The Courage Coalition

There’s a quiet kind of courage in the way Jessica tells her story: a little girl in a house without electricity, pulling Salvation Army pieces from a closet and stepping into a “magic mirror.” Clothing wasn’t status—it was sanctuary. It was imagination when life felt unsafe. It was the first tool she used to see a future bigger than her circumstances. That muscle—imagination—became her superpower. And so did empathy. When you’ve known invisibility, you recognize it instantly in others: the way we hide behind long tops and safe choices, the way a fluorescent-lit fitting room can make a woman forget who she is. Jessica’s gift is not fashion for fashion’s sake; it’s helping women remember. I think of her “Cathy” moment—the fitted outfit, the duster, the breath held in front of the mirror—and the tears that came when a woman finally saw herself as beautiful. That is transformation.

What I love most is that Jessica doesn’t preach rules; she invites remembrance. She asks women to color outside the lines, to use imagination on purpose, to practice visibility in the mirror before they practice it on a stage. The clothes are only the tool; the work is belief. Because beliefs shape what we allow ourselves to see. When a client sat down, looked at her midsection, and said, “I feel awful,” Jessica didn’t retreat—she gave her an assignment: wear the outfit all day, keep returning to the mirror, keep looking until your eyes learn a new truth. Twenty-four hours later, that woman wasn’t the same. Not because the fabric changed, but because the belief did. That’s what aligned living looks like: choosing alignment over approval, expansion over safety, possibility over fear. Nothing changes if nothing changes—and sometimes the smallest brave step (tuck the shirt, add the belt, meet your own eyes) is the doorway to everything else.

If you’re reading this and feeling the nudge, consider this your permission slip. You don’t have to wait to “earn” visibility, worthiness, or beauty. You’re not required to meet a benchmark before you invest in the version of you that’s already calling. Start with curiosity: one color that makes you feel alive, one outfit that fits the future you’re building, one honest look in your own magic mirror. Suit up and show up—not to impress the world, but to serve it from your whole self. When we see ourselves clearly, we lead differently. And that is the power of style with purpose.

Find out more about Jessica and CSJ Styling: https://csjstyling.com/

Contact Corree or find out more about Corree and learn about all the ways she does not choose to stay in one lane go here: https://correeroofener.com/

To Purchase Emotional Money click here: Emotional Money

Are you ready to walk with us for https:/https://fosteringthesummit.org  Join us as we change the statistics for children aging out of foster care.

Also, follow me on https://www.instagram.com/correeroofenercoach/ for more inspiration and practical wisdom for your business and life. 

Until next time, keep shining bright!

- Corree

This week on The Courage Coalition, we arrive at the “A” in the BEAM Blueprint: Action. After uncovering our beliefs and values and gathering the evidence of where we’ve been and where we are, it’s time to do the brave thing take a step forward. Action doesn’t have to be complicated or overwhelming. In fact, the most powerful changes often come from the smallest, simplest shifts. One baby step can alter the trajectory of not just your finances, but your life.

Action looks like asking yourself hard but courageous questions: Where can I earn differently? How can I shift my spending? What savings habit can I automate today? Maybe that means turning a hobby into a side income, like the client who discovered she could teach horseback riding lessons. Maybe it’s deciding that instead of five coffee shop runs a week, you’ll cut it down to one and redirect the savings into an “Adventure” fund. Or maybe it’s as small as opening a savings account and committing to a dollar a week because proving to yourself that you can save is more important than the amount. These aren’t just financial choices; they are courageous acts of rewriting your truth.

Taking action is about creating new evidence, new behaviors, and new possibilities. It’s about showing yourself that you are capable of change, even if the step feels uncomfortable at first. Every time you act in alignment with your values whether by earning, spending, or saving differently you reinforce a new story: one of freedom, confidence, and purpose.

✨ Journal Prompt: What is one small, specific action I can take this week with my money whether earning, spending, or saving that will bring me closer to living in alignment with my values? How will I remind myself daily to follow through on it?

Contact Corree or find out more about Corree and learn about all the ways she does not choose to stay in one lane go here: https://correeroofener.com/

To Purchase Emotional Money click here: Emotional Money

Are you ready to walk with us for https:/https://fosteringthesummit.org  Join us as we change the statistics for children aging out of foster care.

Also, follow me on https://www.instagram.com/correeroofenercoach/ for more inspiration and practical wisdom for your business and life. 

Until next time, keep shining bright!

- Corree

This week on The Courage Coalition, I sat with Gena Floro—a former foster youth whose story cracked my heart open and stitched it back together with hope. Between ages eight and eighteen, Gena was placed in 32 homes and attended 17 schools. Those aren’t just numbers; they’re 32 sets of rules, 32 beds, 32 times of being reminded she didn’t get to belong. In care, even simple choices ear piercing, playing a sport, cutting your hair required permission. “I learned I wasn’t a person, I was a placement,” she said. Yet underneath the moves, the survival mode, and the grief, Gena never stopped carrying a quiet courage: the decision to keep going when giving up felt easier.

Five days before turning eighteen, she was adopted proof that “too late” is a lie. Her story is not sanitized. She names the depression, the acting out, the drugs, the abusive relationship, the night a life ended outside her window, in spite of being adopted, and then turning. She chose a recovery program, found a faith community, learned to set boundaries, and began believing what Jesus says about her: worthy, loved, made in His image. She is also vulnerable and open about going back to it all, only to have to begin again and the relationships that were lost are hurt in the process.

Today, Gena protects her peace, works hard, dreams of a family of her own, and hopes to foster and adopt someday. When I asked for her definition of courage, she said: “Courage is the quiet decision to keep showing up choosing growth over comfort, healing over hiding, and truth over silence.” That’s the heartbeat of this episode.

Gena reminds us that kids in care don’t need our pity; they need to be seen, listened to, and loved with consistency. They need adults who teach boundaries and trust, who show up without strings, and who stay. If you’ve ever wondered what difference one person can make, listen in. You might realize that love is rarely loud it looks like presence, permission to be human, and a seat at the table that doesn’t get pulled away.

Contact Corree or find out more about Corree and learn about all the ways she does not choose to stay in one lane go here: https://correeroofener.com/

To Purchase Emotional Money click here: Emotional Money

Are you ready to walk with us for https:/https://fosteringthesummit.org  Join us as we change the statistics for children aging out of foster care.

Also, follow me on https://www.instagram.com/correeroofenercoach/ for more inspiration and practical wisdom for your business and life. 

Until next time, keep shining bright!

- Corree

In week two of the BEAM process, we step into evidence. Numbers can feel intimidating P&Ls, budgets, balance sheets, but evidence isn’t just the black-and-white of what comes in and what goes out. Evidence is also the story of what you’ve already overcome. Maybe you put yourself through college on next to nothing, or you found a way to save for that first big family trip, or you had the courage to ask for a raise. Those are all pieces of evidence that you’ve done hard things before, and you’ll do them again. Evidence reminds us: you’ve built from something, even when it didn’t feel possible at the time.

But evidence also holds up the mirror. When you look at your bank or credit card statement, what is it telling you about your values? Are you spending on things that reflect who you are and what you want? Or are you continually drained by habits that don’t align with your goals? Sometimes the hardest part is simply seeing the truth. Because once you know—once you have clarity—you can decide what needs to change. Maybe that’s shifting $80 a month from coffee shop runs into your “Adventure” fund. Maybe it’s meal prepping on Sundays because health is a value you’ve been neglecting. These small, intentional shifts are evidence too: proof that you’re choosing courage over convenience, clarity over chaos.

The truth is, we can’t change what we don’t know. Collecting your evidence—both the stories that show you what you’ve already accomplished and the numbers that show you where you stand today—is where real transformation begins. From there, you get to align your money with your values, redirect your behaviors, and rewrite the story of your finances in a way that actually feels like freedom.

✨ Journal Prompt: Pull up your last month’s bank or credit card statement. Circle three expenses that make you feel proud because they align with your values. Then circle three that don’t. Ask yourself: What do these choices reveal about what I believe, and how can I shift my behavior to reflect the life I truly want?

Contact Corree or find out more about Corree and learn about all the ways she does not choose to stay in one lane go here: https://correeroofener.com/

To Purchase Emotional Money click here: Emotional Money

Are you ready to walk with us for https:/https://fosteringthesummit.org  Join us as we change the statistics for children aging out of foster care.

Also, follow me on https://www.instagram.com/correeroofenercoach/ for more inspiration and practical wisdom for your business and life. 

Until next time, keep shining bright!

- Corree

When I met Dani Malanche on the Tour du Mont Blanc, I knew right away she was someone I needed to know. We shared a few days on the trail together, and what unfolded was more than conversation, it was a lesson in courage, persistence, and what it means to live fully. Dani is a solo backpacker who has logged more than 2,000 miles, including the 800–mile Arizona Trail. But she’s also a former educator, a foster parent, and a woman who has learned how to take life one step at a time.

What inspired me most was how her trail stories mirror the realities of life and foster care. Dani broke her foot just two weeks into the Arizona Trail. Most people would have stopped there, but she chose to heal, return, and finish—600 miles completely on her own. She reminded me that you don’t have to conquer the full 800 miles in one day; you only have to take the next ten. Isn’t that the truth in every area of life? Whether it’s parenting, business, or navigating hardship, we don’t have to leap across the whole canyon. We just need the next best step.

For me, that reflection ties deeply into foster care. We often place expectations on children coming into care, expectations to adapt, behave, and thrive immediately in environments they’ve never known. Just as the trail strips away our illusions of control, foster care reveals how unrealistic those expectations can be. Dani’s story is a reminder: progress comes through humility, patience, and presence. The courage to keep moving—mile by mile, day by day—is what creates real change, both on the trail and in the lives we touch.

And that’s what the Courage Coalition is all about: reminding us that courage isn’t always loud or dramatic. Sometimes it’s the quiet decision to keep going, to take one more step, or to open our hearts in places where fear tells us to close off. Whether it’s 800 miles of trail, the calling of foster care, or the mountains in your own life—you already have what you need to take the next step.

Learn more about Dani here: https://www.instagram.com/dani_malanche/

Contact Corree or find out more about Corree and learn about all the ways she does not choose to stay in one lane go here: https://correeroofener.com/

To Purchase Emotional Money click here: Emotional Money

Are you ready to walk with us for https:/https://fosteringthesummit.org  Join us as we change the statistics for children aging out of foster care.

Also, follow me on https://www.instagram.com/correeroofenercoach/ for more inspiration and practical wisdom for your business and life. 

Until next time, keep shining bright!

- Corree

This week on The Courage Coalition, I had to sit with a hard question: Where do I go from here? The truth is, I was wrestling with clarity — not because I don’t have stories or lessons to share, but because sometimes the message feels heavy. Then a conversation with a prospective client reminded me of something simple but profound: we all live in cycles. The same story, the same belief, the same behavior… over and over again. And unless we pause to see it for what it is, nothing changes.

So for the next few weeks, I’m going to walk you through what it looks like to work with me as a financial coach — not because I want to “sell” you, but because I believe we all have the power to do this work right where we are. We’ll break down the difference between making money (an action), keeping money (a behavior), and growing money (knowledge). And we’ll uncover the real driver behind all three: your core values. Because money will never feel free, purposeful, or aligned until it reflects who you truly are and what you deeply believe.

This episode starts with an invitation: go back to those early years and ask yourself, What did I first believe about money? Those planted beliefs — from parents, grandparents, culture, or community — still shape the way you earn, save, and spend today. Naming them is the first step to rewriting them. If you’re tired of repeating the same money story, this is your chance to break the cycle and create a new one, rooted in values that feel like freedom, not fear.

Contact Corree or find out more about Corree and learn about all the ways she does not choose to stay in one lane go here: https://correeroofener.com/

To Purchase Emotional Money click here: Emotional Money

Are you ready to walk with us for https:/https://fosteringthesummit.org  Join us as we change the statistics for children aging out of foster care.

Also, follow me on https://www.instagram.com/correeroofenercoach/ for more inspiration and practical wisdom for your business and life. 

Until next time, keep shining bright!

- Corree

Sales often gets a bad reputation, something “sleazy” or uncomfortable that we’d rather avoid. But as my guest, bestselling author and sales coach Mandi Graziano, reminded me, we are all in sales every single day. Whether it’s a mom negotiating with her kids to get out the door, a teacher guiding students, or even a doctor helping a patient choose the best path, sales is everywhere. The difference is whether we approach it with fear and pressure or with humanity and practice. When we show up authentically, listening deeply and guiding instead of pushing, selling doesn’t feel like selling. It feels like building trust.

One of the things Mandi said that I can’t stop thinking about is this: “A great salesperson is an educator and a listener.” That struck me because it’s true in every relationship, not just in business. If we’re too busy talking, proving, or convincing, we miss the opportunity to truly connect. And connection is where decisions are made. Think about the people you want to work with, buy from, or return to over and over again it’s the ones who made you feel seen, not sold.

And at the core of it all? Listening to your gut. Courage often looks like trusting that quiet voice inside whether it’s pivoting in your business, choosing to step out of the “one lane” the world tells you to stay in, or simply asking better questions to spark meaningful conversations. Mandi reminded me (and all of us) that courage and authenticity in sales and in life start with being human first!

To find out more about Mandi Graziano find her here at https://www.mandigraziano.com/

Contact Corree or find out more about Corree and learn about all the ways she does not choose to stay in one lane go here: https://correeroofener.com/

To Purchase Emotional Money click here: Emotional Money

Are you ready to walk with us for https:/https://fosteringthesummit.org  Join us as we change the statistics for children aging out of foster care.

Also, follow me on https://www.instagram.com/correeroofenercoach/ for more inspiration and practical wisdom for your business and life. 

Until next time, keep shining bright!

- Corree

When the world gets loud, I’ve learned to choose quiet. Not the kind that avoids life, but the kind that lets me hear it. Lately the static, the shoulds, the strategies, the scroll, has blurred what matters. So I’ve been sitting with my core values: family, health, courage, faith, service, and freedom. When I get still, I can finally see what’s out of tune. For me, it’s been family, little tensions left unspoken that add weight to the room. The easy move is to run or numb. The braver move is to name it and talk. Hard conversations aren’t punishment; they’re permission. Permission to realign, to repair, to remember we can love and protect people we don’t always agree with. As a mom, my job isn’t to make everyone the same—it’s to build a family strong enough to hold differences and still hold hands when life hits hard.

The same quiet has been reshaping my business. Noise told me to build it like “them,” post like “them,” price like “them.” But that misalignment is heavy because my work isn’t just KPIs—it’s how women feel about money, safety, and worth. I’m done chasing volume for validation. I want clients who leave our calls feeling seen, not small. That means clearer boundaries, slower growth if needed, and building in a way that honors my life, so one day I can hire stay-at-home parents who want flexible, meaningful work. Quiet has a way of stripping the extras until only the essentials are left: who I am, who I serve, and how I show up.

If you’re feeling the fog, try this simple reset this week: get quiet three times. Ask yourself, “Where am I out of alignment with my values?” Then take one tiny step: schedule the conversation you’re avoiding, remove one piece of physical clutter that’s stealing mental space, or rewrite one business rule that isn’t yours. Not everything needs a bigger plan; sometimes you just need the next right step. Quiet won’t do the work for us—but it will tell us which work matters.

Contact Corree or find out more about Corree and learn about all the ways she does not choose to stay in one lane go here: https://correeroofener.com/

To Purchase Emotional Money click here: Emotional Money

Are you ready to walk with us for https:/https://fosteringthesummit.org  Join us as we change the statistics for children aging out of foster care.

Also, follow me on https://www.instagram.com/correeroofenercoach/ for more inspiration and practical wisdom for your business and life. 

Until next time, keep shining bright!

- Corree

Some conversations leave you nodding, some leave you teary, and some leave you completely rethinking the stories you’ve been carrying. My recent talk with Cristina P. Simmons, bestselling author of Eat Your Feelings, was one of those. Her story is raw, real, and full of courage, not the shiny, social media version of courage, but the kind that’s born out of grief, forgiveness, and rebuilding when life hands you the unimaginable.

Cristina reminded me, and all of us, that we don’t get to control the pain, the loss, or the broken pieces of our story. But we do get to decide whether we let them define us or refine us. From navigating profound loss as a mother to forgiving a father who left deep wounds, Cristina has lived out the hard truth: forgiveness is not about excusing someone else, it’s about freeing your own heart. And healing? It doesn’t look like perfection. Sometimes it looks like admitting we’ve eaten our feelings, naming the cycles we inherited, and choosing to write a new truth for ourselves and our families.

That’s why I love Cristina’s mission, helping women heal while they tell their stories. Because when we stop stuffing our pain, when we bring it into the light, the shame loses its power. And in that space, courage grows. As Cristina said so beautifully, facing unimaginable challenges with the knowing that God is with you in every moment, that is courage. Her story is a reminder that no matter what we’ve walked through, there is always a way forward, and there is always a life worth rebuilding.

Find out more about Cristina here: https://www.instagram.com/cristinapsimmons/

More about the book Eat Your Feelings here: https://a.co/d/9tyd6kS

Contact Corree or find out more about Corree and learn about all the ways she does not choose to stay in one lane go here: https://correeroofener.com/

To Purchase Emotional Money click here: Emotional Money

Are you ready to walk with us for https:/https://fosteringthesummit.org  Join us as we change the statistics for children aging out of foster care.

Also, follow me on https://www.instagram.com/correeroofenercoach/ for more inspiration and practical wisdom for your business and life. 

Until next time, keep shining bright!

- Corree

Time is the one resource we can’t earn back, yet it’s often the first thing we waste. We fight for our opinions, hold grudges, and defend our “right” to be right, only to realize later those things carried no real weight. When people reflect at the end of their lives, their regrets aren’t about making more money, building bigger houses, or winning more arguments. Their regrets are about time: time not spent with their loved ones, time not spent in connection, time wasted on division instead of love. If I knew my time was short, would I still care about this? That’s the question I’ve been holding. And most of the time, the answer is no.

What I’ve learned—both in my own family and in coaching others, is that expectations are where disappointment takes root. We create walls when we demand that others see the world the way we do. But here’s the truth: my story is not your story. My truth is not your truth. And yet, so often we make connection conditional on agreement. The cost of needing to be right is often the very relationships we say we value most. Freedom comes not in forcing others into our version of truth, but in creating space for differences, in choosing compassion over judgment, in recognizing that right or wrong belongs to us alone.

This past week, the loss of a powerful light to breast cancer reminded me again just how fleeting life is. None of us know how much time we have. But we do get to choose how we spend it, how we show up, how we make others feel, and the legacy we leave behind. I don’t want my last words to be, “If only I had listened. If only I had loved better.” I want my life to reflect the truth that love does, compassion does, acceptance does. And if we measure our net worth not by money but by relationships, then the real question becomes: how are you spending your time, and who are you spending it on?

Contact Corree or find out more about Corree and learn about all the ways she does not choose to stay in one lane go here: https://correeroofener.com/

To Purchase Emotional Money click here: Emotional Money

Are you ready to walk with us for https:/https://fosteringthesummit.org  Join us as we change the statistics for children aging out of foster care.

Also, follow me on https://www.instagram.com/correeroofenercoach/ for more inspiration and practical wisdom for your business and life. 

Until next time, keep shining bright!

- Corree