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.

Amanda Garbade

Just one defining moment? That is so hard to answer because of my belief system. I believe all moments are defining moments. Every moment of every day is a defining moment. When every moment is special and pure; when moment after moment is innocent; when your awareness is brought to the present moment over and over with love and peace, then every moment is a defining moment. The more we do this, the more defining moments we recognize. Yet knowing this and doing this are two totally different things. It’s easy to get sucked into daily life. We forget because we’re focused on work, dinner, running kids to activities, and the 10,000 other things that are on our plates. So, one of my defining moments while embarking on my new career as a hypnotherapist was when I truly accepted and understood one simple concept. It’s a concept we all know and a lot of us were taught at a young age. Some people, because of their belief system, turned a completely innocent phrase to mean something negative. Read more>>

Alanna Trzcinski

When both Shelby and I were able to sit down and discuss our individual journey with Endometriosis, we realized that the there wasn’t enough information out there that can help others navigate their journey with Endometriosis. After years of living with a debilitating disease and finding out more about the disease, we knew more accurate information needed to be more accessible. We also realized that a community of shared experiences led to a feeling of being seen, after years of feeling isolated and “gaslit”. It allows us and others to feel like they have a place to have connection to others in their everyday lives living with Endometriosis and Adenomyosis. Read more>>

Jay Bradley

8 years ago, I was invited to attend a small men’s Breathwork circle. I had no idea what to expect. So much shifted in that one session on all levels; physically, emotionally, and spiritually, that I knew I’d found the breakthrough I was searching for. After 30 years in the world of self help and personal development, having tried almost every modality, who knew that breathing was the very thing to shift everything!? Read more>>

Hannah Schoendaler

As a child, I knew I was being called to the medical field, which is the field I started in at the age 14 and continue to thrive in today. I had a passion for effective processes and procedures and following nursing school, found myself craving that type of role. I spent a year working in bedside nursing before transitioning to the role of Chief Nursing Officer. I spent 6 1/2 years in the role, where I felt a nudge to try something new. The last 5 months of my CNO career was spent transitioning into the COVID-19 shelter in place erra. It was during that time that I saw my friends and patients spending a lot of time with themselves. I saw many people searching for ways to improve their health and appearance and saw a window of opportunity. For several years, I had thought about “wellness” and how I could incorporated it into conventional healthcare as the CNO but could never truly set the dreams assail. Read more>>

Derek Jameson

As you grow up you have always have this underlying calling, but many don’t follow that calling out of fear of the unknown or even fear of judgement from the outside world. I always knew that anything I did was to help people live more. From performing on stages, to academics, personal training, and spiritual development coaching, it all carried the same energy. Everything I did was against the grain of the “normal” path of school and work. In fact I was told I wasn’t good enough and I began to agree with those who said I wasn’t. Because I agreed with them, that became my reality. Read more>>

Tannia Godinez

A couple years into offering photography services to my community, I started to experience burn out. Doing photography on the side, on top of being a parent, a full time student, and employee, it became overwhelming. I told myself I would go on a little hiatus from photography to regroup and re-evaluate how to come back to it with a different approach so I don’t find myself burned out again. Sadly, I have yet to return to photography and it’s been 2ish years. I have taken a couple projects here and there for a couple friends but I was reminded after every project, how unprepared I am to return. I say sadly because I miss it and I don’t have the set up I used too. I have hopes to make a return eventually! Read more>>

Felicia Howe

I’m originally from the Northwest, but I moved to Los Angeles in my early adulthood. My hopes and dreams at the time were to pursue an art career. I decided to acquire a skill in the pursuit, which led me to become a stylist. And for the next twenty-something years, doors continued to open, fulfilling me in more ways than I could imagine. The magic ingredient to my success was running on pure passion with no expectations. There were many defining moments and evolutions. Read more>>

Tauni Beckmann

As a horse trainer, I’ve always studied how animals move, it tells us a lot about their comfort level and it’s important to “read” them… rewind the past several years, I noticed my corgi beginning to “step unevenly” on our walks…. I started going to numerous vets and specialists in an effort to help her but each one gave us a different “diagnosis” (some not completely relevant to our area of concern) fast forward to where we are now… it ended up being Degenerative Myelopathy aka “DM” (the canine version of ALS). “KC” the corgi had her own facebook group (this was very early on before it became so common) and we began sharing her experiences early on… people “followed” her as she adapted quickly to her wheelchair and loved seeing her go to hydrotherapy and her daily outings & from that we began getting people reaching out to us because she quickly became an inspiration to help them with their own pups who also had this disease. Read more>>

Johana Quesada

Two themes in my life I’ve persisted since I was a little girl: creativity, and the desire to serve. I spent many years like most people in the hustle and grind mentality, thinking that what I wanted was money and success but 2020 was a rude awakening. Actually, it was more of a spiritual awakening. I was making a lot of money as an exotic dancer, I had all the materialistic things that I wanted, but suddenly developed crippling, anxiety and hypochondriac syndrome. I had tried everything under the sun to cope with this impending doom I felt 24/7 to no avail. After all the traditional methods failed, me humbly turned, inward and found the solution was in me all along. My breath. During a spiritual retreat in Mexico, I found out about this ancient technique that we now call breath work. All of the experiences that led me to this moment, made sense. Read more>>

Erika Riccobono

There were many defining moments in my career but the one that I will share just happened to me in November 2022 when I had made the decision to enter my 1st OCB Bikini Competition. It was on my goal list for the last 14 years and I just achieved that goal last year. The level of commitment, mental strength, discipline, and physical fitness that these athletes have to have in order to compete is astounding. You literally enter into another world that only those that compete can understand. I had just come back from Hawaii with my family, and I had to shed about 20 lbs. to be at my competition weight and I had about 20 weeks to achieve my goal and be competition ready. There were about 8 girls competing with me and towards the end of the cutting, girls started dropping out until I was the only one left. It was understandable considering they were moms and wives and had families and family events and holidays coming up this was very difficult. Read more>>

Karyn Frisby

The last time I was interviewed for this magazine, I had recently launched Five Ten Social, a boutique social media management firm during covid, after owning an indoor swim school with my ex-husband for many years. Needless to say, I had started over in a big way. Since then, I have continued to work as a Social Media Manager for several local, women owned, small businesses. It’s been an absolute fabulous and fun experience. However, there was something missing. It was about 7 months ago, when I realized I needed a more steady income. It was a moment when I felt like I failed myself. Sure, the business was growing, but so were my three kids and their needs. It was a moment that I had to either sit in my pity, or embrace all that I had accomplished thus far. Read more>>

Nichole Lee

For 20 years, I served as a global business consulting leader, helping fortune 500 companies navigate major transformation initiatives around the world. I thought my life was great until my mother and best friend died of cancer in 2018. Not only was I grieving, I also began questioning everything about my life, including who I was and my purpose. Through self-discovery, mentorship and therapy, I rediscovered the true me and healed from a lot of trauma along the way. My mother’s death taught me that life is too precious and too short to not be living in your truth and aligned to your purpose. Read more>>

Rhonda Steinke

In my undergraduate training at Marquette University, I was working as a Certified Nurses Assistant on a Medical/Surgical floor of a hospital gaining hours of experience to apply into the Physicians Assistant program. I observed morbidly obese patients allowed to eat high caloric foods with little nutritional value. I observed patients laying in bed attached to pain medicine pumps looking lifeless until a loved one came in and sung a song or brushed their hair. After observing these simple valuable parts to health we overlook in medicine I knew I wanted to practice different. I wanted training that looked at the body as a whole system. I wanted to learn how to enhance “life” in a patient so their symptoms weren’t just managed, they were well. I wanted a career where the patient was involved in the conversation of where the disease came from and what was needed from them to heal. Read more>>

Julia Jovone

One defining moment in my life was when I embarked on my journey as Spiritual Healer, Reiki Master, and Integrative Practitioner. This moment began with my first client, which happened to be myself. It was a powerful decision to prioritize self-love and personal growth, showing up for myself and working on my own well-being. This act of self-care set the foundation for my future success and helped me understand the importance of self-love as the starting point for any healing or transformational work. This moment marked a turning point in my life, where I realized that by loving and taking care of myself first, I could then extend that love and healing to others. It was a profound realization that shaped the way I approach my work and the way I impact the lives of those around me.. Read more>>

Heather Cox

It was February 2019. One month into my cross country move. I was living in my sisters apartment at the time with her & her roommate to save some money. Just shy of a year from quitting my full time corporate job to go all in on starting my own business. Up until that point, I was doing okay for myself. I had a consistent income coming, making enough to make ends meet. But then things started to shift. I started to doubt myself, asking questions… “Can I really do this long term?” “What makes me different?” Read more>>

Zoe Vlastos

Yes! Oh, there have been so many moments that have made me the human I am, which makes me the professional I am. A couple of such moments jump to mind right away, probably because they pertain to the work I’m doing now. One was summer 2018. I was on a mountaintop sitting in a circle of early morning light and young women, each of whom held hope and heartbreak, bravery and connection in her heartstrings, in her unspoken words and in the unshed tears sparkling in her eyes. We had woken before dawn, heading the call of challenge – of our physical selves to find the summit and our emotional selves to share vulnerably in this circle. Read more>>

Jheri Walters

One defining moment in my career that changed the trajectory was when I was accepted to an accelerated BSN program. I entertained the idea of becoming a nurse, after experiencing my first round of burn-out as a social worker. Although, this was a wonderful opportunities, there were many barriers for me to complete school. I had limited funding and social support. I saw this as a sign that I needed to look for other opportunities in my field, as a social worker. I began to seek out management opportunities and additional training experience that would allow me to coach other social workers. Read more>>

Jessica Guerrero

I have always been an artist as a child. I won a city wide award for an art contest in La Mirada when I was in preschool. My interests spread to reading and writing as I grew up. I found these all ways to escape the difficulties of reality growing up, but more than that, I realized sharing art is a way to share experiences. I began to cosplay in my 20s, and loved being able to transform into someone else, and take on their stories. Though I soon realized the power that came from reclaiming your own story. I used face paint and make up as a way to give shape to my innermost emotions, as a way to process and sort through my experiences. This art interpretation was a way for me to claim ownership of my hardships and traumas, instead of letting it take control of me. Read more>>

Susan Michel

My life’s journey hit a major turning point, at the age of 20, when I tried to commit suicide twice. With 6 bottles of sleeping pills inside of me, I imagined my father lying over my dead body in tears. I wanted him to feel my pain. Then I realized that I didn’t really want to die, I just wanted to kill the pain. My joy was on the other side of all of that pain and I didn’t have the tools to process my repressed, unhealed emotions.
My journey towards true peace began with an “aha” moment during a Marianne Williamson lecture. She was interpreting the book entitled A Course in Miracles and everything she said made so much sense. As she spoke, I knew that I had found my path home. Read more>>

Katherine Sullivan

My life and career were defined by the death of my mother when I was 6 years old. My mother had cancer that spread to her spine. She was in a wheelchair the last 6-months of her life. My father took care of my mother at home. My mother’s parents lived in Philadelphia. We lived in Margate, NJ. My brother and I stayed with her and helped her when our Dad was at work. Read more>>

Joel

Brainspotting Therapy Changed My Life in 40 Minutes Yellow garden spiders have a fat yellow abdomen slicked with yellow and black stripes. They weave a tiny white squiggle in the center of their webs. I stare at the faintly milky zig zag as it sways when wind moves the web and stirs the iris sepals it hangs between in my mothers garden. I am biting on the seam of injection molded red plastic in a 1980s baby walker. I ponder the way that Alabama red clay cakes in the grooves of my tennis shoe and poke it with a stubby finger and later a small twig. My dreams were a miasma of detailed childhood imagery. I vividly re-experienced half remembered and seemingly insignificant moments from when I was a toddler in photorealistic detail. When I woke up my phone rang. “Did you have weird dreams?” asked a colleague “Everyone is saying their dreams are weird.”. Read more>>

Jennica Klemann

I’ve been a Massage Therapist for over 25 years and a Grief Coach for 5 years, but I first started my grief work “journey” when I began offering a Grief Massage on my menu back in 2004. Most of my clients were retirees and I noticed that they were experiencing the loss of their parents, spouses, siblings, and friends. I felt they needed a space to focus on their mental health outside of their routine treatments, and that deep tissue massage was not what they needed during those significant life events. Read more>>

Carol Grant

For the most considerable part of my life, I was heavily reliant on others’ approval. As a young girl, I was constantly consumed by the notion that nothing I did was good enough. This mindset, unfortunately, led me on a path where I married someone who further diminished my self-esteem to an almost non-existent point. However, a significant turning point in my life was a moment of epiphany where I realized that nobody could control me. The world suddenly seemed to be filled with endless possibilities. It was as if I had been granted a new lease of life, a life where I could genuinely LIVE. I decided to step up, drop the rope, and start living for myself. Read more>>