From a very young age I learned that growth comes from challenge. When I was 9 years old, I wanted nothing more than to excel in the equestrian world. The problem was, we didn’t have the money for lessons. That’s when Becky, a coach who saw something in me I couldn’t yet see in myself, took me under her wing.

But training with Becky wasn’t handed to me. To pay for my lessons and competitions, I worked for her. I mucked stalls, threw hay bales, heavier than me, doctored injured horses, and rode young, untrained horses that most kids my age wouldn’t dare get on. Every day was a test of grit, problem-solving, and determination.

Becky was famous for her one-liners and one I heard often was “it’s far away from your heart—you’ll be fine.” She would say this after a fall, kick or mishap with a horse. It was her way of saying: get back up, you’re stronger than you think and no matter how bad the fall she insisted I get back in the saddle. She saw what was possible when I couldn’t, and she handed me the tools, the challenges, and the belief that shaped me into who I am.

A few days after turning 16 and earning my driver’s license, we were supposed to be leaving for a horse show in Pebble Beach when one of the haulers backed out. Becky, already solving this problem, handed me a MapQuest printout (we did not have maps on iPhones back then) and the keys to a 3500 Ram truck hitched to a four-horse trailer. As she climbed into another truck she confidently looked at me and said, “drive safe and we’ll see you down there.” Terrified? Yes. But I did it. Because she trusted me and believed I could get myself and the horses there in one piece (with only a few wrong turns).

Those moments shaped me. They taught me that hard work, no matter how grueling or unglamorous, always pays off in the end. They showed me that every obstacle, no matter how intimidating, holds a solution if you’re willing to look for it. And they proved that no matter how many times you fall, you can always get back up, dust yourself off, and try again. Growth comes from challenge. Hard work always pays off. Don’t give up. Those became my core beliefs.

What I didn’t know then, but what neuroscience proves today, is that every one of those experiences was rewiring my brain. Each time I pushed through fear, solved a problem, or swung my leg back over the saddle after a fall, I was strengthening the neural pathways of resilience, grit, and confidence.

That’s where my passion for coaching comes from because when someone believes in you, it changes everything: your confidence, your choices, your courage to keep striving for more.