My Story
Hello, I am Stephanie Cook
I am a certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, a nutraceuticals consultant, a weight-loss coach, an energy medicine coach, and someone who is dedicated to helping others feel well physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I have a passion for teaching others how to navigate their way to optimal health.
Why would you want to work with me? What can I bring to the table that other wellness professionals cannot? The answer is plain and simple. You get me. You get me with all my unique perspectives all my life lessons all my education and all my professional and personal experiences. You get me.
Why does that matter? Because working with a wellness coach or life coach (or whatever label you want to use) is personal. Or at least it should be if you want to achieve real, sustainable results. When you work with a wellness coach, you get up close and personal. You have to like them and trust them and know that they have your best interest in mind. Your coach needs to be relatable to YOU and your personal goals. So, I think you should know a little bit about me, the person you will be working with.
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I have been involved with helping others in some capacities for the better part of my life. I am from a big family. I am one of seven children. I have five brothers and one sister and lots of sister-in-laws and nieces and nephews and cousins and more. My folks were married almost 55 years before my mother’s passing. My mom was a registered nurse and my dad sold insurance. I was raised in a small town in Southern Illinois. I am the oldest daughter, and being the oldest daughter came with some built-in training that I didn’t truly appreciate or even realize until I was older. I have three younger siblings, all of whom are more than a decade younger than me. So, by the time I was thirteen, I was changing diapers chasing toddlers, and helping with household chores. Not only was my immediate family large, but so was my extended family. So, holidays at our home always included 40-50 of our closest relatives. There was cooking and cleaning and decorating and games and a lot of noise accompanied by lots of love, laughter, and a few quibbles. Growing up in a large family in a small town taught me the value of hard work, the importance of community, and the necessity of support.
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Description text goes hereI graduated at the top of my high school class in 1987 from Johnston City High School. I then attended a small two-year college in central Illinois called Lincoln College where I earned an associate degree in business before transferring to Baylor University in Waco, TX where I received a bachelor’s degree in Marketing and Journalism in 1991. I worked for several years in marketing and public relations before making the decision to stay at home with my children. While being a stay-at-home mom, my passion for wellness grew and I started attending all sorts of wellness courses, seminars and trainings. I have completed trainings and seminars in energy healing, meditation, weight loss, nutraceuticals, integrative wellness and more. I am a graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. IIN’s rigorous curriculum integrates the world’s leading experts in health and wellness, blending scientific and spiritual concepts to create and immersive, holistic health education. Attending IIN was not only educational for me but transformational as well.
Institute for Integrative Nutrition – Health Coach Certification
Baylor University – Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism & Marketing
Lincoln College – Associate Degree in Business
Additional Training – Total Body Modification, Chopra Meditation Foundations, Yuen Energetics, Emotional Freedom Technique, Quantum Touch, TLS Weight Loss, NutraMetrix Nutraceuticals
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I have supported clients as a wellness coach for almost twenty years. I started seeing clients on a regular basis in 2004, practicing energy medicine and guiding individuals in their personal journeys. In 2010 I became a nutraceuticals consultant where I started working with health professionals and personal clients. I believe that our standard American diet does not optimally support our physical bodies and that proper supplementation can have a positive impact on client outcomes.
As a wellness coach over the years, I have learned that the greatest positive change occurs when we go deep. Our physical bodies are an outward expression of our mental, emotional, and spiritual bodies. Much of my work with clients involves peeling back the layers to find the real causes of discord. This often, if not always, involves the mental and emotional as well as spiritual aspects of ourselves.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my experience in the workforce before becoming a holistic health coach. I have been a special events coordinator for a hotel. I have worked as an advertising sales rep for a large regional newspaper. I was a marketing manager for a mid-sized mall, and I was the director of public relations and marketing for a small college, not to mention the numerous part-time positions I held while attending college like waitress, bingo hall attendant, student worker, babysitter, and more.
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I try to live by the guidelines that I champion in my wellness work. I try to make healthy food choices that often include home-cooked meals. I exercise a couple of days a week in the gym and do yoga at home a few times a week. I have a daily routine that consists of meditation and gratitude practices. I also try to find time for family & friends, leisure & social activities, and rest & relaxation, although I could do better in all these areas. But even with all these wellness practices in place, nothing can prepare you for the curve balls that life throws your way.
If you decide to work with me, rest assured that I know how you feel. If it’s fatigue you struggle with, I can relate. If it’s cancer that you struggle with, I can relate. If it’s mental health issues you struggle with, I can relate. If it’s relationship issues you struggle with, I can relate. If it’s financial issues you struggle with, I can relate. I have been so ill that I spent months on the couch unable to drag my body from room to room. I have battled weight gain and adrenal fatigue and hormone imbalance. I have struggled with insomnia digestive issues and anxiety. I have struggled with grief so intensely that I lost my ability to breathe in and out.
Since I work in the wellness world, I am often called upon by family to lend my knowledge and support when someone falls ill. I proudly take on this role giving advice and remedies when asked. But in the fall of 2018, I was met with a problem that couldn’t be fixed with a special diet or wellness protocol. My mom was terminally ill and there was nothing we could do about it. I temporarily moved in with my parents to help. Both my parents needed care. My dad was paralyzed on the left side of his body from a stroke years ago, and my mom had a terminal illness.
Doing end-of-life care is something that no one should have to go through. It is brutal and leaves you completely empty. After my mom’s death, I returned to life as normal. I did not give myself the respite that I needed to heal and ended up making myself very ill. My mom passed away in the spring of 2019 and the COVID-19 pandemic hit the following year. In the span of three years, I lost my mother, my mother-in-law, my father-in-law, my sister-in-law, and my first cousin; and I had to move my dad into a nursing home where he currently resides.
Why am I sharing my personal story with you? My personal experiences shape the type of health coach I am and who I will be for you if you decide to work with me. Our life experiences give us the greatest lessons. I have walked a mile in so many different pairs of shoes that sometimes I wonder how I am still standing. But in truth, I know the answer. I had support - support from family, support from friends, support from colleagues, support from strangers, and support from the Divine. I am so incredibly grateful for the life that I have lived. I am very blessed and want to help others live a blessed life as well.
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Family is very important to me. I have been married to the same man since 1993. My husband, Tyler, and I have raised two children. My daughter was born in 2000 and my son in 2002. I share this with you so that you know who I am. I am a mother of two who has experienced all the trials and tribulations along with the joys and rewards of parenthood. I am also a wife who has lived with a man for more than three decades. Staying married in an ever-changing world where one’s perspectives and beliefs get challenged, rearranged and reinvented over and over again is a training ground unique to itself. I am very close to my loved ones and love to spend time with my extended family that includes brothers, a sister, several sister-in-laws, parents, cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and numerous other “adopted” family members.
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I believe that we are so much more than these physical bodies that we drag around. I believe that each of us has divine gifts that are best expressed when we feel well and whole. I believe in a higher power or God or whatever verbiage you want to use to describe that part of our existence that can’t be explained. I believe that we are spiritual beings going through a physical experience. I believe that each of us is on our own personal soul journey that can’t be explained but can only be felt. I believe that our lack of understanding of the power that lies within is one of our greatest stumbling blocks, and I believe in miracles. We are so much more powerful than we realize, and I want to help people tap into the divine wisdom and infinite love that is available for us all.
