Diamond Mind: How to Gain Clarity and Strength Through the Pressure of Life's Obstacles
Join Ten Empowered Women as They Share Their Stories of Struggle and Triumph
MEET THE AUTHORS
RACHEL ALI
Rachel Ali has been active duty Air Force, an esthetician, a mom, a wife, an Air National Guard public health specialist, and is currently a Pennsylvania Air National Guard recruiter. She has been financially stable and unhappy, broke and unhappy, broke and happy, and financially stable and happy, in that order.
Rachel and her husband share a home in the Philadelphia suburbs with three extraordinary daughters and a growing multitude of joyful plants. Stay tuned - this is only the beginning!
MARILYS CANDELARIO
Marilys Candelario is a Latina mama of two, HR professional and motherhood advocate. She created Mari Vega, LLC as a platform that serves women and aspires to promote a social justice movement for American parents. Marilys is on a mission to support women in tapping into their intuition, so they can nurture their entire selves and experience motherhood with confidence. Her personal and professional experiences evoke a deep sense of advocacy to voice the vulnerabilities of womanhood and parenthood. As a coach, speaker, and podcaster, Marilys gives voice to the raw, vulnerable, truths of motherhood and offers coaching and support for breastfeeding and VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) mamas.
Marilys is from Ponce, Puerto Rico, and together with her husband Pablo Candelario, they are breaking generational barriers and raising a first-generation family in New Jersey. She would describe herself as a vulnerability practitioner and nurturing empath, with a passion for learning yoga and listening to reggaeton.
JESSICA DEBRY
Jessica DeBry is an MBA-grad and corporate digital marketing extraordinaire turned entrepreneur. Since 2014 she has founded multiple profitable online and e-commerce businesses. She shared her online business-building advice in She Creates the Way, which debuted as a #1 Best Selling book on Amazon in two different categories.
Since venturing into the sphere of books and self-publishing, Jessica decided to pivot her business focus and founded Soulfluential Publishing, a passionate endeavor that helps her bring other women’s books into the world.
Jessica lives in Phoenix, Arizona with her husband Wes, crazy cat Axle, and baby boy Gavin, where she spends the blistering summers inside watching movies with the AC blasting, and the beautiful fall and winter months outside hiking, picnicking, and reading.
MICHELLE EAST-WALKER
Michelle East-Walker has varied interests ranging from art and yoga to finance. She earned her MBA and went on to hold two Federal licenses for Stockbroker and Financial Advisor. After many years of climbing the corporate ladder, Michelle reexamined her life and found it to be without substance. She decided to leave the corporate world behind and pursue her passions.
Michelle combines her love of yoga and the stock market into a podcast devoted to women. You can listen to her @Peace.Love.Trade where your favorite podcasts are played. Continued career aspirations for Michelle include becoming an author with this book being her debut.
Sunny Florida is where Michelle calls home with her husband, children, and fur baby.
MELISSA J. ERSKINE
Melissa J. Erskine is a meditation and mindfulness teacher who writes, coaches and teaches on these subjects. She holds five accredited certifications in meditation & mindfulness, facilitation, culinary nutrition, organizational development, and gender mainstreaming. Melissa has had her work published by The Associated Press, is a contributing author to Multinational Retailers and Consumers in China: Transferring Organizational Practices from the United Kingdom and Japan, and a researcher for several academic publications as a graduate student at Columbia University. She has over ten years’ experience in the nonprofit/philanthropic world, making contributions to helping refugees, global health, and global development.
Melissa has a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from the City University of New York, Brooklyn College, and a master’s degree in East Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia University. Melissa currently lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and two children.
SHARON FULMER
Sharon Fulmer is a mother of three adult children. She lives in California. Before she started writing self-improvement books, Sharon was an entrepreneur in various industries: Fashion (her second passion), Sales & Marketing in urban fashion, and she also owned a trucking company. But her favorite career is the one she’s now performing, writing, coaching, and speaking.
If you want more information about Sharon and when her next book will come out, please visit her website at workurdream.com or email her at sharon@workurdream.com, where you can request updates on her next release.
KAYLIE PIERRE
Kaylie Pierre lives in a beautiful little Victorian town in Port Townsend, WA. She is a single mother of boy/girl twins and a little boy. While raising three kids takes up much of her time she enjoys reading a book with a great cup of coffee, writing, and running. Kaylie also enjoys being outdoors with her kids, whether that’s going to the beach or exploring trails in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.
Kaylie works as an online health and fitness coach to help women establish healthy habits and prioritize self-care. She graduated from Western Washington University with a BA in English Literature. In January 2020 she decided to launch a blog and begin sharing her story. Kaylie uses the blog as a space to write about being a single mom, life after divorce, being an adult child of an alcoholic parent, her mother’s death, and other challenging experiences she’s faced.
DR. ABBY REED
Dr. Abby Reed is a chiropractor and acupuncturist in Kansas City, Missouri. Her doctoral work includes experience in Traditional Chinese Medicine, with special interest in vitality-based prevention medicine, aesthetic anti-aging, spinal health, and therapeutic yoga. She has specifically developed protocols for cosmetic non-surgical facial rejuvenation, de-stress + unwind and metabolism enhancement treatments through acupuncture.
Dr. Abby is the founder of Sacred Chiropractic + Acupuncture, a boutique health practice with spa vibes that also offers retreats and virtual corporate yoga. Her passions lie within the realm of teaching and assisting her patients to reach their optimal wellness as well as empowering women to realize their innate goddess power.
The joy and great love of her life is her husband Ross, Farrah her pup, as well as new experiences with travel, culture and food, trail marathon running, and exploring her beloved Kansas City.
KATRINA TURNER
Pennsylvania-based Katrina Turner gives a refreshingly honest look inside her life as a mom, while brutally taking on an unkind world. She is a licensed cosmetologist, foster parent, yoga teacher, self-love enthusiast, author, and will never go a day without celebrating her favorite people.
Katrina unapologetically loves love, is pro-cheetah print, and a sucker for Michelle Branch songs. Follow her struggles and wins on Instagram @drytrina!
ADDIE ELIZABETH VEGA
Addie Elizabeth Vega holds a degree in Dental Hygiene and another in Wellness and Alternative Medicine. She also has certificates in a number of wellness modalities such as energy therapy, aromatherapy, hypnotherapy, and soon will complete her Yoga Teacher Training and Biological Hygienist Certification. While exploring different methods of healing, and working through her own journey with anxiety, burnout, and grief, she found she had a passion for writing. This led her to explore opportunities to learn, grow, and share her story in an effort to inspire others.
To anyone that is struggling, she hopes the stories in these pages are one small example of how telling yourself “you can”, how leaning into being uncomfortable, vulnerable, and putting yourself out there, can lead to amazing adventures and fulfilling opportunities.
Addie lives in New England with the treasures of her life, her two beautiful daughters. She enjoys more than anything spending time with family and friends, exploring the coast of Maine, swimming in Sebago Lake, watching college football, hockey, and training in Latin style dance.
