Congratulations to our May 2017 recipient of the Leadership in Health Coach Award - Zee Megan Martín!

Zee was brought to IIN due to a massive health crisis that jepordized her employment and life. She had no intention of learning to become a health coach or changing professions but it quickly became clear to her that health coaching was her calling! During her time she also met an amazing group of people and created a group for IIN students, the Holistic Health Coach Tribe Group. Her health is still recovering and her business is evolving so she can start working full time as a health coach. Learn more about this incredible graduate!

What were you doing prior to enrolling at Integrative Nutrition?
I’m a consulting Engineer by trade, working mostly in the Medical Device arena on all sorts of devices, everything from knee braces to ventilators, defibrillators, and implantable heart pumps. As a consultant, I work not only with the products, but training, guiding, and coaching engineering teams. I’ve always had outside jobs as well, everything from building websites to teaching bellydancing, ballroom dance, and how to shoot a handgun safely. I’ve been a coach as long as I can remember, coaching competitive dancers and engineers, and mentoring people on a wide variety of subjects.

What led you to explore the Health Coach Training Program?
Four years ago my younger sister died. She was 50. She should have lived to be 100, that’s what women in my family do. And I was suffering from the things that killed her. Everything she had, I have. I worked with my doctors on what was wrong with me and I was getting worse. 90 lbs overweight and gaining a pound a month on 1200 calories a day. I needed my gall bladder out and a pacemaker in. My brain didn’t work. I couldn’t bend enough to tie my shoes or walk up a flight of stairs. A desperate conversation led me to try Paleo and that led to an epiphany. Everything I knew about healthy nutrition was wrong… it was common wisdom, and what my doctors said to do, and it was killing me. I was going to have to learn how to save my own life.

How did your life change after enrolling? (This may be a small change or a large change, in any way)
Once I started my search for new information, IIN popped up. I thought… well, OK then, I’ll learn what those who guide others through their health issues know, and then I can fix myself. Paleo, then AIP and an elimination diet. And I got better. 3 days in, the GERD was gone. 5 days in, the gall bladder pain went away. 12 days in, my knees stopped hurting… and they’d hurt every day for over 40 years. I learned about hydration, stress, sleep, food allergies and primary foods. I found a Functional Medicine doctor and started work with him. My brain started to get better, less fog. Weight started to come off, 35 lbs in 6 months. My cardiac symptoms went away. My energy improved. And I found a calling, health coaching and coaching coaches.

Which topics and modules were most beneficial for you? Please list any teachers or ideas that had a major impact on you.
There wasn’t one particular module or concept that radically changed my world, but taken all together, my views have significantly changed. There were ideas in everything that helped me see new options, or change my expectations and behavior. I learned new things about how health works, and how simple approaches can make big results. I learned I can actually like a salad or a green smoothie. I was reminded that participation directly affects my outcomes, and that I have something to offer others. I discovered, again, that fear matters less than helping people, and that being part of a community helps bring healing. I got to be of service. I found friends. I have been reminded every day why it matters that I seek to walk my talk.

What are you doing now? If you have a product or are a practicing Health Coach, briefly describe your focus area/clientele.
I’ve always loved coaching; helping a person find something in themselves they didn’t know they have. I coach best what I have experience with, so my clients are people with inflammation and histamine issues, food allergies, autoimmune diseases. But for me, the biggest thing is the second-generation change. My coaching skills and experience only reach so far. When I can help another coach through an obstacle, and that frees them to coach their client through a breakthrough… that changes the world in a bigger way. So whenever possible, I coach and mentor other coaches.

What makes you and your practice or product unique?
I bring a broad and varied background to what I do. My strength is in my challenges: congenital and genetic issues, significant health problems, and an Asperger’s mind. It’s in having to be creative and persistent to find solutions to things other people just do naturally. I’ve coached all kinds of people in a variety of situations and that has challenged my skills in all directions. More than anything it’s taught me to be present with the person, to address what is really happening in the here and now, and to trust both the client’s process and my own. I get to share my experience and teach new skills, but mostly I get to help my clients explore their own answers and find the solutions they can really use to change their lives.

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?
Very often people’s challenges aren’t just in their bodies, but also in their thoughts and their emotions. When I can help a client find the gift embedded in their challenges, or embrace the lesson in their obstacles, amazing things can happen. How people see their life transforms. Solutions to their issues become workable. When they start to let go of fear and find their courage, it can be magic. My favorite moments are when a client says “This changes everything!” or “I never thought I could do this”… and then they do it. And when a coach I’m mentoring tells me about their client’s breakthrough… that’s the best.

What do you love about your work?
I think the thing I love most about this work is seeing people reclaim their dreams. So many times we’ve given up on what we want because we just can’t seem to make it work. The heartbreak of letting go of what really matters, what really lights us up, can make for heavy burdens and it creates a lot of illness. When I can translate the challenges I’ve overcome into tools my clients use to change their own lives, what I’ve struggled through makes sense. When I can help a person find the way to regain their wellness and their dreams, or set their feet on the path to something better, it makes my heart happy, peaceful and content.

Check out Zee's website A to Zee Wellness! 

What inspires you most about Zee's story? Share with us below!