THE STORY BEHIND FORTÉ
I thought I knew what my future looked like.
Then life changed everything.
What followed was loss, rebuilding, rediscovering who I was — and eventually realizing that everything I had lived and learned could be used to help someone else build a stronger life.
BEFORE FORTÉ, THERE WAS A WHOLE LOT OF LIFE.
I’ve spent most of my life building something.
In my 20s, that meant helping people with their health, fitness and nutrition. I loved watching people get stronger, feel better and realize they were capable of more than they thought.
Then life got bigger.
I was raising a family, building businesses and creating a career in real estate, lending, investing and entrepreneurship. I experienced some incredible success, worked harder than I probably needed to, and learned how to build wealth and create opportunities — both for myself and for others.
But somewhere in all that building, I stopped taking care of me.
I was busy. Successful. Productive.
And completely out of balance.
I had spent years helping people become healthier while slowly allowing my own health to move further and further down the list.
And then everything changed.
THE DAY MY LIFE DIVIDED INTO BEFORE AND AFTER
My husband Chuck wasn’t just my husband.
He was my best friend, my business partner and the person I had built my life alongside.
Then, unexpectedly, he suffered a massive heart attack and died.
There are moments in life that change you so completely that you know there will always be a before and an after.
That was mine.
I didn’t just lose my husband.
I lost the person I planned my future with. The person I worked beside. The person who had been woven into almost every part of my adult life.
And for a long time, I didn’t even know who I was without him.
REBUILDING DIDN’T HAPPEN OVERNIGHT
I wish I could tell you I immediately picked myself up, figured out my purpose and started the next chapter.
I didn’t.
It took nearly three years.
There were people around me who loved me enough to keep showing up while I figured it out — my family, my friends, and eventually my husband Joey, who became an important part of this next chapter of my life.
And slowly, I started rebuilding.
Not another company.
Me.
I returned to something I had known years before: taking care of my body changes much more than just your body.
I started training again. I paid attention to what I was eating. I became stronger. I lost 20 pounds. I had more energy.
But somewhere along the way, something much more important happened.
I started feeling like myself again.
THE BIGGEST TRANSFORMATION WASN’T THE WEIGHT I LOST.
It was what I gained.
Perspective.
I realized I had spent decades learning how to succeed in individual areas of life — health, business, money, real estate, relationships — but the life I actually wanted couldn't be built by succeeding in only one of them.
You can build the business and lose your health.
You can make the money and have no time to enjoy it.
You can take care of everyone around you and completely lose yourself.
You can achieve everything you thought you wanted and still wonder:
Is this really the life I was working so hard to create?
That realization became the foundation for Forté.
BUILD THE WHOLE LIFE.
I began looking at life differently.
There were four areas I kept coming back to:
BODY
Your strength, health, energy, nutrition and the physical ability to live the life you are working so hard to build.
BEING
Who you are underneath everything you do — your faith, mindset, identity, values and purpose.
BALANCE
Your relationships, time, boundaries and ability to actually experience the life you're creating.
BUSINESS
Your career, money, real estate, investments, entrepreneurship and the systems that create greater freedom and opportunity.
Not four separate lives.
One life.
And when those areas begin working together, something else becomes possible:
Legacy.
Not just what you leave behind financially, but how you lived, who you helped, what you taught and the impact you made while you were here.
That became The Forté Method: Body • Being • Balance • Business.
And Legacy is what we build through them.
I COULD HAVE RETIRED.
There came a point when I realized I didn't need to start another business.
I had worked hard. I had built financial security. I could have stepped away and simply enjoyed what I had created.
And for a while, I wondered if that was exactly what I was supposed to do.
But I didn't feel finished.
I kept feeling God put the same thing on my heart:
Share what you've learned. Help people.
Not because I have everything figured out.
I absolutely don't.
But I have lived enough life to know that success doesn't protect you from loss. Money doesn't automatically create freedom. Being busy isn't the same thing as having purpose. And sometimes rebuilding your life starts with rebuilding yourself.
I realized this next chapter wasn't supposed to be about proving what else I could accomplish.
It was about what I could share, who I could help and what I could leave behind.
THAT BECAME FORTÉ.
Forté isn't about creating a perfect life.
I don't believe one exists.
It's about intentionally building a stronger one.
A stronger body.
A stronger sense of who you are.
Stronger relationships and control over your time.
A stronger financial foundation.
A business or career that supports your life instead of consuming it.
And ultimately, a legacy you're proud of.
I built Forté because I know what it's like to build.
I also know what it's like to lose your footing and have to figure out who you are all over again.
And I know how powerful it can be when you realize:
Your story isn't over.
Mine isn't.
And neither is yours.
YOUR FORTÉ LIFE STARTS WHERE YOU ARE.
You don't have to change everything today.
You just have to figure out where you are, decide what matters most, and take the next step.
