By DEREK REDD

WHEELING — Joelle Moray was rolling along in a strong career in corporate communications, but during the COVID-19 pandemic, she saw things within the corporate world that stirred another of her longtime passions.

She watched the people around her — successful, high-achieving people — face high stress and burnout, feelings exacerbated by the difficulties of the pandemic. Before Moray joined the communications world, she had an interest in going into music therapy.

So that desire to help others struggling with mental and emotional health led Moray to take a leap of faith, pivoting from a communications career into one as a mental wellness coach. That move, one she took years to put into action, has been extremely fulfilling, she said.

Mental wellness is a subject that Moray believes has been critically underserved until recently.

“I think it’s just been since March of 2020 that people really started to even talk about this and even recognizing that workplace stress and overwhelm is something that is greatly affecting people,” she said. “And I’m glad that well-meaning businesses and companies are now open to having conversations and, in my opinion, are kind of for the first time ever starting to even acknowledge that it’s a thing that needs to be addressed.

“I think it’s very prevalent,” she continued. “I think a lot of people are again, not necessarily unhappy at their job or unhappy with their career choice — I mean, maybe some are — but really struggling to kind of find a balance.”

While moving from her communications job to wellness coaching, Moray had to work through some anxiety of her own. Going into business for oneself isn’t easy. It’s also not a guarantee. But Moray said she did not simply dive into her new calling at the drop of a hat. She spent years researching and educating herself. She asked lots of questions about the business side of the vocation and made sure that, when she was ready to take the risk, it was a very calculated one.

Through the process of building her new business, she found signs that she was on the right track. Through the process, she pitched the idea to different friends and others of a mental wellness coach coming to their company to help deal with workplace stress. The replies weren’t just that it was a good idea, she said, but they asked if someone like that could come to their respective companies.

“And so the more I started pulling out that thread and getting more curious and more curious and talking to more people and asking more questions, it really started to become very evident that we’re onto something here,” she said.

One thing she says has been a plus in her work in the Ohio Valley is the “fantastic” network of women in the region who are more than willing to help each other succeed. They’re much more interested in collaborating than competing.

“Women just are constantly reaching out to each other and sharing resources, sharing ideas, coming up with ways to work together,” Moray said. “They’re nominating each other for different awards, and it’s wonderful to see that.”

Moray’s advice to young women starting their own businesses is to be curious about the community around them and curious about the impact they want to make. Then seek out other women in the community for guidance and advice.

“The first thing I would encourage them to do is to reach out to other women who are already in the field and talk to them,” she said. “Take them out for coffee, pick their brain, ask them questions about how they got started and what their path was. I did that, certainly, a lot. I still do.”