Life & Work with Ashley DeAcetis

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley DeAcetis.

Hi Ashley, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Growing up in a vibrant Italian American family with a grandmother whose love language was feeding people, my love of cooking and eating was in my roots. I decided at the young age of 3 that I wanted to be in the kitchen and would play restaurant with my family and friends often. I was always a part of cooking family dinners and picking ingredients from my grandfather’s garden. Food was love. Food was control. Food was connection. And I fell deeply in love with it.

After deciding that food was my path (and to never trust a skinny chef), my love for food became complicated like most love stories do. I gained a lot of weight and became uncomfortable in my skin. I started believing the names people would call me and began to hate my body, eventually seeing food as the enemy. Upon graduating culinary school at 21 and learning I was pre-diabetic with high blood pressure, I was forced to exercise to avoid long-term health complications, which further fueled my hate for my body and unhealthy relationship with food.

When I started seeing results with excessive running and food deprivation, people started asking me for advice and help with their journey. The deeply complex reality that my eating disorder made me a role model and source of inspiration confronted me with imposter syndrome. This lack of integrity demanded that I get honest and accountable for being healthy instead of just looking healthy. Coming home to my body and restoring my relationship with food required me to confront and heal some challenging patterns in myself. 2 bouts of binge/eating + bulimia disorder, 7 marathons, 3 ultra-marathons, and 2 physique competitions didn’t feel like living. I was barely surviving, a slave to the constant noise in my head about my body, self-worth, and food choices. And I wanted it to stop.

This is where the pivot happened, and my interest in helping others with their wellness journeys took root. I got certified as a personal trainer, studied nutrition and physiology, deepened my spiritual practice with meditation and reiki certifications, and left my career as a chef to pursue fitness and health full-time. I spent the better part of the last 3 years dedicating myself to re-patterning my beliefs, learning to exercise healthily in a way that still pushed me to my goals, and to loving and appreciating my body (and breakfast) ! Releasing the fear, shame, and morality associated with my body and food choices has changed everything about how I live and support others. Weight lifting, fitness, and nutrition became a healing place for me to reclaim my agency, my health, a sense of community, and my vibrant creativity. Although every day is still a negotiation on that journey, I have found stability and a way of being in my body and the world that is authentic, grounded, and in service to helping others. Giving birth to my son Journi (1 year ago this month!) sent me back into that spiral of being in my body, opening me to a new dimension of how my work can support other mothers to thrive. It’s my pleasure to help myself and other mamas learn to love their bodies healthily.

Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned? Looking back, has it been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No, it was not a smooth road in my health and healing and stepping into this role as a leader and coach in this industry. In this process, I’ve had to learn to interact and work with my anxiety, my imposter syndrome, and my lack of self-worth repeatedly. No matter what industry or business you are stepping into, there is a bit of that imposter syndrome in us all. We don’t choose our path; it chooses us and is often intertwined with and a direct result of our struggles and challenges. Without them, I wouldn’t have sought out my healing. Without them, I wouldn’t have the same level of empathy and compassion. Without them, I wouldn’t be the coach that I am today.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am known for holistic healing of body, mind, and spirit – through movement, nutrition, mindset,and energy. I am extremely proud of a program specifically for mamas that focuses on all the above: Babes, Babies + Barbells. This container is specifically designed for mamas that love to lift, where I help them reclaim their athleticism, strength, and confidence post-baby. We cover things like mindset, habits, nutrition, and movement in this program, and it’s all customized specifically to the mama’s life and her goals. There is no one-size fits all coach for everyone, so these mama’s that I work with are chosen and must choose me (through a discovery conversation) if we are aligned and would be a good team. Once we have agreed to team up, they become a part of a very special container of other mamas where there is support and unity in the collective. More information on Babes, Babies + Barbells can be found on my website, www.spiritandsoulawakening.love, Instagram @fit_mama_coach, and Facebook – Ashley’s Fit Mama Tribe.

Naturally, with my love of good food and my degree in culinary arts, I have a meal prep service called Conscious Culinary that focuses on carefully curated menus using quality sourcing of ingredients, high-vibrational foods, and balanced nutrition to help support the body, mind, and spirit. I am a Reiki practitioner, and while I don’t actively perform Reiki as an offering, I infuse this life-force energy into the food I create and delight in sharing this with the world. This offering is near and dear to my heart and is ever-evolving as I evolve. More information on this evolution, as it progresses, can be found on my website – www.spiritandsoulawakening.love, as well as on Instagram @consciousculinarycreations.

Finally, I just became certified to be a childbirth educator. This is in the infancy stages and is not something I am known for (yet), but it felt so natural after the birth of my son and my evolution into working with mamas. As a childbirth educator, I am here to help mamas feel informed and empowered for their birth, covering topics like what happens to my body during labor and birth, affirmations, choosing a care provider, the holistic stages of labor, coping in labor and birth, birth plans, informed consent, possible interventions, tests and medications, baby’s first moments, mama’s first moments, healing after birth, adjusting to a new life, postpartum mental health and many more. As this offering develops, more information can be found on my website, www.spiritandsoulawakening.love, and on Instagram @fit_mama_coach.

My holistic approach is what sets me apart. I know “holistic healing” is a buzzword, but I’m not here to sell you a fancy tea or supplement or tell you that modern medicine is bad and herbs fix everything. I am here to share the healing tools that I found have truly helped me and help you learn what works best for you. I have a lot of expertise in the fitness and nutrition realms from years of studying, and I also have years worth of lived and shared experience in the shamanic, earth medicine, sacred plant medicine and healing realms to share. There are no better medicines than breath, movement, high-vibrational food, sunshine, water, and rest. I help my clients integrate these things into their lives in a balanced, sustainable, healthy, and worthwhile way for the entire family. This is what I believe truly sets me apart from others. I am here to radically change your experience of what it means to inhabit your body. To LIVE instead of survive.

Networking and finding a mentor can positively impact one’s life and career. Any advice?
Finding a mentor is so personal. You need to feel alignment and trust with the person (or people) that you choose to partner with. Starting a business or any endeavor that is going to stretch you and challenge you requires you to have an objective bystander who is aligned for your success but someone who is also there to call you out on your BS; I’ve started many projects that never ended up becoming anything tangible when I tried to work solo. When I partnered with a mentor(s), I could get through my own BS quicker and now have a little network of offerings that I feel so good about and excited to share with the world.

What I recommend most about choosing a mentor is to find someone who has what you want to have (or similar), someone who has done what you’ve done. And I don’t mean they “manage” what you’d like to have or are working towards what you’d like to have. Ideally, they would have already done it and be willing to walk the path again with you to ensure success. Find ways to be involved in the communities they have created. Read the books they have read. Listen to their stories.

Sometimes mentors look like a big financial investment, and sometimes they look like an old friend who wants to pass down their knowledge to continue on their legacy through you. Whatever the opportunity looks like, take advantage of it if it feels good in your spirit and deep in your bones. I have never regretted partnering with a mentor.

Pricing:

• All of my services are variable pricing and require a conversation

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/hippieayeee
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fit_mama_coach/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ashley.elizabeth.39794