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.

Liliana Martinez

I have a engineering degree and I was working already 5 years on the field. While I enjoyed my job office, I was feeling I wasn’t creating any direct positive impact in my community. After an accident that let me 3 months without being able to move my body, I started connecting with meditation and yoga. Those practices changed my life, saved me from depression. I took the decision to learn how to teach to others, and eventually took the risk to quit my office job to connect more with people day by day. Read more>>

Dr. Lisa Folden

As a healthcare professional, I always subscribed to a very typical understanding of health & wellness. But in my late thirties, everything I thought I ever knew about health came crashing down…in a good way. I had recently stopped breastfeeding my third and final child and noticed that I began gaining weight. Immediately I became fearful of becoming larger because I naturally associated weight gain with worsening health. To be clear: my health status had not worsened, I was simply gaining weight (likely in response to the lack of calorie burning from no longer nursing). Read more>>

John Marcum

Loss of parents in 2005 and 2010 changed the course of my life in all aspects. Personal and professional. I served in the US Navy, became a corpsman, and spent the majority of my time attached to the USMC. After the military, I did what we all say we will do…become fat, dumb, and happy. Being a student, I didn’t need an operational level of fitness anymore, and living in Wisconsin didn’t help…there is cheese in EVERYTHING. Read more>>

Veronica Kelly

When I was in my late 20’s I was a writer, performer, and bartender in Hollywood. I played my life fast and loose while living in my art. I had written and produced a web series loosely based on my dating follies. During our premiere I watched all my failed relationships with total jerks playout in succession. I was shaken by amount of horrible situations I had been in and was smacked in the face with the realization that I was 29 and never had a serious long term boyfriend! I then stepped back and looked at my entire life. Read more>>

Jordan Conner

Let me frame the picture before diving into my dirty little secret. I might not call it a defining “moment,” but rather a season of transition that is currently defining the direction of my business. When I started the journey of building my own business, my mind was constantly racing with new ideas, possibilities, and a desire to move quickly and with ease. I mean, truly, who doesn’t want for things to just “fall into place”? We all want that story of “happily ever after.” Read more>>

Kelly Bukovac

I originally graduated from college with a business degree in Management which was right on track because I knew I always wanted to own my own business. However, after quite a few years in the corporate world, working a 9-5 for someone else in industries that I wasn’t passionate about left me feeling unfulfilled. I knew I needed a change but, felt too old to pivot. In the summer of 2017, I was preparing for my september wedding and had a very traumatic event change my life course. Read more>>

Michael Phoutrides

How many times have you wanted to better yourself but didn’t know where to turn for help? Growing up in a home full of Greeks and Italians who ate like it was a professional sport, husky was a word often used to describe me. Husky, was such a loathsome word back then.. Being overweight held me back most of my childhood. Imagine being a kid who had the drive to do great things but was confined to a body that was unmanageable. Read more>>

Shavon LeBlanc

As a clinical pharmacist, I presented prescription utilization reports to multiple clients, one client, in particular, experienced a quarter of a million dollars savings in prescription costs in three months, due to the implementation of a company-wide wellness program. The company built workout facilities in their warehouses and corporate offices, offered time off during work shift to exercise, reconstructed their cafeteria offerings, implemented a smoking cessation program, and was actively building a healthier and happier staff. It sent chills to see a company experience not only a healthier team but a financial benefit. Read more>>

Chrissy Copley

When I look back on my defining moment, it only occurs to me now that that is what it was. As the moment was happening I had no idea it would be what defines me and the way I teach yoga. But it is the moment that I tell people made me the type of teacher that I am. Back in about 2009, I tried a yoga class for the first time. It was so wonderful that I could not wait to go back to class the next week, When I left the second class, it was the last time I would do yoga for the next 6 years. Read more>>

CJ Harris

My defining moment in education was when I was assigned my first classroom. That moment was so important to me because this wasn’t my first experience in education, but it officially made me a teacher. Despite my experience as an interventionist and as an Assistant Director of a prominent academy, none of the leaders from my past felt that I was ready to lead a classroom full time. Read more>>

Latoya Rattery

Don’t jeopardize your mental and physical health to earn a living. A new year doesn’t equate to a new start. Likewise, not showing signs of illness doesn’t equate to wellness. We tend to make new year’s resolutions, but I didn’t need a resolution – I needed to RESET. Wellness is a dimensional lifestyle, which is a personal initiative to be mastered through the management of your mind, body, and spirit. Read more>>

Brevin Jandreau

If I could pin point one thing in my life that changed it all for me it would be losing over 100lbs. It all started with what I call “your why”. This is what it’s costing you in your life to not reach your goal, feel the way you want to feel, or achieve what you want. For me my why was taking my life back and finally living, I was 20yrs old, I was missing out on events, missing pictures, not hanging out with friends, and I was tired of not living my life to the fullest. Read more>>

Jay Rodriguez

There was one conversation that got me started on my birth work journey, in my opinion it was a defining moment not only in my career but in my life as well. In 2014, I was attending a local medical college working on my bachelors in EMS after having been in EMS for eleven years with eight as a Paramedic. For context, it is worth noting the typical “life span” of a Paramedic is 5 years. As part of my degree, I began working on a large independent study, on Obstetrics, in an effort to broaden my knowledge about all of the many issues I was never trained on in Paramedic school but could realistically see in the back of the unit. Read more>>

Erika Jordan

A defining moment in my professional career was when I had to learn how to grow my business while growing my family. Being a female business owner, I’ve been told that I would never be able to be a respected businesswoman and have kids at the same time. People would tell me that there would never be enough time for both, but I knew that having a family was one of my goals in life. I am so thankful for my growth and the knowledge I’ve gained in order for me to become who I am today. Read more>>

Ashley Campbell

A defining moment in my professional career involved the use of the N-word during a therapy session. No matter how many times it happens, it still is very shocking and I always feel ill prepared. I was an intern at the time and decided to ask my supervisor how should I have responded. Naturally my supervisor was very helpful and easy to talk to. However, being a white woman, she was unable to help with this particular situation as she could never be able to relate to the lived experience of being black. Read more>>

Samantha Dillinger

For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to help people. Whether that be a lawyer, a nurse or what I ended being, a licensed massage therapist. I moved to Georgia escaping abuse with no idea what I was doing. My father recommended culinary or massage school as I loved and was pretty good at both. I didn’t want to stop loving cooking by doing it 24/7 and I still wanted to help people, so massage seemed the best option. I ended up falling absolutely in love with the industry. I’m a tactile person and a kinesthetic learner so massage was a very natural education for me. Read more>>

Evita Smithy

Many of us grow up with a picture we create of our lives. From watching fairy tales to reading books, there are certain things you think create a roadmap of how your life is supposed to go. I was no different from most people, especially a lot of women. I thought I would go to college, get married, settle down, have a career and that would be the picture of my life. Read more>>

Jeremie Etienne

A defining moment in my career was last 2021. I just left my job as a Health Coach and went back to school full-time to finish my degree in Dietetics and Nutrition while still managing my business as a Wellness Coach. The goal was to graduate in 3 semesters and hopefully get into a Dietetic internship. After a couple months in school I was blessed with an opportunity that would lead my business to switch gears. I got invited to be apart of a small business boot camp with Bank of America and out of 40 business I was one of the finalist at the boot camp. Read more>>

Jordan Morgan

Becoming a mother changed the trajectory of my entire life! I went from using my Bachelor’s in Biology and working in science labs to being a stay at home mom and trying to navigate motherhood. I struggled, very much, in the transition to Mom. I suffered with PPD & PPA and later was diagnosed with PTSD. Since then I’ve had another child, and experienced less postpartum issues that round, but still struggled. My kids are almost 5 & 3 now and some days are still hard! Read more>>

Chaye Walker

When I discovered how important it is to operate solely on faith and to not depend on my own understanding it was truly a game changer. I learned the importance of being grounded in prayer. I know for some folks it can be difficult to believe in something or someone that you can’t see which is why the word says “Be still and know” When I realized I needed more than what I was capable of producing with my own hands I began to pray to God for discernment and direction. Read more>>

Dr. Briana Malone

When I was entering high school, my grandma became ill and was prescribed many different medications. I decided to ride with my mom one day to pick up her prescriptions, but little did I know that that one trip in the passenger seat would start my journey into the healthcare field. I remember pulling up to the pharmacy and the pharmacist being invested in my grandma’s health. She asked how she was doing, talked about the medications, gave my mom some helpful tips on taking care of her, and sent her love and well wishes to my grandma. Read more>>

Elizabeth Ortiz

I was working as a surgical tech in a recognize hospital. When Covid-19 hit our country I was almost 9 months pregnant working at the hospital. I was already in the industry of health and wellness for quite some time. But i was working on it part-time. For many this pandemic was a tragic event but for me was the push I need it to overcome the fear of failure. If there’s something stronger than fear is motherhood! Read more>>

Aileda Lindal

My defining moment and change in trajectory came just prior to the pandemic. I had been contracted by a group of Medical Practitioners in NYC to assess their businesses for areas of opportunities and growth. I was two months in on the project when Covid-19 hit at the locations in Brooklyn NY. Our practitioners went running straight into the ER’s to assist the masses. My team immediately started working 20 hour work days in unison with the brave medical teams to do massive build out! Read more>>

Tina Wilson

As a professional simply starting out, prior to going own..I showed up to train at a gym on their watch.. received a phone call my son whom was 1 was very ill, fever 102 diarrhea and vommitting. I went to tell my boss I have to leave to get me son, she proceeded with your unable to leave at the moment. At that very moment the trajectory of my life forever changed. I knew then Business owner it was. Read more>>