I was born in the beautiful mountain town of Cumberland, Maryland, where I lived until I was 8 years old.  The rest of my childhood was spent in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  After graduating from Louisiana State University with a degree in Microbiology, I got married and moved to Atlanta, where my husband took a job with a big consulting firm.  Like many other young people, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, but I felt the pressure to "figure it out".  In the end, I decided to go back to school in order to get my teaching certificate.  After attending graduate school at the University of Georgia, I took a job teaching Life Science at a local middle school.  I learned so much in my two years of teaching, but in the end I decided that it was not my path.  Shortly after leaving my job, I became pregnant with my first son and my husband and I decided that it would be best for me to be a full-time mom.  A few years later, my second son came along.  I had my hands full with two young children, but I loved getting to spend so much time with them.

 

My job as a stay-at-home mom turned out to be more necessary than we ever imagined.  At the age of 3, my oldest son was diagnosed with type I diabetes.  My husband also has type I diabetes, so we knew what we were in for, but it certainly didn’t make things easy.  There were many sleepless nights and lots of tears.  Six months later, we had to rush my younger son to the hospital.  He had eaten some scrambled eggs, and he started vomiting and his face swelled up.  It turned out that he was having an allergic reaction.  We found out that he was basically allergic to everything!  Ok, not everything, but it sure felt that way!

 

Now I had one child who I had to stick with a needle every time he ate and the other who could barely eat anything (again, not really, but that's how it felt).  Over the next 10 years, I became hyper-focused on keeping my kids healthy and safe.  Eventually, though, my own health began to suffer.  I wasn't sleeping.  I was riddled with anxiety.  I lost a ton of weight.  I felt terrible!  Half of the time, I couldn't form a coherent thought.  I was struggling to be present mentally and physically for my children.  I knew something had to change, but I couldn't find the energy to even think about where to start.

 

So I started small.  I made some simple changes to my diet and I started to prioritize my sleep.  Once I started to feel more clear-headed, I began to research how food and stress affect our health, and everything snowballed from there.  I started taking steps to make my own health a priority.  Slowly but surely, I had more energy and my anxiety decreased.  I grew to love cooking and I found my creativity again in the kitchen.  I started to exercise for health, not to look a certain way.  I began to practice yoga and meditation, both of which changed my life in amazing ways.  I was becoming the person I was always meant to be.

 

After 14 years in Georgia, we decided to move across the country to be near the mountains and to raise our boys in a place that felt more like home.  Now, my husband and I and our two sons are happily settled in Boulder, Colorado.  The boys are older and don't need quite as much from me, so I decided that it was time to pursue my passions and help others.  I thought I was alone for so many years, but, now that I am out of the fog, I know that many people are struggling to make their own health a priority.  

 

As I began to look into the various options to become a health coach, I immediately connected with the philosophy of IIN (the Institute for Integrative Nutrition).  I enrolled in their health coach training program, where I studied a variety of dietary theories and practical lifestyle coaching methods. However, the most important takeaway was that health is so much more than the food we eat.  I had discovered this early on in my journey, but it was incredible to learn from and work with other like-minded people.  With all of the knowledge I gained through IIN, my personal experiences, and your experiences, we can co-create a completely personalized approach to help you achieve your ideal vision of health within your unique body, lifestyle, preferences, and resources.  We will work together to help you FIND TIME FOR HEALTH!