About

Hi, I'm Celeste!
My story is below, but in a few sentences, you can describe me professionally as ...
a traditional naturopath, health educator, researcher, herbal and essential oil guru, functional medicine health coach, functional lab interpreter, hair tissue mineral analysis practitioner, mindfulness-based stress reduction and meditation teacher, yoga instructor and entrepreneur!
Basically, I'm a natural health educator who analyzes western labs with a functional health and eastern medicine perspective. I listen and coach clients on taking an active role in preventing and reversing disease utilizing the foundations of health and integrative modalities.

Sometimes we find our path in mysterious ways. Having childhood friends and family diagnosed with cancer, Celeste developed a curiosity about resilience and the human psyche at an early age. As she entered college, she discovered the world of health and science and became a research chemist with a concentration in genetics and nutritional biochemistry. After working in pediatric medicine at East Carolina University, she followed the path of proactive wellness and prevention creating educational opportunities for patients, families and staff to reduce stress and promote healing. There she researched noise levels in neonatal intensive care units and created a world-wide protocol assisting in the design of less intrusive methods to providing care while also promoting growth and health in infants.

After receiving her Masters in Health Education and Wellness Promotion, she designed and managed the Wellness Center at Danville Regional Health System in Virginia. There she provided guidance to those wanting to create a richer presence through lifestyle choices. During that time, she received training in mindfulness-based stress reduction and biofeedback. She also ventured deeper into complementary and alternative therapies. In 2003, she won the State of Virginia Wellness in the Workplace Award.

In 2004, she found her calling at SAS Institute, Inc. headquarters in North Carolina. In her role as Wellness and Fitness Manager, she was able to take her vision and creativity to grow this division into an award winning program. This includes an outdoor meditation garden, open-air yoga and meditation platform, walking labyrinth, comprehensive yoga program with mind/body studio, mindfulness meditation offerings, wellness seminar program, well-being workshops, fitness testing, red light therapy and bionetics programs, aromatherapy workshops, wellness room bookings, and more. As she says, they were the Google before Google, cultivating a workplace that promotes work/life balance while promoting overall health and well-being.

During her decades at SAS, many things happened. She discovered that she carried the BRCA2 genetic mutation which answered the question of why so many family members were diagnosed with cancer. With that knowledge she explored research around the world and created protocols to assist in cancer prevention and treatment options. Throughout the years, she has presented her work and educated various groups, organizations, executive leadership teams and medical schools in addition to working one-on-one with clients. She also coordinates annual health and wellness events providing holistic education while also raising awareness and funds for a variety of causes including cancer.

Celeste is also a Mindful Menopause Coach and helps women minimize and eliminate symptoms during the perimenopausal, menopausal and postmenopausal years. She specializes in analyzing blood laboratory reports, HTMA (hair tissue mineral analysis) and taking a functional medicine approach in discovering deficiencies and making recommendations to clients before they become a health concern. She believes in addressing the root cause of illness, restoring health and not simply masking the symptoms. She also takes great pride in receiving her Doctor of Traditional Naturopathy degree in 2020 which blends chemistry, health education and integrative therapies into one. Over the years, she has educated youth, medical staff, corporations and individuals on proactive versus reactive ways to manage stress, create healthy life habits and live with awareness. She encourages living life from the inside out, mindfully and with intention.

In addition to creating content for online continuing education at Mind Body YOUniversity, she is also a guest speaker, provides teacher trainings and in-person group continuing education sessions. She also works one-on-one with clients in addition to collaborating with other wellness professionals, assisting them with creating their own personal or corporate natural health and wellness center.

Celeste practices what she teaches. She believes humor and nature are a must to bring harmony to the body, mind and spirit. Celeste is a yogini, front porch meditator and has an apothecary of essential oils and flower essences to help find her own bliss! She's mother to a smart and amazing daughter who is now on her own professional path in the integrative mental health world. She lives with her fiancé on 5 acres where they take in the views of the nearby hiking mountains from their front porch. Together, they plant food and herbal gardens under the sun, hike the nearby trails, kayak on the river, practice yoga under the Willow Oak trees, and breathe in the fresh night air as they gaze at the stars and enjoy life.

While it seems as if she may relax a lot based on the paragraph above, she has been quite busy. She has the following credentials:

Certified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Instructor (1997)
Nationally Master Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES) and one of the first to receive this status (CHES 1997, MCHES 2011)
Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (E-RYT 200) with Yoga Alliance (2006)
Certified Balanced Body Pilates Instructor (2007)
Certified in Yin-Yang Yoga (2008)
Certified Mindfulness Meditation Instructor (2009)
Certified Menopause Coach (2009)
Certified Wellness and Health Coach (2011)
Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider (2011)
Genetics and Cancer training (2012)
Certification in Kinesiology and Myofascial Integration for Movement Therapists (2014)
Certified Yoga Therapist (2015)
Certification in Aromatherapy and Essential Oils (2015)
Certification in TRX Suspension Training (2016)
Certification in Integrative and Functional Nutrition (2017)
Anatomy Trains for Movement Therapists certification (2017)
Certification in TRX Functional Training (2018)
Certification in TRX Advanced Group Training (2019)
Certification in Traditional Chinese Medicine (2020)
Certified Bionetic Practitioner (2020)
Bionetic Naturopathic Counselor (2021)
Certification in Homeopathic and Naturopathic Medicine (2021)
Flower Essence Educational Consultant (2021)
Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach (2022)
MyHappyGenes® Practitioner (2023)
500 hour Yoga Medicine graduate (2024)
Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA) certified practitioner (2025)

Celeste is a medical journal author, wellness writer for the SAS Life blog and winner of the Wellness in the Workplace Award for the state of Virginia. She is a National Wellness Conference presenter, a speaker at Duke Integrative Medicine Center, presenter at the Oregon Health & Science University as well as a SAS Big Ideas presenter. In 2020, she published her dissertation - The Misuse and Overuse of Antibiotics on Human Health: Are These Miracle Drugs Making Us Sick? In 2021, she wrote and published - Evaluating the Validity of the EMOTOX Protocol Utilizing the SpectraVision Bionetics Biofield Assessment Technology®. In 2023, she researched and published - Determining the Effectiveness of Flower Essence Remedies. Currently she is working on a project that involves bionetics and Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA).

Celeste believes that we all have the ability to create a life of meaning and fulfillment at any age, overcoming obstacles that fall into our path. She believes that education is a key component to prevention, sustained behavior change and quality of life. Through the combination of healthy living, human connection and mind-body therapies, everyone has the ability to ignite the spark to living a life with purpose. Her intention is to help people find the positive in all situations, learn from life experiences, discover authenticity within and obtain goals they believed were out of reach.

Professional Highlights

Meet Celeste