In 2018, I was driving my VW Beetle down I-75 to my company’s headquarters in downtown Atlanta when I got hit by an 18-wheeler. I could hear the crunch of the metal and the screech of the tires as my car got pushed along the highway. As I crashed headfirst into the concrete median, time slowed down. The car was totaled. When it was all over, I touched my body; Miraculously, I was okay.

Then a thought entered my mind. “I could have died today, and I don’t even like my life that much.” At the time, the thought shocked me; only later did I recognize the wisdom in it. I didn’t like my life because it wasn’t truly my own. I was constantly running at a pace that left me depleted and toward a goal that left me feeling unseen. My employer convinced me that unachievable goals and lack of support were normal. So, I thought I was the problem. 

That belief created endless stress and financial turmoil for me. It was a gut punch to my confidence. I was living in a chronic state of Corporate Trauma, and I didn’t even know it. The accident was my wake-up call. 

Even though I didn’t know where to start, I went into a flurry of action. I trusted that I would find direction through movement. I signed up for a French class, applied for a yoga teacher training program and registered for both coaching and teaching certifications. I was scared, but I knew I wanted my life to be different. Three words came to mind. I wanted freedom, alignment, and effortless abundance.

One night at 3 a.m., not too long after my accident, I woke up from a deep sleep with an epiphany. I wrote down ten life lessons in my journal and went back to sleep, and over the next few days, I added two more. The lessons were so powerful; I knew I was being called to teach them.

By 2019, I gathered my new credentials, corporate experience and early morning wisdom—and launched my business. I figured if entrepreneurship didn’t work out after two years, I would pivot to a career change. Working as a financial advisor was no longer working for me, but I knew I had plenty of transferable skills that could benefit the right organization. In those early days, I stumbled. Then the pandemic hit. 

When everyone was locked in their houses, I wrote two books sharing the lessons that had crystallized during those 3 a.m. downloads, lessons I’d learned from more than a decade studying Buddhist and yogic philosophies, and lessons from my lived experiences. I couldn’t imagine why anyone would listen to me, so I crafted a self-help memoir and published it. I was surprised and delighted by the feedback I got. People loved the book, and it got amazing reviews. Beyond that, it helped me understand the power of vulnerability—I saw that when I shared my struggles, it helped others realize they were not alone. Redesigning my life showed it was possible for others to take a fresh look at theirs. 

In 2021, I relaunched my second book and renamed my company to align with the book title. Mind-Blowing Happiness became my brand and my rallying call. If I could find the path to freedom, joy and fulfillment, others could too, no matter their background. My goal was to help other people reach their full potential, whatever that looked like.

After my car accident in 2018, two of the companies I worked for paid millions of dollars as part of legal settlements for the mistreatment of their employees. While that felt validating, the process of detailing my experiences and meeting with attorneys and mediators unearthed trauma that I would rather have left buried. Again, I had to walk through the fire. The journey to living my life with the purpose I dreamed of hasn’t been easy, but it’s been worth every trip to the autobody shop, every early morning awakening and every stumble along the way. ❧

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