AUIYB: Clar-e-ty Nutrition & Wellness
We got all up in Clare Burton's business. Visit Clar-e-ty Nutrition & Wellness to learn more about Clare's approach to food, movement and being awesomely happy in your own skin.
I encounter you in one of Charleston’s few elevators. In an effort to fill the awkward silence or drown out jazzy (yet oddly depressing) music, give me your elevator pitch.
I offer personalized nutrition coaching to anyone and everyone to help them look, feel, and perform their absolute best while also keeping them nice and healthy.
I'm intrigued. Let's talk more! Can you tell me how your business came to be?
I was in Graduate school at MUSC struggling with if I continue pursuing my dreams of becoming a doctor, a profession I was sensing was no longer aligned with my values and morals, or pave a new path in nutrition and lifestyle coaching, a field that applies a more holistic approach to fix and heal people. I graduated, put away my “clinical” hat and dove into the unknown. I’ve known that I want to work with people and improve their lives. Becoming a coach (in nutrition, fitness, and lifestyle) lets me do just that and gives me the freedom to practice how I see fit rather than giving you a bandaid and sending you on your merry way.
Fascinating! As a child, what did you aspire to be when you grew up? Why?
Two things: an Olympic gymnast and a doctor. I did gymnastics for 10ish years and that’s what any child dreams of being. My step-dad is a doctor and one of the greatest, smartest, and most respected people in this world.
As an adult, what do you consider to be your most important superpower? Why? (Let’s be honest, we know you have a few!)
Editing… I don’t know why but I LOVE to edit anything. My school system growing up had some AMAZING teachers and I learned some skills that I have kept with me all my life. We had great (but difficult) English teachers that taught me all about the English language and I guess I kept those rules in the back of my head. I did a lot of the editing of papers in my lab and was really good at it. My best friend in college always needed help editing her texts and Instagram posts, so I had a lot of practice.
You are most interesting! Do you have a typical daytime routine that you follow? What does that generally look like?
YES! I have both a morning and nighttime routine that I follow. I wake up 7:15 usually, get up and make a greens drink and meditate or do some sort of flow for 10 minutes on my porch overlooking a marsh. I drink my coffee and reflect on the day before. I write down one positive thing that happened, why it was positive and what I learned, and three things I am grateful for. I then write out my to-do list for the day. Then I either read or mindlessly work (send out emails/check-in reminders) as I eat my breakfast. I then hit the gym and coach or personal train if I have a client, head back home and get the majority of my grit-work done until 6pm where I either go to the gym to coach or have dinner and start winding down before bed. After dinner, I make a smoothie and have some sort of treat (toast, waffle, rice cake with some almond butter). I can’t go to bed without a treat. My phone gets put on Do not Disturb at 9:30pm, and I wash my face, take my supplements, brush my teeth, and get into bed and read until I get sleepy then I head off to bed around 10pm.
We are now stuck on the elevator and running out of oxygen, so my questions are going to get a little crazy. If you were a box of cereal, what would you be? Why?
Cinnamon toast crunch! My favorite cereal… so much sugar! My dad used to make my sister and I cinnamon toast and I always needed more sugar on it than cinnamon, so this is kind of similar. I don’t like milk in my cereal and this was the best without milk… just like candy (why am I a nutrition coach???)
Do you consider yourself more of a hunter or a gatherer? Explain.
Gatherer for sure. I am not confrontational and couldn’t bring myself to kill an animal like that! I also am a hoarder and can’t throw away anything meaningful. I have every card anyone has ever given me (since I was a child and started doing this habit) in a drawer at home in VA and here in Charleston. Last year, my parents bought me a “hoarding” box for Christmas for all the tickets and weird knick-knacks I like to collect. I naturally gather and organize all of it (very clean and OCD), so I’d be the perfect gatherer!
You’ve been extended an invitation to perform on The Voice. What song do you pick? Why?
Oh gosh… how do I decide??? Either a Celine Dion song (My heart will go on or It’s all coming back to me now), ANY Shania Twain song, or a song by Martina McBride. Celine Dion and Shania Twain are catchy and a blast to sing, so that’s self-explanatory. Martina McBride was the first country artist I ever heard on the radio, first concert I ever saw, and was one of the most influential people I looked up to as a kid. She is an advocate for girls and women and was the first person in my life to instill that value and passion in me.
The elevator is moving again – yay! And look at that, we are getting off on the same floor! Crazy how these things work. Now I’d like to know what your favorite thing is about being a small business owner. Least favorite? Why?
Most favorite thing is that I have total control over my life and my business. I can establish my morning routine and can create a life and an environment ALL businesses should adopt, but unfortunately do not. I believe women’s productivity is centered around their cycle. The week or two after their cycle, they are hyperactive and in their most productive state and should start projects during this time. In the week or two leading to their cycle, they are way more reserved and in a reflective state and shouldn’t have to start new projects during this time. If we can recognize this pattern, we can organize our month around when we will be most productive and will actually get WAY more done and feel SO much better. However, tell a masculine society or business that and they’ll laugh in your face. I don’t have to worry about that, and I am thankful for it every day.
My least favorite thing is the uncertainty. It’s exciting at most times, but I’ll get an occasional spout of fear that it’ll all implode, and I’ll be back at home mooching off my parents. Although I just went home for a week and wouldn’t actually mind that…and I don’t think my mom would disagree!! We worked out, cuddled with the pups and kitties, ate tacos, drank margs, and gabbed the entire time… what’s better than that??? I’m not one to fail so the prospect of it sends me into overdrive.
What advice do you have for aspiring small business owners? If it is short and catchy, we should TM that ish and put it on a t-shirt!
Just be patient. I’m still learning this myself. If you don’t give yourself time in between learning new skills or taking on new tasks, projects, or assignments, then you’ll never learn from your successes and failures. You’ve never fallen on your a** before… so why do you think you’ll let yourself do that now?? Nope, you’ll figure it out. If you don’t, I believe in the Universe and if you’re kind to it and pay some credit to it every day (positive thinking, good deeds, etc.), then it has your back and something good will happen soon enough.