Pia Beck on Running an Intuitive Business with an OCD Diagnosis

Continuing on our theme of spiritual and squiggly brained operating systems this month, we’re chatting with Pia Beck of Curate Well Co. about the ins and outs of running her business with a squiggly (or neuro-divergent) brain. Pia graciously speaks about her experience of receiving an OCD diagnosis, and how this has changed her understanding of herself as an entrepreneur, running several businesses.

After a career in people operations in the tech and startup worlds, Pia started Curate Well Co. Today, Curate Well Co. helps brands change narratives and redefine norms in industries that are desperately calling for something different.

Follow along with Pia and her ventures at @curatewellco @piabeck_ @consideredsb.co

Find out more about working with CWco. on a consulting or configuration capacity here and follow the journey of their sister company, Considered. Considered is a micro, mobile coffee concept serving up espresso drinks — curbside — out of a vintage VW bus in Santa Barbara, California.

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“There’s a lot of stigma around OCD still, and it was like one of the best things that’s ever happened to me. So freeing, so validating, so comforting in a lot of ways to have something to name and hold on to and learn about and explore.”
— Pia Beck
“OCD is very isolating because there’s this whole internal dialogue and set of activities that are closely linked to it that are taking over one of the lenses through which you view the world that other people aren’t even aware of. And so there was always this sense of difference and divide and a loneliness that I felt my entire life.”
— Pia Beck
“A lot of ADHD diagnoses can be related to a child not having the presence of the parent, the emotional presence. So it doesn’t matter if your parent is physically there, but if they can’t be emotionally there for you because they’re dealing with their own stuff, and usually a cocktail of mental health issues themselves, you’re seeking constant stimulation from other sources and dopamine hits because you have come to know you can’t rely on certain things for it.”
— Wallis Millar-Blanchaer
“Everything in my life matches. I live a monochrome life and I love it. It genuinely brings me joy and I’ve been able to recognize that it’s totally a system of feeling calm and peace.”
— Pia Beck
“I really want to be something who keeps a beautiful bullet journal and has wonderful handwriting and has a notebook and all of this stuff. I love that. And I can’t do that. I try and I get really frustrated that it doesn’t look good and it totally distracts me from whatever I’m writing down for whatever purpose I’m supposed to be writing it down for.”
— Pia Beck

    • Squiggly brains and different neuro-divergent diagnoses or identifications

    • How Curate Well Co. began and how it has exponentially expanded over time

    • Virality is in no way sustainable!

    • When and how did Pia learn that she has OCD?

    • What exactly is OCD, and how frequently do people use that term incorrectly to describe things that aren't because of a lack of education?

    • OCD being the fourth most prevalent mental condition and the main cause of misdiagnosed cases

    • Different types of OCD: checking and repeating, contamination, order and symmetry, intrusive thoughts

    • How untreated mental illnesses like OCD and others can result in substance abuse

    • Curate Well Co before and after Pia’s diagnosis of OCD

    • Pia’s super sexy logistics systems

    • The power of the DO NOT DISTURB device feature!

    • Weighing the value of responsiveness and communication with that of productivity

    • Ignoring your intuition

    • The fear of being too much, and the fear of not being enough

    • Putting your headphones on without music? That’s Pia!

Resources & People Mentioned

arbsOCD, intuitive businessComment