Heather Thomson: Redefining Success Through Entrepreneurship, Adventure, and Wellness

Heather Thomson has worn many hats throughout her impressive career, from fashion design to wellness coaching. With over 25 years of fashion industry experience, including her role as founding Design Director for Sean John and Co-Creative Director for Beyoncé Knowles and Jennifer Lopez’s fashion labels, Thomson has made a name for herself as a fashion industry powerhouse. In 2008, she founded her own fashion-forward shapewear collection, changing the industry and empowering women to look and feel their best. But Thomson’s talents don’t stop at fashion. As a TV personality, she graced our screens for several years as an adored reality star, and she is also a successful entrepreneur, podcaster, philanthropist, performer, speaker, athlete, and licensed health and wellness coach. She has delivered keynotes for Fortune 500 companies and presented for non-profits, logging thousands of hours hosting her brands on HSN and ShopHQ and has appeared on network news channels such as CNN, CNBC, FoxBusiness, and MSNBC, as an expert on topics ranging from leadership and markets to nutrition and health.

As a Certified Integrative Health Coach, Thomson has created corporate employee health programs, given nutrition lectures across the country, and provided wellness workshops and retreats with partners such as Hilton Head Health, Miraval Spa and Resort, Canyon Ranch, and Beyond Fresh —is her organic superfood nutrition brand she developed to support and educate people making positive changes to their health and wellbeing. Thomson’s wellness journey began with a focus on helping her child, but it quickly turned into something more. She studied health and wellness and shared her knowledge as an educated voice, a mother, and someone who wants to help people feel and live better. And, after 5 years with her show, Heather Thomson Superfoods, you can now also find her on the airwaves with her podcast, in MY heart — It’s about everything from entrepreneurship, and motherhood, to nutrition, fashion, travel, adventure, friendships, and freedom. Thomson invites guests who have overcome obstacles, are wellness and holistic living experts, have achieved firsts in their field, or who have found their freedom, to share their stories and inspire listeners to live fearlessly and joyously. With each episode, Thomson sparks curiosity and encourages independent thinking, digging deeper into topics to inspire new perspectives.

You wear so many hats – from fashion designer to TV personality to wellness coach. How do you balance all these roles?

To me, it is what being an entrepreneur is all about. To wear many hats, without the traditional restraints of one skill or one industry. To have the opportunity to work within so many start-ups and communities, each enriched by their own expertise and passion to me, has been the most unexpected and exciting part of my career —especially as a female professional, and where there is risk in the uncharted path, I feel driven by that.

As a designer, you have been incredibly successful, changing the shapewear industry and empowering women. Can you talk about the inspiration behind your patents?

They say necessity is the mother of all inventions and for me, it continues to hold true. It was my own personal struggle with my body and body image after childbirth, first in 2004 and then in 2007, that was the motivation for my patented design! It was an incredibly exploratory time, when at my worst, I felt best equipped and most empowered, to help myself and in turn, help others, after feeling the same shame I think a lot of women feel when they put on shapewear. My goal was to change the wrong thinking of an industry that was basically saying, women were sausages to be shoved into the casings of society’s picture of perfect. And, instead empower and support the right thinking that each of us is unique and beautiful, in shape and size. And, not only with my designs but also by me personally, as a woman who understood, then as the designer who could make it and say, rock what you got! Modernizing an industry that was still putting us in girdles, changed the game and made encouraging vs. embarrassing choices you see for both women and men that make up much of today’s shapewear. My inspiration is always one part problem/solution and the other parts, are authenticity and community. It was at the heart of my shapewear and clothing brand until I sold it almost ten years ago, and it still lives at the heart of Beyond Fresh at the heart of in MY heart, and I get to see it come to life on my Freedom Retreats. Heart is in everything I do at heatherthomson.com.

You’ve worked with some of the biggest names in music and fashion, including Sean “Diddy” Combs, Beyoncé Knowles, and Jennifer Lopez. What have you learned from these experiences?

Working for celebrities in the fashion business taught me the importance of loving what you do, and where I started saying, it’s only work, if there is someplace else you would rather be!! The drive, determination, hard work, dedication, passion, and commitment, to change the game or to reach the next level of excellence —are just a few of the things these triple-threat, superstars, taught me. I was fully in a phase of creative exploration at a very exciting time. We made fashion history and we were completely committed to doing it!

As a licensed health and wellness coach, what advice do you have for people looking to make positive changes in their health and well-being?

It is never too late! The human body is resilient and magical and it is made to survive! It wants to survive and the formula to help it survive is not complicated. As much as multinational corporations that provide us with the vast majority of the foods and drinks we consume, would like us to think convenience foods are nutritional, when they are not. The fact remains that only one in every ten Americans gets even close to the RDA of fruits and vegetables. There is no silver bullet remedy to good health. Good nutrition is a long-term relationship, you commit yourself to for better or for worse. The trick is knowing the difference. The best convenience foods come in their own packages; think apples, and I’d tell them to eat more fruits & vegetables, leafy greens, whole grains, beans, legumes, nuts, and seeds. And, to move your body every day, get enough rest, love, and laugh often!

You recently launched Beyond Fresh, your organic superfood brand. Can you tell us more about the brand and what inspired you to start it?

I set out to clear up confusion for consumers when it came to organic plant-based supplements and superfoods and to lessen the gap between those who could afford clean, quality, wholefood supplements, and those who could not. I knew there was something I could do to help both my own family and others. One easy, delicious, scoopful. This would be our $1 meal! And, after an exclusive partnership with TV retailer, SHOP HQ we are excited to launch Beyond Fresh to wider distribution thru local family-owned and operated retailers, grocers, pharmacies, www.beyondfresh.com and, a new relationship with Amazon, where I’ll share my insights on food and nutrition and our beyond fresh whole food and superfood ingredients.

In addition to your business ventures, you also host the podcast “in MY heart.” What inspired you to start the podcast and what do you hope listeners take away from it?

My inspiration was from people and stories…stories from the road, people I had met along the way, who inspired me, or imparted to me their wisdom about a day upon me or quite potentially a day ahead to help me on the journey. It’s about the ‘take- aways’ from others, which expanded my experiences along the way that I wanted to share, within MY heart. Channelling the wisdom of others — heartache turned to gold, a song to be sung, battles overcome, a chance of a lifetime blown, until the next one comes — in MY heart is a conversational format show, focusing on our overall health and well-being, as we navigate life. In a non-controversial context of learning, listening, and laughing together, I connect the listener in conversations with new friends and old, about things in my heart and finding our freedoms. Storytelling is a lost art. We all stand on the shoulders of others, and we’re all connected, but we’ve become too self-centred. I like listening to the stories of others, learning from their experiences, and connecting through these informative, entertaining, and important lessons on life that is, in MY heart.

You’ve given keynote speeches and presentations to Fortune 500 companies, non-profits, and on network news channels. What topics do you enjoy speaking about the most?

All the subject matter I write and speak about is important to me, but my focus has changed over the years to the health of people and our planet. As a health coach, a mother, and a woman in her 50s, l like to share my new knowledge and my own life experiences, to empower people to embrace suffering, to free themselves, to take chances —whatever that may mean for them, and to live freely, joyfully, and fully. And, to dare to feel all three at once!

You’ve been a reality TV star on “The Real Housewives of New York City.” How has that experience impacted your life and career?

The reality is, it impacted me in positive ways. That does not mean it was easy in any way, but it reinforced that I knew who I was, and who I wasn’t. That I knew what I wanted, and what I didn’t. And, that I knew what was important to me, and what wasn’t. That I could hold true to my values and at the same time, free up the judgement of others. It taught me a better understanding of my privilege, how to use it, to better choose how, where, and in the company of whom, I choose to spend my time. It gave me a stiffer upper lip, a softer understanding of perspectives, the unique opportunity to see myself through the lens of another, and the opportunity to grow from all of it!

Can you speak to any future plans or ideas for similar retreats or wellness events?

Freedom Retreats coming up!

I am super excited about my Fresh Freedom Retreat at Hilton Head Health, in Hilton Head South Carolina, scheduled for a week in late August that focuses on our relationship with food in our everyday lives and a new perspective on that balance. In October, it’s Pure Freedom at Ross Bridge Golf Resort and Spa in Birmingham, Alabama, where we’ll focus on finding inner peace and healing through joy and our connections to nature. And, for 2024 plans include trekking through the Scottish Highlands, setting sail in the islands of Greece and more time at Hilton Head Health are a few things to look out for! Stay tuned at heatherthomson.com and come along!

Heather will be back in the September issue of Retreat to tell you all about her latest retreats. Stay tuned!