Overcoming Imposter Syndrome While Building a Wellness Brand with Emily Brazier

Today, Jazzmyn sits down with Emily Brazier — therapist, creator, and founder of the rapidly growing Sunnyside Run Club in Portland, Maine. In less than a year, Emily went from posting her first video to building a 120+ member in-person community, partnering with local businesses, and launching her mental-health-centered brand, Sunnyside Wellness.

Together we explore:

⭐ What happens when you stop chasing trends and start building community

⭐ How Emily overcame imposter syndrome and visibility fears

⭐ The surprising path from therapist → creator → community leader

⭐ Why people crave in-person connection more than ever

⭐ How to start a run club (or any local event) even if you feel unqualified

⭐ The power of showing up before you feel ready

Emily also shares the story behind her merch line “It’s not always sunny and that’s okay,” how her grandmother inspired Sunnyside Wellness, and why creating offline community is deeply connected to mental health.

If you're a therapist, creator, or entrepreneur craving more visibility, purpose, and connection — this episode will give you permission to expand your brand beyond the screen.

Where to Find Emily

Instagram & TikTok: @_healingwithemily_
Sunnyside Wellness IG : @sunnysidewellnessme

Support the show

Want to connect?

Jazz's Link in Bio

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
Are you sitting with thousands of hours of B-roll

(00:02):
content and telling yourself,I'll start posting tomorrow?
Are you in your head worryingabout your friends and family
thinking your friends producedto be visible?
Are you chasing trends insteadof building influence?
Welcome to the visibilitystandard where the visionaries
of today are changing the rolesof their industry and letting
their voice be heard.
I'm your host, Jasmine, and weare setting the standards.

SPEAKER_00 (00:46):
Thank you, Hap for having me.
I'm so excited.

SPEAKER_01 (00:50):
So you have been on social media, what, two, three
years?

SPEAKER_00 (00:55):
No, I'm just about to hit a year now.

SPEAKER_01 (00:59):
What?

SPEAKER_00 (01:00):
Yeah, you are crushing it.
Thank you.
How did you get started?
I had just been seeing everyone.
There were a couple people whotherapists like in the social
media space thought I saw and Ijust really like their content.
And I was like, well, I want todo that.
But I think I was like alwayskind of scared.
But then when I thought aboutlike my vision for my business

(01:22):
and my brand and everything, Iwas like, I need to start
something now.
I need to start putting my nameout there now.
And so last October, literallyon Halloween, I just made the
decision to post my very firstvideo and just has been growing
since then.

SPEAKER_01 (01:41):
So like literally like you're about to hit a year.
Yeah.
So exciting.
And now you're building a runclub.

SPEAKER_00 (01:49):
Yes, which has been even more exciting and has been
so amazing to see and be a partof.
What was the process like?
Yeah.
I had been seeing a bunch of runclubs in the Portland, Maine
area, and was always likeinterested in them, wanted to
try them out, but the timesnever really worked with my

(02:12):
schedule, or they met at a baror a brewery, and I'm not much
of a drinker.
And so I was like, I don't knowabout it.
And I was like, I wonder what itwould be like if I started my
own, but didn't really think Ididn't really know how to do it
or what that would look like.
And, you know, felt reallyinspired by some people,

(02:36):
especially you yourself.
And so after we had like thatphone call together where you
just heard how much you werecrushing it, I was like, I felt
so good leaving it that I waslike, I'm just gonna like bite
the bullet on this run clubthing, and ended up just making
a little flyer and posting it,was gonna meet at like a local

(03:00):
community trail.
And then over 30 people ended upshowing to the first one.
And I just decided that sincethere was a demand that I was
gonna make it a regularrecurring thing, and we've been
doing it weekly since, and we'vebeen averaging about like 25 to
30 people at each run, which hasbeen absolutely insane to me.

(03:22):
We're almost going on two monthsnow, and we have over 120
members on Strava, which isinsane.

SPEAKER_01 (03:32):
So exciting.
I mean, it's a run club, sothere's like that fitness
movement element, but there is ahuge emphasis on community.

SPEAKER_00 (03:41):
Yeah, yeah.
I really wanted it to be a spacewhere people could just show up
as they are and have noexpectations about running
because realistically everyonecan just like go and run on
their own.
They're coming to this spacebecause like they're craving
connection or community.
And so it's been so cool to seehow the friendships that have

(04:05):
been made in Run Club and thenalso just like seeing how it's
branched out from there.
And so, yeah, even though it'sabout we're we're moving in and
people are leaving feelingbetter than when they came
because they're connecting withother people.

SPEAKER_01 (04:21):
And it's that reminder that even after COVID,
like people are gravitatingtowards in-person events.
Like we've gotten comfortablewith online, with virtual
events, with connecting throughsocial media, but there is
something so special about beingable to connect with people in
person to see them feel theenergy and move with that.

SPEAKER_00 (04:45):
Absolutely.
I mean, like when I started, Iwas obviously really nervous,
and I didn't even realize howmuch I was craving that sense of
community until I was there.
And since then, I've been reallylike wanting to enhance this
community connection more.

(05:06):
And so we've been pairing withlike local businesses, local
small businesses like coffeeshops, fitness studios,
breweries, whatever, to justkind of give back to our
community that we have here.
And that's been even specialbecause I've been meeting so
many cool business owners andfeeling inspired by them as

(05:27):
well.

SPEAKER_01 (05:29):
When you started as a therapist, did you imagine
yourself also building apersonal brand?

SPEAKER_00 (05:37):
Absolutely not.
I think when I started as atherapist, I was like so
surprised that I was a therapistbecause this was not a path that
I saw for myself for the longesttime.
Like I did not decide I wantedto be a therapist until honestly
my last year of grad school whenI did my internship at a private

(05:58):
practice and was like, oh, thisis what I want to do.
So this was not a path that Isaw for myself at all.
And so just seeing where I'm atright now, I think if you had
asked a younger version ofmyself, she would be like,
you're lying.
This isn't real.

SPEAKER_01 (06:15):
Oh my gosh, what was the original dream?

SPEAKER_00 (06:18):
I mean, so I started undergrad with criminology and
psych, thinking that I was gonnado something working in the
juvenile justice system thatswitched in 2020 around the
George Floyd movement.
I decided that like my versionof helping people was gonna be

(06:39):
through a different path, optedto choose clinical social work,
still thought I was gonna workwith like children and
adolescents, maybe doing likesome clinical case management
type stuff, working at anonprofit.
And I really thoroughly enjoyedthe work that I did at our
homeless center for the youthwho are experiencing

(07:00):
homelessness.
But obviously, that is ahigh-demand job.
I noticed myself feeling reallyburnt out, mental health didn't
do the best there.
And so when I was done there andmoving into my last year of grad
school or my last likeinternship, I was like, I'm
gonna try something totallydifferent.
And I tried private practice, Itried a totally different

(07:22):
population than I was used toand found out that I actually
loved it so much more because Iwas able to prioritize myself.
So was it hard to let go of thatoriginal career path?
I think it was it was hard inthe sense of I felt confused and

(07:43):
I felt even I felt that impostersyndrome coming in because I was
like, I'm a therapist, likewhat?
This is so confusing.
And I think that impostersyndrome lingered for a long
time because when I was workingin undergrad, I was working as a

(08:04):
behavioral health professional,worked as a case management
after, as a children's casemanager after, and then at the
homeless center for the youth, Iwas like still working with
children adolescents.
So, like that was my bread andbutter.
I felt so confident in that.
And so when I chose to go thedifferent route, private
practice working with adults andspecifically like the perinatal

(08:26):
population, I felt like such animposter because it was
something that was like freshfor me.
And I didn't have these years ofexperience that I did in
undergrad and grad school.
And so I think that getting ridof the imposter syndrome was the
hardest part about that shift.
And I think imposter syndromestill lingers now.

(08:48):
I don't know if it ever goesaway.

SPEAKER_01 (08:51):
And you work towards something very specific for a
long time.
And so to give yourself thatspace to say, you know what, I'm
gonna try something different.
I'm going to try something thataligns more closely with maybe
the direction that I'm going,that's a really big leap.

SPEAKER_00 (09:09):
I'm so glad I did it because truly, if I hadn't did
that leap, hadn't done thatleap, I wouldn't be where I'm at
today.

unknown (09:21):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (09:22):
Now you're a rhyme club.
Now you've got merch too.

SPEAKER_00 (09:25):
Oh my gosh.
Yeah.
So when I launched my businessthis past spring, or I guess
when I was creating my business,which is Sunnyside Wellness,
which will be my privatepractice that I'll probably
start jumping into next summer,I wanted to add another layer to

(09:46):
it, which was like mental healthmerch, but I wanted it to be in
a way that related to our brandSunnyside Wellness.
And so I started doing merchwith the saying it's not always
sunny and that's okay, which iskind of like an ode to that
saying it's okay to not be okay.
And so I just wanted it to be areminder if people were out and

(10:08):
about wearing the merch thateven if like a stranger happened
to read it and they saw it andthey could feel a little bit
better.
Just like it's my way to likenormalize mental health.
Yes, yeah, absolutely.
I think like it can be aconversation starter sometimes
too, right?
Because I have sometimes peopleask me, like, oh, what does that

(10:29):
mean?
And I'm like, well, let's thinkabout it, right?
Like, like you don't always haveto be okay to like be okay.
I think a lot of times that wefeel like we need to mask
negative feelings, sadness,mental health.
And so if we just start having aconversation of like it's
normal, then it can inspirepeople.

SPEAKER_01 (10:53):
Why is community building so important to you?

SPEAKER_00 (10:58):
I think I've always just had a strong like craving
to have give back to thecommunity because I lived a
really privileged life andgiving back was something that
let me redo that.
You can cut this out, right?

(11:22):
I don't know how I want to wordthis.
Is it okay that I'm thinkingabout this right now?
I feel like, yeah, I don't knowhow to say this without that's a
big question.
Say it again.

SPEAKER_01 (11:40):
Welcome.
Welcome to the other side of themicrophone.
What is the question again?
Why is community building soimportant to you?

SPEAKER_00 (11:49):
Okay.
I have a different differentthing.
Yeah, it's so important to mebecause I think having sense of
community is so crucial for yourmental health.
And I think it's one way that wecan make the access to mental
health or conversations aroundmental health or promoting

(12:12):
mental health a little bitbetter.
And so I wanted to createcommunity in that sense of like
creating this run club can getpeople out, meeting people,
having conversations, movingtheir bodies, which all of these
things have links to try and goagainst depression, right?

(12:33):
We know that isolation andloneliness are risks for
depression.
And so if I can create a spaceand hold a space for people to
connect, then hopefully it ispromoting like mental well-being
in our community.

SPEAKER_01 (12:50):
It's that idea that we don't heal in silos, we don't
heal in isolation, but reallybeing around people, being seen
by others, allows us the spaceto experience that acceptance
and love that we wouldn'tnecessarily experience on our
own.

SPEAKER_00 (13:05):
Yeah.
And I think like meeting peoplewho hold similar values to you
and can connect with you whentimes get tough is really
important.
And I've been able to see thatin just the space that I've
created already where people canconnect through Run Club and
then connect after and be ableto like support another one
another in really difficulttimes.

SPEAKER_01 (13:28):
I mean, what's so impressive about the Run Club is
it was meant to be a one-off,like a bi-weekly, maybe once a
month, but it has people havereally gravitated to it and
local businesses have gravitatedto it.
It is something that people arenow seeking out, and it's just a
reminder, we never know what'sgoing to resonate with other

(13:50):
people until we put it outthere.

SPEAKER_00 (13:52):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, when I thought of thisidea to create a run club, like
you and I were FaceTiming eachother.
And I was like, should I do thisthing?
Like, hell yeah, right.
And I think like for me, I wasobviously really intimidated and
scared, but decided to do itanyways and decided to just like
bite the bullet and was like,I'll figure it out as we go.

(14:13):
And then having that first eventand then having people ask me,
like, when is the next one?
When is the next one?
Are there gonna be more?
Are you gonna continue it?
I was like, holy crap, likethere is a huge want for this in
this community.
And so I felt really cool beingable to provide that, like on a
regularly occurring basis.

(14:34):
And so now that we're meetingevery single week, it's been so
fun.
And I've been benefiting fromit.
I leave there feeling so happy.
My cup is filled.
I've been meeting so many coolpeople, people from all around
the country, pretty much, um,who've like recently moved here
and have been like kind of likeafraid to make new friends or

(14:55):
scared or like don't know how.
And they just show up in thisspace and then they're meeting
people.
Um, so it's been, I don't know,it's been filling my cub.
My cup has been full,overflowing.
And I think a lot of it has justbeen my sense of community has
been is the strongest that ithas ever been.

SPEAKER_01 (15:18):
Now, do people have to be runners to join this run
club?

SPEAKER_00 (15:22):
No, absolutely not.
One of the things that I talkabout in my videos when I post
about is if you run, if you wantto run, if you want to get into
running or you like want towalk, you're welcome.
Like it is not a space forsleep.
So like we're not gettingtogether and like working on PRs
or anything like that.

(15:43):
We're just getting together andhaving conversations.
And so people of all paces, evenif it's walking, are welcome.
Just ask that you just likebring good energy.

SPEAKER_01 (15:56):
What's your vision for sunny side wellness?

SPEAKER_00 (16:01):
Yeah.
When I started this business, Ireally, really wanted it to be
more than just like a business.
I wanted it to be a part of thecommunity.
I wanted it to be a place thatconnects people, a place that
gives back the initial ideas forit to be the home of my private

(16:26):
practice where I see clients,but I also envision it being a
space in the future where wehave a physical location and can
be able to provide a whole arrayof different wellness activities
from yoga, Pilates, or Reikihealing or acupuncture, just

(16:54):
like a whole wellness space,like a one-stop shop for
wellness.
But also I want it to be a spacewhere we can host the community,
bring them together, and have itbe like a big part of this like
Portland Maine community alone.
And so one of those visions wasdoing like frequent fundraisers,

(17:16):
whether that was like twice ayear or once a year, that was
something that felt like reallyimportant for me.
Because obviously, being inprivate practice, it is a little
bit more flexible withcompensation and time.
And for me, like communitylately has been what has felt

(17:37):
both a combination of somethinglike self-care for me because
it's making me feel fulfilledand it's inspiring me and making
me feel good, but also it's likeserving a purpose and my like
professional sense of wanting togive back.
And so yeah.
What's been the most challengingaspect?
The most challenging aspect sofar has ultimately just been

(18:00):
trying to figure this all out.
When I made the decision tostart Sunnyside wellness this
year, it wasn't because I wantedto start my brand right now, it
was because I felt like time wasquickly fleeting.
And the person who Sunnyside'sname is an o to my grandmother,
her health started to decline.

(18:21):
And this felt like somethingthat I just needed to make
happen now.
And the only problem with thatis I had no clue what I was
doing.
I didn't know how to even likesign up for my LLC.
I didn't even know what I neededto do.
And so I kind of jumped into itblindly and have been figuring

(18:42):
out as I go.
And I think the most challengingaspect has been like the
imposter syndrome that comes inbecause I have this business
now, but I'm not really doing aton with it other than my run
club.
And I feel confusing or likefeel like I should be using it
because I put so much time andenergy into creating it.

(19:02):
And so I think that's been alittle bit difficult because I'm
like, what am I doing?
But yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (19:08):
No, it's so tricky because we start businesses with
one intention, we have onevision, one goal in mind, and
then life happens and it itflourishes into something that
we would not have ever pictured.
And I think that's part of thebeauty of like entrepreneurship

(19:29):
and building a brand is that itgets to ebb and flow as met as
much as we let it, and I thinkthat's the key word too, is like
allowing that process to happennaturally.

SPEAKER_00 (19:43):
Yeah.
I mean, I know you and I hadtalked about I had put so much
energy into just the physicallike creation of this business
that when I was done with it,when I had finished and I had
put it out there, I had launchedit, I was like, I'm tired.
I couldn't even think about likenow what at that phase.

(20:04):
And so, like finding themotivation to think about what
was next was probably reallydifficult.
And I think that's where thatimposter syndrome came in
because I'm like, oh my God, Ijust spent all this time doing
this whole thing, creating thiswhole thing.
It's like my like baby now.
And I just felt so confused onwhat am I gonna do?

(20:26):
And then I mean, part of thereason why I feel like community
is so important is because whenyou meet people, you get
inspired, right?
And when I had a conversationwith you, I got inspired, and
that's what sparked thatmotivation for me to figure out
what was next with my business.
And then Run Club came about.

(20:46):
Voila.

SPEAKER_01 (20:48):
It's like sometimes we think the hardest aspects of
starting the business iswebsite, getting the website up,
finding a name, creating thelogo, getting the paperwork
started.
And those aspects are hard, butit is so much harder to clarify
the messaging around yourbusiness.
What is it that you want peopleto resonate with?
What is it that you want peopleto gravitate towards?

(21:10):
What are the offerings thatyou're thinking about with your
business?
That is its own process that noone is necessarily prepared for.
Grad school certainly does notprepare you if you are a
clinician listing or someone inthe wellness space.
There is no education thatprepares you for imagining a

(21:31):
world outside of one-to-oneclinical work.

SPEAKER_00 (21:35):
No, absolutely.
They, I mean, in privatepractice, I mean in grad school,
they had there was noconversations on what it's like
to open a private practice.
There was no conversations ofbusiness, right?
And I think that's doingstudents a huge disservice,
right?
Because I think private practiceespecially is a field where

(21:57):
you're able to truly care foryourself in a way that you're
not able to if you're working ata larger organization or a
nonprofit.
Uh, I think like privatepractice has allowed my mental
health to thrive and allow me toprioritize myself in a way that
I didn't know was possible,right?

SPEAKER_01 (22:18):
Yeah, it's especially now that a lot of
private practitioners are onsocial media.
There's this reimagining of whatthe work can look like.
You don't need to sacrificeyourself for the work, you don't
need to compromise your ownenergy, your own like free time.

(22:39):
Like, yes, we want to bethoughtful of our clients'
schedules, and we have to keepin mind our own schedules if we
want to show up and offer thatquality care.
And so social media has givenprivate practice a megaphone
that it didn't have before.

SPEAKER_00 (22:57):
Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 (23:05):
Yes.
Period.
Well, Emily, where can peoplefind you if they want to learn
more?

SPEAKER_00 (23:15):
Yeah, so you can find me on both Instagram and
TikTok at underscore healingwith Emily underscore, or you
can follow my business page,which is at SunnysideWellness
me.

SPEAKER_01 (23:30):
You're showing up, you're putting yourself out
there, and you are a building anin-person community, and I'm so
excited to see how it continuesto evolve.

SPEAKER_00 (23:39):
Thank you so much.
Thank you for having me too.

SPEAKER_01 (23:42):
Of course.