Today we’d like to introduce you to Felicia Vaughn.
Hi Felicia, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
As a young child, I showed a heartfelt concern for the health and well-being of my family. My mother’s story is we would nap together when I was a baby, and as she awakened, she would peek with one eye to check on me only to see me raise my little head, look at her, and lie back down. She assumed I didn’t want to disturb her sleep. My mother believed I, instinctively, knew the value of rest. When I was around five years old, I persisted in asking my dad to stop smoking. I must have made a pretty strong case because, eventually, he did. Both smoking and sleeping have an impact on our health and well-being; however, as a child, I just knew I wanted my parents to be ok. I have come to recognize our health and wellness are tied to loving ourselves and others, so fast forward many, many years later and it was my own ’bout with burnout which served as a wake-up call inspiring me to realize, now, the person I need to focus on… was ME!
With no formal understanding of what a career in wellness would look like, I prayed to God, to ask what He wanted me to do with “wellness”. Much of my career was as a career coach/consultant, so I could not see how this information aligned with my prior work. Later I was led to search the term on Google and stumbled upon the National Wellness Institute’s website. I discovered their paradigm for wellness and it intrigued me and the more I learned the more I knew I had found my calling. Reflecting on these early childhood experiences, dealing with a health scare, as a result of my burnout, and learning about the field of wellness convinced me a career in this industry was a part of my life’s purpose.
Seeing myself in the wellness framework, put forth by the National Wellness Institute, allowed me to begin to perceive which wellness dimensions of my life needed improvement. Conclusion… ALL OF THEM! With much work ahead of me and hoping against hope, I was up for the challenge of becoming well…Wonderfully Well! While on this journey, I became keenly aware of the significance in recognizing the interconnection of the SACRED and SCIENCE to promote a wholistic approach to building and maintaining wellness interventions which spoke to my mind, heart and soul; thus, the idea for Wonderfully Well ™ was born. I began to take courses and study all things related to wellness, so I could be well-equipped for my new journey. Today, in addition to having a Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology, I am a Master Certified Wellness Coach, Certified Worksite Wellness Specialist, and I am studying for my board exam to become a Nationally Board-Certified Health & Wellness Coach.
In regards to my health, today, when people ask me, “How are you doing?” My response is, “I am Wonderfully Well.” Why? Because through a lot of hard work and prayer, my health has been restored and I am happy. In fact, at the age of 50, I started my company, became a professional model and published my first book. It is a poetry book. The new title (2nd edition), which will soon be released, is Words of Wellness: Poetry to Bless the Busy & Burned-Out Believer. My book can be found on Amazon. At 52 years old, my life keeps getting better and better!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My greatest struggle on my road was letting go of old ways of thinking and behaving. Because my faith had taken a hit, due to my illness, I had to learn to trust God, again. I had to be willing to cooperate with the changes I was experiencing, and embrace the idea they were happening because of His LOVE for me. As my youngest son told me on a rainy day, while we were looking out the window, “Momma!” he said, “It looks like old habits are being washed away.” I heard that prophetic statement and hoped it meant my health would change. Now, I realize, God’s goodness had so much BETTER in store for me, and as I build and maintain new wellness habits, my son’s statement rings true. New habits, based on a renewed mindset, slowly developed and my losses began transforming into gains! However, I had to be willing to do the work to change. I had to cooperate. You have to understand, I was the person who despised change, and change is what it took for me to experience the miracle God had in store for me; thus, I had to learn to welcome it in like an old friend. What does this mean? I had to be willing to open my heart and mind to do the deep work a new life required.
All I knew was if my old habits were responsible for my burnout and poor health, I had nowhere else to go but forward because going backwards wasn’t an option. This meant I was going to have to overcome doubt, fear, insecurities, pride, people-pleasing tendencies and whatever else was going to keep me from the new and improved version of ME. Once I took a deep, long look inside, I realized there was a lot I had to “let go” if my outcome was going to be lasting. Either I was going to get with God’s program or suffer the consequences and I, desperately, wanted to thrive in life…not just survive. My spirit knew more was possible, so instead of wrestling with God’s plan for my life, I decided to dance with Him straight into the future He has planned for me.
One of the new things I tried was yoga. Some people think yoga is some type of new-age fad that Christians shouldn’t practice, but this is far from the truth. Yoga was a gift from God! I have learned so many lessons on my yoga mat and I have begun to apply what I have learned into various aspects of my life. For example, running a company requires me to stretch myself. Well, I first learned how to breathe through an uncomfortable stretch on my yoga mat, so now, if I encounter something in business which is outside of my comfort zone, I know to breathe through it. Whatever it is will get worked out. One of my favorite yoga teachers once told the class, “Struggling is not failing,” so I know as long as I continue to try, even if I struggle, God is traveling this entrepreneurial journey with me.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Wonderfully Well ™ is a wellness intervention company for caring companies, and individuals who view themselves as caring people. My services include wellness coaching and wellness training. Now when most people think of a caregiver, they think of someone who is caring for their elderly parent or a sick child. Those are, certainly, examples of caregivers; however, my platform through Wonderfully Well™ is to convey that we are ALL caregivers. In whatever role we serve, we are called to care for our clients, customers, coworkers, and community. If in a senior-level executive role at a non-profit…you are a caregiver. If you are a start-up founder of a software development company…you are a caregiver. Whether you are a manager or the cashier at the local grocery store…you are called to be a caregiver. If you’re a lawyer in the courtroom…you are a caregiver. If you’re a driver for GrubHub…your role is that of a caregiver. You get the idea! Now, usually, caregivers are great at caring for others. The problem is in many cases, no one cares for the caregiver, or people don’t see themselves as caregivers and miss supplying the need to receive and take care of themselves. I want caregivers to know I am here to help them care for their well-being, and my goal is to show them evidenced-based, simple, cost-effective, creative and fun ways to care for themselves.
I am most pleased that I am living proof that being Wonderfully Well™ is not just a cute phrase, it is a possibility when people are willing to do the work. I would, also, want readers to know coaching is not counseling. The two can complement each other; however, they are not the same. I tell my clients when they are in a deep dark pit and they can’t see their way out, counseling is a very helpful tool to aid them in the climb to the top of the pit to escape that dark place, such as depression. However, once out of the pit, and standing in the marvelous light, they may not know which direction to go, in order to move forward, to get back “home” (homeostasis – a place of balance). Wellness coaching is a great tool to help them move forward in planning how to lose weight, manage their stress or find meaning and purpose in their occupation. I come alongside them, as their wellness coach, to serve as a guide to help them on their journey home.
Former clients, from a pilot project I conducted, last year, used such words as “eye opening”, “soothing”, “applicable”, “safe”, “relatable”, and “beneficial” to describe my wellness coaching and training. As we come through a pandemic, these words, I believe, describe services that can help many find peace.
Right now, I am a one-woman shop, so I realize I can’t help everyone, at this time. My goal is to start small and scale up, so I am hoping to partner with a few local long-term facilities to provide wellness coaching and training to their professional caregivers. This industry has been hit so hard during the pandemic and I would love to conduct more pilot projects, with their professional caregiver population, to prove short-term and long-term concrete value in my services. I have done research on this industry and I am quite familiar with many of their pain points, which existed before the pandemic; thus, I believe my services could make a difference.
In the future, I anticipate growing my staff with other well-trained National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coaches, from around the nation, who can provide remote wellness coaching and training as I do, now, so I can expand the scope of the industries I serve. Since the way we work has changed, my hope is many will be open to virtual wellness coaching and training for their care-giver workforce.
Can you talk about how you think about risk?
Hmm…in the past, I never thought of myself as a risk-taker. In fact, I was more risk averse when fear would rear its ugly head; however, one day I read an article on the Institute for Faith, Work & Economics website titled, Why Worship Involves Risk-Taking. They pointed out a verse in Matthew 28:16-17, which I had recently, read at that time (not a coincidence). The blog post stated risk was aligned with our worship to God. This stopped in me in my tracks, and I realized if this was true, I had allowed fear, for far too long, to rob me of truly worshipping the God I claimed to love and serve.
My most major risk, to date, is starting Wonderfully Well ™. Every day, I am required to sail into unchartered waters, so in this way, I worship quite often. Entrepreneurship requires risk-taking; thus, the process can feel treacherous, at times. However, with God on my side I manage to keep my head above water and stay in His flow.
When my worship requires risk-taking, I think about the movie Harriet and the scene where her master is trying to persuade her to get off the bridge and come back home. She listens for a minute, and decides to jump for her freedom. When I am called to take a risk, I recall this scene, consider my best option and then say, “Jump Felicia!” because I know the risk required to build a business holds the key to my financial freedom. Entrepreneurship is a faith-building practice. As fear loses its hold on me, like Harriet Tubman, I am unstoppable and my freedom is, now, within view. This means I am truly Wonderfully Well ™. My goal is to help others become free from whatever holds them back from becoming the best version of themselves, so they can be Wonderfully Well ™, too!
Contact Info:
- Email: info@wonderfullywell.com
- Website: www.wonderfullywell.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wonderfully_well/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgCbBasnPamkVke4Y7RSiDA
- Words of Wellness: Poetry to Bless the Busy & Burned-Out Believer by Dr. Felicia Vaughn: https://www.amazon.
com/dp/B092PKRQ47/ref=cm_sw_ em_r_mt_imm_awdb_ 9HY0EQFKRGW5X2P6NCQ4
Image Credits
Michelle Debenport Branding Photography
