Take Back the Pen: Donna Thorell on Building a Wellness Business for Women Who Look Like They Have It All Together

What do you do when the medical world keeps telling you "it's just hormones" and you know it's something more? In this episode, I sit down with Donna Thorell, founder of Vitality by Donna, who became her own case study after years of being dismissed by doctors — and ended up building an entire holistic wellness practice for women out of what she learned. Donna shares how she lost 70 pounds, rebalanced her body and mind, and reverse-engineered the system that's now helping her clients do the same. We talk about why she works exclusively with "women who look like they have it all together" (but quietly aren't), how she pieces together nervous system regulation, body awareness, nutrition, and movement into a single connected approach — and why she pushes back hard on the surgery-and-shots culture that's pressuring women to fix what was never broken. Donna also shares her Safe Touch Protocol, built on a sobering statistic about how many women carry trauma into every space they enter, and why treating every client as if you know their story (even when you don't) is the foundation of trust-based solopreneurship. We dig into her three-days-on, four-days-off work rhythm, why a coach needs a coach, and the upcoming pajama-party-style retreats she's running where multimillion-dollar executives and stay-at-home moms sit side by side as equals. Her advice to anyone starting out? Find your why — and don't let the world write the ending to your story.BIOm a trauma-informed Holistic Health Practitioner and the founder of a woman-owned wellness practice built for women who have been strong for too long.My work comes from lived experience. I am a trauma survivor who had to find my own way back when support didn’t exist for me. That journey became my foundation… and now it’s the work I bring to every woman I serve.I specialize in nervous system regulation and whole-person wellness, integrating nutrition, body-based therapies, and my proprietary SafeTouch Protocol to help women move out of survival mode and back into their bodies. This isn’t surface-level care… it’s deep recalibration that restores energy, reduces inflammation, and rebuilds confidence from the inside out.I work with high-functioning, emotionally giving women… professionals, caregivers, leaders, and survivors… who are ready to stop just getting through life and start fully living it.Through private immersions, coaching, and specialized treatments, I create spaces where women can regulate, rebuild, and lead their lives from a place of clarity and power.I don’t help women cope.I help them come home to themselves… and from there, everything changes.WebsiteWww.VitalityByDonna.comSocial Media LinksVitality By Donna on IG and FB, Donna Thorell on Linkedin