I was living my best life as an aspiring actress in the most competitive and ruthless place you could possibly think of - New York City. I met my dream guy (yes, the one I was told by my dad to journal about) at a retail store we were both working at on 5th Ave. Long story short, we hit it off and next thing you know we were planning our city wedding with the Empire State Building as our backdrop. Like I said - where dreams are made of.

We came back from a short little vacay in Mexico with a stomach bug. I was able to recover fairly quickly but Luke (my then soon-to-be hubby) was not recovering as quickly as we hoped. This started a very long journey of hospitalizations, testing, numerous doctor visits that led to misdiagnoses and eventually a name for what was ailing him - MOG-Antibody. In short, his immune system had gone haywire and was attacking his optic nerves, spinal cord and brain stem causing a whole slew of symptoms and unbearable  pain. I promise this is not a sad sappy story, stay with me!

I noticed that just as he was struggling to cope with this new illness and all that it entailed, I was struggling to keep my head above water. I had put myself on the back burner and was beginning to see the repercussions. There was a voice telling me there was more I could do to change the situation we were in. No - I didn't have a genie in a bottle to wish Luke's illness away but I did have Google! I dove deep into Holistic Medicine and realized the power nutrition could have on our health if only we knew how to use it. Our bodies are telling us a story ALL DAY, EVERY DAY! All we have to do is listen and that's exactly what we did. 

Fun fact: 70% of our immune system is in our guts!  Luke's main issue was his immune system so of course that's where we started. Fast forward a few months, I was growing our own vegetables in our backyard in Queens and incorporating fermented foods, probiotics, Chinese Medicine, and natural supplements to aid in his healing. But wait, what about me? I was "healthy". I ate whole veggies & fruits. I worked out 5-6 times a week. I rarely got sick. But something wasn't quite right. I was feeling stressed and anxious all the time. I would have very high highs and very low lows. I was experiencing depression for the first time in my life. Bottom line, I wasn't happy. 

My dogLera

Through this journey (which I'm still on BTW), a passion for health & wellness grew! As a graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, I would absolutely love to be your teammate in creating sustainable habits that align with...... ! I am here to hold space and keep you accountable for the goals you set for yourself, whatever those may be. Whether it's losing weight, reducing stress,  finding happiness in your life or diminishing the negative self-talk that goes through your mind all day. I am here to support you in making the transformation you want to see. Now let's get to it!