too. So that's another time where a lot of people like the bravery that it takes to walk into the door here, in general, but especially if there is a trauma history, that takes a heck of a lot of bravery to walk in. And then watching women come out feeling empowered and in control of their body is one of the most incredible things to watch. Like seeing women gain confidence and empowerment and control is like, I couldn't ask for a better career gift than to just sit back and see these women thrive. And I keep saying, I'm like, you're not. I'm not fixing you. I am your kind of guide in this and I'm giving you education and awareness of what's happening in your body. You are the one that is changing things. And like when they get that control over and you're seeing them literally grow as a human, it is just it's outstanding. Like I couldn't, I couldn't imagine like a better, a better gift in a career.
Talia: And it's amazing too because you know, I'm sitting here being like, Yeah, you have a baby and then you get to go to a pelvic floor, but there is so much more that we don't take into consideration. And you know, you're looking at all women that have the capability to have that power and you're giving them that and you're giving them the opportunity to find it within themselves. So thank you so much for that. And then too, and then too,
Sarah Nestor: Yeah. And men too.
Talia: yeah. Yeah, let's give the men the shout out too. You know, just kind of looking ahead, what are your hopes for the nest wellness and the impact that you'd like to continue having on our community?
Sarah Nestor: Yeah, so I mean, I I think I kind of mentioned it before. I just like I always think of what's the book, Mrs. Rufius, like leave the world more beautiful than it was like before. Like I I just I would just love to keep working on creating a space that is bigger than me, that is for the community. And I'd love to continue to work with. A a more robust group of allied health professionals to just elevate the level of care for women's health but health across the board, to support families throughout basically North Grenville area and beyond. Like I have big lofty dreamy goals that I always kind of go to. Cause I think you you always need to you always need to dangle a carrot in front of yourself as a business owner, right? Because it's the same thing where it's like, okay, you can get comfortable in what you are, but you could also keep growing and building something beautiful. So I just love the idea of continued collaborations, like working with more allied health professionals, offering more services, listening to the feedback that we've received and what more we can kind of give back. Cause again, I look at this, this isn't my space. This is everybody's space. We're just kind of here to support you within it. Right. So continuing to kind of grow that.
Talia: And I've seen that through the BIA events. We had second nature in your space, right? Like you were literally like, Yep, come on in, let it in, you know what I mean? And you were there, but it w you really gave second nature an opportunity to shine because they had never been in a BIA event before. So thank you so much for what you do for the community. It's it's amazing to witness.
Sarah Nestor: thanks. It's it's a joy. We're so lucky. Like what a great community to be in.
Emily Harrington: Now, before we let you go today, can you tell our audience where to find you and connect with you online as a first step of how to connect with you?
Sarah Nestor: Yeah, for sure. So we are on Instagram at the Nest Kempville, where we have a Facebook page. I think it's just the Nest Wellness on there. and then we have a website www.nestwellness.ca, and that's where we have our online booking portal. So if you're looking to book assessment for pelvic health, physiotherapy, chiropractic care. You can find our information there. We also post all of our small group exercise, fitness, and educational classes on there. So you can always hop over. We do also offer free 15-minute consultations for chiropractic and physiotherapy. So if you're not sure if this is something that would be helpful for you, if you want to just get to know us a little bit first, we also do offer those consultations for anyone who's interested.
Emily Harrington: Wonderful. Thank you so much. And thank you to everyone who has joined us for this episode of Let's Network the Podcast.