Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Landis.
Melissa, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Elevate Palm Beach is all about relationships and specifically working relationships. When I was an undergrad I had an on-campus job for our outdoor program. I was a student facilitator that lead groups through leadership programming and utilized a ropes course, hiking, caving, fly fishing, and canoeing to create metaphors for how we relate to one another and how to best work together. It was pivotal to me as I was a quiet introverted person growing up and this required me to speak up and lead others. I carried it with me after college and several years later started a counseling master’s program in adventure therapy.
I then started a position down here in Florida at a treatment facility where I created and led our outdoor programs along with some psychoeducational group therapy. During this time I was going through my own inner turmoil so it was a blessing for me to be helping others while working through some things myself. However, I realized I did not want to be a therapist and decided to switch gears and obtained my MBA in Entrepreneurship from Lynn University. Over the years I have been employed by those who did not seem to value their employees and I was eventually sick to death by it.
With the leadership training I received, I realized I could help companies build their employee relations and help them become more successful through proper ‘team-building’. I have been promoting Elevate Palm Beach for a short time but have recently linked up with Mike Kane of Palm Beach Farmyards and The Garden Shoppe. Our goals are similar in that we both eventually want to create a sort of intentional community where the focus is on better living through farming and building relationships. You see, I eventually want to fold Elevate Palm Beach into Palm Beach Farmyards and The Garden Shoppe because the discussion on sustainability should never just be about our environments. Sustainability is also our ability to create resilient and respectful relationships so that we may work in tandem to solve larger problems like environmental decay.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
This road has been full of twists and turns and I have learned to hold on for the ride. It’s been a road of trying to figure out who I am and what my gift is to the world. I’m still learning those things but it no longer gives me fear, but hope. I’m learning to step into myself fully and claim my path which has not been without struggle and some level of pain, but the struggle is what lets the world know you want it and are ready for the next level of success. So to say it simply, the struggles we face are mostly the struggle against ourselves and our own expectations of who we are and what we thought the world owed to us.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Elevate Palm Beach story. Tell us more about your work.
I analyze team dynamics and create a program that is specific to the issues that particular team is having. I am different in that I am not a cookie-cutter program. All teams are different because all people are different with different backgrounds and different perspectives. All of my programs are experiential so I am not going to come in and lecture to you about how to solve your relational problems.
I also provide series programming meaning that I do not believe in one-time training. Building relationships takes time and often requires people to change habits and behaviors. Accountability is required and I provide that. I also provide training for the trainers of a company so that they can continue facilitating healthy team dynamics after I am gone. In conjunction with Palm Beach Farmyards, I will be handling operations along with providing facilitation for certain events and workshops, especially those that want to fold in planting with team-building.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I’m not sure I would call it luck or not but I do believe in manifestation. I believe we are co-creators in our life and while we work to achieve what we want the universe seeks to help us. I believe I helped manifest my position at the treatment center. I believe I helped manifest my current working relationship with Palm Beach Farmyards and The Garden Shoppe. These things or elements of them I believed in several years before acquiring them.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.elevatepb.com
- Phone: 609-760-7557
- Email: melissa@elevatepb.com
- Instagram: mslandisphoto
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elevatepalmbeach/; https://www.facebook.com/thegardenshoppewpb/
Image Credit:
Melissa Landis
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