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.
Samantha Keller
Where do I even begin? At one point in my life, I lived in a cycle of negativity and misery, believing that this was simply how life was meant to be. I let the world “win,” convinced that everyone was destined to wake up, go to work, pay their bills, and merely exist day by day. I never truly appreciated life or recognized the beauty that surrounded me. Instead, I resented it all Everything changed, however, on one defining day. I was attending a work retreat, surrounded by successful business owners who were not only building businesses but also creating lives filled with income, peace, and joy for their families. As I watched them, I found myself questioning my own self-worth. Read more>>
Kyle Toon
During a 14-year military career, I began to question and interrogate my cultural identity, consciousness, and embodiment of African ancestral knowledge and wisdom. The more that I leaned into introspection, self-reflection, and interoception through the process of reading, creative and conscious writing, therapy, somatic practices, and reconnecting with ancestry – I started to experience a great dissonance and misalignment with the military. Unfortunately, after months of thought suppression and avoidance, the dissonance would not dissipate and became overwhelmingly pervasive that it negatively impacted my psychological, emotional, and spiritual health. Eventually, I discovered the language that spoke to this intense distress stemming from dissonance related to military service: Conscientious Objection. An empowering revelation that offered meaning, purpose, understanding, and psycho-spiritual harmony. Read more>>
Tansy Mcnulty
Babymoon 2016 During my pregnancy with my oldest son, my husband and I decided to take a babymoon trip. It was our last trip as a family of two. We disconnected from the world on the beautiful beaches of Bermuda in July 2016. It was glorious; a truly restful and joy-filled vacation where our focus was squarely on one another with no outside distractions. However, when we returned stateside we returned to news about the murders of Philando Castile, Ronnie Shumpert and Alton Sterling; three Black men, three different cities, three police departments, same outcome. I was carrying a baby boy who will one day become a Black man. That shook me. So I decided to leave corporate America and use my skills of problem solving, cost reduction, and coalition building to solve the systemic issue of excessive force in policing within one generation’s time (20yrs). Read more>>
Jo Charbonneau
While working a traditional nine-to-five job, I never anticipated starting a business as a Psychic Medium and Healer. However, a significant turning point in my career occurred with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. As lockdowns loomed and societal fear escalated, I recognized the urgent need for support among those feeling lost, fearful, and confused. At that time, I had not yet publicly disclosed my abilities as a psychic medium and was, in essence, in the “spiritual closet.” It was then that I realized the necessity of stepping out of my comfort zone to embrace this new role. I decided to fully embrace my gift and reveal it to my friends and family, who responded with shock and disbelief. This pivotal decision required making bold choices and overcoming the fear of judgment as I pursued this new career path. Read more>>
Dr. Marcia Martin
Our lives can be defined by triumph or failure. One feels better than the other but both motivate us to change. My motivation came from failure, the belief that I was powerless, and the lack of tools to make effective and lasting change possible. Change didn’t come easily to me. I tended to work hard, achieve the desired result, and criticize myself for not having achieved something better. Nothing was ever good enough so I just kept sliding deeper and deeper into depression while telling myself to try harder. Read more>>
Elisabet Fountain
It was 1992, and South Beach was beginning its phase as a destination for fashion photo shoots. Suddenly, what had been sleepy retirement town with senior citizens spending their last chapter on the porches of the dilapidated art deco district, was inundated by models from across the world and the whole industry that came with them. My husband and I shared an apartment with a photographer and found ourselves in the middle of this vibrant new community, but they were like sheep without a shepherd. Our training was in discipleship: helping people recognize that they are deliberately created for a high purpose, and that by introducing them to their Creator, they could find their lives in focus. Read more>>
Dr. Erika K. Shaw
When I was in middle school, my grade was made to take a career placement test that would find the best career options based on our personality, interests, etc.. The results were alphabetically listed and “Acupuncturist” was the first one on my list. It was at the ripe age of 13 when I decided that was what I wanted to be when I grew up. Fast forward to junior year of high school, I had started researching colleges and realized that I was going to have to fall into a staggering amount of student loan debt to be able to pursue this career. I came to the unfortunate conclusion that it just wasn’t going to be in my cards. That is until I dislocated my rib during a soccer game. My rib was out of the facet joint for several hours until a chiropractor could come onsite to put it back into place, only for it to slip back out later on the drive home. After a very disappointing ER visit later that night, I was left feeling dejected and still in an immense amount of pain. The pain was so excruciating that I had to skip school the next day. Read more>>
Erika Perez
A defining moment in my professional career came when I decided to leave my 8-year career in marketing to pursue massage therapy and yoga full-time. For years, I excelled in marketing, leading teams and creating strategies, but deep down, I felt unfulfilled. There was a quiet yet persistent voice urging me to align my work with something more meaningful—something that connected to my passion for wellness and my desire to make a tangible difference in people’s lives. Read more>>
Alison Sheesley
I can think of two defining moments from my career so far. From my perspective, my career has been mostly a series of serendipitous accidents! I lived in New Orleans during college and was looking for a student job in the fall of my Senior year. I was walking by this adorable little coffee shop in an old Victorian house when I suddenly decided to ask if they were hiring. They were, and it changed the course of my life! Here is why… one of the other baristas was an improv comedian, and he got me hooked on improv comedy. There was this little black box improv comedy theater that opened up after Hurricane Katrina on Freret Street, and I spent so many hours there with friends over the next several years. Later when I was completing my Master’s in Counseling, I immediately recognized how similar the practices of improv comedy, play therapy, and group therapy are. Read more>>
Talida Petre
The defining moment in my personal career came about three years ago, during a profoundly life-changing time. My mother passed away suddenly in a tragic car accident on my son’s birthday. Before her passing, I had always dreamed of pursuing a career in the beauty industry and earning my license, but I kept waiting for the “right time” to make it happen. Her loss was a wake-up call that made me realize just how short and fragile life is. It gave me the clarity and courage to stop waiting for the perfect moment and start pursuing what I was truly passionate about. I knew then that it was time to honor my dreams and step into a field I had always been drawn to. That realization changed the trajectory of my life, and it’s what inspired me to fully commit to my passion for helping others feel beautiful and confident. Read more>>
Q Porschatis
Throughout our lives, we inevitably encounter moments where we must make choices—forks in the road that shape our paths. I’ve faced many such moments that altered my trajectory in various ways. While some decisions felt dictated to me, my journey ultimately led me to the mental health field, and in 2019, I founded Salty Counseling. My journey began in high school when I dreamed of becoming a professional basketball player and earning a full scholarship to attend college. However, that dream ended abruptly when my coach pointed out that my left-sided layups were weak and I didn’t make the High School team. I realized I needed to pivot and find another way to pay for college. Attending a four-year college was my biggest goal then, but coming from a modest background without the emotional and financial support I needed, I had to carve my own path. Read more>>
Ashlee Gendron
The defining moment in my career was when I had children. I wanted a flexible schedule to be with my children, because working in an outpatient clinic for 9-10 hours a day, seeing a patient every 30 minutes was recipe for burnout. I was also devastated when my OBGyn’s answer to my post partum issues was to “just do kegels.” The lack of support fueled some post partum depression and I knew at that moment that I wanted better resources for myself and for all women. This shifted my focus to pelvic floor therapy with a passion to bring awareness to women going through their post partum challenges. And now the post partum has expanded to birth preparation, perimenopause and post menopause. Read more>>
Diana Chaloux-lacerte
It’s been nearly 20 years since I had the defining moment that completely changed my career and life trajectory! It was July 5, 2005 and I fondly refer to that day as my “Independence Day”. The reason I am so passionate about helping others experience transformation through Hitch Fit and our SoulFIT Retreats faith and fitness experiences, and why I get so much joy from guiding them through that process is because I went through it myself! I started as a personal trainer in 2002. But even though I could take clients through workouts, I didn’t understand all the other essential pieces of the puzzle to transform, including nutrition habits, mindset habits, and the impacts of past trauma or toxic stress that need to be addressed to move out of unhealthy behavior cycles and step towards a healthy and productive future. Read more>>
Dr. Robb Kelly
Before achieving sobriety, I was a hopeless, chronic alcoholic. I am not sure when I crossed the line from social drinking to alcoholism, I just know I did, and my life would never be the same again. I was married with children and had a great career; life could not have been better. The only problem was that I drank too much, and when I did, I lost control. When I enjoyed my drinking, I could not control it, and when I controlled my drinking, I could not enjoy life. Finally, alcoholism gripped me hard and like most people I sank quickly. Read more>>
Ashanna Clarke
Being in Healthcare has its own challenges. You have to have a passion and determination for helping others. I have a great desire for my profession. My willingness and determination for helping others in my daily life. I can pour that same love into my career. Read more>>
Sonna Johns
With me, there wasn’t just one defining moment. It was a series of situations and occurrences that led to my devotion to mentoring, healing, and empowering women today. Throughout my life, I found myself in situations and relationships that weren’t in alignment with me. Not wanting to rock the boat, I was overly accommodating and tolerating things that didn’t support my well-being. I found myself staying small and remaining in unhealthy circumstances out of fear, obligation or guilt. Read more>>
Halo Summerlin
This is a roundabout response to your “Defining Moment” question. One night at a party changed the trajectory of my career. I was an actress booking commercials thinking that I was meant to be a famous actress or artist. I was also making and selling art at the time but everything changed with my name. Alicia. It’s one of those “hit” or “miss” names. The big “miss” is mispronouncing it A-lee-shuh. It’s A-lee-cee-uh. It’s a name that is easy to mispronounce given that there are a few ways to say it. My mother, living in Los Angeles in her twenties and African American, loved many things about the Mexican culture so she gave me the Spanish name Alicia, after her grandmother, Alice. When there is so much significance in someone’s name, there is a lot of patience and processing involved when someone mispronounces it. I wear my childhood names proudly. My middle name, Robin, is a twist on my paternal grandmother’s name, Robbie. For these reasons, I never thought another name would enter my world especially after a night of festive frolicking. Read more>>