Hi there,
My name is Ashley Novak, and I’m a Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner (FNTP) through the Nutritional Therapy Association (NTA) and a Holistic Lifestyle Coach through the Chek Institute, founded and led by Paul Chek. I also have a Bachelors of Science degree in Biochemistry from the University of Illinois- Chicago. Say all of that 10 times fast.
My passion in the field of health and wellness has been a centerfold in my life for as long as I can remember. I grew up in an athletic family, playing volleyball in college, and have spent the last 12 years racing competitively as a runner and triathlete in marathons and the IronMan series.
In between the training as an athlete, I have also worked as a full time model in the fashion industry for over 10 years. I have listened and watched many agencies tell me, as well as hundreds of other women, what to do to their bodies to make them “fit” industry standards. It became very apparent to me that these people instructing us, had zero knowledge in safely educating or leading anyone what to do with their body. This lead me to become a lead trainer for many of my agencies, helping women, who were being incorrectly trained by male fitness instructors
It wasn’t until the last few years, I have really taken a full swing into focusing my studying and education, my clients, and my mission, into the female body.
Five years ago, I lost my mother to a long and difficult battle with alcoholism. Two years ago, I was training for a marathon and half IronMan, two weeks apart from each other. I had already raced in numerous races that year, training over three hours a day, on top of traveling over four days a week for work. The day of the half IronMan, I woke up exhausted, beat, and mentally drained. After the race season was done, I noticed different things about my body. I was tired all the time and struggled to get out of bed (I’m normally a morning person), my hair was thinning and spotted growing in length, my face exploded in painful cystic acne, my emotions were all over the place, and I felt utterly disconnected from myself. I tried everything, elimination diets, yoga, every facial on the market, but nothing helped.
Finally, over the last two years, I’ve discovered about myself what SO many women don’t know: living and eating to our cyclic nature, via an infradian rhythm. My first thought was, what the heck is an infradian rhythm, what is our cyclic nature, and how come no one told me about it before? I think we as woman can all agree, once we hit that moment of red womanhood, we are handed a pad and tampon, sent off on our way with a waving “good luck.” That’s it. Nothing more. We aren’t taught how to tap into our divine feminine power and all the beauty that encompasses it. We get lost in the ruffle, in the same societal jokes about our gender, how we are so hormonal, PMS stigma, infertility, and more. Some of us, like most of my life, we are taught femininity is weakness, be an overachieving, strong and independent, masculine- dominated woman, and you’ll make it. We lose sight of the balance, of appreciating both the balance of the yin and the yang.
My business and the career I am passionate about building, centers around educating women on the very nature of their bodies and our hormones, how to eat, workout, make decisions, and live to their bioindivideal design, learning how to use both the masculine and feminine energies, and connecting so deeply with themselves that they leave feeling the most in tune, via mind, body, and soul, that they’ve ever felt in their life. In addition to the long line of family history against addiction, I also help woman who are struggling in a sober lifestyle, create a better path for themselves, as well as making sure they are nutritionally getting their bodies back to prime functionality. It’s something I wish I had known when I was my mom’s full time caregiver.
I’m grateful for all of these life experiences thus far, as they’ve directed a very straight compass for my passions in this life. I love functional medicine, and I know my life will forever grow and be dedicated to it.
While I know much of this describes me working solely with women, I do work with men also, treating them with the same care and intention, as I do with my female clients.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I look forward to connecting with you.
Much Love,
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