Leadership

Hala Herbert on Rewriting the Story: Why the Past Does Not Have to Define a Woman’s Future

September 22, 2026

There are experiences that can change how a woman sees herself long after the circumstances themselves have passed. Difficult relationships, loss, trauma, mistakes, financial hardship, or periods of instability can become so closely connected to identity that moving beyond them begins to feel almost impossible.

Hala Herbert understands that tension personally. Her own story includes abuse, homelessness, trauma, and seasons when the life she has today seemed far removed from what felt possible at the time.

Yet Hala’s message is not simply about overcoming adversity. It is about what happens when a woman begins to recognize that her past can be part of her story without becoming the author of everything that comes next.

That idea is at the heart of Bad Bitch Energy: How to Turn Pain Into Power.

A Past Can Explain a Story Without Defining It

One of the most difficult parts of moving forward can be separating what happened from who someone believes she is.

Painful experiences can influence confidence, expectations, relationships, and decisions. But influence is not the same as destiny.

Hala’s journey reflects the importance of making that distinction. Abuse and homelessness were chapters of her life, but they did not become the permanent definition of her identity.

That perspective does not require ignoring the past or pretending difficult experiences did not matter. Instead, it creates a different relationship with those experiences. They can be acknowledged honestly without giving them unlimited authority over the future.

Self-Trust Is Part of Rebuilding

Changing circumstances is only one part of transformation. A woman may also need to rebuild her relationship with herself.

Self-trust can become especially important after seasons in which life has felt unpredictable or circumstances have undermined a person’s sense of control. Learning to make decisions, honor those decisions, and recognize personal capability can gradually change how the future looks.

For Hala, becoming an active participant in her own story was central to that process. She did not wait for perfect circumstances or for another person to rescue her before beginning to build differently.

Over time, that intentional approach contributed to a life that now includes entrepreneurship, business ownership, real estate investment, authorship, family, and leadership.

The accomplishments matter, but the deeper transformation is the shift in agency behind them.

Choosing What Comes Next

Rewriting a personal story does not mean rewriting history.

The past remains part of the record. What can change is the meaning assigned to it and the authority it is given over future decisions.

That distinction can be powerful for women who have spent years defining themselves through what they endured. A difficult chapter may explain why a person struggled, but it does not necessarily determine what she is capable of building afterward.

Hala’s experience demonstrates this contrast. The woman who experienced homelessness is part of the same story as the entrepreneur, author, investor, wife, mother, and leader she became. The earlier chapters did not disappear. They simply stopped being the only chapters that mattered.

Becoming an Active Participant

The idea of personal agency is central to Hala’s philosophy. Waiting for someone else to choose, rescue, validate, or give permission can leave a person postponing the life she wants to create.

Choosing oneself does not mean having complete control over circumstances. It means recognizing where choices remain available and taking responsibility for them.

Sometimes that begins with a small decision: pursuing an opportunity, establishing a boundary, changing a habit, trusting an instinct, or deciding that an old definition no longer fits.

Those choices can become the beginning of a different trajectory.

The Story Is Not Finished

The most meaningful lesson in Hala’s journey is not simply that someone can move from hardship to achievement. It is that a person’s starting point does not have to become her final identity.

Bad Bitch Energy: How to Turn Pain Into Power frames that idea through Hala’s lived experience: power does not necessarily come from having an easy story. It can emerge from recognizing that the story is still being written.

For women who feel defined by something that happened years ago, that distinction matters. The past deserves acknowledgment, but it does not have to receive authorship of the future.

A new chapter can begin whenever a woman decides that what happened to her will be part of her story rather than the limit of what her story can become.