|
Meet Our Staff |
| | Allow us to introduce our team of professionals committed to promoting healthFUL lifestyles and practices that help people make changes by dividing and conquering unhealthy habits our busy lives can put us in.
|
|
| | | Julie Kowalski - Founder and Managing Principal | | | |
Julie has been helping people get better at what they do for over 25 years. She has run a successful performance consulting business since 1986, focusing on finding solutions to move individuals and organizations beyond the barriers to their desired goals. Previously, Julie worked in the restaurant industry, opening more than a dozen restaurants in six states.
Julie became interested in health and wellness in 1999 after sudden chronic infection left her facing a collection of serious, debilitating illnesses which rendered her unable to function in daily life. Through diligent work with competent alternative medicine practitioners and compulsive self-study, she designed a path to regain her health. Using her “forget perfect” approach, Julie was able to eliminate numerous damaging habits, make healthFUL eating a lifestyle, embrace a regular exercise habit, and implement lifestyle improvements to ensure her healthFUL future.
In addition to working with hundreds of corporate clients, Julie has privately coached dozens of individuals on lifestyle and diet improvements. Her emphasis is on forming practical strategies for overcoming habits that could derail a client’s progress in making new intentions a reality. Her mastery of the “low hanging fruit” model, balanced with sincere encouragement, empowers her clients to make changes that stick.
Julie lives in Troy, Michigan with her two children. She has a passion for yoga, boxing, writing, alternative medicine, and intriguing people. She practices massage, is a professional member of The American Association of Nutritional Consultants, serves on the leadership team of the Healthy Traditions Network, and is currently studying for her Certified Nutritional Consultant certification.
|
|
| | | Naomi Martoia - Healthy Lifestyle Coach | | | | Naomi’s personal goal, since getting her Bachelors Degree in Nursing from Indiana University, has been to help people help themselves. In a variety of ways, including educating children in the public school through her involvement with the school health team and teaching teens and adults how to care for their bodies, her desire has been to let people know that they have the biggest impact on their health now and in the future. Her medical background has proven invaluable in understanding disease, medicine, and the factors that contribute to poor health. In the past 8 years, Naomi personally realized the shortcomings of medicine when her own health dramatically changed overnight and left her unable to carry on a normal life. With motivation to recover her own health, Naomi began several years of intense study of alternative medicine, supplementation, and nutrition. It was during this time that she came in contact with the Weston A. Price Foundation and began applying many of the nutritional principles outlined by the Foundation.
Naomi has completely regained her health and is enjoying many physical activities she once only dreamed about. Her personal triumph over debilitating illness enables her to be compassionate towards others with health challenges. As a result, Naomi has begun again to teach, this time with an emphasis on how to examine diets and lifestyle for their health-draining qualities and how to find and prepare beautiful, nourishing foods.
Naomi considers herself a life-long learner and plans to continue her study in nutrition. Her personal life includes many forms of volunteer activities and mentoring. She lives in Oakland County with her husband and two children. You might see her riding by on her bike as she and her family love mountain-biking wherever they can find a trail.
|
|
| | | Mark Meyerson - Healthy Lifestyle Coach | | | | Mark has spent over 40 years in the food service and catering business, continuing the Meyerson family name in local restaurants since 1921. He has worked as a chef, manager and owner of various ventures. Mark has a gift for developing innovative catering menus using a variety of delicious, healthFUL foods.
Mark began his studies in nutrition in 1968 after observing his Grandfather suffer with diabetes. He is a Certified Nutritional Consultant, Life Style Educator and member of The American Association of Nutritional Consultants. He gained an extensive knowledge of supplements, a variety of health solutions, and trends in the health industry while managing a health food store in Michigan for the past seven years. He has conducted seminars on various nutrition and lifestyle topics locally for the past five years.
Mark is a board member of the Healthy Traditions Network, and member of Weston A. Price Foundation and Price-Pottenger Foundation. He is on a personal mission to connect consumers with organic and bio-dynamic farmers.
Mark resides in Trenton, Michigan. He enjoys giving seminars, walking, being outdoors, reading and old movies.
|
|
| | | Birgit McQuiston, BSN, RN, CN - Healthy Lifestyle Coach | | | |
Experience
if one of life’s greatest educations.
This was certainly proven true by Birgit’s personal experience in overcoming
chronic health issues. Having earned a
Bachelor’s of Science degree in Nursing, Birgit used to be a “true believer” in
everything the medical field had to offer.
But as her health continued to plummet while relying on prescriptions
drugs and traditional medicine for healing she realized something was simply
not working. Stepping back, she came to discover
that her medical protocols focused only on treating her symptoms and that it
was far too easy for her health care practitioners to just declare she would
have to tolerate her illnesses for life.
Desperate to
get her life back, Birgit began educating herself in nutrition and other
alternative health resources. Ultimately she went on to continue her
education, completing the Certified Nutritionist program through the American
Health Science University in 2005. One
of Birgit’s passions in life is nutritional research and education, recognizing
it’s impossible for people to embrace good nutrition and a healthy lifestyle
without correct information. Because of
her history as a traditional medical practitioner, and the constant bombardment
of misinformation by mass marketers and the media, Birgit can relate to the struggles
people have with understanding truths about nutrition. She is determined to be a force in exposing
new and accurate information about the connection between nutrition and optimal
health. However, she keeps the “forget
perfect” motto in the front of her mind, recognizing that health is a journey,
and she is still on hers. The more she
learns, the more she realizes there is to know!
Birgit is a
happily married mother of two amazing children.
Her family resides in Lake
Orion. Birgit is very
involved in making an impact through public schools. She and her family also enjoy volunteering at
their church. She is a member of the
Weston A. Price Foundation and a member of the National Association of
Nutrition Professionals (NANP).
|
|
| | | Lisa Capraro - Business Advisor | | | | Lisa is the founder of Healthy Traditions Network, the Detroit Chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation (a national nutrition education foundation.) As president of the first local chapter of the foundation, Lisa helped the Detroit Chapter become the prototype for over 300 chapters worldwide. Healthy Traditions Network (HTN) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to creating community around eating healthFULLY. Lisa served three years on the board of MOFFA (Michigan Organic Food & Farming Association) and through this association created the annual Growing Connections Organic Harvest Festival, which she has chaired since 2001. Her participation in HTN and MOFFA allowed her to build personal relationships with dozens of leading-edge health, wellness, and farming experts.
Always intrigued by alternative health solutions, Lisa intensified her journey to a more healthFUL lifestyle twelve years ago when her mother was diagnosed with colon cancer. She found great inspiration in the wisdom of Weston A. Price through the work of Dr. Tom Cowan and Sally Fallon, which clearly revealed the powerful relationship of real, nutritious food to our health. Lisa felt compelled to share this incredible information and eventually her enthusiasm led to her work with HTN.
Lisa has worked both privately and in group settings to help hundreds of people learn the basics of a healthFUL lifestyle. Her personal commitment to the practices she promotes lends credibility and conviction to those she works with. In 2002, Lisa was presented with the Activist Award by the Weston A. Price Foundation for her work in establishing access to real milk in the state of Michigan.
Lisa is the mother of four children and resides in Troy, Michigan. She enjoys great conversation, hanging out with her children, walking outdoors, dancing, yoga, cooking, eating, and pondering the magnificence of the universe.
|
|
|
|
|
|
