My story begins in Škofja Loka, a picturesque medieval town of 20,000 in Slovenia, in a loving multi-generational home. Hailing from a lineage of strong women who lived ahead of their times, I am a descendant of WWII resistance fighters, and a daughter of laborers-turned-business owners. “I would love to see Paris, New York City, and Hawaii!” I once made a wish when marveling at a stack of postcards from my grandmother's brother, a sailor.
Basketball became my refuge from being mercilessly bullied (because my grandpa was an immigrant). It was also a distraction from the Balkan War; I was 7 years old when my country was attacked. I saw first-hand the traumatic consequences in the eyes of refugee kids whom we welcomed into our classrooms.
And then, basketball became my ticket into the world!
At the age of 12, I began traveling around Europe to compete at basketball tournaments - and had been to Paris 3 times! I was 14 when I first put on the jersey of Slovenia Women's National Basketball team. At 16, I was the youngest player on the senior team and at 18 served as a team captain at the U-18 European Championship.
Ultimately, basketball also became a polygon to train high-performance mindset, resilience, confidence, teamwork, and leadership. To master time. (And to coach without even knowing that life coaching was a thing as both my teammates and coaches alike would seek my advice and guidance).
After traveling to the USA to scrimmage against big-name teams like Penn State, North Carolina U., James Madison, Old Dominion, and Wake Forrest, I was so unimpressed with the States that I had no desire to ever return. Instead, I decided to retire from the sport in order to focus on studying journalism.
One call changed my life!
Plot twist! Reluctantly accepting an unexpected invitation to play NCAA D-I basketball in New York City, I packed my 3 suitcases, kissed my family goodbye, and boarded a trans-Atlantic flight to New York City 4,500 miles away. I had never been on the Downtown Brooklyn campus before making it my temporary home in 2004. Have I mentioned that I was also barely able to speak English, my 4th language at the time?
My life was instantly changed, and with it, I had to transform to fulfill a whole new level of expectations and responsibilities.
I will never forget the moment during one of our team practices when I tapped into a whole new layer of the mindset: Coach gave me a choice between the team sprinting or me getting out of my comfort zone, speaking up, and using my voice.
If you’ve ever seen any of my videos or listened to my podcast, you know I haven’t stopped speaking ever since.
The newly-gained confidence, winning attitude, ability to develop a grand vision and hold it, and relentlessness to shatter any physical and mental limits and obstacles helped me lead the team from last-seeded (my freshman year when I made the conference All-Rookie team) to become the winningest team in the college's history (my junior year). We went into the conference championship game my senior year. That game, we lost.While also working on campus to earn extra cash in between classes and practicing, I became the first one to graduate in my family (Cum Laude) and went on to earn MBA degree with honors (and debt-free) 2 years later.
In 2009, I was also a newlywed to my soulmate husband Tyler - a man I was not supposed to meet (a story for another time...), and finally excited to make New York my new home.
Plot twist, again.
Despite a budding career in Manhattan and my great ambitions to make it to a corner office overlooking the Central Park, life had other plans, and would put my resilience, grit, and trust to the test once again.
We had just found out I was pregnant with our first child in 2011 when I lost my job. Relieved that the 2.5-hour door-to-door commuting was finally over, I was on someone else’s timeline now.Yearning for more flexibility, and deeply disappointed by the hostile (non-existing) support system for new moms and families (remember, I am European, we do these things very differently there), I rolled up my sleeves, took a leap, and started my own business.
I still remember the excitement of the possibilities, the terror of the unknown, and the lessons in making every single mistake I could possibly make in being one of the pioneers of virtual assistance business in my area.
It was surprisingly easy to juggle caring for a newborn, running the household, and building up what would soon become a premium online business management and consulting agency with a team of fellow moms supporting clients worldwide. (There's only so much value in taking things off clients' plates when 3/4 of projects and tasks should not even be there. With my strategic genius, evolving my role into consulting was a natural progression).
And I was still putting on high heels multiple times per week to masterfully network around the Tri-state area. And traveled for weeks on end. Heck, I did not even blink when Superstorm Sandy raged through and I was home alone with our newborn while Tyler was in NYC for days, working in the round- the-clock news industry.
When our second daughter completed our family 2.5 years later, I felt like sky was the limit! The fact that I had built an agency that enabled me to give myself a 3-month fully-paid maternity leave, only elevated the sense of pride and accomplishment.
By the age of 30, I had more than I could ever possibly ask for
...including calling a piece of Hawai'i my own!
While powering through short winter days of snuggling a newborn, caring for a toddler, managing my team, and planning to retire my husband… something unexpected happened.
Post-partum depression and two trips to the ER due to burnout, paired with incredible homesickness and grief after losing two grandparents whom I could not say proper goodbyes to. These were clear signs that the same work ethic, strategies, and mindset that had given me everything, could now kill me.
I would love to say that what happened next was a movie-like epiphany and an instant transformation that has catapulted me right back to the top. But. It. Wasn't.
Breaking old rules to grow new wings
Through the journey that followed, I looked critically at everything: my beliefs, stories, attitude, habits, conversations, expectations. Including my business, marriage, family, myself.
I unlearned, undid, and unmasked it all to reevaluate, release, rethink, redefine, reframe, rebuild.
Because I knew I was meant for more... And that my business was meant for more...
While figuring out my personal next steps, I pivoted my business again, because even the best strategies in the world are insufficient if you are not in the right mindset and lack capacity. Coaching became a part of my offerings.
I also felt called to move us all back Slovenia after a few annual trans-Atlantic trips with the little ones (I had mastered the art and science of flying solo with a baby and a toddler). To heal, to reconnect, and to simply slow down. I no longer belonged in USA. I felt I began to overstay my welcome in New York.
The girls and I boarded a trans-Atlantic flight in 2018, and began our 4-month Slovenian Adventure. The experience became one of the most divine ones that we still talk about. And, as it turned out, so much more than just a vacation.
Gathering wild horses
As my spiritual teacher channeled, I was called back to Slovenia to gather "...your rosebuds, your wild horses, your heritage, your pieces that came not just from conversation, but from the energetic initiations, activations, and core teachings of your lineage ... to gather and integrate…which goes back to celebrating and giving you credibility for your mysticism!"
Upon our return, I experienced the dark night of the soul once again. I simply wanted to walk away from it all.
"This is not how this ends," whispered my soul... so I leaned in.
I have become stronger in my softness, sharper on the edges, and have softened into receiving more. More open and much more clear in my mission, purpose, and vision.
When the world stops
By the time the world pressed pause in 2020, I made our Hudson Valley house into a home. A sanctuary "by the Appalachian mountains near the sea." We were gifted additional 18 months of family time as our kiddos would stay home during the pandemic. Tyler and I also reconnected on a different level.
This opened the gate to a whole next level of reclaiming my vision, my knowing, my voice, my power.
The eerie familiarity of "I've been there before, hiding from an enemy and taking it day by day" enabled me to dive into work. To step up my game and offer a much more complex and integrated array of services that would help poeple not only navigate the uncertain times, but thrive regardless.
I also reestablished boundaries in congruence with my outspoken advocacy for equality, women's rights, and for a system that promotes racial, gender and pay equity, affordable childcare, healthcare, education, and paid leave & vacation time. It was time to release the people whose actions, votes - or complicit silence - would hurt women, immigrants, BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ people. I am just not wired to smile and wave just to keep peace...
This is just the beginning
RSVP-ing to higher call, I teamed up with my friend Dianne Sykes in January 2021 to co-found Elite Mystique Agency, which has since come to a completion.
In May, I launched a long-desired Make Your Life Your legacy Podcast, an unscripted soulstreaming experiment aiming to inspire and empower the audience to follow their heart.
In September, I became a US citizen, receiving the distinct honor and privilege of holding and connecting two nations, two cultures, and two homes! A lot of soul-searching, releasing of old identities, and reconciling certain beliefs took place in that process.In December, I held the first copy of my own book It Is Not That Simple - a tale of 6 generations, 3 wars, and one woman's cross-continental quest to reclaim her Primal Power. 36 chapters, 444 pages. I did not know just how healing the experience would be for me. And the manuscript is now in the works to be officially published.
In 2022, I was diagnosed with two autoimmune disorders, and that woke me up. Releasing the first 35lbs and reclaiming my power, my time, and my dreams, I re-evaluated once again my life and our marriage. It was time to muster up the courage to make some radical decisions. After years of wanting to do so, I also took the summer off to spend it in Slovenia with the kiddos.
Turned Dream into Reality
Solitude, stillness and spaciousness offered a plethora of new opportunities; some of them, I had been waiting on for years but simply did not have the CLARITY, COURAGE nor CAPACITY to receive.
"It's time to return to Slovenia," was no longer just a whisper. It was now a full-fletched flame burning in my heart.
After 18 years in the USA, it was time for a change. And this time, we embarked on this new, unconventional, soul-guided and the most trying and illogical complex adventure as a family. In the winter of 2023, we traded the metropolitan New York and fast-paced suburban life for a slower, and more connected one in the historic Skofja Loka.
There is one more thing you need to know
I didn’t do it on my own.
All along, I may have remained being a "reliable, unflinching, insightful, intuitive, strategic, and compassionate" consultant, coach, and mentor (to quote my clients).
And all along, I have been supported by my husband whose faith in my vision is equally scary as it is inspiring. Then, there's my family, even if oceans away. And lastly, premier coaches, consultants, healers and mentors I have hired, and lineages I've gained access to.
I have invested in-tune of 10+ years, $200,000+ and 20,000+ hours in my own intentional growth, development, education, and certifications (that is after the formal schooling, athletic and professional careers).
And, every single day, I also use the tools and insights in my own life. I am still doing the work, walking the talk.
I know that you, too, can create the life that offers your more spaciousness, work that is much more fulfilling and simplified, and home that truly feels like a sacred space! In your own way! Without adding more work, stress, commitments on your plate.
My team of mentors, experts and guides and I are here for you, your peace of mind, and your transgenerational, transcultural, and transdimensional legacy play!
