Did I ever think that the young girl who didn’t like public speaking nor being seen on stage would grow up to be brave and write a blog to share her random thoughts with the world? Truth is, I didn’t.

Becoming an author and blogger was never something I planned. Rather, the idea for this platform to express my thoughts came to me “randomly” in 2010 while taking a coffee, talk, and a walk on the beach in Hawaii with my family.

Relaxing on the beach that day, I looked around: everyone was smiling, having fun, enjoying the surroundings, and at peace. Hawaii was working its magic – it was allowing people to feel free to be themselves. There were men and women from around the globe, all of so many shapes and sizes. But they had one thing in common; they were happy at the beach. As was I. So at the beach that day, I had a life-changing thought: everybody is beautiful.

Think you are too quiet to make a difference in the world? Over the years, many of my readers have expressed that because they are “shy, quiet, introverted, and/or sensitive,” they don’t put themselves out there to be seen. I was like that too. During my teens I was extremely shy; I had a hard time performing in public as I didn’t want to be judged negatively. I took supportive roles rather than lead ones. I didn’t want to stand out. I didn’t want the attention. Now, look at me!

Today my guest at The Self-Discovery Retreat is Katherine Mackenzie-Smith, a life coach for introverts, an assistant life coach trainer, a writer, and a speaker. Katherine hails from Australia; her light to empower introverts shines so brightly it resonates around the world! I had to reach out and invite her to share why she speaks from the heart.  Through reading Katherine’s story, passions, and life lessons, I hope you will be empowered on your journey to rise to your platform & shine!

Money. This is a word that keeps coming up as a source of stress in many of the conversations I have been having so I thought we should talk about it. How does this word "money" make you feel?

To join the dialogue, I invited Amanda Abella, an expert on this topic, to speak to us all about helping us all become our best selves by improving our relationships with money.

Amanda Abella is an online business coach, speaker, and author of the Amazon bestselling book, Make Money Your Honey: A Spirited Entrepreneur’s Guide to Having a Love Affair with Work and Money. She is committed to helping millennials (and anyone who wants to join us) have a better relationship with work and money by means of entrepreneurship, online marketing, and an abundance mindset. Thanks, Amanda, for joining us today at The Self-Discovery Retreat.