I grew up in the theatre, beginning professional work at the age of 8. As a young performer, I was once asked what I would do if I could never dance again. My answer came instantly: help people. Years later, someone I greatly respected told me out of the blue, “you’re going to help a lot of people.” I didn’t know how yet or in what way, but I believed her.
Performing showed me something I now see at the core of ReFive: real change happens in connection. It happens in shared effort, in building something together. I loved it, but I knew it wasn’t my final expression of service.
That clarity sharpened in 2020, when I was on tour with Aladdin and the world shut down. I turned fully toward health, behavior change, and holistic wellbeing. I gave my all every day, coaching adults and beginning to build ReFive which, at that time, was a program from them.
But I kept seeing the same patterns: disconnection from goals, lack of purpose, loneliness, and even physical pain. I wanted to instill real change, but every time I helped someone put a fire out, a new one would crop up.Then a moment shifted everything.
Our 16-year-old goddaughter told us about a boy in her grade who had taken his own life, the third student at her school that year. I realized I didn’t know a single kid growing up who died that way. What struck me most was how normal it sounded from her. Tragedy didn't seem shocking. Instead, it seemed familiar.
That’s when it became clear: this isn’t just individual struggle. It’s the environment young people are growing up in.Soon after, I became a mother and the mission crystallized.
I pivoted from helping adults break the bad habits formed in younger years to helping teens create great habits to bring into adulthood. ReFive exists to give young people what many of us had to learn the hard way: real connection before disconnection becomes the norm.
I’m building it for the teenager I once was, for the kids growing up now, and for my daughter. I'm building it so they don’t have to spend years finding their way back to themselves.