Coach Mikki and Friends

Finding Grace Through Trauma: Briana Rice's Journey of Healing and Empowerment S5E5

• Coach Mikki • Season 5 • Episode 5

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When life deals you an unexpected blow, do you crumble or transform? For Briana Rice, a devastating collision with a semi-truck in 2021 didn't end her story, it began a powerful new chapter.

Briana takes us through her remarkable journey from scientist and world traveler to traumatic brain injury survivor and advocate. With raw honesty, she shares how she initially thought her life was over after suffering brain and spinal injuries, only to discover that these challenges would become the catalyst for her greatest transformation. Through intensive rehabilitation, Brianna not only regained her strength but also found her voice as an advocate for brain injury awareness.

Her path to healing led her to compete in and win the Woman of Achievement pageant with her platform "Grace for Your Journey", a message that resonates deeply with anyone facing seemingly insurmountable obstacles. As Brianna explains, "Sometimes you have to crumble to put the pieces back together, to build something new and more beautiful." This philosophy anchors her work as an author in the anthology "Women We Are Stronger Together" and as the director of the Riverside Chapter for the Global Society of Female Entrepreneurs, where she creates spaces for women to support rather than compete with one another.

Perhaps most touching is Brianna's dedication to honoring her friend Justin Bowman, a fellow brain injury survivor who passed away in 2024. Through her Blackberry Merlot wine festival and charitable foundation, she continues to raise funds for those who need treatment but cannot afford it. Brianna's story reminds us that our darkest moments often contain the seeds of our greatest purpose, and that with grace, resilience, and community support, we can not only survive our traumas but use them to create meaningful change in the world.

Ready to find grace in your own journey? Connect with Briana through her website and discover how your challenges might become your greatest source of power and purpose.

We look forward to seeing you succeed! - www.KeepOnSharing.com - Code - KOS

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Speaker 1:

Hey, I'm Coach Mickey and I'm so glad that you're here with us and if this is your first time joining us, come on in and make yourself comfortable. And for those of you that join us on a regular basis, we are so glad that you do, and thank you so much for always reaching out to all of our guests. We love the fact that you connect with these people. You reach out to them with your comments, your questions and suggestions of what you'd like to hear from me to present here on Coach Mickey and Friends. And for those of you that have been asking for me in a while to finally write a book, I wanted to let you know that it will be available on May 8th, fourth in One Mindset. The link will be down below. If you're looking at the YouTube video and if you're listening to the podcast, please find it in the description, but not just my book, because you're going to be excited because the guest that I have on with me today is also an author and she has got some incredible information insight.

Speaker 1:

She's a lovely person. I met her at a networking group that I have been a member of of many, many years and for those of you listening that are looking for an incredible way to connect with so many empowering women to be able to present your business and collaborate and do some amazing things in the world, you are going to want to connect with Brianna Rice. Her mission is to inspire men and women to step into their king and queen energy and embrace their inner beauty. She uses affirmations, personalized roadmaps to guide individuals on their journey from trauma to complete healing, both mentally and physically. She empowers them to manifest their desires with a power of self-love embracing the light within. So welcome, welcome, brianna Rice. How are you?

Speaker 2:

Oh, I'm doing phenomenal. Thank you for having me and thank you for that delightful intro. I'm truly humbled.

Speaker 1:

Well, I'm excited to have you and I had an opportunity to attend your event and you were gracious enough to allow me to be a keynote speaker, and I was so honored and touched by the amount of support and love that was presented to me walking into a room of networking, because a lot of times networking you don't know what to expect, and GSFE is such a different element when it comes to networking. And it was even more fun and delightful that you are the director, because you bring such a warm and welcoming vibe to that group.

Speaker 2:

Well, thank you. Yes, as of 2025, I took over as a director for the Riverside Chapter for the Global Society of Female Entrepreneurs. Say that five times fast. But I am just so blessed to be in that group because one of the main things that we're there to educate and inspire female entrepreneurs, and we really stand on the basis that we're not here to compete against one another. We're here to complete one another with our missions, our goals, our businesses and really getting women in the Inland Empire to work together. So I'm really excited about taking this on. We have our new home at UC Riverside. We meet the first Monday of every month from 530 to 7 at the Stable at UCR.

Speaker 1:

And it's a great venue. I mean it's on a beautiful campus. Now you also do kind of a hybrid, so someone who's listening globally could still attend, because you do it virtually also.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and we always send out the information. If you just email me at loveandlightmovement at gmailcom, I'm able to send you a Zoom link so you can join virtually. We tap in about 6 pm to 7 to give people time to get set in so you can still virtually catch whatever speaker is there and what information is just relevant to GSFE at large.

Speaker 1:

And it's an amazing group. Like I said, everybody there is. They were so supportive and helpful and my favorite thing is you always say what's your ask, what do you have, what do you need?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's really getting women to show up and not be afraid to ask whether you need support, whether you have a new offering, but making sure everybody's involved in asking, because that's where the power is. In your ask, you never know what you're going to get.

Speaker 1:

Well, I love the collaboration and the support is, like I said, is phenomenal, and I belong to other networking groups and GSFE by far has been one of my favorites.

Speaker 2:

And we really have to thank Dr Robbie for really setting that standard of excellence and kindness.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and that's the other thing too. If you're looking for a networking group to belong to, kindness is like the number one key factor and I've seen that over the years and it's pretty amazing. But you are amazing too, Brianna, because you are oh my gosh, you're such an inspiration, going to jump right in. I know that you suffered a major brain injury and what you have accomplished to get through that and what you're doing to inspire is incredible. I mean, would you mind sharing a little bit of your story?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I'm honored because, yes, in 2021, I was rear-ended by a semi-chuck and I suffered a traumatic brain injury, a spinal injury and a PTSD. A semi-chuck and I suffered a traumatic brain injury, a spinal injury and a PTSD and initially I thought my life was over. It was one of the hardest things I've ever been through and still to this day, I'm dealing with physical therapy and just learning how to live with my new normal with a brain injury. But I found that not that I'm happy that it happened, but it was one of the most transformational things in my life because it caused me to pivot and it taught me how to take my pain into my purpose. So I actually took that and competed in the beauty pageant the woman of achievement pageant and I won.

Speaker 2:

I'm your 2025 Miss US woman of achievement, and my platform is grace for your journey, showing how you can take something so dark and use it as a source of achievement.

Speaker 2:

And my platform is Grace for your Journey, showing how you can take something so dark and use it as a source of inspiration, that I'm living now a more graceful and grace-filled life because of my brain injury, and allowing other people to see themselves in me, to know that it doesn't have to be the end, also to know that there's different treatments available. I never thought I would really benefit from chiropractic care the way I did, but that's been so transformational in my journey. Or like moderate to severe, if you don't have a brain bleed, it may not show up in the MRI CAT scan but they have a blood test that's valid for up to three years that can still track it and get the treatment and know how severe things are. So I'm really, really trying to get that out there, because it doesn't just affect accident victims but a lot of times for women who are dealing with domestic violence. They have trouble leaving and getting themselves up and not realizing that they're dealing with a brain injury, not just the trauma of the domestic violence.

Speaker 1:

That's interesting because I wouldn't correlate a brain injury with traumatic events and I think that's pretty important. But you're right, it's all that synopsis and what connects that allows us to think the way we do and our focus and who we are, and it makes I've seen people change and I guess that makes a lot of sense. That is really empowering. So I know you've also taken this and you've. You're an author and you have brought this information into your book. How can people not only find that but also tell us a little bit about that and what brought you to bring that, that book, to life?

Speaker 2:

Yes, so I. I've always loved writing. I have been a blogger since 2020. I've written in magazines as a travel and leisure editor. Um, but this brain injury kicked off my of journey. I've actually written a book called Women we Are Stronger Together. It's an anthology in a global empowerment book with the Godly Encouragement Ministries. I have a chapter in here called my Journey to Love and Light, which talks about my life prior to the accident, as a scientist, a world traveler, an entrepreneur. And then boom, everything comes to a screeching halt. I think life is over, but I was able to find new avenues to advocate, to heal and just give myself grace to fall apart. I think some people don't give themselves permission to crumble, and sometimes you have to crumble to put the pieces back together, to build something new and more beautiful and create a new normal.

Speaker 1:

You know that is so right. I think a lot of times we get stuck, we get something happens or transpires in our life and we think it's the end and it's not. A lot of times it's just an obstacle. And if you can reevaluate and reform and restructure, you know a lot of times, like you said, pain is power. If you take that, that, that event or what happened and you use it and and build from it, then you're in control of what happened. That thing is not in control of you.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and it really taught me what resilience means. You know you hear it as a buzzword, but when you're actually having to go through it as a buzzword, but when you're actually having to go through it, dealing with the humbling of balance issues, memory issues, but then it also those little glimmers of hope. When the rehab kicks in and you find new opportunities. It gives you something to look forward to. So I always want women to know like sometimes that thing that knocks you down that's the beginning of your story, and that's why I love this book, because it's not just me. It's about 20 different women who all have different stories of something that changed the trajectory of their life and inspired them and made them find themselves blossoming like a rose instead of breaking.

Speaker 1:

And that takes a lot of courage, yeah, instead of breaking, and that takes a lot of courage.

Speaker 1:

It really does, because sometimes, like you said, when things are happening, especially if you're going through a traumatic experience and it could be a relationship, like you said, you were dealing with women that are dealing with domestic violence it is very hard to pull yourself out of that and then get your mind back to who you are and rediscover what are your strengths, and to do that it does take a lot of courage. And that's another element that I like about what you do is because you're collaborating not only this information and these events, but you've got a group, an empowering ability to bring people together so you can connect and lift each other up out of these situations to bring people together so you can connect and lift each other up out of these situations.

Speaker 2:

And the one thing we may not be able to directly relate to each person because we all have our own journey, but we all can relate to some type of trauma it's going to happen and there's no strong woman who's made it to the top, who didn't overcome something. So I do find that's kind of that common ground where I meet with women from any walk of life, Like tell me your story, Tell me what you overcame and what little gems did you come back. What's the medicine that you can give me and other women? And we all have some kind of medicine in us from what we overcome.

Speaker 1:

Well, what you have to offer is very empowering, because suffering from a brain injury is not an easy thing and I've seen it over the years, especially with many concussions, and I know how long it takes, and sometimes I've seen people that haven't even recovered fully. I mean, they're still building and doing what they need to do to get through that. To get through that and for what you've done is you've taken something that happened to you and you are making it an extraordinary tool to be able to help others. But I wanted to ask you about your pageant. I mean, you're beautiful inside and out, so for you to even do the pageant, that doesn't surprise me, because when you get to know Brianna, I mean her beauty just comes from the inside. The pageant was just an extra thing.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that again being at the right place at the right time. I was receiving a humanitarian award with the Godly Encouragement Ministries group and I happened to be sitting across from my pageant director and at that time, especially dealing with my disability, I didn't feel beautiful. But she's like, you're gorgeous. And I was like what? But she was like do you have something bigger than you that you could advocate for? And I'm like whoa, this could be my moment to talk about traumatic brain injury awareness. I got with my coach. We worked on my speech. I will say this also helped me find my voice. It also kicked off my public speaking career. So the crown, the beauty, that's the background. But finding my voice and finding the words to take something that could have been like a woe, is me situation like? No, actually, these are how you said the tools. These are the tools on the tools. These are the tools on how I overcame the situation and if I can do it, you can do it.

Speaker 1:

And that's a that is very powerful. You also have events where you can help other people and do stuff. I know, do you meet with others to this? Or are there all these programs just like different groups, like how could people reach out to you?

Speaker 2:

Well, you can find me, um at the love and light movementcom or wwwbriannaricecom. Um, I've actually just started a two groups a monthly sound healing Cause that was actually really transformative for me a monthly sound healing group at Bliss Crystals in Temecula and a monthly women's circle. The next one will be what is it? Sunday, the 27th, and they happen. They're going to happen every full moon and new moon consecutively.

Speaker 1:

And if you're looking to reach out to Brayne, as you guys know, the information will be down below in the link. If you're on the YouTube channel and if you're listening to the podcast, just click on her name. It'll be highlighted and you can click on there and go straight to her website, and that's an amazing way for you to reach out and connect with Brianna, especially if you're dealing with something and you'd like a little bit of insight or some information, or even just to attend the groups. So what's the next big thing for you, brianna? I mean, you got all these things going on and, by the way, this is something we didn't get a chance to cover and we will, because this is a whole nother podcast, because Brianna is a scientist and she's got some incredible information. I'm going to bring her back and we're going to discuss that, because you guys are going to in for a treat for that. But what's the next big thing for you?

Speaker 2:

What are you looking to do? What are you going to do for 2025? I mean, what is it? What is your next big journey? So the biggest thing, because, of course, I do so many things, but I have a wine festival called Blackberry Merlot and I have a charity, charitable foundation attached to it called Blackberry Merlot Community Vines, where we raise funds to help people get chiropractic care if they can't afford it, if they have a brain injury or some kind of injury. But that will be coming in October of 2025. Come sip for a good cause. We bring out DJs, we're renting out Belvino winery and it's just an opportunity for any kind of professional to come network, let your hair down and have some wine and who doesn't like wine.

Speaker 1:

It's so true. How lovely is that. I mean blackberry wine. That's pretty amazing.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and again, being a scientist, I would travel around the world to different medical conferences and anytime there was a scientific presentation or research or poster presentation, they would serve wine and have a wine mixer. And I was like, why don't I do that Temecula for my friends, my people, the ladies in GSFE, and I started in 2021. I took a break a little bit for the accident, so it's coming back this fall. I'm really, really excited about that, so that's my big thing.

Speaker 1:

That's wonderful, and when that gets closer, please let me know so I can go in and promote that for you. It's for such a good cause and I know that what you have gone through and what you have done has brought you to where you are. And the fact that you're helping so many people with exactly your story and with what you're doing, I mean that really is a gift. And again, it takes a lot of courage, especially to go through something like that and then turn it into a positive. So I'm gonna give you the last two minutes to offer anything you wanna talk about or share that we didn't get a chance to cover. And please know again links will be below for her book, her website, to please, please, please, reach out to Brianna. But, brianna, I'm going to let you wrap this up.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So the only other thing I would like to highlight and my platform breaks for your journey. Funny enough, I actually was going to start a podcast as soon as I won the pageant with my best friend, justin Bowman. Unfortunately, he's a brain injury survivor, but he succumbed to his injury in September 2024. So my platform is actually dedicated in his loving memory, because his life is a reminder that, how he said, it takes courage. He even said he was inspired by my courage because he had talked about his strokes and his heart condition. But he kind of let it go by the wayside and pretended like he was okay. But he wanted to start a podcast to talk about these things and he didn't make it. But now he's our angel and he's part of my.

Speaker 2:

Why that? Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it isn't happening. And while I'm so grateful to God that I'm here to tell my story, that just because you can't see it doesn't mean it isn't happening. And while I'm so grateful to God that I'm here to tell my story, there are other people who aren't. So I just my platform is just encourage people, not just living with different disabilities, but even those with terminal illnesses, to have grace for their journey in their final years. Because one thing I do treasure with Justin before he left, we got to take a trip to Dubai. We got to live. So don't forget to live, even if you're going through things. You might have to slow down, you might need some help, but I just wish you grace for your journey.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so much. And thank you so much for being here with us. I really enjoyed having you as a guest. I definitely want you back because we got more to talk about.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, definitely the science, the healing and more about your book.

Speaker 1:

Well, this is about you. So for me, I would like to be able to let everyone know please reach out. The Amazon link for Breanna Rice will be in the link down below down here, if you're again. If you're here, if you're listening to the podcast, please click on her name. You'll get to her website. They'll take you everywhere you need to be to connect with her. I appreciate each and every one of you. Thank you so much for connecting with me. Please don't forget to like and subscribe and please reach out to my guests, because they love hearing from you, and let them know they were here on coach mickey and friends. And until then, remember the most courageous thing you can do is be yourself. Until then, see ya.