Dr. Kristen Poe never planned to build just another healthcare practice. Her goal was bigger than that. She wanted to change the way people think about health itself. As the Founder and CEO of Poe Holistic Health, and the author of Health Boss and Health Boss Uncensored, Dr. Poe has built a career and a company around one simple idea: health is a person’s greatest asset, and taking ownership of it changes everything else in life. At EliteX, we are proud to have Dr. Kristen Poe, MBA, PhD, DN as Cover Story of the edition: The 5 Most Admired Entrepreneurs to Watch in 2026.
Dr. Kristen Poe | Founder and CEO | Poe Holistic Health
Dr. Poe holds an MBA, a PhD, and a Doctorate in Naprapathic Medicine. Her background spans psychology, business, functional health, naprapathic medicine, and sexology. This mix of disciplines gives her a wide view of health, one that goes beyond treating symptoms and looks at how the body, mind, relationships, and lifestyle all connect. She uses this lens to help people improve not only their physical health, but also their performance, relationships, longevity, and overall quality of life.
Health is wealth. True wealth is measured by your energy, your relationships, your purpose, and your ability to fully experience life.
Her entrepreneurial journey began with a personal experience of burnout, combined with a deep love of medicine. That experience shaped the philosophy that now guides everything she does, and which has become her personal motto: holistic, but realistic. She believes health should be comprehensive and grounded in evidence, but it should also be practical. It is not about chasing perfection or following every new wellness trend. It is about helping people make sustainable changes that lead to real, lasting results.
Since opening her practice, Dr. Poe has helped thousands of patients. Over time, she expanded her work into corporate and executive wellness through Health Boss Arise, a partnership with Dr. Julia LeBlanc. She has also built a public platform through speaking, media appearances, and her books. Through Health Boss and Health Boss Uncensored, her mission is to inspire people to become the boss of their own health and their own life, by taking ownership of the everyday choices that shape their future. At the center of her work is a simple belief: when people optimize their health, they unlock their ability to lead, create, love, perform, and truly thrive. Her goal is not only to help people live longer, but to help them live better.
The idea for Poe Holistic Health grew directly out of her own wellness journey through burnout. That experience taught her to look beyond symptoms and understand the body as a connected system rather than a set of separate parts. As she began working with patients, she noticed the same pattern appearing again and again. People were told their lab results were normal, even though they were dealing with fatigue, hormone imbalances, digestive problems, chronic pain, anxiety, and other issues that were changing their lives. They knew something was wrong, but they often left their appointments without real answers or a clear next step. Dr. Poe built her practice to close that gap. She believes healthcare should help people understand their own bodies, make informed decisions, and become active participants in their own care. Seeing patients regain their energy, their confidence, and their quality of life is what continues to drive her work every day.
The problem Dr. Poe set out to solve is one that many people quietly experience. Modern healthcare is very good at treating and managing symptoms, but it does not always ask why those symptoms are happening in the first place. At Poe Holistic Health, she and her team look at the many factors that influence a person’s wellbeing, including nutrition, hormones, gut health, inflammation, stress, sleep, movement, fascia, nervous system regulation, relationships, and sexual health. Her training in naprapathic medicine and functional health, along with her board certification in sexology, allows her to address areas of health that are often overlooked. She points out that sexual health, intimacy, hormones, and emotional connection are not separate from overall health. They are strong indicators of how well the body and mind are working. When these areas are ignored, important pieces of a person’s health story are missed. Her approach stays true to her holistic but realistic philosophy. While she embraces a comprehensive, whole-person view of health, she also believes wellness has to be practical and sustainable. Her goal is not perfection, but meaningful, lasting change that fits into a person’s real life.
Building a business in healthcare has not been without its challenges. Dr. Poe has faced uncertainty, financial pressure, and periods of self-doubt, along with outright failure at times. Balancing patient care with marketing, operations, leadership, and constant innovation is demanding work. One of the biggest lessons she has learned along the way is that passion alone is not enough. To build something lasting, an entrepreneur also has to become a strong and capable business leader.
My role isn’t to fix people. It’s to educate, guide, and empower them to become the CEO of their own health.
Some of the hardest moments in her journey were not the long hours, but the times she poured her heart into an idea, truly believed in it, and watched it fail anyway. Failure can easily make a person question themselves if they allow it to. Over time, Dr. Poe learned to be less hard on herself. Instead of dwelling on what went wrong, she began asking what the experience was teaching her. Every setback has given her insight that made her a better entrepreneur, leader, and person. She also believes it is important to get out of your own way. Self-doubt, perfectionism, and fear can become bigger obstacles than the actual challenges in front of you. She has stayed committed to continuous learning, surrounded herself with mentors who challenge and encourage her, and stayed closely connected to the purpose behind her work. To her, resilience is not about never failing. It is about having the courage to get back up, adapt, and keep moving forward.
What sets Poe Holistic Health apart, in Dr. Poe’s view, is its focus on helping people live longer and live better at the same time. She combines functional health, naprapathic medicine, nutrition, nervous system regulation, and sexology to look at the whole person rather than a single lab value or pain level. Energy, movement, hormones, digestion, relationships, intimacy, resilience, and purpose are all connected, and neglecting one often affects the others. Education plays a central role in her approach. She wants every patient to leave her office understanding why they are experiencing their symptoms and how they can actively take part in improving their health. Her role, as she describes it, is not to fix people, but to educate, guide, and empower them with the tools to become the CEO of their own health. She treats every patient as an individual with a unique story, and believes their care should be just as individualized.
Dr. Poe’s definition of success has changed over time. Early in her career, like many entrepreneurs, she measured success mainly in financial terms. Financial success still matters to her. A profitable business allows her to keep serving people, investing in innovation, supporting her team, and creating a long-term impact. But just as she does not believe health can be measured by a single lab value, she does not believe success can be measured by a single number either. To her, success is measured by impact. When a patient tells her their energy is back, their pain is gone, they are finally sleeping through the night, or they have rekindled intimacy in their marriage, that is success. When a corporate wellness program helps employees reduce burnout, that is success too. Building a profitable business and creating meaningful impact are not opposites, and her goal has always been to achieve both.
When asked about leadership, Dr. Poe points to authenticity, empathy, kindness, integrity, adaptability, and a willingness to keep learning. She believes the best leaders do not pretend to have every answer. Instead, they create environments where people feel valued, inspired, and empowered to grow. To her, great leadership is about serving others while still holding a clear vision.
Resilience isn’t about never failing. It’s about having the courage to get back up, adapt, and keep moving forward.
Staying motivated as an entrepreneur, she says, does not happen by accident. It requires intention. She invests in herself constantly through books, conferences, continuing education, and mentorship, and she surrounds herself with people who challenge her to think bigger. She has learned that the people around you shape your mindset, and that an uplifting, growth-oriented circle is one of the greatest contributors to personal and professional growth. She also believes that choosing a spouse or life partner is one of the most important decisions a person will ever make. The right partner becomes your greatest encourager, someone who challenges you to grow, celebrates your wins, and helps you through the setbacks that come with entrepreneurship. Above all, she stays connected to her purpose. Every patient whose life improves, and every company that becomes a healthier place to work, reminds her why she started this journey in the first place.
Innovation plays an important role in the growth of Poe Holistic Health. Healthcare, like most industries, is changing quickly, and Dr. Poe and her team regularly evaluate new research and technology that could improve patient outcomes. Whether it involves advanced functional testing, biohacking strategies, or digital education, her goal is to bring in innovation responsibly, while staying grounded in science and personalized care.
Looking ahead, Dr. Poe expects continued growth in preventative healthcare, longevity medicine, personalized wellness, artificial intelligence, and digital education. She sees people becoming more proactive and informed, no longer willing to wait until they are sick before prioritizing their health. This shift toward proactive care was a major inspiration behind her Health Boss book series, which carries the message that everyone has the ability to become the boss of their own health and their own life. She also believes that as technology and artificial intelligence continue to reshape healthcare and business, authentic human connection will become even more valuable. The organizations that thrive, in her view, will not simply have the best technology. They will be the ones that use technology to strengthen, rather than replace, empathy, trust, and meaningful relationships.
Confidence doesn’t come first. Confidence comes from taking action.
For young and aspiring entrepreneurs, Dr. Poe’s advice is simple: start before you feel ready, and take action. She points out that many successful entrepreneurs spend far more time doubting themselves than people realize. For a long time, that was her own experience too. She doubted whether she was qualified, worried about making the wrong decisions, and waited for confidence to arrive before taking her next step. What she eventually learned is that confidence does not come first. It comes from taking action. Every challenge overcome, every mistake learned from, and every small win builds the confidence a person is waiting for. She encourages entrepreneurs not to wait for everything to be perfect, since perfection never really comes, and to remember that success is rarely built from one big breakthrough. It comes from thousands of small, intentional actions repeated consistently over time.
Dr. Poe’s vision for the future goes beyond her own practice. She wants Poe Holistic Health to become a nationally recognized leader in functional health, naprapathic medicine, and sexology, and to help shift the broader conversation from simply treating illness to optimizing health, longevity, performance, relationships, and quality of life. Education remains central to that mission, and she hopes her books will reach people well beyond the walls of her practice. She is also expanding her corporate wellness division through Health Boss Arise, growing her virtual education platforms, developing new wellness programs, and increasing access to personalized healthcare regardless of where someone lives.
Her closing message to readers centers on two ideas she holds close: that every business decision has the power to make someone’s life better, and that health is wealth. She encourages entrepreneurs to invest in their health with the same intention they invest in their careers, since one supports the other. She believes leadership grounded in integrity, curiosity, and a willingness to evolve will always outlast leadership built on ego. For Dr. Poe, the greatest measure of success is not how big a business becomes, but how much genuine value it creates for the people it serves, and the legacy that value leaves behind.
Health is our greatest asset. When we optimize it, we unlock our ability to lead, create, love, perform, and truly thrive.