As an outsider, breaking into an industry can often seem like an impossible challenge and so we reached out to some very generous folks who agreed to share their stories of how they broke into their respective industries.

Diane Numark

My heart raced as I ran from my house to my favorite place in the world, “Pop Physique.” I didn’t want to be late for Michelle’s barre class. It was liberating to drop the kids at pre-school and have a place where friends gather to hangout and get fit. But today, I was nervous. Michelle asked me to stay after class. That had never happened before. I wondered if something was wrong. Read more>>

Tamilee Webb

Back in the 1980’s aerobic dance studios were just getting started. I was in college and loved to dance and be active so I got a job at the first Aerobic Dance Studio in town. That was my start to Group exercise. I went on to lead large group classes at Chico State University, Chico where I was working on my Master’s degree in Exercise science. Read more>>

Nadia Jimenez

While finishing up my last clinical hours at massage school, a recruiter from a locally owned massage studio, came In to speak with us students and offered us an interview with an opportunity to discuss possible employment post graduation & completion of the course. Read more>>

Monique Derouen

Fresh out of highschool, I stepped into the world of cosmetology with dreams of success in self-employment. Enthusiasm fueled my vision of creative freedom and setting my own schedule. However, reality of being a young mom and wife quickly replaced these ideals with a steep learning curve. Read more>>

Krista Zeiter

Going to school to become an art therapist looks very similar to other medical fields. You complete a Masters degree, then 1-2 years of internships, then you can apply for your license long board where you begin another 2 years of supervised work. Now, as a creative and neurodivergent person, I barely made it though high school. I struggled with academics my whole life and never thought I would go to school for a masters until I found the field of Art Therapy. It felt like a culmination in everything I was good at; being creative, and helping others move through emotions. Read more>>

Kadi Bain

I found Pilates in 2003 and fell in love with the workout! At the time I was a pharmaceutical sales representative. I decided to leave my job & pursue my passion and start my training to become a certified Pilates instructor. I went through a different trainings and got my certification in Pilates, Barre, and Lagree fitness. This ultimately lead me to start teaching Pilates at a studio in Centennial Co before opening my own studio. Read more>>

 Janelle Martin

In 2017, we discovered that my 17 year old daughter was using drugs. Horrified and still in denial, we believed her when she told us she would stop. By the end of that year, she had spiraled downward into a very dark place, and we again caught her using drugs. She defiantly refused to stop using. It was the middle of her senior year of high school, and I sent her to live with her father in Arizona on January 1, 2018. My heart was absolutely broken. I was scheduled to attend a conference a few weeks later, where a presentation about neurofeedback was given, and I was blown away. I had never heard of a way to heal the brain like that, and I wanted to know more. Actually, I wanted to DO it! When I returned home, I looked into how to get trained to do neurofeedback, realized I was qualified with my educational background and began to make plans to do the training. However, by March, things had gone so poorly with my daughter and her father that we had a crisis on our hands. She was still using, was failing school, and threatening to run away. There was a physical altercation between my daughter and her dad, and it was clear she needed help far beyond what we could do for her. I found her a drug rehab specifically for teens in Phoenix, and she entered treatment on March 23, 2018. I completely forgot about neurofeedback as we were focused on saving my daughter’s life. Read more>>

Evan Carr

I got my first job in marketing and communications in March 2012 a little while after graduating from USC Upstate and a couple of stints in finance and customer service. I actually interned in marketing and promotions at our local CBS and CW affiliates WSPA 7 and WYCW 62 and also did graphic design for the Carolinian newspaper at USC Upstate and blogged for the University Communications department. I also was somewhat a pioneer with video blogging and social media influencing (at least in Upstate, South Carolina) – my original YouTube channel has stayed online since April 2007, and I have always edited videos and been ahead of the curve when it came to being on and innovating on social media (have had Facebook since September 2006 and Twitter and LinkedIn since Fall 2008). At the time, I eventually wanted to go into a larger role in digital marketing and public relations or even go back into television and radio communications. I even originally planned to start a Livestream interview channel back in 2009-2010 (long before many others outside the entertainment industry started doing it). Since I worked at a smaller company starting in 2012, there were less hoops to jump through and red tape to break, and I landed my job three days after interviewing and a brief reference check. Although there were some challenges and struggles at times, I am glad I ended up where I did because I learned a lot about business as well as honed my craft, stayed a good four-and-a-half years and met some people who became like family and who I’m still friends with today. Read more>>

Lovinda Dabo

My first job in the field actually still stands as being my favorite job. I worked as a middle school mental health counselor and kept that job in the same school for 5 years. Shout out to Bret Harte Middle School in Hayward,CA! I loved every minute of it and grew to love not only the kids but my awesome coworkers Ms. Tracy, Ms. Cynthia, Mr. Barbosa, Ms. Morgan, Ms. Sargent, and so many more! Read more>>

Marissa Elliott

I think like every injector (or at least every one that I know!) it was a “right time, right place” kind of thing. I was working on a transplant unit for a major hospital in our area and honestly, very over it. I had worked for some med spas in the past and was approached about a new one opening up. (Spoiler: my mother in law was the owner begging me to join the team). At first, I was only there to help get things off the ground. But I quickly fell in love with aesthetics- it was such a different environment than the hospital. People LOVED being there. I started with medical services like microneedle, lasers, body contouring and spent the next 2 years training under advanced injectors to really hone my skills. While yes it’s a stressful job, and requires much more work and education than my previous jobs, I would never look back. I absolutely adore my job, my team and my patients. Read more>>

Crystal Kelly

The way I got my first job was by putting myself out there after a few years of practicing and learning! I shared on instagram about some of my experiences as I went along my healing journey and what I was learning as I grew expanding into myself and my gifts. I made a webpage called Surrender to Soul and started offering intuitive readings online as a service. I also went to festivals to do readings, was hired to do readings at birthday parties and at retreats, friends and past clients referred me, and every time I did a reading my connection with myself and with my gifts and confidence that I was going in the right direction continued to grow. Read more>>

Lindsay Hess

The doorway into my current field started after becoming a certified yoga teacher. I live in a place with a pretty saturated yoga market and so getting a foot in the door and creating a name for myself was going to be tough. At that time, I decided that if it was going to be tough anyways, I might as well create everything from the ground up myself. I chose to go out on my own from the very beginning. I found a little art studio to teach yoga classes in at night. I had no idea how to run a business at that time, no community or following. I remember actually being scared that if I listed myself on google, too many people would come, so ironically, I held myself back out of fear of being “too successful”. I would sit there, in this little studio, night after night when nobody would show up, asking myself what I was thinking. Questioning if I should have just gone the traditional yoga studio route. I remember saying to myself, “someday, I’m going to be so happy I did this. Someday, I’m going to have an entire community, where my classes are full and people are eager to learn from me.” It took years, but it finally happened. If I had to do it over again, I wouldn’t change a thing. Every step of the way was there for a reason and helped me grow as a person and within my own journey. I wouldn’t be who I am or where I am today without all of the hardship. Im grateful for every part of my story. Read more>>

Loren Sofia

My journey to where I am all started with my less-than-stellar experience with the hormonal birth control pill. I initially started taking it in my early 20s to help my skin. After years on it, it stopped working and I decided I didn’t want to be on a medication that wasn’t working anymore. But then, I experienced post-birth control syndrome, which is an amalgamation of symptoms that can come after getting off hormonal contraceptives. My skin became 10X worse and I started experiencing new symptoms (not to mention the ones I experienced while on the pill like subclinical hypothyroidism, candida, melasma, pre-diabetes, and others). Read more>>

Lynn Garza

My first job after cosmetology schools was in an Aveda salon. It was a small salon with only 8 stylists. Aveda, if you’re not familiar with the brand, is a very niche Ayurvedic product line. I had to to retrain myself from basically everything I learned in school during my apprenticeship. I worked for an amazing woman who was trying to elevate the salon industry to be respected in the business community and profitable. She believed in us and had a larger vision. I was 22 years old and had no idea at the time how much the core practices both technically and business wise would follow me throughout my career. I’m forever grateful for the opportunity to have worked with her. Her name is Myra English and to this day still owns a reputable Aveda Salon in Defiance Ohio. Read more>>