It’s funny how you can live for many years not knowing your purpose, when it’s been there all along.
Since adolescence I envied my peers who were dedicated to something: a sport, an instrument, a craft. I often felt sad that nothing I did ever seemed to be met with that same dedication, aside from being a model student. I yearned for a sharper identity, to feel like I knew where I was going or there was something I really cared about, but it seemed whatever I tried to latch on to wouldn’t hold.
When I was 13 the war between acne and me began, a series of battles I would fight into my adulthood. My dermatologist gave me a list of foods to avoid and incorporate for better skin and I treated that list like it was a holy text. Despite my diligent efforts, drinking glasses upon glasses of carrot juice couldn’t eliminate my genetic acne, but the approach I took to healing altered the way I viewed my health forever.
Dealing with skin issues at 13 was the first time I was enlightened to the fact that I could use food as medicine.
When I entered undergrad at the University of Maryland, College Park, I was still trying to latch on to something, this time it was a major in journalism. I had a romantic vision of myself as a travel and food writer, maybe with her own TV show like Padma Lakshmi or Samantha Brown. It was like those memes, “expectation vs reality.” The reality was I was failing news quizzes and stressing out over grammar. I was feeling very uninspired, a little depressed, and like once again I didn’t have a direction.
In this state I called my Dad, expressing how I didn’t know what to do but I knew it wasn’t journalism. He said to me, “You’ve always cared a lot about your health and wellness, can’t you do something with that?” It hadn’t dawned on me that 1) this was a defining part of who I was and 2) that I could study it. I genuinely didn’t know nutrition was a major.
As I do when I’m trying to solve an internal conflict, I called up the people in my support system and started exploring what this could look like. During one of these calls, my Mom told me about my grandmother’s approach to healing and regaining strength during her two battles with cancer through food . I had no idea. I found myself again, connecting with this idea that food was medicine and something lit up inside of me.
In the second semester of my freshman year, I declared nutrition and dietetics as my major. I can’t say I knew where I wanted this to lead exactly, but I was dedicating myself to something that felt exciting and aligned with who I was. A seed was being planted, that would grow roots that might actually hold.
KayWiley Coaching, LLC has been up and running since August 2024. While this step into entrepreneurship is recent, I would suggest that the journey I’ve been on my whole life up until now, has led me here. With lots of seeds being planted along the way.
There is much more to this story that I plan to share with you. What I want you to know is that the 18 year-old Kayla who was inspired and excited about holistic health is still very much alive in the 30-year-old version of her. Except now, I have a degree in Nutrition and Dietetics, a dual certification in Health and Life Coaching, a Yoga Teacher Certification, and a hormone health certificate from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition PLUS years of experience that has taken me around the globe.
We’re all on a journey. The best part of being a coach is that I get to support you on yours.
To motivate you when you feel directionless.
To keep you accountable when you’re struggling to latch on to that habit and make it stick.
To deeply listen to you.
To hold a vision for your transformation.
I am so excited that you are here with me as I embark on this next phase of my journey and I am truly honored to be a witness to your personal growth and transformation.
Here’s to planting seeds and watching them grow.
Yours in Wellbeing,
Kay