18. From Hospital Rooms to Helping & Healing Hearts: Kristin Tomasello’s Mission-Driven Life

Today I sit down with my cousin Kristin Tomasello- our first real heart-to-heart, and what a story she has! From watching her dad collapse from leukemia at 12, to battling her own autoimmune struggles for years, to now running her own foundation, writing books, and launching a sun care line (all while spreading fierce love and faith).

We talk healing from the inside out- with food, scripture, boundaries, and compassion. Kristin is living proof that you can turn your deepest pain into a mission that helps thousands. If you’re going through something hard right now, this one’s for you.

Find Kristin here:

http://kristintomasello.com

https://costaseasuncare.com/

https://www.instagram.com/kristintomasello

Transcript

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Hello and welcome back to another episode of Success through Scars. Today I have my. Second slash third cousin, Kristen Ello here with me. Kristen has an amazing story that I cannot wait to hear. It's actually our first time connecting. We have kind of been in each other's orbits for a while and she's related to me somehow. I'll actually let her explain how we're related, but we recently. Connected and realized that we're kind of the same person. Kristen is incredible. She has her foundation, the Kristen Thomas Foundation for individuals with special needs. She has some faith-based books that she's written, and then also a sun care line inspired by her parents' cancer journeys. And her whole mission is about helping others heal. So, welcome, Kristen. Thanks for being here. Kristen, can you give us, just a little bit about your background your journey with your autoimmune disorder and everything that happened that led you to your entrepreneurial pursuits today? So I started fundraising when I was 12 years old. My dad collapsed in front of me because he had leukemia and we didn't really know that. So I basically just started to fundraise. I did door to door fundraising for the American Cancer Society. So I started a Relay for Life team all through middle school and high school. And then when I was 15 years old, I started to be in the special needs community. So I was a buddy for Best Buddies and I was. Really working on fundraising for the cancer patients, and also spending time with special needs kids. So I feel like when I was a kid, I kind of already knew who I was and I was really devoted just being super community impact. And then when I was 17, I hit this really random time of I was getting hives, and it wasn't allergy related. So there was a specific time when I was in high school where my ear started to turn purple and I was already covered in hives. And they rushed me to the hospital. So I left my junior year in the hospital and everybody was like, oh my gosh, did Kristen die? And that was kind of like this whole traumatic thing where I was going to school, but I wasn't going to school because they kept sending me home. And I just kept getting hives. And I realized like after I graduated and I went to business school and then I went to nursing school. I was really studying hard as to like what was actually wrong with me. I'm like, I'm not getting any answers. It's not coming up in my blood work. I feel horrible. I was getting insanely bad migraines. I was literally struggling sometimes to get out of bed because I was super dizzy. I used to like, get really nauseous get fevers, all of the stuff that people really didn't know because I wasn't really saying that stuff. And like I remember getting such a bad migraine that this eye, like I couldn't see out of this eye. And I'll never forget that day because I was like, I literally cannot see outta my right eye right now. And I was starting to panic. I was like, oh my gosh. Lord, if you just heal my eye right now, I'm going to church. And I don't know how long it took, but it got better and I was able to see again, and I went straight to church and I was like, Lord, glory. Glory to God because. It was really difficult to kind of navigate my emotions through that'cause one, I was already insanely overweight from my treatments that I was on. They had me on psych medication, they had me on stomach medications, on allergy medications and steroids. So I was insanely overweight. I was struggling emotionally to like. Worked through my overweightness and like I didn't have a lot of self-confidence at that point. Like, it was just a lot of wars in the mind where I didn't think that I could do anything because, you know, you just, you're stuck. You feel stuck in this moment of am I sick? Am I not sick? I am healthy, but I'm well I don't know how to describe that from a place of, like, you can't just be healthy and unhealthy at the same time. But it's like when I went to nursing school, I just like fought really hard to find answers for myself. And then that's when I studied autoimmune, like I studied autoimmune disorders in nursing school and then I was like. I show all the signs and symptoms of lupus and it was crazy. So I was talking to my doctors about this and they were like yeah, you basically have shown all the signs and symptoms of lupus. So they basically were treating me for that. And then they were gonna put me on some like parasite medication and an anti malaria and all this stuff. I was like, I'm not doing this. And then I've always found the Lord in this journey, but I didn't really find the Lord until like a year and a half ago where he actually like, made himself known to me. I had people pray for me, lay hands on me, and really figure out what was actually really occurring in my life and working through the spiritual battles that we all face all the time, I just got to that realization of like, my story is just like everybody else's and I'm no, no different. Everybody has something that they're going through and we all have to fight to the other side. It's like where I wanna see more compassion and kindness in the world because really we all have something. We are all either connected to, or someone is in our life going through something that is an illness or they have a special needs kid or they have a sibling or it's all of, it's all around us I feel like one of the things that I really touch on is the heart of people, and we need to focus more on the heart. And I think one of those things was when I healed my heart, a lot of the things that I was dealing with went away. So I haven't had any symptoms of lupus at all in the last almost two years. I haven't had any migraines. I don't have any internal bleeding. I don't have any swelling. Nothing, and I think for me was when the Lord, he talks about the healing is available to us. I think when I wanted him to completely come into my heart, I allowed him to be solely there, now that I have that knowledge and that wisdom, it's easy to walk in that submission to God because we realize that everything is spiritual, that we don't actually have to go through certain things if we know that God is going to take care of us. I've been fundraising and supporting. The community and being impactful with the special needs community, which led me to have my own nonprofit. But my books is where I'm really expressing the lessons and the wisdom that I have that I've experienced from traveling and, meeting different governments. And I've had the opportunity to meet rural people and understand how they run countries and economic decisions that affect millions of people's lives. It kind of gives me that reality of, if I make a decision today, how will it affect the lives around me? I got into pageantry and I felt like pageantry was my safe space, where I found my journey with Christ. Then it led me to growing my businesses, my charity, and my skincare line, because my skincare line, the Sun's Care, is a zinc based mineral product that doesn't have cancer ingredients. My dad's traumatic experience for me. Was a lot to process as a young kid and I was a caregiver. I was taking care of my brother. I had to be there for my family, and I do not want to have that be someone else's, life because of products that are being made and created. I do believe that is a. Issue that we are having today, that a lot of the products that we sell and have, are causing issues in the body, and I just do not wanna be causing that for somebody. When you say that you were sick, but not really, I know that that's something that people with autoimmune disorders can really relate to because it's like your body is showing all these physical signs of inflammation, but there's nothing really wrong. It's just your body is reacting to something. So can you share more about how you got through that and what specific steps you took? For anyone who's listening, who's going through something similar.'cause I have a lot of clients that have autoimmune disorders and a lot of people that I've helped through my Strength for singers program, which is my fitness program to heal themselves from the inside out by just aligning their actions and the foods they're eating and their exercise with something that can help them. So can you explain kind of your process for getting outta that? Fitness and food are a huge piece. But one of the things that I really stood on was healing scriptures. So I went to this healing school. Where you're there for two weeks and they just pound you with the word of healing scriptures. So one of the healing scriptures that I think I have to pull it up he was wounded for our transgressions. By his stripes, we are healed. Yeah. It's just finding specific scriptures that you can stand on that I think really kind of made me believe that the word of God could manifest in my life. And then reminding myself that by his stripes we were healed. So if he actually took a stripe for me, that means that my. Wound, or my disease was already paid in the price in full by him. And I think that was one component, right? But then I had to do this extra work where I was actually taking the time to really take out MSG type of seasonings, cooking with coconut oil, avocado oils anything that cause inflammation. You take out of your diet and you stay on that course of like gluten free, dairy, free as much as you can. Now for us, I need my Dutch and my Italian cheese, so there's that, but that's on occasion. So it's not like you have large doses of cheese, but you do have to moderate that. Because it is hormonal, right? So we can't just have the luxury of eating whatever we want and just going to McDonald's or going to Publix and getting a pub sub. It's, we have to be, we are a temple and we have to embody that we are created in the image of Christ and we need to basically treat ourselves as he would want us to be treated. So taking those necessary steps, like I go overboard with my food now, so like I don't eat out unless I have something that's healthy or I know what the oils are and all of the things. So I go extra and above and it could feel needy or high maintenance or whatever it is, right? But in the end, like I don't care what you think because I personally don't feel like. Feeling like crap for three days or Yes. I actually don't wanna feel bad for a week because like for example, I had ice cream, maybe two weeks ago and'cause one of my girlfriends came into town and we all went out to dinner and I had a little bit of ice cream and I just had like literally a smidge of ice cream and I was bloated or a weak, I gained six pounds. Just from that little bit because it's like inflammation and bloating type of weight. So it's easy to lose, but you have to wait like a week and a half before your bloating goes down. So like I'm learning a new relationship with food of like, oh, so the family came into town from Buffalo and we went out to Safety Harbor. And we got cookies or whatever, and I was like, oh, let's see if they have like a paleo, keto you know, a co, like a keto cookie. They did. And it was dairy free. Gluten-free. And I weighed myself before we went out and after, and I didn't gain any weight from that type of cookie. So I'm learning, it's like we don't have to go without, but it's like what's in the foods? That's the problem. It's not about what we eat, it's how it's being cooked and made. Like we can eat chocolate, but it's gotta be from Poco, not, preservatives that we can't even pronounce. especially for someone who has. Consistent chronic flareups like someone with lupus or another autoimmune disease. It is really important for them to watch the things that they're eating and to pay attention to how they're feeling. And probably part of it too is setting boundaries with people that want you to go past your goals. Mm-hmm. So what was that experience like? Did you have people in your life who didn't really agree with what you were doing? Uncle Dave kind of planted the seed of like, what's in our foods? And people were kind of like, this is weird. Like, why are we thinking about this? Who cares? But see, I was already on that wavelength with him. So like, it's kind of weird because I don't know how to relate to people from a place of like, I don't know what it's like to not have people supporting. Me, but I also could understand when you're in the process, it could feel kind of weird because your family or your friends might not understand it, but once they see it and get through it they're okay with it. But I feel like in the beginning it's kind of this weird step of faith that you have to kind of get comfortable with. And then, so I just encourage people to just do it regardless whether people support you or not, because it's gonna be worth it in the end. Yeah, I love that. You know what I mean? Can you talk more about your skincare line and what led you to start that? And I know that was based on your childhood experience of seeing your dad pass out in front of you. So what was that experience like developing the sunscreen and the skincare and is it just sunscreen or do you have multiple products? Yep, we're just launching the one right now, but we're planning on doing a whole beach collection, which I'm super excited for because I wanna have a a hundred percent aloe type of stuff where you can actually read the ingredients. I wanna have that relationship with the community and the people because, I mean, I've only known being impacted by the community, when we were in our situation with my dad, there was people feeding us, me and my brother, like our neighbors would bring us food every day like we were on a schedule because my mom wasn't home and my dad wasn't home. So. It was like people were bringing us food and it was like, I only know what it's like to be taken care of by the community besides obviously my family, of course, like our family's rocks and like anchors. But I'm staying from a place of like, on top of that, like we've just been super supported by our family, our friends, our community. So it's, it's like for me, I wanna have that relationship with. Our products where people can rely on us that we are actually taking those steps because we've been so cared for that I am like super, like, oh my gosh. Well we've been loved by like thousands of people. Like people are counting on us to love the fact, and I'm coming from that place of that love. And when my dad had cancer and I used to go to Moffitt to see him, it's like you see all these people literally dying of cancer and. I remember looking at this one lady that was carrying her chemo and she's, bald and has a little bandana and I'm thinking to myself like, how many other people are in this place? There's thousands of people at this hospital and people are dying and they're suffering and I feel like I just wanna be that person that kind of leads the industry into a new direction where, one, it's not about whose product or formula is better, but it's what are we doing with our brands to represent good things in the world? Because I think we should all. Not see each other as competition, but as a way to get a message out there and, impact the community. I did research when I was in college, when I was in nursing school, when I graduated, I actually spent my three years being an entrepreneur doing that versus like already intuitively thinking I was gonna be an ed nurse or you know, telemed or. Go to school to be a nurse practitioner. I was like, I already knew that nursing wasn't for me, but I still graduated and I was super drawn to starting a skincare line. So during school I was doing all this research and finding like all these chemicals that were actually harming the body and then like minerals that were super efficient for protecting ourselves one of the oils that I absolutely love that's in our product is actually it's Jehovah Oil. And I love Jehovah Oil. And then zinc oxide is our one active ingredient that we have. And a lot of other products out there have all these ben zones, and he oxalate and oxalate, and there's another one. There's actually a, sunscreen that I just got because I just did a peel on my face Monday, and the sunscreen that they gave me in my little packet was zinc and oxalate. So a lot of them, they're not like 99% of these products are not zinc oxide only. Unless you buy like a zinc based sunscreen, that's just a hundred percent zinc. And then it leaves you with white residue and then you look like a snow bunny, whatever. So I made sure that this was a very natural based formula that can actually be absorbed in the skin and it's zinc only. I'm excited to see what we can do as for research, as we continue.'cause I love that stuff. I think it's so fascinating to me. Yeah. That's so cool. So what's the correlation between the journey with making your sunscreen and skincare line and like the cancer journey with your parents and like being active for the community? Like what's the link between those two things? Did one of your parents have skin cancer? So my mom had basil on her lip right here. And my, one of my uncles, he's not really our uncle, but he's uncle by like business family friend from Tampa. He was cut 20 times, literally, of just getting basal and squamous, like removed from his face. It's interesting to see how many more people are actually being more affected by this. But one of the things too is when I was dealing with my hives and stuff, I wasn't really able to go out in the sun, so it made me think of. What if there was actually a good product that would protect me that wouldn't cause scarring? Like I'm, I don't have that anymore. Please the Lord. But at that time it was like I couldn't really go outside because it would've caused a lot of issues skin wise. Mm-hmm. So the skin is an organ and I'm very fascinated with medicine. I think it's amazing. Connecting those dots. Were like, okay, my dad had blood cancer, my mom had skin cancer, and then I had my autoimmune issues. It's like what I'm putting in my body is also like a huge, like it matters, like people just think, oh, it's my skin, but your skin is the largest organ in the body and it goes into your bloodstream. There's oars. Like it's going in there. So I'm like, why would I not pay attention to what's going on in my skin and what's going in my body and what am I doing? So that's kind of the correlation between like mom, dad, me, and obviously the impacting of the community is we're actually donating a proceeds to my foundation when people purchase the product. There will be a percentage going to my foundation, which we now do. We have hosted two proms for the special needs community. Yes. And now we're, you're gonna get really excited about this one. We are now gonna be launching Music of the Hearts. Wow. And then I have this program that I'm actually actively doing now. It's called the Creating Arts Program. I teach special needs individuals art, like how to paint. And then the next thing I'm launching in the summer is going to be medical for hearts. So basically my whole brand is all about heart. Even though I don't advocate for like heart transplants or anything like that, it's all about love for me, the love of God and hearing the word of the Lord and hearing his heart. So my art center that I'm opening up for the special needs kids here in Tampa will be all about the arts. So whether it's music, theater painting, pottery, it's all arts when people purchase, there'll be proceeds going towards the foundation. We're working towards, having. People with special needs and blood cancer. The same thing as my dad, the leukemia special needs individuals. Some of them high risk for people with blood cancers. We're creating a program where we're gonna help do research for them and pay their medical bills. That's amazing. That's beautiful. I love it. It's like my favorite time to be alive. I'm telling you I sometimes have to pinch myself sometimes'cause I get to live this life and I get to submit to God and honor him and do something good for people. It's not about looking good, it's about the heart for me. It's what am I doing to love people? Whether it's on a large stage or one-on-one, I think we all can make the world a better place even if we just impact one person, because you don't know what that one person's gonna do or be. I always just go for the underdogs, I love that. I'm curious about your foundation and when you started it. Can you tell us that story of how you got started with it? Yes. So I was competing for Miss Florida USA in 2023 and I opened it and then we started the prom that same year. When I first started, I was fundraising for other organizations at that time, so I was fundraising for special needs nonprofits in the area. So the first event that I did when I first competed for Miss Florida USA, we raised$12,000 at the exceptional evening that we did, which was a special needs pageant, and that was kind of fun. But then two years later I stepped out and I opened up my own and now I'm like just totally doing the things and it's what is happening? And, I have an amazing board and just a lot of amazing advisors, just very supportive. I opened my mouth and I said, I'm gonna start my arts program. And boom, I had like. Thousands of dollars worth of stuff donated to me. The Lord really just is opening the doors for the right things, the right people, all the divine connections. And I felt like the Miss USA organization was for me always, but I needed to heal my heart to really, really feel what this platform can do for me and through me, and be that person that. Can be for others. Like, when people ask me, why Miss Florida? And I'm like, I wanna be somebody's miracle. And it's just a very clear answer. Like, before it was like, oh, I wanna impact, and that's a great answer, of course you wanna impact, but it's kind of like being in one of those NFL players where, you go somewhere and you just make somebody's day. You know, that's really what it is for me. I can be somebody's miracle. I can be somebody that can be looked up to, and whether they're having a bad day, well they're not gonna have a bad day anymore because miss Florida USA, came to see me at the hospital. And those are the kind of moments that I'm looking forward to having as the title holder. That's so beautiful. It seems like you are very. Self-assured and clear on your path and there's not a lot of noise or distractions in the way for you. And I think that's actually something that a lot of people struggle with is choosing what to focus on. And for you, it seems like it really is a calling. So I guess my question for you then, Kristen, is, was there a time in your life when you didn't have that clear path or clear calling, or have you always been like this? Well, I've kind of always known this since I was a kid, and I definitely don't take that for granted because I can understand there was a time where I questioned it. Mm-hmm. And I think sometimes we focus more on the questioning of it versus the doing it. And the limitations behind it, because we're only focused on, oh my gosh, it's not happening now, so it's never gonna happen. And once I got out of that mindset of okay, it's okay that I'm a human that has made mistakes. It's okay that I've, hurt people or maybe offended people, but I am not going to be that person anymore. And that we kind of have to take pride out of the way. Ego. And just kind of submit humbly to the Lord and submit and surrender because it's like, Hey, God, I'm here. You know, I don't wanna be like this anymore. I wanna just follow your plan for my life. And I think when there's those times where I would question like, is this plan really for me? Is this path really for me? I don't wanna do this anymore. Like we all go through that. But I think it's like whenever I feel like I'm going in a valley, there's always somebody that kind of reminds me of you're not alone. I think it's once you get to that place of like you love yourself so much and then you can rely on other people. You see the world differently. You see everything as an opportunity versus I don't see anything happening. And I think it's just so important to be healed as a person. Like not somebody that has a career, not somebody that knows what they're doing that thinks that, like comparing yourself to somebody who's a big time speaker, a 10 time bestselling author, all those things you can't focus on those external things. You have to focus on the qualities and the spirit that's inside of you, the spirit of the Lord, but the fruits of his spirit. Those are the things that I focused on truly with building roots on his fruit was okay. I'm not gonna be angry. I'm gonna replace this fruit with love and kindness and this, and I'm gonna believe that something is gonna bloom from this. And it takes time. You have to water those things. But eventually when you have a beautiful plant, people can actually see the fruit of the Lord and it's, then it just gets easier. I love that message because, as you know, and I'm sure you've seen in my content on social media, I talk about how success is not just the way it looks to other people. It's not just looking cool. It's about like, how does your life feel? Do you feel happy? Do you feel free? I think that's another way to put what you're saying too, because I do have some listeners that maybe are not religious or maybe can't relate in that way. What would you say to those people? Well, I think it's still the teachings of, just being, right? It's not about a religious standpoint, it's about just being a good person? And one of the things I admire about you is how authentic you are. Aw. And I think that's, one of the things that you have. To offer to people and it's such a rare quality that I think can be a ripple effect for people. It's interesting to see how authentic people are and some people have a hard time being authentic. And I think we need to embrace being authentic, because like for me, it's like I wake up and it's oh my gosh, I get to live another day. I get to live out my life story. I get to live out all the things that I love. For you it's like you get to be fitness and singing and music and all those things that. Are everything that you are as a person. And, that's what me and you totally align, always like because we're super clear on what actually makes us happy. Being multi-passionate too, yes. Multi-passionate. But that's in our DNA though, because music has been in our whole, like our whole family is musicians. Our whole family's a musician, so it's like I've been playing the piano and singing since I was a kid. It's the same for you. So it's like now when I have my art classes, it's oh, I've already been painting my whole life. I now, when I expanded doing music, I'm gonna be singing and playing piano with that. I love that. It's not like a new thing that we're learning, it's like already inside of us that I think people over complicate this process. Where it's like it's all about marketing, right? Like how do you market yourself and how are you being towards others? That is what needs to be seen. So it's like, yes, I have a nonprofit, but I also. Like invisible, like I'm showcasing what I'm doing, so it's not like I'm doing it too flaunt and anything. It's already who I am, so, but it's just now I'm marketing it so I can impact on a larger scale. So that's the thing is people need to not be afraid of who they are, but also incorporate on how to be visible to actually. Make an impact. And I think that's where the blockage really comes from, is because people don't know how to do both at the same time. I love that you brought that up too.'cause I think for a lot of people listening, that's something that really holds them back from pursuing their purpose. Yep. I think it's all about marketing and PR and visibility because if you don't have that, it's really hard to get behind a vision and a mission that isn't getting awareness. Well, Kristen, you've been through so much in your life from seeing your dad collapse in front of you, having your parents both go through cancer treatment. Helping so many people through your foundation and now with your skincare line you've just been through so many different things and you've really used that to create purpose in the world. So what would you say to someone who is just like at the beginning of their journey, maybe they're where you were as a kid and they're seeing their parent go through like this horrible cancer treatment, or they're struggling with an autoimmune disorder, or they're struggling with something else. What would you say to that person? Basically, the more that you love yourself in the process and remember that it's going to be okay on the other side, the more that you speak life into the situation versus feeding the negativity, I think will be the most encouraging thing. That you can do for yourself, because if you just allow the situation to consume you, it's gonna be really hard to see the blessings that are around you in the process. And I just encourage everybody to focus on the blessings and love the person that's going through the treatment and loving yourself during the process because. We as people need more love in the world, and the more that we can spread love and kindness, the more kindness we'll find you. I love that. It was so fun interviewing you today. I had so much fun. I love you. Thanks for joining. I love you too. And for everyone listening, where can we find you, Kristen? We're on social media. I am on social media, Instagram, and Facebook. My name's Kristen to, and you'll find my foundation on my personal page and my Cosa c Sun Care Instagram page. And then my books are available on Amazon. And my foundation is called the Kirsten Tomicello Foundation as well. And stay tuned for Miss Florida USA, May 23rd to the 25th. I'm so excited. That's amazing. Excited. I can't wait. Yay. Well, thank you for telling us where we can keep in touch with you and everyone thanks for listening and thanks Kristen. Love you. Thank you. Love you. Bye.