My Story

Growing up, I never knew exactly “what I wanted to be”, but I knew I wanted to help people and I was really passionate about learning why people make the choices that they do.

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I was a total psychology geek and I knew I wanted to dive deep into studying the human mind and spirit.

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I followed the American dream and did what I was supposed to do - I went to school, graduate school, and then looked for a career I could love, helping people and making money to pay my bills. 

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I graduated with $50,000 in student loans in 2007. I wanted to work doing something that was of real service to the world...but I couldn’t afford to take the starting salaries that were offered. 

 

I love helping people, so I figured, Human Resources would be a good corporate application of my skills. 

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It wasn’t. 

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I quickly realized that HR people are there to enforce company policies...not to help people. 

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This became clear when I repeatedly got in trouble for not following appropriate procedures, like emailing another department for information in order to get my job done. I was pulled into my bosses’ boss’s office and left in tears.

 

I was frustrated, stressed out and exhausted. 

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I knew I had a serious problem when I caused a stress fracture in my hip from over-exercising and under-eating, unhealthy techniques I was using to numb the stress in my life. 

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At the time, I didn’t know what was happening, but looking back I know I was stressed to the max, in suffering through an unhappy marriage and a job that was destroying me.

 

Enter doctor prescribed yoga.

 

I took a basic ashtanga yoga class at a local studio. It was great. I could move and breathe and clear my head. I vowed to find a yoga studio and continue once I moved home to Michigan so my then husband could attend law school.

 

I started studying yoga as I took my first direct recruiting job. I was told to be competitive and work hard to place people...but then, I was told I was too competitive. I felt like I couldn’t win. 

 

I leaned into training and learning new skills.

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Teaching yoga, breathing and meditation opened up a whole new world for me and let me have a way to focus on something other than a stressful 9-5 job. 

 

During this time, I became the first HR Manager at a small family owned construction company. 

 

I also took on a side gig as the Office Manager for my dear friend’s donation based yoga studio. 

 

I learned a ton, but I was burned out. 

 

I thought maybe I’d become a full time yoga teacher or something, but meanwhile, I needed a new job...and...a new life. 

 

Right about here is where my former husband and I ended it for good. He became a newly minted lawyer, and I became a recruiter at another company.

 

I began teaching yoga at multiple studios and took on more projects at the yoga studio. I got busy with CrossFit, ecstatic dance and walking my dog.

 

I learned ways to stay in the system while also staying sane and doing work that lit me up!

 

One job led to another and I knew for sure I had to get out of Corporate America...but I wasn’t sure when, or how. 

 

I had a home mortgage and bills to pay. I had student loan debt that kept causing me panic attacks.

 

Those loans kept me in corporate jobs because I thought the only way to pay them off was to keep climbing the corporate ladder, and making more money, so I could throw it at the student loans.

 

The anxiety of debt was impacting my freedom so I focused on paying them off. It took me ten years. I paid off about $70,000. 

 

By this time, I was working as a Corporate Recruiter for a global company. Working from home made Corporate America less stressful and yet I still felt dissatisfied.

 

I realized I needed a serious career shift, but I wasn’t quite sure how.

 

I was no longer teaching yoga.

 

I studied Thai bodywork, Shiatsu bodywork and got my certification in Acudetox. 

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But, none of these modalities were "the thing" that would enable me to have a new career and finally quit my day job for good. 

 

I strongly considered a major career move, like going back to school for my MSW/Therapist degree or Acupuncture...but I didn’t want to take on even more loans and debt.

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I have a vision of a world where people do what they love, get massively compensated for it and actually enjoy their time here on Earth.

 

I believe in how different it all could be, and immersed myself in study with the Orphan Wisdom School, while starting a Marketing mentorship program to figure out what my work in the world could be and how I could explain it to people.

 

I kept learning, growing and moving forward, dreaming of the day I would quit Corporate America for good. 

 

When I became pregnant with my son, Cedar, I knew this was my chance to finally quit.

Now, with my student loans paid off, I realized there would always be “one more thing” to pay off or save up for. 

 

I planned to leave my job after my son was born, to care for him and start my new business and life.

 

Cedar was going to be a home birth, but after 20+ hours of laboring, we ended up in the nearby hospital. Birth there was fine and I was excited to get back home! We were about to be released, but Cedar’s oxygen levels were at just 88%.

 

The next few hours were a flurry of activity and tears and a whole lot of fear.

 

One test led to the next and we learned something no parent ever really prepares for. Cedar was born with heart problems. 

 

He had multiple congenital heart defects, an AVSD and mitral valve issues, among others. 

 

My perspective on life and what matters changed in an instant.

 

Cedar had his first open heart surgery at just 30 days old. 

 

I was very concerned with holding onto our corporate insurance policy. It’s terrifying to think about that bureaucratic crap when your son’s life is at stake, and it's reality in America. 

 

In 2018, my son had two open heart surgeries and a pacemaker installed. Between the timing of his second open heart surgery and pacemaker, I had a tumor removed. That year our total health care costs were over $500,000. With insurance, we only paid our high deductible of $13,000.

 

I kept my corporate job for the insurance and to give me time to plan my next step.

 

Something about watching your baby at 1, 4 and 6 months old, come through having his rib cage cut open, a gore tex patch put into his heart, and a small electronic device in his belly, has you seeing life’s priorities very differently, very quickly.

 

I didn’t want to spend 40+ hours a week doing something I didn’t love.

 

I wanted to do something that mattered. Something that helped people and made a difference in the world.

 

I decided to figure out what I could be really good at and what I knew a lot about. 

 

Our biggest strength is who we are, what we’ve come through and what we’ve learned from our own lives.

 

I worked my corporate job a year longer than I wanted to, in order to keep our health insurance and to build my business plan, programs and strategies. 

 

I know what it takes to build learning and training into your day so you can focus on your side hustles and businesses so you can finally leave your corporate job and do your own beautiful work in the world.

 

I chose to figure out my soul driven, purpose filled work in the world, and do it.

 

I invested in learning how to run a successful, online business. I combined what I learned with what I knew from HR and Recruiting and all the beautiful healing arts modalities I’ve learned over the past decade or more.

 

Sacred Intimacy. Energy work. Psychic training. Intuitive studies. Astrology. Tarot. Plant Spirit Medicine. Elderhood. Death. Shamanism. Acupuncture. Five Elements Theory. Shiatsu. Thai bodywork. Ashtanga. Some modalities, I’m sure I’m forgetting. 

 

I wanted to help people, like me, know that they weren’t alone and that they too could do healing arts work in the world and create the income and impact they craved. 

 

Life is precious.

 

Cedar teaches me that every day. He is happy and healthy and gets to live like a normal kid. He will have more open heart surgeries, and I don’t know when, or exactly how...but I do know that every moment I work it will be doing something that matters with people that I care about. 

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I know that my work in the world will help other healing arts professionals reach their dream clients and help each other one beautiful session at a time.