STARTING WITH SELF-CARE: In Conversation With Alison Rice
A series of conversations with women who inspire, teach and support us on a journey through wellness, movement and leading a more conscious and mindful lifestyle.
This is a community of women for women, inspiring self-synergy within the physical, emotional and intellectual parts of our being.
Introducing Alison Rice, founder of Offline™
First, we’d love to start this off with a gratitude practice. What’s something you’re grateful for today?
My health. I’ve been spending a lot of time in the hospital of late, caring for someone close to me, and this experience has made me extremely grateful for my good health and the health of my husband and daughter.
This experience has also made me reflect on our current wellness culture and how much we could benefit from a softer, more simplistic view of what it means to be well.
Tell us a bit about Offline, what inspired you to get started? How has it evolved, and what do you hope to achieve with the work that you're doing?
Offline started as a podcast in 2018. I was transitioning out of a senior publishing role in women’s media, and I had a belief that we needed more honest, truthful and relatable content.
At the time, our leading fashion and beauty influencers were still quite guarded with their personal lives and rightly so, but I knew many of them to be smart women of substance and high moral code. So I wanted to provide them with a safe platform to share what life was like on the other side of the filter, and who they were when they were sitting in their True Self — without the Instagram followings and the labels.
It took off! Which is something I’m really grateful for because the podcast went on to become a meaningful springboard into my current role as a conscious career, business and leadership coach.
Today, Offline is a podcast and professional development resource for anyone evolving beyond the traditional ideals of success. What I achieve through my work is helping people define what success looks like for them as an individual, and then giving them the advice and guidance they need to move in that direction with intention and ease.
If anyone reading this needs my help, you can check out my professional development space. It’s called Off— and we open our doors every three months. It’s so special inside.
As a mother and multifaceted mentor, how do you prioritise self-care and wellness in your daily life?
I demand it for myself. Me before anything else (to a degree!). I used to see this as a selfish act, especially from the lens of mother. But when I started to care for myself first, it increased the quality of me and that is truly the most important thing I can give my daughter – a mentally and emotionally stable, nourished mum.
This loving care for myself has also made my overall presence more refined and still. My relationships have become richer. My work has become more impactful. My belief as a conscious career and business coach, is that success starts with self care. This is one of the main lessons I teach inside Off—, that the quality of our success is dependent on the quality of our state. And the quality of our state is dependent on the quality of our self care.
What's one thing you do every morning to start your day with positive intentions?
I make contact with the truth of what I am via a silent, mantra-based meditation technique. It’s called Vedic Meditation.
As a woman what do you find is most empowering to you?
This isn’t gender specific, but I find personal congruence to be the most empowering thing – when all aspects of my being are operating in harmony, and that in any given moment I am being true.
What's one thing you've changed that's had the greatest impact on leading a more mindful/conscious life?
The biggest change for me has been going from having almost no awareness of my privilege and little to no understanding about all of the ways I benefit from the colour of my skin and the way I look, to leading a life that quietly, imperfectly but consistently seeks to act in allyship to under-represented people, communities and cultures. When it comes to mindfulness, I think our current wellness culture teaches us to centre ourselves, but mindfulness for me is now more about self-awareness and taking responsibility.
Discover Offline™ to keep up with Alison Rice and her journey as a conscious career, business and leadership coach.