Meet our January 2018 Leadership in Health Coaching Award Recipients!

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

Kari Kinsey
Flagstaff, AZ

What were you doing prior to enrolling at Integrative Nutrition?
Before enrolling at IIN, I was working as an online fitness coach for a company called Beachbody. Although I really loved it and found a lot of help in their fitness programs, I had some symptoms that I was really frustrated with and I felt my body was trying to tell me something was wrong. I knew I needed MORE help to actually heal my body. I sought out the help of a holistic health professional and worked with her for about a year. It changed SO MUCH for me! I was able to get rid of all my symptoms, a few that I had dealt with for 25 years, and felt the best I EVER had! It was working with a holistic professional that I found real healing in many areas of my life.

How did your life change after enrolling?
I gained so much clarity during my 12 months at IIN! When I enrolled, I had an idea in my mind of what I wanted to do afterward. But after really catching the vision of IIN and what Health Coaches do, that idea completely evolved! I'm going down a different path now but feel so excited about it! During my time here, I gained clarity into who I am, what I really want in life, what things are most important, and what I can offer the people in my world. Along with gaining so much knowledge and confidence, I also gained more self-love and self-compassion. IIN helped me realize that I CAN be the person I want to be and that I am fully capable of helping others do the same!

Helen Birney 
Maplewood, NJ

What were you doing prior to enrolling at Integrative Nutrition?
I was teaching elementary school in Brooklyn, NY. 

Teaching had been my passion for seven years, but our family needed a change of scenery. Once we decided to move to Maplewood, NJ, I quit my job to focus on my family. Within three months, I felt compelled to explore health coaching, as it had been on my radar prior to beginning my teaching career, but I never had time for it before. For years after college, I struggled with digestive problems and had to become my own advocate. I learned so much through that; I wanted to help others as well.

How did your life change after enrolling?
I started setting and achieving goals that really mattered in my life and seeing how focusing on that positively affected my life overall. I gained confidence in my ability to talk to people about their health and followed through with ideas I had rather than just letting them sit in my head. I have flexible work hours, positive self-talk and image, and clientele who want to be there, and I am hungry to learn more all the time! I've also become a certified kinesiologist, which I use in my health coaching practice as well.

Vicki Horan
Sydney, Australia

What were you doing prior to enrolling at Integrative Nutrition?
I was, and still am, working at a family support service assisting women and children leaving domestic violence.

My own successful health journey, which began over six years ago when I first gave up sugar. I had struggled with lifelong issues caused by inflammation leading to ongoing sinus infections, which are now nonexistent. I also wanted to share my journey and success with others.

How did your life change after enrolling?
I went from watching TV every night after work to devouring the contents of each new module and waiting impatiently for the next week’s dose of knowledge and inspiration. I loved every part of the course. I couldn’t wait to get started.

Anne-Sophie Buyck  
Gent, Belgium

What were you doing prior to enrolling at Integrative Nutrition?
By education, I am a civil engineer architect, and I work for a well-known architect office in Belgium. While making a career for myself in architecture, I have been coloring my life with exercise, yoga, and healthy food for the past couple of years. I was always interested in knowing more, reading more, educating myself on a higher level, trying to get all the information possible. Recipes, books, experiments in my kitchen…keeping me busy with gathering knowledge and trying things out was becoming my main source of daily creative outbursts.

How did your life change after enrolling?
My life got busier! I was combining a high-maintenance job with studying, a workout routine, daily home-cooked food, and a good night’s sleep. Somewhere along the mid-mark of the HCTP, I unfortunately got diagnosed with two diseases I thought I'd never get. Leaky gut and an early stage of cancer. My whole world collapsed. As for the leaky gut, I bravely went through an elimination diet and was able to detect the food that I had to avoid to heal my intestinal walls. The other news just dropped on me like a bomb. Eventually I had to take a break from my job to start focusing on myself. After everything that I went through this year, I know – more than ever before – that I want to help people live healthy and happy lives.

Brittany Molloy 
Grafton, MA 

What were you doing prior to enrolling at Integrative Nutrition?
Prior to enrolling as a student at Integrative Nutrition, I was home raising my two girls. I decided to stay home 4.5 years ago when my first daughter was born, and while I wouldn't trade that gift for the world, in 2018, I decided I needed something to give me back a piece of my identity. That something was school. I've always been super passionate about health, so it made sense that I went after something that not only challenged me, but also brought me great joy. Currently, I am still home raising my family but am also pursuing my dreams. I've launched my health coaching business and am so grateful for the courageous decision I made one year ago.

How did your life change after enrolling?
After enrolling, my life changed dramatically in ways I hadn't expected. I was always hyperfocused on food, but school opened my eyes to the great powers of the mind and areas outside of diet and exercise that are crucial to living a happy life. Relationships, spirituality, creativity, home environment…these are all crucial aspects of our lives, but they typically aren't the focus of living a “healthy lifestyle.” I used to think that I could fix everything with food, but I quickly learned that all the kale in the world wouldn't make my other life imbalances go away.

Kevin Thompson 
Yardley, PA

What were you doing prior to enrolling at Integrative Nutrition?
I was driving a truck for HD Supply – I moved out of my home for those 2 years with friends and just found a really good job I had the experience to do. I spent those 2 years listening to every podcast I could about health and wellness; that is where I got the core of my education.

How did your life change after enrolling?
I learned a lot, on top of my prior education...as well as learned A LOT about counseling techniques and how to promote healthy, long-term behavioral change. It gave me the confidence to do this as a profession.

Lori Misitis  
Pittsburgh, PA

What were you doing prior to enrolling at Integrative Nutrition?
Wife, mom of a daughter with special needs, and fitness instructor are at the top of my resume. I have led various classes, from Zumba and Piloxing to creating a Barre-Pilates Fusion class. My husband and I also lead classes for children with special needs. The class focuses on core strength, balance, and meditation.

How did your life change after enrolling?
For years, I believed myself to be a yo-yo dieter, blaming my poor will power and sugar addiction for my cycle of weight gain and loss. But through IIN, I finally came to realize that I was an emotional eater. After a traumatic event in my childhood, that I KNEW I should keep secret, I began to quietly eat my feelings away. This program forced me to look inside and truly reflect on that event and how it shaped my entire existence. Once I understood that my cycle of weight gain and loss was tied to this trauma, I saw the pattern. When I felt safe and secure in my life, I was able to control food intake. When life turned difficult, food became my friend, my comfort, and my safety net. Then the true healing began for me. Truly transformative.

Robert Stamegna
Enfield, London, England

What were you doing prior to enrolling at Integrative Nutrition?
While I have had many businesses throughout my professional career, the one immediately prior to enrolling in IIN was a restaurant owner and chef. I grew up in my grandmother's kitchen and grandfather's garden, so from a very early stage, I understood the relationship between growing and cooking. After years of working in the music and technology industries, I wanted a change, one that would bring me closer to my local surrounding and neighbors. Along with a few friends, I opened a pop-up restaurant in a couple of shipping containers in a disused dark park in the center of town. From there was a pop-up in a local pub. Both were serving freshly cooked food made from whole ingredients.

How did your life change after enrolling?
While one can never know fully what lies ahead, upon enrolling, I had a sense that pretty much everything I have ever done prior had led me to becoming a Health Coach. Without meaning to sound too dramatic, I felt I had found my life's vocation. From a young age, I was always interested in health and fitness, with some lapses from time to time, but I understood the importance of well-being. This program gave me the focus and insight on how I would proceed to share that with others.

Jessica Romrell
Provo, UT

What were you doing prior to enrolling at Integrative Nutrition?
Working at a publishing company in a job and career not suited to who I am. Just before enrolling, I decided to quit my job and pursue a career in health and wellness. IIN was the first step in my journey toward that.

How did your life change after enrolling?
SO many ways! The most significant way my life changed was that I felt truly, joyfully HAPPY for the first time in many years. As I learned in the IIN curriculum, I began balancing out my own Circle of Life, including healing my own sugar addiction. I became more self-confident and even more passionate about health and wellness. I became engaged in my community by promoting local farmers and teaching low-income families healthy cooking classes. I also became more motivated and driven. My days became full of purpose and life. I felt like I was truly living for the first time in years. I overcame self-doubt and many negative beliefs about myself, and I absolutely love who I have become because of IIN.

Zebad Wubeshet Woldetinsae
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

What were you doing prior to enrolling at Integrative Nutrition?
Prior to enrolling at IIN, I was learning to be a good mom as I was new. I was doing my own research on how to feed my baby right, so I was actively reading about babies’ food and preparing meal plans for my daughter. I was/am working full-time during the day at an international oil company. It was in 2017 that I finally decided I should work toward my passion, nutrition, and started taking steps. I actually made a decision to get education in nutrition and took a long step by starting nursing school as I was not accepted at the master’s program due to my background being business management. (We don't have a flexible education system in my country.) So I was taking nursing class in the evening and weekends.

How did your life change after enrolling?
OMG, I have a big shift in mind-set. After joining IIN, my life has changed remarkably. I did self-care way wrong before IIN. Now I understand self-care and self-love. I am working on self-healing to a better life journey and to fulfill my purpose. I have stopped eating dairy products and my bloating has vanished. We are now eating a plant-based diet at home. I am more mindful in life. I have become a better person; I invest my energy wisely in life. Now I have a pure idea of my life’s purpose. IIN has enriched my life’s goal and helped me craft my mission clearly. I have never felt more connected to myself before this journey. With this journey in my life, I am taking a pleasant detour in a career as a Health Coach, and I feel so blessed.

Are you interested in becoming an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach? Click here to learn more today!