Helping women reach their full potential with ease and grace

Thought Leader, Mindset Architect, Life Coach and Host of the Own Your Life Podcast, Bre is definitely a force to be reckoned with. Her story wasn’t always like this. Growing up in Central Iowa in a family that left her with bruises and scars wasn’t easy — but it was real and it catalyzed her healing journey. It prompted Bre to search for meaning in her life, and left her craving purpose outside herself. In her book, Broken to Brave, she talks about the awakening she felt from facing her traumas, and doing the inner work.

Today she teaches women how to rise above less-than-ideal situations, childhood traumas and choose themselves first. She teaches confidence, self-love, and staying unapologetic about holding massive wealth while chasing your wildest dreams. She is a breath of fresh air, and the hope that we all need to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

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Tell our readers a bit more about yourself, especially the parts that are not so known on social media

I am very transparent on social media. I share it all. I don’t talk a lot about my childhood, out of respect for my mom — my dad is deceased. I grew up at the poverty level in central Iowa with addiction and abuse in our household. There was verbal abuse, emotional abuse, and even physical abuse between my mom and my dad. It was not a glamorous childhood at all. My parents separated when I was in fifth grade. My grandpa owned the house that we lived in and he asked my mom to exit with three children — a single mom of three. We didn’t have anywhere to go and kind of couch surfed for awhile. Essentially, I was homeless between 6th and 7th grade. A lot of disconnectedness, a lot of chaos in my childhood, and childhood trauma — a lot of baggage that I knew about but hadn’t really started exploring until just recently.

A series of events happened between my mother and I. Of course, now that I’m grown and mature, and I’m a single mom myself, I can give her more grace (not excusing things), but meet her with compassion and empathy. I left home when I was sixteen. I always had a job. I have been pretty self-sufficient and independent my whole life. Even at a young age, I had this inner knowing that my life was unfolding exactly how it was supposed to, as sh*tty as it looked, and I knew that everything I was experiencing was going to add up. So it definitely grounds me and keeps me relatable and humble, having that childhood.

How did you transition from those places into becoming a healer and a voice for change in this space?

The book that I’m writing, Broken to Brave, is really going to take you through the lowest point in my journey up until this space. Just my childhood alone — if you’ve taken sociology you know, statistically, I shouldn’t have graduated, I should have been a teen mom, I probably would have been dependent on some sort of substance, alcohol or otherwise. I got myself through practical nursing school on a wing and a prayer. I’ve always been like, “make it happen” and “we’ll just take the next best step.” Knowing that little bit about my childhood, you can see that I was trauma-bonded with my son’s dad. And that’s where the book begins — at my rock bottom with him, and me being a getaway driver for unarmed bank robberies. So from rock bottom to now, I have been involved with a health and fitness company. I found that to be my hobby, it was a distraction from nursing coursework. I was able to go back to RN school, as terrifying as telling my story was — every time I had to sit in front of somebody in an office interview and tell them why I was worthy of either that job or getting into the RN program. I was like, “Well, on paper, it doesn’t really look so great, but I promise you, I’m gonna do a good job.” With the health and fitness company that was my fun.

I was encouraged to read “just ten minutes a day” of personal development. I gobbled that up. And I’ve read all the “self-help books,” I’ve read Brendon Burchard, Mel Robbins, Darren Hardy, and those kinds of things. But when I found Gabby Bernstein, the game changed. I finally allowed myself to get rid of some religious indoctrination as well as the expectations from some of my family members that I respected quite a bit and who helped me when I was at my lowest points. I didn’t want to disappoint them. I had been involved in church and flung myself into that. Once I was able to peel back those layers of other people’s expectations — or these hats that I was wearing — and deep dive into the law of attraction, manifesting, the concept of I”miracles are my birthright,” and as Gabby says, “Miracles are everywhere, we just have to open our eyes to
them,” that’s when things really started to pick up speed and momentum. 

Finding spiritual teachers like Amanda Frances, Melanie Ann Layer, and Andrea Crowder. Those are probably my three go-to gurus if you will. The more you de-condition yourself and really allow yourself to sink your teeth into the good stuff, you begin to relax and allow and flow. I did Money Mentality Makeover, and that was when I started quantum leaping with things. On paper, my credit was sh*t. Yet here I am, a single mom, I have a one-income household, and I kept the vision of buying a house. It was on my vision board for years. And being a student of Amanda’s — a Money Mentality Maven, — last year I helped myself to four salary increases in my nursing career and was able to buy my house in December. I upgraded my car to what for the Midwest is luxury. I drive a Volvo now. I have a house. It’s all adding up. I’ve just been able to relax and allow and also make aligned decisions. I was a Director of Nursing at the end of last year, and at the beginning of this year, I am living and embodying my real self. I’m slowly transitioning out of my nursing career and into being an evolving thought leader and life coach.

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What advice would you now give to a younger version of yourself?

I’ve actually started doing a lot of inner child healing and that kind of work, so I do parent myself a lot. It would be that you’re worthy. I think that my voice was quieted a lot. Being the oldest child, you have these expectations placed on you. Seeking validation outside of myself was, honestly, the first 32 years of my life. I’m 35 now. So it’s only been very recently that I am learning to just listen to me. You’re worthy because you are, and you can’t f*ck it up, as Amanda Frances says. You know yourself the best even when you don’t think you do.

How do you show up and embody that version of yourself now?

That’s been huge, and it’s still a little bit of unlearning old behaviors and people-pleasing. I’m not a huge people pleaser, I don’t do sh*t I don’t want to do. But we have these societal norms. Just putting my hand on my heart and asking, “What do I need today?” It sounds so simple, but just being able to get rid of these external expectations. Asking myself : “what do I need today?” I don’t place hard limitations on myself I just do what I feel called to.

What has been one of your biggest lessons to date?

You don’t know what you don’t know — when I discovered Human Design, I learned that I’m a Projector. We have great wisdom and great things to share, however, we need to be invited. And I’ve seen it in my career as a nurse with my health and fitness gig. If I don’t wait for the invitation, I get push-back, and then I’m misunderstood. My light is dimmed because they don’t understand, but I wasn’t invited to share my wisdom and knowledge. That’s been a biggie. What I do in coaching, and what I love to do, I listen and I can pick up on things. I take my power back.

When it comes to manifesting, what is your vision for the future?

I want it all. Amanda has taught me that I get to have it all. What success looks like to me is time freedom, for sure. A world-renowned life coach and keynote speaker… That, I feel is my calling. And of course, abundance all around. Money. Changing my relationship with money and — ironically, having been a getaway driver — all the money trauma within my own lineage. Money is a tool, and money and I are going to have so much fun together. We do now, but when we’re in overflow, baby, look out.

What are your gifts to the world?

I think my gift is proving that no matter how big you’ve messed up, how bad your fuck-up was, you can always rebuild. But it’s up to you.

Photo Credits – Shanna Draper Photo & Video LLC

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Follow BRE on Instagram @AlignWithBre

For more details, visit her website AlignwithBre.com here.