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.

Richa Mittal MD

After I had my first child, I resumed work as a hospital-based physician. Although I had done such work before, this time was different. Seeing people come in repeatedly to the hospital with lifestyle related chronic diseases, along with my own professional burnout, I became interested in the preventive side of medicine. I realized my calling was to not only shift my professional focus to disease prevention, but also to educate and inspire! Read more>>

Courtney Greer

I had twins! This journey is where my personal and professional worlds collided and as a result, my professional goals changed. During my pregnancy with my twins, I had two older sons and was working on my clinical supervision for my advanced licensing, as well as going to school to complete my doctorate and working for a hospice agency full-time. My twins came early and needless to say, adjusting to four kids while working and going to school full-time as well as pushing through supervision all with a partner overseas was an enormous weight to bear. Read more>>

Laura Olivos

When I look back at my journey in mental health, I can say there have been several defining moments for me along the way. I look at the process in layers, each making an indelible mark on my growth. I had initially set my heart on becoming a psychologist solely working with Autistic and neurodiverse youth. But as luck would have it, the universe had other plans for me. Read more>>

Sean Thomas

Life’s defining moments are often the most frightening and the most invigorating at the same time. My career path from Brown University to my current profession as a Doctor of Physical Therapy was not perfect. My greatest accomplishment wasn’t the winning research project I presented in graduate school. It wasn’t any award I won for academic excellence or my extensive community involvement. It wasn’t even my promotion to clinical director. My greatest accomplishment was passing my national board examination to practice physical therapy.  Read more>>

Avion Taylor

The defining life-changing moment was from the year 2015, yet, I can recollect it like it was yesterday. It was a Wednesday morning in December 2015 and I was preparing for my freshman English class at the local community college. There was a delay in me getting ready for class. I did not want to go but I was getting ready unusually slow that day for no reason what so ever.  Before I was able to leave, my mother received a call that changed my entire life. Read more>>

Kirra Collins

I have always had a passion and drive to accomplish my goals even as a young adult. Graduating from a community college with two Associates Degrees before even graduating high school. Later graduating with top honors with a Bachelor’s in Psychology from the University of Colorado Boulder. I then placed my education and career on hold to raise my two amazing boys for eight years. Read more>>

Shannon Dougherty

I’m more than Macro coach, I’ll change your life. I set my clients up for lasting, success not only with physical transformation, but a shift in their mindset, habits, and approach to maneuver in life. When clients initially come to me they’re hyper focused on fat and weight loss. As we dive into triggers, daily routine, fueling their goals and small habit shifts their energy in mindset shifts. Read more>>

Amy Mastrogiuseppe

My defining moment came when I was suffering from a bout of cluster migraines in 2016, of all things. I had been personal training and met my mentor, who I had been hearing about for some time, to help me with the migraines. That’s when I was introduced to Ki-Hara Resistance Stretching. After my appointment, I called my husband and told him how amazing it was. I left feeling like I had a brand new body. And I’m not even joking. I knew right then and there, that I wanted to become a stretch therapist to help people feel the same way I felt. To be able to feel pain-free and enjoy life to the fullest. Read more>>

Dr. Gladys Martha Crespo-Jimenez

It is not a surprise that as you start practicing an art, in this case the art of practicing chiropractic, you learn about yourself and about the ways that make you feel more connected to what you do. This is what happened to me. When I started my practice I was on my head basically all the time. I knew I wanted to be my truly self and that what I was doing wasn’t my complete true self but I needed a start. Then I remember chatting with an amazing woman who told me that she knew that I was a different kind of chiropractor, but that she didn’t see it projected in the way I was referring to myself. That’s when everything started changing. Read more>>

Elise Montgomerie

My work has always been based on my own life experience. I have found that when someone encounters challenges, they are often times the best teachers. I created me, for me because I was missing a parenting coach. Someone to cheer me on and let me know I could do it. Therapists without autistic children were not able to help me with my parenting or understand my difficult journey. While I don’t work specifically with autistic families, the lessons taught to me by my autistic sons therapists were the springboard for my business. Read more>>

Jacqueline Penhos

Grace, Connection and Holding Space: Two years ago our world changed as we knew it. Experiencing a global pandemic while being a parent, entrepreneur, and navigating through life was enough. A defining moment that changed my outlook on life and the trajectory of my career was leaving an abusive relationship. As if transitioning into a new way of life wasn’t enough, I was also experiencing emotional, verbal and financial abuse. Read more>>

Arzu Shams

As a typical gray thinker, it’s difficult for me to pinpoint one moment that defined or changed the trajectory of my career because I believe that every step I’ve taken has defined me in a significant way. When I started my career, I really only had two goals in mind: 1) complete my licensure hours as soon as possible and 2) help as many people as I could. Once I became fully licensed, my focus shifted to improving and honing my skills to become the best clinician I could be. Read more>>

Eylissa Henry

My defining moment, was I got a bad UTI, sounds very normal! You think, oh she was just drinking sodas and went into the E.R to get antibiotics when she could have just drank cranberry juice and water! That may be true, but it’s more than that, it’s a mindset, spiritual, and even Health included! I grew up in a house hold where my mother was holistic, my grandfather owned a farm and was a veterinarian! Read more>>

Lyza E

Bombing “The Greatest Love of All” by Whitney Houston in the 8th grade was definitely a defining moment. I’d sang in a few plays and I was asked to perform for my eighth grade graduation. I agreed and absolutely bombed the song. In front of everyone! Although I was ashamed -and my family was too- I realized that I was going to bomb again and again before I made my way. I knew I loved music and I was willing to fail my way to success. Although that moment was terrible, it taught me that I was fearless and humble about my passion. . Read more>>

Mark Lombard

I registered into a Leadership Program and belatedly found out I had to do a project in service to the community. The thought of this was upsetting; after all, I’m a busy enough fellow and this exercise seemed like an intrusion into what free-time I enjoyed. Caught off guard and somewhat resentful, I considered withdrawing from the course. The defining moment came when I took a step back, looked at my life, and asked myself the question, “If anything were possible, how would I like to spend the rest of my life?” Read more>>

Brenda Briscoe, LMT

I was actually practicing herbology and nutrition, something like what a health coach does today but not as educated as that. I was all about helping people feel better and heal. My 19 y.o. stepdaughter Azur came to me asking if I could find an alternative treatment for her scoliosis, as the next step that her doctor offered to her, after spending years in a back brace, was surgery to insert Harrington rods along her spine. This frightened not only her, but also her dad and me. I began searching for answers. Read more>>

Deborah Rose

I had been a mental health advocate and professional for several years. At the time, I was the education director for the NAMI TX and was teaching and writing curriculum for helping parents and promoting better education for professionals working with children. Part of this entailed me researching alternatives for treatment. I was very focused on finding more holistic treatment options. I heard about a therapy using handwriting and was very skeptical. I sent the woman who offered this service a sample of my daughter’s handwriting. Read more>>

Ritchie Johnson

As a child, I always enjoyed taking care of people and knew when I grew up that I wanted to be a nurse or physician. Since I was married and had small children, I thought going to nursing school would allow me to care for my family and complete my career. I became a registered nurse in 1972 and enjoyed every moment, For many years I cared for people that I did not know, however in 2011, my life changed. My youngest son was diagnosed with a rare form of kidney cancer called renal medullary carcinoma (RMC). My world changed and so did my career. Read more>>