Every once in a while, something happens that really matters. Something that will define at least the next chapter of your journey – perhaps it’s a conversation with a client, a meeting with a visionary or a major event in your personal life. Below, you’ll find some very insightful folks sharing defining moments from their journeys.
Tori Vargas
I always wanted to pursue a career in science, as my entire undergraduate degree was planning to enter graduate school for nursing or medical school. Pre-med academic training was intense with studying, memorization, clinical research, tests, and peer reviewed literature. Read more>>
Rebekah Yigael
I experienced many twists and turns as a teen, with grief and trauma becoming a core part of my story early on. After losing my grandma as well as my father, it started to feel like death and darkness followed me wherever I went. My relationship with my dad was a tumultuous one, and his passing further complicated my feelings towards him and how I was raised. Read more>>
Angel Liang
Given my academic and research background, I have had the privilege of being immersed in the latest and most innovative research and information. It wasn’t until after having my own children that I was surprised by how many of my non-academic friends who were now also parents were frustrated with their daily parenting decisions. Even as competent working adults, they were at a loss at coping with their new role as parents’, dealing with temper tantrums, and struggling with big emotions and communication barriers. Read more>>
Dr Nitin Bhatnagar
too long to explain but in short was unhealthy and told everyone hoe to live healthy but did not do it for myself Read more>>
Natassia Williamson
I don’t believe there was one defining moment in my professional career that changed my trajectory however a sequence of events that brought me to this point. Read more>>
Rebecca Clegg
I began and spent the better part of the first decade of my career doing traditional psychotherapy before I came to the work I do now as a holistic psychotherapist and somatic healer. Holistic psychotherapy refers to an integrative approach that incorporates both traditional and non-traditional treatments to help people heal. Read more>>
Deidra Kindred
Let’s see. I will start with the fact, that I never wanted to be a nurse. I was going to college after graduating from high school to obtain a degree as a CPA. The attached video explains my story much better than me retyping the story. Read more>>
Kara Strauss
I used to work in marketing, and met one of my very best friends when I was in a job that would be my last in the field. This friend and I were working in the production room one day, and she paused and asked me, “Kara, do you ever feel like you’re just not where you belong?” Read more>>
Amanda Sundblad
My moment was defined when I found myself inside a unique spa, after receiving a massage while I was out of town for a weekend trip away. I knew that my body needed a massage and didn’t care where I got one, as long as I could try to relax and destress. I didn’t research this spa, just picked the first one I saw in the area that had the date available. Read more>>
Ashley Bright
I have a back ground as a social worker in skilled nursing facilities. I once had a patient who came to us after having had a stroke that left her without the ability to move or speak, and she was being kept alive via feeding tube. She had a living will that stated she did not want to be kept alive through artificial means, but her two children could not agree on whether to withhold the artificial nutrition or keep her alive with no quality of life. Read more>>
Tony Arreola
Winter of 1999, I was in my second year at UC Irvine, on my way to becoming an engineer. But that Christmas, my life changed forever. I received the worst news ever, two days before my 21st birthday. My 19-year-old brother, Richard, was tragically killed in a car accident. Read more>>
Jonathan Weimer
It was the final semester of chiropractic school and my last clinical rotation was at the St. Louis VA Medical Center – Jefferson Barracks, working in the spinal cord injury unit. Our school was part of a pilot program within the VA hospital system that involved treating chronic pain patients using an integrative medicine approach [Mayo Clinic Definition: Read more>>
Sherinata Pollock
I actually had two defining moments in my career that are important to share with the reader: The first was back in 2013 when I was working as a successful Intuitive Life Coach. By the time 1 pm rolled around every afternoon, I would get slight headaches and extreme fatigue. Read more>>
Adrea Curry
I have been practicing as a Registered Nurse since 2008. Nursing has provided me with invaluable information and experience that I can never take for granted. However, I have always had a passion to help people in other capacities rather than just in a traditional medical sense. Read more>>
Joanna Tarnava
If we are lucky enough in life and business, there are many, and not just in hindsight, but awareness in the moment that if we choose A or B or move left or right that our lives will dramatically change. Along with these positive impactful situations, I’ve also had detrimental ones based on lack of self worth – we are human beings out here doing our best. Read more>>
Ryan Iwamoto
“My grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2005 and we were faced with the challenge of finding quality care for her. She was one of the inspirations for starting 24 Hour Home Care and an amazing testimonial for the magic of receiving home care. She lived to be 101 years old, living in her own home with a caregiver that entire time until she passed in 2019. Read more>>
Ryan Hughes
In 2017, I took a job as an art instructor for adults living with developmental disabilities. It was at this moment that I realized the significance not only of committing myself to my creative passions, but also of sharing this gift with others to help make a positive difference. Read more>>
Emily Sloan
For eight years prior to opening my own private practice, I worked as a therapist in various agency and community settings. These formative experiences offered me a strong foundation in working with a wide variety of the ways in which trauma impacts us all. I loved what I did. Even as it completely burned me out. Read more>>
Cathie Cain, MHt., SGM
Before I became a Clinical and Transpersonal Hypnotherapist and Master Hypnotist in 2008, I was a mortgage banker for 20 years. It was a very interesting thing that I was a mortgage banker, because I don’t strike most people as the kind of person who likes to crunch numbers…in fact, I come across quite the opposite, which is probably why I did so well. I wasn’t the typical sales person you would expect in a loan officer position. Read more>>
Ronnie Harvey
This defining moment is marked by ten years of business and programming. The Apprentice of Peace youth org have provided before and after school programing for the last ten years and our programming has grown to incorporate the L.A.W.S of life, Leadership, Arts, Wellness and skill trades. Read more>>
Sarah Jane Chapman
Vivianne Arriola
After completing my post-doctoral requirements at UF for my licensure, I returned back to work at the private practice on Miami Beach where I initially began my training more than decade before. I stayed in touch with the owner of that practice during my academic and professional development, and we became friends and colleagues. throughout the process. Read more>>
Shannon Mitchell-Curtis
Yes, and I’m so happy you asked. My defining moment was when I made the decision to switch to all things “clean beauty” and could not fine clean beauty. There was not one product on the market that I came across that didn’t have a paraben phthalate, PEG or a controversial preservative in its formulation. Read more>>
Sophia Yen, MD, MPH
I realized that as a woman of color that what we were taught in school works for white women who want to bleed every month. However, for Asian people, Black people, and those who don’t want to bleed every month, there are better options to start with. So I came up with a better algorithm for birth control pill prescription. Read more>>
Brittany Heyne
The back story: The reason I began training in the first place and how it changed my life. Sports were always a huge part of my life growing up. This was until I got into high school, and other factors became involved – boys and dating. I was in a relationship my entire 4 years of high school, and that’s when it all changed. I began skipping practices, missing games, and eventually, quit my senior year of high school for a boy. Read more>>