In this Business Blast Podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Kelli Calabrese, a 32‑year‑old fitness, nutrition, and wellness professional, Amazon bestselling author, TV personality, and Isagenix executive. Kelli shares a formative childhood lesson from her grandmother about doing the right thing the first time, which shaped her disciplined approach to work and life. She emphasizes nutrition as the most powerful lever for health, advocating a simple Mediterranean‑style diet (“if God made it, eat it; if man made it, leave it”). Her core business advice centers on building genuine relationships, seeing competitors as potential collaborators, and prioritizing people over profit. When reflecting on her younger self, she advises recognizing and exiting unproductive situations quickly. Kelli defines happiness as future‑oriented, while present‑day joy is the key to lasting happiness, encouraging gratitude in any circumstance. She highlights the book Reorient by Kevin Weaver, noting its definition of love as relentless pursuit of the highest good, and shares a favorite scriptural quote about being anxiety‑free and humble. Finally, she provides her online handles (kellicalabrese.com, LinkedIn, Facebook) and mentions her bestseller Mom and Dadpreneurs on Amazon.
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Welcome to the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by WagsMedia. WagsMedia provides you with everything you need to generate more customers and grow your brand. Head on over to wagsmedia.com, W-A-G-S-M-E-D-I-A dot com, to enter a contest where you can win a free, done-for-you custom website valued at $2,500 for a limited time only. Now let's jump into the episode.
All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Kelly Calabrese with us. She is a 32-year fitness, nutrition, and wellness professional. She is the number one Amazon bestselling author of Mom and Dadpreneurs, on a new reality TV show called Soul Sisters, launching a new app called Deputize America, and is an executive with Isagenix International. So welcome to the show.
Thanks for having me, Tyler. It's awesome to be here.
Of course. Awesome to have you here. We'll jump in. The first one I have for you, Kelly, is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
You know, I thought back to my very first personal development lesson, which has stayed with me my whole life. When I was 7, my grandfather passed away and my grandmother started spending a lot more time at our house. And I remember her saying to me, always do the right thing the first time and every time. And when I was 7, that meant, you know, get your laundry from the dryer, put it in the basket, fold it, put it away, get home, do your homework, and then you have a snack, go out. In play. And that really set the tone for me of, you know, sort of this discipleship of if you know what's right, if you know what's important, if you know what's urgent, you do it first, and then you go and play and relax. And it's really served me my whole life, you know, even in college when everyone was kind of messing around all semester, but I was doing the do, I was getting the work done. And then when it came time for finals, I was exempt. I was going on a cruise, I was going to Miami having some fun, and everyone else was like scrambling and stressed out and pulling all-nighters and So it just really set the tone with, man, if you know what to do and you do it first and you do it right, that, man, life is so much easier. You never have to clean up a mess.
Yes, I couldn't agree more. And I like the Miami part of that. That's a good choice.
Yeah.
The next one I have for you is, what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Well, I consider myself to be in both the wellness and the business world, but let me talk to people because it really helps everyone in the realm of health and wellness and, you know, that whole scope, because everyone wants to be healthier at some level or another. And I would say of all the things that you can do to be healthier, the very biggest lever that you could pull, and if you could get this right, it would change everything, would be your nutrition. I mean, if you can get that right, then your sleep changes, your brain health changes, your energy changes. I mean, you age more youthfully, you perform better, you're You're just— your whole brain is right. And so if people could get their nutrition right, and it's probably the simplest, most kindergarten things that you could think of, there's no real amazing magic or tricks to it. But, you know, go back to those basics of a healthy Mediterranean-style diet, kind of if God made it, eat it, if man made it, leave it. You know, if you could just even go forward with that one rule, it could change everything for you.
Yeah. And what's your best piece of overall business advice? So like, you've been in the wellness and fitness industry for 32 years and all these other things you got going on, TV shows. So like, if somebody wanted to achieve even, you know, one-tenth of what you have so far, like what would you tell them?
It's totally all about the people. I mean, I owned health clubs for 14 years. I managed corporate fitness centers. You know, I've done a lot in my industry and it comes down to constantly building meaningful relationships with customers, with other people in your industry. You know, see your competitors as potential partners, collaborators. The greater that you are at connecting with people and becoming a better influencer, and the more that you upgrade the people that you hang out with, the better everything will get. But don't have a business agenda when you're connecting. Don't lose the people for the money.
Mm. And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
You know, I would say don't stay in the wrong thing too long. You know, looking back, there were definitely things that I just knew weren't working, that knew weren't right. Wrong relationships, wrong people, wrong systems. And I'm not a quitter, so I tend to want to stay and make things work. But it— you have to constantly be evaluating, is this working? And if it's not, how quickly can I get out? So be really slower to get into something to make sure it's right. But as soon as you know it's not right, just move on.
And in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?
Now, I kind of think of happiness as being in the future when people talk about happiness, but what's present is joy. And that's totally the key, because if you can call all of your circumstances joy, if you can find joy in illness, joy in a car accident, joy in a breakdown, if you can find joy In any situation, find the goodness, be thankful about it. You will always have happiness.
And what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
Well, besides, I mean, obviously the Bible is the number one bestseller in the world. Besides that one, probably a book that most people have never heard of. It's called Reorient. It's by Kevin Weaver and it's a pretty thick book and it's broken down into 10 chapters. But even if you only read the very first chapter of that book, it's about love. In that chapter, he gave this definition of love as relentlessly contending for the highest possible good in every situation until it's a present-tense reality. That just hit me. I was like, "Wow, I'm going to wake up every day. I'm going to focus, find where the target is, and I'm going to just keep contending relentlessly until that happens." I'm going to be grateful and joyful where I am, but I'm just going to relentlessly contend until it's Love's ideal.
And what is your favorite quote and why?
I would say my favorite quote is actually really a scripture, but it starts out by saying, be anxious for nothing, but in all things just be humble and just kind of bring your cares before whatever you think your higher power is. You know, I think most people get so stuck that they never really get in life near what their potential and their passion and their profit and their possibility is because they really get so hung up in the anxiety of everything.
Yes, thank you so much for coming on. This was an awesome episode. The last one I have for you, last question is, where is the best place for people to find and/or connect with you online?
Well, all my social media is my name, which is Kelli with an I, K-E-L-L-I Calabrese, C-A-L-A-B-R-E-S-E. And that's the same as my website, kellicalabrese.com. So they can find me on LinkedIn. I'm very active on Facebook and LinkedIn out of all the social media social media. And they can find my book on Amazon if they search Mom and Dadpreneurs, they'll find it there. It's an Amazon bestseller.
Perfect. Thanks again for hopping on.
My pleasure. Happy to do it.
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