Stories are incredibly powerful – their ability to teach, inspire, and create understanding is why we are so in love with storytelling. Most stories have a defining moment and so we’ve asked some of the most talented, insightful folks across a broad range of industries and markets to tell us about a defining moment in their story.

Miriam Kaseff

My defining moment occurred on August 23, 2013, when I received the devastating diagnosis of Ductal Carcinoma In-Situ, breast cancer. I was very fortunate my cancer was found very early, so I didn’t need chemotherapy or radiation, but because the cancer was pepper throughout my breasts, I had to have a double mastectomy. At that time, I started working with a health coach and realized I needed to make lifestyle changes to reduce my risk of reoccurrence and contracting another disease. Read more>>

GeorgAnna Wiley.

I noticed women dread their gyn exam, yet need one every year. I helped a woman with pelvic pain so severe she had avoided sex for years, and like half of America, used the ER for gyn care. She felt safe enough with me to disclose being raped as a 3 year old child, and I realized I was the only person (not to mention the only healthcare provider) to ever ask if she had past trauma, a neglected but huge part of chronic pelvic pain. I gently did the pap smear she had avoided for 30 years, because she was scared it would hurt. Read more>>

Karla Medina

I would say that my overwhelming back issues and two back surgeries humbled me dearly. People said I had wings and that I could fly because I would jump up so high in the middle of my workout. Being in pretty good shape I never believed I would experience such agony and inability to do what I loved – guide people through movement in order for them to find what moves them. This completely refined the way I looked at my business. It opened my eyes to not just using my body but to use my voice too or instead of my body. Read more>>

Kate Fisher.

I don’t know if it was a particular moment, but more of a time in my life when I was just like, it’s time to do this. I had been an employee in the same field, working at the same establishment for most of my career. It was great for me at the time. A young woman just starting out. Then I had a baby at 25 and wanted to devote most of my time to him, so having a simpler work life made more sense. It wasn’t until I got a little older and my son was older that I started seriously thinking about starting my own business. Read more>>

Alyce Walters.

Becoming Ill , spontaneously with SJS completely changed the trajectory of my life and work. My near death experience gave me so much more of an understanding of life , the power of the body, energy, spirituality and how that is all connected. Being sick, with no cure only supportive care changes you. It really put into perspective what is important to me in my life. It helped me to see clearer, my role in my life as well as how much power I actually DO have. Read more>>

Kira Miller.

When I became a Learning Leader at my Alma Mater “Paul Mitchell The School- Nashville”, I had no clue the live that I was going to touch and impact. I had three classes, but my most recent group was the group that touched my heart the most. I had only known them a few months and we deep dived into skincare education pretty quickly to get them caught up and satisfied with the school curriculum. We shared many laughs, heartfelt conversations and I looked forward to seeing them on a daily basis. Read more>>

Kim Cook

My defining moment occured this year of 2022. I realized and stepped into my purpose, my soul mission you could say as a healer. And combining my knowledge of plant life and gardening, along with my mission…Plant Ther’py was birthed. A company focused on healing people through plants! “Plants Healing People” is our motto. Anything that is alive has healing properties and for me plants and nature are the best modality that could be used. Read more>>

Dr. Katrina Burruss.

Yes. For years, I have worked tirelessly to advance up the career ladder which has not been easy by far. After nearly 17 years in the field of Clinical Laboratory Science, I finally achieved the distinction of Medical Laboratory Director during my tenure as a government employee. I was beyond ecstatic to participate in such an intricate process and I was extremely humbled by the opportunity to represent my department in such an impactful way. The laboratory I was tasked with overseeing was riddled with problems, multiple deficiencies, and disgruntled staff that were resistant to change. Read more>>

Carrie Schmitt

I have been in social services/non-profit and helping others for over 18 years. Working with adults with disabilities was very meaningful work. The trajectory of my life changed when my 7 year old son died suddenly and I was left with a shattered heart and a 3 1/2 year old son with debilitating anxiety. I felt helpless and did not know where to turn. I surrendered because I had no idea how to help him. Thankfully, I was introduced to a local non-profit who helped families whose children had cancer, which is what my son died of, 6 days after diagnosis. Read more>>

AJ Hack

A defining moment for Mothers Against Cancer was when our organization began in 1989. When two year old Anne, lost her battle with cancer in 1984, Ann’s mother and her friends started Mothers Against Cancer. The mission of MAC, from it’s inception was to raise funds for a research so that we may find a cure for all forms of childhood cancer. The loss of Ann’s life after her courageous battle was a defining moment for her family and our community because it set into action our volunteer group. Read more>>

Emily Nguyen

Everything changed for me after I stopped drinking alcohol and got pregnant with my first son. I didn’t realize how good I could feel just by not drinking. After giving birth to my first son (and once I was cleared for exercise) I knew that I wanted to lose the baby weight I’d gained. My sole reason for working out was weight loss. I started working out 3-5 days a week and eating nutritious foods, sleeping when I could. Even though I was postpartum and living in the newborn breastfeeding haze of little chunks of sleep here and there, I felt pretty damn good. Read more>>

Emily Kirkwold

In 2019, 6 years after graduating pharmacy school, I was feeling like I wanted to do something different with my career. I had always worked in an inpatient hospital setting, so I hired a pharmacy career coach to help me make a transition to a different pharmacy setting. My coach asked me about my interests and I explained how I was passionate about helping women learn natural family planning, but “there are no pharmacist jobs for that.” My coach asked, “what if you create your own job?” Read more>>

Sommer Howser

Strangely, the defining moment in my “professional” career was also the moment that changed my whole life. When I was thirteen, I experienced sexual assault by multiple perpetrators. I didn’t tell a soul at the time. I went back home after being on runaway status, returned to school, and acted like I was “fine.” I struggled for many years with depression, anxiety, flashbacks, hypervigilance, over exercising, self injurious behavior, perfectionism, and nightmares. Read more>>

Christine Sofiane Katzenmaier.

Music and singing has always been my passion. I was a professional opera singer for several years and I was teaching voice as well. While I gained a lot of experience as a performer, singer and vocal coach I always felt I still didn’t fully understand how the voice really works and why some people have a hoarse voice, reduced singing range or get vocal fatigue. Well, one day I was having lunch with a friend of mine who introduced me to her friend who is a speech pathologist. At that time I didn’t even know what a speech pathologist was. Read more>>

Danielle Izaak

The year is 2019, I have just moved to the RDU area in August with a determination to be and do more. I was not clear what that was, how it looked, in what way, I just had a feeling, call it intuition, that this was an opportunity to pivot in all areas of my life. I wanted more out of my life, in what I was doing work wise, connecting and building genuine bonds with people, and a desire to surpass the things (mindset/habits) that got me to that point. I’ve been working in Healthcare for almost a decade and I enjoyed being in the position of a resource and educator but it wasn’t enough. Read more>>

Dr. Lulu

I would say that I have had 2 defining moments in my career as an adult. In my earlier days as a pediatrician, my most defining moment occured when I not only lost a colleague to suicide, but, I also lost a patient and nearly lost another. Sometime in July of 2000, I had been wanting to call my fellow Nigerian physician colleague for the longest time, but, I kept putting it off. However, that morning, I could not resist the urge anymore. Something was screaming in my head and asking me to call her. Read more>>

Corie Wightlin

As a classroom teacher, it became clear very quickly that families with neurodiversity, including ADHD, autism spectrum disorder and anxiety, needed extra support in all the things that life requires. This included organization, emotional regulation, time management, prioritization and even motivation. I could refer them to therapists and tutoring programs but found that without figuring out what the particular family, whether it be child or parent or both, really needed and what really worked for them, nothing seemed to stick. Read more>>

Ashlin Price

The defining moment I’ve experienced happened in my personal life but impacted my professional career. It was the moment when my brother passed away in 2021 leaving my family to inherit some of his debt and learning that we didn’t have enough money to have a proper homegoing service for him. He was diagnosed with Leukemia with onset of COVID which totally wiped away his immune system. When that situation happened I struggled with meeting deadlines at work, completing assessments and notes at work. Read more>>

Shawnise Chantell

Trauma and critical illnesss has away of stealing timeless moments and milestones in our lives. Whether its the milestone of graduated from college, getting the dream job, being a successful entrepreneur, gaining financial freedom or even having a family. When my life shifted so did everything else including my career path. Never would I have thought my Maternity Leave would be so life -altering. On July 20th 2019 I delivered a beautiful healthy babygirl. Thereafter delivery, while the epidural was still in affect to numb my pain, I was wheeled into the operating for a simple routine procedure, a tubal ligation. Read more>>

Andy Curtiss

I served in the Army for 12 years. During that time, I served in elite infantry units and was ultimately selected and trained to serve on a Special Forces A Team. Over the course of my career I endured a variety of sports related injuries. However, once the War On Terror began, I suffered Combat related injuries to include crushed cervical vertebrae and broken and separated L4 and L5 vertebrae. These injuries have caused major problems in my life which ultimately led to left shoulder, arm, and pectoral atrophy and loss of function post military separation. I also experienced brief periods of lower body paralysis and extreme sciatic pain. Read more>>

Charlie Curtis

When I started working in a salon I didn’t think of myself as a hair stylist. People began seeing that I embodied what it took to be a successful stylist, and I was the last one to realize the same. It was a guy that worked there that thought I should go to beauty school, not my mom or anyone close to me. He saw that I was doing the job but wasn’t seriously considering myself doing hair as a career. He put that bug in my hair and I signed up for beauty school. I kept working and continued to improve my skills, and it changed my life. Read more>>

DeShelle Burrowes

I’m in the process of pivoting from focusing on Black Mothers to focusing on supporting women as a whole. I’ve had many clients with Postpartum related issues, as well as issues with sexual trauma but I had one that had both plus an issue with being visible in every space that she should have been owning, at her job and at home. We worked through her Postpartum issues but then other issues (triggers) appeared and I realized that her issues stemmed from not feeling heard… Wow!!!  Read more>>

Tina Harris

In 2017, I was pregnant with our first child, however at 21 weeks pregnant I went into preterm labor and was diagnosed with Incompetent Cervix, which is an early opening of the cervix prior to reaching full term. Our son was born extremely premature and unable to sustain life outside of the womb. The care and support I received during that labor experience from the medical staff was grossly lacking, and I wouldn’t wish any family to ever endure that experience. Read more>>

Jamie Durner

For 30 years I have worked in the holistic health field and a large part of my success I feel has been around staying connected to my inner self for strength, inspiration, clarity, and knowing which direction to follow next. It was in around 2006 that I had a powerful moment that ignited my inner “I can do it” entrepreneur moment. I had just finished teacher training in Kundalini Yoga and had gone to a week long event called Summer Solstice. Part of this event is a 3-day White Tantric Yoga during which one does a series of partner meditations that total either 31 or 62 minutes in length. Read more>>