A powerful exploration of one woman's transformation from overcommitment to restoration. This article reveals how high-achieving women can reclaim themselves and become their strongest selves through intentional restoration and purposeful leadership.
Influential Woman · Life Coach, Holistic Health and Wellness, Restoration Movement
Yvonne Bacon
Restoration Expert, Self-employed
AZ
29Years experience
2Articles published
Her Story
About Yvonne
My mornings begin with prayer to get myself grounded, then I go for a walk to breathe the air and do my workout. I meet with my small team throughout the day because we serve women 50 and over, getting right into the motion of what that looks like, what we can offer, and what we can put out in social media. I created a brand called Nourish, which is a restoration movement for women over 50, helping women to restore, renew, and reclaim their life and become the woman that they're supposed to be. I am a faith-based business, and I believe that we are already - God already has pre-planned our destiny. Everything that we learn in life is preparing us for the woman we're to become. Life prepares you to become, and you're becoming and becoming, and you become who God already ordained you to be. My caregiving journey taught me most everything - I left my corporate HR management position in Silicon Valley in 1997 to go home and help my dad care for my mom, and that caregiving was my major accomplishment out of my career in the professional environment. Through caring for my mom for 3 years before she passed, then my dad who had a massive stroke and later a heart transplant, and my brother Bobby who was born with disabilities, along with my own health challenges including an emergency hysterectomy and cancer diagnosis in 2014, I learned to keep moving forward even when the path wasn't easy. I attribute my success to faith, perseverance, and a willingness to keep moving forward.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Yvonne
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to faith, perseverance, and a willingness to keep moving forward, even when the path wasn't easy. Caregiving taught me so much - I quit my job in 97 and moved back to Arizona to help my dad care for my mom. I was given 3 years with her, which I was grateful for, and she passed. Then shortly thereafter, my dad had a massive stroke. I stayed to help him with my brother Bobby, who was born with a big head, so he's handicapped and disabled. My dad ended up having a heart transplant and lived 2 weeks before passing away because he developed an infection in his brain. During the economic downturn in 2008, life really changed, and then in 2014, I was diagnosed with cancer. For some reason, I knew that there was much more for me, not just to end at caregiving. The path that I took with Nourish is my life, it's who I am. My brand Nourish is who I created it to be, and I attribute my success to faith, perseverance, and a willingness to keep moving forward, even when the path wasn't easy.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice that I've ever received was from a woman in corporate, an older woman, who always would tell me, don't lose yourself here. Don't get caught up in losing yourself in this corporate world. When I tell you I was a career woman, I was a career corporate ladder climbing woman, okay? And she would tell me, don't lose yourself. I always reflect back on that, even till this day, don't lose yourself here. Don't lose yourself in this corporate world, because that was my main focus. That was my life. That was everything to me. So don't lose yourself.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My advice would be, don't wait, don't wait for permission to become who you were meant to be.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I try not to think of them as challenges, I try to look at a lot of things as opportunities. I believe that now, nowadays, we have more opportunities to lead businesses, and build businesses, and restore and reinvent ourselves. And so, I see all of those as opportunities. The challenge is getting out there, because I've been behind the scenes for so long. The challenge, and it's a limiting belief challenge, okay, I should say, and that it's a challenge that I put on myself. I don't know if I'm ready to get out there. I don't want to say fear, because I don't want fear to - no, I'm not afraid. I know what I'm doing, but just to get out there. The challenge is me. That's what I would say, because really, there's no challenges. You just move forward and do what you're gonna do, and don't see them as challenges, because then that adds to the pressure that doesn't necessarily have to be there.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
My values in my personal and work life are the same. Faith is most important to me, along with integrity, service, and compassion. I also value being intentional about whatever it is you're going to do - intentional living. These values of faith, integrity, service, compassion, and being intentional are what I value most.
Her Content Hub
Articles by Yvonne
The Woman I Had to Become:
From Exhaustion to Impact: One Woman's Journey to Restoration and Authentic Leadership
There was a season of my life when everyone knew me as the woman who showed up.
- I showed up for family.
- I showed up for work.
- I showed up for church.
- I showed up for everyone who needed me.
What few people realized was that, somewhere along the way, I stopped showing up for myself.
Like many women, I wore responsibility like a badge of honor. I was capable, dependable, accomplished, and committed. I spent years building a career, leading teams, serving others, and later caring for aging parents through some of the most difficult seasons of our lives.
From the outside, it looked admirable. From the inside, it was exhausting.
What I know now is that many high-achieving women are quietly carrying more than anyone realizes. We become experts at managing responsibilities while neglecting ourselves. We pour into everyone else until one day we look up and wonder where we went.
My Journey to Becoming a Restoration Expert
My journey to becoming a Restoration Expert did not begin in a classroom or boardroom.
- It began in real life.
- It began in caregiving.
- It began in grief.
- It began in sacrifice.
- And ultimately, it began in restoration.
For nearly two decades, I walked alongside my parents as a caregiver. Those years taught me lessons no corporate training, leadership conference, or certification ever could.
- Caregiving taught me patience.
- It taught me resilience.
- It taught me compassion.
But it also revealed a truth many women are afraid to acknowledge:
You can spend so much time saving everyone else that you forget how to save yourself.
The Common Thread Is Transition
The reality is that many women over 50 are navigating major life transitions. Some are caring for parents. Some are experiencing an empty nest. Some are facing divorce, retirement, grief, health challenges, menopause, career reinvention, or the realization that the life they built no longer fits the woman they are becoming.
The common thread is not age. The common thread is transition. And transition often requires restoration.
My Own Restoration Journey
My own restoration journey became even more personal when I was diagnosed with cancer.
Life has a way of interrupting our plans and forcing us to reevaluate what truly matters. That diagnosis reminded me that success means very little if you lose yourself in the process of achieving it.
- It reminded me that health matters.
- Peace matters.
- Purpose matters.
- Joy matters.
- You matter.
Nourishe’
Those experiences became the foundation of what would later become Nourishe’.
- Nourishe’ is more than a business.
- It is more than coaching.
- It is more than a brand.
- It is a restoration movement.
It was born from the belief that women deserve a place where they can restore their strength, renew their minds, and reclaim their lives—not because they are broken, but because life has a way of draining even the strongest among us.
The Becoming Season
Today, through speaking, coaching, writing, and community, I help women navigate what I call their Becoming Season.
A Becoming Season is that sacred space between who you were and who you are called to become. It is often uncomfortable, often uncertain, and almost always transformational.
My Message Is Different
In a culture that celebrates hustle, achievement, and endless productivity, my message is different.
- I believe success should not cost you your life.
- I believe boundaries are beautiful.
- I believe peace is powerful.
- I believe influence begins with authenticity.
- I believe the strongest women are not those who never break, but those who choose to rebuild.
Too many women have mastered survival while quietly abandoning themselves. My work is about helping them come home again.
- Come home to their purpose.
- Come home to their voice.
- Come home to their dreams.
- Come home to themselves.
Restoration Is a Leadership Strategy
That is why restoration is not simply a wellness strategy—it is a leadership strategy.
Women who are restored lead differently.
- They make better decisions.
- They build healthier relationships.
- They create stronger businesses.
- They influence from a place of wholeness rather than depletion.
The most influential women I know are not those who have avoided hardship. They are the women who allowed hardship to refine them rather than define them.
- Their scars became wisdom.
- Their pain became purpose.
- Their setbacks became platforms.
- Their story became their strength.
I am one of those women.
And if my journey has taught me anything, it is this:
Your greatest challenge may become your greatest contribution. The season that nearly broke you may become the season that introduces you to your purpose. The life you thought you lost may simply be making room for the life you were always meant to live.
My Mission Is Simple
Today, my mission is simple.
- I impact.
- I influence.
- I inspire.
I help women restore what life has depleted, renew what life has challenged, and reclaim what life has tried to take.
Because becoming is not about arriving. It is about courageously saying yes to the woman waiting on the other side of your next season.
And that woman is worth meeting.
Discover how one woman's journey through caregiving, cancer, and personal restoration became a movement empowering women to reclaim their lives and lead from wholeness during their greatest seasons of transition.
The Woman I Had to Become: How Caregiving, Loss, and Restoration Became My Greatest Leadership Lessons
From Exhaustion to Restoration: How One Woman's Journey Became a Movement for Reclaiming Your Life
There was a season of my life when everyone knew me as the woman who showed up.
- I showed up for family.
- I showed up for work.
- I showed up for church.
- I showed up for everyone who needed me.
What few people realized was that, somewhere along the way, I stopped showing up for myself.
Like many women, I wore responsibility like a badge of honor. I was capable, dependable, accomplished, and committed. I spent years building a career, leading teams, serving others, and later caring for aging parents through some of the most difficult seasons of our lives.
From the outside, it looked admirable.
From the inside, it was exhausting.
What I know now is that many high-achieving women are quietly carrying more than anyone realizes. We become experts at managing responsibilities while neglecting ourselves. We pour into everyone else until one day we look up and wonder where we went.
My journey to becoming a Restoration Expert
My journey to becoming a Restoration Expert did not begin in a classroom or boardroom.
- It began in real life.
- It began in caregiving.
- It began in grief.
- It began in sacrifice.
- And ultimately, it began in restoration.
For nearly two decades, I walked alongside my parents as a caregiver. Those years taught me lessons no corporate training, leadership conference, or certification ever could.
- Caregiving taught me patience.
- It taught me resilience.
- It taught me compassion.
But it also revealed a truth many women are afraid to acknowledge:
You can spend so much time saving everyone else that you forget how to save yourself.
The reality is that many women over 50 are navigating major life transitions. Some are caring for parents. Some are experiencing an empty nest. Some are facing divorce, retirement, grief, health challenges, menopause, career reinvention, or the realization that the life they built no longer fits the woman they are becoming.
The common thread is not age.
The common thread is transition.
And transition often requires restoration.
My own restoration journey
My own restoration journey became even more personal when I was diagnosed with cancer.
Life has a way of interrupting our plans and forcing us to reevaluate what truly matters.
That diagnosis reminded me that success means very little if you lose yourself in the process of achieving it.
- It reminded me that health matters.
- Peace matters.
- Purpose matters.
- Joy matters.
- You matter.
Nourishe’
Those experiences became the foundation of what would later become Nourishe’.
- Nourishe’ is more than a business.
- It is more than coaching.
- It is more than a brand.
- It is a restoration movement.
It was born from the belief that women deserve a place where they can restore their strength, renew their minds, and reclaim their lives—not because they are broken, but because life has a way of draining even the strongest among us.
The Becoming Season
Today, through speaking, coaching, writing, and community, I help women navigate what I call their Becoming Season.
A Becoming Season is that sacred space between who you were and who you are called to become.
- It is often uncomfortable.
- It is often uncertain.
- And it is almost always transformational.
In a culture that celebrates hustle, achievement, and endless productivity, my message is different.
- I believe success should not cost you your life.
- I believe boundaries are beautiful.
- I believe peace is powerful.
- I believe influence begins with authenticity.
- I believe the strongest women are not the ones who never break; they are the women who choose to rebuild.
Come home again
Too many women have mastered survival while quietly abandoning themselves.
My work is about helping them come home again.
- Come home to their purpose.
- Come home to their voice.
- Come home to their dreams.
- Come home to themselves.
Restoration is a leadership strategy
That is why restoration is not simply a wellness strategy.
It is a leadership strategy.
Women who are restored lead differently.
- They make better decisions.
- They build healthier relationships.
- They create stronger businesses.
- They influence from a place of wholeness rather than depletion.
The most influential women I know are not the women who have avoided hardship.
They are the women who allowed hardship to refine them rather than define them.
- Their scars became wisdom.
- Their pain became purpose.
- Their setbacks became platforms.
- Their story became their strength.
I am one of those women.
And if my journey has taught me anything, it is this:
Your greatest challenge may become your greatest contribution. The season that nearly broke you may become the season that introduces you to your purpose. The life you thought you lost may simply be making room for the life you were always meant to live.
Today, my mission is simple
- I impact.
- I influence.
- I inspire.
I help women restore what life has depleted, renew what life has challenged, and reclaim what life has tried to take.
Because becoming is not about arriving.
It is about courageously saying yes to the woman waiting on the other side of your next season.
And that woman is worth meeting.
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