JJ Virgin, the author of the New York Times bestseller The Virgin Diet: Drop 7 Foods, Lose 7 Pounds, Just 7 Days, is one of America’s foremost fitness and nutrition experts, a popular media personality, and a public speaker. With more than twenty-five years in the health and fitness industry, she most recently has been involved in holistic nutrition and functional medicine.

The Virgin Diet has been on the bestseller lists in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, and numerous other media outlets. JJ is also the author of Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy, published by Simon & Schuster Gallery, and she costarred on the TLC reality series Freaky Eaters.

JJ is recognized in the weight-loss industry as an expert, and has turned the most challenging weight-loss-resistant cases into unqualified successes. She offers a sensible, no-fail approach to nutrition and fitness. She has worked with high-performance athletes, CEOs, and celebrities and, for two years, appeared as the nutrition expert on the Dr. Phil Show.

She is a certified nutrition specialist, a certified health and fitness instructor with advanced certifications in nutrition, personal training, and aging, and is board-certified in holistic nutrition.

To borrow from Charles Dickens, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. My soon-to-be New York Times bestselling book, The Virgin Diet, was on the cusp of being published. It was an exciting, whirlwind time and I had invested an incredible amount of time and a massive amount of money to make it to this point.

But the whirlwind stopped quickly when I learned my teenage son, Grant, had been severely injured in a near-fatal accident. I couldn’t just put my book on hold; I was the family breadwinner, and I was heavily financially invested in it. More important, though, I needed to be with my son. I moved from my home in Palm Desert two hours away to be closer to the hospital in Los Angeles, so that I could be with him twelve to fifteen hours a day.

Overwhelmed, frightened, and panicked, I did the only thing I knew to do: I called in the troops.

I sent out a 911 to all of my friends—both business and personal. They literally showed up in droves, helping me in every aspect of my life. I had my business friends who aided in dealing with matters concerning the book, while my personal friends helped me keep my life in some semblance of order. Interestingly, although about half of my group of friends are men, 90 percent of those who showed up over the next four months to help were women.

My story has a happy ending. My son recovered from his injuries and I successfully launched my book. But the experience confirmed something that I had always believed: that women, by nature, are naturally more collaborative than competitive, and more collaborative in general than men.

Collaboration is the cornerstone of my business. A large percentage of my marketing is accomplished by collaborating with other health-care professionals. After all, we generally don’t buy one book on a favorite subject; we collect books. So when my peers recommend my books to their patients and clients, it is incredibly powerful.

I also develop my books and programs through team collaboration. Usually, the collaboration process works quite well. Sometimes collaboration can turn into a bit too much of a democracy, with a lot of talk back and forth and not enough action! In those circumstances, I like to explain what we’re going to do and why so that we can move forward constructively with no bruised feelings.

When it comes to collaboration, respect and trust are critical. Without these elements, the integrity of this collaborative effort can come into question. I have a group of about thirty peers I collaborate with regularly and we all organically understand the boundaries—we look to serve each other before we ever ask for support and we ensure that whatever we are collaborating on is mutually beneficial to both brands.

One wonderful example of collaboration is mentorship. I have had some incredible mentors along the way, and the ones who have really helped me make the biggest leaps the fastest focused on mind-set more than strategies and fundamentals. One mentor in particular repeatedly told me that the only limitations I had were the limitations in my mind; that phrase is my mantra when I am pushing myself to a higher level and fear shows up.

Beyond being a mentor for other women, one of the biggest ways we can support and collaborate with other women, especially those starting out, is to share our struggles with them so they understand what is normal. So often, all people see is success; they don’t see the dark hours. So when a little challenge pops up, they quit. We need to share the struggle as well as the success so they know that this is all part of the journey. Ultimately, by reaching out for help when my son was in the hospital, my book launch was far more successful, even though that hadn’t been the intent! People want to help; you just need to let them know how they can help you.

I’ve been in the health and fitness industry now for more than twenty-five years. Over that time, I’ve seen how, despite our collaborative strengths, women are unfortunately poorly represented in leadership positions. I believe that the larger import of my success is to show other women what is possible. But I also believe that there are real benefits to increasing the number of women in the field. Because women serve as the “health-care CEOs” of their families, they are even more tuned in to receiving health-related information than men, and I am convinced that they would prefer to get this information from other intelligent, reputable women whenever possible.

I’d like to see more women who share a passion for health have the fortitude to push past barriers, crush stereotypes, and create solutions. We are uniquely suited to be the force to change the health of the world if we can join together to do so.