When I hear professional insight combined with amazing storytelling, it’s like podcast fireworks that’s forever reverberating in my ears. And that’s exactly what I knew would happen when I first heard Zoee Founder and CEO Nichole Lowe talk about her absolutely fascinating professional journey on the Hustle + Gather Podcast. From working as a producer with Prince (yes, THAT Prince), to now being the founder and CEO of a tech company, Nichole’s pretty much seen it all, and it is easy to stop in your tracks and just listen when she talks about her experiences.
Sister entrepreneurs Courtney Hopper and Dana Kadwell hosted Nichole, as they talked about the ups and downs of running a business and being an entrepreneur. Nichole spoke of her fascinating life thus far, and how her experiences have shaped her into the entrepreneur that she is today.
You’ll have to listen to the whole show to get the full effect, but I’ll try to summarize some of the best parts here.
Nichole started out as a producer in Minneapolis, having started her own production company in her mid-twenties.
“We have so much energy when we’re that age, I had a lot of energy and a lot of tenacity, but not a lot of wisdom at 24,’ Nichole says. ‘So, there was a lot of excitement building a company, creating a lot of jobs and doing a lot of fun things. But my word, it was a lot of work. I did everything from working on commercials, documentaries, television shows. I also did a lot of stuff out at Paisley Park with Prince and worked on some music videos and things like that. And I loved it.”
After several years however, Nichole knew that she needed a change, and moved to California and started working in sales, eventually climbing the corporate ladder at a Fortune 500 company to manage the entirety of the West coast. It was during this period of great transition and change that Nichole recognized the value in taking risks despite the fears they provoked.
Nichole describes it as, “I think the most important thing is to really understand that everything builds on itself. Even though my life looks pretty curvy and how I did the twist and the turns, and I want the ups and the downs, but really, we all experienced that…the whole point of taking risks is to just move with fear. Just take a risk with fear because you’re never going to get over fear, you just have to learn to move and push through it.”
These realizations and experiences have only helped Nichole grow and succeed at her latest role, as the founder and CEO of Zoee, the first tele-coach digital ecosystem in the world. Nichole was inspired to create Zoee after experiencing first-hand the difficulties that coaches have in running their businesses. She became a board-certified health coach almost a decade ago, and set about coaching people through health issues such as diabetes or heart problems. Eventually, Nichole realized that many other coaches were all having similar problems streamlining the back-end of their businesses, recruiting clients, and were generally lacking in knowledge in business or marketing practices.
Determined to create a solution to these common problems, Nichole founded Zoee (previously SoleLife), a digital ecosystem intended to help coaches with their business so that they can focus on their clients. Nichole believes deeply in the power of coaches because they can help people through all the phases and aspects of their lives. One of her main goals is to normalize people seeking help, and not feel like they have to face all their problems alone.
“The word that I hear over and over again about what we’re serving up to humanity is we’re bringing relief,’ Nichole says, describing Zoee’s impact. ‘We’re bringing a tremendous amount of relief, not only for the coaches to run their business, but truly, honestly, I, we’re not meant to do life alone. We are not, you’re just not meant to do life alone. And especially here in America, we are taught from a very young age that suck it up, figure it out, go think your way to riches. And don’t ask for help because if you do, that’s a sign of weakness, we’re not meant to do it alone. We’re just not.”
Nichole has lived a rich and varied professional life so far, full of twists and turns. The diversity of her experience is important because it has taught her that risks can be good, and feeling lost is normal, something that is good for everyone, particularly young professionals, to remember occasionally. Most importantly, Nichole reminds us that no matter our circumstances, we shouldn’t be afraid to ask for help and face our problems with a helping hand.
