Watch Dr. Tabatha explain her “Why” in this powerful interview with Lisa Nichols.

Welcome to Breakthrough with Lisa Nichols. I'm Lisa Nichols and today I have a wonderful guest whose story I love and is so necessary. Dr. Tabitha Barber. Tabitha, I'm so excited that you're here.

Girl, you are a blessing. You are a gift from God and I just feel so honored to be here with you today.

Well, you have navigated a journey to get to where you are, Dr. Tabitha. And you sit as a, almost like a sister friend to people who need you the most. Tell me about your background a bit. How did you come to this business and how do you serve your clients?

Back in 2017, I looked like I had it all. I was a highly sought after and loved ob GYN robotic surgeon. I was chief of staff of the hospital. I had three children I adored and I should have loved my life because I worked really hard to get there. When I was 17, I got pregnant and dropped out of high school. I had a very traumatic delivery. And those events led me to finding my purpose of giving women a voice and a choice when it comes to their bodies because I didn't have that. So here I am, so accomplished and I was miserable. I was so sleep deprived from delivering babies most nights that I couldn't remember my patients names. My body was in so much pain from being a surgeon. I would lived on pain meds like I could barely function.

It's a journey.

Yeah, it's a journey.

It can look like it's the perfect journey unless you know what you need and what your heart needs.

Right? So I ended up with a ruptured disc in my back. I went to the surgeon, he said it's no big deal. You just need back surgery. No big deal, right? No big deal. So I did it because I didn't think I had another choice. So I took six weeks off and my third night back on call, I re injured and I couldn't move. And I went back to the surgeon, he said it's no big deal. Back surgery is like lace potato chips. You can't have just one.

And.

And then he said, we'll just put some rods and screws in your back and you might herniate above or below. You might need more surgery after that. And I was like, time out. I'm 40 years old. I'm not signing up for multiple back surgeries. There has to be another choice. So I did the unthinkable. I took four months off of work and I just started researching like I found this whole world of health and wellness that I knew nothing about because as a physician, I was Taught diagnosis and disease. So once your eyes are open, you can't go back. Right, right, right. Like, I wanted to ask my patients about their diet and their sleep and their movement and tell them everything. I had learned that my back problems, my thyroid disease, my depression, my heavy periods, like, all of it was just from my terrible diet and lifestyle. But I don't get paid to do that. I don't get paid to spend time with patients. So I had to leave.

So you literally took your career as a surgeon, and because of your own journey of understanding how to heal your body, you were now in conflict.

Yeah.

Because you were taught to medicate the pain, surgery, the pain. And now you're at a crossroads.

Huge crossroads. And I just took a huge leap of faith because I knew God was calling me in a new direction the way he had 25 years prior to. He's like, I got you. We're going to do something else. And now I practice functional medicine for women virtually. And my team and I help women all over the country heal their hormone issues and deal with their gut issues. And I used to do four to six surgeries a week. Now I do none. And I'm truly helping women and healing them. It's so rewarding.

So you help women who have the problem of what? What is she struggling with when she comes to you?

She's always struggling with her weight. She's feeling tired. She's feeling like she can't function and get through life the way she used to. You know, she's looking for another way. What I used to do doesn't work anymore. And I know I was the same way. I was exhausted, I was overweight, and I was a hormonal hot mess. And as a gynecologist, that is not okay. It was embarrassing that I couldn't figure it out. Right. But we just tend to believe that we don't have choices, and so we stay stuck.

Listen, I have been a hormonal hot mess. I get that. And then you allow her through the shift in some of her behaviors and practices to find her hormonal balance.

Exactly. But it's so much deeper than healing the body. You have to take the mind, body, spirit approach. You have to figure out, why is this person behaving this way? Why are they making these choices?

So here you are going from this accomplished surgeon, the head of OB gyn, to launching this new direction, still in the same zip code of medical or health and wellness, but a very different block. You're on what were some of the emotional rollercoasters that you had to navigate through as you formed your business.

My emotional roller coasters. You know, when I was 18 and I was a young mom and everyone said you can't be a doctor, you barely got your ged, like, let's get real here. But I realized there was steps that I could take, you know, if I learned how to take the test. I took the right classes, I asked for help, I did the volunteering and jumped through whatever hoops they had for me. I could do it. And I eventually became a doctor. But when I set out to create my own business, there was no game plan, there was no steps. Right?

There's no strategy.

There's no strategy. I knew my mission. I wanna help 10 million women with perimenopause who are struggling and feeling frustrated that they don't have choices. I just took it step by step. It's kind of like driving a car at night. You know, you can see where the headlights are shining, but you can't see a mile down the road. So you just drive a few feet at a time and you eventually get to your destination.

What I love is that it seems like you attached to your mission. Say that mission again. Cause that mission seemed like it pulled you forward.

I am on a mission to help the 10 million women who are in perimenopause and they're frustrated and they feel like they don't have a choice.

Did you ever have any doubts? And if you did, how did you gain the confidence to combat those negative thoughts and the faith to bank on Dr. Tabitha in this new arena?

Every single day I would get emails asking me to come back and do a locums job, which means you just show up at a hospital and you get paid good money. But I knew if I did that I would stay stuck. So I chose to be all in, 100% committed to my business. And I didn't do that. And that was a game changer for me. I remember I wanted to join a year long training program and it was $65,000. I wanted it so badly and I felt like God was calling me to do this. I said to my mentor, like, how can I possibly pay for this? She looked me in the eye and she said, if you want it, you'll move the mountain.

Wow.

Like, okay, I'll figure it out. And as soon as I made that decision in my mind, my brain went to work. I created a supplement line and started selling supplements. I wanted to just pay for the training and I made more money that year than I ever have before. Because when you put limitations on your life, there just will be. If you believe the possibilities are endless. They are. Your mind is a computer program. It will do what you tell it. It literally will. And once I had that realization, everything in my business shifted.

So I'm gonna ask you, what was the big breakthrough moment in your business? And I love this. Cause I want you to tell me one. But I feel like you just told me one. Just for the record, don't miss this. You know, read the fine print, don't miss this. That you took a leap because you knew you needed something and you said you were going to do it. And then you created the supplement line. And long after the program was paid for, the supplement line is still bringing in income. Yes. So that was a breakthrough moment. What was another big breakthrough moment for you?

So I knew I wanted to help women, but I did still feel like something was missing. Everything felt like an uphill battle. You know how you're like dragging five bags on your back to get up the hill? And I went to a health conference and I was listening to Dr. Joe Dispenza and he was explaining how your thoughts make chemicals that go throughout your body and send healing messages or damaging messages. But that day he was talking about how our beliefs, of how we fit into the bigger picture of the universe drive so much of our health. And in that moment, God said to me, don't just teach women how to heal their bodies, heal their soul, teach them how to be whole, teach them how to have faith. And that was a pivotal moment for me. And I went to work and by the time I left the conference, I not only had this vision, but a plan. I was going to write the book, I was going to create the program and teach women how to fast their way to a faith filled life.

Let me ask you, what is one of the best pieces of advice you can give? And I could just listen to you. Waterfall content on body, mind, spirit, soul, all day long. But what's a piece of advice you would give to someone who's navigating, starting a business or navigating through a business that's already started and they just want to keep it going or ramp it up or scale it? How would you. And what advice would you give them in navigating today's business terrain?

You have to get clarity, have grace and be committed. So I explain to women who come to me with their hormone issues, like we work on the root cause of stuff, we do all the fancy functional tests, but you have to get a clear idea of what you want your future to look like. And so you have to gain that clarity. And that requires you to sit down and, like, get crystal clear, write it out. What do you want your life to look like? Who is the woman that you want to be? And then you decide, what is she doing every day? Does she wake up early and work out? Does she manage her finances? Does she ask for help? What are those things? And then you start living into that. And next you have to give yourself grace. This was so hard for me because I wanted to be something different and have something different. But I realized that you can have it in the moment. You are strong enough and smart enough and beautiful enough to get the job done right now, right? And then you will become the better version of you as you just learn to love yourself and believe in yourself. Because no one is going to believe in your business or your abilities more than you. You have to be 100% committed, all in, in love with you, and do it.

What I love about what you bring to the table is you bring the mindset. You bring a spiritual centeredness, you know, an energetic force. And then, oh, by the way, I have the whole medical stuff about your body, so I can actually name the things that are happening. I can name. I actually have that insight. You really bring a whole package to her. And there was a season when we weren't given the opportunity to know our bodies. We're in a whole new mindset, a whole new paradigm. And so I'm grateful that there are people and servant leaders like you on the planet right now. How can she reach you when she says, she's exactly who I need right now? She's exactly what I want in my life right now. How can she reach you to work with you?

Women love watching my podcast, the Gutsy Gynecologist Show. It's on YouTube, wherever you can find podcasts.

The Gutsy Gynecologist Show.

Yes, because it takes a lot of guts to go against conventional medicine and all the old ways of thinking and to bring in your faith and to really incorporate that. So I debunk old myths and bad recommendations and I talk about all the medical stuff, But I also guide women on how to be the best for version of them and just create a better life. You can also go to my website, Dr. Tabitha. It's three A's. No I. And we help women all over the country to reclaim their health.

I love it. I love it. So I'm super excited. I've had the pleasure of learning from you and hearing your story and I know that my journey, I called it my private health hell. For a very long time, I didn't know where to go. I didn't know who to talk to. I thought it was my ugly little secret and I had to navigate it by myself. And I was extremely under qualified to do that. I was just a young woman who just had a baby and my body began to felt like it turned against me. So while I did not have the pleasure of knowing you at that time when I know I needed you the most, I'm grateful for every woman who will cross your path now and not have to go through what I had to go through and definitely not have to do it alone. Thank you so much for all that you bring to the table. I'm Lisa Nichols and this is Breakthrough with Lisa Nichols. And you've just heard from one of the bravest, most brilliant earth angels ever, Dr. Tabitha. So excited. The courageous gynecologist. Thank you again.

Thank you, Lisa.