Change is Coming
Our bodies are naturally diverse and come in a wide range of shapes, sizes, and weights. You cannot tell anything about a person’s health and well-being just from looking at their body. Further, health is not a moral imperative, and it is up to each individual to decide which health-promoting behaviors matter to them and are accessible to them at any point in their lives.
These beliefs are different from the current leading beliefs of our nutrition, fitness, wellness, and healthcare industries. Through my work, I am actively trying to dismantle our dominant culture in order to build a better, more inclusive one.
I invite you to join me.
About Me
Hey y’all! I’m Shohreh (rhymes with foray), and my pronouns are she/her/hers. I live and work on land that is the unceded territory of the Tonkawa and Comanche tribes.
One thing that people tend to notice about me right away is that I am unapologetically myself. I am the same person in real life as I am on the internet and on my podcast. But it wasn’t always that way. I used to be obsessed with following the “rules” and hitting expected milestones.
Back when I was an attorney, I felt like I was two different people – “Real” Shohreh and “Work” Shohreh. Work Shohreh had to run everything through filters – was she dressed appropriately? Did she come off as too aggressive or arrogant? Would her colleagues be embarrassed? Work Shohreh shrunk her personality to fit in.
Meanwhile, Real Shohreh – mixed-race, queer, neurodivergent Shohreh – was screaming inside to be heard. Real Shohreh daydreamed about getting more tattoos and dyeing her hair purple. Real Shohreh felt stifled and hated the brain space that was being taken up by thinking about how not to step on her colleagues’ toes.
Real Shohreh didn’t want to have to hide anymore – she wanted to be accepted as her authentic self.
Even though I got really good at being Work Shohreh in the office, Work Shohreh was always exhausting to perform. So I eventually left my legal career and started my own wellness coaching business to give myself the space to be me (and to help others do the same).
The rules I had to follow to fit in as an attorney were just as arbitrary as the oppressive rules most of us live by in a culture of dieting, weight stigma, and impossible beauty standards. Perhaps there’s a No-Excuses You, Eats-Salad-In-Front-Of-Others You, or Has-It-All-Together You overshadowing the Real You?
I know what it’s like to stuff down your own wants and needs because you feel like you have to conform to fit in. And I know for some people it can be downright dangerous to reveal yourself in a discriminatory world. Yet I believe we are all worthy of experiencing joy, pleasure, and satisfaction in our lives, even though our culture says we’re not, and I want to help you do so in whatever way feels right for you.
Using a weight-inclusive, Health At Every Size (HAES)-informed approach to eating, moving, and relating to your body, I help people break free from limiting rules so the Real You no longer has to scream to be heard.
I do not work with people who want to solely prioritize weight loss and aesthetic changes to their bodies or people who are currently in eating disorder recovery (unless on referral from their treatment team). I do work with people who desire to break free from the diet mentality, learn to eat more intuitively, start to actually enjoy exercise, redefine health and wellness for themselves, and begin the process of trusting their bodies. These are people who may still wish to lose weight, but who are willing to put that desire on the backburner to focus their attention on how they feel and how they can best nourish themselves.
If that sounds like you, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Credentials: Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor. ACSM Certified Personal Trainer. Certified Online Trainer. Host of the Redefining Health & Wellness podcast. Juris Doctor. Constantly learning, reading, taking courses, and honing my craft.
Love Languages: Glitter and rainbows. Dogs (I have two – Alamo and Peppermint). Hot tea. Hiking. Trapeze. Thoughtful gifts. Afternoon naps. Cake.
Influences: My work has not been created in a vacuum. I have grown into myself by absorbing and processing the work of many wise culture makers, including Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, Lindo Bacon, Sonya Renee Taylor, Kelly Diels, Ijeoma Oluo, Christy Harrison, Kristin Neff, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and several personal therapists over the years.
My Promise To You
I work to own my privilege and provide an inclusive space where all body sizes, races, sexes, gender identities, sexual orientations, ages, and abilities are valued and welcome. That doesn’t mean I won’t ever get it wrong (I definitely will), but I promise to do my best to listen to those who have been impacted by my mistakes and learn from them to do better in the future.
Additionally, while the coaching I offer is a premium service and is priced accordingly, I recognize that there are many factors at play that lead to wealth disparity in our society. As such, I try to provide services at a range of price points, and I have also reserved a few sliding scale online coaching spots for those in need. If you experience a form of marginalization that would make paying full price difficult, please contact me to see if we can work something out.
