The Healthy Happy Momzy Brand

What is the Healthy Happy Momzy brand and why didn’t I brand myself with my name? In 2013, I started blogging as my way to work through how my life was changing and who I was becoming. I was a single mom, about to be on the wrong end of a corporate downsizing, in a relationship that I knew was also about to end. I also had big goals and dreams and needed a way to work through all of the awesomeness that I knew was deep down inside of who I was meant to be. I started writing with plans to talk through my journey as a single mom, the adventures to change that title, making choices that result in better health, financial peace of mind, and happiness. Topics I planned on covering were learning to cook and eat better, activities with my little one, being a great role model for her, relationships, financial learnings, and the steps to the big career change to pursue my dream job. What I knew was that the person I was destined to grow into was so much more than the person I was at the time. When I thought through the end result what I wanted to be was a healthy happy mommy, healthy on the inside and out, happy with my life as an individual who worked in a career that I had yet to figure, and future wife to an amazing man, whomever he might be, while also being an amazing mommy. It’s a tall order, but I knew I could do it.

I chose to not brand myself with my name because it was a name that I kept out of simplicity for my daughter, but it wasn’t a name that I planned on keeping, as I knew that my soulmate was out there somewhere and down the road, my last name would change. I chose to blog initially for selfish reasons. I have always loved to write. What I found though was that be being my true self, I was also inspiring others, people with whom I often thought I had nothing in common.

This journey started long before my blog did. I knew that the corporate world wasn’t the one I ever planned on staying in or originally had any plans to enter. I went to school to be a teacher, to impact lives of others in a positive way. I wasn’t one of the people that changed my major because I was so certain of my mission to be focused on a career that had meaning to the greater good. I was recruited into teaching at a time that the state of South Carolina was needing more qualified people to go into the field. They developed a program to recruit students who performed well in school and on standardized testing. I was in honors and AP classes, a member of the honor society, and a Duke TIP scholar. I spent time in high school over the summer and during the school year my junior and senior years volunteering with a program for abused and neglected children. I found such joy in having an impact on children who came from such harsh conditions and wanted the ability to create memories like their peers. It warmed my heart being able to give back, so when I was recruited into teaching, it was a natural fit, and I gravitated towards working with students who needed a little more than the other kids. I was triple certified in special education, learning disabilities self-contained, and elementary education. I graduated confident that I would be able to change the world as a teacher.

I didn’t know however that when people talked about teachers’ salaries being low that they meant they were so low that if you had student loan debt, didn’t have a roommate or a husband, I wouldn’t be able to pay my bills. I left teaching after two years, deflated and frustrated, but determined to find a career that still allowed me to make a positive impact in people’s lives, and be able to pay my bills. Pharmaceutical sales seemed to be the perfect fit, so I planned on doing it for five years and then going back to teaching. Somehow, after much struggle though, I found my way in pharmaceutical sales. I was able to make great money AND find genuine meaning in my job. I got married, ended up as the bread winner in my marriage, and somehow the plans of going back to the classroom faded into the background. We lived the high life and, we lived beyond our means. Then we decided after a brief separation to go all in with our marriage and start our family.

I had a beautiful baby girl and when the time came to go back to work, I found myself struggling with the idea. I had been warned once the baby was born my view on everything would change and it would be hard to go back to work, but I had no clue just how much it would all change! I went from knowing I was really good at my job to only wanting to a great mom. I didn’t want to leave my baby for somebody else to raise, but I had to. Shortly after we found out I was pregnant, my then husband lost his job. He was unemployed for six months of my pregnancy, yet we had continued to live as though he was still in a good paying job. Going back to work wasn’t an option, it was mandatory. Even though he had started working, all of our benefits were tied to my job, and they were great benefits, but we hadn’t prepared or expected for it to take him so long to find a job. Instead of being able to take twelve weeks off of work as planned, I had to go back to work at ten weeks and I knew then that things would never be the same. I still managed to achieve success over the next few years in my career, while adjusting to being a mom, but there was a dread that came over me every Sunday night for going back to work. I hated the idea that a corporation could tell me I had to take extended time away from my daughter for training. I hated that the first time that happened was also when my daughter ended up being taken to the hospital via ambulance for a febrile seizure and I couldn’t make it home to her until the next day. I knew that I needed to find another way.

When she was two years old, I realized my marriage was one built on false expectations and not on a firm foundation. I chose to end my marriage rather than to raise my daughter in a home where she wouldn’t learn the life lessons I wanted for her. At the same time, my company went through a realignment and moved me to a new town. I was grateful that they bought our house in a time that the market wasn’t doing so well, but it also committed me to stay with them for a minimum of a year. Three years later, they went through another round of layoffs, this time even bigger and that’s when I started to question everything about how I was living my life and started to write through it. I needed to discover how to find meaning and true happiness as an individual, with work, as a mom, and as a future wife. I don’t believe we are meant to walk through life alone and I believed God had a plan for me.

I knew that somehow I had to find a way to get out of the corporate world, with a career that would have meaning, allow me to positively impact the lives of others, provide for my family, serve as a role model for my daughter while being more present for her, and be able to be present for my future family, but I had absolutely no idea what that could ever look like. I started writing to figure my way through it. At the same time, I shared my journey and struggle with figuring out finances, paying off debt, and my health struggles with weight that fluctuated, being diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder, and the challenge that every mom knows, how to eat healthy and feed our children foods they will eat with a minimum struggle and not feeling as though I had to live in the kitchen. I shared my ups and downs on the journey, on trying to squeeze in dating, and meeting the right guy for me, while discovering who that new me was and knowing that somehow the career I was destined for would be tied in with this journey.

In 2014, I found the answer, an opportunity that would allow me to tie my health and financial journey together, get myself healthier and be able to help others. Once again, there were obstacles along the way. It hasn’t been an easy journey by any means with company changes, losing my mom, another downsizing, and finally in 2017, deciding to take the biggest leap of faith in my life. As a single mom, I knew that the “smart choice” was to go back to the corporate world after the job cuts, but my gut instinct told me I needed to pursue helping other people on their journey. I needed to build a home-based business and become a successful work at home mom. I set goals, met some and failed to meet others, but I knew that what I was meant to be was right in front of me.

I decided to build my brand and my team. My focus of healthy happy mommy was still there, to continue to eat right, be active with my little one, be a great role model for her, find the man God intended for me, get stronger with my financial success, and pursue my dream job which meant positively impact thousands of lives while they worked on their goals too. I became a certified health and wellness coach. I thought my emphasis should be on this one area. I have since learned that just as my journey included a much needed overhaul with my health and finances, there are so many other moms out there needing to do the same. This is how Healthy Happy Momzy was born. I discovered that at some point after I had done my debt free yell on the Dave Ramsey show in 2014, somebody else had used the name Healthy Happy Mommy, but my foundation encompassed the importance of being healthy and happy and helping moms, so I came up with what rang true for me and I know will ring true for others. Ultimately, it isn’t about others wanting to be like me. It’s about other moms living confidently in their best lives while living into their healthiest and happiest selves, free from the stress of concerns with health and finances. This is the team that I am building and these are the moms I am thrilled to build an amazing team with. Whether you too are a corporate mom ready to be in control of your family time the way you are in control at work, you’re a stay at home mom looking to connect with other amazing moms and still be present for your kids while finding yourself again, or you’re a teacher who is ready to know your own children as well as you know your students, I can’t wait to work with you. I am excited to see you become the empowered woman you know you are, providing for yourself and your family while once again having the energetic woman you know you are come back to life. Welcome to Healthy Happy Momzy and welcome to Healthy Happy You!