How Health Coach Marni Wandner Helps Clients Achieve Health Goals

Recently, we had the chance to connect with 2014 IIN graduate Marni Wandner to get the juicy details about her experience with Integrative Nutrition, how she’s using her training, and her vision for the future. Read on for the inside scoop and her IINspiring story.

What were you doing prior to enrolling at Integrative Nutrition?
I have been running and growing my own digital marketing company, Sneak Attack Media, for the last ten years. 

What led you to explore the Health Coach Training Program?
I've always had a deep interest in holistic health and wellness. I had been dabbling in it for years - reading and researching whatever I could - from natural remedies, herbs and dietary theories to meditation and breathing techniques. I was always the person people went to for advice when they had a cold or illness and I would usually have some natural suggestion - but I really wanted legitimate training in the health and wellness arena. I wasn't sure what I would do with what I learned but knew I needed to enroll.

How did your life change after enrolling?
IIN solidified my dedication to helping people improve their health. I love my current work, creating digital marketing strategies for clients, so now I am starting to explore ways to integrate my training into my work. I'm beginning to take on clients that live in the health and wellness world - I've just started working with DIY gardening website and lifestyle brand Pass the Pistil.

Which topics and modules were most beneficial for you?
I loved any module dealing with gut health. I'm just starting to make my own fermented vegetables and have stock-piled homemade bone broth in the freezer. I also find myself talking about probiotics a lot more than the average human. I also loved the topic of active listening which I find myself practicing very often with clients, my team in the office, and in my relationships. 

What are you doing now?
Outside of my work with Sneak Attack Media, I'm on the board of directors for an amazing holistic wellness center in NYC called Tournesol Wellness. It's an incredible center that offers traditional as well as alternative modalities and has the only proper Vibroacoustic Therapy setup on the entire east coast. 

I also take on health coaching clients and am actively working to bridge my marketing and brand consulting business experience with health coaching.

What makes you and your practice or product unique?
Prior to launching my marketing company, I worked in music management and I think my background working with musicians provides me with an interesting edge to my coaching style. I tend to be pretty loose with clients and I think that the people I attract appreciate that in contrast with what might generally expected from a coach. 

I like to be realistic with people about goals, planning, and results because I find it super discouraging to try something that's unsustainable. Whether it's with a dietary style, an exercise regime, or even a marketing strategy, you're setting yourself up for failure by aiming for perfection. So I try to find out a lot about who my clients are as people before starting to put together a plan. What's going to fit seamlessly into their lives without disrupting their day to day or depriving them of the things they love. For example, from personal experience I know I'm the paleo-ish-because-sometimes-I-want-pizza-or-dessert type of girl.

How do you help your clients be successful?
I had a client who was very concerned with how to shop and meal plan, but wanted to do it perfectly.  She was so concerned with what to feed her child and worried about having enough time to do everything “the right way.” Through our coaching process together, with help of some high mileage questions, she came to the realization that these concerns were a result of her wanting to please everyone in her life and do *everything* perfectly -  it wasn’t really about the food at all. It was an amazing moment because it released a ton of pressure for her and she was able to give herself a break and start living life and making choices from a way more realistic place. 

What do you love about your work?
I love people. I love hearing their stories, guiding them through challenges, and helping them get to a place where they've solved a very real problem with a very reasonable solution.

Is there a need for Health Coaches where you live?
Absolutely. I believe there's a need for health coaches everywhere in so many different ways. 

Connect with Marni:
On her website
On Facebook
On Twitter
On Instagram