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.

Skye Wagner

I’ve been coaching since 2009. I used to work for a non-profit organization and would coach anyone who was sent to me. This was pretty general and I usually would dive into trauma, sources of trauma and stress and help the person to move forward. In 2020, I decided to move on and become an entrepreneur, at which point I joined my life partner’s business. He then started focusing on working with men and helping with masculinity, and I niched down to focusing on women.  Read more>>

Jeremy Joyal, MD.

I always toyed with the idea of opening my own clinic. But, it also scared me. During my fellowship, I came home from a conference and told my wife that I wanted to start my own clinic. We talked about the hundreds of thousand of dollars of tuition debt we had as well as our lack of knowledge in business, and we quickly put the idea aside. Over the next five years, I worked really hard expanding my knowledge and skills as well as building and growing others’ medical practices. In 2018, a separation from my employer really gave me the push I needed to “leave the nest”. If I was going to start all over, I was going to do it for myself. Read more>>

Shanequa Thomas

A defining moment in my professional career took place in summer 2019, when I felt this urge to go back to school to pursue a career in clinical mental health counseling. At this time I was in corporate America with an excellent paying job. During this time I thought I was well on my way in my criminal justice career. I had a game plan as to how I was going to make my way to the top. But it was an instance in my life where mental health became unhealthy again and I was tired of feeling depressed and overwhelmed with anxiety. Read more>>

Kristine Loharun

I remember March 23, 2019 very vividly. For most people, this date is probably not a significant date. But for me, it meant knowing if I was going to be able to continue making my rent and basic living payments, and more importantly, my student loan payments! This was the date the governor would announce the official list of essential workers. Read more>>

Grace Shea

Even though I had been a pediatric dietitian for years, it wasn’t until after feeding my own son that my carrerr path began to change. Traditionally, the way you begin solids is with purees however, I decided to choose a different route called baby-led weaning. I started sharing our journey with family and friends, and that’s when everything thing changed. Many people would comment on how adventurous of an eater he was as a baby, and still is as a toddler. Read more>>

Adina Crawford

A defining moment in my fitness career came about when I began delving deeper into Yoga. The feeling may be hard to follow but imagine a cascading feeling of joy, purpose, alignment and mental wellness all coming together for the good of me and what I feel I was called to do. It is through Yoga I have found a better connection with myself and with that I can bring a full experience to others where they too can feel a gravitational force of energy, that can move you to what you love whether it be Running, Cycling, Yoga, Meditation or any active movement it is a beautiful feeling. Read more>>

Mariana Macias.

Yes, of course, there was! The simple fact that I started from scratch in all senses to build the career I have today was a defining moment for me. I studied marketing as an initial career, I also did a master’s degree in marketing as well, and by chance of fate I ended up doing my internship with a life coach. This changed my life, the first time I came to this industry, and I found out that I could make a living contributing to others, creating spaces of possibility in others’ lives and businesses I was like WHAT? Where can I sign up? However, I had this thought of “I am too young to do it!” Read more>>

Ann Gerrard.

I was climbing the corporate ladder at a fast pace so that by the time I was 27, I was a Canadian senior executive in the health field, on the board of directors, having several hundred people across Canada working with me and I began to see that I was really good with personnel, clients and competitors in the business. It was during these times that I realized that I could see things from very different perspectives that others could not and I began to explore this. Read more>>

Ivonne Gonzales

A defining moment in my career was the moment I learned that in order to do great things, we have to learn resilience and accept rejection and setbacks with grace. A moment that changed the trajectory of my career was my mother’s hospitalization this year. She is the most influential person in my life. Throughout the years, I have seen her model resilient behavior which was necessary to endure moving to a new country to expose me with better opportunities, caring for her sick mother, working, and demonstrating stellar single parent behavior. Read more>>

Stephanie Acosta.

I think a moment that really defined my career was the day a latina student came up to me during my first few konths as a yoga teacher and was so happy to see me. I thought she knew me at 1st but she said she was happy to see someone who looked like her. She felt like i was relatable and felt seen as a practitioner. I was suffering from imposter syndrome and I was constantly questioning if i belonged in wellness spaces but hearing her excitement about coming back to take class is what helped me realize my importance in these spaces. Read more>>

Alba Hatcher.

Twenty-five years later I’m able to share this with you today. I’ve been blessed to be able to say that my very first job honestly gave me tools I still use today and it all started when I was nine years old. See my experience as a young child wasnt the easiest, moving a lot wasn’t helpful. I didn’t know it back then but age nine would be the last major out of state move I’d have. With my challenging childhood my father was rather stern to place me in a martial arts class. Seven years later I had my first paying job as a martial arts instructor. Read more>>

Sarah Ariaudo.

I began my career in Oncology, with a desire to help people feel better while undergoing radiation therapy treatments. I began as a radiation therapist, delivering high doses of radiation to the tumor area. I love to work and help people, so in addition to working forty hours per week as a radiation therapist, I also worked some evening and weekend shifts in diagnostic radiology, taking X-rays of people in the emergency room, averaging about 60-65 hours per week. Read more>>

Kimberly Rainey

I have a defining moment in my personal life that led to the creation of my wellness brand. My Father had been diagnosed with diabetes and it was slowly killing him. I was pre diabetic and almost 300 pounds. Seeing what diabetes did to my Father and receiving a pre diabetic diagnosis changed my life.. Read more>>

Garth Robertson

When I first began offering Sound Ceremonies, which I didn’t call them that back then, I offered them for free out of my home. I would invite people, friends mostly, to come have an experience and give me feedback about how it made them feel during and afterwards. In the beginning, I had no expectations of this turning into a full time practice. After a while, people began insisting that they pay to come have the experience. I could see how it was truly helping folks relax away from their stress and find the deeper parts of themselves which, when activated, can turn of the body’s natural ability to heal itself. Read more>>

Melanee Dahl

I didn’t take a straight path to becoming a Certified Nutrition Specialist (CNS). I didn’t grow up a “health nut.” I was an athlete in high school, but had little interest in nutrition. Truth be told, I had an eating disorder that flew under the radar for a good chunk of my life. During my senior year of college I began to have troubling symptoms. I went to my family doctor: who was excellent, and we explored every possibly avenue to explain my symptoms. Every test came back normal. Read more>>

Dellonna Jones

When I first began my business launch in marketing 2 years ago, I’d been looking for an assistant. Like, I literally looked up and down, left and right but no one seemed to reach out to me. I started thinking “Well, maybe its not time for one’”. I soon became to understand that it wasn’t because of my work ethics but simply how I went about acquiring a new intern. Attracting just “anyone” into my business probably would’ve caused major downfalls not only to me but to my future team members. Read more>>

Farmer Chippy.

As a Biomedical Field Service Engineer, my travels took me to amazing places with fun people and great food but the daily experiences in hospitals, clinics and urgent care facilities, continued to be disturbing.  As much as I was interested in being part of a team that provides solutions to the healthcare industry, I had burning desire to explore options that promoted a healthier quality of life for our youngest citizens. Read more>>

Ebony Butler.

The defining moment in my career was deciding to take a two year post doc opportunity in San Diego, away from my partner and family. While my colleagues were taking one year post docs close to their families, I decided to double that and move across the country to a place I had never been. This moment taught me that I could trust myself and lean into what I believed was best for me, no matter what anyone else thought. I learned to stand on my own during this time and how to take risks that would propel me to my next level. Read more>>

Kim Collins

In 2012, I was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer and healed my cancer through non-toxic natural holistic means and diet. I declined the chemo, radiation and hormones that the doctors insisted I use to save my life. I had already been on the natural path my whole adult life, so this was the defining moment of how I put my practice to the greatest use. How could I put chemo in my body when I felt there was a better option for me? Read more>>

Hakerra Singleton

A defining moment in my career was when I realized that our consistency and presence on Social Media is equally as important as our skincare products. I was not aware that having great customer service and awesome products was enough to generate consumer loyalty. I know that sounds naïve but it’s true. I often ask our followers for their input on products or accessories that we are considering. Read more>>

Lynsey Gammon

I didn’t start out my adult career life in farming. I took a very roundabout way to end up on my path. My grandmother, a tough Italian woman, taught me to garden when I was a young girl, living in the mountains of Lake Tahoe. I loved playing in the dirt, but never gave it a thought as an actual career choice. I took a very mountain girl traditional path and went to a small liberal arts college, where I studied Spanish and Italian. From there I found the Pacific Northwest and my love for women’s health and public health. Read more>>

Larissa Parson

Back in 2017, when I started teaching core & pelvic floor classes. I didn’t think I was doing anything so radical, until I met Emily (not her real name, of course). Emily had been taking my class for a few weeks, but wasn’t making any progress toward her goals of increased core function. Usually, after a few weeks, people started to have a stronger sense of their bodies, started connecting with their core. Read more>>

Hortencia Jimenez

A defining moment in my career was the death of my paternal grandmother in late March of 2022. My abuelita was a second mother. She was my rock and foundation and my last living huichol connection. Loosing her was loosing part of myself and my identity because I was raised by her when we immigrated to the United States in the early 1980s. I came here as an undocumented child, separated from my parents and sisters. Read more>>

Sarah Buchan

I believe that birth work comes with new “defining moments” all the time. No two birth stories are ever the same and you learn something new with every birth. With that said, what I would call my “defining moment” actually happened at the first birth I ever attended after certification. I had attended many births before this point, but nothing could have prepared me for it. The labor was long, difficult. The sweet mom labored strong, with dad right beside her. Read more>>

Nikita Balakirev

Most of the people take extra time for a preparation before stepping into a new field in their lives. I didn’t have an opportunity to do so: a new field found me itself. Remembering how it happened still gives me thoughts about a destiny, a God or whether everything existing is already written or not… I just woke up one day knowing that I would be a tattoo artist. It was really mysterious: I hadn’t had any thoughts about it before, even that night I wasn’t dreaming about anything like that. Read more>>

Jaynea Milhouse

I would say that my defining moment in my career is when I re-defined what success was. I always grew up believing success was based on the amount of financial gain one could obtain, all things materialistic. It was when my life took a very life altering turn in which success was redefined in my eyes. After quitting my job as an Investigator of Child Abuse and Neglect, I started my journey of entrepreneurship with my LLC, Milhouse Morale. Read more>>

Tiffany Price

In 2018 my oldest son Bryan was a Sophomore at Hogan Prep and I being the parent that I am would volunteer at the school every chance I could. I was invited to a meeting about a new program that was here in Kansas City called PLTI-KC. It stands for Parent Leadership Training Institute-Kansas City. It is a 21 week cohort where PLTI-KC trains and mobilizes parents to be leading advocates for children. I went to the meeting and loved the mission and signed up at that very moment. I was accepted into the program and at that moment started a journey I never knew was possible. Read more>>

Juan Miolan

There were a couple of defining moments that changed the trajectory of my career forever. It was a nice spring afternoon and I was doing an activity that has always been close to my heart, playing basketball, and that’s when it happened. I lost my ability to walk for several months due to a severe knee injury. Read more>>

Ian Rubin.

I remember one particular client session that really moved things along for my career. I was working with a client. I don’t remember if it was a man or a woman but that’s not really the important part of the story. What I remember though was having a conversation with them about breakfast and breakfast food. I had recommended that they eat oatmeal for breakfast because they had been either skipping breakfast or eating fast food. So we agreed that oatmeal would be a better option. Read more>>