From the ashes and cinder of a raging fire,
a brilliant & effervescent phoenix
emerges and
takes flight...
Uncaged, unchained,
and free...
I will not allow my titles to
become a prison -
where I have to be a certain way to gain approval.
On my journey, I have discovered that inner peace is essential to every individual’s journey to contentment
and happiness. It illuminates the soul and brings beauty and confidence to the surface. Without inner peace,
no achievement will be truly fulfilling.
Achievement can become an addiction, a high we strive to reach. And without inner peace and meaning,
the high quickly fades. When we attach our value to our achievements, our value seems to fade with the high.
We can feel empty, and unworthy. Our achievements, our titles, become the cage from which we fight to break free.
What defines me? Makes up who I am?
And if I were none of these things, would I still be me? Where does the real me live in this sometimes busy
mess of a human existence? It can be an emotional roller coaster, right?!
But, I’m here to remind you that YOU, my dear, are priceless. And what you achieve, while should be celebrated, is not all that you are.
You are an unconfined, vast universe of possibilities. AND none of them define you. OMG, YUM.
The different sides of Neda
Dentist & Aesthetics Expert
I have always been a high achiever.
I earned my undergrad from Thomas Jefferson’s historic University of Virginia (UVA) in Charlottesville, Virginia. I would do freelance makeup on the weekends, and fell in love with fashion and cosmetics.
When I got into the dental school at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), I knew I wanted to self-specialize in cosmetic dentistry. When I say I was the first to sign up for ever cosmetic dental opportunity, I mean it. Eventually, they would just automatically add me to the list!
After earning my D.D.S., I opened my first practice, Lumiere Dental Spa, before the age of 30. One year after that, I had Ryan, and a year after that, I opened Lumi Aesthetics.
Public Speaker, Author & Fashionista
I never thought I would be a public speaker, an author, or a fashionista. I always shied away and thought I wasn’t good at public speaking, or that I was too much of a perfectionist to do it well. But, like many lies we tell ourselves, this simply wasn’t, and isn’t true. I started at zero, and rediscovered - dare I say - recreated myself.
Among my colleagues and even in my dental and aesthetic practices, I have encountered so many women who are successful and yet feel stuck to the “lane” they chose in their 20s (and yes, worked so hard for!). One can say, it feels that there’s almost a devaluation of all you have done if you wonder if you got it “right”, or whether there could be more?
“I’m a dentist, not a philosopher! Speaker? Model?!”
I say, you are none AND you are all.
And what you chose to focus on and shine your light from doesn’t define you, it sets you free to live in alignment with what ignites passion in you. All possibilities exist, and when you give yourself permission to tap into your essence, to not be defined or confined by a box, you illuminate your
path to fulfillment.
Achieveaholics Anonymous™, will be the first book I’ve ever penned - it’s deep, daring and personal. I honestly had to find the courage to share, write, and release it. But I know it matters. I know how many of us have struggled to find true happiness and fulfillment. And I’m here to live in my true essence, proving it’s possible to be ALL and NONE, and revel in the gift of it all.
And, here’s a reminder and a fashion truth that applies to life (because fashion is life, duh!) and brings all of this together: You wear it. It doesn’t wear you. You give it value, not the other way around. If you feel fantastic in it, you look fantastic in it.
🥂To living a life we feel fantastic in!
The Primer
AnonymouS
Achieveaholics
I did what they told me to do. I did it all correctly. And, I became an overwhelmed, busy boss lady, wife, mom, forgetful friend… who dreaded work and dreaded home because no matter how hard I tried, I was dropping balls left and right. And, no matter how many new shiny balls I threw back up into the air, no matter how precise and beautiful they were, a piece of me died with each one of them. I had everything that
I always dreamed about.
But why wasn’t I happy?
Because I had lost myself along
the way.
It wasn’t until I journeyed within and found inner peace, that I found true fulfillment. And I discovered that surprisingly, my happiness was not tied to what I achieved. Not to be misunderstood, I am proud and CELEBRATE all my achievements - past, present, and future. I just know now, that I have always been fully complete - independent of any of them.
You are beautiful. Inside and out. Dolled up and fully bumming it. In the sun and in the rain. In happiness and in sadness. At peaks and in the valleys. Your beauty is unwavering, it’s unconditional. We tap into our true beauty when we connect with and fall in love with ourselves- when we “embrace the fountain of you."
The secret sauce is you. Lean into what makes YOU uniquely you, and so incredibly fabulous. By default, the entire universe of beauty, worthiness, happiness, LOVE, lives within each and every one of us, just waiting to
be illuminated. It’s your spotlight. Turn it up. 🔥
BEAUTY IS THE
Of YourSoul
Fountain Of You
Illumination
eMBRACE THE
I found the next version of myself when I allowed myself to journey to zero. When I was exhausted and overwhelmed, I questioned which parts of my existence were the building blocks of who I am. I recognized nothing truly defined me. “If I wasn’t Persian, would I still be me?” Of course. “If I wasn’t a dentist, would I still be me?” Damn straight, I would! The fountain of me was the fountain of zero. That at zero I am complete, and from zero
I can be anything and everything. I realized everything I needed was within me. I embraced all of me,
and it has set my life on fire.
The good kind. 😉
MY MOST PROUD ACHIEVEMENT
IS THAT OF BEING A
WIFE AND A MOTHER.
MY MOST PRECIOUS MOMENTS
ARE THOSE SPENT WITH THE ONES WHO CALL ME “WIFE” AND “MOM.”
& Proud Persian
WIFE, MOTHER
