Today we’d like to introduce you to Mackenzie Check.
Mackenzie, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My journey into wellness really began in 2019, right before COVID changed so much about the way we lived and connected with one another. I became deeply interested in wellness, healing, and personal development, initially as part of my own journey. Over time, that interest grew into something I wanted to share with others.
In the years that followed, I continued developing myself as a wellness practitioner, exploring different modalities, deepening my education, and figuring out what wellness and community really meant to me. By late 2023, I began stepping out into the community more intentionally, tabling at local events, meeting other practitioners and organizations, and connecting directly with people throughout Pittsburgh.
Those experiences opened my eyes to just how much our city has to offer, but they also showed me some of the challenges that come with working in the wellness space. There are so many incredible practitioners, small businesses, nonprofits, community organizations, events, and resources throughout Pittsburgh, yet it can be difficult for them to gain visibility, reach new people, find opportunities to collaborate, and feel connected to the larger community.
Over the last two to three years, I’ve also seen firsthand how difficult it can be for small wellness businesses to sustain themselves. Several businesses and wellness spaces that I personally frequented and supported have closed their doors. Watching places that had become meaningful parts of my own wellness journey disappear made me think more deeply about what we can do as a community to better support the people and businesses providing these resources.
As I became more involved in community events, volunteering, fundraising, and organizing, I found myself constantly introducing people, sharing resources, creating collaborations, and thinking about how we could make these opportunities easier to find.
Ultimately, those experiences are what led us to create Connection PGH. We saw firsthand the challenges that wellness practitioners and businesses face within our community and wanted to create something that could help bridge those gaps—giving them greater visibility, creating opportunities for connection and collaboration, and making it easier for Pittsburghers to discover and support the incredible wellness resources that already exist right here in our city.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It definitely hasn’t been a completely smooth road, but I think a lot of the challenges have helped shape what I’m building today.
One of the biggest struggles has been learning how to build something while still figuring things out along the way. When you’re creating something from the ground up, especially something community-focused, you wear a lot of hats. You’re learning marketing, event planning, partnerships, technology, finances, outreach, and everything in between—often while also working a full-time job and trying to maintain some sense of balance in your personal life.
I’ve also experienced firsthand how difficult it can be to grow as a wellness practitioner. There can be a lot of pressure to constantly market yourself, find new clients, attend events, build relationships, and stay visible. Many practitioners enter this space because they genuinely want to help people, but quickly realize that being talented at what you do and knowing how to run and market a business are two very different skill sets.
Something I’ve seen repeatedly is what I think of as the “pop-up hamster wheel.” Wellness practitioners can find themselves going from one market, vendor event, or pop-up to the next—paying vendor fees, packing and unpacking their supplies, spending hours at events, and meeting plenty of people without necessarily converting those interactions into long-term clients or generating enough income to make that model sustainable. Pop-ups can be wonderful for exposure and community building, but exposure alone doesn’t always translate into a thriving business.
That cycle was one of the things that really made me question how we could create more sustainable opportunities for wellness professionals. How do we help someone stay visible after the event is over? How do we help the person who met an amazing practitioner three months ago actually find them again? And how do we create opportunities for practitioners to collaborate and grow without constantly having to start from scratch with a new audience?
There have also been personal and professional transitions along the way that forced me to reevaluate what I wanted my life and career to look like. Some seasons have required me to start over, change direction, or trust an idea before I knew exactly where it was going to lead.
I think one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that community really matters. Trying to build something entirely on your own can be exhausting, and that experience has made me even more passionate about creating opportunities where practitioners, businesses, nonprofits, and community organizations don’t have to operate in isolation.
There are still challenges, and I’m still learning every day, but I’ve become much more comfortable with the idea that you don’t have to have everything figured out before you begin. Sometimes you build the next piece by simply paying attention to what your community needs and being willing to grow alongside it.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Connection PGH is a new Pittsburgh-based wellness network created to make our local wellness community easier to find, explore, and experience.
At its core, Connection PGH connects people with local wellness practitioners, businesses, nonprofits, community organizations, events, and experiences throughout the Pittsburgh area. We’re building a central place where someone can discover what exists in their own community—whether they’re looking for a practitioner, trying something new, searching for an event, wanting to meet people, or simply looking for ways to feel more connected.
On the other side, we’re creating a platform that helps wellness professionals and organizations gain visibility beyond social media and the traditional pop-up event cycle. As a wellness practitioner myself, I understand how difficult it can be to constantly market your services, find new audiences, attend events, and try to turn brief interactions into lasting relationships. Connection PGH was designed with those challenges in mind.
What sets us apart is that we don’t want to be just another directory or event listing website. We’re focused on the entire ecosystem of wellness and connection in Pittsburgh. That means helping people discover practitioners and businesses, but also highlighting nonprofits, community resources, social experiences, educational opportunities, volunteering, and events that support the mind, body, and overall sense of connection.
We also want to make discovering wellness feel more personal. Not everyone knows the name of the modality, practitioner, or service they need. Sometimes they just know, “I’m stressed,” “I want to meet people,” “I need to get out of the house,” or “I want to take better care of myself.” As Connection PGH grows, one of our goals is to make it easier for people to start with what they’re feeling or what they need and then discover resources and experiences that may support them.
Brand-wise, I’m most proud that Connection PGH has been built around collaboration rather than competition. There is room for so many different approaches to wellness, and I don’t believe people or businesses need to operate in isolation to be successful. I want our platform to help create introductions, partnerships, collaborations, and opportunities that may not have happened otherwise.
Most importantly, I want readers to know that Connection PGH is new, and we’re intentionally building it alongside the community we hope to serve. Our larger vision is to become a trusted resource for discovering wellness and connection throughout Pittsburgh while helping the practitioners, small businesses, nonprofits, and organizations behind those experiences become more visible and sustainable.
Ultimately, we want people to be able to ask, “What does Pittsburgh have that could help me feel better, get involved, or connect with others?” and know exactly where to start.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Tenacity, without question.
For me, tenacity isn’t just about continuing to push forward—it’s about being willing to evolve when you realize something isn’t working. Throughout my journey in the wellness space, I’ve had to step back and really look at the cycles practitioners can get stuck in and ask, “What is the actual problem here?”
That has meant questioning old models, changing direction, listening to what the community needs, and being willing to evolve our ideas along the way. I think true tenacity is having the determination not just to keep going, but to keep learning and adapting until you get closer to solving the real problem.
Pricing:
- $99 Annual Practitioner Membership
- $250 Annual Business Membership
- $60 annually for non-profits
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.connectionpgh.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/connectionpgh
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ConnectionPGH/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/connection-pgh
