Today we’d like to introduce you to Wendie Wilson-Miller.
Wendie, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Story 1: When I was 23, I donated my eggs to a woman who was a cancer survivor. Her own biological option was taken from her by disease and getting an egg donor gave her a choice in the looks and genetics of her child. At the time, I thought donating my eggs was not much effort on my part – but I began to see how significant it was for someone else. I was so young and this became the biggest emotional experience in my life. I was able to come out of myself and see the world through the eyes of someone else who had experienced more pain that I had ever known. In short, she survived cancer and I was able to help her create a family.
Seeing the importance of egg donation, I ended up working for an egg donation and surrogacy agency. I worked there for just under 9 years until for philosophical and life-path reasons, I decided to leave that agency and start one of my own: Gifted Journeys.
Gifted Journeys operates both domestically and internationally. Surrogacy and egg donation are not legal in most countries in the world. There are no countries where it is more accepted, legally protected, and easier for all types of families than the United States. We are, in all sense the idea, a “love makes a family” country. I am so proud to be a part of an industry and a country that feels this way. My philosophy is that if there is love, there is family. Families look different everywhere you go. In my son’s school, we have single parents, gay and lesbian parents, co-parents, step-parents and all other types of families. Having a family, choosing your donor, having a surrogate go on the journey with you, or just given the opportunity to have some control over your reproductive life is a beautiful experience that science has made possible.
Shortly after starting Gifted Journeys, I co-wrote a book called “The Insiders Guide to Egg Donation: A Compassionate and Comprehensive Guide for All Parents-To-Be,” which won a gold medal Ben Franklin award in 2013 for its chapter on egg donation for LGBTQ families.
Through my work with Gifted Journeys and my passion for the assisted reproduction industry, I co-founded the non-profit group “The Society for Ethics in Egg Donation and Surrogacy (SEEDS). “ We collectively saw the need for an organization to establish a united voice and consistent mode of care in such a sensitive industry. We unite together as an industry (agencies, attorneys, mental health professionals, physicians, and insurance companies) to create the highest ethical standards for US egg donation and surrogacy agencies.
I have now worked in my industry for nearly 18 years and next year will be the tenth anniversary of Gifted Journeys. I am proud of all the families we have helped have babies. I have seen hundreds of babies born to families who had otherwise lost hope in being able to have a family. My experience being an egg donor for a cancer survivor so many years ago changed my perspective on life, assisted reproduction and family for a lifetime.
Story 2: What is a 41-year-old mother-of-two small children doing standing up here — like this!?!” Was the question running through my head while standing in front of 6 judges, 20 close friends and family and hundreds of strangers while sporting a fake than the color of an over-ripe persimmon and posing uncomfortably in the smallest bikini I’d ever worn.
The longest hiatus I took in my fitness life was when I had a toddler and a new baby at home — while also building my new company, Gifted Journeys, an egg donation and surrogacy agency. It wasn’t until my youngest son was 2 ½ that I decided it was due time to begin another fitness challenge to see if I could get the energy and figure back to some semblance of normalcy. I hired my good friend (and local fitness guru!), Jack Witt, to come up with a goal. It started with the idea to build strength and bone density through weight-lifting, but somewhere along the way it morphed into the idea to train for a body-building competition.
The subsequent 6 months were some of the hardest training moments of my life. We enlisted Annie Parker, a local IFBB Bikini Pro, health and fitness blogger and Spokes-model to help with diet plans and posing techniques. I was on a strict caloric deficit of 1300 calories per day, with no more than 30-60g of carbohydrates and 35g of fat per day. I lost 20lbs from the start of my training, went from 24 to 12% body fat, and was in the 99th percentile for bone density.
I ended up getting a bronze medal at my first NPC competition in 2016. While the challenge was worth it, it was difficult to balance a full-time job, training, extreme dieting, and being a wife and mother at the same time. I feel that, while they were supportive, it was too demanding for my young family.
I’ve been a health and fitness enthusiast for most of my life, going through various stages of training for new things that I felt would be fun, challenging and exciting. In my late 20’s into my mid 30’s, I took up training for marathons and completed several before deciding to move on to other challenges. In 2008 I decided to take the test to become a certified ACE Fitness trainer and start my own fitness boot camp for women. Since I had a full-time, demanding job in the assisted reproduction business, I would teach boot camp Monday – Friday from 6 am – 7:15 am. I continued teaching full time up through 8 months of my first pregnancy with my oldest son in 2011. I went to part-time boot camps (3 days per week) two months after giving birth, and continued teaching part-time through the first trimester of my youngest son before finally retiring.
I’ve chosen to train for more enjoyable and less time restricting challenges such as Tough Mudders and Spartan races for now. Earlier this year my trainer Jack and my husband Josh teamed up with me and some other friends to complete a Tough Mudder-Half, making it a family affair as opposed to a solitary responsibility.
I try to implement fitness into my life, my kids’ lives and even my assisted reproduction business as much as possible. I co-founded an organization called “Fit-4-Fertility” with my friend Stephanie Levich, which raises money for non-profit infertility awareness groups such as Resolve, Parents Via Egg Donation, and Path2Parenthood to name a few. We’ve had celebrities such as GloZell Green and Brenda Strong participate in fitness events while sharing their own stories of infertility and strength.
I realize that enthusiasm for health and fitness doesn’t come naturally for everybody. My hope is that by creating fun, unique or interesting fitness ideas or challenges for myself, I can inspire others to try new things. I’ve always been open and passionate about speaking with anybody about how they can work on improving their own health and fitness journeys. I hope to continue to find new and interesting ways to implement it into my life and the lives of others.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Story 1: The biggest challenges in assisted reproduction are navigating different laws in different states for surrogacy. Also, as with any profitable industry, there are always people who will take advantage of others who are vulnerable. Self-regulation, good legislation, and creating things like The Model Act for Agencies has been a “well worth it,” but uphill challenge in our industry to protect our hopeful intended parents.
Story 2: The biggest struggle in a body-building competition is a strict diet and very limited calories while maintaining a very rigorous workout schedule. You always feel hungry and towards the last 8 weeks pretty much just live to eat your next (very small) meal. It takes time and energy away from work and family and is all-consuming.
Please tell us about Gifted Journeys Egg Donation and Surrogacy Agency.
Story 1: We are a business working in the field of assisted reproduction. We work with hopeful intended parents who need egg donors or surrogates to help complete their families.
As a company, I am most proud of our core belief that “love makes a family.” We work with all types of hopeful parents, from single, to married, gay or straight, unmarried, domestic and international. Anyone who has the love and stability to safely have a child should have the chance to do so.
What sets us apart from others is our understanding and acceptance of different cultures and all types of families. Also our involvement in the non-profit group, SEEDS. And most especially our “give back” program which offers additional discounts to non-profit owners, teachers, service men and women in the military, police or fire departments or anyone who makes a combined income of less than $110,000 per year. We also have options for our intended parents to contribute a portion of our agency fee to charity’s supporting children and/or animals.
Story 2: I ran a fitness boot camp for women only. I called it: “Wendie’s Adventure Fitness.”
I specialized in putting together high intensity circuit training, plyometrics, cardiovascular and HIIT workouts. All boot camps took place outside in parks or on hiking trails in Studio City, Ca.
What I was most proud of in fitness was competing in a body-building competition and taking 3rd place at my first one.
What sets me apart from others… nothing, I guess. But if I had to choose something, I guess it would be my natural enthusiasm for fitness and new challenges.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Story 1: I had no idea how all-consuming and emotional owning a business in assisted reproduction was going to be. We carry the hopes and dreams of our intended parents with us each time we start a new journey. It isn’t always easy, it doesn’t always go the way we hope, it’s an imperfect process and we often have to be the ones absorbing the loss, sadness, fear, and hope of our clients. I would probably have told the “new business owner” me to be sure to take time for myself, meditate more often, not take things so personally, and know I will not always be able to help or please everybody no matter how hard I try.
Story 2: I would have better prepared my husband and kids for the amount of time and energy it would take from them to train hard for a body-building competition.
Contact Info:
- Address: 12750 Ventura Blvd Suite 102
Studio City, CA 91604 - Website: www.giftedjourneys.com
- Phone: 818-505-3026
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: giftedjourneyssurrogacy
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GJEggDonation/
- Other: www.seedsethics.org
Image Credit:
Fitness and Head Shots: http://michaelroud.com Office Staff Photo: https://www.facebook.com/JoeFunkPhotography/
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