Meet
My Story.
In short, I am the founder and CEO of Shift, a naturopath, writer, elite coach, podcast host, speaker and mother to a beautiful 11 year old daughter.
In 2011 I set out to open my very first wellness business, but the story began far before then.
My Path.
When I was 15 years old, I was homeless, living on the streets of Melbourne and addicted to heroin. I can tell you, you can’t get much more rock bottom than that. This time of my life was one of the hardest, but also the most pivotal because without it I would not be who I am today.
I grew up in a family home with domestic violence. Dad was an alcoholic, and would lash out in the way of harsh words, and often physical abuse.
As you can imagine my life took the typical path where I’d hang out with the ‘bad’ kids (of which I was proudly one of), wag school and hang out with my friends and smoke cigarettes. Cigarettes became marijuana, and one fateful night I discovered heroin and set off on an incredibly destructive path that I could not get off.
My Angel.
You can probably gather though, that I did change paths. One day an angel tapped on my shoulder – my best friend was moving to the Daintree rainforest with her mother, and asked would I like to come.
Moving to far north queensland saved my life – and I began my slow journey to healing. Being immersed in the forest away from everything I knew was the very best thing and was the first big shift in my life.
Being on my own at 15 years of age was challenging, but I met a wonderful family. The mother of the family Jenny, became like a second mother to me. Jenny was a wonderful woman, but also suffered from a progressive autoimmune condition called Lupus. I watched as Jenny got sicker and sicker, and her medication cabinet grew and grew. It really made me think that there must be a better way, so my curiosity for health began there.
My love.
Next I stumbled across herbal medicine and immediately fell in love (it is still my biggest passion today). I moved to Brisbane to study naturopathy. While I was studying I received a phone call from Jenny’s daughter, telling me that Jenny had passed away. It was one the most heartbreaking things of my life, but it strengthened my resolve that we can and must do better by people.
I believe that our healthcare system is broken. It should be called ‘sick-care’ as it manages sick people and does not provide a medium for real healing.
Since graduating in 2007, it has been my mission to help people discover the real reasons why their health is impacted and what they can do about it.
The Shift.
In 2011 I founded Shift and our first flagship clinic Shift Brisbane. Since then we have grown from a team of 5 to an international wellness company that helps people worldwide to make the shift.
I’m the host of The Shift Podcast – a curated docu-series featuring myself and 24 world leaders in health. I’m the author of Get Well Stay Well, an international speaker and media health advocate.
I believe that women can have it all, and that it is time for us to change the face of health, for ourselves, and for future generations.
