We are living longer, but we are not living better. Our lifespan is increasing, but our health span and quality of life are not, and most of our healthcare system is built to manage disease after it shows up.
In this episode of The Healthy Hustle Podcast, Rachel Feldman sits down with Dr. Kristin Oja, founder and CEO of STAT Wellness, to talk about how a personal trainer turned ER nurse turned nurse practitioner built the first membership-based functional medicine and movement practice in the country. Kristin shares her origin story, the affordable membership model behind STAT, why muscle is the foundation of healthy aging, how her team coaches overwhelmed clients one small habit at a time, and what it has taken to grow from one Atlanta clinic to eight locations across the Southeast.
Kristin Oja, DNP, FNP-C, IFMCP, is the Founder & CEO of STAT Wellness, a rapidly growing functional medicine and wellness company transforming healthcare through an innovative model that combines personalized medicine, movement, and health coaching. As a Doctor of Nursing Practice, entrepreneur, and business leader, Kristin is passionate about building mission-driven organizations, scaling businesses without losing their purpose, and helping leaders create sustainable success in both business and life. She also hosts the Little By Podcast, where she explores the intersection of health, leadership, entrepreneurship, and personal growth through actionable conversations with industry experts.
In This Episode, We Cover:
- Kristin’s path from personal trainer to ER nurse to nurse practitioner, and the freshman-15 moment that started it all
- Why our healthcare system is so good at sick care, and the difference between lifespan and health span
- The three foundations STAT is built on: muscle, low inflammation, and stable blood sugar
- The ER “brown bag” of medications and why symptoms have root causes
- How STAT’s membership model works, and how it keeps functional medicine approachable
- Why muscle is a metabolic bank and the best predictor of independent, healthy aging
- How STAT coaches overwhelmed clients with one small, attainable change at a time
- Accountability, tough love, and taking ownership when a client does not follow through
- Scaling from one clinic to eight locations: infancy, toddler, childhood, and adolescence in business
- How Kristin markets herself: impact first, so her patients become her marketing
From Personal Trainer to ER Nurse to Nurse Practitioner
Kristin describes herself as someone who was built a little differently: an Enneagram seven who sees opportunity in everything and has always asked why. She grew up dancing and playing lacrosse, and never had to think about exercise or food until she went to college, came home in December, and could not button her pants. It was not about the weight. She simply did not have the tools to eat well or move intentionally outside of sports.
That realization led her to personal training, and she loved helping people get stronger than they ever thought possible. Her parents encouraged her to get a degree, so she chose nursing as a safe fallback, and her clinical rotations opened her eyes to how sick our society really is.
We Are Great at Sick Care, Not Health Care
Kristin is grateful for the healthcare we have, but she points out that it is reactive and focused on disease management. We are living longer, but our health span and quality of life are not keeping up.
She set out to build something proactive and preventive, starting with a simple question: what gives us the biggest bang for our buck as we age? Three answers kept coming back:
- Muscle: muscle is our greatest asset as we age, and losing it (sarcopenia) ages us faster.
- Low inflammation: nutrition, sleep, and lifestyle all drive the inflammation behind so many chronic diseases.
- Stable blood sugar: keeping blood sugar balanced helps prevent many of the most common chronic conditions.
The Brown Bag That Changed Everything
Working in the emergency room, Kristin watched patients arrive on gurneys clutching a brown bag full of their medications. Some were on 10, 12, even 15 different prescriptions from specialists who never talked to each other, and some of those medications interacted.
As she put it, the root of a blood pressure issue is not a lack of beta blockers, and the root of constipation is not a MiraLAX deficiency. These things have root causes. Even as a nurse practitioner in primary care, she had about five minutes with a patient once a year, which was not enough to understand their history, family dynamics, or how they ate and moved. That pushed her toward functional medicine, longer appointments, and eventually a model she could make accessible.
An Approachable Membership Model
Traditional functional medicine can be expensive and intimidating, with long supplement lists and big testing bills. STAT Wellness opened in 2019 with a different approach: a membership designed to be predictable and approachable.
Kristin explains that the core medicine membership is $185 a month (HSA eligible) and includes unlimited health coaching, unlimited dietitian access, five functional medicine visits a year, three physical therapy appointments, and body composition scans to track muscle mass. Lab work runs through insurance or cash-pay options, so the less predictable costs stay flexible.
The model keeps evolving. Some members feel so good after a year that they move to a la carte visits, and custom memberships now add options like VO2 max testing, resting metabolic rate, continuous glucose monitors, and peptides once the foundations are strong. Throughout, the functional medicine provider acts as the patient’s quarterback, because not everyone needs the same protocol.
Your Health Today Is a Picture of Your Past
Every new patient at STAT starts with a one-hour visit and a body composition scan. Kristin asks about their birth, their upbringing, and their diet, because if you are 45 or 55 years old, your health is a reflection of the last 45 or 55 years, not just what you ate last week.
From there, the team decides which lab testing actually serves the patient and which membership fits. Someone eating fast food seven days a week, not exercising, and feeling stressed needs more support than a single visit and a handout.
Muscle Is a Metabolic Bank
Kristin is black and white on this one: the more muscle you have as you age, the healthier you are likely to be. Muscle loss starts in our 30s, and if we let it continue through every decade, we lose vitality and independence.
She walks through why muscle matters so much:
- Muscle acts as a metabolic bank that helps with blood sugar control and makes diabetes harder to develop.
- More muscle means fewer injuries and broken bones when we fall, and faster reaction time when we trip.
- Exercise and muscle are linked to lower Alzheimer’s risk and better brain function.
- The heart is a muscle, and overall strength supports cardiovascular health.
If she can get a 60-year-old patient focused on building muscle and nourishing their body to support it, she calls that a win.
One Small Change at a Time
Nobody goes from fast food every day to a perfectly balanced plate, daily walks, and three strength sessions a week after one appointment. Overwhelmed clients need nurturing and someone to break it down.
Kristin’s team might start with just getting into bed by 10 PM for two weeks. Once sleep improves, they focus on a nourishing breakfast, then a 10-minute family walk after dinner. Rachel shares that she used the same approach with her own clients: start with the basics, see what is missing, and build from there. Small steps feel attainable, and attainable steps are the ones that stick.
When it comes to food, the goal is not a rigid meal plan forever. STAT can personalize plans, but the real win is when clients know how to build their own plate, read their hunger cues, eat out confidently, and balance their blood sugar within their real life.
Accountability and a Little Tough Love
When a patient shows up embarrassed because life got in the way, Kristin’s first response is to take ownership: maybe the team did not simplify things enough for that season of life. A full season calls for one thing they can do, so they can walk in next time and say, “I did it.”
She also knows some people need a push. A patient can feel great while their cardiovascular markers say otherwise, and sometimes the honest conversation is that change has to happen. Her team is still exploring where meeting people where they are ends and tough love begins.
Scaling From One Clinic to Eight Locations
STAT Wellness opened in Midtown Atlanta in 2019 with no investors, no bank loans, and no proof of concept, just a small loan from Kristin’s parents that she has since paid back. She compares business growth to raising a child:
- Infancy (2019 to 2022): learning to be a business owner and perfecting the model.
- Toddler (second location in Roswell): figuring out how to run two clinics when you cannot be at both.
- Childhood (third location in Peachtree City): systems in place and a smoother rhythm.
- Adolescence (Nashville and beyond): a new state and time zone brought growing pains.
Today STAT has eight locations across Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee, with telemedicine in the states where its providers are licensed and virtual health coaching nationwide. Keeping pricing approachable at scale means tightly controlling overhead and operating costs, and choosing locations carefully.
Become the CEO of Your Life
Kristin’s closing message is about ownership. You have one body and one life, and you are in the driver’s seat whether you work with STAT or your primary care provider. Get clear on what you want, what gives you meaning, and what your why is, and the rest becomes much easier to plug in.
When Rachel asks how she markets herself, Kristin says she shares content on Instagram and LinkedIn, but her real marketing strategy is impact. The more she serves her team, her family, and her patients, the more they market STAT for her.
Your Action Step
Pick one foundation to focus on this week, for yourself or a client: a consistent bedtime, a protein-rich breakfast, two strength sessions, or a 10-minute walk after dinner. Keep it small enough that next week you can say, “I did it,” then build from there.
Final Thoughts
Longevity medicine is just good medicine earlier. Build muscle, keep inflammation low, balance your blood sugar, and take one attainable step at a time. And if you are building a wellness business, remember that the impact you have on your clients is your best marketing.
Resources
- STAT Wellness: https://www.statwellness.com
- Kristin Oja’s website: https://kristinoja.com
- Free 15-minute consultation with STAT Wellness: text 404-254-5905
- Instagram: @statwellness and @kristinojadnp
- Little By Podcast, hosted by Kristin Oja
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