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.

Sabrina Parr

in 2022 I had a life-changing knee surgery, and then I had another one in 2023. I was diagnosed with something called Functional movement disorder. I knew this was going to change my life forever. I had to find out what else I was good at, passionate about and something that would help other people at the same time wouldn’t require me to use my body as much but more so my mind. This led me to searching for something and thats when I found coaching and working with kids was my thing. Read more>>

Dr. Xellex Rivera

There was a pivotal moment in my professional journey that altered the trajectory of my career and led me to a path of empowerment and advocacy. In the early stages of my career, I found myself navigating spaces where Black and Brown women were not only underrepresented but also largely unacknowledged. I started off young, around 21, having more degrees than experience which subconsciously lead to levels of intimidation in the work place. I was so hungry to advance. However, the lack of support and recognition from women who looked like me was disheartening, and I quickly realized that if I was feeling isolated, others likely were too. I worked in an industry where the lack of support could have had a heighten negative effect on me but I refused to let it do so. Read more>>

Sallyann Martinez

The defining moment in my professional career began at the end of nearly a decade managing a large retail environment. I could feel the energy shifting around me, a sense that the chapter was closing. After being let go due to company restructuring, I wasn’t initially worried. I had strong industry connections, and job offers started coming in almost immediately. But weeks passed, and despite numerous interviews, nothing materialized. I was left dumbfounded, feeling discouraged as each opportunity slipped away. Read more>>

Kelsey Lettko

A defining moment in my coaching career was on the first day of my certification course. I still wasn’t totally bought into the whole coaching thing, and was planning to just dip a little toe in and see what it was all about. Each day there was a demo on one of the students to show the techniques we were learning.  My trainer was a woman in her mid-eighties who had shifted to coaching after a long career as a therapist. She wore sparkly converse and had more pep in her step than anyone I’d met in a long time. My plan to sit back and be a passive participant totally backfired when she saw right through me and chose me to be the first demo. I was absolutely horrified — as an introvert still in my “shy girl era”, sharing my heart and soul in front of a room full of strangers was not my vibe. Read more>>

Brett Rein

I graduated from the University of Delaware in 2012 with a B.S. in Health Behavior Science and with absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I did what any sensible person would do in that situation: I bought a suit, applied for a bunch of sales jobs, and attended several group interviews. I don’t remember much from those interviews other than deciding I highly disliked wearing a suit and that any job requiring me to do so would not work for me. I was an athlete growing up; I played hockey through high school and then rugby in college. Given my interests, my dad and step mom persuaded me to get a Master’s degree to be a physical education teacher. Read more>>

Naga Rising

I’d have to say the defining moment in my professional career was back when I took the leap into being an entrepreneur in 2015. After a few years of living as a free spirit in Portugal I moved back to the United States at which point a friend of mine and I came up with the idea to create a yoga and cannabis blog. Which back then this was a verrry new concept to the public, there was literally only one other woman promoting this as the time. So I decided to get my yoga certification and quit my minimum wage day job to go all in. Read more>>

Amanda Garcia Torres

In 2013, I was in my second year of my NYU master’s program and completing a clinical internship where I worked with severely traumatized youth. Though I loved my clients, I struggled with the emotional toll of their experiences. I was particularly distressed by the suffering of one of my teen clients. Looking back, I realize I was experiencing vicarious traumatization (the negative emotional and psychological impact from repeated exposure to others’ traumatic experiences).

Coach Ratner

In my Junior years of college, I decided to not take the easy summer job I had working as a teller at a bank. I chose to go out on my own in the rare coin business traveling all over the country to trade shows and auctions. The wisdom learned was that you can go through life and be comfortably mediocre, but if you want to have a chance of greatness, you have to get uncomfortable. Read more>>

Nicole Byrne

In 2020, I encountered challenges that changed me personally and professionally as a psychotherapist. I was new to Reno, NV and with very little community, I had my first baby boy during the COVID pandemic. In the thick of newborn life, my husband worked long hours and was gone the entire summer before my son turned one. I felt alone and the demands of motherhood drew me further away from myself. Read more>>

Jamie Shultz

I have never been a morning person. When I first got sick, I had to go for infusions every 10 days, 5 days a week. The infusions were at a hospital over an hour from my house. In order to prepare my chest port so I would not feel the painful stick when accessed, I had to have my husband help me cut Saran Wrap, quickly lean back to apply a runny lidocaine cream on my shirt, and then stick the Saran Wrap over my chest port as quickly as possible. I got so tired of this and was not happy about it in the mornings. I would then get into the car, and my seat belt would smush it, or it would leak all over my shirt. Read more>>