My journey began as many do -- with a childhood steeped in instability, abuse, and unsafe environments. As the daughter of an alcoholic parent and their devoted enabler, unquestioning compliance became my survival strategy. My voice and power were extinguished. The pain of suppression stoked a fire would shape a lifetime of growth and resilience.

I became a warrior by necessity. Through each chapter of my life, healing my childhood wounds, finding my voice and power to feel safe in the world transformed me from the inside out. 

Growing up in chaos that I was expected to de-escalate and manage made emergency services feel very natural. I became a paramedic and eventually, a firefighter for the city of Boulder, CO. I loved being of service and helping people feel safe and supported on their worst, scariest days. 

To do the job, I had to work out constantly, which became mind-numbingly boring. To make it interesting, I pursued natural body building, which culminated in winning multiple titles. Even with all my strength, I still felt vulnerable, so I became a mixed martial artist, achieving advanced belts in Arjukempo, Muay Thai and Escrima. 

After these chapters, I was divorced, ending a 14-year marriage to my college sweetheart, on year six of my second marriage and just adopted a 2-year-old Native American-Samoan girl from foster care. I was in the best shape of my life when a pesky, persistent cough sent me to my doctor's office. 

Within hours, I had an emergency MRI that landed me in the hospital for an aggressive cancer the size of a softball pressing on my heart (Large B-cell Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma). From a cough to cancer in the blink of an eye. This brush with death cracked my heart wide open. It taught me how to grieve and trust my inner Knowing. It gave me an embodied understanding of what truly matters and I maintain that cancer saved my life. 

After integrating my cancer healing journey, my work evolved into transformational consulting in empowerment and I wrote the book Unbreakable Woman, a guide to compassionate personal strength. 

Those experiences organically evolved into a career in coaching and consulting. I became a transformation facilitator for individuals, helping them let go of the limiting beliefs that came from childhood trauma, and I provided training to organizations, such as Starbucks, US Military and the International Monetary Fund, empowering their people to self-advocate and navigate change with clarity, compassion, and courage. 

During this chapter, I attended a Shamanic ceremony where I encountered the ancient, divine Presence I came to know as Ma. Tuning into her rich wisdom and guidance through intuition, I found I was able to bridge the sacred and the practical by integrating my lived experiences with science-backed methods and an embodied understanding of transformation to create clear, actionable paths to permanent change. 

I have had the privilege of partnering with men and women on their personal growth journeys, in and out of the ceremony space, locking arms and kicking open the doors to remembrance and healing, anchoring progress in simple, accessible tools with deep resonance. 

Now, a couple of years into the 'single mom with sole custody' chapter of my life, my daughter and I have the usual challenges all parents and teens face, but we revel in shared simple pleasures: sleeping in, great books, occasional donuts for dinner and robe day. We live in Seattle, Washington with our little journey dog, Aarti.