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

Alright, Stephanie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

The most defining moment in my professional career was also one of the most tragic times of my life. In early 2007, I was working as a construction project manager when my mother was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer and was given 18 months to live. Sure enough after 18 months of chemotherapy, radiation and doctor visits, I lost my best friend. I was devastated, nothing to this point in my life had prepared me for the pain that I was enduring. I also had an ever-looming fear that this “genetic disorder” had been passed on to me and was told by doctors that I was powerless to stop it. Luckily I am a very suborn person and I was unwilling to accept that I was anything but powerful.

I began researching any article, medical journal or holistic website that related to ovarian cancer. Not far into my journey I found that many of the ailments our society suffers from today are due less to our genetics and more to lifestyle choices that are passed down from family to family. It was then that my first business was born and my career trajectory changed over to holistic living and discovering how I could help others on their path to wellness.

Stephanie, 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?

When most people meet me they automatically think that I have been on this path my entire life. It is important to know that I started my journey blind like most, I was concerned with beauty over health and money over passion. I had no idea what I really wanted to do with my life and I didn’t have money for college so I decided to join the Army Reserves. My specialized training was in multi-media design and I really enjoyed harnessing my creative side. After finishing training I quickly enrolled in a degree program for design. While I greatly enjoyed it, the market was oversaturated with designers, so after I finished that degree program I switched over to business administration and management. There were plenty of jobs in the field and there is always a need for support, so I chose a safer route. I was a single mother of a young child and paying the bills was more important than my passions at the time.
I found myself in the dynamic field of construction project management in 2003. I liked the constant challenges that arose and finding solutions to those challenges. I never felt that it was my true calling however it give me the means that I needed to support my family.

Watching my mother die of cancer sparked something in my soul. My entire trajectory changed and I began to dive deep into my own spirituality and purpose for being. I studied spiritual principals, meditated, started a yoga practice, went on wellness retreats and I found that at my core all I really wanted to help people.

My first leap down the rabbit hole was developing personal care and household cleaning products for my family. From this Eden’s Balance – Skincare for the Mind, Body & Soul was born. Through this platform I designed and created products to help other families transition more seamlessly into using natural products. With a full product line of personal care products with organic soaps, body butters, lip balms and more.

By the time Eden’s Balance was 3 years old, I had been certified in nutrition consulting and had begun to combine my nutrition knowledge to help people maintain wellness and glowing skin from the inside out through classes and detox programs. I also cohosted a radio show, Body & Soul Awareness, that focused on bringing awareness to natural ways of healing and living more sustainably. I was able to interview hundreds of teachers and thought leaders in the holistic wellness arena. Through these avenues, I was able to support thousands of people on their path to wellness.

The whole time I was still working in project management while growing my business on the side. In 2015 my life shifted again when I had my 2nd son and made the decision to move from Virginia to California in 2016, I rebranded and started Laguna Lily.

Laguna Lily is truly the integration of all of my knowledge and practice throughout my journey. I scaled down my product line to whipped body butters, skin serums, sea moss gel and other nutritional supplements.

I revamped my group detox courses to include aspects of movement, meditation and self-love. I have also built up an extensive network of holistic wellness professionals across the US that I can refer clients to with specific needs.

Yes we are bombarded with misinformation. We are told that we are powerless and our society is so geared toward being busy that even if we have the correct information, we are often too exhausted to follow through. We also tend to look at our lives and bodies in pieces and not as a whole. It is my ultimate mission to break through these barriers and misconceptions and empower people with the information and tools that they need to move forward and step into their own power.

Have you ever had to pivot?

For me the most fulfilling part was always the challenging clients that had ongoing skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis. They always perplexed me because no matter how many amazing natural ingredients I introduced in products, I still had clients that would routinely break out in uncomfortable flaky patches. It wasn’t until my son was born that I discovered that what we put into our bodies was even more important than what we put onto our bodies. I noticed very quickly that anytime I would eat dairy, my son who was breastfed, not only did he have the worst digestive issues but he would break out in eczema within hours of feeding. But after a week of me not eating dairy, the eczema rashes would clear up completely.

It was then that I truly grasped that the old adage is true…we are what we eat.
This is when I kicked my cheese habit, became vegan and went deeper down the rabbit hole…I immediately dove deeper into the nutrition aspect of wellness and studied to become a certified nutrition consultant. That catapulted Laguna Lily into a new direction since to truly have beautiful, radiant skin, you must be healthy on the inside. With my background I was able to seamlessly transition from making skincare products, to combining both of those aspects into group and personal programs with a focus on education and support.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Full transparency is a cornerstone of my reputation, from my story to the ingredients in my products. I use the same products that I sell to your family on my family. That means a lot as I am very selective about what goes into and onto our bodies.

I also think being heart centered and having an unwavering desire to truly help people and the planet, is something that resonates with so many. My clients appreciate that I am just another person like them that has been able to make meaningful changes in my life. I found that my business did not truly begin to take off until I actually implemented the tools that I had learned. It was then i knew that being a model for change was much more of a motivator than someone that just talks about making changes. Like Gandhi said…”Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

Contact Info:

• Website: www.snpnaturals.com
• Instagram: @laguna_lily

Image Credits
Credit: @Picturesomething (Yellow Dress Photo) Photos by Lea (event photo)