How Trauma Becomes Your Business Superpower

Amy Lacey's Journey From Homeless Teen to Multi-Million Dollar CEO

Author

Stoy Hall, CFP®
March 19, 2025

Life knocked Amy Lacey down repeatedly. As a child, she slept on park benches after running away from home at just 12 years old. Later, autoimmune disease left her bedridden. Yet today, she's a multi-millionaire who sold her first company for eight figures.

Her secret? The very trauma most people try to hide.

"I think when you come from a childhood like that, it gives you that scrappiness, that grit. Like I've already experienced what I feel is the worst that could possibly happen. So nos to me, when people say no to me in business, it's just next opportunity for me."

Let's break down exactly how your painful past might be your hidden business superpower.

When Rejection Bounces Off You

Most entrepreneurs fear rejection. Not Amy. After experiencing abandonment, homelessness, and sexual assault before she even became a teenager, business rejection felt minor by comparison.

This immunity to "no" became her superpower. While others quit after rejection, Amy saw every "no" as just another step toward eventual success.

Could your past hardships be giving you thicker skin than your competitors?

Healing Through Helping Others

In 2015, Amy's body turned against her. Diagnosed with Lupus and Sjogren's, she could barely leave her bed. Doctors loaded her with medications that made her feel worse.

"I got really depressed and I was like, okay, I gotta do something. I gotta change. So I decided to change the way I was eating and use food as medicine."

She created a cauliflower pizza crust to heal herself. What started as personal healing became a business that exploded to $5.3 million in the first year after going viral.

Your biggest struggle might be pointing you toward your most profitable business opportunity.

The Comeback After Betrayal

After selling her cauliflower company to venture capitalists, Amy watched them break every promise they made:

"They did exactly what they said they wouldn't do, which was they were always gonna keep my team... they fired my team. They changed the recipe to make it cheaper... and they put me on sabbatical."

This betrayal crushed her. Depression returned. Her autoimmune symptoms flared again. But this lowest point led her to therapy, where a chance conversation introduced her to soursop, a superfruit that would become her next multi-million dollar business.

Sometimes your biggest setback is setting you up for your biggest comeback.

Turning Pain Into Purpose

Amy's life demonstrates a powerful pattern:

  1. Face devastating trauma

  2. Use it to build resilience

  3. Transform personal healing into a business that helps others

  4. Repeat with even greater success

"I was diagnosed with Lupus and Sjogren's, and I guarantee you, one lesson I've learned is if you don't deal with trauma and you buried it down like I do, it will manifest itself in illness."

Today, her soursop-based immune boosting products are helping thousands reclaim their health, just like she did.

Your Trauma, Your Business Asset

What makes Amy's story so powerful isn't just her success but recognizing how her painful past became her greatest business asset.

Her childhood trauma gave her:

  • Resilience to weather business storms

  • Perspective that makes business rejections feel minor

  • Purpose that drives authentic connection with customers

  • Problem-solving skills developed through survival

  • Authenticity that creates powerful marketing stories

Start Using Your Trauma Superpower Today

You don't need to have experienced extreme trauma to apply these lessons. Everyone has faced challenges that can become business assets:

  1. Identify your survival skills: What difficult situations have you navigated? What skills did you develop?

  2. Find your authentic story: How has your struggle shaped you? This becomes your most powerful marketing message.

  3. Use rejection as feedback: Let every "no" redirect you rather than stop you.

  4. Transform personal healing into business opportunity: What solutions have you created for yourself that others might need?

  5. Connect through vulnerability: Share your journey to build deeper customer connections.

"I wanna say, I think when you come from a childhood like that, it gives you that scrappiness, that grit."

Your past may have hurt you, but in business, it might be your greatest competitive advantage. The very experiences you wish never happened could be the foundation of your future success.

What trauma superpower are you ready to unleash?

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