Leading health entrepreneur Naomi Whittel is BRCHS Distinguished Lecturer Nov. 10

Acclaimed entrepreneur Naomi Whittel, who has launched more than 140 science-based products and last year sold her six-year-old nutritional supplement company for $37 million, speaks Nov. 10 at Jacksonville University on “The Business of Health Wellness,” as part of the Brooks Rehabilitation College of Healthcare Sciences Distinguished Lecture Series. The event is free to the public.

Whittel, now CEO of Twinlab Consolidated Holdings, which purchased her business, will discuss what it takes to be a health entrepreneur, as well as adjusting to the balancing act of being a female leader in the natural supplements industry.

“She is an innovator in the health and wellness field who provides best-in-class, first-to-market nutritional supplements made with science-based ingredients,” said JU health and fitness expert Dr. Heather Hausenblas, professor of kinesiology.

Attendees to the JU lecture will gain insights into overcoming obstacles to achieving health and wellness career goals, thriving during business challenges, making meaningful impact in the field and grasping the importance of evidence-based health and wellness companies.

Whittel’s Organic Holdings LLC, the Boca Raton-based company she founded as Reserveage Nutrition, achieved recognition for its anti-aging products based on Resveratrol, a compound found in the stems and vines of French grapes.

Organic Holdings has won more than 30 product and company excellence industry awards, including Better Nutrition Magazine’s 2016 Best of Natural Beauty Award for Plant-Based Support Collagen Builder, Better Nutrition Magazine’s 2015 Best of Supplements Award for Collagen Replenish Powder and the Best of Natural Beauty Award for Tres Beauty 3, and Taste for Life Magazine’s 2015 Immunity Essentials Award for Resveratrol 500 mg.

Whittel’s products have been featured on Dr. Oz, and she won an Enterprising Women in Business award in 2012, as well as Ernst & Young’s coveted Entrepreneur of the Year Award in Florida in 2013. Whittel is also an advisory board member of the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation board.

The Brooks Rehabilitation College of Healthcare Sciences Distinguished Lecture event is from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10, in Terry Concert Hall on the JU campus, 2800 University Blvd. N., Jacksonville. The lecture provides one Continuing Education Credit hour for Licensed Professionals and members of the nonprofit Yoga Alliance. For more information, contact Dr. Heather Hausenblas, (904) 256-7975 or hhausen@ju.edu.