Meet Lori Soper, National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach

Let me introduce you to Lori Soper, National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach. 

I’ve known Lori since moving to North Carolina and upon meeting her, instantly knew she was a kind, compassionate, and down-to-earth person. Like many women in midlife, Lori had spent years balancing a career, raising her children, and supporting her family. 

She also navigated breast cancer – not once, but three times. 

After her third diagnosis in 2020, Lori began asking a question that would ultimately change the direction of her career: What can I do to take an active role in supporting my health and wellbeing? 

“I had always considered myself healthy, fit and strong and had a lifelong interest in fitness and health. After being diagnosed with breast cancer for the third time, I wanted to understand what I could do to support my own long-term health,” she says. 

Lori used the diagnosis as fuel to learn all she could, which eventually led to a new career. 

She is now a National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC) and a Nutritious Life Master Nutrition & Wellness Coach. She is also the owner of Ascend Health and Life, where she provides individual and group health coaching, corporate wellness programs, workshops and speaking engagements.

National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coaches must complete approved education and training, meet coaching-experience requirements and pass a national board examination. The NBC-HWC credential represents professional competency in evidence-based health and wellness coaching, behavior change and client-centered coaching.

At Ascend Health and Life, Lori specializes in working with midlife women who are ready to prioritize their health and wellbeing. Lori, who is incredibly passionate about this topic, shares that she often encounters frustrated women who feel their “healthy” lifestyle just isn’t working for them. 

“Most of us already know many of  the things we are “supposed” to do for our health. Eat nourishing foods. Move our bodies. Get enough sleep. Manage stress. Drink water. Make time for ourselves. But knowing what to do isn’t usually the hardest part. Actually doing it consistently in the middle of a busy life is,” she says. 

This is where her expertise comes into play. Working with her clients, Lori helps women with behavior changes that allow them to bridge the gap between knowing what supports their health and creating habits that work within the parameters of their lives. Together, they look at the interconnected facets of wellness—nutrition, movement, sleep, stress, hydration, relationships and self-care—and identify where changes could have the greatest impact. She then works with her clients to turn the plan into action, helping them build the confidence and skills to navigate obstacles and take ownership of their long-term health.

One of Lori’s most recent accomplishments is authoring a chapter in the book The Midlife Advantage: Modern Strategies for A Stronger Body, Clearer Mind and Unstoppable Vitality, a collection of women’s personal stories, the health obstacles they faced midway through life, and how they overcame these hurdles. 

Lori’s chapter, “Train Your Brain: A Cognitive Fitness Approach for Midlife Clarity, Memory and Resilience,” focuses on what women can do to optimize brain health as they get older. Estrogen decreases during menopause, whether it’s natural or medically induced menopause (such as with cancer treatment), and can impact brain health and long term cognition. Having gone through surgical menopause at age 44, learning this was a lightning bolt moment for Lori and she became determined to protect the health of her own brain. Her knowledge and determination to guide others became her chapter in “The Midlife Advantage.”

Lori and I have a common passion: helping people navigate the path to good health. As a registered dietitian, my practice includes providing nutritional therapy for a wide array of nutritional concerns. Using her expertise in behavior change, Lori helps people overcome obstacles and develop sustainable health habits that will last a lifetime. Oftentimes our professions work together to help people navigate health issues. At other times, people need one or the other. In any case, having both a coach and a RD in your toolbox is a great idea.

If you feel like you know many of the things you could be doing for your health but are struggling to put them into practice—or if midlife has you wondering what you should be doing differently—Lori is a great person to have in your corner. She can be reached via her website, Ascend Health and Life for a complimentary discovery session. To read her chapter about maintaining brain health, as well as the other inspiring stories in the book, check out The Midlife Advantage by Keri Glassman.