Kristina Eaton, EMBA, CTSS

I attribute my success to an entrepreneurial spirit that I've always had inside me. When I got home after my first deployment in 2007, I had this inkling of wanting to do entrepreneurship, and during that year I made the decision that once I took my boots off for the last time, I was no longer going to be anybody else's W-2 employee. I had a hunger for being my own boss and helping people, though at that time I didn't know what that would look like. I allowed life to pivot me - I started out with one business model working with a different audience and delivery style, but I pivoted in the last several months. Writing my memoir helped that pivot happen. Sometimes you really don't know what you're going to do or where life is going to take you until you're in it. My lived experience in environments with toxic leaders and bullies, combined with my understanding of how trauma affects our nervous system, shaped the work I do now. At my core is my faith, which I lean on a great deal. I'm very discerning about seeking wise counsel from others, but I lean on my faith more than anything else because not everybody understands your purpose or calling.

I don't recall receiving a single piece of pivotal career advice. At the core of who I am is my faith, and I lean on that a great deal. I make sure that I'm very discerning when seeking wise counsel and listening to other people's suggestions and recommendations. I use wisdom in evaluating advice, but I lean on my faith more than anything else. You can go to people in any industry or walk of life who are wise, intelligent, and well-educated, and they can give you advice that sounds good, but not everybody understands you, knows your purpose, or understands what your calling is. So while people may mean well and give great advice, it may not be the best thing you need to be doing at that particular time.

I would tell her to look at her strengths and what she's good at. Look at the things that she's passionate about, and take those things to decide what market she wants to serve. Then find a gap in the need. A lot of people want to start a business and go into a field, but they don't look to see how they can uniquely bring something to fill a gap or address a need. Do something that's unique. People want to follow these gurus and influencers and do the things that they're doing, but we each have a specific thing that we were created to do and contribute to the world. So look within, follow those dreams, look at what you keep going back to, and look at the things that come effortless to you that you enjoy doing.

Some challenges in her field is helping organizations recognize and address the hidden impact of chronic stress on performance and culture. At the same time, there is a growing opportunity as more leaders prioritize mental wellness, resilience, and people-centered strategies. This shift creates space for her work to drive meaningful transformation and lasting organizational health.

At the core of who I am is my faith, which I lean on a great deal. Integrity is extremely important to me, as is grace, because we tend to forget that regardless of the industry we're in, everybody is uniquely different. Everybody has different capacity, and everybody has different strengths and competencies that they bring to the workplace, their business, their family, or whatever community they serve. Those are things I like to be reminded of because that allows me to understand people from a different level. Humility is something that I strive to walk in every day. I wanted to have a business that was people-focused because I want people to feel seen, to feel heard, and to feel like they matter as an individual, no matter the environment or how big the world seems. Everybody has a place and a space and a unique reason. I'm also very big on boundaries. My family comes first, and I build my business around my family schedule, not the other way around. I was very busy in the military and missed a lot of important celebrations and milestones, so now as a retired veteran, I made the decision to do my business around my family. At the end of the day, when you walk away from your business or career, the people that support you the most are the people that you come home to, and if you neglect those people and lose everything you've built, you're left with nothing.