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.

Dr. Candice Oshunfunke

Back in 2020, I had a divination done by a priestess where I was told that I was not being my true self as a person and healer. She shared that I should be wearing head wraps and dresses, I was taken aback because I assumed that I was operating in my true self especially being a marriage, family, and sex therapist, I assumed that I was in alignment with my vision and purpose. I was told that I was missing the spiritual component and not operating in my spiritual gifts. I was unsure of what that was until I got a reading done about a month later. Read more>>

Abbey Gray

A defining moment in my professional career came after an incredibly personal experience—facing breastfeeding challenges following an emergency surgery when my son was just five weeks old. It was a time of deep physical and emotional struggle, but it also gave me a new level of empathy and understanding for the families I support today. I had been committed to breastfeeding as a certified lactation counselor, but when my first son was born, our journey took unexpected turns. Just weeks after giving birth, I had to undergo surgery to remove a grapefruit-sized ovarian cyst, along with one of my ovaries and a fallopian tube. The trauma of surgery, separation from my newborn, and a sudden drop in milk supply were heart-wrenching. Read more>>

Priyanka Senthil

Being born in India and moving to the United States at the age of three shaped my early years, with most of my life unfolding in the U.S. However, my family’s periodic visits to India kept my Indian roots a crucial part of my identity. During our visits, I witnessed the stark contrast between the privileges I enjoyed in the U.S. and the difficulties many families faced living in rural areas of India. Seeing how the scarcity of water, food, and basic necessities impacted every aspect of life, from sanitation to nutrition and the ability to sustain families left a lasting impact on me. Read more>>

Ashley Atencio

“Life is not linear.” In 2016 that is the EXACT opposite mind set I had when graduating from the University of Houston, College of Optometry. I graduated college with the mindset I was going to go to grad school, get married, have kids, be a health care provider, and miraculously balance all the things life had to offer and let’s be honest… be really good at all those things. I am a first generation Filipino-American that was thrown into a life of “setting the example”. My family was amongst the small percentage of Asian-Americans in the small town of Lockhart, Texas. I was taught to excel, get involved, perfect and “build my pyramid” to reach an end goal to being successful. There were no cracks in the pyramid, No “rebuilding” if you will. Just. Building. Upward. Read more>>

Dr Nancy Beliveau

I was studying traditional pharmaceutical-based medicine and was getting sicker. I had issues such as fatigue, brain fog, anxiety, bloating, irregular periods, heavy bleeds, and doctors told me that nothing was wrong with me. After being ignored and gaslighted for 10 years, I was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cervical cancer that made me turn to other forms of healing besides traditional medicine. Upon discovering functional medicine, it changed my health and life and I knew it was the way to have true health, not managed sickness Read more>>

Vincent Moore

It was the start of April 2018; I was sitting in my office as a senior investment financial professional after speaking with clients about their life’s plans for the present and future. I asked them questions about what is the one thing they would love to do that others felt they are talented at?…and what barriers keeping them from doing it. I asked these types of questions many times with various folks; though this particular time it resonated back to me. It was my defining moment; when I came face to face with what I was currently doing verse what I was meant to be doing. What got me thinking so hard on this? In that same month of April; I was told by my doctor I had developed an extremely high blood condition due to career stresses that could have serious health consequences for me. Read more>>

Natasha Green

I was working at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Healthcare System as a medical support assistant (MSA). I had done an internship in the billing department the summer prior so I had a foot in the door. For the MSA position, you needed a certificate in the field or a bachelor’s degree of any discipline. My BA from the University of Minnesota and my prior internship helped me get the job. I did not go to school for that job nor was I particularly passionate about that work. I worked the evening shift which was slow most nights and the work was fairly easy, but I wasn’t using my art degree. One day a coworker of mine asked me if I could do anything for work, what would it be. I told them that I would love to have an art studio where people, specifically teenagers could come and create art to help them work through difficult situations and navigate issues they were facing. My coworker responded with “I think something like that exists already. I think that’s art therapy”. After that conversation I looked up the career art therapy and began researching what I needed to do to become an art therapist. Read more>>

Crystal D Woods

There came a moment when I recognized that my career, despite its many rewards, was no longer aligned with my purpose or the life I wanted to create moving forward. I found myself disengaged, my passion dwindling, and it began to reflect in my work—missing deadlines, losing focus and feeling disconnected from the purpose that once drove me. The defining shift happened during a conversation with a mental health professional who asked a life-altering question: ‘Do you want the next 40 years to mirror the first?’ Though I had achieved success, my life had become a cycle of work without excitement or meaning. I realized I was missing something deeply important—my connection to myself, to joy, to life’s adventure. It was at that moment I knew I had to begin a new chapter, one focused on realigning my goals, reclaiming my power, and rediscovering who I truly am. Read more>>

Linzee Balfour

One of the most defining moments of my career was getting sober and becoming a Somatic Breathwork Practitioner, which ultimately led to medicine Ayahuasca and bridging many other opportunities through the power of synchronicity and listening to the whispers. I found LOVE through pain. In 2020 my Brother Ryan committed suicide, I was there the night it happened and found myself in a dialogue of sexual assault. before he passed my sister Kristi passed 2 years prior. I couldn’t bare the pain and found it hard to live with what felt like sins inside of me. Post passing, I found myself on about my 5 time getting sober in a 5 day binder and almost didn’t make it. My oldest brother Todd, came to my house and took me to his place for 2 weeks until I was sober enough to continue my journey and get the help I really needed. Spending weekly visits to my Physiotherapist week by week, I became a phsycosomatic facilitator myself and saw him for a whole year. Read more>>

Melissa Armstrong

There were many defining moments in my story and I think I was always destined to be a healer based on everything I went through in childhood and adolescence. Probably, the single biggest moment of my life that determined the course of my life was the death of my brother when I was 18. He was tragically and traumatically killed in a horrible accident right in front of me. He was in the hospital for around 36 hours while we waited to donate his organs. In the days and weeks after his accident, somehow through the grief, I was able to realize that I wanted to be a nurse to help people. I realized that I wanted to help people heal. Read more>>

Sarrah Smith

For much of my adult life, I worked as an Educational Assistant, dedicated to supporting special needs children. This role was fulfilling; I loved the impact I had on my students’ lives. However, beneath the surface, I felt a profound emptiness. On the outside, I seemed to have everything together, but internally, I was battling feelings of depression and a sense of being lost. It wasn’t until my sister introduced me to meditation and healing crystals that everything began to change. Initially, I was skeptical. Like many, I had preconceived notions about such practices. Yet, at that moment, I felt an overwhelming sense of curiosity: what did I have to lose? Read more>>

Jr Weaver

The moment that truly inspired me to work with veterans came years after I left the military. Like many veterans, I struggled with the transition to civilian life and faced challenges that I wasn’t prepared for. It was during this difficult time that I realized just how isolated veterans can feel, particularly when they don’t have a strong support network to help them navigate life after service. The turning point for me was when I experienced the power of connecting with other veterans who understood my struggles while in treatment at our local Ralph H. Johnson VAMC. It was a peer support group where veterans could be real about their challenges and, most importantly, listen and provide guidance without judgment. That experience opened my eyes to the immense need for veterans to reconnect with one another to find support, hope, and direction. This led me to take a few peer support classes, which led me to becoming a veterans counselor in Costa Rica and eventually to creating a new type of veterans program that focuses on rebuilding ‘connection’ to provide that safe space for veterans to come together to talk about life in general. Read more>>

Nikki Dalhamer

The defining moment in my career occurred during my first job in the addiction field, where I was the Education Coordinator at a residential treatment facility for adolescents aged 13-18 with Substance Use Disorder (SUD) and co-occurring Mental Health (MH) diagnoses. Alongside this role, I was interning with hopes of becoming a Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor II. One of my duties was to lead group therapy sessions, and despite warnings about the challenges of engaging a diverse group of adolescents, I found that sharing my own background with trauma, SUD, and MH allowed me to immediately connect with the clients. Read more>>

Jess Bouchard

Growing up, I wanted to be an orthodontist for several reasons. The original inspiration came from my childhood babysitter, who had braces that initially terrified me. But when my mother explained they were like jewelry for her teeth, I became fascinated. I spent years studying every smile I saw, diving into the science of teeth. My path shifted during my first year of college when several professors encouraged me to consider writing and, more importantly, teaching. Up until then, I had been a closeted wordsmith and poet, keeping that side of myself hidden. Having professors truly see me beneath the surface was transformative—it gave me confidence and helped me redefine how I saw myself. I changed my major to become an English teacher, beginning a journey of helping youth find their voices and explore their humanity. Read more>>

Kaci Mial

The defining moment in my career was leaving a paid full-time position at a nonprofit to pursue being an unpaid, at-home mom and business owner. I left behind the 9-5 because I found myself at work fantasizing about being home with my baby. Despite the support from my supervisor to help craft a unique part-time back-to-work plan, inconsistent childcare was too stressful and I found myself stretched too thin at work and at home. While I initially set out to be a Psychologist in an effort to help people, previous work with teen parents shifted my focus and my passion evolved into breaking the taboo around sexuality and parenting (even before I became a parent myself). Read more>>

Heather Corbet

With my background in Spiritual Advising & Mediumship, Sensory Processing, Brainspotting, & Teaching, there have been several defining moments which pivoted or integrated my current trajectories. As a professor, a defining moment was when my graduate students really grasped the sensory processing of a child with a special need. In Brainspotting, a defining moment was witnessing my client make an impactful breakthru with their trauma to Enlightenment & Profound Insight. Within Spiritual Advising, it has been witnessing a client connecting with their Spiritual gifts & recognizing they had it all along. Read more>>