My Story

The Story Behind Wellness Within

My journey into root-cause health and functional nutrition was never something I originally planned.

In many ways, it began with a question that stayed with me for years.

When I was 19 years old, I lost my father to male breast cancer. His diagnosis left our family with more questions than answers. He tested negative for the BRCA gene, which meant the typical genetic explanation didn’t fully explain what had happened.

Even then, something in me wondered if there was more to the story.

My dad worked in HVAC for many years, often spending long days in attics and crawlspaces—environments that frequently contained mold, dust, and other environmental exposures. At the time, I quietly wondered if something in his environment could have contributed to his illness, though I didn’t yet have the knowledge to understand how those exposures might affect the body.

That question would stay with me for years, eventually becoming part of a much larger story.

Searching for My Path

Early in my career, I became a hairstylist. While I loved connecting with my clients and building relationships with the people in my chair, something inside me always felt drawn toward understanding health on a deeper level.

It felt as though my curiosity about the human body and why people become sick kept pulling me in another direction.

Eventually, I decided to return to school and pursue biology. During that time, I spent six years working alongside a primary care physician as both a medical assistant and a scribe. I was able to observe countless patient cases and gain insight into a wide range of health conditions.

But something still didn’t sit right with me.

Over and over again, I saw symptoms being treated without ever fully exploring why those symptoms were happening in the first place. Medications were often used to manage the problem, but the deeper root causes were rarely investigated.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that there had to be another way to approach health.

The Beginning of My Own Health Challenges

Around this time, I began experiencing occasional fainting episodes that no one could fully explain. Eventually they went away, but looking back now, I believe this may have been the early beginning of deeper dysfunction in my body long before I understood what was happening.

Years later, more symptoms began to appear.

I developed significant inflammation, gained nearly 30 pounds, and was eventually diagnosed with hypothyroidism. Even under the care of an endocrinologist, I struggled to feel better and my symptoms continued.

It wasn’t until I saw an osteopathic physician who transitioned me to Armour Thyroid that things finally began to improve. For the first time, I started to feel like my body was responding.

But my health journey was far from over.

When My Health Began to Decline

Several years later, my health began to change in ways I never expected.

I had moved into my home and lived there for about five years. For the first few years, life felt relatively normal. But somewhere around year three, I started getting sick more frequently and noticed that my body didn’t seem to bounce back the way it once had.

Not long after, I became pregnant.

My pregnancy was extremely difficult, and after delivering my daughter I developed postpartum preeclampsia, which required hospitalization. Looking back now, I believe my body was already under significant stress, and that experience seemed to push it even further out of balance.

Over the next year, my health continued to decline.

Eventually it reached a point where some days I could barely get out of bed.

What began as a few confusing symptoms quickly turned into a long list of issues that seemed to affect nearly every system in my body.

I developed severe digestive symptoms including epigastric pain, persistent nausea, loss of appetite, intense reflux, and dramatic changes in my bowel habits. My stomach constantly felt inflamed and unsettled.

But the symptoms didn’t stop there.

I began experiencing intense bloating, joint pain, migraines, skin issues, hair loss, rapid heart rate, extreme anxiety, and a strange globus sensation in my throat related to vagus nerve dysfunction. My liver enzymes became elevated, gallbladder polyps appeared, and I struggled with chronic Epstein-Barr virus reactivation.

I was later diagnosed with mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) and battled severe parasitic infections, including liver flukes. At times I experienced a constant metallic taste, something I later learned can occur with toxin overload.

My body felt like it was spiraling, and yet no one seemed able to explain why.

At one point I sought help from a gastroenterologist, hoping to finally find answers. Instead, I was told that my symptoms were likely “in my head.”

Anyone who has experienced chronic illness knows how devastating and isolating it can feel to hear something like that when your body is clearly struggling.

At the time, I was convinced I knew the cause.

After more than 20 years working in the hair industry, I assumed the daily exposure to hair dyes, chemicals, and fumes must be what was making me sick.

I never once suspected my home.

Discovering the Real Root Cause

Eventually, deeper investigation revealed something I had never considered.

The home I had been living in had hidden mold contamination, and I was suffering from Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS) caused by mold exposure.

Genetic testing later revealed that I carry an HLA gene that makes it extremely difficult for my body to detoxify mold toxins. In other words, my body cannot clear certain mold exposures effectively, allowing toxins to continue circulating and triggering widespread inflammation.

Suddenly, everything began to make sense.

What I had believed was simply chemical exposure from years in the salon turned out to be a perfect storm of environmental stressors—including mold exposure in my home, toxin exposure in my work environment, infections, and a body that had become completely overwhelmed.

And in a strange way, this realization brought me back to the question that had lived quietly in my heart since losing my father.

My dad spent years working in HVAC, often in attics and crawlspaces where mold exposure was common. At the time of his illness, we never connected those dots.

But after understanding my own genetic susceptibility and experience with mold illness, it became impossible not to wonder whether environmental exposures may have played a role in his story as well.

Finding My Purpose

Walking through my own healing journey changed the course of my life.

While I will always appreciate the relationships I built during my years as a hairstylist, my experience with chronic illness opened my eyes to how many people are struggling with complex symptoms that often go unexplained.

I knew I wanted to be part of helping people find answers.

After years of working around chemical exposures and experiencing firsthand how environmental stressors can impact the body, I made the decision to begin transitioning away from the hair industry and pursue my training as a Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner (FNTP).

My goal became clear: to help people uncover the deeper root causes behind their symptoms and support their bodies in restoring balance.

Why I Created Wellness Within

I created Wellness Within for the people who feel like they’ve been searching for answers without finding them.

Many of the individuals I work with are navigating complex health challenges such as mold exposure, digestive dysfunction, liver and gallbladder stress, thyroid and hormonal imbalances, chronic inflammation, and nervous system dysregulation.

These conditions are rarely isolated problems. More often, they are interconnected pieces of a larger story happening within the body.

And that story deserves to be understood.

Healing doesn’t happen by simply chasing symptoms. It begins by supporting the body’s foundations—restoring digestion, supporting detox pathways, calming the nervous system, replenishing nutrients, and removing the obstacles that prevent the body from functioning the way it was designed to.

Healing is rarely linear, but with the right support and understanding of the body’s systems, it is possible.

My hope is that through Wellness Within, I can guide others on their own path toward healing—one that honors the body, respects its complexity, and helps restore balance from the inside out.