We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tammy Duke-Feltz. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tammy below.

Alright, Tammy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?

For years, I had loved my work as a Drug and Alcohol Counselor. It was sacred, vital work, but it often felt like trying to catch people at the bottom of a jagged cliff. I was helping them piece their lives back together after the trauma had taken root, after the coping mechanisms had turned destructive, and after decades of internalized shame.
One day a profound realization hit me: I didn’t want to just be the safety net at the bottom of the cliff anymore. I wanted to be the railing at the top.

That shift in perspective completely altered my professional trajectory. I chose to step out of the recovery clinics and into the hallways of education, transitioning into a role as a School Mental Health Provider.

The contrast was immediate and breathtaking. Suddenly, my days weren’t filled with unpacking decades of hard-wired maladaptive behaviors. Instead, they were filled with early intervention, flashing a warm smile to a lonely kid in the cafeteria, and teaching emotional regulation to a student before their coping mechanism became a substance. In the schools, I found a unique kind of magic. I realized that by being a safe, consistent adult for a child right now, I had the power to rewrite their entire narrative. I could intercept the trajectory that leads to those adult clinic chairs. Whether it was helping a student navigate the overwhelming grief of a changing family dynamic or giving them the tools to face anxiety, the impact was real-time and preventative.

My only real regret is that I wish I had made the leap sooner. Switching to school mental health didn’t just change my job title it gave me my true purpose. Every day I walk into a school, I am exactly where I am supposed to be: standing firmly at the top of the cliff, making sure the kids in my care never have to find out how hard the fall is.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Professionally, I serve as a school therapist and district mental health provider in Kentucky. My passion lies in supporting youth, helping students navigate the complexities of growing up, and advocating for mental wellness within our schools and communities. I’m deeply committed to professional growth, always looking for fresh insights and evidence-based practices.

When I’m not working, my world revolves around my family, my pets, and a healthy dose of team spirit. Here is what keeps me grounded and energized: Family First: I am a proud mom to a wonderful daughter, Ava Elizabeth who is 15, and a high-energy, fun-loving 9-year-old son, Rylan. Navigating the beautiful chaos of family life is my greatest adventure.

Our home wouldn’t be complete without our Aussiedoodle, Bentley, and our lively orange tabby cat Milo. They provide the perfect therapeutic comfort after a long week.

I have a deep love for sports. On any given weekend, you can find me proudly sporting blue and white to cheer on the University of Kentucky Wildcats, or rocking red to support the Kansas City Chiefs (and yes, I’m a big fan of Travis Kelce!).

I approach life with empathy, resilience, and authenticity. I believe in creating safe spaces for people to be themselves, celebrating the small victories, and always staying true to who you are. Over the past 8 years I’ve gained a large following on social media and I love spreading my positivity to others. I was diagnosed with MS in 2013 and have spent the past 10+ years being an advocate and speaking out about my MS diagnosis and how to navigate the diagnosis with a positive mindset.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

Angela Duckworth’s Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance is essentially a blueprint for building high-performing, resilient organizations. While the book draws heavily from psychology, sports, and education, its core formula that grit trumps talent when it comes to long-term success and maps perfectly onto the corporate world.

A key component of grit is how people practice. Gritty individuals don’t just mindlessly repeat a task; they engage in deliberate practice. In a business context, this means breaking down job performance into specific, microscopic skills, intentionally practicing them, seeking immediate feedback, and repeating.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

There is a unique kind of quiet that arrives when life demands you reinvent how you move through it. I was diagnosed with MS. It wasn’t just a medical diagnosis; it was an uninvited passenger that rewrote the rules of my day-to-day existence. In the beginning, the diagnosis felt like a thief, threatening to steal the predictability of my body, energy, and my future.

But Multiple Sclerosis wasn’t the only storm I had to navigate. Life, in its beautiful and brutal complexity, had also brought the heavy, hollow ache of loss. The kind of loss that leaves an empty chair at the table and a permanent scar on the heart. There were days when the combined weight of physical fatigue and emotional grief felt like trying to walk through deep water. I’ve loss 2 babies during pregnancy, my mom and a significant other.

There were days of frustration, of course days when my body refused to cooperate or when the memory of loss caught me off guard in the middle of a quiet afternoon. But I learned to listen to my body instead of fighting it. I learned that resting wasn’t quitting, and that asking for support was an act of courage, not weakness.

The diagnosis was a chapter, the losses were profound paragraphs, but I held the pen. I was still here. Still loving, still healing, still guiding, and still fiercely stepping into tomorrow one resilient, intentional step at a time. That’s how I choose to live.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/walkbyfaith901
• Facebook: Tammy Duke-Feltz