WellBuilt

Jonathan Shooshani
  • 5.0 (7)
  • Health & Fitness
  • Updated Daily

WellBuilt is a video and audio podcast that not only highlights the people and stories behind organizations redefining what it means to live well but also shares the journeys of timeless organizations that, through innovation and resilience, have been well-built to endure and thrive across generations.

  1. Jun 5

    This Married Couple Tracked Down Grocery Buyers for a Year to Build a Category Defining Healthy Cereal Brand 🥣 | Ian & Margaret Wishingrad, Co-Founders of Three Wishes

    In this episode of WellBuilt, Jon sat down with Ian and Margaret Wishingrad, the husband-and-wife co-founders of Three Wishes: the grain-free, low-sugar cereal that's become one of the most interesting better-for-you brands in the grocery aisle. Ian spent years in advertising before starting his own agency. Margaret came from real estate. When their first son was born, they stood in the cereal aisle of Whole Foods and realized nothing there was actually healthy. Two years of R&D, a food scientist, and dozens of cold calls later, Three Wishes launched in late 2019.   They covered: 🥣 Why cereal was broken and why grain-free, minimal-ingredient, high-protein was the obvious answer that nobody had actually built yet. 📞 The shameless, old-school grind behind retail distribution: tracking down the Northeast Whole Foods buyer at Fancy Food with a Ziploc bag of samples, calling Wegmans for nearly a year straight before landing the account. 💸 The early fundraising reality: why investor rejections were less about the product and more about two first-time product founders who hadn't yet earned the credibility to match their conviction. 🧠 What it's actually like to run a company together as a married couple. 🌍 Margaret's origin story: growing up as an immigrant, being sent solo to China at 19 by her father to source product, and how that forged the "figure it out" mentality she brings to every operational crisis. 🌱 How Three Wishes thinks about the next chapter: evolving the brand from homemade to "big boy," new packaging, and threading the needle between fun and functional without looking like a kids' only product or a diet food.

    49 min

  2. Apr 27

    From CIA to Taking Rucking Mainstream 🎒 | Emily McCarthy, Co-Founder of GORUCK

    In this episode of WellBuilt, Jon sat down with Emily McCarthy, Co-Founder and Chief Community Officer of GORUCK. Emily traces the origins of GORUCK from her time as a CIA case officer operating solo across West Africa, to building an event and community empire around a simple idea: walking with weight. She unpacks how a military-issue bag Jason built her in a rebel-held region of Côte d'Ivoire became the blueprint for the GR1, how GORUCK went from lending out bricks at 1am in New York City to 700+ Ruck Clubs worldwide, and why she believes rucking is on its way to becoming bigger than running. They covered: 🎒 How rucking was born not in a gym or a startup office, but in the field — Jason training as a Green Beret, Emily rucking through West Africa on Intel operations, both unknowingly building the foundation for a brand. 🧱 The scrappy, absurd early days: Jason showing up to events with Home Depot bricks in a rental car, loaning out bags to prove they wouldn't fail, going from $100K to $12M in just a few years. 🌍 How Emily's CIA tradecraft — spotting, assessing, building community in austere environments — became the direct blueprint for GORUCK's event and Ruck Club model. 💪 Why rucking hits the sweet spot of cardio + strength + community, and how Emily is now focused on making it more accessible to women through initiatives like the Mother Rucker 5K series. 🧫 The pandemic pivot: how Emily opened a Google Drive folder of 100+ city scavenger hunts to the world, and how that moment became one of GORUCK's most powerful community moves. 🏃‍♀️ Where GORUCK is headed — from a Costa Rica Ruck & Flow retreat for women to D-Day events in France, and a bold goal: making rucking bigger than running.

    45 min

  3. Apr 10

    Turning an Invasive Species Into a Nutrient-Dense Food Source 🦌 | Jake Muise, Co-Founder & CEO of Maui Nui Venison

    In this episode of WellBuilt, Jon sat down with Jake Muise, founder and CEO of Maui Nui Venison, to explore one of the most unique intersections of nutrition, sustainability, and food systems. They unpack how an invasive species problem in Hawaii turned into a mission-driven food company, and what it looks like to build a business that simultaneously supports ecological balance, local communities, and human health. Jake shares the 20+ year journey behind Maui Nui: from early exposure to subsistence hunting to building a USDA-approved system that transforms wild deer into one of the most nutrient-dense proteins available today.   They covered: 🌱 How an invasive deer population in Hawaii became both an ecological challenge and an abundant food resource and why "balance" is the goal, not elimination. 🥩 What makes wild-harvested venison fundamentally different from conventional meat, including how diet, environment, and stress impact both taste and nutrient density. 🚀 The operational complexity of building a completely new supply chain: from harvesting wild animals at night to creating a scalable, USDA-compliant food system. 🌍 Why doing things the "hard way", letting animals live wild until harvest, may actually be better for human health, the animal, and the environment. 🧠 How Jake thinks about long-term impact, including the potential to replicate this model globally across other invasive species and ecosystems. Mahalo!

    45 min

  4. Mar 31

    Beyond Sleep Tracking... A New Wearable That Improves Your Sleep 🎧 | Jonathan (JB) Berent, Founder & CEO of NextSense

    In this episode of WellBuilt, Jon sat down with Jonathan (JB) Berent, Founder and CEO of NextSense, to explore the future of sleep and brain health, and how the next wave of wearables may go beyond tracking into real-time intervention. They unpacked how most sleep technology today gives you data but little direction, and how NextSense is approaching the problem differently: using in-ear hardware and sound-based stimulation to not just measure sleep, but actively improve it. The conversation also expands into JB's broader vision of building a brain health platform: one that could eventually help people better understand focus, performance, and cognitive states throughout the day. They also covered: 🎧 How sound (including pink noise) can influence brainwaves in real time to enhance deep sleep. 🚀 The origin story: from a rejected Google pitch to a moonshot project inside Google X, and eventually a venture-backed company. ⚖️ JB's personal experiments with sleep—from polyphasic schedules to sleep debt—and what they reveal about how adaptable the body really is.

    51 min

  5. Mar 12

    The Future of Preventive Health and Longevity 🧬 | Michael Doney, MD, MPH, MS, Executive Medical Director of Biograph

    On this episode of WellBuilt, Jon sat down with Michael Doney, co-founder of Biograph, to explore the future of preventative health and why the next frontier of medicine may look more like continuous measurement than reactive treatment. Biograph is built around a simple idea: most diseases develop slowly over time, but the healthcare system typically waits until something is wrong before it acts. By combining advanced diagnostics, data, and longitudinal tracking, Biograph aims to help people understand and improve their health decades before problems emerge. We cover: 🧬 Why traditional healthcare is reactive by design and why preventative medicine requires a completely different model. 📊 The role of advanced diagnostics, imaging, and biomarker tracking in identifying risks long before symptoms appear. 🧠 How collecting longitudinal health data over years—not one-off tests—can reveal patterns that drive better decisions. ⚖️ The difference between optimizing for lifespan vs. healthspan, and how those goals shape personal health strategies. 🔬 Why measurement, experimentation, and feedback loops are becoming core tools for people serious about improving their health. 🚀 What the future of consumer health could look like as technology, diagnostics, and data make proactive medicine more accessible. Enjoy!

    46 min

  6. Jan 27

    A Better Way to Build Your Supplement Stack 💊 | Steve Martocci, Co-Founder & CEO of SuppCo

    On this episode of WellBuilt, Jon sits down with Steve Martocci, Co-founder and CEO of SuppCo, to unpack why supplements are one of the most confusing, and least trusted, parts of the health and wellness industry.  Rather than selling supplements or pushing "more is better," SuppCo is building a consumer-first layer of trust: helping people understand what actually works, what's mislabeled, and what's worth taking based on real data. They covered: 🧠 Steve's personal health journey from lifelong weight struggles to functional medicine, blood work, and building a supplement stack that actually delivered results. ⚖️ Why the supplement industry is fundamentally broken, with incentives that prioritize sales over outcomes and leave consumers overwhelmed and misled. 🔬 How SuppCo evaluates over 200,000 products using objective criteria like manufacturing standards, certifications, and testing; not influencer hype or reviews. 🍬 What independent testing revealed about popular supplements, including why many top-rated creatine gummies contain little to none of the ingredient they claim. 📊 How the TrustScore system works, why it's intentionally non-subjective, and how it's pushing brands to improve transparency and quality. 🧭 Why trust, education, and long-term behavior change matter more than chasing the latest longevity trend—and why sometimes the right answer is taking less, not more. Enjoy!

    44 min

  7. Jan 14

    Designing an Oral Supplement That Activates GLP-1 | Cory Henderson, PhD, Co-founder & CEO of Evolve

    On this episode of WellBuilt, Jon sits down with Cory Henderson PhD, Co-founder and CEO of Evolve, to unpack the science, hype, and real opportunity behind GLP-1 supplements—and why the next chapter of preventative health may look very different than pharmaceuticals. Evolve isn't trying to compete with injectable GLP-1 drugs. Instead, the company is building a new category they calls biomimetics: oral, consumer-accessible products designed to mimic the body's own biology, without harsh side effects or long-lasting interventions. They cover: 🧬 How Cory's background in genetic engineering and public health led him to rethink GLP-1 for healthy, performance-minded consumers. 💊 Why pharmaceutical GLP-1s behave so differently than natural hormone signaling and how half-life, receptor balance, and delivery method matter. ⚖️ The gap between supplements that don't work and drugs that weren't designed for healthy people. 📉 Early customer feedback around appetite control, energy, metabolic health, and sustainable weight loss.  🧠 Why behavior change, education, and expectation-setting matter more than "magic pills." 🔬 What biomimetics means, how it differs from traditional supplements, and where this category could expand next (longevity, muscle growth, women's health, and more). 🧪 How Evolve designs orally available biologics using natural proteins and why oral delivery changes safety, personalization, and adoption. 📚 How Cory thinks about trust, misinformation, and consumer education in an under-regulated supplement market. 🚀 Why preventative health, not disease treatment, is the real long-term opportunity, and how consumer health products may evolve over the next decade. 🚴 Cory also shares his own experience using Evolve for performance and metabolic health and how personalization plays a role in dosing. Enjoy!

    50 min

  8. 12/19/2025

    Upgrading Relaxation & Recovery with Robot Massage 🦾 | Eric Litman, Founder & CEO of Aescape

    On this episode of WellBuilt, Jon sat down with Eric Litman, Founder & CEO of Aescape, the first company using robotics to fundamentally reimagine massage. Aescape isn't trying to replace massage therapists. Instead, it's opening the door for the 80% of people who don't get massages today, often due to discomfort, cost, access, or time. By combining precision robotics, personalized pressure mapping, and adaptive software, Aescape delivers consistent, customizable bodywork. They covered: 🩻The spine injury that inspired him to come up with the idea for Aescape. 🤖 Why human-robot touch is one of the hardest problems in robotics and how Aescape solved it. 📊 Why measurability and personalization matter more than mimicking human hands. 🏢 Why Aescape chose a B2B model with gyms, hotels, and wellness centers instead of going direct-to-consumer. 🦾 Eric also shares his personal health practices, thoughts on wellness hype, and where robotics-enabled recovery could expand next. Enjoy!

    34 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
7 Ratings

About

WellBuilt is a video and audio podcast that not only highlights the people and stories behind organizations redefining what it means to live well but also shares the journeys of timeless organizations that, through innovation and resilience, have been well-built to endure and thrive across generations.

Information

  • Creator
    Jonathan Shooshani
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    85
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Show Website
    WellBuilt

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