Christian Stella Of Precision Compounding On The 5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career In The Health and Wellness Industry
An Interview With Jake Frankel
Education — Regardless of the field you are entering, investing in yourself and your education will take you to the moon. For me, attending the fellowship at A4M, which was a significant financial decision, attracted new customers based on my newly found education and benefited me in the long run.
The global health and wellness market is worth more than 1.5 trillion dollars. So many people are looking to improve their physical, mental, and emotional wellness. At the same time, so many people are needed to help provide these services. What does it take to create a highly successful career in the health and wellness industry?
In this interview series called “5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career In The Health and Wellness Industry” we are talking to health and wellness professionals who can share insights and stories from their experiences.
In this particular interview, we had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Christian Stella.
Christian Stella is a 4th generation pharmacist, graduating from St. John’s University in 2016 with a doctorate degree in Pharm D. Christian is the owner and head pharmacist at Precision Compounding Pharmacy
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you grew up?
My family moved to Long Island, NY when I was 2 years old. I come from a family of pharmacists and pharmacy owners. My first diaper was changed in my grandfather’s pharmacy, Stella’s Pharmacy, located in Canarsie, Brooklyn. My mother and father gave my brother and I a beautiful childhood, growing up traveling, and participating in action sports. I spent most of my time in our family-owned pharmacies and learning from my father, who is a successful entrepreneur in his own right. Having a strong pharmacy background present throughout my life inspired me to go to St John’s University and go on to become a 4th generation pharmacist.
Was there a particular person or event that inspired you to live a wellness-focused lifestyle? Can you tell us about your main motivation to go all in?
My wife and son inspire me to live a wellness-focused lifestyle every single day, as my health will keep me around to spend time with them. I am constantly striving to maintain a proper work/life balance.
Most people with a wellbeing centered lifestyle have a “go-to” activity, exercise, beverage, or food that is part of their routine. What is yours and can you tell us how it helps you?
Fitness technology companies are getting really good at keeping us honest. My little trick is a machine called “Tempo”. I try to stay active by never drifting too far away from my hobbies.
To live a wellness-focused life is one thing, but how did it become your career? How did it all start?
Coming from a heavy pharmacy background, I knew that I would eventually end up joining the pharmacy business. When we first founded Precision Compounding Pharmacy, I honed in on helping patients using bioidentical hormones and professional-grade supplements. This led me to complete a fellowship at A4M. Learning about functional medicine and watching the industry change from brick and mortar to telemedicine sparked an interest to deliver functional/wellness medication to everyone’s door in America from a mail order/fulfillment pharmacy perspective.
Can you share a story about the biggest challenges you faced when you were first starting? How did you resolve that? What are the main lessons or takeaways from that story?
The biggest challenge in the compounding pharmacy industry is navigating the USP/state board regulations. For us, finding the right education platforms, mentors, family investors, and VCs to openly communicate with resolved that issue. Old-school entrepreneurs don’t like to talk about their industries with outsiders, but the faster I learned to drop my reservations and share my story with others, the faster I seemed to learn & grow. One person can’t push the meter alone.
Can you share with us how the work you are doing is helping to make a bigger impact in the world?
At Precision Compounding Pharmacy, our mission is to bring customized medications to everyone’s doorstep using technology. We are a fulfillment pharmacy that focuses on white-label customized medication for telemedicine companies.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?
Right now we are constructing a brand new, state-of-the-art facility located in Farmingdale, NY. We just opened our Florida location two weeks ago. These new locations will help us support more patients throughout the United States.
You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Ambition, passion, and communication. For ambition, I was working 16 hours a day when I was first starting to learn about the industry and figuring out how to grow our pharmacy. Showing passion encourages each member of our team to work towards the same goals. I pride myself on good communication. I hand out curated books to our sales and leadership teams, and we’ve actually formed a bit of a book club where we can learn and grow together. (They make fun of me for this one)
OK, thank you for all of that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. Let’s begin with a basic definition of terms so that all of us are on the same page. Wellness is an incredibly broad topic. How would you define the term “Wellness”? Can you explain what you mean?
To me, wellness is feeling good about yourself and waking up every day with a purpose.
As an expert, this might be intuitive to you, but it will be instructive to expressly articulate this. Can you please share a few reasons with our readers about why focusing on our wellness should be a priority in our lives?
More than 50% of adults in the United States are affected by chronic diseases. We need to focus on preventative care. Together, we can change this statistic.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increasingly growing understanding of the necessity for companies to be mindful of the wellness of their employees. For the sake of inspiring others, can you share steps or initiatives that companies have taken to help improve or optimize their employees’ mental and physical wellness?
We follow state guidelines as far as access to breaks and lunches and concerned, allowing everyone to enjoy time to themselves throughout the day. With the new facilities we are building, we’re actually designing “zen dens” for each location, allowing team members to take a step away and take a break if needed. We strive to maintain a positive culture in the workplace. In the event that anyone is experiencing anything other than wellness, we encourage taking the necessary time off to navigate through whatever is going on and will always provide help and resources if possible.
What are your “5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career In The Health and Wellness Industry”?
Passion — When I first got involved with hormone replacement therapy, I didn’t quite understand women’s health in its entirety. Throughout years of education and talking to patients, to learn that you are making a difference in everyone’s life that you speak to, for me personally, ignites passion.
Willingness to take risks — In order to be successful in health and wellness, you have to be comfortably uncomfortable. An untraditional path I took was getting involved in telehealth as a compounding pharmacy. In order to change the industry, someone must be willing to take those risks and lead the charge in the right way.
Education — Regardless of the field you are entering, investing in yourself and your education will take you to the moon. For me, attending the fellowship at A4M, which was a significant financial decision, attracted new customers based on my newly found education and benefited me in the long run.
Leadership — Once you reach the point of becoming an expert in your field, you will learn that you cannot survive on your own. Invest in leadership training and learn how to inspire a group of people to work towards the same goals. I learned through negative experiences that came along with hypergrowth. Teach your talents and share your wisdom with others, and you will see growth. I believe it is important to display how you achieved growth in order for your team to replicate and help you continue that growth.
Flexibility — When good opportunities arise, you must learn how to recognize them. Pivoting quickly and correctly is very important. If Precision had remained stagnant, solely servicing doctors & patient consultations, we would not be in the same place that we are in today.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would promote the most wellness to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
I believe systematic education on agriculture for backyard use and access to filtered water systems, along with the reduction of mass production, would open the door for many new opportunities.
We are blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
It’s impossible to choose just one person, but I would love to have conversations with Elon Musk, Rob Dyrdek, and Phil Hagerman. They are all extremely influential in a world full of aspiring entrepreneurs.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Feel free to visit my LinkedIn page and make a connection!
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this. We wish you continued success and good health!
