You Are Beautiful, Michelle!

Michelle’s Journey & Why support her GO FUND ME Campaign:

Michelle’s Backstory & Dream: Michelle Gommel grew up loving music & pursued her Bachelor's degree in Music in 2013 thinking that was her destiny, but realized that in her heart she always wanted to be a part of something bigger than herself & wanted to give back by serving her community & country which led her to join the Marine Corps in 2014. Her weight was always something that she struggled with, but her dream of helping and serving was more important to let it come in her way & so she worked hard & released all the extra weight to finally be able to join in as a Marine.

Her Life Altering Injury: Her daily routine involved at least 1 to 2 hours of physical activities like hiking, running etc. Everything was working out just as she had dreamed off, until after 2 years when she visited her Dr with an excruciating pain in her back which meant that she could no longer participate in any group physical activities, starting to gain weight rapidly. After about 6 months she received the result of her MRI that showed that she had a herniated disk and was medically retired in 2017. By the time she left in about 1.5 years, due lack of any physical activity her weight had almost doubled & she was no longer able to fit in her uniform. The injury shifted the complete trajectory of her life & dreams. But even after everything that was happening, she continued to face & fight every challenge like a true marine.

Her New Hope: She decided to become a Learning Coach & launched her business, The Constant Scholar helping and inspiring people to be lifelong learners and pursue their dream by providing them with the resources they need to be successful. She launched her business and her website up thinking that she could work from behind the desk & didn’t need to meet anyone or show herself to anyone & avoid judgment and criticism about her being curvy. But little did she know at that time that as a small business owner she was the face of her business & for her to be able to succeed in her life she would need to go out there & connect with people. She also realized that she would need to acquire business skills to contribute to her success.

New Challenges: She overcame the hurdle of learning business skills by joining an international online course that trains coaches to acquire business skills to succeed in their life. The second hurdle was a bit more challenging than what she anticipated as it meant putting herself out there in the community and having her pictures taken. She was afraid that her potential clients would not respect her enough if they saw her pictures at that weight. She mentioned this concern in her accountability group, to which one of her peer (a client of mine) reached out & encouraged her that she is beautiful & good enough just the way she is and sent her my photography website (www.ZoomIntoLife.com ) to help inspire her and see what she meant, as she knew that she would be motivated & encouraged seeing the same day transformations & reading the testimonials from women on my website.

How & Why this Campaign Transpired: Approximately 3 weeks ago, I received an email from my client of how she used my website as a therapy to help a woman in her online business support group as she lost all self-confidence and felt invalidated because of her injury & weight gain. But after seeing the work on my website she was so moved that she cried for an hour seeing my work as she fell in love with it, as it inspired & motivated to know that she too could look and feel beautiful, confident and be successful in her business. However due to lack of sufficient funds to fly to Toronto & getting her photos done was heartbroken as she knew that it was something impossible for her to do at the moment and decided that she would ask one of her loved ones to take a picture of her.

After hearing Michelle’s story & how my work motivated her, I was so moved that I felt a great urge to reach out to her as I knew I had to do something for her, I knew it in my heart that if just the thought that she could look good could be so powerful & empowering then the actual experience will surely help her regain her lost confidence & make a huge difference in her life. I wanted to empower her with the confidence & the knowledge that she is beautiful inside out and good enough. I relayed a message back to her that if she could somehow find a way to come to Toronto, I will gift her the entire experience including the portraits at no cost to her as a gift from my side. She wrote to me saying that "It was like kismet kicked in, and it was almost like, "Ask, and You Shall Receive", I am so grateful for this opportunity to make my light shine, and to look and feel beautiful for the first time in a long time". She has decided to drive down all the way from Indianapolis for her photo shoot scheduled for early March. I am super excited to meet her & to capture her inner light & beauty in my lens & gift it back to her.

How can you support Michelle: You can partner with me in this campaign to raise CAD $1250 for her other expenses related to her trip or Become an in-kind sponsor! Please spread the word &  join hands with me to support Michelle in her journey of feeling Beautiful, Empowered & Good Enough.

I truly want Michelle to walk away with the most memorable, beautiful & stress-free experience of her life. However, I need you to join hands with me & your support to make it happen and be a part of Michelle's journey. Michelle & I are truly grateful for your all your support & help.

I truly believe that as humans, in our core we all want to help, share & give back in some way, shape or form. You can support in any way you wish, sending her wishes or encouraging words, sharing this campaign on your social media or in your network to help spread the word, monetarily through Go Fund Me or sponsoring in kind for the special bag for her. 

Go Fund Me: If you or someone you know can help sponsor her monetarily through this Go Fund Me campaign, to help fund her for accommodation, meals, transportation & travel expenses (for flight or gas) that would be truly appreciated.

In-Kind Sponsor: You can connect with me through email if you would like to sponsor in kind as I am planning to create a gift bag for her to continue feeling beautiful & supported even after after the entire experience. I will be calling the bag YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!