Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Nora Pullen. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Nora, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

Our mission is to help people reclaim their health, agency, and vitality, mind, body, and soul, so they can live fuller, freer, more connected lives. But this isn’t just a mission; it’s a deeply personal calling.

I grew up under a dictatorship in Communist Romania, where food was rationed, speech was censored, and fear ran deep. I know firsthand what it means to be deprived of nourishment, of voice, of control over your own body and future. When I came to the U.S. as a teenager, I carried with me a hunger, not just for food, but for freedom, for truth, for the kind of strength that can’t be taken from you.

Over the years, I worked as a chef, corporate executive, and now as a life and wellness coach. What I’ve seen, again and again, is that people are struggling, not just with their health, but with overwhelm, disconnection, and a sense that their lives are no longer their own. And when people don’t feel well, they don’t feel powerful. That’s why, together with my husband, Quentin Pullen, aka Coach Q, we founded The Fitness Ranch, a nonprofit where we help communities access affordable movement, nutritious food, and the tools to build resilience.

This mission is meaningful to me because I know what it’s like to feel powerless and I know how transformational it is when someone reminds you that you’re not. That your health is your power. That you can take your life back.

We aren’t just teaching people how to eat better or move more; we’re helping them rise.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m Nora Borcea Pullen, life coach, wellness educator, activist, and co-founder of The Fitness Ranch, a nonprofit dedicated to helping people lead healthier, more empowered lives through movement, nutrition, and mindset coaching.

My journey into this work wasn’t linear, it was lived. I was born in Transylvania, Romania, during the final and darkest decade of a Communist dictatorship. My family lived under surveillance. We experienced rationing, repression, and the silencing of dissent. Those early years shaped me deeply. I learned to value truth, resilience, and the strength found in community.

After immigrating to the U.S. as a teenager, I began building a new life. I worked in restaurants, started a catering business, and later became the COO of an energy efficiency and security firm, where I spent nearly two decades in high-level leadership. But when the pandemic hit, I had to reassess. I realized I wanted to live a life more aligned with my values and use my skills to truly serve others.

My husband, Coach Q, and I decided to move to Georgia, where he is originally from. We bought land and built something different: a wellness sanctuary where people of all ages and backgrounds could come to feel better, move better, and take their health into their own hands.

Today, through my coaching practice and our nonprofit, I provide:

– One-on-one and group life coaching for individuals of all ages who are navigating transitions, seeking clarity, or working to reclaim their energy, purpose, and sense of direction, supporting them with practical tools and a whole-person approach to growth.

– Academic and mindset coaching for youth, helping them improve academically, build grit, resilience, and self-belief.

– Together with my husband, fitness and movement programming that is focused on longevity, mobility, and functional strength.

– Nutrition education and healthy cooking classes, using simple ingredients to create flavorful, affordable meals.

– Through community outreach, we offer free cooking and wellness classes for children and seniors, and we lead a grassroots effort to nourish both body and spirit, expanding access to food, movement, and knowledge, while helping people reclaim their health and build stronger, more connected communities.

What sets me apart is the intersection I work at: science and soul, structure and compassion, grit and grace. I don’t offer surface-level fixes. I walk alongside people as they rediscover their power physically, mentally, and emotionally.

I’m most proud of the lives we’ve touched. Of the women who finally feel seen and strong in their changing bodies. Of the kids who go home after our cooking classes eager to cook for their families. Of the elders who join our fitness classes and say, “I didn’t think I could do this, but now I can.”

What I want people to know is this: you are not broken. You may be tired, burned out, or unsure but you are still powerful. My job is to help you remember that. To teach you how to reclaim your wellness, your agency, and your joy and to do it in a way that’s rooted in truth, compassion, and real-world strategies that work.

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

I was about seven years old when I first understood that telling the truth could be dangerous. My mother, heavily pregnant with my sister, was dragged in for interrogations by the secret police in Communist Romania after speaking too openly and helping a friend in ways frowned upon by Ceaușescu’s regime. Our family lived under surveillance, so they came for her. But she didn’t break. She didn’t betray. She endured and gave me a formidable example.

I learned early that resilience isn’t loud. It’s quiet defiance, holding the line when everything around you says bend.

When I immigrated to the U.S., I arrived with broken English, a hunger to learn, and the stubborn belief that freedom had to mean more than survival. I studied archaeology, one of my childhood dreams, only to discover that no one was hiring the next Indiana Jones. So, I pivoted. I worked in kitchens, started a catering business with a partner, and lost it when the relationship ended. I rebuilt.

I moved to California and started over as an admin assistant in a window film company. I learned, adapted, worked nights and weekends, and rose through the ranks to become its COO and VP, helping the firm grow into an industry leader.

Then the pandemic hit. The company had to undergo massive restructuring. My husband’s wellness business came to a halt. We packed up and moved to Georgia to start again, from scratch.

Shortly after our move, I lost my father to pancreatic cancer. He was a mathematician who devoted his life to truth and clarity, values forged under a regime that distorted both. His death broke me open. But it also reminded me that I carry his legacy. That truth still matters. That justice still matters. That health, mental, physical, and communal, is worth fighting for.

I evolved, again. This time as a life coach and community advocate. From being terrified of public speaking to addressing crowds of thousands and writing a regular column in a local paper, I didn’t follow a map, I followed my mission. I held tight to the lessons my family gave me, and the one life etched into my bones: we are more capable than we know. We can fall and rise. Burn and heal. Fail and begin again. If we stay true to what matters and refuse to give up on ourselves, we will find the way.

Now, when I see a child light up in my cooking classes, or ace a hard exam, when a woman reinvents herself at 50+, or an elder tells me, “I feel strong again,” I know that my family’s quiet resilience lives on, not just in whispers, but in action, service, and love.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn the idea that self-worth is tied to productivity, that my value was in how much I could get done, how well I could perform, and how perfectly I could keep all the plates spinning. Like many immigrants, I came to the U.S. feeling the pressure to prove myself. I didn’t just want to survive; I wanted to excel. I pushed, I worked through weekends, built a career in leadership, hit milestone after milestone. And for a while, that striving worked, until it didn’t.

When the pandemic hit, and the company I helped build had to restructure overnight, all that identity I had tied to doing suddenly had nowhere to go. And I struggled. Who was I without the title, the responsibilities, the pace?

The grief that followed, compounded later by losing my father, forced me to sit in stillness. And in that stillness, I began to hear something quieter but far more important: that I was still worthy even when I wasn’t producing. That rest is not failure. That healing is not weakness. That joy, community, and presence are not luxuries, they’re vital forms of nourishment.

Now, as a coach and educator, I help others unlearn that same toxic belief. We are not machines. We are humans, meant to move, to grow, to rest, to rise. And our worth was never meant to be measured by output alone.

Contact Info:

• Website: thefitnessranch.org; inthekitchenwithnora.com; qthecoach.com
• Instagram: @inthekitchenwithnora
• Facebook: In the Kitchen with Nora