Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and wellness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Dr. Noosha Shambayati, Naturopathic & Integrative Healing, located in Sterling, VA, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

I help sick & healthy people learn to understand, optimize & heal their minds, body & spirit. I meet people where they are at and focus on lifestyle factors before turning to supplements & other more aggressive therapies. As a formally trained naturopathic medical doctor, I started ANS Healing in the midst of my own health crises (detailed below). I specialize in and mostly see clients struggling with gastrointestinal conditions (gut health - IBS, SIBO, leaky gut, malabsorption, gas, bloating, pain, etc.), women's health (focusing on detoxing & balancing hormones post birth control and for fertility - multi-level hormone healing includes thyroid, adrenal & sex hormones) chronic autoimmune conditions (joint pains, Hashimoto's, and even autoimmune reactivity aka the early stages - setting them up for a healthy future) mental & brain health (brain fog, anxiety, depression, ADD/ADHD, autism, etc...). I always start with making sure the gut is healed & balancing blood sugar as I believe these two are foundations that affect many people suffering from any condition (including sleeping issues); in the midst of changing the name to: Dr. Noosha, Naturopathic & Integrative Healing.

Tell us about yourself

I grew up as a first-generation Persian-American, whose parents came to this country and worked hard to provide many opportunities & a new lifestyle for me. As a sensitive being, I had no boundaries when it came to other people's beliefs & emotions and struggled with a lot of mental health & digestive symptoms that started from a young age. I believe it was my destiny to be a holistic doctor since my mother was a primary care physician and my father was a physics professor. Learning, connecting, teaching & helping people was part of my nature at a young age, and I was fascinated by science & medicine. It wasn't until I personally got extremely sick in my early 20s, that I started exploring other alternative medicine options and fell in love with the principles of naturopathic medicine. My favorite to this day is DOCERE (doctor as teacher) because it is my goal & mission to work with people who are open to miracles & deep healing and who are ready to take on the responsibility of learning about their Selves in a way so they can eventually become their own doctor! I believe we have all the answers we need inside; sometimes, we just need a little help tapping into & understanding our bodies' innate wisdom & knowledge.

I was personally diagnosed with numerous conditions throughout my early 20s and was left terrified & hopeless until I started studying & learning about how to find the root cause of the disease. My first diagnoses were anxiety, ADHD & IBS. This then turned into a debate of whether I had CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome), Fibromyalgia, or even early onset MS., Which turned into severe allergies & sensitivities not only to foods but also to my environment. Which then turned into potentially Lyme Disease. Which then turned into having severe POTS autonomic dysregulation. It wasn't until I took control of my health and started doing root cause digging that I found almost all of these diagnoses were due to a couple of parasites and bacterial infections that had gone missed by the standards of Western Medicine + a severe mold allergy that nobody had mentioned could be a cause of feeling the way that I did. I was so sick my symptoms mimicked that of a cancer patient - losing excess weight, not having an appetite, being in extreme pain, not being able to sleep, severe brain fog, not being able to remember friends & family member's names, bouts of optic neuritis, to name a few...

The gap in western medicine is what motivates me to do what I do on a daily basis. Knowing now that diagnoses do little to nothing when it comes to the healing process. Now, the diagnoses I got from functional doctors, such as parasite infection, CIRS, and mold toxicity, were so much more helpful than what western doctors had said - still, I do not diagnose. I help people get to the root cause of their symptoms and address lifestyle in a way that they KNOW they can get better. No one provided me with hope until the end of my journey when I found my mentors, and I want to pass the message of healing along to anyone who may need it.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Deciding to start & grow my practice in the middle of the health crisis we all witnessed the past few years. Originally I had planned to create or work in a wellness center with numerous types of wholistic health practitioners specializing in chronic conditions & neurodevelopmental disorders (like Lyme disease & autism), but needing to pivot, I created an entirely online platform where I am able to help anybody all over the USA and have shifted my focus to gut healing + multidimensional hormone healing (including thyroid, adrenal & sex hormones). I see a lot of women who have been on birth control for years that have trouble recalibrating when they come off. I see a lot of women who struggle with infertility. Always addressing the gut first, as I believe all dis-ease starts there before it goes to affect our hormones or even our mental health.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

Staying motivated! As someone who prefers being over doing, sometimes I can get lost in all the details. Especially the tech details. When it comes down to it, letting go of these little things at the end of the day and starting every new day as a fresh start by focusing on my clients & patients is what gets me through. I believe the rest will fall into place when it's meant to.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Stay grounded & strong in your beliefs.
  2. Stay connected to your WHY.
  3. Slow & steady wins the race - so many people out there trying to sell you so many things to grow your business. Never feel like "you have" to do anything. Pick and choose things that light you up, and enjoy the journey!

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

As someone with strong beliefs, I try not to push anything I believe onto clients or patients. I want to act as a guide for them on their individualized healing journey and want to help them get in tune with their intuition. That thing that everybody seems to have lost connection with growing up. It took me years and a lot of help + practice to not only get back in tune with mine but learn to TRUST it! I am not your doctor, but rather am here to help teach you how to become your own best doctor! I will advocate for you and always tell you my experience, but not pressure or force you into ANYTHING you do not feel comfortable with. Healing comes in a trusting relationship, which is something that has been lost between people over the last few years.

I do have a heavy background in western medicine as well, as I was on track to becoming a medical doctor until the last year of my college career. A trained phlebotomist, medical assistant, pharmacy tech & patient coordinator for multiple doctor's offices. I couldn't stay on that track because of what I was seeing and how I felt medicine failed me when I was at my worst.

Compassion, trust & understanding are what I hope to bring to my clients.
Erasing any deep-seated fears & promoting deep cellular healing, which I believe almost always follows!

Where can people find you and your business?

Website:
https://www.drnoosha.com/
https://heal.me/practitioner/dr-noosha

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/therootcausedoctor/
https://www.instagram.com/doctornoosha/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitanoosha/


If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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