For as long as I can remember, I’ve dealt with digestive issues and mental health struggles. As a child, my symptoms quickly escalated from basic stomach discomfort to full-blown cyclical vomiting spells, leading to five hospitalizations. The only answers I received were vague: “a nervous stomach” or “maybe anxiety.” I was sent home with a Zofran prescription—but I knew I didn’t have a Zofran deficiency. There was a piece to the puzzle that hadn’t been uncovered yet.

At age 12, everything shifted when my mom brought me to a local holistic practitioner. They ran food sensitivity testing and discovered several major triggers: gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, oats, peanuts, and shellfish. Eliminating these was overwhelming at first, especially as a preteen, but the results were undeniable. I went from a withdrawn, anxious girl with chronic digestive issues to a happier, more energetic version of myself. For the first time, I felt like I had some control over my health.

But healing is never one-size-fits-all—and it’s rarely linear. In college, I realized that removing certain foods helped, but it wasn’t enough. I was still dealing with low energy, anxiety, and feeling disconnected from my body. While earning my Bachelor's in Psychology, I enrolled in the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, where I learned the basics of holistic nutrition. I had a vision of helping others (and myself) feel better mentally and physically through a whole-body approach.