Steph Wagner

My catalyst was certainly divorce.

It could be any major life event, right?

business failure, death of a spouse, anything.

Yeah, you know, when everything happened, I mean, my life literally blew up within a few hours of discovering all of this, right?

Everything I thought was, wasn't.

Everything I thought would be, would never be.

And it was this, you know, it was emotionally one of the most devastating things.

Obviously, the financial aspect was huge.

But as I began to navigate the emotions, I started to write.

And this was 12, 13 years ago.

I didn't know what I would do with it, but I knew I had a powerful story that a lot of women were navigating similar circumstances, and I wanted to do something good with it.

I didn't know quite yet what.

I was still finding my purpose.

I was still trying to figure out how I was going to recreate myself and my career.

But I knew I wanted to share this and do something good with it so it didn't take me down.

I mean, that's the reality, right?

We have a choice when we go through pivotal moments.

We're either going to rise or we're going to let it take us down.

And I knew I had three little boys watching me.

I didn't have a choice, nor did I. It wasn't who I was.