Twenty-five years ago, Joshua Rosenthal founded Integrative Nutrition with the mission of improving global health and happiness. Today, we're not just a school - we're a movement that's larger than ever, with over 100,000 students and graduates worldwide. To celebrate our 25th anniversary we’ll be featuring the journeys of 25 rockstar graduates over the next few weeks! Follow along and read their stories here.

Like many IIN graduates, Bex Weller accidentally stumbled onto a career in health coaching. While working as a cost engineer for an energy company, Bex decided to go vegan, and with her new lifestyle she received many questions about what she was going to eat. From there, her first food blog was born and the rest is history! Today, she runs a successful business teaching clients how to live a healthy and sober life through her coaching program, Sexy Sobriety. She’s also the author of Happier Hour, a memoir about overcoming her unhealthy relationship with alcohol.

We recently caught up with Bex to hear about her experience with Integrative Nutrition’s Health Coach Training Program. Here’s what she had to say:

What were you doing prior to enrolling at Integrative Nutrition?  
Before enrolling at IIN, I was working as a cost engineer in a project management team for a global energy company. I'd recently made the decision to follow a vegan lifestyle, and I received a ton of questions about what on earth I was going to eat. To keep myself accountable, and to share all the amazing concoctions (and spectacular fails) I was making in the kitchen, I started my first blog. I hadn’t expected to fall in love with blogging. I thought I’d get bored with it after a month or two, like I always did with new interests. But in fact, it was just the opposite. My job was highly analytical, and I found I loved having a creative outlet. I also reveled in the support and energy of the blogging community.

What led you to explore the Health Coach Training Program?        
By the time IIN caught my attention in late 2012, my blog had grown a small readership, and I’d started to feel a responsibility to be a healthier example. Deep down, I’ve always been a bit of a Nutrition Geek. Not that I’ve always been healthy—far from it. But nutrition and holistic health always interested me. I loved the idea of enrolling but wasn’t sure I’d be able to juggle the coursework with my hectic corporate job and my food blogging hobby. Finally, I decided to take the plunge and go for it! I didn’t know if I’d become a Health Coach, but I definitely wanted to be the best blogger I could be. I figured the program would at least teach me more about health and nutrition that I could pass on to my beautiful readers. 

How did your life change after enrolling?
One year later, I was so happy I made that fateful decision. Throughout my studies, I learnt and grew more than I could have ever imagined. And to my surprise, I fell in love with the idea of being a Health Coach. In September of 2013, before I'd even graduated from IIN, I took the plunge again. I followed my heart and resigned from my corporate role, determined to establish my own health coaching business. It was scary leaving the (relative) security of a highly paid, long-term career, and in running my own business, I’ve worked harder than ever before. But it’s also been the most rewarding, inspiring, humbling and fulfilling thing I've ever done in my life.

Which topics and modules were most beneficial for you? What teachers or ideas had a major impact on you?
IIN's lineup of experts is incredible, and I especially enjoyed the lectures from Gabrielle Bernstein, Danielle La Porte, David Wolfe, Arianna Huffington, Marie Forleo, and Deepak Chopra—some of which were so moving, they made me cry (in the best of ways)! I also loved that the assignments usually involved experimenting on ourselves. When you’re encouraged to experiment on yourself, something quite magical happens. Not only do you gain first-hand experience, which ultimately makes you a better coach, but you also begin to develop a deeper, spiritual connection with your body. You learn to actually tune in, listen to, and respect it (something I only wish I’d learnt years before!).

What are you doing now?
I just celebrated three whole years in business, and I still have to pinch myself sometimes to believe I’m working in a career I’m truly passionate about and living a life I love. Thanks to IIN, I became inspired to not only improve my diet, but to overcome my dysfunctional relationship with alcohol. I'm now a best-selling published author and my sobriety memoir, A Happier Hour, has touched the lives of thousands of women from around the world. I spend my days speaking at live events, coaching my beautiful clients (via the magic of Skype), and guiding my life-changing coaching program, Sexy Sobriety.

What makes you and your practice or product unique?       
My inspiration for Sexy Sobriety arose from the fact that I couldn’t find anything else like it out there. I drew on my Holistic Health Coaching training to include a broad range of elements that would really nurture my clients' minds, bodies and spirits. Interviews with incredible women who wouldn’t be where they are now if they hadn’t ditched the drink; sophisticated, sugar-free mocktail recipes; stories, pep talks and journals for deep reflection; and soul-sparking daily activities to keep them focused, motivated and on track. A coaching program to make sobriety feel like an adventure, not deprivation. The response has been phenomenal, and I've had the honor of welcoming and supporting hundreds of women from around the globe.

How do you help your clients be successful? Can you provide a specific example of someone who had great success or one of your favorite Coach-Client relationships?  
When clients come to me, they’re looking to take an extended break from drinking in order to fully pursue their wellness, dreams and potential.  Often they’ve noticed that their health, relationships or career are suffering as a result of their drinking.  There isn't always a dramatic impact, and yet, some part of them recognizes that they’re not as happy as they know they could be. I help these beautiful souls by guiding and inspiring them to see things differently. To begin the process of reconnecting with their bodies and themselves—with incredible results. You can read some of their stories at: http://sexysobriety.com.au/reviews/

What do you love about your work?      
I adore the fact that I'm doing work that is so meaningful and is changing lives of hundreds of women every year. After decades spent in a tailspin of not knowing how I could apply myself in a positive way, it feels amazing to finally be doing work I love and helping others.

Is there a need for Health Coaches where you live?   
Absolutely! With more people suffering from lifestyle diseases, ailments and anxiety than ever before, I believe there's a desperate need for Health Coaches across the globe.

Connect with Bex:
On her website
On Facebook
On YouTube
On Twitter
On Instagram