"Strength" - But Not the Loud Kind

When we asked Yolanda to describe womanhood in one word, she answered without hesitation.

"Strength," she said. Then she paused. "But it's a quiet one."

That distinction matters to her. Yolanda isn't talking about the kind of strength you put on display. She's talking about the kind that shows up in the moments no one sees. When your plans fall apart, when you're running on empty, when the weight of everyone else's needs is heavier than you let on. "You show up when everything that you planned didn't go that way," she said, "but you feel resilient still, and you still show up with love, especially for the people you're caring for."

It's a definition she didn't choose from a book. She lived her way into it.

Becoming a Mom at 17

Yolanda's understanding of strength didn't come gradually. It arrived all at once, earlier than most.

"For me, that word became very real at a very early age," she told us, steadying her voice. "I became a mom at 17 years old, and there was just nothing that life could have done to prepare me. It just came, and it taught me to be strong and to show up for somebody that needed me."

At 17, every decision changed. It was no longer about what she wanted, what she needed, what was easiest for her. There was someone else who relied on her entirely. "Life just taught me that it was not about me anymore," she said simply.

That weight and the strength she found to carry it shaped everything that followed.

The Road to Medicine (By Way of Law Enforcement)

Yolanda's path into healthcare wasn't exactly the one she'd drawn out for herself. Originally, she had her sights set on law enforcement, waiting on a list for a police department that ultimately didn't come through.

"In the meantime, I was going to nursing school," she said with a quiet laugh, "and life just happened and led me down a different path, but definitely the path I was supposed to be on."

Medicine, it turned out, was a natural fit for someone who had spent years showing up for others as a matter of survival. Working in a hospital setting deepened that calling. "It taught me a lot about people from different backgrounds," she said. "It teaches you to be humble. It teaches you to show up — even when you might need a little care yourself."

From Clinical Care to the Chair at Pinch

There's something intimate about what Yolanda does now. In a clinical setting, patients trust you with their health. But sitting across from her at Pinch, women are trusting her with something just as tender - the way they look in the world, how they feel when they see themselves.

"That feels like an honor," Yolanda said, "because someone is trusting you to make the right decision for them. You have to take into consideration so many things to make sure you create the right plan for them."

But what she notices most isn't technique or anatomy. It's the story each woman carries in with her.

"There's more than just a woman sitting in my chair," she told us. "There's a story behind every woman, whether it's 'I'm getting older and I just don't feel like myself,' or 'I'm going through a divorce and I just want to feel beautiful again,' or a young woman feeling insecure and realizing that she can be so much more than that."

What does she hope they feel when they leave? "More positive. Better than they did before I got there." That's the standard she holds herself to, every single time.

The Weight of Being the One Who Carries

Caretaking is threaded through every part of Yolanda's life. At work and at home, she is the one people lean on. And she's learned to hold that gracefully, but she's honest about what it costs.

"To feel needed feels like a purpose," she said. "But at the same time, it can feel very overwhelming because you're the caregiver, and sometimes you need to be taken care of too."

The depleting moments, she said, are the ones where she's given everything she has and it still isn't enough. The energizing ones are the flip side. Watching her care makes a real, visible difference in someone's life. Both are part of the reality she navigates every day.

And then there's the thing she doesn't always say out loud.

"What feels heavy sometimes is that being a teen mom was one of the hardest times of my life," she shared. "It felt like the weakest time of my life. But I realize now that that was probably where all that strength came from."

What Got Her Through

We asked Yolanda what carried her through those hardest early years, and she almost laughed at the question, not because it was funny, but because the answer was so clear to her.

"My daughter. She was what got me through everything." There were moments, she admitted, where she didn't want to show up. Where it felt like too much. "But I knew that I had to. There was just no other way. There was no losing, just winning."

That mindset, forged when she was barely an adult herself, never really left her.

The Women Who Shaped Her

When we asked about the women who influenced her most, Yolanda didn't have to think long. Her mom taught her hard work. An aunt showed her how to be soft - maternally soft, in her words. Her sister showed her what resilience looks like up close.

"I think every woman I encounter has shaped me," she said. "But those are the ones who stay with me."

Womanhood Is Not Effortless - And That's the Point

There's a word that gets thrown around a lot when people talk about women they admire. Effortless. She wakes up like that. She moves through the world like that. It all just comes naturally.

Yolanda has a response to that.

"Effortless is a lie," she said. "Effortless takes a lot of work. It looks like showing up when you don't want to. And I feel like people don't see the full picture."

She's not bitter about it. But she is clear. The grace people see on the outside, the calm, the warmth, the competence, is the result of years of quiet, unglamorous effort. The strength was never given. It was built, slowly, in all the moments nobody saw.

What She Wishes People Understood

As we wrapped up, we asked Yolanda what she wished people understood about women who carry a lot, and about her specifically.

"What I wish people would understand about women that carry a lot is that sometimes even the strongest one needs support too," she said softly.

And about herself? She thought for a moment.

"The story behind the person behind all of this."

Now you know a little more of it.

We're so grateful to Yolanda for trusting us with her story. Her presence at Pinch is a gift to every woman who sits across from her, and her honesty here is a gift to all of us. Check out her video on our Instagram.