Melissa Wood-Tepperberg Moves Her Brand Into The Podcast Space (With Heart)

Fitness, wellness and mindfulness entrepreneur Melissa Wood-Tepperberg (aka @melissawoodhealth) has been guiding her community on how to move since the launch of her digital platform, app and signature method, The MWH Method. And today, with the launch of her new podcast, she’s inspiring her community members to move with heart.

What does “move with heart mean” to Wood-Tepperberg?

“Moving with heart is a way of life,” she shares. “It’s a state of being that moves through every single thing that you do. All you need is the willingness to show up for yourself — whenever and wherever you are.”

Showing up for yourself is a recurring theme for Wood-Tepperberg, who, as a mom of two young children, practices what she preaches when it comes to the importance of showing up for yourself in any type of self-care available to you.

The aptly titled podcast, Move With Heart, features Wood-Tepperberg’s personal stories and practices, as well as conversations with people she admires and her mentors — touching on topics ranging from mindfulness and spirituality, to nutrition and fitness, to motherhood to fashion, and beyond.

As the subject of a Harvard case study from 2021, titled Melissa Wood Health: How to Win in the Creator Economy, Wood-Tepperberg has proven that listening to your community’s feedback is a key component of a winning formula.

Wood-Tepperberg’s business skyrocketed since starting MWH in 2015 where she started filming workout videos on her phone in her living room using a $24 tripod from Amazon. Fast forward to today — she has created a global wellness empire that’s community-driven with subscribers all over the world.

Creating a podcast, which has been requested by her community (who have vocalized their desire for longer form content from Wood-Tepperberg), is the next step in the MWH empire.

Tepperberg-Wood listened to the feedback — and will now be listening to guests and sharing her own stories, as a podcast host. (Episodes will be released every other week.)

“With the combination of this feedback from my MWH members, it was time. I felt it in my soul, and when I feel that I always do my best to move through all the resistance that comes up and go for it,” Tepperberg-Wood shares.

I spoke with Tepperberg-Wood about that resistance she alludes to, as well as her tips on how to listen to that inner voice.

Karin Eldor: Congratulations on the launch of your podcast!! There was clearly a collective cheer from everyone on social media when you announced it. How will the podcast be synergistic to the MWH method?

Melissa Wood-Tepperberg: Since day one, MWH has been about a way of life that fuels you versus taking anything away. The same way I prioritize my workout and meditation practice as my daily commitment to myself, I have always found podcasts to be a form of self-care. And I want Move With Heart to bring something and or ignite something in everyone who listens. This podcast is more than just a new medium and extension for MWH, this is a way for me to share the why behind it all in much more detail and depth than I do on social media, and connect with people in a different way.

Eldor: When you teased the podcast and then announced it on social media, you mentioned that you were afraid of doing it but decided to lean into the discomfort and do it anyway. How would you recommend people get out of their own way? What advice would you have for them?

Wood-Tepperberg: I always aim to share the reality behind what I am going through. It’s all part of the process. I canceled the recording of sharing “my story” a few times because of the fear that was coming up around being too vulnerable or sharing too much. The second I faced the fact that I was scared, however — literally in opening the first episode — is what created the space for me to be honest with the real things that were coming up for me — no matter what or how much you have under your belt. I know I wouldn’t be the person I am today or have the business I have without that vulnerability in sharing the real stuff behind it all.

Eldor: Do you have tips on listening to your gut or heart, and the whispers? Or that inner voice?

Wood-Tepperberg: My absolute best advice is to strengthen your practice by staying as consistent with yourself as you possibly can. The more you carve out that space for yourself to prioritize taking care of your mind, the stronger that inner voice becomes — and not listening to it no longer becomes an option because it is vividly clear. The most important thing is to find what lights you up, and then show up for you.

Eldor: The podcast space is very ‘noisy’ right now – for lack of a better word. How will Move With Heart be different from all the others out there?

Wood-Tepperberg: First of all, I truly believe there is room for us all. Move With Heart is different because I am different — everyone brings their own voice to the table in their own unique way and I am excited to share this layer of myself. I can’t wait to share everything from the tools I use that helped me become the woman I am today, the business I have, and the people — and their stories — that have helped shape me.

Eldor: What’s your favorite mantra these days?

Wood-Tepperberg: One thing that gets me out of bed to show up for myself everyday is asking myself this simple question, How bad do you want to feel good?Without fail it helps me get out of my own way to do the work.