March LIVE Recap: Solidago Ventures & Consulting
Last week we had the chance to chat with Kary Gillenwaters, the owner and founder of Solidago Ventures and Consulting! Solidago encompasses our March theme of new beginnings. Kary is an occupational therapist who found herself pausing and reflecting as the pandemic started. Solidago is her adventure that arose from asking herself where do we go from here and how do we best move forward. There were all these amazing people at the time trying to find their way including Kary herself. It was a combination of her life experiences and roles coming together to ignite her innate entrepreneurship.
Kary’s career started as an addiction counselor understanding the addictive processes in individuals and systems and later found herself in managerial positions and at one time homeschooling. She realized she was always an entrepreneur and finally took the leap of faith to launch Solidago Ventures and Consulting.
Solidago is a plant you probably have seen, but didn’t realize it. The common name for it is goldenrod. It grows tall and green and blooms late summer, hence why you probably have not noticed it. Gold rods are often accused of something it is not. This was similar to how Kary was seeing the world at the time. There are so many people in the world with talents and gifts. These talents and gifts are often in the background, but once they become foreground we question what to do with it. People and opportunities arise in our lives where our talents and gifts can come to life. Solidago means to strengthen, heal, and make whole and this sets the foundation to reflect on the people and opportunities that come our way and if they align with that. Is it the right fit at the right time? Solidago Ventures and Consulting facilitate the thinking process to help you strength, heal, and make whole.
Solidago started with the Life Well Occupied blog. It began at the start of the pandemic as Kary found herself getting into a routine of scrolling in the morning on social media to see if she was safe that day as many of you probably as well! She longed for an experience to anchor and ground herself in to feel safe and secure during the unknown of the pandemic. Kary decided to create the experience herself sharing amazing stories and interviewing people doing great things through the blog. Instead of mindlessly scrolling, we can tune into the Life Well Occupied blog for meaningful thinking and searching for ourselves!
The blog was the start of having conversations about real life and things that are affecting us. The pandemic shed light on our want for real talk and contemplation of how things are working and how it is affecting our lives.
You can find seven categories in the blog:
Monthly Themes
Unlearning
Words to Know and Grow
Rhythms of Everyday Living
Being and Rest as Occupations
Lives Well Occupied: Lessons from Near and Far
Reflections
Solidago is in the baby steps of launching into the world, however, great things are happening! They have recently started hosting live conversations with others through Zoom as a safe place to understand each other and our everyday occupations affecting us. The first one was about work and how it affects our life in all areas. Work life has been difficult as we have had to navigate it during the pandemic. We were prompted to consider how things were working and how we can make things better. Solidago dove deep into this topic and facilitated the conversation on how we can work in a way that allows us to still be part of our meaningful roles and occupations. The next Zoom call takes place at the end of the month with the topic of sleep and rest.
“Solidago is an invitation to consider how we continuously step into our wholeness each season and notice the environments and partners that aid each of us in doing just that. ”
Solidago serves adults knowing adults have elders, peers, and littles who are learning from them who want to be a safe place and model the way. The great thing is you don’t have to do it alone as Solidago is about finding the way together and guiding you to partner with yourself to step into your wholeness. We all long for community and belonging and Solidago facilitates just that.
Kary is here to listen to you and ask you what you need! Reach out to her if you need a “thought partner” to think things through, whether that be projects, partnernerships, or opportunities. She is here for you!
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
We thank Kary for taking the time to share with us about Solidago Venture and Consulting! Watch the replay on our social media or click this link here.
If you would like to connect with Kary, here is her website where you can find her contact information: Solidago. And you can tune into her blog here: To a Life Well Occupied.