Today we’d like to introduce you to Claire Guentz.
Hi Claire, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hi! My name is Claire Guentz, and I’ve been living in Raleigh, NC for the last 6 years. What I was doing 6 years ago vs. today looks very different – it’s always so interesting to look back and see how one decision influenced another to get you to where you are.
In 2015, I was graduating from nursing school. I had gotten a bachelor’s degree previously in Communication Studies (graduated in 2011) and thought I was going to go into PR but after being six months into my first job out of college, I quickly realized it wasn’t a good fit for me.
I ended up moving to NJ and working in NYC for 2 years trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I worked in restaurants, I worked at a fashion merchandising company – just really took the time to explore my options and see what I wanted to do next.
I ended up deciding on going back to school to get my bachelor’s in nursing. At the time, it felt like work that I would be interested in (so many different fields of nursing you can go into), it was a job where I felt like I could actually make a difference in someone’s day, I would always have a job, I’d have great benefits, etc. Overall it made sense, but I never felt called to go into nursing. To be honest, at that point I still didn’t really know what I was “meant to do” or what I was passionate about. But nursing seemed like something I would overall enjoy and it made sense on paper.
Fast forward to when I was in nursing school. I had started blogging as a hobby; it was just something I enjoyed doing as a creative outlet. Simultaneously, I had created an IG to help hold me accountable with my “fitness journey.” Nursing school hours and coursework, plus working a part-time job took up most of my time but I wanted to still make my health a priority. So I had created an IG account on the side so I could follow other women in the fitness space to help motivate me in terms of working out and eating healthy during this busy time in my life. Little did I know that starting my blog and IG would eventually be my full-time job years later.
Upon graduating from nursing school (in 2015), I took a job in the Medical Intensive Care Unit at Duke University Hospital. For the next four years, I worked as a nurse there while simultaneously blogging and posting to my IG on the side. As the years passed and “influencing” actually became a thing, I started to realize I could make an actual career out of my blog and IG; something that had just started as this fun hobby on the side. There were many things I loved about working as a nurse but it was also a really physically and emotionally draining job, especially working in an ICU. At the end of 2019, I decided to step away from the bedside completely and work full-time as a blogger and influencer.
Today, I still work full-time as a lifestyle influencer and have also just launched an app in the women’s safe space, Parry. Parry was born out of being true crime obsessed and wondering why there weren’t more tools to help keep women more comfortable and safe. Not to mention that both my parents were FBI agents so I’ve always been a little more hyperaware of my surroundings. Stepping away from nursing and working for myself, really showed me how much I thrive and actually enjoy working as an entrepreneur (for lack of a better word).
So after several years of focusing solely on influencing, when I had the idea for Parry it was a no-brainer that I was going to pursue it. At the age of 33, I finally feel like I am doing what I was meant to do. It sometimes just takes some trial and error and not being afraid of exploring different options to get there!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Overall, I am very grateful for how things have played out over the last few years. I was very lucky that with nursing, I had a less traditional schedule (working three 12 hour shifts a week), which allowed me to put a lot more time and effort into my blog and IG since I had full days away from the hospital.
Being able to pursue two things simultaneously, and slowly cut down my hours as an RN before I was ready to fully take the leap and focus on blogging full-time was really a blessing. I know a lot of jobs wouldn’t really allow for that. So logistically, that definitely relieved some of the stress and made it a smoother road since I could more slowly transition from one job to the other.
I also think that in the beginning things felt smoother because I really had no expectations. My blog and IG started off as a hobby so I wasn’t really working towards anything in particular – it was like one day I kind of realized that I was making consistently more blogging than I was as an RN and it was something I really enjoyed doing. The point being, the decision more-so just became about should I leave nursing vs. could I leave nursing which made that process much smoother.
So while I think those things made the process much smoother than most transitions, it wasn’t all smooth. There were times when I felt so overwhelmed and stressed with balancing the two jobs and wearing so many different hats – my mental health definitely wasn’t great during some of these points and my work-life balance was essentially non-existent. One of the other biggest things was just getting comfortable with the risk that goes into leaving a “stable” job and working for yourself.
I’m not risk-averse (but I definitely try to take calculated risks) and so it was still scary taking that leap from a steady paycheck to working for yourself, especially in an industry that was so new at the time (still is). Similar thing when it came to starting Parry. When you start your own business, there are no guarantees.
Parry is self-funded and making that kind of financial investment isn’t a light decision. You really have to decide what you’re willing to do and risk in order to make something happen.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Parry is an app in the women’s safe space designed to get women out of awkward or uncomfortable situations by giving them a fake but realistic sounding phone call so they have an easy exit strategy. Parry can also text your location to your emergency contacts for an added layer of safety.
I think every woman has been in a situation where someone just “won’t take the hint” (our tagline). Whether it’s on a date going south, caught in a conversation with a co-worker, getting hit on at the gym, or a creepy stranger on your commute. We’ve all been there at some point or another. We either don’t have a polite way to end the conversation, or we feel that if we do end it abruptly that we may be putting our safety at risk. As a result, we end up feeling awkward, uncomfortable or are simply stuck wasting time. With Parry, we wanted to give women a tool that could help get them out of these situations, especially before they potentially escalate.
We really felt like there was a gap (in the market) when it came to tools to help women feel more comfortable and safe in their day to day. There are a few devices and linked apps that are geared towards women’s safety but more in the emergency space. And because of the device component, the price point is also over $100.
That being said, with Parry, we wanted to create something that could support women in more everyday situations that arise and also be able to offer it at a more accessible price point. I feel very proud that we’ve been able to develop something that not only helps women feel more comfortable and in control of potential day-to-day interactions but also are able to offer it at a price that is much more accessible.
With Parry, you don’t have to worry about having your phone and a device (bracelet, necklace, etc) – we are solely an app so all you ever need to have is your phone. We are a subscription-based app with weekly ($0.99 cents), monthly ($1.99), and yearly ($19.99) plans based on your needs. We are on iOS and Android in the US and hope to expand to other countries soon!
How do you define success?
Honestly, just being happy with your life and what you’re doing on a daily basis. It doesn’t matter how much money you make, or how many accolades you have. There are plenty of people who have everything they could ever want on paper but still aren’t happy.
So for me, success is living a life that you feel genuinely happy in and proud of regardless of what it looks like on paper or to those around you.
Pricing:
- Weekly subscription $.99 cents/week
- Monthly subscription $1.99/month
- Yearly subscription $19.99/year
Contact Info:
- Email: hello@getparry.co
- Website: getparry.co
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getparry/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/getparry
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/getparryapp
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@getparry
