From Rock Bottom to a Pink Cadillac
Nita’s story starts with rebuilding. In 2000, at 24 years old and coming out of an abusive relationship, she started a Mary Kay business — not expecting a career, just looking for a way back to herself. It worked. Within ten months she’d earned a career vehicle. Not long after, she made Sales Director, then climbed into the top 2% of the entire company, eventually becoming one of the youngest Pink Cadillac Sales Directors in the state of Virginia.
What kept her in it wasn’t the car. It was watching the business bend to fit whatever season of life she was in — single, then newlywed, then a single mother raising twins, and now remarried and running multiple businesses of her own. She still runs that side of her world today at Beauty by Nita, and she still believes every woman deserves the “Pink tribe” kind of sisterhood that came with it — a community that shows up for you automatically, just for joining.
Reconnecting With Her Wild, Authentic Self
Years later, the end of her marriage became its own kind of beginning. Nita has talked openly about starting over with $20 in her bank account and deciding to build a life on honesty instead of certainty. Under the name The Nita Marie, she grew a following of more than two million people across social platforms, stepped into coaching and speaking on women’s empowerment, and built an online business that put her in the top .01% of earners in her field — work she’s since translated into millions in tracked revenue growth for her own clients.
She’s since helped more than 500 women work through their own transformations, and put much of what she’s learned into her book, The Sacred Butterfly. Her message hasn’t changed much from where it started: freedom comes from reconnecting with yourself, healing is not one-size-fits-all, and real growth happens in community — and often, in nature.
A Sanctuary for the Abandoned
That belief in rescue — of people and of animals — eventually became Dog Heaven LLC, which Nita founded as a home for abandoned dogs, horses, cats, and other animals in need of sanctuary, working alongside the 501(c)(3) nonprofit The Underdogs. She describes her mission simply: to hold space for rescuing animals and for helping women reconnect with their own inner wildness, healing, and purpose. Being safe, loved, and free to thrive, she says, is a gift — and one that’s meant to be shared, not hoarded.
Living Out Loud
Nita is currently navigating a new and much harder chapter: a Stage 4 breast cancer diagnosis. True to form, she’s chosen to face it the way she’s faced everything else — openly, and with the people who’ve supported her all along. She shares that journey publicly through Nita’s Healing Journey, where she’s honest about the hard days as well as the good ones, and where friends, clients, and followers can stay close to her and support her through treatment.
Whether she’s mentoring a woman rebuilding her confidence, welcoming a rescued dog into a permanent home, or simply getting through a difficult night, Nita’s throughline has stayed the same: healing is possible, it doesn’t have to be private, and no one has to do it alone.
