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V O L . X X V I I I N O. X I X S E P T E M B E R 5 , 2 0 2 2 16 S TA R T U P S / E N T R E P R E N E U R S H I P F O C U S Avoiding 'toxic positivity' While the language of startups and entrepreneurs often centers on growth, targets and next steps, an overly positive approach, it is not necessarily healthy. "ere's a thread running very strongly through American culture that everyone is always fine and doing well," says Helkin Berg, founder and CEO of a women's wellness startup called Hey Freya she runs from her home in Cumberland. "Unfortunately, it's not everyone's reality, and those slipping into a worse place can actually exacerbate the struggles they're having and feel like they don't belong." Accentuating only the positive—and ignor- ing the negative—is known in psychology as "toxic positivity." Berg, a mother of children ages two, five and eight, will have none of it from fel- low parents who pretend their kids are perfect angela who have never disrupted their sleep, or from advisors to Hey Freya. e company, named for a Nordic goddess and also her daughter's name, aims to offer innovative health solutions to women between pregnancy and menopause to help them "unlock their best selves." "My company is about showing people that they do belong, and I take that same approach to how I create this supportive community," she says. "If you can't acknowledge things aren't going well, you can't fix them." She also says that while she used to work 24/7 that's no longer the case – something she and her fellow co-founders, whom she connected with virtually and recently met in person for the first time, agree on. One works in the San Francisco Bay area, another in Vancouver, and they all dedicate time for parental duties and other activities when they can't be interrupted. Berg will also put her phone out of reach to get into a "flow state" for a work-related task requiring concentration. "If I did not have supportive colleagues, it wouldn't be happening," she says. Finding balance As an executive coach and trainer with a practice focused on "helping ambitious people achieve more and stress less," Portland-based psychologist Amy Wood has a front-row seat to entrepreneurs under stress. at includes Wood herself, who launched her practice 22 years ago after a corporate career. at required an adjustment, including learning to sched- ule vacation time during summer when business was slower. She also takes mornings off to exercise, medi- tate and write, then starts her workday three times a week around 1 p.m. She also goes to bed at the same time every night with a relaxing evening routine to get into sleep mode and schedules social time with her favorite people, those "I don't have to be 'on' for and can just relax with." Among the entrepreneurs she coaches, Wood finds that many stay up too late working and go to bed with their heads spinning. Nor do many take vacations, she says, "when the truth is if you take vacation time and you take regular breaks and you say 'No,' I can only P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY Juggling work and parental duties is part of daily life for Helkin Berg, founder and CEO of women's wellness startup Hey Freya. She runs the business from her Cumberland home. » C O N T I N U E D F RO M P R E V I O U S PA G E

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