08/05/2026
Finding Me Again
Where It All Began
Last week, we shared these words…
Every Journey Has a Story.
Today, we’re sharing one.
Most people know Donna Christian-Lowe as Chattanooga’s “Queen Connector”—a wife, mother, business owner, Human Resources executive, media personality, and someone who has spent her life connecting people throughout our community.
What many people may not know is the personal journey behind the smile.
Donna recently shared her story with our team and gave us permission to share it with you in her own words.
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Most people know me as Chattanooga’s “Queen Connector.”
They know me as someone who loves people, loves this community, and has spent much of my life and career connecting others to the people, information, and resources that help them live their best lives.
What many people don’t know…
…is that I’ve spent much of my life doing exactly what so many women do.
Taking care of everyone else.
As someone who has spent years in Human Resources, on television, on the radio, speaking at events, serving as a host and emcee, and meeting people from every walk of life almost every single day, I was constantly in front of people and cameras.
To most, I was the smiling face they saw on television, heard on the radio, or met at an event.
What they didn’t see…
…was what I saw.
Every morning when I got dressed.
Every time I stood in front of a camera.
Every time I stepped up to a microphone.
Every photograph.
Every reflection in the mirror.
It was a constant reminder.
Not just of the weight I had gained…
But of how I felt.
I didn’t feel healthy.
I didn’t feel like myself.
I had become really good at hiding behind a smile.
People saw someone who was happy, energetic, successful, and always encouraging others.
What they couldn’t see was the conversation I had with myself almost every single day.
“I’ve got to do something.”
“I’ll start next week.”
“I’ll get to it when life slows down.”
But life never slowed down.
I was in a relentless pursuit of serving others, building businesses, raising a family, growing my career, and showing up for everyone around me.
What I wasn’t pursuing…was my own health.
Before I knew it, I had drifted so far from the woman I once recognized that I barely recognized myself anymore.
As I look back at these three photographs, I realize they tell a story that words alone never could.
The woman on the left had slowly stopped recognizing herself.
The woman in the middle was beginning to believe that change was possible.
The woman on the right isn’t perfect…
She’s simply someone who decided she was worth investing in again.
But that story didn’t begin with these photographs.
It began years earlier.
It was the summer Mason was playing baseball. He was about nine or ten years old.
That’s when I first walked through the doors of Hixson Weight Loss Center and met Patty.
I thought I was walking in for a weight-loss consultation.
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
What I found wasn’t just someone who wanted to help me lose weight.
I found someone who wanted to help me change the way I thought.
As we talked, Patty wasn’t just listening to what I was saying…
She was listening to how I was saying it.
She heard something I didn’t.
The way I talked to myself.
It wasn’t harsh.
It wasn’t obvious.
I wasn’t standing in front of a mirror criticizing myself.
It was much more subtle than that.
“I have to…”
“I’ve got to…”
“I need to…”
Everything felt like another obligation.
Another responsibility.
Another thing on an already full plate.
Patty gently challenged me to look at it differently.
Instead of saying,
“I have to take care of my health,”
she encouraged me to say,
“I get to take care of my health.”
Instead of looking at healthy choices as another task…
She helped me begin seeing them as a gift.
At first, it sounded so simple.
Almost too simple.
But looking back, I realize that small shift in my thinking became the foundation for everything that followed.
For someone who had spent a lifetime and career encouraging others, developing leaders, coaching employees, mentoring professionals, and reminding people to believe in themselves…
I realized I wasn’t giving myself the same grace, encouragement, or compassion that I so freely gave everyone else.
That day wasn’t simply the beginning of a journey toward better health.
It was the beginning of changing the conversation I was having with the one person I couldn’t walk away from…
Myself.
— Donna Christian-Lowe
