Today we’d like to introduce you to Jess Pfeffer.
Hi Jess, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My story begins with self-discovery and awareness of how much I love helping people. It began when I was an elementary school teacher. My favorite part of this time of my life was sharing about mindfulness with my students. I loved being able to be a healthy role model for them and a reminder of being a kind person which is just, if not more important than their grades in school. As my journey continued, I realized I wanted to dive more into the psychology of how humans work. What makes us, us and what are some effective coping skills for people to live an optimal lifestyle. This desire led me to get my masters in mental health counseling. After working in a private practice and noticing the emphasis on diagnosis, I decided to learn more about eastern practices. I had dabbled with yoga for a couple of years and realized how helpful it was for my own stress and anxiety. I knew there was more to yoga than just the practices and decided to sign up for yoga teacher training to learn more for my own knowledge. Once I completed the training, I found myself wanting to combine my education and passion of health and wellness which let me into co-owning a juice bar with my sister. Due to logistics of the landlord the store was closed and it was time for me to create my own path. I had met so many holistic practitioners in the community and saw a need to support their journeys too. A lot of creatives struggle with business acumen including self-promoting. Luckily, I felt confident in my own business experience and was ready to support holistic practitioners so I created a holistic talent agency, Real Connections SoFla. This all happened right before the world as we knew it was changing, we went into lock down shortly after my launch and had a few in person events. The events’ intention was to share local holistic healers with the community and increase the audience of the holistic healers. Pivoting on to an online platform this past year was how I was able to stay relevant and continue offering tips, tools and techniques on a global scale, not just in South Florida. We had monthly virtual classes that included cooking, yoga, art, and even business tips. As we are slowly transitioning back into in person events, I have been hosting day mini wellness retreats. We cap them at 20 and continue to observe safe practices with physical distancing and masks when socializing. Real Connections SoFla continues to evolve and is now more than a holistic talent agency. I have added conscious event planning where our team can be hired to lead private events such as bachelorettes and family reunions. They can also share online or in person with businesses that would like their team to be healthy both mentally and physically. And the most recent add on is the offering of wellth advisement. I offer one on one assessments and consultations on the main areas of our lives that I refer to as “buckets”, and help the clients reflect on the area in their lives they’d like more support in. I then connect them to experts in the field that can help them. My story is just beginning…
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
For the most part, it has been smooth, as I continue to use my own holistic practices of patience. The bumpy road mostly is because of the pandemic. Creating a business that revolved around connecting and events was quickly dismissed when we stopped being able to be in groups. The difficulty was using my in-person super powers to engage with the community and instead of having to portray it all online. Although zoom was a great holding space it is not the same as meeting people and sharing space in person. A lot of my connections to others was at local events in my community. As a social being pivoting online was not something at first, I felt comfortable with. After a few months of practice, I definitely began to enjoy it and see the beauty of having it online. The classes and teachers were now exposed in all areas of the world not only in South Florida. The silver lining of having teachers from all over the world on the platform really was amazing.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Real Connections SoFla was founded in order to help remind the community of the importance of finding balance in their lives.
The 6 buckets we believe life’s areas fall into are:
- self
- romantic relationships
- work
- family
- friends
- community
These buckets aren’t meant to be “perfectly” filled, but they aren’t meant to be completely empty either.
The 4 pillars Real Connections SoFla online classes and in-person events fall into are:
- movement
- mindfulness
- nourishment
- nature
Through fitness and exercise, yoga, meditation and breathwork, cooking and nutrition, and being outside we are supporting you on this journey to living your best life.
Real Connections SoFla is a holistic talent agency, conscious event planner + wellth advisor
What were you like growing up?
Wild. I was called a tornado. I would show up to family houses and be all over the place. I was outspoken. as a young child I was always talking and sharing my thoughts, needs, and desires. I wanted to be an actress or one day the President of the United States. I loved the spotlight and being on stage.
Pricing:
- $25 hour for event planning
- $50 for consultation with holistic practitioners
- $75 for wellth advisement sessions
- $99 for wellness day retreats
Contact Info:
- Email: realconnectionssofla@gmail.com
- Website: www.realconnectionssofla.com
- Instagram: realconnectionssofla
- Facebook: realconnectionssofla
Image Credits
Maria Mor Andrea Sarcos
