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.

Idit Sharoni | Relationship Expert

Yes, there definitely was a defining moment. It was during a session with a couple in the aftermath of infidelity. It was their second session and only one of them showed up – the one who had an affair. I asked him “where is your wife?” and he replied “She didn’t want to come”. “Why?’ I asked him and he said the following “Because you said you don’t have a roadmap to healing after infidelity and she wants someone with a roadmap”. She never came back and I ended up working with him only. But the lesson I learned would change everything about how I do my work with couples. I realized couples who are struggling in their relationships need a roadmap. Read more>>

Soyini Hawkins | Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgeon, Owner and Medical Director of Fibroid and Pelvic Wellness Center of Georgia

The defining moment in my career was when I decided to take a leap of faith and venture out on my own and into the world of private practice. In my very first job out of training, I felt I had hit the lottery. I found a work home that was willing to take a risk on me, even though I came highly recommended with demonstrable exceptional surgical and interpersonal skills. I know they felt assured that they found a good fit in me for their practice and as a new hire. I began in a position that was welcoming and immediately hit the ground running and proving my skills and work ethics. Read more>>

Dr. Heather Hahn | Business Owner & Licensed Professional Counselor – Supervisor

My love for counseling began in the 4th grade after experiencing a family tragedy. Since then, I have felt a calling to serve others who are experiencing hardship, pain, and/or suffering. While I’ve been certain in my professional calling, the road to identifying my current path was a journey. In the counseling field, a person must obtain tremendous levels of training and experience before being able to practice on their own as a licensed counselor. During this training, I worked in a juvenile detention center – post adjudication, worked in the field of addictions, as well as provided services in the outpatient, inpatient, and residential settings. Read more>>

Catherine Hollingsworth | Acupuncturist

The pandemic has been a huge learning experience for me, in so many ways. I had been running a solo practice in Miami for five years. I never was hugely successful there but always survived month by month. I had many moments of doubt in those five years: did my work matter? Was I going to be able to support myself? Was I any good at acupuncture? When the pandemic hit, I did not have enough reserves to weather the shutdown so I quickly realized I needed to take drastic action. I chose to relocate to Charlotte, NC. It was in this transition that I learned to value my work, trust myself, and build a healthy practice with the support of my family. Read more>>

Robert Andrews | Mental Health Professional/Mental Training/Performance Expert

In 2007 I was somewhat stagnant in my career as a mental health professional. The passion was fading. One day I checked my messages and had three cancellations that day. I was frustrated. I hit the counter and said out loud “alright God, if this isn’t what you want me to do, then show me what it is.”. The next day I was out eating lunch with my wife. I had the clearest vision come to me of I was supposed to do. I was supposed to use all of the experience and training I had in treating trauma and use that to help injured athletes overcome the mental and emotional impact of serious sports related injuries. I had a very emotional reaction to that vision. Read more>>

Minsu Blanca | Physiotherapist/Holistic Medicine Practitione

I always knew that I wanted to help people. As a little girl my dream was to be a medical doctor. I was on my way to medical school when I went to see a psychotherapist for a past life regression, something that I always wanted to do since I was a senior in high school after reading Many Lives Many Masters by Brian Wise. During the intake the therapist asked me what I did, and I told her I was a physical therapist and had just been accepted to medical school. She asked me if I had ever considered going to healing school since I had already the palpation skills obtained as a PT she thought I would be a great healer. I had never heard of healing school nor knew what that would even look like. It just sounded so very Harry Potter! Read more>>

Misty Rauscher | Transformational Life Coach

I had been a professional doula for 12 years and one particular evening I sat across from a couple getting ready to have their first baby. Instead of talking about stages of labor, comfort measures, or when to go to the hospital, we dove into the break down in communication within their marriage and made a bucket list of dates they wanted to do before the baby came. I knew in that moment, my gift for helping people went far beyond the delivery room and was needed for every woman who wanted to life a happier life. Read more>>

Maribel Corona LPC-S | Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor, Registered Play Therapist Supervisor

It was a struggle to be the mental health first responder to my clients during the pandemic. We were all struggling and keeping our own mental well-being in check was more important than ever, in order to offer my clients’ the support and guidance they deserve. I have been a Licensed Professional Counselor for over fourteen years and although I’ve overcome many hurdles when treating clients, nothing prepared me to be a mental health provider during a global pandemic. I’m not exempt from the same stress exposure many of my clients were facing and my own coping skills and self-care routine were tested to the max. Read more>>

Patrick Pinkard | Personal Trainer

I worked in Corporate America, punching a time clock for over 20 plus years. I had moved up within the company to a managerial position, but realized it was just a job and not my passion. I had always thought one day, I want to be my own boss. I have always enjoyed working out and being physically fit. I decided to attend a Personal Training program and soon learned this was not only my passion but an opportunity to start my own business. A leap of faith came when I left my corporate job, the city I lived in and moved to the DFW area to pursue my dream. If I could give any person the wisdom, I have learned it is this, Believe in yourself and your dreams. don’t doubt yourself and never give up on reaching those goals and dreams. Read more>>

Charla Truesdale | Warrior Spirit Project Founder

My head has always been full of thoughts and ideas, and that certainly holds true for my inspiration in starting and leading Warrior Spirit Project. For years, I had tucked away, but occasionally revisited the idea of providing yoga classes for combat veterans with Post Traumatic Stress (PTS). I had been teaching yoga since 2001, starting at a local fitness center in Jacksonville, NC when 9/11 occurred. Most of my classes from 2002 forward were held on overseas U.S. military bases, but in those locations we still weren’t fully comprehending the effects of deployment on returning service members. I just felt like yoga would be helpful in some way and that I would need to create a special program or design for offering these classes to this particular population. Read more>>

Chris Martin | CEO, Author, Producer, Father and Husband

In 2010, I was sick with Crohns working for a local restaurant as a Chef. I had always used cannabis to help feel better but never knew it was actually help heal my condition. After being diagnosed in 2007, cannabis went medically legal in Arizona my wife and I decided to become care givers. We helped supply patients with meds for those who needed due to no dispensaries opening for three years. In 2012, everything changed. We were raided for the very meds that we’re saving our lives. My wife and I were facing a combined 27 felonies and a combined 150+ years in prison. While fighting our case, we converted all of our THC products to CBD products not only to show people they’re essentially the same plant but to also stay relevant and to feed my family. They always say a Phoenix rises from the ashes during hard times, hence, Hempful Farms was born. Read more>>

Michael Alessandri | Clinical Professor and Executive Director

Upon graduation from high school, I volunteered with a friend at summer camp for children with developmental disabilities near my home in New York. On my very first day, the staff asked me to support one young African American boy with autism, a condition I had never heard of until that moment. That one day changed my entire life. I was so in awe of this young boy and so inspired to understand him better. He was like no other person I had ever met and I was simply enthralled by his uniqueness. That night I told my parents I knew what I was going to do with the rest of my life, and that was in 1981 and I have spend every day since then devoted to working with the autism community. Read more>>

Lisa Nicholson | Licensed Acupuncturist

I’ve been a licensed acupuncturist for over 20 years. Initially, my practice focused on sports and occupational medicine and most of my patients were either healthy athletes, veterans, or younger women trying to manage horrible cycles. Then, in 2017, I found a small lump in my left breast. I went through all the steps – mammogram, ultrasound, biopsy, and was ultimately diagnosed with breast cancer. I was scared to death, as much about the treatments as the disease. I had watched my mother’s mother die from ovarian cancer, her father die of prostate cancer, and then my father’s mother die from breast cancer. In all three cases, my grandparents were seemingly healthy until beginning treatment, and then everything went sideways in a hurry. Read more>>

Monica Vidrio | Esthetician/Business Owner

Yes, like most business owners in my industry, 2020 was a defining moment for me personally and professionally, In March 2020, I closed my business for what I thought would be just 2 weeks, the lockdown ended up extending for 10 months. It was a rollercoaster of emotions. I tried applying for a PPE loan but was quickly denied. I am not a stranger to overcoming challenges. I knew if I wanted to avoid permanently shutting down, I would have to pivot and work through the challenges. I had been procrastinating on updating my website to sell retail, but the pandemic ultimately pushed me to create an online retail store almost overnight. Read more>>

Angela Tran | Medical Weight Loss Doctor

I started my medical practice back in 2012. On March 16, 2020, we got the news that businesses had to be on lockdown due to COVID. I still remember it clearly today going into the office, telling my team that we were required to close and that I had no idea what was going to happen next. Nobody knew. So we got the team together, we all got zoom accounts, internet phone lines, and figured out what we needed to do to keep this business going online. In a matter of 2 days, my team and I ‘virtually’ pivoted our entire practice to being 100% online. Much like every other business, we did everything we could to keep the business open. Read more>>