My Journey | Life, Medicine, & PLB

My journey to this point has been pretty interesting. If you have clicked on this blog to read along, you may already know that. I have had many ups and downs like most people experience in life – but I am happy to say I wouldn’t change it for the world.  I am certain that each experience has led me to where I am today.

If you take anything from this blog, it should be this: 

You are capable of anything. The storm is only as strong as the person.

There aren’t many things in this life that can’t be taken from you, but education is one of them. It’s important.

People’s opinions don’t actually matter and most people probably don’t like you as much as you think they do. Their opinion of you is not yours to worry about.

Happiness is your responsibility and yours only.

Perhaps the most important: NEVER give up on your Dream. 

First and foremost before we go on, I need to introduce myself as I am now. This is who I am proud of, and after all the “things..” hey, I made it. 

My name is Tina, and I am the founder and owner of Peace, Love, Beautiful Medspa here in Marietta, Ohio. Crazy, right? I certainly think so. I am a mother of boy/girl twins, Creed and Delaney. I have a step-daughter, Mia. My husband and I are now expecting our first child together, Selena. Eric and I were both born and raised in the MOV and now reside here with our family. I have been a nurse for 14 years but have worked in healthcare for about 18 years. My husband, Eric is truly my rock and the reason I decided to finally pursue my dreams. He has assured me every step of the way, “everything is gonna be fine.” Well so far, he has been correct. Eric is a former teacher and a current high school basketball coach who helps me every day to grow this business and make everything perfect. Together, we have started Henniger Rentals and look forward to growing that venture as well. 

Now for my story. 

I graduated RN school after a long journey in 2009. At the start of my college career, I wasn’t quite.. what you would call – ready. I had to try and fail a few times before I got it together. I battled a pretty nasty sickness in the middle of the RN program, which made an already difficult program, worse. I failed out once, but I went back and graduated. Passed my boards and off I went. 

I immediately started my BSN Program because I knew all along where I eventually wanted to be. Went through that without difficulty and graduated in May of 2011. As I was preparing for graduation, I began applying to schools to obtain my master’s. I actually applied for family practice, but was denied. Fortunately for me, I was accepted into women’s health. From that moment, my love for women’s health grew.

I was married to my first husband in September of 2011 – the very beginning of NP school. I actually remember doing homework on my honeymoon. I made it through NP school with no issues, graduated and passed my boards in April of 2013. During this time of learning all about women’s health, I was plagued with infertility. Starting a job in OB/Gyn, this was very, very hard. If you know anything about infertility, you know the last thing you want to do is be around pregnant women. This is where my for helping women with infertility began. There were several times I wanted to quit, but quitting what I had worked so hard for was not an option. 

In September of 2013 I underwent IVF for my twins. It was a success, but unfortunately the pregnancy and delivery wasn’t great. I became very ill with Pre-eclampsia and my twins were born in March of 2014 at 29 weeks. Scariest moment of my life, but that’s a story for another blog. As I was still under a year at my new job, while my kiddos were in the NICU, I commuted to work part-time for the next several months. In December of that year, I quit my first job to finally have a couple months home with my kiddos. 

In April of 2015 I started another job in an OB/Gyn office and shortly after starting, the physician I worked with opened a Medical Spa. I was very involved in the opening and learned all the things.. I LOVED it. After all, this had been my dream. Things happen (again, story for another blog) and I quit my second job at the Medical Spa in the summer of 2016. 

At this point, my kiddos were thriving and I was pretty happy with my professional life. I loved my patients, I loved going to work and I was checking off the timeline of life.

There was one problem. I, personally did not feel fulfilled. I wanted more. In December of 2016, my husband and I separated. 

At this point, I really had no idea what I REALLY wanted in life, but I knew I wanted more. All I knew was I loved women’s health, I loved making women feel good, and I wanted to provide the best possible life for my twins. 

In June of 2017, as a single mom, I went back to midwifery school. I was promised so many things from people, the hospital, you name it. After beating my way through school, in summer of 2019, I graduated. I now had this education and was excited to be able to take care of moms and babies. But surprise… those people, they lied. My career went no where with my fresh education. But I had it, I had my education and I knew then, I couldn’t be stopped and for the time being, I just worked. I paid my dues and went through the motions. 

In 2018, in the middle of school, the lord brought me and my kids an amazing man. Eric helped me through school and life during that time and encouraged me every step of the way. He could be an entire other blog post, and very well may be. In March of 2020, Eric and I broke ground on our house together. 

Then.

COVID.

Or so they said. I’m not convinced. But irregardless.

LAYOFF. 

I was given the option to be laid off, or be denoted to part time. Which would have been only a few days less of work – for half the pay. My kids were home because schools were closed, my boyfriend was home because he was a teacher, and we were building a house. I made the same amount of money being home with my family as the hospital was going to pay me. Added bonus: I could work on my dreams. 

I took the layoff.

The plan, they said, was to bring me back later in the year. I had a feeling. I just had a feeling. When June turned to July, and July turned to August, I saw the writing on the wall. I was not going back full-time. And if I was, it was going to be awhile. 

We had already sold my current house, so we took up residence in a 1 bedroom cabin on the river owned by my husbands family. Eric and me, three kids, a dog and a cat. In the middle of Covid, on unemployment, with literally no clue what was going to happen. Yes, it was exactly what you are imagining. 

I started to bring to life some infertility work. I did some brainstorming on how I could help the infertility community and through all of this came to life, Peace, Love, Fertility. I did mostly online work with counseling and wellness but was quickly shut down by the hospital for non-compete. Interesting, huh? Well, I had also been training, and planning my escape with aesthetics and was getting more and more excited. In September, I was offered to come back to the hospital part time, but had to stop everything else. 

I declined. I chose my dream.

Boy am I glad I did. 

I began to sketch. I made lists, I watched videos, I went to medical trainings, I did business trainings, I made my own website. Countless hours on the computer to bring all this to life, but I was so full of excitement, I did not even care.  I may have been on unemployment, but I was going to make this work. 

In October of 2020, Peace, Love, Beautiful came to life. I started slow because, well, I was broke, but I also wasn’t sure how this was going to go. Nonetheless, I went for it. I started out going to salons, homes, using my home and kind of playing around. I quickly realized, everyone loved it and my dreams of what I wanted just kept growing and growing. Now, I could do aesthetics, take care of women, manage some infertility, empower women, promote wellness and do it all in the same place. I needed a space, and quick. 

Again, broke, I found my first space. I made it my own and we began to grow. As soon as I made it my own, we had grown out of it! 

In July of 2021, I was married to the man of my dreams – we did it! I did it! It was a plan all along. 

In November of 2021, a new space was renovated in the heart of Marietta right on Front Street. We made it. 

Although long, that story was brief. The nitty gritty of what made me who I am, what built my philosophy and how my heart developed into what it is, remains a secret. One I have dealt with (mostly), and one I have accepted. Divorce, sickness, borderline abuse, family controversy, false leadership. It’s all over, and from these experiences, I have became better. I give more, I accept only what is deserved, I pay it forward every single chance I get, in every single way, and I am proud.  Everything is in the past, and going forward, I (we) are exactly in the right place. I fought for my happiness, and I WON!

Peace, Love, Beautiful is meant to be that for each and every one of you. The right place. We want to be the place you come to feel beautiful, loved, accepted and whole. Aesthetics, women’s health, wellness, or just friendship..we are here for you, your families and the Mid-Ohio Valley. 

Until next time, friends.

Tina