The Posture Genie Journey

Jeanie Pollack heard this a lot growing up, “Stand up straight, Jeanie!” Always at the back of the class line, she was cursed with being taller than the other kids. Tack on having boobs by fifth grade and Jeanie was a freak of physicality. The only way she felt she could fit in was to slouch, hiding her body and the things she hated most about it.

As the other kids caught up to her in height and cup size, she understood that all the slouching was an external representation of how she felt on the inside—terribly self-conscious, void of confidence. And it clicked for her; the mind and body are eternally interconnected. This connection became her life’s passion.

“We just want to make things good for people.”

It’s 1979. The fitness craze was blooming and Jeanie opened her eponymous studio on Chicago’s Near North Side. Aerobics, free weights, music, stretching, and one major differentiator. Her’s was the only studio to offer pregnancy and postpartum programs. Yet, the studio attracted more than moms. Chicago Bears, Hollywood elite when in town, and a young Oprah Winfrey. 

Six years of success couldn’t stop the Universe from throwing another physical challenge at the rebellious body and mind guru. Those boobs she’d had since fifth grade developed pre-cancerous breast cancer. Jeanie couldn’t slouch her way through this one. She had a double mastectomy.

All that time spent thinking about the human body whet Jeanie’s appetite for more knowledge about how the body works and how it affects the human it belongs to. Boob-less but inspired, she sold her studio and earned a master’s degree in adult fitness, studying kinesiology and physiology. Jeanie embarked across the country consulting large companies and organizations that were looking to implement healthier work environments with a new business she called Active Breaktime. Bankers, warehouse workers, keyboard jockeys—what Jeanie calls occupational athletes—all benefitted from Active Breaktime’s mini-workouts, training, on-site analysis, and ergonomic adjustments. So did the companies, which were saving big bucks on account of their reduced worker comp claims.

Working with these occupational athletes, Jeanie had another aha moment. One’s posture is their presence, their brand. Sitting all day wreaked havoc on the body. Heads poking forward, shoulders growing round, the spine screaming in pain. It was a problem that required a solution.

“I don’t want to sell anything. I want to give information.”

During a yoga class one day, her instructor wrapped a yoga belt around her waist and shoulders. She was instantly taller, and felt thinner and younger. Everyone needs this. And so, she headed full on into producing a new product that would help anyone with a spine, shoulders, back, and core muscles feel better, look better, and overall, be better. She called it The Posture Genie. The product that “has your back,” she’d say.

But life’s journey is more than a well-placed product on a slouched body. The product became the conduit for a fully realized approach to standing up for human change, growth, and wellness.

“You have to own the change you want.”

The Posture Genie is about more than just standing up straight. Knowing how a fit body can influence a fit mind, and vice versa, Jeanie has cultivated a community where people take control of their bodies, their minds, and their lives through shared experiences and unwavering support.

The Posture Genie is not magic in a bottle (or an Instagram post). It is a way of thinking, a way of acting. A way of taking control. Through knowledge and personal experience, Posture Genie shepherds and supports its community through fitness, mindfulness, and camaraderie. Posture Genie believes that no matter what condition your body and mind are in, right now is always the time to make a change, to make a difference. To live the life you want to live the way you want to live it, you have to own it. In Jeanie’s words, “Unless you’re in a coma or dead, there’s always something you can do.” 

And The Posture Genie is here for it.

This isn’t a sales pitch. This is power put into practice. This is The Posture Genie.