Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Stephanie Weeks. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Stephanie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.
Taking a risk on myself. That is hard as a person. Usually, we have confidence in others more than ourselves. The risk of my 2 different YouTube channels, my course, my mortgage business, , my book, my podcast. I come from modest beginnings. My dad had a 6th grade education, and my mom did not further her education until adulthood. There were times our family had to share cans of vegetables as our dinner and there was not always enough left for mom. From my upbringing, I saw the limitations lack of education or lack of risk taking or being stuck in bad relationships. I wanted better for myself. I wanted better for my future children. I created my non-negotiables and ran with it. Luckily, I turned out with the best husband and daughter anyone could ask for! As far as career, my risks have allowed us to live an incredible life filled with choices, FUN, luxury, options, and travel. Not without TONS of hard work and long hours but still. Why I did it, because I wanted to change the DNA, the Karma, the lineage of issues from my ancestors. To Change the Money Karama. To change the health issues. To BE different. To DO different. My newest venture is taking a risk managing all the above and fighting for my life after a breast cancer diagnosis. I have just made 45 and as planned I am living the next chapter of my life! I had the childhood chapter, then 17-25 with my husband, at 25 our daughter joined us. Then at 45, she would be in college and hubs, and I would be so young and a whole second lifetime to live. I had so many goals for such a modest upbringing and so far I have accomplished almost all. I say that- not to brag- so that readers can be inspired…. ANYONE can do it. Attend SNL – YEP- it took over 15 years but YEP. Been in the audience at the Ellen show- Yep. it took a year of writing weekly, sending videos, and publishing videos on social even standing on my head! Persistence Paid off! and so much more! We just must THINK we can, put in the work, and magic can happen….
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
20 years ago, I decided I wanted to get into finance, so I researched it, wrote a crazy letter to the head of a bank basically saying- I do what I want. I get what I want. I want to be in lending and don’t let me slip by because I will be the best in the industry! I made it to the top 1% out of over 300k loan officers for several years. I have been interviewed on podcasts, in magazines, featured on covers of same, interviewed on the news several times and more. I wrote the book called Mortgage Peace; I have a YouTube on mortgage finance with over 200 videos. It has been 20 years of a crazy ride.
I started a podcast on Living your Dharma. I did over 40 episodes. In Jan 2021, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I have not been able to maintain the podcast over these last 2 years BUT I will pick it back up. I LOVE IT! I was able to interview so many amazing people including Jim Stoval!
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Breast Cancer and Finding the Beauty in it! Funny how things come full circle! When I lived at home it was easy to blame my parents for everything. My mom always said, you cannot leave this house until you finish high school (because neither her nor my dad did). On the last day of high school, it was a half day, I left the class and drove to an apartment complex to rent my first apt. It was only $300 a month and I was free! Now it was all on me. The abuse no longer mattered. The issues no longer mattered. Their sh*tty marriage no longer mattered. The crazy strict rules no longer mattered! It was on ME and I decided I could continue to be the angry teen with issues and continue to be the victim or overcome. So, I chose to overcome it and it was not easy! Yoga, meditation, exercise, reading books, positive affirmations. It took years and 26 years later it is still an active work in progress.
Another part of this journey is the health issues within my family. My Great Grandma died of cancer, my grandma was always sick and obese, my uncle died of cancer and my dad was always sick. He had diabetes, anemia, experienced several strokes and was in a nursing home full time by 50! However, witnessing all of their lack of exercise, eating habits, liquid intake habits, & lack of nutrition it led me to study health and nutrition.
I have been using home remedies for 25 years. I have been juicing for 25 years. I have been regimented with my nutrition and what I put in my body for 25 years. I have been prophylactic for years! I have been doing IV vitamin drips for Years, before even the celebrities were doing it and there are now IV bars (which makes me so happy). When my mom got breast cancer 11 years ago, she asked for my help. I told her I would support whatever her decision would be, but I recommended a holistic approach with nutrition, exercise, and alternative/ integrative medicine. I was COMPLETELY against chemo and radiation. (god sure does have a sense of humor! You will see as you read on). In a few short months, my mom lost 40 lbs. and the tumor shrank. She had a double mastectomy and did not follow the traditional medical plan of chemo followed by radiation. She is still cancer free!!! I went to all her doctor appointments with her, asked lots of questions and discussed some of my theories with them. Several doctors asked if I was in medical school. And I am like, no, not even close! I just read and study. Even before mom had cancer, I have been studying cancer causes and cures for probably 20+ years.
Breast Cancer. The fear, the anxiety, the unknown, the Major issue with chemo drugs and radiation. It is crazy how much God/the universe can challenge us. God knew that if he gave me any other type of breast cancer, I would have gone the complete holistic way AND I would have not slowed down. I would have continued in the grind and fit the treatment into my schedule. I had aggressive AND invasive stage 3 Grade 3B Triple Negative breast cancer AND it was in my lymph! With that, the good news is the treatment has an AMAZING survival rate. The BAD news is without chemo and without radiation, I was guaranteed a death sentence. The doctor said we basically throw an atomic bomb at your body! Oh my! The crazy thing is that Hundreds of people said verbatim, when they found out about my diagnosis, OH MY GOD! YOU ARE THE HEALTHIEST PERSON I KNOW! When I met with my general practitioner who was my integrative doctor, I was crying. I do EVERYTHING right…. WTF>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> she said…. Stephanie, you have been preparing for this your whole life. You just didn’t know it! You see, for 18 years I have been in an insanely high stress with no true vacation career that is 24/7 and if you don’t someone else will and you lose the sale. There were 2 huge factors that contributed…. Here is the story: in June of 2020, my husband found a lump. Not me, he did. I did thermography, mammography, blood work, a biopsy which all came back benign. 2020 was hard. Take my crazy stress job and add to it that I had to move everyone to remote and not only set all that up but train around it to make sure we could fully function. Plus, you had people losing their jobs the day of closing or in the process of home buying/refinancing. There were changes in the mortgage world daily! It was impossible to keep up with! Many nights in 2020, I worked all day then all night then all day NEVER sleeping! In the very first days of January 2021, I had a major breakdown. I mean major! My sister is my right hand in my business…. I called her and I was Screaming and crying, it was bad. I told her “ I CANNOT DO THIS ANYMORE… I CANNOT live like this anymore….” And looking back, it was like watching a movie and the next parts of the scene go like this…. I say those words, I scream to the heavens, and clouds pouring and lightning crashes but then the Universe says: YOU GOT IT SISTER! Your wish is my command. YEP about 15 days later, it all came crashing. Do not get me wrong… all cancer sucks but god made sure it was something that STOPPED me in my tracks… aggressive AND invasive stage 3 Grade 3B Triple Negative hormone. Well here is the other part to that story…. The doctor told me that even though I was healthy that doesn’t prevent cancer as EVERYTHING can have an effect. Such as technology. She said these two young girls Across the WORLD from each other… 15 years old and presenting with aggressive breast cancer…. Unheard of! Guess what.. They both always kept their Phone in their BRA!!! I stopped in my tracks, put my phone in my bra where I always had for many years and the tumor was RIGHT THERE in the exact spot and even super close to the skin!!!!!!!
What makes me resilient? I survive! I overcome! Sheer determination! Coming from poverty to being a millionaire by the time I was 40, surviving and overcoming breast cancer, having the self-motivation to becoming a top 1% successful Loan Officer in the country with amazing reviews, and trying to bring optimism and positivity to others. Instead of saying F cancer like most people do, I focused on finding the beauty in Cancer.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
When deciding to find the beauty in cancer and realizing I would have to do radiation and chemo, I decided I was going to have a damn good time doing it! I had to Pivot how many hours I worked. I pivoted my podcast to be updates on my condition versus interviewing others (for now). I dressed up for every infusion. A fairy, a princess, an ice queen, a SNL cheerleader, a unicorn and more! The wigs were wild and crazy. 1 was so big, I kept hitting it on the wall LOL. I left a trail of glitter every time! I would hang my wigs on the IV cart. It was so funny. Being very much NOT wanting to do chemo or radiation after studying cancer treatments for many years, I HAD to come to the realization that it was going to happen. So, I had to combine Eastern and Western medicine which was not a goal. Mindset is EVERYTHING. I protected my space of how people spoke around me, addressed medications with negative connotation, etc. I HAD to change my mindset with things such as the chemo being liquid gold that flowed through my body and gathered and cleared what it needed to and left without too much harm. I applied all that I had learned after many years of reading, learning, and educating myself. I did things including but not limited to chemo, radiation, Reike energy healing, massage therapy, juicing, supplements, hydration, vitamin drips, colonics, mediation, and so much more!
Contact Info:
- Website: StephanieWeeks.com
- Instagram: _TheRealStephanieWeeks
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stephanie.weeks.988
- Twitter: LoanLady_Steph
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/StephanieWeeks
- Other: https://www.stephanieweeks.com/dharmaproject