We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Anna Nyman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Anna, appreciate you joining us today. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

The defining moment in my professional career that stands out the most, in fact, has nothing to do with my career and everything to do with my wellbeing.

I graduated Magnum Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s in Statistics & Exercise Science from St. Lawrence University. The summer leading into my senior year I experienced an internship as a Data Analyst in Stamford, Connecticut at the Nestle Waters North America headquarters.

I was honored to have been chosen for such an esteemed internship. It came with all the excitement you could hope your first internship comes with: a summer of adventure, experience, and what a lot of internships don’t come with – a pay check.

The defining moment that changed the trajectory of my career didn’t happen in a conference room or in the CEO’s presentation for all the interns that summer. It happened on the Merritt Parkway on my way home one afternoon. There I was in my parent’s Honda HR-V they had leant me for the summer realizing this isn’t what I wanted.

I didn’t want to commute 90 minutes to and from work each day in bumper to bumper traffic. I didn’t want to leave home at 6 a.m. and arrive home at dark, only to be left with a fraction of freedom to live the rest of my life. I was young, only 20 years old at the time, and I already knew this life that I was told I should want, was the farthest thing from what I wanted. It didn’t matter the salary or the security that could come from a corporate career, I knew I was meant for something different, something more, and thanks to this singular moment I exited the Parkway that day knowing I was doing something big: I was following my heart and it’s paid off more than I could have ever hoped.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I entered the industry I’m in long before I even realized. I was an athlete my entire childhood, and continued at an elite level of sport as a D1 nordic skier into college. I developed an eating disorder as a young girl, and this was as challenge I faced amidst my athletic endeavors for many years. As a result of these experiences I eventually had to face my recovery head on. In the process I developed a deep passion for living in harmony and health with my body. And as I dove deeper into repairing the relationship I had with myself-both physically and mentally-I realized that this wholeness was and is something everyone should know in their lifetime.

I could feel my purpose developing as I continued on the road to loving my body and being. And it only deepened when I went through a divorce and annulment from an abusive marriage after spending 10 years in that relationship.

Every day I show up for my community I’m standing behind the mission to inspire hope and healing. That everyone is capable and worthy of it.

This year I am celebrating 10 years of leading people as an experienced Yoga Alliance Certified Yoga Teacher. This practice not only helped me heal the relationship I had with my body, it has allowed me to empower each one of my students in a unique way.

After 11 years of personal experience in athletics, I have spent 4 years honing my skills as an ACE Certified Personal Trainer, changing the lives of the clients I work with both in-person and virtually by empowering them to tap into their strength in mind and body.

And because being our best isn’t solely physical, I support clients in a 1:1 setting as both

(1) an Emotion Code Practitioner-The Emotion Code is a form of energy healing developed by Dr. Bradley Nelson that helps reinstate whole-being balance by releasing emotional energies that have become trapped in the body
(2) As what I have come to term a Rebuild-Your-Life Coach. I’m not just helping people move through life, I’m helping them rebuild from challenges they’ve faced.

Whether I’m leading a yoga class, writing a workout plan, or sitting face to face with a human who wants and needs support in transforming their habits and limiting beliefs to overcome their past, I am guiding the people I work with to live in true alignment with who they were created to be.

I am solving a problem that affects millions of people in the world we live in today: feeling lost, afraid, unworthy, disconnected, and worst of all, defeated with little hope that things would or could change for the better in the future. There is far too much settling out there in the world, imagine if we all refused to settle? Imagine if we knew our worth, were clear on our purpose, didn’t view setbacks as failure, but rather as lessons with re-directon?

That world is the one I’m on a mission to help cultivate.

I am most proud of my willingness to say yes to the non-traditional career path I’ve followed, because that was the first necessary thing to set the movement of the community I’m building in motion.

It’s a movement of hope.
It’s a movement of healing.
It’s a movement of faith.
It’s a movement of radical pursuit of true purpose.

And this sets me and my community apart because I am not just helping them in a single aspect of their life, I am helping them holistically as the multidimensional beings they are.

I want potential clients/followers/fans to know I’m human, I’m real, and incredibly imperfect. But that doesn’t change how worthy I was and still am of stepping into this truest version of me. Now being remarried in a healthy and loving relationship, and seeing all of my dreams coming true before my eyes, I know that all of the pain I’ve faced in the past was part of it. It all prepared me for this present moment. Same goes for them, no matter what they’ve been through, it does not change how worthy they are of rebuilding their life into the one they’ve dreamt of. In fact, what they’ve been through is all part of the process of preparing them for their true purpose. As Tony Robbins has said time and time again, “Our pain is our purpose. And “our mess is our message.”

I originally named my brand whollybanAnna because it was cute and funny, a play on the name my friends and family called me as a little girl: Anna Banana. When I started sharing my story and showing up in the online space back in 2017 I was heavily focused on food and fitness, so mixing my nickname and a play on this element of food felt fitting.

After living a bit more life, in 2024 I rebranded as Wholly by Anna because what I am here to do is support people in reclaiming the wholeness they were created with. We are physical, we are emotional, we are spiritual beings. Plus so much more.

But simply said, we are whole.
And despite what we’ve been through, that is a birth right we all have a right to come back to.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

“You’re making up a story you’re too afraid to go back on.”

These are words I internalized when hearing them en route to divorce. I spent years internalizing similar limiting self-beliefs leading up to the difficult decision to separate: I was better off alone, my dreams were too big, I was too much and I was hard to love. Eventually I started to believe all these-what I now know to be-lies, thinking no one would ever care to hear my truth—or worse, that they’d never believe me.

When I finally left and began the process of healing, I had no idea how deep the wounds of self-doubt and shame actually ran. I felt terrified—unsure of myself, unsure of who I could trust, and unsure if my voice mattered at all. For a while I stayed quiet, letting fear win. I paused my work, my mission, my voice—and for a year and a half, I stepped away to simply exist and find my footing again.

I’d like to say the comeback was 100% resilience on my part, but truthfully it wasn’t. It was also support from the ones I love and love me in return, and strength from God above. Over time, slowly, piece by piece, I claimed my resilience that I had always had inside. I began speaking up again, testing the waters, and to my surprise, people responded: “I needed this.” Those words reminded me that my voice wasn’t just for me—it was for the women who felt unseen and unheard, just as I once did.

Fast forward to early last year, when I faced external pressure to stop sharing my truth. The fear was real—my voice was being challenged again. But this time, I was different. I stood firm in my simple yet powerful truth: “This is my story.” knowing I wasn’t sharing out of anger or blame, but out of purpose and truth.

That moment was a turning point for me. Resilience is perceived to require immense strength. In my case, it required immense commitment.

Commitment to my truth.
To my healing.
To showing up for the women who needed to hear my story so they could find hope in theirs.

What I learned through this journey is that truth has a way of prevailing, no matter the challenges it faces. And so do we, when we stay true to who we are.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

There are 3 things I think are MOST helpful to succeeding at what I do. Actually I’d say these 3 things aren’t just helpful, they’re necessary to succeed in my field:

1) Be open

People want to know you’re relatable. They want to know you get it. I’m not saying you have to give every gory detail, having boundaries is beautiful and I fully support it, but they want to see themselves in you. They want to know you actually faced what they’re facing so they can feel the truth of hope in their situation. They want to see you’ve walked the walk you talk. As one of my mentors once said, “if your messaging is vanilla it’s bland and generic.” Bland and generic is no way to create true authentic connection. Diluting your message and staying closed off isn’t just a disservice to the people who NEED to hear your story, it’s a disservice to yourself for playing small and living shy of your true purpose.

2) Be real

You are you for a reason. Trying to be anyone but yourself is a huge disservice to your brand, because your brand is YOU. This is one I’ve personally had to work on a lot. It’s easier to follow than it is to lead. Which is why a lot of people stay followers. But leading is where you have opportunity to change lives-yours and others. Be real, show up and speak as your truest self and your energy will naturally attract the right people that align with who you are and what you stand for.

3) Be what you preach

Have you ever gone to a specialist for help or support in an area of your life? Then you arrive and you’re hearing words come out of their mouth, but it’s clear they don’t heed their own advice? You need to lead by example and practice what you preach. Otherwise there is a lack of rapport. Not to repeat myself, but to reiterate a very important point: your brand is YOU. What does your brand stand for? Does your life reflect it?

Contact Info:

• Website: https://whollybyanna.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whollybyanna/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whollybananna/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-nyman-441b23128
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@whollybyAnna
• Other: Podcast via Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4rUWuxkFUsXc6y3gKnHAQC?si=80841cb5068e4c4c
  Podcast via Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-whole-half-podcast/id1567496707

Image Credits

Leigh Campbell
Katy Betts
Sofie Fachin