Congratulations to our Leadership in Health Coaching Award recipients for the HCTP May 2017 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.

Samantha Lopez
Mississauga, Ontario

What were you doing prior to enrolling at Integrative Nutrition?
I was teaching privates, semi-privates, and group Pilates classes at a private Pilates studio and a hospital in Toronto, Canada, as well as giving energy healing (reiki) to some clients. 

How did your life change after enrolling? 
My life changed completely! It was a huge transformation for me! Even though I started to help others (my family), it helped to find myself again! I found a deep transformation, from money mind-set to spiritual journey! I started to feel peace with myself again, and a lot of my negative feelings started to melt away. I was laughing and my smile came back! I stopped trying to fit in and started stepping away from people because I believed in my intuition and heart! Thanks for bringing me back!

Sharon Falconer
Guatemala City, Guatemala

What were you doing prior to enrolling at Integrative Nutrition?
I have a real estate firm. Although it is not my passion, I still do it because it is funding my ongoing career as a Health Coach until it will no longer be necessary anymore.

How did your life change after enrolling? 
A wealth of information that opened my eyes and helped me realize what I was doing wrong and make changes to improve the way I eat. My health improved along the way and the bloating and other symptoms stopped. I realized that this is what fulfills my passion to help people at another level.

Alejandra Palma
La Paz, Bolivia 

What were you doing prior to enrolling at Integrative Nutrition?
Working in a telecom company in Bolivia. 

How did your life change after enrolling? 
I had a radical change because I realized that I was healthy, but in an empirical way, and with IIN, I began to thoroughly study the causes of each ailment. For eight years, I have not consumed sugar, and for 18 years, I have not drank soda. I do not drink, I do not smoke, and I go to the gym from Monday to Friday, but everything I studied now taught me the scientific basis, and with these tools I can help my 25 clients and be successful in Bolivia.

Natalia Villatoro
Valencia, Spain

What were you doing prior to enrolling at Integrative Nutrition?
Before attending IIN, my life had taken a drastic change. I moved to another continent, an unknown country for me, so far away from my friends and family. Just with my husband and kids, dreaming about a more secure place for our kids to grow.

When we first arrived, I found myself alone most of the time. Everyone had their own activities and started making friends, except for me. This was the first time I felt I needed to find something that made me feel useful, but also something that I am passionate about. I always had this huge interest in health, well-being, sports, spiritually, and art. I am a professional contemporary dancer, and after I had kids, I chose to be a stay-at-home mom. Five years ago, I started to practice pole fitness, and now I am a coach. 

How did your life change after enrolling? 
My life changed in so many ways. First of all, I stopped feeling lonely and useless; I had this amazing opportunity to connect with so many amazing people from all around the world who share the same passion about health. Everything seems to finally fit in my mind, giving me structure about my feelings and my thoughts. It feels like all the principles that we learn at IIN already were in my mind, and I just did not know how to put words to them. Now everything makes sense and resonates so hard in my heart. This makes me feel more confident about my thinking, my lifestyle, and my knowledge. I learned that my voice is important, and my message could help change so many lives. IIN woke up my mind to keep learning more about health.

Tiffany Daniel
Waldorf, Maryland

What were you doing prior to enrolling at Integrative Nutrition?
Health & Wellness Coach

How did your life change after enrolling? 
IIN helped me think out of the box while solidifying that I was not alone.

Sheetal Ramchandani
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

What were you doing prior to enrolling at Integrative Nutrition?
I am a public speaker and run a public speaking forum for teenage girls and boys. I also work with special needs kids at a center.

How did your life change after enrolling? 
IIN taught me that health goes beyond food; I realized that primary food does play a major role, and all the pieces of my life fell in place. I knew my childhood trauma of me losing my dad has had an impact on my life and emotions. Acknowledgement of this fact helped me move forward in my career as a Health Coach now, and spreading the awareness to corporate level is what I have achieved.

Monica Barradas
Nepean, ON

What were you doing prior to enrolling at Integrative Nutrition?
Prior to enrolling, I focused and worked on adapting to Canada, where my family of five relocated to.

How did your life change after enrolling? 
As I mentioned, immigrants leave much of their lives and their worlds behind. IIN gave me the sense of purpose I had lost. IIN nourished me as a whole and gave me the primary food I was lacking: passion, knowledge, enthusiasm, love of learning, curiosity, motivation, and self-growth. Regarding the health benefits, I used to think I was making THE healthiest choices for my family and myself. I have learned and improved so much; I just can't believe it. I have also come to realize that since I started doing this course and following all the advice it has provided me, I feel so much healthier. I can honestly say that I feel healthier and better now than I did when I was in my thirties, and even twenties. It’s amazing. 

Eva Akerholm
London, United Kingdom

What were you doing prior to enrolling at Integrative Nutrition?
I was between jobs in banking, but I was also going through a divorce, which made it difficult to focus on finding a new job.

How did your life change after enrolling? 
It was very good timing as I had a lot of challenges in the last year. Apart from the divorce, I lost my sister-in-law to cancer and my mother to old age/Alzheimer’s. I also had my own health concerns with all the stress I was under. I could therefore directly use the tools and knowledge provided in the course for myself and transition my life to how I want it to be. I have completely turned around my health issue and have used every tool in the course to keep my motivation and energy level to go through all the challenges the year provided.

Deirdre Milano
Washington, DC

What were you doing prior to enrolling at Integrative Nutrition?
Prior to enrolling at IIN, I was multitasking: working on three careers at the same time while continuing my journey of self-healing. I was studying for my law exam to become a disability law practitioner/representative and took my exam in May 2017, the same month I started with IIN. While helping people in the disability benefit field, I met thousands of people across the country that were not only in dire need of help with their benefits, but also in dire need with their health. I volunteered my time with clients, helping them with health and wellness tips and lending an ear to just hear them, be present with them, and share with them. I was also continuing my work intermittently as a SAG-AFTRA actress and commercial model. 

How did your life change after enrolling? 
Enrolling in IIN was a continuum of a self-healing journey for me that started many years ago. It was the perfect fit for me on many levels: physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I was so excited that I had found my tribe of like-minded people and many of my favorite professionals in the business to learn from. I also found the much-needed tangible business applications that I was long searching for. I had been living the IIN way for many years during my own self-journey of health and wellness, but IIN inspired to recharge that spark and reinvigorated me even more so, giving me the validation along with the practical tools and know-how of how to take that information and knowledge and share it with the world. Also, as part of this journey, I became cancer-free (stage 3 colorectal cancer) with no Western surgery (which was less than 1% chance possible with no Western surgery), largely in part by using food as medicine.

Annmarie Bestward
Welland, ON

What were you doing prior to enrolling at Integrative Nutrition?
Before IIN, I was a massage therapist for a while and then decided to be at home to raise my family.

How did your life change after enrolling? 
IIN has forever changed my life in many ways. I really got to know myself through my studies at IIN and learned from so many amazing mentors that having an authentic life is possible. That alone is priceless. I also learned the value of bio-individuality and the value of primary food. My whole adult life I have focused on secondary food, only now to know the missing pieces I have been lacking, and now I have these beautiful pieces of wisdom to share with the world.