We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Christine Flock. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Christine below.

Christine, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I never had some big master plan to start a business. It came from years of struggling with my own skin and health and becoming frustrated that nobody was actually asking WHY any of it was happening.

I dealt with cystic acne for almost 10 years, and it affected so much more than just my appearance. It impacted my confidence, my social life, and the way I felt about myself on a daily basis. Like so many women, I tried everything I was told to do: dermatologists, antibiotics, birth control, spironolactone, tretinoin, expensive skincare, facials, restrictive diets… all of it. Some things would help temporarily, but nothing truly fixed the problem long term.

The biggest thing that frustrated me was how surface level the approach always felt. Nobody seemed interested in figuring out what was actually causing the acne in the first place. It was always just another prescription, another product, or another quick fix.

That frustration is what led me into the world of functional health, nutrition, gut health, hormones, and functional lab testing. The biggest turning point for me was realizing that my skin wasn’t necessarily the problem itself, but often a symptom of deeper imbalances happening internally.

Once I started supporting my body from that perspective, everything changed. Not only did my skin improve, but my digestion, energy, cycles, and overall health improved too. In a weird way, acne ended up being one of the biggest blessings in disguise because it completely changed the direction of my life.

I became obsessed with learning about this work and eventually decided to become a Nutritional Practitioner because I realized there were so many women stuck in the exact same cycle I had been in for years: spending thousands of dollars on skincare and supplements, trying random things online, and still not getting real answers.

What started as me trying to heal my own skin eventually turned into Cowgirl Wellness and the work I do today helping women better understand their bodies and take a more root cause, individualized approach to their health.

Christine, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Christine, and I’m a Nutritional Practitioner and the founder of Cowgirl Wellness, where I help women get to the root cause of chronic acne and other health issues through functional lab testing, nutrition, and lifestyle support.

My work focuses heavily on the connection between gut health, hormones, nervous system regulation, and skin health. I think a lot of women are stuck in a cycle of trying random supplements, restrictive diets, expensive skincare, or medications without ever truly understanding what’s happening internally. My goal is to help clients stop guessing and start understanding their bodies in a more individualized way.

The main service I currently offer is my Clear Skin From Within Method, which is a 1:1 coaching program designed to help women uncover and address the root causes behind their acne. Inside the program, I combine functional lab testing with practical nutrition guidance, lifestyle support, supplement recommendations, and ongoing coaching to help clients improve both their skin and their overall health.

One thing that really sets my approach apart is that I don’t believe wellness should feel extreme or all consuming. I think a lot of women are exhausted by fear based health messaging and protocols that feel impossible to sustain long term. My philosophy is much more focused on building a healthy, resilient body overall instead of chasing perfection.

A huge part of my approach is helping clients create habits and routines they can realistically maintain for years, not just for 30 days. Things like supporting blood sugar, improving gut health, eating nutrient dense foods, getting outside more, improving sleep, regulating the nervous system, and understanding how different systems in the body are connected.

My philosophy is very “test, don’t guess.” Instead of throwing random supplements at symptoms, I like to use functional testing to identify possible underlying imbalances and create a plan tailored to the individual person because every client is different.

What I’m probably most proud of is creating a brand that feels approachable and relatable. I never wanted Cowgirl Wellness to feel overly clinical or intimidating. I want women to feel supported and empowered instead of feeling broken or like they’ve failed because conventional approaches didn’t work for them.

Beyond the health side of things, my brand also reflects a lot of my lifestyle and personality outside of work. I’m very connected to horses, the western lifestyle, nature, and living a little more grounded and intentionally in a world that often feels very disconnected. That influence naturally carries into my philosophy around health as well.

At the end of the day, my goal isn’t just helping women “look better.” It’s helping them feel healthier, more confident, more educated about their bodies, and more empowered in their own health journey.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

One lesson I really had to unlearn was being overly cautious and fearful around money.

I grew up in a pretty conservative household where the mindset was very much: go to college, get a stable 9 to 5 job, work hard, pay the bills, and be careful with money. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, my family worked hard and we always had what we needed, but there definitely wasn’t a mindset of abundance or entrepreneurship. Money was viewed more as something limited that needed to be protected very carefully.

So when I started my business, I realized pretty quickly that mindset was actually holding me back.

As a business owner, you have to be willing to invest in yourself and your business. Whether that’s education, mentorship, software, branding, functional labs, marketing, or simply taking calculated risks, growth usually requires some level of investment before you see a return.

For a long time, I was holding onto every dollar super tightly because spending money felt uncomfortable or unsafe. But I started realizing that when you operate from a place of fear and scarcity all the time, you almost end up pushing opportunities away because you’re so attached to not losing money.

That doesn’t mean being reckless or frivolous with money. I still think being intentional and responsible matters. But I’ve had to learn how to relax around money more and trust that it’s an energy exchange. If you’re creating value, helping people, and continuing to invest in your growth, money can also flow back to you.

I think shifting from a scarcity mindset to more of an abundance mindset has been one of the biggest personal growth experiences for me through entrepreneurship. Not just financially, but mentally too. It forced me to become more confident in myself, trust my abilities more, and stop thinking so small about what’s possible for my life and business.

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

I think entrepreneurship itself requires a huge amount of resilience. Starting a business from scratch forces you to become comfortable with uncertainty, rejection, failure, criticism, and continuing to move forward anyway. But there’s also a very specific experience in my life that completely shaped the way I view resilience.

When I was 20 years old, I was attacked by a strange man I didn’t know who had been stalking me. He broke into my apartment and assaulted me pretty badly.

I don’t talk about it often, but I remember very vividly being on the ground while he had his hands around my throat trying to suffocate me. I could not breathe at all. I remember feeling physically exhausted from fighting back, and for a moment I genuinely thought I was going to die.

What stands out to me now is that there were almost two voices in my head during that moment. One was telling me how tired I was and how easy it would be to stop fighting. But the other voice was louder. It just kept saying: don’t give up. Keep fighting. Use every bit of energy you have left.

And honestly, I think that mindset is something I’ve had my entire life, not just because of that experience. I’ve always had a very strong internal drive to keep going no matter what, and I truly believe that mindset is probably what saved my life that night.

Luckily, I had a small pocket knife on me and I was able to defend myself long enough until the police arrived and he ran off.

That experience changed me permanently. It taught me that resilience is not the absence of fear. It’s what you do in the middle of fear, exhaustion, uncertainty, and pain. It’s continuing to fight even when every part of you wants to quit.

I think that mindset has carried into every area of my life, including building my business. There have absolutely been moments where things felt overwhelming or uncertain, but after surviving something like that, you realize how much strength people are actually capable of when they refuse to give up.

That experience also gave me a much deeper appreciation for life, purpose, and helping other people. It made me realize how quickly life can change and how important it is to build a life that feels meaningful and aligned with who you really are.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.therealholisticcowgirl.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealholisticcowgirl/

Image Credits

Elizabeth Hay Photography