Every Friday I am going to feature a woman that I adore. They exude all the qualities of an Alpha Female and I want to dig into their lives to get some nuggets of knowledge to help us all live happier, healthier lives balancing life & work.
Definition of an Alpha Female
An Alpha Female is a powerful and assertive woman. Her confidence is due to being an intelligent and intellectual problem-solver. Being an Alpha Female is a State of Mind based on choosing ambition and being proud of it. She strives for a happy and healthy work/life harmony.
Type A Alpha Females often come across as strong willed and selfish. When we stay true to our authentic selves and stay true to our mission we shine. A true Alpha Female puts the needs of herself first without sacrificing her principles or dignity. She fills up her cup or gas tank first so that she has enough energy for her friends, family, and coworkers. A true Alpha Female strives for synergy with the world around her. She wants a perfect work/life balance but knows that it requires being true to your priorities and what makes you happy. She is never complacent about striving for better and nurtures relationships with the people in her life.
Meet Nicole Culver!
Nicole Culver helps women figure out how to make healthy living work for them. She guides them to figure out how to make taking care of themselves a priority because you have to put yourself first in order to happily take care of everyone else. She also has an organic, gluten free granola company Blissful Eats, where she makes it easy to choose healthy, delicious good-for-you foods. And she works with women to set goals and figure out first steps for their business ideas to create a life they are completely happy with.
How are you an Alpha Female?
I’m an alpha female by making decisions to design my life how I want it. These decisions are usually against the norm, but I have the confidence to make them because I know the life that I want my family to live and I won’t sacrifice for it. One of the first times in my life that I realized I was an alpha-female was when I quit my NYC teaching job with a good salary and benefits to start my own business. While I consider this the first step, this led to numerous situations where I had to assert myself, focus on my vision and persevere to find success.
I make sure to take time for myself everyday because that’s how I’m happiest. Like the definition of an alpha female, I have to fill my gas tank first, so I can take care of my family and get my work done. My family comes first and I make sure we are doing what’s best for us…and that means saying no to others, sometimes often. If you know me, you know how important my relationships are to me. I try very hard to be a good mom, wife, daughter and friend.
Does work/life balance exist?
I think it does exist, but it’s something I work every single day on. I’m not sure I have it worked out fully right now, but I think I’m pretty close. It really only happened recently for us. My husband was working out of the house for 12 hours a day until the summer and the balance was a lot harder then. There wasn’t much work and a whole lotta just being “mom” but I’m happy to say things are much more balanced now. Now I get to work 4-6 hours a day and I’m LOVING the focused work time. I feel so much more whole again. It was definitely missing in my life.
What are you most passionate about?
Is it too broad to say helping women? I have two sides to my job, health coaching – leading women on a healthier journey. Getting rid of that all or nothing mindset. I’m so passionate about just showing women that they can be healthy and still have a FUN, enriched life. It doesn’t have to be hours at the gym or just salads. On the other side, I run Blissful Eats, my snack company. I’ve done this for four years and I’ve made a lot of mistakes…and have had successes too. I’m just starting to figure out how to share that with other women entrepreneurs. This definitely fits under the umbrella of helping women, because I want to help them reach their goals in their business, especially in the specialty food industry. I hear too many women living for the weekend. Waiting for Friday after work and it doesn’t have to be that way, if you don’t want it to be.
What are your daily health habits that keep your immune system boosted?
Wake up at 5, exercise for 40 minutes, shower and podcast. I aim to drink 80-100 oz of water a day and a smoothie for breakfast. When I’m feeling a cold come on, I’ll take Bragg’s apple cider vinegar + iced cold water.
What is your weekly fitness routine like?
I had my second daughter in April, so I’ve been working back from that trying to be kind to my body. I just finished up 21 day fix extreme and was incorporating PiYo at least once a week. Now I just started Hammer & Chisel Sunday.
How do you challenge yourself fitness wise?
Honestly, my challenge is to not push myself more than I know I can handle. Coming back from baby #2, it’s so easy to want to get out there and run 5 miles, or do super intense workouts. I am the type of person that would go for more, more, more exercise. I need to push myself to only do 30-40 minutes and make sure I do PiYo weekly to stretch and take care of myself. I want to lift heavier, and do more but then I end up injured. So for me, pushing myself is to take it slow, be consistent and just listen to my body.
What are your daily habits for winding down at night and reducing stress?
Oh man, I need to work on these more. One thing I always do is stop working to put my girls to sleep. I usually finish up some work for an hour at night but I make sure to take out that hour to help them get ready for bed, read books and go to sleep. That’s a special hour for us. On my best nights, my husband and I will put on one of the TV shows we watch and I’ll have some tea. Having two kids, 2 businesses and waking up at 5, my wind down is often falling asleep in my 3 year olds bed with her!
What are you daily/weekly nutrition habits that keep you well nourished?
I eat a lot of veggies. I also try to meal plan for the week so I’m more prepared because otherwise you’ll catch me eating Applegate cold cuts at my kitchen counter. I have a smoothie every morning and just eat when I’m hungry. I always keep great food in the house…so its not hard to eat healthy.
What are pain points that Alpha Females are constantly problem-solving for?
Striving for more and wanting to do better and more forward takes focus. I’m constantly reminding myself to stay focused on the task at hand instead of jumping around project to project. I think we just want to keep doing, but the hard part is staying focused and working on your goals in a strategic way.
What is your definition of happiness?
Being able to be with my family every day. We like to be together. 🙂 I love that my husband is around more now and we spend time together in the morning, can eat lunch together half the week and he’s home early. It’s really the best. Happiness for me is part of my lifestyle, if that makes any sense. As we work more on our businesses, we hope we’ll have the freedom to travel and work from anywhere, but for now just having my family together more is perfect for us.
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