Unfolding Grace: Antoinette Lee on Hope, Gratitude, and Resilience

Описание: In this deeply honest and empowering episode, we explore identity, trauma, finding belonging in the wild, and the courage it takes to redefine what a “full life” looks like after the world tells you it’s not possible.

In this episode of Broken Beautiful Me, Kelly sits down with Antoinette Lee Toscano, an outdoor industry influencer, writer, speaker, and founder of the American Adventure Sports Club nonprofit. Antoinette is a former IT executive turned adventure sports advocate, whose journey from traumatic injury and anxiety to radical freedom in the outdoors shows us that healing doesn’t always look like rest — sometimes it looks like waking up in the middle of a river, choosing life again and again.

After a devastating rappelling accident left her with a traumatic brain injury, spinal injury, PTSD, and nearly immobile, Antoinette didn’t just survive — she reimagined what life could mean. Instead of waiting for a “normal” she decided to create a New Normal Big Life — a life filled with rivers, snow, wilderness, and a community for people who felt priced out, rejected, or unseen in outdoor spaces. 

In this heartfelt and expansive conversation, Antoinette and Kelly explore how the outdoors became more than adventure — it became a path to freedom, identity, community, and deep human belonging.

In this episode, Antoinette shares:

• 🌲 How a life-threatening injury became the catalyst for intentional living

• 🌀 Why creating a “new normal” wasn’t about escape, but reclamation

• 🧗‍♀️ The power of the outdoors to heal nervous systems and transform self-belief

• 💪 How she built community, accessible adventure, and broke barriers in outdoor recreation

• 📖 Why storytelling and writing helped her reclaim agency over her own narrative

• 🛶 The importance of inclusivity — for people of color, people with disabilities, veterans, and people who’ve been priced out of outdoor spaces

• 🌊 What water, rivers, and moving wilderness taught her about resilience and joy

• 🤍 How freedom becomes your compass when suffering is no longer the central story

Antoinette also reflects on how helping others create their own Big Life through her nonprofit, her writing, and her outdoor media has become the heart of her purpose — not because she fixed her pain, but because she leaned into it and let it expand her empathy, courage, and leadership.

This is a grounded, courageous, and deeply human episode about redefining normal, living with intention, and building a life that feels truly alive.

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Follow Antoinette Lee Toscano

Website & Blog – New Normal Big Life - https://nnbl.blog/ 

Instagram -   / antoinetteleetoscano   

Facebook -   / antoinettelee.toscano  

WhitewaterTV / AdventureTV - https://xotv.me/channels/359-whitewat... 

Paddling Magazine Contributor Page - https://paddlingmag.com/author/antoin... 

Diversify Whitewater (Co-Founded Project) - https://diversifywhitewater.org/

American Adventure Sports Club (Nonprofit) - https://nnbl.blog/american-adventure-... 

Book Feature – Women and Water (Antoinette’s story contributor)

Available wherever books are sold (search “Women and Water She Explores”)