‍At a Glance

After 10 years working for start-ups, Emily Stubbs joined Create Wellness as a customer service agent and quickly rose to her current role as Director of Customer Experience. Fueled by a natural interest in people and their stories, Emily champions a human-first approach to CX, rooted in connection and meaningful relationships with customers. With a sharp focus on empathy, data-driven strategy, and service excellence, she equips her team to deliver outstanding support to every customer they serve.

Who is Emily?

Meet Emily Stubbs, Director of Customer Experience at Create Wellness!

About Create Wellness

Create is redefining the way the world thinks about creatine. It is on a mission to make strength accessible, convenient, and enjoyable for everyone —male or female, athlete or non-athlete, young or old. What began with the industry’s first creatine monohydrate gummy has grown into a movement to bring creatine to the masses. By sourcing world-class ingredients, partnering with leading scientists and researchers, and building a best-in-class team, Create is setting the standard for quality and innovation in the creatine space. Founded in 2022 by husband-and-wife team Dan and Sienna McCormick, Create exists with a bold vision: to make the world 10% stronger.

Emily’s CX Journey

After moving to New York City ten years ago, Emily Stubbs' first job was selling Broadway tickets. She quickly transitioned into the startup space, working for three emerging companies before joining Create Wellness in October 2025. "I started as a customer service agent and grew into my current role as Director of Customer Experience," she says.

Emily traces her passion for CX back to her background in journalism and her natural interest in people and their stories. "I love making genuine connections with people. I think CX is a really unique place to be," she shares. "Especially with this company, where I get to build actual relationships with customers rather than just having brief interactions."

The CX Team at Create Wellness

Emily leads a CX team of ten agents, all sourced through a BPO. A longtime advocate of this model, she now partners with two BPOs, having added one she'd previously worked with at three other companies. "Both are really good for different reasons and provide support for different time zones," she explains. Offering flexibility and efficiency, the structure allows her to scale up to 20 agents within just a couple of days during busy periods.

Emily’s Top Challenges as CX Leader for a Growing Business

"I would say some of the top challenges are balancing speed, quality, and scalability," Emily shares. She joined Create Wellness with a team of just three agents, later adding seven more to keep pace with the rising customer expectations that come with business growth. Ensuring that her team responds quickly without sacrificing empathy or quality remains a top priority. "I think as leaders, we need to create a space for coaching, process improvements, and identifying root causes of issues," she explains.

Adapting her management approach to support that growth is equally important. Emily is focused on introducing new technologies, AI tools, products, and policies to set her team up for success.

What Emily Looks for in a CX Team Member 

For Emily, passion and a positive attitude are non-negotiable traits for CX team members, and she has a go-to way of testing for them. “What do you like to do for fun?” is always her last interview question. “If somebody cannot give me a genuine, excited answer about something they love to do outside of work,” she explains, “they’re not going to be able to do that for a company they’re working for.” A candidate who lights up talking about their love of travel, for instance, is often signaling the same upbeat energy needed to connect with customers and build lasting relationships.

CX Team Success Factors

Preferred Channels: How Create Wellness Customers Are Reaching Out

Currently, email is the support channel most used by Create Wellness customers, followed by chat. “We recently launched SMS messaging expecting it to be a fan favorite, but we’re still seeing a lot of emails,” Emily adds, noting this may be because their customer base tends to be an older demographic. They are considering adding phone support in response to customer demand.

Looking Ahead: Emily’s CX Goals for Create Wellness

As Create Wellness continues to position itself as an e-commerce supplement brand, Emily is focused on developing proactive CX strategies and cultivating personalized customer journeys. “As I said before, I love a story. I love connection. I love building relationships. So, I think it’s just about making sure that customer experiences are a little bit easier for everybody involved,” she says. Her team is evaluating the entire customer journey, with subscription management, self-service channels, fast and accurate response times, pre- and post-purchase support, and customer education topping the list of priorities. 

“We are using customer feedback to identify opportunities in the future, whether it’s product, operational, or website improvements,” Emily says, noting that this data is shared across departments to inform decision-making. “We want to make sure that customer service is a strategic partner for the rest of the teams within Create Wellness,” she adds. “We’re not just a support function. Rather, we’re driving insight and changes while influencing decisions across the board.”

Optimizing AI for Seamless CX

“The goal with our AI partner, SienaAI, was always to have AI handle as much as it can up until a certain point,” Emily explains. Incorporating AI to handle simple questions offsets the back and forth touches so once the issue reaches a human agent, they have the information needed to proactively address it.

Tech Stack

SienaAI – “We are massive fans of the tool. We have been able to automate 80% of our first customer contacts with Sienna AI.”

Zendesk – “I built out a robust Zendesk instance before bringing it on. I’m a big fan of having macros connected to forms connected to fields, and having everything work together seamlessly to make sure that data collection is seamless across the board.”

AI and Topics of Interest

Emily’s Thoughts on AI in CX 

"AI is one of the biggest shifts in customer experience, at least for us," Emily explains. "But I think it's most valuable when it enhances, rather than replaces, the human experience." Beyond automating responses to repetitive inquiries, Create Wellness uses AI to analyze customer insights and surface trends across conversations. Still, Emily is quick to note that AI performs best with human oversight built in. "It's never going to be perfect if you expect it to be a one-and-done thing," she says. "We're continuously refining our automations and AI, making sure they're grounded in customer behavior and feedback as well."

Emily’s Predictions for the Future of CX

"I think we'll see CX become more predictive and personalized," Emily says. By combining AI with customer data, brands will be able to anticipate customer needs, bolstering proactive CX strategies. Improved data evaluation will also strengthen cross-departmental collaboration, driving stronger overall business performance. "Customer conversations contain some of the richest business insights available," Emily finishes. "Organizations that use those insights to guide decision-making will have a significant competitive advantage over others."

Emily’s Advice for CX Leaders

Emily believes that to be a strong CX leader, you must balance empathy with operational thinking. "You want to listen to your customers, but you also want to be the data person. You want to identify patterns while advocating for the customers, measuring impact while building strong relationships."

She also stresses the importance of investing in your team. CX leaders should prioritize empowering agents with clear expectations, providing the right tools, and setting clear pathways for professional growth. "I think when a team feels supported, they're able to create better experiences for customers – that's where lasting success comes from," she says.

Lastly, Emily reminds CX leaders that they're going to make mistakes. And that's okay, because there's always something to learn from them. "You're going to learn from those experiences where you didn't make the right choice," she says. "And I promise the world is not going to end, even though it might feel like it in that moment. But every failure is just another push towards your success."