Hi I'm Fallene

My Catalysts that Shaped My Growth

I’m new to Substack and wanted to introduce myself. I created Your Catalyst for Growth because, throughout my life, I’ve experienced different catalysts that helped me grow. After the growing pains of each experience, I came out feeling empowered.

I’ve always followed my intuition, which has made me more of a risk-taker. When I was 17, I packed up my car with my clothes and my two cats and moved from Las Vegas to Denver, Colorado.

With every leap I took—whether in life or business—I was met with growth opportunities full of personal transformation.

One of those growth opportunities came in 2013. After 10 years of working as a hairstylist, I decided to open a salon with my husband. I had experience running my own salon suite, but leading a team and managing a business was a different story.

Over the next nine years of running the salon, one of my biggest takeaways was that I had to develop mental resilience, let go of negative thought patterns, and stay disciplined in my own growth. If I wasn’t willing to lead myself, how could I lead others?

Owning our salon often felt like running uphill in quicksand. I started it as an independent booth rental salon with the hopes of avoiding the role of “boss.” But after two years, I realized I had simply created a larger, more expensive place to work. I wasn’t able to grow the company or build a culture I was proud of.

That’s when I decided to hire an assistant and work towards creating my own apprenticeship program—to help train hairstylists fresh out of beauty school and guide them into a successful career. I gradually transitioned the business model from booth rental to a commission-based salon. While I was able to help new stylists develop their skills, the commission model created competition and an individualistic mentality.

I wanted a culture where everyone worked toward a shared goal: providing an amazing experience for the customer and helping one another grow. Eventually, I attended a business seminar through Strategies that completely shifted my perspective. We transitioned to a team-based business model that rewarded the behaviors we wanted to see in our culture. It was no longer “me” and “my,” but “we” and “our.”

But the culture didn’t change just because of the pay structure—although that helped. The real reason it transformed was because I had transformed. To become a leader who could inspire and encourage each team member to grow and push beyond what they thought was possible, I had to be willing to do the same for myself.

I had to get vulnerable and acknowledge how much I was letting my inner critic guide my decisions. Feelings of not being good enough, not being worthy of success, and imposter syndrome were no longer buried—they were right at the surface. I had to learn how to overcome fear and self-doubt so I could become the kind of leader our culture needed to thrive.

Leading through three rounds of team rebuilding and navigating a global pandemic gave me the shake I needed. It helped me shift from a mindset of desperation to believing that anything is possible if you develop a strong mindset and have the courage to push through your fears.

Another unforgettable catalyst for growth came in 2011. After two years of auditioning, I made it onto the reality show Project Runway as a fashion design contestant. Before that, I had been producing my own fashion shows in Denver featuring local designers, including myself. Although I was a hairstylist at the time, I’d had a love for fashion design since I was 15.

With no prior experience in event planning or fashion design, I learned how to create events that promoted local designers and artisans, while raising money for charities. The first show took place at the salon where I worked, with 100 attendees. Over seven years, it grew into a major event with over 500 attendees—one of them hosted at the Denver Art Museum after my appearance on Project Runway.

Being on Project Runway was incredibly difficult. I threw myself into the deep end of discomfort—on national TV. That experience showed me just how destructive my inner critic could be. I let old feelings of not being good enough and imposter syndrome control my decisions, and it led to self-sabotage.

What I didn’t know then, but understand now, is that when you get curious about your emotions and confront the roots of your beliefs, you can rewrite the narrative. You stop chasing external validation and start standing in your truth. I left the show feeling ashamed, and it took a lot to find the courage to create and design again. But I’ve always liked to prove my inner critic wrong, so I got back to work. I raised money on Kickstarter and manufactured a small batch of designs in Denver to sell at a local retailer.

One of the biggest catalysts for my personal growth came in 2021. My husband and I decided to trade our chaotic lives running three service-based businesses in Denver for a simpler life in the countryside of Galicia, Spain. We sold everything—our three businesses, our home, and most of our belongings—and moved to Spain with our four cats.

It was an incredibly brave act of trust and letting go. And in shedding what we loved, I found space to focus on what really matters: internal growth.

In that growth, I discovered my passion for empowering others—to believe in themselves, follow their intuition, and push through fear to create what once felt impossible.

Throughout all my crazy endeavors, the thing I’ve always loved most is seeing people light up when they do something that makes them proud. That’s what gave me the most joy as a leader. I would listen to their goals, ask about their fears, help them map the steps to get there, and offer a net to catch them when they fell.

Taking risks toward the life you want is a lot less scary when you have someone in your corner saying, “You can do it,” helping you fight the voices that say you can’t.

In full honesty, after putting everything into my businesses and then letting them go, it was hard to imagine starting again. But my intuition is calling me to move forward with what has always brought me joy: helping others push through fear and achieve what they once thought was unachievable.

So now, I’d love to hear from you:
What’s one of the big catalysts for growth you’ve experienced in your life?
What helped you push through fear to go after your dream?