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.

Justin Holley

In December 2019 I checked myself into a substance abuse treatment facility. Read more>>

Dr. Venessa

Dr. Vee’s defining moment is when she went through a 27-year divorce from what she thought was the love of her life. The divorce crushed me holistically and today, I am grateful for the crushing. You see without the crushing, there would be no testimony for those that have and are going through what I am growing through. Revelations 12:11 tells us, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony”. Read more>>

Bonnie Jones

Before I began my journey in the wellness community, I had a successful career in the hospitality industry. I was bent on climbing the corporate ladder and landing the title that I thought would fulfill me intellectually, socially, and monetarily. I was offered a position within my company at a new facility and was told by the interviewing manager that this transition would put me in a place to receive the promotion I had been working toward for years. This was very exciting for me and although I greatly enjoyed my current position, the promise of this opportunity felt even better. I accepted the lateral position at the new facility and got to work. One evening, after normal office hours, as I worked through a pile of files on my desk, I overheard the regional manager having a candid discussion with my manager. Overhearing this discussion was a defining moment in my life. Read more>>

Ashley Sarno

Naturally Functional Wellness was born from my deep love for health and wellness, but even more so from my own personal journey of healing. From a young age, I was diagnosed with PCOS and Ulcerative Colitis, and finding quality care felt like an uphill battle. Most doctors wanted to prescribe medications or injections, but something inside me told me there had to be another way. Read more>>

Marinés Rodriguez

There was a defining moment in my career, I was laying in bed with a close friend who was very knowledgeable and experienced in the wellness and healing world. I had just finished facilitating what at the time was, my standard healing session. She had given me positive feedback and had been impressed with what I had provided. She then started asking me more about my journey and what direction I wanted to go in. I was 28 at the time and started expressing many dreams that felt so far away and I said one particular line which was “my dream is to do healing work full-time by the age of 40.” Read more>>

Nell Stephenson

It was then that I stumbled across a book called The Paleo Diet, by Dr. Loren Cordain, PhD, read it, and began following it straight away. It was late 2003, at least five years before Paleo even began being something people would speak about in conversation.

I read it, began implementing it and felt better in three days.

I began sharing some of the basics with certain clients and noticed that they, too, were experiencing extremely positive results from weight loss to better digestion to improved energy to a clearer complexion.

I felt compelled to write to Dr. Cordain, simply thank him for his work and tell him what a gift it had been to me to discover it, and to share with my clients. Read more>>

Vivia Rowe

Aesthetics is a billion dollar industry, with unlimited options available to our clients. Everywhere you look, products and services are advertised and sold. When a client chooses to visit a business for the first time, their decision is based on marketing or maybe even a referral. When that client decides to come back and become a regular client, they are choosing not just the service, but the provider. Read more>>

Elizabeth Banks

The realization that I was different came to me at a young age. “Boys to the right, girls to the left” the gym teacher would say. That statement confused me. Just like the toys at McDonalds confused me, as the voice in the drive-thru box asked; “boy toy or girl toy?” I would sit, waiting in the backseat. And I would quietly accept the label my mother chose for me: “girl.” So, when the time came in gym class, that’s where I sorted myself; “girl”. This moment would lead me down a 30-year path of conformity and ultimately, misery. Read more>>

Michelle Epple

The defining moment in my professional career came when I was laid off from my role as a billing manager. I had worked my way up the ladder in corporate America, most recently at a nonprofit where we helped mentally ill and substance-abusing clients find their way. I convinced myself I was serving my higher purpose because of the work we did, but the truth was, I wasn’t working directly with clients. As much as I loved the challenge of billing—the thrill of turning services into cash—it often left my nervous system taxed and disconnected from the deeper magic I know I’m here to create. Read more>>

Joseph Corella

I never imagined that I would be a group fitness instructor; it was a role I never envisioned for myself as a child. However, when the opportunity arose to teach a class for adults, I felt an undeniable pull in my heart to say yes. Stepping into that first group fitness class transformed my life in ways I never expected. In that moment, I realized my passion for guiding others in their journey to move, breathe, and care for their bodies and minds. Read more>>

Sheena Urdaz

One of the most pivotal moments in my career occurred in 2017 when I encountered a patient who was newly diagnosed with diabetes during a hospital admission. His A1C — a key marker for blood sugar control — was above 14, a dangerously high level. Understandably, he was overwhelmed by the diagnosis and strongly opposed starting medications. Read more>>

Hope Hartley

A defining moment in my professional career was when I witnessed one of my first clients witness herself, accept, and love herself for the first time. In this particular session about 10 years ago, this woman was suffering with depression and years of anxiety. We were able to process her early childhood abuse, her body somatically (shaking, crying) began to release the built up tension and stress within her nervous system and she begin to smile with joy. At the time, I knew she was feeling loved, most importantly I knew she was feeling loved by herself. As she announced that she could feel it, that she could feel herself moving forward, that she knew this was no longer going to hold her back she began to radiate joy on the table. Read more>>

Jenn Kautsch

It all began in my mid 40’s when I KNEW I wanted to ‘show up’ at age 50 different than I did the big 4-0. I had several areas of my life I wanted to up level and experience more alignment towards my best self. I knew I couldn’t change everything all at once so I decided to start with my wine o’clock habit. I was sober curious but didn’t feel physically addicted…I was stuck in the detox to retox loop. Mindful and super healthy by day only to “mindlessly sip” in the evenings to socialize or take the edge off. Read more>>

Dr. Chanel

Great question, actually it wasn’t in the thick of my career now, when the moment of solidification was established. It was when I was still an employee, giving advice to the employer, on what I thought would be best for the needs of the business, and that’s when I knew that Leadership, and my passion to help someone else, became defined. Read more>>