Congratulations to our Leadership in Health Coaching Award recipients for the HCTP March 2018 class! Integrative Nutrition believes in, supports, and celebrates all our outstanding graduates for spreading the ripple effect of health and happiness in the world. The Leadership in Health Coaching Award was created to recognize the amazing accomplishments of our graduates, specifically those doing outstanding work that aligns with Integrative Nutrition’s core mission. Learn more about the winners below.
Karen Y. Moore
Savannah, Georgia
What were you doing prior to enrolling at Integrative Nutrition?
I was an award-winning wedding and special event planner who had just survived a 2016 battle with sepsis that took me over a year to fully recover. When I was introduced to IIN, I was in the process of working to reclaim my life and health.
How did your life change after enrolling?
Once enrolled in the Health Coach Training Program, I gained a level of confidence and strength that I've never experienced. I was privileged to meet and forge relationships with others on a similar path. I learned how important it is to live not only a healthy lifestyle but one where balance exists in every aspect of life.
My outlook on life changed, and the IIN experience transformed me into a better person mind, body, and spirit.
L. Vonnie Wright
Gretna, Louisiana
What were you doing prior to enrolling at Integrative Nutrition?
I was/am a senior program manager at a nearby private university. I am in the process of transitioning out of this career to fulfill my purpose (working with church groups and nonprofit organizations).
How did your life change after enrolling?
After enrolling, my life was placed on a fast track. All of a sudden, my life had purpose, and I was moving toward something wonderful – the genuine love I have for serving people and knowing that I am now equipped with the knowledge and complete training to assist individuals in becoming the person they have always desired to be.
Alais Reta
Henderson, Nevada
What were you doing prior to enrolling at Integrative Nutrition?
I was a stay-at-home mom for 13 years. Raising our two amazing kids, our son, Jason Jr., and our daughter, Kayla. Prior to that, I was an assistant escrow officer in the title/escrow industry.
How did your life change after enrolling?
My life has changed so much since enrolling! I have formed amazing friendships with many of my like-minded fellow Health Coaches. I am much more confident in sharing health and wellness with my clients and others. I have been able to start my business, build my website, and build my amazing group of followers. I am also coauthoring the book Our Transformative Journey with 20 fellow IIN Health Coaches. These are all things I would have never imagined or believed I could achieve prior to enrolling at IIN. The support IIN gives its students is amazing! IIN definitely helps build our confidence and provides the ample support needed to be successful Health Coaches.
Beatriz Maria De La Luz Mondragon Lopez
Mexico
What were you doing prior to enrolling at Integrative Nutrition?
I was doing volunteer work at my daughter’s school as a classroom mother and as a member of the ecology program. I also give personal image advice.
I started my first physical activity program when I was four years old. Fortunately, my mom knew exercising was good for our health. So I grew up exercising and eating homemade food. When I became a mother, I tried to raise my girls with healthy habits, as my mom did. Now that they have grown up, one child is in college and the other is in twelfth grade, I started to think how I could reintegrate to work outside the home after so many years. I wanted to be able to do something I liked very much and with my own schedule. I also wanted to meet new people, knowing that people find me trustful. By that time, I began hearing the word “wellness” often. I started searching the web and found IIN!
How did your life change after enrolling?
As I advanced through the program, I felt so happy to be able to learn about so many topics, things that I like and others new for me. That made me feel more secure every time – secure to have the knowledge and the opportunity to help others and myself.
I´m studying in the Gut Health Course and have a couple of clients taking the 6-Month Program.
Kissy Bell Fuenmayor Romay
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
What were you doing prior to enrolling at Integrative Nutrition?
Before enrolling at IIN, I was working as a coach in change of habits and studying basic foundations in BioNeuroEmotion. I already had some clients, and of course my dream was to be able to study at IIN.
How did your life change after enrolling?
Studying at IIN changed my life; when they tell you at the beginning of the course that it will be a transformative year, it is completely true. For me, there was a wonderful awakening of consciousness; I am a much better person, and I have greater compassion for my fellows and the planet. I met people with my same convictions and so many teachers and wonderful people who are sowing the seeds of well-being and happiness.
Daphne Myers
Dresden, Germany
What were you doing prior to enrolling at Integrative Nutrition?
Writing a business plan to start a juice bar and looking for a space that would accommodate the juice bar as well as workshops about healthy eating and healthy living. I had just quit my job in the media, technologies, and outreach department at the Max Planck Institute of Cell Biology and Genetics, and I was ready to go all in to live a life that supported my own health and well-being and be able to help others achieve health and happiness in their lives. This step felt like it was over a decade in the making after battling my own health issues and constantly pursuing stressful careers. I finally decided to stop supporting my stressful life with healthy practices and start living a healthy life designed for my body and passions.
How did your life change after enrolling?
IIN helped me see that seeking healthy living hadn't been just about my body needing help; it was my deepest passion and always had been. IIN gave me a road map to see how I could channel this passion into the world professionally as a way to live this way myself and help others find their way to a healthy and happy life. While my health improved and my goals became clearer, the biggest change was the clarity of how I could combine my love of business, helping people, and living healthy. The change was from a micro view of starting a juice bar as a doorway to healthy living to a macro view of the juice bar being the launching platform to educate people through coaching and workshops about living the life they were made for.
Silvina Luna
Punta del Este, Uruguay
What were you doing prior to enrolling at Integrative Nutrition?
I have been in the hospitality and entertainment industry for many years. I worked for hotels and resorts around the world as director of marketing, and I had the opportunity to organize hundreds of media events, theme parties, and headliner shows with global artists like Ricky Martin, Luis Miguel, Liza Minnelli, Shakira, among others.
Two years ago, I left the corporate and entertainment world to open my own company, Glaminess, and I started working as a marketing and PR consultant for luxury hotels and spas. I worked in the startup of two wellness spas in South America.
Glaminess was conceived to integrate all my passions (luxury travel, hotels, spas, and holistic living) for a trendy, happy, and healthy life.
How did your life change after enrolling?
When I found IIN, I went through an amazing transformational journey, nourishing myself and connecting with the most incredible tribe, who has the same life purpose: to contribute to a better world.
My diet also changed a lot after enrolling. I stopped consuming foods with lactose, gluten, and sugar. I increased the consumption of fruits and vegetables, and I no longer consume processed products. Now I enjoy creating healthy recipes and meals for my family and my future clients.
Mateen Nizamuddin
Chicago, Illinois
What were you doing prior to enrolling at Integrative Nutrition?
I was and still am working at JP Morgan Chase as a senior data analyst.
I am very passionate about anything that involves health and wellness. I have a bachelor’s degree from India, and one of my majors was nutrition. When I got married and immigrated to the United States back in 1989, I pursued a different career, but nutrition has always been in the back of my head. In the last 10 or so years, I started to notice some changes in the food industry, which kept bothering me and made me want to get back to my area of passion: health/nutrition and wellness. While researching schools online, I came across IIN around 2013. My present job kept me very busy, but I finally took the first step at the end of 2017 to take the HCTP in March 2018. And the rest, as they say, is history!
How did your life change after enrolling?
After I enrolled, I felt like I got a new lease on life. I was doing what I always wanted to do – study and learn all about food/wellness and how health coaching can be so powerful in changing people’s lives for the better. I thank God often that I finally took the step to enroll and didn't postpone it any longer.