Colleen Hammann

I was doing well but I didn’t love what I was doing and the thought of committing to this path for 20 plus years was daunting and honestly terrifying. After making my mark in the corporate world and getting a reputable salary at the age of 25. I did some soul searching and decided this life was going to be mine and I wanted to live a life of purpose and meaning. So I completely changed careers and took a pay-cut, starting a job in the beauty industry. It was time to make a big move at the age of 25 and follow my passion not my paycheck. This was my first step in aligning myself to a more fulfilling life.

My Nana gave me life advice and told me, “Always look your best because if you don’t look your best you cant be your best, so always look your best.”

I wanted to take this way of living and apply it to my everyday life. I wanted to love what I did. So I made a change.

This is where my love for all things beauty took off. My career in beauty has now been 15 plus years. I started at a skincare line then switched over to a makeup/skincare brand where I worked side by side with the owner of the company and had the time of my life! The work was a lot but I was up for the challenge and I can’t even tell you the amount of gratitude I have for the time I worked at this brand.

Like many things in life you outgrow. I was ready to move on and landed myself a position in skincare overseeing the Northeast for a beautiful botanical skincare brand. This was yet another step that spoke to my passions and aligned me in a place that was fulfilling.

I then had my son and struggled to find the type of energy I was used to having. It was a drag to get through the days, and I relied on coffee to try to change how i was feeling. It effected all aspects of my life, my weight, my motivation, even my looks. I had spent so many years in beauty and had really embraced what my Nana had always told me, “If you don’t look your best you cant be your best.” I was falling short and wasn’t being the best version for myself or others. I lacked the energy to care for myself in any meaningful way. I simply did not feel like myself.

I really just thought it was the way of life as a mom; you are always tired!  I went in many directions from adding in different types of protein powder (that I thought was “clean”) and would offer me more energy, to workout routines, yoga, supplements, diets and more. I wanted to be the energetic, can do it all girl I was used to be pre-child.

As someone who had always been known for my energy and happiness, I simply did not feel like myself. I didn’t want to feel this way anymore, so I decided to do something about it. I have had many acquaintances and friends lead the way in nutrition and healthy living that I wanted to get the education myself to see if I was missing something. So, I enrolled in the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and became certified as an integrative health coach.

What I thought I was a pro at I realized very quickly that I needed some majoring adjusting on the things I deemed as, “healthy”. I realized how much I was getting mislead and believed in things that I thought was going to benefit my health and in fact they were doing the exact opposite.

It was no longer about avoiding or restricting, it was about adding in more of the good stuff. I had more energy, better mental clarity and started feeling like me again. I didn’t have that afternoon slump anymore where I would typically reach for coffee. I was eating more foods than I had ever eaten before, and a life that was fulfilling both on the plate and off.