Story & Lesson Highlights with Dr. Christy Wise of Marin County

Dr. Christy Wise shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Dr. Christy, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. Have any recent moments made you laugh or feel proud?
Yes—and the moment caught me entirely by surprise. After nearly three decades of working in the Mental Health/global health and human behavior work, I didn’t expect to feel giddy again about school—but here I am, newly accepted into the Harvard Medical School Global Health Care Leaders Program.

It’s both odd and wonderful to dust off my scholastic brain, crack open textbooks, and debate ideas with some of the most brilliant minds worldwide. What makes me proud, though, is realizing that even after all these years, I still have the same appetite for learning, curiosity, and now—thankfully—a bit more wisdom and humility to go with it.

It’s also made me laugh more than once… usually when I remember how long it’s been since I’ve pulled an academic all-nighter! But more than anything, I feel grateful to grow, stretch, and make new friends again. Because at every stage of leadership, connection remains the most potent driver of impact.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Dr. Christy Wise—a global health care leader, mental health expert and educator, leadership curriculum designer, and founder of Life-Sauce, an online personal development company for lifelong learners. After over 30 years of work at the intersection of psychology, trauma-informed care, and leadership development, I still wake up curious. That’s the gift of this work: it keeps evolving, and so do I.

My path has always been rooted in one belief—that leadership isn’t just about vision or charisma, but about deep emotional intelligence, cultural responsiveness, and the willingness to show up with integrity in complex spaces. Whether teaching neuropsychology to undergrads or co-creating resilience programs in underserved communities, my focus is the same: helping people understand how behavior, context, and identity shape human potential.

I’ve designed and taught leadership, ethics, trauma, and diversity courses using a student-centered approach—think flipped classrooms, movement-based final projects, and real-world leadership simulations. Learning should stretch us and stay with us.

Right now, I’m honored to be part of Harvard Medical School’s Global Health Care Leaders Program—a new chapter I didn’t expect, but one that’s reignited my excitement for learning and connection. It’s a joy (and occasionally a jolt!) to be surrounded by brilliant minds from across the globe.

Through my organization, Life-Sauce, I work to bridge scholarship with lived experience, turning leadership theory into practical, culturally responsive strategies. My work is for the communities often left out of the leadership narrative because that’s where the most powerful stories, innovations, and change-makers live.

At the heart of it, I’m a teacher. My brand is not just about building leaders—it’s about building people who lead with courage, adaptability, and humanity.

Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
Oh, this is a beautiful and easy question for me to answer.

I think it’s finally time to release the part of me that’s always felt she had to sparkle her way into being taken seriously. I’ve always been a bubbly, glittery cheerleader at heart—truly. Growing up in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley (yes, I am a real-life Valley Girl!), My friends and family would easily describe me as a “clapper”, which means that when I get excited, yes… I clap! Lol! That part will never change. I often led with energy and enthusiasm because I wasn’t sure if my intellect would be enough.

I was terrible at math, wrestled with learning disabilities, and spent much of my young life doubting I had what it took to make a real difference. I internalized the idea that I had to be extra likable to be worthy—especially in academic or leadership spaces that didn’t reflect people like me.

But here I stand, three decades into a career that has impacted thousands of lives across cultures, systems, and communities. I’ve founded organizations, taught future leaders, written curricula, and now I’m studying at Harvard Medical School’s Global Health Care Leaders Program. Not to prove anything—but to keep growing.

So, I’m letting go of the old story that said I needed to overcompensate. She got me through the door; that part of me did her job. But now, I trust that I belong in the room, as I am. And that quiet confidence, more than the glitter, allows me to lead truly. However, I take great pride in continuing to clap and will always appreciate the sparkle of actual glitter.

What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
One of the most defining—and brutal—wounds of my life was being falsely accused of crimes my ex-husband committed in my name. I was blindsided. But worse than the legal nightmare was watching people who once said they loved me—friends, colleagues—vanish, just like that. No questions. No benefit of the doubt. They believed the lie.

I went from victim to villain overnight. And that kind of public betrayal does something to you. It doesn’t just break your heart—it tries to erase your humanity.

But here’s what I know now: the most dangerous thing about abuse isn’t always the abuser—it’s the silence that follows. It’s the way systems, institutions, and communities turn their backs. That silence can kill. And I refused to let it.

I fought back. I cleared my name. I found my voice—and I made a promise: I would never go quiet again.

Today, my life is overflowing with truth, love, and real friendships. I’ve given birth to a movement called #LetHerHeal because far too many women are surviving one trauma only to be re-victimized by the very world that should protect them.

This movement is for every woman who’s been blamed instead of believed. For every survivor who’s been bullied, shamed, silenced, or erased. It’s a call to stop demonizing the broken-hearted and protect the brave.

#LetHerHeal isn’t just a hashtag. It’s a reckoning. And we’re just getting started.

I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
This movement. #LetHerHeal is not a campaign—it’s a mission that will outlive me.

I am fiercely committed to every woman and young girl who has survived what she never should have experienced—abuse, betrayal, silencing, and shame. This is for the ones who were not only hurt but then blamed. For those who were told to stay quiet, to “move on,” to smile through the wreckage.

I’m not moving on—I’m moving forward. And I’m bringing this movement with me.

Because healing should never come with a price, justice should never depend on who believes you.

So I will keep building, keep teaching, and keep telling the truth until no woman has to fight for the right to heal.

And I want you with me.

If this speaks to you—if you’ve survived, witnessed, or stayed silent and want to change that—join us. Share the stories. Use the hashtag. Bring this conversation into your boardrooms, classrooms, and living rooms by partnering with us. Invite us to speak. Sponsor healing spaces. Fund survivor-led initiatives. Build platforms that amplify—not erase—her voice.

The world doesn’t need more bystanders. It needs protectors, listeners, and leaders who know that her healing is our collective responsibility.

#LetHerHeal is just beginning. Be part of the change.

Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
I hope they say, “She survived what should have broken her—but it didn’t. Not even close.”

I want to be remembered not just for what I endured, but for how I rose—again and again—with glitter still on my cheeks, a smile that refused to fade, and an unapologetically romantic belief in a better, more humane world.

I hope they say I stayed soft in the face of cruelty, bold in the face of injustice, and relentless in my fight for those who were silenced. I hope they say I built something that mattered. I hope I made it safe for survivors to speak and impossible for the world to look away.

Most of all, I hope they tell the story of #LetHerHeal—how one woman’s pain became a global reckoning. This movement didn’t just shift conversations—it blew a hole through the silence surrounding victim shaming. It demanded that our culture finally choose protection over punishment, compassion over cruelty.

Because when I’m gone, I don’t want the spotlight. I want the echo. I want the world to be different—louder, kinder, braver—because I was here.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.life-sauce.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_lifesauce/?hl=en
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-christy-wise-19069013/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrchristyW