Top Secret

You'll be surprised to learn the secrets we dug up about these women, and how they turned those stumbling blocks into stepping stones.

We all have secrets. Some tightly held near to our heart that we don’t want the world to know and then there’s the secrets that drive us … get us where we want to go. Do we always know what they are? Or is it almost an unconscious, innersoul that guides us through our life?

We may not take the time to examine our lives until there’s a big snag or walking on the stilettos every day becomes mundane. Stacy Sims took stock of her life as an alcoholic agoraphobic. She realized no external force could make her change, but that a change from within herself would take her in a total new direction. Changing her life has offered her joy, abundance and opportunity.

As a successful author, playwright, founder of the True Body Project and owner of Pendleton Pilates, Sims says she’s having fun, helping others and she’s happy with her life. Much of what Sims has accomplished is due to her fear of returning to the person she used to be. Sims feels with time, discipline and a clean interior the possibilities you can create for yourself are endless.

Lisa Herman, owner of Salon Urbanity, has a beauty secret that can get you through more than a bad hair day. Her secret is to know your strengths, accept your weakness and run with your strengths.

When Herman opened her first salon, she thought her strength and her ability to make each customer feel comfortable, would be the key to her success. Eighteen years later, she’s still convinced a haircut isn’t all a customer wants. They want to chat and feel right at home no matter how big the salon might be.

You may walk out of Herman’s spa with a sassy new hairdo, your eyebrows shaped just so and your nails polished. But according to Herman, it’s your inner strength that remains when your hair starts to frizz, your eyebrows grow astray and your nails chip. Good advice from a friend.

At age 11, Kimberly McAninch awoke after being in a coma for three months. While in the coma, God spoke to her and said she had a mission. McAninch’s mission evolved when she was 15-years-old as she learned to trust in her spiritual being. Since then, she’s been on an amazing journey as a natural psychic.

McAninch connects with a person in their situation, but then removes herself and can relate to that person as an observer. McAninch helps others find their secret self, not what others may project them to be. She gives them confirmation and empowers them to make a decision. "Things can happen that throw us off, but we still can choose our day," she says. Connect with McAninch and her psychic powers at York St. Cafe on Wednesdays.

Sara Jane Bellamy, art teacher and relationship enthusiast, is happy with who she is and the journey within herself that led her to experience and understand the depth of relationships. She believes what you struggle through gives you the most confidence and faith in yourself.

To Bellamy, a relationship involves getting to know people on the deepest level and discovering their best selves. It’s beautiful to develop a relationship and see what lies within a person. You can watch the emotions of people move around inside and then help them bring those feelings to the surface.

Bellamy believes you are always learning about a person, and it’s of no use to try to pigeon hole them.

So what’s their secret? They’re all happy with who they are, where they’ve been, what they’ve learned along the way and have many more places to go. So know yourself, make adjustments if you don’t like what you see, learn from the good and bad times and share your inner beauty with a friend.