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. Lynn Chang

“Go now. Leave your job.”- the angels Years ago something quite pivotal happened that still gives me goosebumps when I think about it. I went to a self-care workshop and towards the end, the teacher had us pick an angel card. The student before me drew a “Drink more water” card and I shrugged it off, not convinced this advice was exactly what she needed to hear but ok. Then when it was my turn, and I drew the “Go now. Leave your job” card! I loved my job at the university but it was draining my energy and I was unable to find my zen and balance. Were the angels seriously telling me to quit? Read more>>

Meg Schwarzrock

I have been an entrepreneur for over a decade. While that has been rewarding in many ways, my mission and life’s work is helping other women activate their soul fire and see the spark of their soul that has always flickered and helped them during their life trials. My passion is showing women from a spiritual perspective that they are their greatest healer, savior, + warrior. A defining moment for me was when I started having a mystery skin issue that doctors called dermatitis. Their only remedy for me was a $500 prescription, which lessened the issue but didn’t heal it. Read more>>

Meagan Noble

I think the defining moment of my career, and my life, happened after the birth of my first son. I had a wonderful birth experience, but we really struggled with breastfeeding, sleep, and the general isolation that comes with being a new mom. I remember at that time thinking that if I ever did something different with my life, I would help new parents through this difficult transition. Read more>>

Sherrell Alicia Jackson

1. Shortly after the birth of my daughter I began losing my hair and so did she. In that moment as a women, I felt out of place. People come to me and trust me with the health of their hair. I was able to help them keep their hair healthy and could do nothing to save mine or my daughters. That led me to educate myself on health and restoration options. In 2017, I began pursuing the ethnic hair loss therapist certification and expanding my knowledge of holistic health. Read more>>

Ubaid & Safura Osmani

We have been vegan for about 10 years and are passionate about healthy plant-based eating and love to share our knowledge with others. Many of our family members had passed away from stroke and heart disease at a young age. This led us to do tons of research and follow all the plant-based experts in the food and health field to find out how to live healthier without disease. Read more>>

Joi Brown

One afternoon , I had just plopped on my bed ready to crawl under the covers and cry my eyes out . This rush of emotion and sorrow came from me combing wads of hair out after washing my hair and exploring the patches of hormonal acne all over my face in the mirror . What was happening to me was postpartum alopecia and hormonal acne , that happens to many others after giving birth . As my sweet fourth month old , at the time , giggled and cooed ; I was cheering up for her on the outside but I felt so hurt on the inside. As a new mom there were so many things that we always learn about our sweet bundles of joy before they arrive , what’s happening to our bodies and theirs as they develop ; but never the postpartum effects . Read more>>

Indigo Boroski

The biggest defining moment for my career would be the moment I realized I needed to start my own beauty business! One day when I was working as a lash tech and esthetician for a spa, the owner and I were sitting in the back discussing ordering products for the spa. I have always had a passion for the environment and doing what’s necessary to help limit the amount of plastic waste. So, of course, this is something I brought up to my boss at the time. I expressed my concern for the amount of waste we were creating collectively, and was shocked when my boss turned to me and said, “yeah, but plastic’s cheaper. So we’ll stick with what we’ve been buying.” Read more>>

Nerissa Legg

As a Black Woman in America, there are not very many spaces in which we feel as though we are safe in being our authentic selves. For me, working in majority white spaces in the Mental Health field, I too felt the same. I had plenty of experiences working in the field with amazing clients and therapists, but it was at this defining moment that I felt very different amongst my peers. It seemed as if my input regarding my clientele was not valued or appreciated. I found myself hiding who I was as a Black Therapist, because it didn’t feel acceptable. Read more>>

Eddie O’Connor

I was a runner in high school. That was my identity, which was risky because I wasn’t that fast. But I loved the sport and trained year round for four years. I hit a mental block senior year. I desperately wanted to break 2:10 in the 800m before graduating (I told you I wasn’t fast!). But week after week I came across the finish line in 2:11. I ran as fast as I could but I still had energy left. Something was holding me back. I’d come across the finish line, go over to the sideline and throw up as if I had pushed myself to exhaustion, but at the same time also know that I had more in me and would say, “Ugh, I could’ve broken 2:10 if I just pushed a little harder.” Read more>>

Cassie Lane

Finding out all my friends were getting Botox and I never knew. I immediately thought, I would be good at that! The women who I realized were getting Botox weren’t the stereotypical Real Housewife. Then as I became a consumer of aesthetic services I realized this was really not skin deep. How we feel about ourselves makes all the difference in our confidence as we navigate the world. Read more>>

Cleo B.

During my corporate career within the legal industry, there were many definining moments that indicated to me that my true life work is to help individuals in the area of skin health, self care, and self love. Coworkers and colleagues would ask me for skin health advice and they didn’t even know that skin health was a passion of mine. As time went on, I realized that helping so many via social media or at my corporate job in regards to skin health brought a sense of fulfillment, it felt very right, because it was an underlying passion. During those definining periods, I decided to start blogging about self love, self care, and skin health. Read more>>

Colleen Bridges

Defining moments sometimes happen without us knowing and may even occur in phases. For me, the first moment was when I received a call from a friend living with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and asked me to train her. I told her I would love to but I needed to take some time to prepare. She was willing to wait while I took a course on MS, visited with physicians, physical therapists and exercise physiologist , Dr. Irv Rubenstein. When we began to work together it brought me so much joy to see her gain strength which allowed her to independently care for her children, Read more>>

Jadeia Grimes

It was back in 2017 when life really started to test me. I really couldn’t figure out a way to “make” something of myself, the pressure to “be great” can be very overwhelming these days. I’ve always been into makeup and girly things, I used to do makeup for weddings and it was fun but it wasn’t my passion, but I knew anything beauty would suit me well! It was around 3am one night, I couldn’t sleep, I was very sad and depressed but something told me to look into esthetic school so that’s what I did! Read more>>

Just Bree

My defining moment, is my first book, the accident: How to Shake the Sh!t Out of Your Life. In June of 2021 my husband and I were in a motorcycle accident that literally shook the sh!t out of our lives. Everything was different after the accident. I found myself unable to do the things that I had been doing in my life before flying off a motorcycle. I realized, we should have died. We could have been seriously injured. But, we walked away banged up- but lucky. So lucky. After the accident – I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had been living my life all wrong. Not for myself. Read more>>

Stefanie Griffith

About 10 years ago I experienced depression for the first time. I was pregnant with my second daughter at the time and I had never experienced anything like that before in my life. After I was able to ask for help, and after I gave birth to my daughter I started to feel much better, I realized that I never wanted to feel that way again. I also knew that I wanted to help other people not to feel that way either. It shifted the trajectory of my life and started leading me down a path of mental health. Read more>>

Imani Fayne

In 2020, before the pandemic, I was working two jobs. My full time job was a receptionist for a medical manufacturing company, then my part time job was as a sales associate at Zales the Diamond store. Once the pandemic hit I lost both jobs. This was the first time I had an unlimited amount of free time with myself. I’m usually someone who is always on the go but covid sat me down! I started working with my own personal life coach and I started my journey of healing. I started doing the work and started the process of truly learning who I was as a woman and how I wanted to show up in the world. I wanted to forgive and heal my broken heart. Read more>>

Krista Verrastro

I was in high school when I discovered drama therapy and immediately knew that it was what I wanted to pursue. I had already longed to be a therapist because of enjoying helping people and had recently discovered the healing power of theater, so using theater techniques in therapy appealed to me when I learned about drama therapy while researching for an essay for drama class. Read more>>

Dr. Monica Harris

The defining moment in this journey that I have been blessed to walk happened right after a near fatal car accident in 2009 that left me bedridden for months with the prognosis of never being able to use my upper body again. But, through my faith in God and perseverance I am doing what man said would never happen. Read more>>

Jennifer Brand

My journey to becoming who I am and what I do begins in childhood. I struggled with feeling different as a child. I was born with a congenital difference, so my body didn’t look like everyone else’s. I distinctly remember how uncomfortable I felt in my body at a very young age. Parents worry that their children will feel this way and struggle with insecurities because of their visible rashes, in addition to the debilitating symptoms. I’m passionate about helping children so they don’t struggle as I did. Because they don’t need to. Read more>>

Sunayana Weber

My own difficult lactation journey with my oldest led to me realizing what I wanted to be when I grew up! The overnight nursing and pumping sessions led me to read a lot about lactation. My friends started asking me for advice. Soon, they started giving my phone number out to their friends for support. I knew I had to change the trajectory of my career and legitimize the way I supported new parents. Prior to becoming an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), I worked full time in a completely different field that had nothing to do with babies or lactation. Read more>>

Kathy Kat Eyes the Brand Washington

It was actually! During the pandemic, I saw an crazy increase in my business! I made more that year than I have in the 7 years I had been a Master Cosmetologist. 2020 was the year that I started my e-commerce business selling over 7 products. I sold custom hair units, eye lash extensions, lace melt bands and hair growth oils just to name a few. My business grossed just under $100, 000 that year, which was so major to me, being that I had been living from pillar to post with my daughter for almost 4 years. That year taught me that if I gave up on my dreams & just excepted the cards I have been dealt, I wouldn’t be were I am today! Cozy!!! Read more>>

Vanessa Lee

I had been battling with weight my whole life and never realized what had to be done was to love myself and my body instead of hating it, I started to do inner work and it al began to shift, I decided to nourish my body with food instead of punishing it without. When lockdown started people reached out to me For help and I decided to do lives and classes to teach people how to eat delicious and healthy but also to share the road I had taken towards self love. This has brought beautiful fulfilling moments into my life. Read more>>

Lyndsey Fraser

The defining moment in my professional career was when I enrolled in graduate school to become a Marriage and Family Therapist. Prior to this moment much of my life “just happened”. I did all that I was “supposed” to do, although lacking direction and a plan. I floated through each step society, history, family, and culture laid in front of me. I graduated high school at 17 and had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I enrolled in college and pursued a psychology degree because it was the “versatile one” that many adults had suggested to me. Read more>>

Hal Blatman MD

The defining moment : ​A woman came to urgent care on a Sunday morning with severe pelvic pain. Her superficial exam indicated pelvic inflammatory disease requiring a protocol of pelvic exam, IV antibiotics, and an ambulance ride to the hospital…but the exam did not fit her story. So instead, I offered first to stretch out her belly muscles, and she agreed. I retrieved Janet Travell MD’s monograph from my briefcase and moved her body, following the diagrams for relieving pelvic pain. Read more>>

Laura Rodriguez

This is something I never talk about because it was one of those “Ah ha moments” where a light bulb went off in my head and I realized I had to change the trajectory of my entire career. I was a full-time private chef to a country music star and sharing gluten/dairy/sugar free recipes on social media to show folks the realm of what’s possible in eating anti-inflammatory. Read more>>

Josh Gangaware

I have actually had a few defining moments in my career, all of which propelled me in a direction I never thought I would be in. The first was around the time I was finishing Grad school. I had personal training and doing some education for younger trainers through the rec department at FAU. After I graduated, I was allowed to stay on to personal train for a few months while I figured out what my next step was going to be – I knew fitness was the area I was destined to work in, I just didn’t have any clue on how to proceed. Read more>>

Meredith MORAN

When I was 15-year-old, I thought I had it all figured out career wise. I was going to work in local law enforcement , then move to Federal law enforcement and once I retired with my Doctorate, I was going to teach at a University. I got my Bachelor’s degree in Criminology and went to work for my local police department. 6.5 years in, 2 things happened that changed the “life plan” trajectory. I developed severe test anxiety and could not qualify on my firearm, which is a pretty important part of the job. During this time a collogue of mine also died by suicide. Read more>>