BOSS Spotlight Feature: Larita Webb Taylor, Ph.D, MPH

Larita Webb Taylor, Ph.D., MPH is the founder of Webbmark Health Solutions, a public health research and wellness consulting firm.  She is a Master Trainer for the CDC's National Diabetes Prevention Program,  lactation counselor, author, and professor.  She loves training people and organizations to integrate wellness into their lifestyles/organizations.


What were some obstacles that you faced in the beginning process of starting your business or career? I started my first business, a lemonade stand, at the age of 9, where my father made my older brothers work for me by washing the reusable cups. This experience was very impactful highlighting the need for a profit margin that allowed me to have enough money to reinvest in new inventory. I later learned the technical term: cash flow. Secondly, I learned that normal labor is not free.  Outside of the forced labor of my brothers, I was raised to be mindful of equity, which is why I drifted toward non-profit work doing many compassion ministries and why a career in public health resonated with me. When I decided to re-engage in entrepreneurial endeavors, I had to re-learn how to temper my non-profit heart in the context of a for-profit marketplace. I say re-learn because I was a hardnose 9-year-old saleswoman and didn’t budge when customers suggested the nearby candy lady had cheaper prices. I would say “This is my price.”  Yet, in the early days of my first business, Webbmark Greetings, I was often afraid of my profit analysis numbers that would allow me to scale by hiring help yet seemed to outprice many of the people I desired to serve.  So, I would lower the product/service cost or even worse fail to launch a certain endeavor altogether because of who I perceived would not be at the proverbial table. I have since overcome that temptation through Webbmark Health Solutions by delineating my business endeavors from my charitable work.


What inspired you to break into your industry? The seed for Webbmark Health Solutions was planted in 2009 when I designed a needs assessment and subsequent strategic vision of the University of Memphis community garden as a graduate research assistant. Fueled by the success of that project, I began using my research skills and public health experts as a program manager for the Center for Disease Control’s National Healthy Worksite program and simultaneously as a Master Trainer for their (CDC) Diabetes Prevention program, all while completing my doctorate in public health. With only months remaining until my graduation, only six months into my marriage, and a week after learning that I was pregnant with our first child, the grant expired for my CDC-funded job and I was laid off.  The vacancy of expertise created by the program closure in my city, my previous success integrating research, advocacy,  and grassroots organizing to address health disparities, and my need to flexibly support my growing family motivated me to launch Webbmark Health Solutions, LLC in 2015.


How do you balance your personal and professional life, or have you been able to find a balance? I once read a book that emphasized that in order to move forward by walking you must get off balance by shifting from one side to the next. That concept resonated with me, so I now aim for shifting focus to different priorities instead of balance. I work in dedicated chunks of time (MOST of the time, lol). Secondly, integration is critical. I’m a “homeschoolpreneur” so I try to incorporate many different things,i.e. grocery shopping is an elementary nutrition and finance course all wrapped into one. I take walking meetings as much as possible and do leg lifts at my desk, etc.

What is an inspirational quote that you live by? “The race is NOT GIVEN to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but to the one that endures until the end.”

Who were some influential people or mentors that helped or encouraged you along the way? My grandmother, a second-generation floral shop owner, my mother a retired postal worker and security sales rep turned third-generation flower shop owner and security company owner, and my father, founder of Financial Guide Associates are my earliest and most influential business mentors.

What are your "must-haves" to keep your career or business going strong?  My must-haves are a clearly defined purpose,  careful and deliberate cost-benefit analysis for any product/service offering, a strong commitment to the process of pursuing that purpose BEFORE it starts, unwillingness to pursue profits over purpose, faith, patience, flexibility, efficient use of customer feedback and CAPITAL.

What is your definition of a BOSS? A boss is a person with a clearly defined goal that sets the vision and strategy to achieve that goal and manages the process.

Provide us with two words that describe you? Inspirational Coach


Learn more about Dr. Larita at Www.webbmarkhealth.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/webbmarkhealth

IG: @webbmarkhealth

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