Today we’d like to introduce you to Jamie Molnar
Jamie, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My journey has certainly been a long and winding path, with lots of wrong turns! But I believe everything I have been through has made me the professional that I am today, and for that reason, I wouldn’t change a thing. I actually started as a film major as an undergraduate at UCF (Go Knights!). To fully immerse myself, I even traveled to USC for summer classes and made some short films. I came back to Florida determined to be a director but uncertain of how or where exactly that would take me. So I continued on my college journey and began taking philosophy and psychology classes to become a director with a vision and a message. I fell deep into this world, and to be honest, this is when my career began to shift. I realized I liked exploring how and why people think and behave. One Psychology degree and one Spanish degree later, I decided to continue the trek. I also loved to travel and be abroad, so I ended up in Australia for my master’s degree. I studied and worked there for four years, came back and began working in the field. But then, in 2009, I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Hodgkins Lymphoma and my life was turned upside down. I immediately went into treatment and lost my job, savings, apartment, friends who didn’t want to “deal with it” and I had to pack my bags and move back in with my parents. I felt extremely alone on this journey and didn’t have a community to support me. I survived this lonely and traumatic time in my life and finished my final chemotherapy treatment on my 30th birthday, right before the doctors told me I could go back to living a “normal” life. But nobody tells you that with cancer, the real struggle begins after you finish treatment. The emotional, physical, and spiritual pain that you experience, the existential crisis, the struggle to make sense of what happened – that is a separate journey. I lost everything. I was bitter and angry and had to deal with the after-effects of my treatment. This painful experience forced me to really look at the way I was living my life. Before cancer, I spent many years trying to find happiness in all the wrong places. Now, for the first time, I realized I couldn’t go back to that “normal” nor did I want to. I needed more. I needed to heal my body and myself. And while Western medicine saved my life, it didn’t help me resolve and heal from my treatment experience as a whole, so I took a dive into Eastern medicine to heal my body and find peace within. This is where I found my passion for yoga philosophy. In 2012, I took my yoga teacher training certificate, and it opened the floodgates to all the ways yoga can help us heal ourselves. This training reconnected me to my spiritual body again and led me to pursue a 6-week intensive yoga training in India. This profound and impactful experience changed everything for me. I’ve been practicing and learning Eastern methods ever since.
This way of living has allowed me to transform my life and find new ways of being totally. I was able to reconnect with my true, authentic self and let go of trauma. For the first time in my life, I was able to create boundaries and say no. I met my partner and established a healthy, loving relationship. And the best part was that I felt more connected to my mind, body, and spirit than ever before. What I realized was—I needed to be stripped down to my very core to see who I was and what I’m meant to do in this world. It allowed me to reconnect to my purpose. This is the reason I do everything I do now. I want to help others find peace, joy, and alignment for themselves, just like I did. And that led me to create the business that I operate today. Be Your Best Self + Thrive Counseling, PLLC. Was born out of my passion for mental wellness, holistic health, and de-stigmatizing mental health. I wanted to create a modern, inclusive space for individuals and couples to feel safe, empowered, and ready to embark on the incredibly rewarding path towards reconnecting with their true, authentic selves and living their best lives. I truly care about my clients and am dedicated to providing an empathic and specialized counseling experience.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Not only did I have the difficult, personal journey that I have been on since cancer, I also did not have a clue about how to run a business. I knew I wanted to be a businesswoman. But having an idea and turning that idea into a profitable, successful business are two very different things, and it took me many years and many failed attempts to figure out the formula for success. As wellness professionals, we are trained extensively in our specific treatment modalities. We spend many years learning, studying, and mastering our craft. But our training focuses on our clinical work only – we get zero business training. I realize that to turn my dream into reality. I had to be honest with myself about what I didn’t know. So I took business courses, signed up for business coaching and mentorship, and attended workshops and training to educate myself. And after years of being a business owner, here are my top 3 pieces of advice to other wellness professionals starting a new business: 1. Be willing to invest in yourself and your business continually. 2. Find folks that are where you want to be and study everything that they are doing. 3. Build a community of like-minded professionals that believe in the spirit of collaboration, not competition.
As you know, we’re big fans of Be Your Best Self + Thrive Counseling, PLLC. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about the brand?
Be Your Best Self + Thrive Counseling, PLLC., is a modern, holistic and inclusive group counseling practice located in downtown St. Pete. We work with teens, adults, couples and families that want to reduce anxiety and stress, overcome trauma and depression, improve their relationships, and learn how to develop positive attitudes towards life’s most complex and challenging circumstances. We take pride in our unique approach to mental health, which includes a variety of mind-body-spirit approaches, and we offer support both in-person and online. Our services are available to all Florida residents. Jamie Molnar, owner and founder, is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Registered Yoga Teacher, and a State of Florida Qualified Supervisor. She specializes in Yoga Psychology, a unique process that focuses on integrating the psychological pearls of wisdom of ancient yoga teachings with modern depth psychology principles for emotional, physical, and spiritual health.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
I am a classically trained pianist that begins playing at four years old!
Contact Info:
- Email: jamie@jamiemolnar.com
- Website: https://www.bybsandthrive.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bybsandthrive/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bybsandthrive
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