We heard from Margaret Johnson, owner of The Wellness Garden, and her son Elijah Johnson, a Kokomo CEO Class of 2021 alum.

Margaret shared her journey from spending 12 years in physical therapy to launching her own holistic wellness practice after the clinic she worked at unexpectedly closed. On borrowed money from her retirement, she started The Wellness Garden, built around helping people eat, sleep, rest, and digest better through holistic approaches. Her message: food is medicine, and your greatest assets are your health and your time.

Margaret shared her experience competing in Inventrek’s DRIVE competition. After making the finals and losing the first year, she came back the next year and won. “I learned so much about my business,” she said.

Eli shared how Kokomo CEO helped spark his entrepreneurial mindset. While attending Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, he changed majors multiple times before ultimately finding his path in optical engineering and entrepreneurship. Through Startup Weekend, he and his team began developing what is now Zernike Precision Optics — a tech startup using machines and AI to help make precision lenses more affordable.

Despite having strong job opportunities after college, Eli and his team decided to take the risk and pursue the startup full time. The company has already raised $500,000 and is currently in the research and development phase preparing sample lenses for production.

One of the coolest parts of the morning was hearing how Margaret started The Wellness Garden while Eli was going through the Kokomo CEO program. She shared that she essentially went through CEO alongside him, learning and growing as he did.