My Story: From ‘Victim of my Calendar’ to ‘Training for 80’

I was the woman who could do it all and more.

At 41, I had the résumé and career of my dreams. Twenty years climbing the corporate ladder to a VP seat at a multi-billion-dollar company. An Executive MBA from the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. On paper, I was crushing it.

Underneath, I was running on empty. Bad skin, takeout dinners, cocktails to take the edge off, no sleep worn like a badge of honor. I bragged about having no time for myself like it was a trophy.

Then I was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Here's the part that surprised no one. I didn't slow down — I turned "getting well" into a second job on top of the first. Same high-achiever, same grind, just aimed at my health: a cabinet of supplements, tracking apps, a protocol binder, research at midnight. And a body more exhausted than before. But still crushing it at work.

I was depleting the very reserves I was trying to build. That's the trap, and I can name it because I lived it. I was stuck in a fear loop even though on the surface it didn't look like fear. It looked like success and diligence tied together. And nobody questions that.

What finally changed wasn't a better protocol. It was realizing all that grinding wasn't healing me — it was depleting me — I could see it in my labs. So I stopped running on fear and started running on love — for my people, my life, the trips I hadn't taken yet. Same actions. Opposite fuel.

A woman sitting in a first class airplane seat, smiling and resting her chin on her hand, with a water bottle on a side table beside her.

Flying to a work event, 90 days before discovering a lump in my right breast

Laying the Groundwork

I didn't want to keep handing my health (and my ticket to a vibrant life) to fifteen rushed minutes a year with my doctor and fifteen minutes with my oncologist, so I learned to read my body the way I'd read a P&L.

I'm now a Certified Terrain Advocate (trained by Dr. Nasha Winters in her Metabolic Approach to Cancer — which she'll tell you is really a metabolic approach to life) and a Functional Nutrition & Metabolism Specialist — which, in plain terms, means I can decipher my terrain, read my own labs, make sense of my hormones, recognize my energy levels, and build a real plan to improve it.

No more being told "it's just aging" and waved off — I have the data on what's actually going on in my body. And you better believe I am tracking it along with the trends.

Same strategic brain I used in the boardroom. Finally pointed at the thing that matters most — my health, my life, my vitality.

A woman smiling and holding foil blanket at the Chicago Marathon event, with people running and spectators in the background.

Ran the Chicago Marathon in October 2022… 13 months prior to diagnosis

The Ascent

I'd love to tell you I did it all perfectly — made some clean ascent to the top of the corporate ladder with a perfect life. That's the furthest thing from the truth. I made mistakes in my career. I forgot to invest in relationships. And I was diagnosed with cancer twice.

I can be grateful for my body and pick it apart in the mirror an hour later — both true, same day. That's the real me: flawed, funny, still figuring it out. I'm not a survivor or a warrior or anybody's poster child.

Cancer is something that happened to me; it isn't who I am. And I found the best parts of my life on the far side of cancer: my person, my passion, and a life I'm living vibrantly.

Where this points

These days I call the work Terrain You, and it lives under one line: Training for 80.

80 is an age I'm scared I won't be — after two cancer diagnoses and a family tree of women who didn't make it much past 50.

But I don't just want to reach 80. I want to arrive there strong, with the people I love, having actually done the things I meant to do — not wondering where the years went.

So I train for 80: building the reserves to meet whatever comes and refusing to postpone the living until "someday."

Because your body, who you are, and the life you want aren't three separate problems. They're one life — and helping women build it as carefully as they build their career is the whole reason I'm here.

A woman wearing a gray helmet and black outdoor jacket, smiling in a forested area with trees and fallen logs.
A woman smiling near the waterfront under the Sydney Harbour Bridge during daytime.

Life after cancer. More peace. More love. More fun. More strength.

Why Work With Me

Training:

  • Certified Terrain Advocate in Dr. Nasha Winters' Metabolic Approach to Cancer (which she says she should have called the Metabolic Approach to Life)

  • Certified Functional Nutrition & Metabolism Specialist (FNMS)

  • Trained to help you read your labs, understand your full terrain, and build the reserves for a long, vibrant life — including how sleep, food, movement, stress, and your genes (epigenetics) actually shape how you feel

Lived Experience:

  • 20+ years in Corporate America, including VP role at a multi-billion dollar company.

  • 15 years of coaching and mentoring experience.

  • BRCA1 carrier navigating life after breast cancer (twice)

  • Learned the hard way that watching for disease and building health are two different jobs

  • Transformed from Victim of My Calendar to Training for 80

I understand wanting a high-impact career and a healthy, vibrant life. I can help you build yours.

A smiling woman with long, light brown hair wearing a black top, against a white background.
Certified Land Advocate logo with tree and gear design, featuring 'Metabolic Regen' and tagline 'Educate to Regenerate'.