We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Shelby Carino. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Shelby below.
Shelby, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
Growing up, I always felt like I was different but didn’t have the words to explain why. I was a sensitive, an empath, but I didn’t know what that meant back then. I could feel other people’s emotions deeply, to the point that it was hard to tell where their energy ended and mine began. I was constantly overwhelmed and struggled to make decisions because I felt so clouded by everyone else’s feelings. At the same time, I always had this unshakable sense that I was connected to something greater—like I just knew things, even when I couldn’t explain them. That connection set me apart, making me feel like I didn’t quite fit in with the crowd.
What grounded me through those years was my love for health and wellness. Whether it was playing soccer, practicing karate, weightlifting, bodybuilding, competing in triathlons, or exploring wellness products, I was always searching for ways to help the body perform at its best. My passion for optimizing physical health eventually inspired me to create The Queen of Total Wellness. I envisioned it as a name that could unite everything I loved about holistic healing—mind, body, and spirit.
But there was a problem: I had the “body” part down, but I didn’t yet understand the “mind” and “spirit” components of wellness. That changed in 2011 when my life took a drastic turn. I experienced a powerful kundalini energy activation—a full-blown spiritual awakening—that completely rewired me. It felt like my right brain had been “blown out,” and my energy was spinning out of control. My emotions became erratic, and I had no idea how to manage what was happening to me. This was the moment that set me on the path to understanding the mind and spirit in ways I never had before.
Through this challenging experience, I found my mentor and began learning about NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) and the Hawaiian system of Huna. These tools helped me rebuild the balance between the left and right sides of my brain. It was like growing up emotionally all over again, but this time with an awareness of how deeply my spiritual energy was intertwined with my healing process. Over time, I not only healed, but I documented everything I was going through—capturing the real-time frequencies of my transformation. These experiences became the foundation of my books and my 12-course curriculum.
The Queen of Total Wellness is the culmination of my personal journey of healing and rebuilding. My mission is to provide the same support to other women who feel imbalanced emotionally, energetically, spiritually, and physically—just like I did. Through my online curriculum and resources, I guide women to align their mind, body, and spirit energetically, allowing them to release old patterns and step into their true, authentic selves.
At the heart of it all, my mission is deeply personal. I’ve walked this path, and I know how isolating and overwhelming it can feel. But I also know the incredible transformation that’s possible when you begin to heal from the inside out. My hope is to be a guide and a source of support for women who are ready to reclaim their energy and embrace the person they are becoming.
Shelby, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but moved to Texas at the age of four, so I proudly consider myself a Texan. From a young age, I’ve been fascinated by the body and exploring how far we can push ourselves to achieve a greater sense of well-being. My journey started in fifth grade when I discovered soccer and developed further when I began karate in middle school, eventually earning my black belt right before college. In college, I deepened my connection to health and wellness through weightlifting and competing in my first all-natural bodybuilding competition.
My life has been a stair-step evolution, always striving to find balance in mind, body, and spirit. I’ve taken countless courses in personal growth, tested my physical limits, and eventually confronted the emotional and spiritual parts of myself that I had overlooked. That deeper work began after my divorce at 30, when I dove headfirst into the health and wellness industry, meeting mentors who helped me see the connection between the physical body, the mind, and emotions.
My first introduction to energy work was through magnetic therapy as a consultant for Nikken. That opened my eyes to the realization that we are not just physical beings but energy beings—and that energy is a critical component of true wellness. As a highly intuitive and emotional Pisces, this revelation felt like coming home to myself. Then, in 2011, I experienced a full-blown spiritual awakening that catapulted me into a new reality of understanding energy, frequency, and spiritual communication.
This awakening changed everything. My energy spun out of control, and I had to learn how to balance my mind, emotions, and shadow self from the ground up. Through divine intervention, I found my mentor and immersed myself in NLP and Huna. These teachings became the foundation for my healing and helped me integrate my mind, emotions, energy, and body into a cohesive whole.
As a teacher by trade with 11 years in public education, curriculum design is my superpower, and teaching is my essence. It was only natural that I began documenting my healing journey, step by step, to create a framework for others. That framework has evolved into my 12-course curriculum, which now serves women across the nation who are navigating their own spiritual awakening.
What sets my curriculum apart is that it was created in real-time, during the exact moments I was experiencing my own healing. The videos in my courses aren’t just lessons—they are energetic time capsules. The frequencies and emotions I worked through are infused into the content, allowing women who take my courses to tap into those energies and use them in their own healing.
Unlike other programs created retrospectively, my curriculum captures the raw and unfiltered journey of spiritual and energetic growth as it happened. As someone who once felt scattered and overwhelmed by the lack of a cohesive process, I am proud to offer a clear and authentic roadmap for women who feel lost, emotionally out of control, or energetically unbalanced.
One of the most meaningful symbols in my brand is the diamond. My mentor once told me, “Shelby, you are a diamond, and we just have to polish you up.” Those words stayed with me during the hardest moments of my journey when I wanted to give up. They reminded me that every challenge was simply a layer being chiseled away to reveal the brilliance underneath. That belief drives my mission: to help other women see their own inner diamond and provide them with the tools to chisel away the layers of confusion, imbalance, and old energy holding them back.
I am most proud that I stuck with my own process and transformed it into something that can help others. My brand, The Queen of Total Wellness, reflects my belief that every woman can achieve balance in mind, body, and spirit. My passion is to guide women through their journey of emotional and energetic awakening in a way that feels supported, authentic, and aligned.
For any woman who feels emotionally overwhelmed, energetically anxious, or spiritually lost, I want you to know you’re not alone. Your spirit is calling you to awaken to something greater, and I’ve been there. That’s why I’ve created this curriculum and these resources—to make this process easier and to help you step into your true power as the Queen of your total wellness.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
The biggest lesson I had to unlearn was that I didn’t know everything. Essentially, I had to let go of the “know-it-all” mentality I had been unconsciously running for most of my life. It wasn’t until I began my spiritual awakening journey that I became fully aware of this pattern and the ego that often fueled it.
As a natural-born Pisces, I’ve always been deeply intuitive. Pisces is the most intuitive of the zodiac signs, and we have a unique ability to feel everything on a profound level. These natural-born qualities—paired with my psychic abilities—made me highly perceptive, but they also laid the groundwork for an inflated “know-it-all” ego that I didn’t realize I was carrying. Growing up, this was part of what set me apart from others, but I didn’t understand at the time that my know-it-all energy stemmed from these natural traits.
When I began to dive deeper into my spiritual awakening, my psychic abilities expanded significantly. I could see, hear, and feel things that were often unexplainable, which only intensified the “I know it all” energy. But as my gifts grew, so did the lessons that came with them—lessons that broke down my ego and taught me the importance of humility.
One of the hardest, but most valuable, parts of my journey has been learning to balance the subtle stream of “knowing” that flows through me with the responsibility and ethics of when, how, and if to share it. I learned to test the clarity of what I “know” before offering it to others, ensuring it is not only accurate but also in alignment with what they are ready to receive.
This process has taught me to pair the power of my intuition with humility, allowing the gift of knowing to flow in service to others rather than being fueled by ego. It’s been a transformational lesson, one that has made me a better teacher, mentor, and guide for others navigating their own spiritual journeys.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
Building my social media audience was one of the most transformative experiences in my business journey. It all started when my husband came across a woman promoting her spiritual business bootcamp on Facebook. He sent me her information, and something deep within me stirred—I knew I needed to take her course. The only problem? It was over $7,500, and my husband and I had just bought a house. We had barely any furniture and were financially strapped.
Despite the challenges, I went through the interview process to see if I even qualified to enroll. When I passed, I told them I needed a few months to gather the money. The day finally came when I was able to sign up, and I gave it my all, immersing myself in everything the bootcamp taught.
Through that experience, I learned how to create a tribe on Facebook and run Facebook ads, even though I hadn’t yet developed my first course. I decided to take the leap and test what I’d learned by launching my first ad. Within a month, over 500 women joined my group. I was completely overwhelmed. It was a flood of energy, and these women were hungry for information—information I had yet to create.
By diving into the group, connecting with the women, and understanding their needs, I realized they were craving knowledge about twin flame energy. That’s when I created my first course, which became the foundation of my social media presence and the building blocks of what would eventually grow into my 12-course curriculum.
As the group continued to grow, I became so overwhelmed by the sheer volume of people that I began scaling back, removing those who weren’t aligned with my vision, and focusing on the core audience I was truly meant to serve. It was a humbling and eye-opening experience, teaching me that while I could manifest the women I was meant to help, I needed to grow into the capacity to handle that volume.
Looking back, I see how that experience prepared me for where I am today. I now have the structure, systems, and personal growth to handle the influx of women seeking my information through social media and online education. That initial leap of faith—investing in myself when it felt impossible—set the stage for everything I’ve built since then.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.shelbycarino.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shelbycarino/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShelbyCarinoShelby/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelby-carino-666b39256/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thequeenoftotalwellness
Image Credits
Image credits go to …Rocki Hoops