Stacie. 

Growing up in a collective cultural environment taught me the importance of resilience, community, and caring for others. My childhood was shaped by watching my father struggle with both diabetes and alcoholism. I struggled through college without a clear vision. Meanwhile, I got married, became a mother as is customary, and later divorced. Through every season of life, I continued moving forward. When I met my current husband, I found the encouragement to begin a new chapter and started my nursing career in 2010. At the same time, I remained committed to learning and advancing my education in health science and wellness. During my studies and work in healthcare, I learned that more than half of Americans are living with diabetes or prediabetes. In most cases, people are not aware of their prediabetic status. Then I received unexpected news: I was prediabetic myself. 

That diagnosis became my “aha” moment. For years, I had assumed that diabetes mostly happened to people with obviously unhealthy habits. But I realized something much bigger — our modern environment makes it incredibly easy for anyone to drift toward chronic disease as we age if we are not actively practicing healthy habits every day. Stress, processed foods, inactivity, lack of sleep, and busy lifestyles quietly work against us.

That realization transformed my mission. I became a board-certified health and wellness coach because I wanted to do more than treat illness — I wanted to help prevent it. Today, I am passionate about empowering people to create sustainable lifestyle changes and take control of their health. We must come together to fight the growing diabetes pandemic through education, compassion, and everyday healthy choices.