About Stephanie

I grew up in a childhood home of poverty and physical abuse. My father was mentally ill, while my mother picked up the slack, working tirelessly to support six kids.

As any child lacking the proper mechanisms to cope with dysfunction, I turned to food in an attempt to gain control over the instability of my environment, outlet my emotions, and regulate my nervous system.

This manifested as restrictive and compulsive eating, laxative addiction, and body dysmorphia. By 16 years old, I was full-blown with eating disorders.

I hated myself for not being able to have more “willpower and self-control” and would mentally beat myself up, only creating more self-hatred and shame.

I was convinced that if I lost weight and changed the shape of my body, I would be worthy of love and acceptance. I had zero self-confidence, and my body was in a state of dis-ease with chronic eczema, asthma, allergies, and frequent bronchitis.

Things began to shift a few years later when I had my first (of many) spiritual awakening around 18 years old, catalyzed by two books:

1. A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, by Eckhart Tolle, and
2. Natural Cures They Don’t Want You to Know About, by Kevin Trudeau.

I began to have a new perspective on life, my health, mindset, relationships, and how I related to the world.

And just like that, initiated by my willingness to change my relationship with food and my relationship with my body, my healing journey began.

For the first time, I saw it was possible to overcome the trauma of my childhood, the obstacles I was facing with food and my body, and find forgiveness in my relationship with my father. You can read the full story here in my book, The Empowered Woman Series: Book 4

I began feeling new possibilities emerge and a change in the trajectory of my life’s path.

It was an incredible feeling of empowerment and liberation that was very new to me.

From this place, I asked myself a critical question that would determine how the rest of my life would unfold.

1. Will I carry my childhood narratives and experiences into the rest of my life feeling victim to OR
2. Will I leverage these challenges into opportunities for change and growth, utilizing them as the gifts they truly are?

Fast Forward to Today:

I chose the latter and began taking responsibility for my life (because no one would do it for me). I committed to my healing, personal growth, and spiritual-emotional evolution.

As my relationship with food slowly healed, so did the relationship with my body, followed by the relationship with my mind, soul, and, consequently, my life.

Because of what I went through in my formative years, I chose to dedicate my life to a path of ongoing personal, professional, and spiritual growth.

And that’s exactly what I’ve done in the last 2 decades.

I enrolled in the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) after college, started my coaching practice six months later, and continue to coach, teach, guide, and inspire others over eleven years later.

I love this life path and wouldn’t change it if I could. Everything I experienced gave me the exact life experience, learning, tools, wisdom, and insight needed for my precise soul path and life journey. I wouldn’t be the woman, teacher, wife, sister, daughter, friend, or mom I am today had I not experienced my life exactly as it was in its divine and perfect unfolding.

This is the wisdom and insight I bring to my students and clients.

Take your life experience exactly as it was, is, and will be, and turn it into gems of learning, wisdom, and gold.

The purpose of particularly challenging life circumstances is for the divine assignments they offer. We learn and grow from the pain, gain insight and wisdom through the struggle, and accept the assignment as a teacher to inspire others when the time comes.

Throughout the past 2 decades of my personal journey, I’ve immersed myself in vast spiritual teachings, dove deep into personal and professional development courses, and invested in many mentors. As a life-long learner committed to this journey of self-progression, I continue learning.

Bringing these skills, tools, insight, knowledge, and methodology to my clients, I teach people the powerful healing effects of real food, nourishment of the mind, body, and soul through self-care, and the transformation that is possible when you shift your perspective and set your mind toward willingness and a desire to heal.

…Our struggles truly are our greatest teachers because we wouldn’t find ourselves without them; we’d remain blocked from deep self-discovery, and others would never get to experience the inspiration from our triumph…