Meet Leslie
Born and raised in the beautiful midwestern town of St Louis, MO, I had always wanted to move to Florida and enjoy year-round sunshine. Little did I know that I’d also end up marrying the man of dreams (in a hurricane, no less!) and raise beautiful kids at the southern tip of mainland USA.
This page serves to share a little more info about my pathway to paradise. Find out why I swapped the Mississippi River for the Atlantic Ocean, and why I left the Gateway Arch for hot pink flips flops and a wholesome, beachy lifestyle instead!
THE GATEWAY TO MY ENTREPRENEURIAL DREAM
Raised in a close-knit family of five from humble beginnings, I have always enjoyed an unwavering passion for making healthy nutrition an easy part of living a whole, fit and fabulous life. Immediately upon graduating from St Louis University in 2009 with my registetered dietitian credentials in hand, I moved to Florida to join the United States Navy.
I worked as a Naval Officer Dietitian for ten years from 2009. I was on active duty for the first three years, after which I remained in the Reserves for another seven. It was during this time that I completed my masters of science degree and other supplementary studies through the University of North Florida.
I also enjoyed extra time dedicated to treating clinical patients with multiple co-morbidities at the Naval Hospital as a civilian RD. This is what ignited the sparks within me to further my tertiary education and add Personal Training and Group Fitness certifications to my repertoire.
However, honoring our true calling is one of the best adventures we can undertake for our lives… So I hung up my uniform to sail the entrepreneurial waters of my own business voyage instead!
I am one of three sisters in our family, but one of my sisters passed away in 2016. Our homegrown Missouri family of five became a family of four when life threw us a nasty curve ball. I’m forever grateful for the love and support of my extra Florida family to help us through this time.
Life, as we know, is full of contrast and paradoxical ironies. I say this because 2016 (one of the worst years of my life with the loss of my beloved sister) is also the year in which I was gifted one of my greatest blessings: I met the man I was eventually to marry.
Thus, another childhood dream came to fruition when I married the love of my life and subsequently the father of my beautiful kids, Ian.
Today, I raise my children from the comfort of my home in the Sunshine State as I simultaneously continue to grow my heart-centered business.
Family Foundations Forever
Life and
Business Bliss
Having experienced major personal loss and grief at a young age, I can attest to this quote by Franklin P. Adams: “Health is the thing that makes you feel that now is the best time of year!”
Isn’t that a fabulous way to live your life?
Believing that NOW is always the best time to do something you’ve always wanted to?
Case in point: despite a number of suggestions that we move our wedding date in 2017 to a more suitable time because of a hurricane, neither Ian nor myself wanted to postpone our big day.
We are both relaxed and adventurous people by nature, so we tied the knot in a typical Florida hurricane on one of our favorite beaches!
Since then, my hubby and I have sailed through a few of life’s proverbial storms from time to time, but we always come out smiling on the other side.
Our biggest achievements to date?
I delivered our beautiful girl in 2018, followed by our handsome little man in 2020. #grateful
Today, Ian remains one of my greatest allies with regards to my choice to run my business from home while managing the household as a nurturing momma bear to our babies.
The Story Behind the Brand
Lovingly nurtured over time in the trenches of our entrepreneurial seas, below is a summary of our Purpose, Mission, Vision and Values. Enjoy learning why a hot pink margarita became our brand ‘mascot’
POWERFUL PURPOSE
The Leslie Urbas Brand exists to change the conversation and shatter the myths in our industry about what constitutes true healthy nutrition, sustainable weight loss, and how to best go about fueling our bodies for optimal well-being and performance – especially with our busy lifestyles.
Our Ultimate Urbas Team delivers lasting results to people who don’t only want to shed inches, lose weight, tone up, and feel strong, supple, and supercharged with energy…
They also want to ditch self-deprecating diets forever, reclaim their personal body-mind power, and feel whole, healthy, fit, and confident with a revitalized zest for life!
HIGH-IMPACT VISION
To create lasting change in the lives of people around the world as they make conscious and educated decisions about their optimal health and wellness, including:
Healthy nutrition is about so much more than ‘meal plans’
A healthy family starts on the inside of the front door, and the same can be said of a company’s workforce
Overcoming our mindset shackles to achieve our physical and intellectual vision is a necessary step to our long-term success
As John F. Kennedy famously quoted: “Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity.”
MISSION-DRIVEN MOJO
To inspire, motivate, drive, and empower lifelong health and wellness transformation through:
Body-nourishing nutrition plans (sans deprivation)
Bespoke mindset support for wholeness and habitual harmony
Personalized fitness and conditioning strategies that reconnect the heart to one’s physical vision and goals
Organizational initiatives that take employee well-being into consideration for improved productivity and job satisfaction
Our health is an investment in our quality of life, not an expense. If you think wellness is expensive… try illness.
FUN-LOVING MARGARITA MASCOT
Our work is serious and highly professional, but we deliver our results in a fun-loving way so that our Clients enjoy the journey.
After all: they’re the ones doing all the heavy lifting, so to speak!
We appreciate that many of our clients rarely get to the ocean, let alone spread their toes in beach sand on a daily basis. So we bring it all to your doorstep through our virtual coaching and consulting offers.
We want you to feel that you deserve to relax after our sessions together with a metaphorical margarita in one hand, that your feet are resting in comfy flip flops, and that you smell the salty sea breeze while inhaling a blissful breath of fresh air and contemplate this joyous experience we call LIFE!