Tacey recently joined the Wellness on Whyte family as our General Manager.

We wanted to get to know her better and thought you would too!

Where did you grow up and what were you like as a child?

TD: I grew up in Edmonton. As a child, I was super shy, oddly enough. The weird thing is that I’d always want to do things that intrigued me but then I’d go and do them and they terrified me. I was fascinated with horses, so I asked my parents “Will you send me for horseback riding lessons? I really want to do this.” I got books and I researched them and then they sent me for lessons and I was terrified of horses. That was consistent, growing up.

Does that still happen?

TD: I think I evolved really quickly. I was super shy growing up and quiet and timid and just a people pleaser in a way. I come from a huge family. And when I hit my teens, I turned into a crazy person. I rebelled, and I was terrible. One week I was preppy and the next week I was alternative. There was nothing that you could tell me to do. If somebody told me no, I was like “Actually, yes.” I was out of control.

How many brothers or sisters do you have and where do you fall within the family?

TD: I am the third oldest of seven kids. And for some reason, growing up, my family always looked to me to mediate.

How did you get involved in the wellness industry?

TD: Chiropractors. When I was thirteen, I saw my first chiropractor and he was also into muscle testing and nutrition. My older sister started working for him part time and then that morphed into me (working there). After my older kids were in playschool and I was going through a divorce, I started working full time with a chiropractor, managing a clinic. I worked in lots of different chiropractic clinics over the years and decided to do my own thing where I wasn’t so rooted in the clinic and I could control my hours a little more and work by contracts.

How did you come to be at Wellness on Whyte?

TD: The one word that immediately comes to mind is destiny because I had met with Geha in 2015 and that didn’t work out and then I met with her again 6 months after and that didn’t work out. And now I’m here and it feels so good. It feels really right.

What’s kept you in the wellness industry instead of trying a different career path?

TD: Wellness is just a lifestyle. It’s so important to me so that’s what’s kept me rooted and connected with it.

What does the word “wellness” mean to you?

TD: Self love and self care. It’s taking care of you. Putting your (oxygen) mask on first, which I never do. It’s so bad.

When you’re not prioritizing wellness, how do you get back to that place where you’re putting yourself first?

TD: There are other people that always come before me because I’m a mom of three kids. I just have to make it a priority. I keep thinking oh, I will when I get this or that done and then six months goes by and I’m still not taking care of myself or I’m really hurting. Geha and I just had a conversation the other day and she’s like “Let’s make each other accountable,” and so we’re going to check in once a week and make sure we’ve done one thing for ourselves. There are always reasons and excuses but when I had to be accountable to somebody else for my self care, the guilt vanished.

What would you say you’re really good at?

TD: Being a mom. I am super proud of the kids I have. The humans they’re turning into are ah-mazing. I’ve never had any major problems with them and I have a great relationship with them. I’m so proud of being the mom that I am.

If you could leave them with one message, what would it be?

TD: It would have something to do with love. I think just really checking in with yourself and making sure you are doing things out of love. A lot of choices people make aren’t love based and ultimately that’s what
we live for, what fixes everything. Love. If you’re doing things out of love for yourself and others, then you’re doing the right thing.

What are you struggling with right now?

TD: My health. I’m really trying to do some investigating in my own head about why I’m dealing with this. It’s forcing me at this point. There were hints of this over the last few years but my body’s really pushing me to figure out what I should be dealing with that I’m not. I have my plan and I’m working on it so … I think it will unfold and I’m starting to get more answers and clues as time goes on. And oddly enough I feel like even being here has changed a lot of things for me. I’m interested to see what’s coming for 2018.

When was the last time you felt satisfied?

TD: A lot of my satisfaction right now comes from things that my kids love or something that happens to them that lights them up. For some reason that makes me feel satisfied. Like Paras, she pooped on the potty. We’ve been having such a hard time with her going. She’s such an organic child. She needs to squat (laughs). So, when she pooped and the way she was telling everyone… She’s so proud of herself. That is satisfying. It’s the little things in life!

Which three things or people are you most grateful for in this moment, right now?

TD: Destiny. Right now, I’m feeling so strongly about how this all came to be. And it didn’t just land in my lap, you know what I mean? There was this trail that happened long before I was aware of it.
Sabrina (Souto). She’s just been a major cheerleader for me. She always roots for me.
And love. Just learning more about it and connecting with it. I don’t know that people that I’m intimate with could say that I was necessarily in touch with that.