Who The Heck Do I Think I am?!
Jan 30, 2023For my first blog post, I thought it might be important for you to know who I am and the why behind what I do. So here is the as quick as I could get low down on my life and how I got to be this person on the internet helping other women.
Sometimes when I think back to who I was when I was 21 or 25 or any age younger than I am now, I get a little embarrassed. I wish I had been a better person and made better decisions. Then I remember that I could not have become who I am today without having gone through the challenges and the life lessons that I went through and I know that there will be more ahead of me.
I grew up in a “normal” family in the suburbs. My parents were hard working and raised 4 decent human beings (I have 3 older brothers). We never had a lot of money but we had everything we needed and then some. We went camping every year in New Hampshire and those were some of the best memories! Those camping trips laid the foundation of my love for New Hampshire, and the mountains and hiking and being outside and CAMPING! To be clear, I complained about hiking all the time and once I was 18 I hardly ever did that anymore. It wasn’t until several years later that I reconnected with that part of me and realized how much I love it.
Anyway, my parents raised me to be hardworking and that I was. I started working at the age of 14 and worked through high school and college. One of my first real jobs was being a personal care assistant for a woman with autism. It was working with her that made me realize how much I love helping people. I continued on that career path, helping people who lived independently in their own apartments, people who held down jobs but needed a little coaching and people who lived in group homes and needed more hands on care. I worked my way up into management and quickly realized how much I love being a leader.
I sucked at being a leader at first, well in my opinion anyway. It was also hard to be so young and managing people twice my age. I ended up enrolling in a masters program and received my Master of Science in non-profit management. During this program, I learned that there are books that teach you how to be a leader and that being a leader is MORE than telling people what to do! WHAT?! I think one of the reasons that I love being a leader is that deep desire to help people and by guiding my team to be better at their job, to be better as humans and to accomplish goals, I get to see first hand the joy and gratitude on their faces. Nothing better.
As a leader I also have the opportunity to help my team on a personal level. Creating relationships with people at work is much deeper than just what’s happening at work. We are whole human beings and there is no such thing as leaving work at work and home at home. I love my team and the people I work with which means that I care about them as a whole human and not just as a person that does a job for me.
Another thing that I am really passionate about (which will take you about 30 seconds to figure out) is health. Sometime around the age of 18 I became overweight. I literally don’t know when it happened because I wasn’t paying attention. I just went from small girl in high school to college girl that is overweight. Of course, no one said “Hey, Marisa. You are putting on the pounds you should do something about that.” I just realized one day I didn’t like the way I looked and felt. Fast forward to 2017 I got serious about losing weight and since then I have spent massive amounts of time learning about food, nutrition and exercise. You see, growing up I had milk shakes and devil dogs on the regular. Hot dogs and beans was at least a once a week meal and the only veggies I ever ate were canned green beans and cucumbers. My dad has coronary artery disease and has had numerous stents placed, one open heart surgery and a handful of heart attacks. My dad’s dad died of a heart attack before I was born. My Nana had open heart surgery due to blocked arteries. My uncle on my mom’s died also had a quadruple bypass. These are my genetics. At some point I realized… I NEED to take care of me. If I don’t do this, I will no doubt end up with blocked arteries.
This picture is from 2017.
Here is the kicker. As I lost weight, I gained confidence. I gained energy. I gained self worth and self love. I gained knowledge. And I soared. I grew in every area of my life, including as a leader. This came with a healthy amount of struggle as the people around me struggled to understand my need for change, my passion for health and my distaste for the big food industry. Lucky for me, I knew deep in my soul that I was on the right path. I was meant to do this.
This picture was taken in 2021.
I had another massive learning event in 2019 and it quickly became another passion of mine. One of the things I have always struggled with is money. For many years it was just money in, money out. I was great at spending, not great at saving and I couldn’t make a budget to save my life no matter how many times I tried. As the years went on, I learned to be better about it and I always put more money on my debts than the minimum due. I bought used vehicles and paid them off as quick as possible. It just wasn’t enough. I felt unstable and unsure of what to do with money. Finally, I got serious. Here is a really great tip for you - if you want to learn about something, you can. You can find tons of free or inexpensive material about any subject. So I started with podcasts and then moved to audio books and I finally ran into Dave Ramsey. I listened to the book “The Total Money Makeover” and immediately turned around and paid off my student loans. I made my husband listen to the book with me and we got with a financial planner and started to get serious about our financial future as a couple. Did you know 78% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck? YIKES! There is a better and much less stressful way of handling money and I am determined to help as many people as possible realize this. You can experience “financial peace” as Dave Ramsey would say!
Well, that’s it in a nutshell, but there are a few very important things you need to know before you go! I am married to Kyle, a wonderful, hardworking firefighter (yep, he looks sexy in uniform). Together, we have 3 dogs and a bunch of chickens. We love to hike, drink black coffee, sit on our porch and we both enjoy reading books! Kyle and I have been together since I was 21, so he has witnessed first hand the transformation I have gone through. I am forever grateful for his support throughout the years and now as I continue down the path I was meant to follow, helping you! This journey has not been an easy one, but it has been absolutely incredible and I can’t wait to see what the future holds!
Thank you for hanging out for that quick version of my life thus far and why I am passionate about helping others achieve health and wealth! There is literally nothing better than feeling confident and strong in every area of your life and it just starts with one baby step!
Want help creating and achieving your goals? Click below to learn more!
Stay connected with news and updates!
Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from me.
Don't worry, your information will not be shared. When you sign up you will receive my 5 step guide to turning your dreams into a reality.
We hate SPAM. We will never sell your information, for any reason.
