Her Story
About Mandy Rayleen
Mandy Rayleen Slape, BSN, RN, NC-BC, CNOR, is a registered nurse, board-certified nurse coach, and founder of Lantern Wellness, a holistic health and wellness coaching practice she established in May 2025. She works with high-achieving women in midlife who are navigating perimenopause, major life transitions, chronic stress, burnout, fat loss resistance, and changes in identity and purpose. Her approach integrates nursing science, nurse coaching, behavior change, nervous system awareness, fitness, nutrition, and faith-rooted whole-person wellness, with an emphasis on the interconnected dimensions of mind, body, spirit, and soul.
Slape brings 25 years of combined operating-room experience to her work, including 13 years as a registered nurse and previous experience as a certified surgical technologist. She also served approximately six and a half years in the U.S. Navy as a Hospital Corpsman. Her professional background has developed her expertise in perioperative care, leadership, accountability, and surgical conscience. She completed a Bachelor of Science in Registered Nursing at Western Governors University and training as an Integrative Nurse Coach through the Integrative Nurse Coach® Academy and International Nurse Coach Association. She is also a certified surgical technologist, CNOR, ISSA-certified Health and Lifestyle Coach, and holds PALS and ACLS certifications.
Slape's approach to wellness is deeply shaped by resilience, faith, family, military service, and personal transformation. She attributes her success to the resilience she developed through adversity, the purpose and unconditional love she experienced through raising four children, her faith, military leadership experience, accountability developed in the operating room, and lessons in forgiveness. Her core values are integrity, respect, love, and joy. Through Lantern Wellness and The Illuminate Method, she seeks to help women recognize their own worth, care for themselves without abandoning their responsibilities to others, and move toward greater purpose and sustainable whole-person wellness.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Mandy Rayleen
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to the resilience I developed from a difficult childhood and the lessons I learned through the challenges I have experienced throughout my life. Growing up with family violence and instability taught me resilience from an early age, although I also learned to suppress my feelings, which I later recognized was unhealthy. Having four children gave my life purpose and taught me unconditional love.
My faith and surrendering to my higher power during a difficult season of burnout and legal issues helped me find meaning in adversity. My military service taught me leadership and resilience, while my years in the operating room developed my sense of accountability and surgical conscience. My two divorces also taught me the importance of forgiveness, including learning to forgive myself.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
If I were speaking to my younger self, I would tell myself that I matter too. I would encourage women to stop putting everyone else before themselves and to recognize their own worth. For much of my life, I wanted to stay small and avoid being seen, but I learned that caring for yourself is essential.
You matter just as much as the people you love. When you do not learn to care for yourself, it becomes difficult to continue giving to others sustainably. Sometimes it takes reaching a breaking point and no longer recognizing yourself to realize how important self-care and self-worth truly are.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
One of the biggest challenges I face is imposter syndrome. I have become very confident and capable in my work in the operating room and have become someone others rely on, but stepping into a new role has sometimes caused me to question myself.
As I build my wellness coaching business, I am intentionally doing uncomfortable things, including creating social media content and putting myself out there. Another significant challenge is learning the marketing side of entrepreneurship, building a clientele, and getting people to say yes to my services.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Integrity is my number-one value. I learned the importance of always doing the right thing through my military service and through my responsibility as a surgical conscience. Respect is also extremely important to me, and I believe in always treating people with respect.
Doing everything with love is foundational to me. I also value bringing joy into life through laughter and not always taking everything so seriously or trying to be overly serious about everything.
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