Meredith Ellison, co-founder of Quility, walks through her morning routine while discussing her wellness practices and the company's mission to help people live lives of significance. She covers coffee, journaling, a walk, skincare, and the influences shaping her approach to well-being.
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This is Meredith Ellison, co founder at Quility and chief wellbeing officer and we're going to answer some of your questions today while I get ready. You are here with me in my bathroom. I love it because I love the natural light and my floors are warm. I wake up every morning, try to get up around 5:30. First thing I do is go make my cup of coffee. It is my favorite thing that awaits me every morning. Right now one of my goals is to not open my phone into social media in the mornings before lunch. Lately I've just found a lot of nice quiet time. I'm really trying to journal more and just be quiet. I have about an hour in the mornings before I wake woods up to get him ready for school and get he and Levi out the door. And about 7:30 I head out on my morning walk with Birdie. Then try to get into the office no later than 10. So before heading into the office every morning I try to do my hair, a few skin products and before I head out the door. Let's do it. I would say I'm a bit of a minimalist when it comes to products. I like to try a lot of different products but mainly for me it's how do I kind of look the most natural but keep things looking fresh. I had no idea what to get ready with me video was. I actually called my daughter who was 19 to her to inform me on what we were supposed to be doing this morning. So hopefully I'm nailing it. My first step in the morning is actually not to use face cleaner. I once was told that using face cleaner in the meeting can dry my face out more and since I struggle with dryness I just let that go. But I do start with moisturizer every day and so especially in the wintertime coming out of the sun from we just got home from Mexico, my face is more dry than normal, so extra moisturizer for me in the mornings. So I think one of the ways I'm most inspired right now by my my new title is that it feels like it really honors what I've been doing for a long time already at the company. So to kind of name it sometimes kind of helps you give you more authority and kind of power to step into that fully. And that's what I think I'm most enjoying right now. Being in a flow state at work is really important, especially as a founder. For me it is just being connected to the natural world. I take a lot of thoughts to the Woods. I'll say that even in meetings. Sometimes I need to take that one to the woods before I come back. Prioritizing that time in the morning for me is key to help me able to show up for the rest of the day. Toward the end of last year, we spent some time at Quility really getting clear on what our purpose is and who we're here to serve. And it was very exciting. It was very rewarding to get clear, to be able to rally and align everyone in distribution, our employees, our whole communities around who we're here to serve and what we're here to do. While my moisturizer is setting, I'll try to move over and figure out what I'm going to do in my hair for the day. Some days I have my hair straight like this because I've blown it out the day before and I use some great dry shampoo to kind of give me a lift. Sometimes I intentionally wear my hair curly because I think sometimes women feel like they should straighten their hair and it looks more professional. And sometimes I really try to embrace the natural wildness of my hair, but yesterday I straightened it so I could have two to three days without having to worry about my hair. And that's where we are today. We're on day two, so there'll be dry shampoo and a hairbrush. I've recently discovered dry shampoo and really found some great benefits. And it kind of highlights spread at your roots. So it looks like I got my highlights done mostly. Not mostly. I'm 100% a morning person. And that's why it is important for me to get up in the morning and start my day in thoughtfulness and mindfulness and intention. I'm an enneagram9. For any of those that know that. And the. The funny thing about Enneagram nines is you start slow and taper off during the day. So it's important for me to start with as much energy as I can bring to the day. That's why I get up, I'm in my body, I try to walk, I drink coffee because all day long it feels like I'm losing energy. And by about 8 o' clock at night, I'm on the couch laying next to my people, you know, people that are really speaking to me right now. Obviously my mentor, teacher and coach, Lynn Twist, is always speaking to me around the concepts of sufficiency and how I'm showing up in that and where our businesses are showing up in that. Mel Robbins, I feel like she's my friend. Mel and I spend a lot of time Together on the trails these days. Just finished her book, the Let Them Theory. That has really just freed me in a lot of ways and feel a lot more freedom and movement. Those two women right now are with me a lot. I do curl my hair and I know this is like a 1995 curling iron, but I cannot ever figure out those wands and the stuff people do today. So I go back to my trusty curling iron. I know it's probably not great for my ha. I know all the things that you're gonna probably leave comments around, but it works for me and I don't do it every day, so I think it's gonna be. I think it's okay. Our purpose statement is we want to create an ecosystem where people can protect what matters most. And to live a life of significance just in what we do in selling life insurance to people accomplishes just that. That what we do is a noble mission. And I want our clients and our agents and our employees to feel that connection and the power we have just in what we do and who we serve every day. And when you help create and help people protect what matters most, they can almost release that worry and to go live the life of significance that they're here to lead. So that's why I love our purpose statement. That's how I think it can connect to everyone in our ecosystem. And I think it's how it'll help everyone flourish. This usually takes me about six minutes to curl my hair and usually by the end of the day, it's in a ponytail anyway. For makeup these days, again, I try to be pretty minimal. When it's not, I'm out in the sun, I just use these little serums. I always get a light color and then a darker color, and that's usually the perfect color for me. So I do like a light and a little bit of medium, rub them together, and hopefully it's the right color for my face. I have liked these new products. All right, wash your hands, put a little eye under, eye concealer on. Helps with dark circles and make me look like I'm awake even at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Hopefully. Then I have like a little. It's just called like a little highlighter put on my cheeks, Pop, pop, pop, pop. And then just try to blend it all in. Where I see quility in the next 10 years, it's such a great question. I don't know. I love the trajectory we're on, but I think what's most important about business is what are we doing today to serve the possibility of what the next 10 years could hold. And how do you serve? How do you serve the people? How do you serve the clients? How do you serve agents? How do we serve our ecosystem? So in 10 years, we can pick our head up and be really glad and proud of what we've created together. All right, cool. That's it. Drop us a comment below. We want to hear what you're doing in the morning to get ready for your day. Let's go to work.
