The Chamber is delighted to introduce a fresh spotlight series that focuses on showcasing the accomplishments, narratives, and significant contributions of our members to the community. In March, for Women’s History Month, we are focusing on a number of women who contribute to the Frederick County business and nonprofit community
A conversation with Tara Cassidy, Owner, Cassidy Wellness Coaching
How long have you been a member of the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce?
3 years
Tell us about your business. What products or services do you offer, and what makes your business unique?
Cassidy Wellness Coaching, LLC is a sole proprietorship based in Frederick, MD serving the US, Canada and beyond offering health and wellness coaching services to both the small group and individuals.
Modern life is filled with stressful events every day. People struggle to cope with life’s demands and inadvertently develop bad habits that negatively affect their health.
There is uncertainty on where to address imbalances, lead a healthier life and disengage from bad habits.
As a holistic health coach I use an integrative approach to healthy diet and lifestyle changes to improve my client’s overall health and well being. Three of the most common principles used include:
- A belief that people are resourceful and have self-management abilities.
- Setting goals for the client based on their preferences rather than those of professionals.
- To improve insight through health education, reflection, identifying client barriers, and strategies of self-awareness.
My business is unique because I offer a lifetime of lived and learned experiences that I draw on regularly to assist guide my clients toward their goals , including: a keen ability to “read the room”, connect with my clients and gently support them toward their goals; a lifetime of (sporadic) yoga practice, a decade of personal training experience; single parenthood while being involved in my community, a decades long meditation practice utilizing a real life teacher’s wisdom; personally challenging myself toward small and large physical, spiritual and professional goals.
What is your business origin story?
As a curious person, and in response to health issues in my mid-twenties, I began using my own body and a laboratory. Through decades of discovering what foods, physical activity and mindful practices my body responded to best, people came to me constantly asking my advice.
After challenging myself to do a century ride (100 mile bike ride) through a charity organization, and years of working out in gyms, I became a certified personal trainer. This lasted nearly a decade before I went back to the “safer” world of office work which I was good at but didn’t completely enjoy.
I had been looking to get into coaching for several years before I found my integrative health and wellness coaching program at the Maryland University of Integrative Health while browsing in “Mindful” magazine. At the encouragement of a friend to audit a class at the local community college, I applied that day, was accepted 2 weeks later and 2 weeks after that I began my program – January of 2018. In August 2020, I graduated from MUIH with my masters in Integrative Health & Wellness Coaching. I immediately began studying for and passing the National Board exam at the end of that same year earning the title of National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach.
What are your business goals for the future? Any exciting plans or expansions on the horizon?
My business goals for the future are to connect with more organizations and insurance companies that are looking for ways to boost their employees’ overall well-being.
What’s an interesting fact about your business most people don’t know?
An interesting fact that most people don’t know about my business? My facilitation skills were honed in discussion groups following my meditation teachers’ classes in person beginning in 2016 and then on Zoom in the thick of the pandemic.
Anything else you would like our Chamber community to know about?
I have taken time away from my business to tend to my mother’s estate after she passed away this past fall and I am slowly reemerging into the Frederick Chamber scene.
Frederick Chamber Insights is a news outlet of the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce. For more information about membership, programs and initiatives, please visit our website.