Defining moments aren’t just exciting – they are thought-provoking and fertile ground for learning. These inflection points often are the result of an illuminating moment where some truth of the universe presents itself in an easier to recognize form. Below, you’ll find talented and successful entrepreneurs and artists sharing the stories of defining moments in their lives.

Yenny James

When reflecting on where I am today professionally, it’s very evident that everything that I have done in the past 15 years has led me to this moment in my career. I began working in the medical field when I was 16 years old, as a certified nursing assistant(CNA). I specifically worked in hospice care because there was something special about supporting families and patients in their last moments of life. I learned so much from every patient and family that I supported. Read more>>

Sonny Etienne

My life has had its share of twists and turns, ups and downs, and milestones that helped shape me into the person I am today. My career is no different, it’s taken me from working in the juvenile justice system to running a private practice, I’m not sure if any of my career stops would be possible without a defining moment in 2003. Read more>>

Jenny Boss

A defining moment in my professional career actually came from a traumatic moment in my personal life. Three years ago I was in an abusive marriage and struggling to survive. We were both Pastors at our church playing the game all too well. When serving God I knew I was operating in my gifting, but my home life left me feeling ashamed and alone. Read more>>

Shuntoya Chatman

The most defining moment in my professional career is becoming a self-published author this year. My book “Grieve with Grace” which is now available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble can be purchased. Grieve with Grace is a realistic and thought-provoking book that was created to support individuals in navigating the journey of grief. Read more>>

Jamie Molnar

My journey has certainly been a long and winding path, with lots of wrong turns! But I believe everything I have been through has made me the professional that I am today, and for that reason, I wouldn’t change a thing. Read more>>

Jenna Fernandez

A defining moment in my career was during my early nursing career when one my patients experienced a heart attack before my eyes. Fortunately, were able to save him, but I was disappointed by the lack of preventative measurss and patient education regarding lifestyle to change to prevent another event from happening. Through this experience, my passion for wellness and preventative medicine began. Read more>>

Jason Blaise Gans

Being an art therapist in a psychiatric hospital has many challenges. Most people have not created art in a long time, and they don’t think making art in the hospital will fix their current crisis. In order to reach hesitant patients I created a comic book to help people project their emotions and explore art materials in a non-judgmental way. Read more>>

Tabria Corprew

There were quite a few pivotal moments in my career that I can choose to speak on, but I think the moment that truly shifted my professional lens as a professional counselor was losing my son at 27 weeks, Jonah Aspen. I never imagined enduring this type of pain, I mean I don’t think many women do. I was no stranger to adverse and hard experiences, but this experience led me to building my therapy private practice and offering emotional support services for women of color who have endured the many challenges of Motherhood whether that be grief, postpartum depression, PTSD and the list can go on. Read more>>

Alison Avayu

After years of barely surviving the early years of raising 2 boys, 23 months apart while working from home as a health coach – one day it dawned on me that my purpose was far greater than simply helping people feel better physically. My purpose was to help other moms have access to all the tools and tips I wish I would have had; my purpose was to lift up and help moms THRIVE, not just survive the beautiful yet chaotic transition into motherhood. Read more>>

Buck Dodson

A pivotal experience in my career was coming full circle and re-igniting my psychotherapy and coaching business after burning out. I’d hit the ground running as a young, ambitious and driven psychotherapist in Los Angeles and spent the first 10 years of my career in full hustle mode. Read more>>

Marianna Blyumin-Karasik

There are quite a few defining moments that have changed my life’s trajectory. I like to view life holistically, and our personal experiences are often interlaced with out professional journeys. Read more>>

Rhonda Kuykendall

There is a question I loathe to answer. I have seen it posed on social media to engage an audience, used in conferences as an ice breaker activity, or asked as a game of “50 Questions” with friends. What did you want to be when you grew up? So simple, right? My fingers hover over my keyboard. I ask myself, “Do I dare?” contemplating whether I should tell the truth. I rarely do because, for me, as an eleven-year-old child, I wanted to be a prostitute. Read more>>

Micah Morgan

After graduating University Of South Florida with my Master’s Degree in Entrepreneurship, I dedicated my passion and skillset into fitness. I started training my first client at no cost just to apply everything I’ve learned into practice. After a month of consistent training and guidance, my client loss 20 pounds of fat and transformed her mindset and physique. Word of mouth spread of my services and in no time, I was training groups of 20+ people in the parks and apartment complexes throughout Tampa, Florida. Read more>>

Lydia Magnoli

Sometimes all you need is to silence the outside noise and follow the still small voice of your heart. It was 2016 and I had spend the last 5 years falling in love with the fitness industry but it was still my side gig and my full time “real job” was working as a School Psychologist in an elementary school. The inner calling to dive deeper into the fitness industry became so loud that it prompted me to take action. Read more>>

Isabel Meijering

I got to where I am today through complete trust in the universe. I got accepted into Veterinary school after a tumultuous year in my personal life. This acceptance was “supposed to” be a light at the end of a very dark tunnel. Except it was not. I was miserable and I did not yet understand why.  Read more>>

Denise Alexandra

My divorce in 2019 was the defining moment when I decided to become a certified life coach. I was working on my PhD in Art History, but needed to decide what I was going to do in terms of income. I had never been on my own before and I was terrified. Read more>>

Tavelyn James

Before entering into corporate America, I was a professional basketball player. I remember when deciding to retire from basketball what would I do next. I was so nervous and unaware of how I would provide for myself after basketball. The day I retire I was a little overwhelmed but knew that God had something bigger for me in store. Read more>>

Christina Algeciras

I think one of the most defining moments of my professional life was during the time I was working in a completely different industry. I was working in New York in the field of international transportation and logistics and it was a grind. My job was fast paced, high stress, high level of responsibility – extremely demanding to say the least. My personal life was essentially non-existent and “work-life balance” seemed completely unattainable. Read more>>

Cerrissa Hugie

Much of my work as a psychiatric nurse practitioner is illness based. Every day I prescribe medications and provide therapeutic interventions for people with mental illness and psychiatric conditions. What I found is that when people leave my office, they interact with the systems that either sabotage or help to facilitate their mental health. Read more>>

Ashley Barbour

A defining moment in my career is when I became a small business owner, although I have been a licensed esthetician and certified cosmetic tattoo artist for 7 years, once I stepped into that roll it all became so much more than just my job. June 2020 when everything was at it’s height of uncertainty due to Covid-19 and the world was starting to put itself back together again, I knew I needed a drastic change for the well being of myself and my clients. Read more>>

Mayo Onakoya

My journey began in 2013 during my sophomore year of college. I was playing junior college basketball at Southern Union State Community College in Wadley, Alabama— the middle of nowhere. While preparing for the upcoming season, I unfortunately suffered stress fractures in both of my legs. As a result, doctors told me I would be out for at least half of the season. I was extremely disappointed, but despite the adversity, I was able to cultivate strong relationships with athletic trainers and physical therapists. Read more>>

Jamie Lee Zeno

I always knew that I was meant to bring about change to people in some way or form. Helping others was something I knew I wanted to take part in but I never really knew how. I went through the jobs that I was able to help others but it didn’t spark the light in me. Until the pandemic came about. Read more>>

Patricia Greenberg

I was eating well, and exercising and decided to train for a marathon. It took months of training and when the big day came there was a storm, and yet I decided to run it anyway. Tons of people were dropping out and when I crossed the finish line I realized I could do anything I set out to do. I went on to run 20 marathons and 110 half marathons. Read more>>

Damian Ambriz

My defining moment was when I experienced my own hairloss at a young age. Going through hairloss was tough and depressing especially when I had really thick hair. It’s what drove me into the career path of scalp micro pigmentation. To understanding how my clients feel about their own hair loss because I’ve been there. Read more>>