Zoevera Jackson

"Teach them young to do the best they can."

DR. JADA MOORE RUFFIN

Q. Tell everyone who you are and what you do.

A. I’m Dr. Jada, weight loss specialist and wellness expert, bestselling author, inspirational speaker and entrepreneurial leader. I help high achieving and results driven women, to weigh less and further their personal success so that they not only look great but feel better and live at their best.

Q. What inspired you to want to be a wellness expert?

A. I got tired of herding humans through the traditional health care system that prioritizes sick care and encourages the management of chronic diseases with check boxes and pill bottles. Early in my career as a resident physician I realized that the best strategy was to prevent illness and disease and to reduce/eliminate the root cause of the condition was better than treating the symptoms as a goal. I knew there was a better way.

Q. How have your priorities changed when you became a mom?

A. I wish I could say I always prioritized my family during my entire career, but I’d be lying. There were times when work and career would pull me away from being fully present with my family. I hit a point in my personal life where I struggled with the push and pull of trying to be 100% in everything all of the time. And that was a turning point that motivated me to get really clear on what mattered most to me and therefore to shift my priorities to reflect that. How I did that was by putting myself first.

Q. Let’s talk about your book “Girl, Get Ready to lose the Damn weight” and the motivation behind the book?

A. Though I started the preliminary writing in 2019, this book was largely completed during the first year of the pandemic. I was inspired more than ever to get this message out at the height of the most critical and widely publicized health threat of our lifetime. Yet I knew Obesity, stress, anxiety and depression collectively was far more destructive. It’s just publicly emphasized as the epidemic it is. I wanted to get women to see the complexity of carrying extra weight and provide inspiration and a sense of urgency to just lose the damn weight!

Q. Can you give us more details on your virtual summit you have yearly?

A. The Virtual Wellness Summit was also birthed during the pandemic. After almost a year of watching the mayhem unfold of the deaths and despair, I was led to bring this summit to life to focus on wellness and not sickness. It was a chance to bring an amazing and diverse leaders and experts in all areas of wellness to the virtual stage to motivate and encourage people to do their best of their abilities to focus on their health and wellbeing and all the positive changes they could make to be at their best no matter what.

Q. What challenges did you have to overcome being a mom and entrepreneur?

A. There were too many challenges to recount. What I will say is that starting a successful business takes a lot and what can be the biggest challenge is time. Because time we don’t get back and we can’t make more of it. So, one of the biggest challenges was feeling like I invested enough quality and impactful time into my close relationships, family and friends.

Q. What advice can you give to new moms about parenting?

A. I’ll pass along a bit of advice that was given to me by one of my patients when my first of 3 children was a toddler. She said wisely, “don’t do anything for them that they can do for themselves” she went on to say, if they can pull toys out, they can put them away, if they can put clothes on they can take them off, let them make their beds even if it doesn’t end up the way you would do it. Teach them young to do the best they can.

Q. Can you give us one of your most memorable moments you’ve had being a mom?

A. Again, this won’t be a pretty answer. The time I missed my son receiving his award after my daughter had gotten hers earlier in the ceremony. I was in such a rush; I forgot his class was coming up next and left to go back to work (a job at the time). That was a part of that turning point I mentioned earlier. I learned a valuable life lesson that day.

Q. Are you working on any projects for 2022?

A. Yes, I’m planning a Wellness Retreat this Summer in August and I’m doing a workbook and success guide to go along with the book.

Q. Where can the readers follow you?

A. @drjadamd on IG, FB, Twitter, LinkedIn and @realweightlosspros on Fb and IG the for REAL weight loss and wellness center.