If you look at the founders of some franchises, most actually, you see the same picture: same gender, same age, same sexual orientation, and same skin color. Especially for a wellness industry that claims to want to make you look and feel your best, the sameness can be intimidating and even discrediting. How can someone who looks nothing like you help you find your best self?
Luckily, Liquivida Wellness Centers run under a different kind of leadership team. The company offers a variety of wellness services like “weight management, nutrition counseling, medical aesthetics, age management, personal beauty, and skincare” and was founded on none of the same principles. They have created a culture of understanding, acceptance, professionalism and compassion, and they know exactly what their clients need, no sameness or homogeneity required.
Liquivida: How they started
President & Founder of Liquivida, Samael Amaury Tejada (Sam for short) started Liquivida at age 26 as a second job on his days off as a Florida firefighter-paramedic. While 26 seems still young, bright-eyed, and inexperienced to start a health and wellness company, Liquivida was actually Sam’s second successful business venture after he started Rescue 101, a CPR, First Aid, and Lifeguard training program in Southern Florida, when he was only 19.
Born in the Dominican Republic and the youngest of four children, Sam remembers having to work for everything he had. Starting just out of a single room at a doctor’s office with only $500 in his pocket, Sam used his paramedicine experience to begin offering vitamin IV drips. Almost immediately, he started getting clients driving for hours for his product. Sam then acquired a $10,000 loan to really start building his cause. He gathered a team, built the brand, and 9 years later, he is running a multimillion dollar company with over 20 franchises around the United States. Sam’s high school sweetheart, first business partner, and now the CFO of Liquivida, Shayna Tejada, has a big, warm, Italian American family approach to management. Liquivida has incorporated her mindset to welcome new team members. .
Who they are
The team that Sam built is a collection of doctors, nurses, medical professionals, estheticians and simply businessmen intrigued by the premise and opportunity. And importantly, they are certainly not all of the same feather. Unique to the Liquivida culture and mindset is that their founders celebrate their differences. They come from all over the map, both literally and figuratively in their experiences and ethnicities. “We are breaking the mold because we are a diverse group of founders with different backgrounds and perspectives.” The distinct aspect about Liquivida franchise opportunities is that as diverse as their franchisors are, their franchisees are too. Liquivida partners take pride that “most of [their] franchisees are minorities.”
These unique perspectives allow them to not only forge the path of entrepreneurship for those who are often excluded from such opportunities, but they can relate to the needs of their clients. Emmanuel Trenche, the Chief Marketing Officer and partner at Liquivida notes that the brand itself is inclusive and that they try to meet the clients where they are. “We try to be aware and unpack a lot of different areas of a client’s life that may influence overall wellness.” He also notes that their wellness coordinators and medical professionals are specifically trained to be non judgemental and welcoming.
Here, the diversity of the partners and franchisees makes all the difference in the world. Especially with discussions on weight management, sexual health, and aesthetic treatments, it’s crucial to work with someone who understands your needs, both culturally and medically. Between the emphasis on inclusion and the pride in diversity, the culture of Liquivida is uniquely one of a kind.
What they do
Liquivida is a health and wellness establishment that began with the focus of IV vitamin therapy and has since expanded to much more. Liquivida Wellness Centers now offer an expanding selection of treatments involving sexual health, weight loss therapy, botox treatments, anti-aging therapy and even telehealth options to receive care from home.
To measure what services might best benefit each client, the medical professionals at Liquivida offer a blood analysis to measure specific biomarkers that may indicate future illness or deficiencies. They can use the specific differences in your blood to map out a customized plan for your personal wellness journey. At Liquivida, they believe in healing from the inside out, instead of merely treating the symptoms of a problem. “Health is something that needs to happen from the inside out, meaning that we want to make sure that we’re paying attention to how you feel about your appearance, but also how your health may affect your appearance.”
Finally, at Liquivida, they don’t intend to treat you once, and send you on your way. Liquivida offers a program called the “Vida Journey”, where they can treat you for whatever life may throw your way. They realize that your goals may be different at different stages of your life, and they want to adjust your wellness treatments in accordance with your personal journey. “That journey is really what makes us different. We do want to be there with our client every step of the way as they age, and you know there’s going to be milestones that will trigger a different kind of approach.” Liquivida offers what you need and when you need it, all from an understanding group of individuals who are there for you each step of the way.
The culture that sets them apart
Sam Tejada began his journey by helping people heal as a firefighter-paramedic. Nearly a decade later, he has created a diverse and welcoming community of professionals who believe in the same mission of accessible wellness. Beyond the individual facilities, Liquivida offers entrepreneurial opportunities for typically marginalized subsets of the population with a well established franchise program. At each location in the country, their trained professionals create a welcoming “spa-like” environment where they recognize their clients’ needs to help them feel their best. Their professionals are open minded and empathetic because they are refreshingly not all cut from the same cloth.
Liquivida knows that walking into a wellness center and seeing everyone look the same can be overwhelming. That’s why they have created a diverse culture so that everyone, regardless of ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, and background can heal in an comforting environment where everyone is welcomed..
