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

Alright, Danielle thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

My mission is women’s empowerment! We live in a society that constantly gives conflicting views on how we “should” live our life. Limiting beliefs are placed upon us and all too often we’re scared to reach for what’s outside of the norm.

As someone who has felt this way, faced the pressures, and over came them to build a life she loves, I am vulnerable with my followers about the challenges I’ve over come when faced with adversity to empower others to go after what they truly want.

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

I am a “glamourist!” I own a business specializing in all things glamour. We offer spray tans, teeth whitening, hair styling, and makeup services. I love being in business and helping women feel fabulous!

I also have a deep love for the gym that is rooted within my self love journey. In this process I have lost 80 pounds, something that I felt was impossible for my life, and now share my story to inspire others to chase after the “impossible.

I’d love to focus on my weight loss journey, I feel this is my most proud moment and most impactful story.

I lost myself in the pandemic and self soothed with food. I put on a lot of weight fairly quickly.

I was embarrassed and couldn’t stand what I saw in the mirror and tried to lose the weight.

It became a “yo-yo” scenario until I finally hit my heaviest weight.

It was a moment that broke me and I gave up. I decided this was my new norm and began to learn to love what I saw in the mirror.

As I started to buy the bigger clothes, started to love me… I started to want to care for me.

I became more mindful with my food choices, but I wasn’t worried about size or my rolls.

Months later I was hit with a huge reality check. I was preparing to leave town to be with my mother for a major surgery, but I was struggling to have the physical strength to get out of bed. All my joints hurt— and I freshly turned 24. With loading up the car I found it difficult. I was out of breath simply by putting in a medium sized suit case.

I sat down and thought about my family health history… and knew I was in for trouble if I didn’t start to really take care of me.

I had no idea what I needed to do be healthy, it felt impossible for me. But I knew if I wanted a change I had to make a change.

Before I left to go be with her, I called a trainer and began my journey.

Since making this decision I have fallen deeply in love with the gym, with eating clean, even embarked on a plant based lifestyle, and have lost 80 pounds.

“whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right”
-Henry Ford

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

At the time I decided to make my health a priority, I was bartending. My day to day life consisted of a lot of fried bar food, alcohol, and working overtime. I first had to learn to turn down the temptations to keep focused on my goals, but also how to manage my time to fit in a workout and meal prep my food for my shift.

There was a lot of moments it was overwhelming or difficult and I wanted to give up on the journey. I held tight to my why so I could keep consistent.

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

I always thought “losing weight” meant obsessively calorie counting and doing a lot of cardio. With bringing in professional help I found that it doesn’t have to be this way. I can still enjoy foods I love, like peanut butter and jelly haha, but I get to find a way to make it healthier. Like sprinkling peanut butter powder over fresh fruit. For working out, there is cardio involved but I don’t have to obsess over this either. I learned the power of lifting weights and fell in love with the feeling of my body getting stronger.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @thedaniellemullins
• Other: TikTok @thedaniellemullins

Image Credits
Swimsuit beach photo: Rezanation Media