Stories are incredibly powerful – their ability to teach, inspire, and create understanding is why we are so in love with storytelling. Most stories have a defining moment and so we’ve asked some of the most talented, insightful folks across a broad range of industries and markets to tell us about a defining moment in their story.

Natasha Enriquez

In the spring of a year that now seems a lifetime away, at the age of 20, a single moment on a dance floor irrevocably altered the trajectory of my life. Read more>>

Jake Platt

In 1993, amidst the eclectic streets of Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood, I embarked on a transformative journey—I opened my very first business, a Taekwondo center. Read more>>

Desiray Coleman

I look at my entrepreneurial journey like burpees, lots of ups and downs! When I was 23, I moved back to Argentine and became the first trainer at the first and only local 24 hour gym in the neighborhood. I had little idea that how pivotal it would turn out to be. Read more>>

Tzur Gabi

Throughout my life, the quest for profound authenticity has been the driving force behind my pursuit of an extraordinary and unconventional existence. Read more>>

Suzanne Gwynn

JM was a lively young boy I had the pleasure of caring for during his leukemia battle. I met him and his family when he was 5 years old. Read more>>

Kiara Lee-Benton

I started Healing with Kiara in 2020 when the world changed for all of us. I was working in crisis intervention, on call 24/7, and leading a team through major changes in how we did our work. Read more>>

Dawn Walter

Prior to teaching yoga, I was a non-profit professional, working for large grant-making foundations in the New York metropolitan area. Read more>>

Lorez Meinhold

One of the moments that really shaped my worldview early on, was when my aunt became paralyzed – when this happened, it changed her path. Read more>>

Amber Dumas

A defining moment in my professional career was the initial COVID-19 shutdown and social distancing restrictions. Mental health was a growing topic in general conversation before COVID, but it catapulted into the forefront of everyone’s collective conscious at that moment in time. Read more>>

Rachael Brown

After reading T. Colin Campbell’s The China Study, and finding out my genetics were only around a 10% determinant as to whether I’d get Alzheimer’s like my father and grandfather, pancreatic cancer like my uncle and grandfather, strokes like my grandmother and grandfather or high blood pressure and cholesterol like the rest of my family, and that 90% of my health was determined by lifestyle choices (most importantly, what I ate), I was shocked. Read more>>

Cynthia Crouch

As a licensed mental health professional, there have been several defining moments throughout my career that have shaped my trajectory and influenced my approach to therapy. However, one particular moment stands out as pivotal in my journey. Read more>>

Jordan Weinberger

My professional journey hasn’t been marked by a single defining moment, but rather a series of pivotal experiences that have led me down various paths, each filled with its unique set of challenges and joys. Read more>>

Tracy Pruitt

Title: Answering the Call: A Journey of Purpose and Passion in Mental Health Advocacy Introduction:In September of 2022, I received a phone call that would forever alter the trajectory of my career as a mental health clinician. Read more>>

Mary-Catherine LaBossiere

Life threw me a curveball when I married my husband and, therefore, married into the military as they say. One minute I was working in diabetes and obesity clinical research at a large academic medical center with a plan to stay in research. Read more>>

Sam Pfotenhauer

I have had three defining moments in the last five years – two of which are personal in nature but had a significant impact on my professional career, and one professional. Read more>>

Juliana Lindner

Ever since grade school I remember two things that were always a part of my life: sport and listening to others as they ‘spilled the beans’. Read more>>

Mariamely Leoni

For 15+ years I dedicated my professional career to digital marketing and in 2013 I decided to go my own way into helping small local businesses build their digital presence. Read more>>

Christina Ralko

I worked as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner in various settings, but I became disillusioned with the constraints of traditional healthcare. Read more>>

Krystal Miller

I’ve experienced burnout in each of my first 3 jobs. It felt like exhaustion, self doubt, crying randomly… it was the body going into fight or fight and my spirit saying slow down. Read more>>

Sarah Hannala

I would have to say that moving to Los Angeles in 2019 was definitely a defining moment in my career that changed a lot of things for me. Read more>>

Caroline Neshyba

From a young age, I knew I wanted to work with children. It is apparent that my foundational passion for working with children comes from a place of gratitude for the educators and adult mentors who poured into me as I was growing up. Read more>>

Jahmaal Marshall

I was working in administration and training to get certified in counseling. I had already had my degree so I was anxious to get to get to work. Read more>>

Turquoise Teagle

I received a key/ award and from to the Regional Task Force on homelessness for my work in the homeless sector Read more>>

Melissa Bowley

Becoming a mom changed the trajectory of my career and is the reason I developed Flourish Care. I am a biomedical engineer by background, and prior to becoming a mom I worked in R&D and business development. Read more>>

Miriana Robinson

As I help others find their Pathways to Purpose, I wanted to share my broken past. From 2009-2016, I was in a broken space. I was so broken that I didn’t realize that this joy I have now could exist. Read more>>

Spring Cooper

I never thought that a personal trauma would impact my professional career trajectory so significantly. But the cyber sexual assaults I suffered at the hand of my ex-boyfriend, over and over, did just that. Read more>>