Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel Garrison.
Hi Rachel, what were you like growing up? Can you start by introducing yourself?
I was a quiet and rather sheltered child, raised in what many would call an ideal two-parent, lower-middle class household. My father was a minister, so I grew up reciting Bible verses and attending church regularly. I was a smart child, but I often felt like an outsider — both at home and at school. I knew people, but I rarely felt truly known or accepted. For much of my childhood, I felt invisible, noticed mainly for my dimples and my good grades, but not for who I really was inside.
We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
There’s the Rachel before 2014, and the Rachel after 2014.
The Rachel before 2014 was the “good girl” who followed the rules (for the most part). Back then, the world felt black and white — right or wrong, success or failure. There was no gray area. I checked every box society promised would make me happy: go to school, get good grades, land a stable job, get married, buy a house, have kids. I thought I was doing the damn thing. By 2008, I had a master’s degree, a teaching career, a husband, a house, and by 2009, a baby. On paper, it looked like the perfect, “traditional” life.
Then, life started shaking my foundation. In 2010, cancer stole my father in a matter of months. His death was my first wake-up call that life is fragile, unpredictable, and painfully short. The following year, I quit teaching because it didn’t fulfill me the way I thought it would. Cracks were forming in the foundation I had built.
By 2013, I found myself sitting in a Chick-fil-A with an eight-month-old in my arms, discussing a “trial separation” while my four-year-old played in the kids’ area. Two kids. No job. A cheating husband. I had done everything “right,” and yet here I was, watching the life I thought I was building collapse in real time.
Filing for divorce was both devastating and clarifying. I realized I couldn’t salvage a marriage with a man intent on being with other women — and I couldn’t stay “for the kids.” I loved them too much to let them grow up thinking that love looked like betrayal, silence, and what Henry Thoreau called “quiet desperation.” Because that isn’t love. That’s survival. And I was done just surviving. I was done circling on the hamster wheel — doing what everyone else is doing and thinking that I was failing in life.
The Rachel after 2014 was forged in fire. She’s the phoenix that rose from the ashes.
2014 taught me that the rules don’t protect you, and they don’t guarantee happiness. Life doesn’t hand out gold stars for self-sacrifice. Instead, it holds up mirrors and asks, Who are you now? Then you either stay the course or pivot. That year, I pivoted — hard. And it hurt like hell. I had to rebuild not just my finances, not just my career, but myself. Divorce stripped away the illusion of security. I was sobbing on the floor in the gray area I had always tried to avoid — but in that gray, I started finding color.
When my mom passed in 2018, my safety net disappeared completely. But instead of breaking me, it added fuel to my transformation by fire. I learned how to be resilient, how to pivot, how to stand on my own two feet even when the ground kept splitting beneath me.
I learned how to seek out resources to help me heal. Healing looked like therapy to process the abuse I’d endured in my marriage and in life. It looked like concerts and live music that reawakened my soul. It looked like writing again — something I had abandoned when I lost myself in my marriage. It looked like taking my kids on our first family vacations, showing them joy, adventure, and possibility. It looked like meeting myself where I was… and dragging her toward something better, through faith and a whole lot of inner work.
Those experiences taught me how to navigate endings, uncover purpose, and build a life not just worth living — but worth loving. And that’s the work I do now with my clients: helping them take their hardest cycles and turn them into catalysts for transformation.
The Rachel after 2014 doesn’t play by the old rulebook. She doesn’t measure her life by “right” or “wrong” in society’s eyes, but by what’s true and right for her. She trusts herself more than the crowd. She stands tall instead of shrinking, kneeling, or begging. She’s softer in some ways, harder in others, but above all, she’s free.
And she’s at peace.
We’ve been impressed with Rachel D Garrison LLC, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I’m a spiritual life coach and shadow work guide, here to help you move from confusion and self-doubt into clarity, trust, and alignment.
Instead of giving you another to-do list or surface fix, I hold space for you to face the patterns, fears, and inner blocks that keep circling back. Together, we uncover the lessons hidden in your shadow and turn them into wisdom you can live by.
My work blends shadow work, manifestation, and the real-life challenges of love, money, and self-worth. The women I work with are often standing at a crossroads and sensing something is ending, but unsure of what comes next. With my support, they gain the confidence to release what no longer serves them and step into the future with trust.
With a BA in English from Dillard University and a Master’s in Teaching from Rice University, I bring both a teacher’s clarity and a seeker’s soul to my work. I’ve been coaching for over five years, creating transformative programs and courses that fast-track inner work, helping women accelerate their growth instead of staying stuck in the same cycles. I’ve also shared my insights on podcasts and radio shows where I talk about love, shadow work, and awakening to your true self.
When you work with me, expect to be gently challenged, deeply seen, and reminded of your own capacity for healing and growth. My purpose is to guide you back to trust in yourself, in your choices, and in your future.
Outside of coaching, I’m a sovereign mother, and an author based in Houston, TX. My books (Chasing Unicorns: Life as an Early Millennial, #soIknowitsreal, and Rainbows and Sunsets) reflect my journey of turning raw emotion into art and meaning.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.racheldgarrison.com
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/rdgchasingunicorns
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@racheld.garrisonllc
Image Credits
Photo on red chair: photographer: Carlton Perkins (Shot by Perks https://www.shotbyperks.com)
