I am Rachel Vasquez, A Grief Warrior, Founder of Living Beyond Grief™, and Senior Partner at The Wellness Universe. My work is rooted in both lived experience and professional training, but more than anything, it grew from a question I had to answer for myself after the death of my husband: Who am I now?

Loss changes more than our circumstances. It can change our roles, relationships, routines, dreams, sense of belonging, and even the way we recognize ourselves. And grief does not follow a prescribed set of steps or a universal timeline. Each person's experience is deeply individual.

My work begins in the space that can emerge when the initial fog of grief begins to shift and another realization comes into view: life is continuing—and I am still here. The person I was before may no longer completely fit the life in front of me. So who am I becoming?

After my husband died unexpectedly in a motorcycle accident, I became a widow and single mother of four overnight. I knew how to survive because I had people depending on me. What I didn't know was how to recognize the woman I was becoming when so much of the identity I had known was connected to the life we had built together.

That discovery became the foundation of Living Beyond Grief™ and my Root • Reclaim • Rise framework.

Root is about creating space to honor what was, acknowledge what has changed, and reconnect with the parts of ourselves that remain beneath the roles, expectations, and identities we've carried.

Reclaim is about rediscovering our voice, values, desires, strengths, joy, and the pieces of ourselves that may have been quieted, forgotten, or changed along the way.

Rise is where we begin intentionally creating what comes next—not by leaving behind the person or life we loved, but by building an aligned relationship with who we are becoming.

Through grief-informed coaching, Neuro-Accelerated Hypnotherapy, guided visualization, breathwork, Reiki, holistic wellness practices, workshops, speaking, and transformational experiences, I help women explore that next chapter. My work can also extend to families, children, athletes, entrepreneurs, organizations, and communities navigating loss, transition, resilience, and identity change.

I believe grief and joy can coexist. Creating a meaningful life after loss does not diminish the life or person we loved, and becoming someone new does not require us to erase who we were.

Beyond Living Beyond Grief™, I serve as a Senior Partner at The Wellness Universe, where I host the monthly Business Intensive Workshop, supporting wellness entrepreneurs and professionals as they grow their work and impact. I am also a JOYELY® Certified Ambassador and speaker, bringing conversations around resilience, identity, joy, wellbeing, and intentional living to audiences and organizations.

I am also an author and transformational speaker whose work explores grief, identity, resilience, and what becomes possible when life asks us to redefine ourselves. My writing and speaking are grounded in both personal experience and the belief that our hardest chapters can become part of what shapes us without becoming the end of our story.

Sometimes the story that breaks you introduces you to yourself.

And that is the heart of my work:

Grief doesn't get to be the end of your story. There is still more of you to discover.