Every once in a while, something happens that really matters. Something that will define at least the next chapter of your journey – perhaps it’s a conversation with a client, a meeting with a visionary or a major event in your personal life. Below, you’ll find some very insightful folks sharing defining moments from their journeys.

Dr. Christopher Stepien

I played college football as a smaller, 180 pound middle linebacker. Most people at this position are 220-250 pounds. I then played rugby. These sports injured my body and caused mild chronic pain. By the time I got to chiropractic school, adjustments weren’t helping me and I was considering quitting chiropractic school. I got lucky and caught a lecture by Dr. William Brady. He said, “You’re being taught you can help everyone with chiropractic adjustments, right? I don’t believe that. Read more>>

Lea Marie Perfetti

After being a successful, international Ashtanga Yoga teacher, for over 20 years, I had a massive burn out in 2021. I had already started mentoring people as an Astrologer since 2010, and had started specifically leading women’s groups, but the burn out pushed me to really examine who I was and be loyal to that truth. Being able to “look” my burn out I the face through medical intervention and therapy, I was able to become my true self an my authentic work starting pouring put of me. Read more>>

Lisa Wisely

Yes—and it began long before I knew what a career was. I’ve been working since I was 8 years old, cleaning floors and dusting jukeboxes at my grandmother’s bar in West New York, NJ. In exchange, I got Slim Jims, Cheese Doodles, and Shirley Temples—along with an early understanding that being a “good girl,” working hard, and staying quiet earned me attention and praise from adults. Read more>>

Zeyu Liu

One of the most defining moments in my professional journey didn’t happen in a lab or during a big presentation. It happened in an online Zoom room during a research interview.
At the time, I was working on an AI-assisted shared decision-making system designed to support older adults with chronic illnesses. The goal was to help patients, doctors, and caregivers communicate more clearly and make better-informed choices. I was focused on the interface, on how data flowed through the system, and how we could tailor recommendations for each person’s unique situation. Read more>>

Victoria Ray

Like everyone else, the pandemic threw my life for a loop. It wasn’t just the job market collapsing right after my college graduation, which left me unemployed for months. I also lost my grandfather to COVID, who I was living with at the time during the pandemic. It was a really tough time, to say the least. Read more>>

Casey Lesieur

When I was in high school, I was on track to compete division 1 in gymnastics. At age 15, I competed with an injury which I later found out was a broken wrist, leading to a dead bone in my wrist. This completely changed my path. The doctors said I would never be able to do gymnastics again and my wrist would never be able to bend fully. Instead of quitting, I did not take no for an answer and started working harder than I ever did before. I relearned all of my gymnastics skills on beam and floor with one hand. I later competed in senior nationals and placed second. Read more>>

Alison Ruggio

I always thought I’d have one big epiphany—that cinematic, lightning-bolt moment where everything would suddenly make sense and I’d know exactly what to do with my career. And I think a lot of us are waiting for that moment to show up before we give ourselves permission to chase our dreams. Read more>>

Heather Thum

I was diagnosed with ductal carcinoma and invasive ductal carcinoma in February 2022. I was also found to be HER2-positive, which meant that my cancer was estrogen-driven. My journey began when I found a small pea-sized lump and immediately took action and called my doctor. I went for a mammogram, ultrasound and had to have biopsies done. When I got the results, it turned my life upside down. Going through this journey was a rollercoaster of emotions. After many sleepless nights I decided to change my mindset and made it positive, which led me to start #Hats4Heather on social media. Read more>>

Chamille Gathing

The defining moment in my career was during the COVID-19 pandemic. I was working as a business manager at the time. When COVID struck the building, I was in, we lost employees and residents at an alarming rate. I learned that there is no job description when you are working in healthcare. You have to be willing to go above and beyond outside of your regular job scope. I began helping patients with feeding, completing laundry, cleaning the facility, and doing whatever it took to ensure our residents were cared for. Read more>>

Samantha Lakhia

Yes—there was a moment during my training that completely shifted the way I saw my career, and in many ways, myself. I was working on a particularly complex case—a full-mouth rehabilitation for a patient who had lost not just their teeth, but their confidence and ability to fully engage with life. The case required intense planning, coordination, and meticulous attention to detail. I remember staying late into the evenings, sketching out treatment plans, assessing space, studying materials, and thinking through every step. It was challenging—but I was completely captivated. Read more>>

Arailym Kaldarbek

Yes, there was a defining moment in my career that completely changed its trajectory. It was the moment I decided to step away from architecture and fully embrace my passion for makeup artistry.

For years, I had pursued architecture—first in Kazakhstan, then in the U.S., managing high-rise projects in New York City. While I enjoyed the field, something always felt missing. I had discovered my love for creative makeup years earlier, training at Anelya Alim Makeup School in Kazakhstan. But after moving to the U.S., I put that passion aside to focus on my architectural career. Read more>>

Kamini Desai

I grew up as the daughter of a Yoga Master and gained alot of knowledge growing up in a spiritual community. In my early twenties, I decided this “yoga stuff” wasn’t as important as changing the world and I started my studies towards becoming a diplomat. I found myself in Geneva Switzerland alone and without the support of the community I grew up in. I soon found out that the peace process is heavily political and became disillusioned. I found myself becoming depressed and feeling lost inside. That’s when I picked up the techniques my father had taught me in my youth. Read more>>

Kyra Betts

I used to be a corporate trainer. I truly believed I’d always be teaching in some capacity but in classrooms, not birthing rooms. While working in a hospital setting, I was slapped in the face with information about maternal and infant mortality in the United States, especially among Black families. I was shocked. I remember reading the statistics and feeling like the ground shifted beneath me. That moment lit something in me that I couldn’t ignore. I could never unlearn what I had discovered, and I could never look back. From that point on, I knew my work had to be about more than training staff, it had to be about saving lives and transforming systems. That moment changed everything. Read more>>

Tyler Panzner

When I first entered graduate school, I honestly was a glorified frat boy. While I did get good grades and earned my spot in the program, I didn’t take it as seriously as I should. More specifically, it was doing the actual scientific research (think of growing cells, running mouse studies, analyzing data) that I brushed off and didn’t care about. I would do the bare minimum to get by then turn my focus to the weekends, which unlike many of my classmates did not involve working, but rather partying. At one point, I even had some administrative staff reminding me that I need to be working harder in my lab doing more research. Read more>>

Angela Bradley

When I was a child, I always knew I wanted to be a therapist. There was something about helping others through their pain that felt natural and necessary to me. I followed that passion early on, earning my BS in Psychology and setting my sights on a future in mental health. Read more>>

Thomas Brewer

I was working as a senior research scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory when I noticed my boss’s desk. It was a mass of papers and research articles. It was then that I decided to start my own business utilizing my science based skills. I did not want my future to include continuous grant writing to fund my research. I figured that I wanted to control the narrative regarding my success. There was too much uncertainty working for someone else. Read more>>

Danica Collins

I’ll never forget that train ride in Chicago. I was minding my business—probably thinking about my next work meeting—when I noticed a woman across from me wearing a diabetes device I didn’t recognize. I leaned in and said, “Hey, what pump is that?” Read more>>