ANASTASIA GAVALAS
ABOUT
I BELIEVE IN THE MOMENTS THAT CHANGE US.
And in the possibilities that emerge when we allow ourselves to become.
As a little girl, I watched my Greek-speaking Yiayia and Rosie, our English- and Italian-speaking elementary school crossing guard, talk across the chain-link fence lined with towering pine trees and rose bushes. They spoke about tomatoes, children, and life. They didn't share a language, but they shared something deeper: curiosity, kindness, and an instinctive understanding of one another.
I never forgot it.
I've spent much of my life fascinated by what connects us, what shapes us, and what allows us to grow. As an educator, author, mother of five, and community builder, I've always been drawn to the potential in people, especially what becomes possible when we give ourselves permission to see ourselves differently.
Then life asked me to look inward.
In December 2019, just five days before Christmas, a catastrophic house fire uprooted my family and challenged everything I understood about stability. Within minutes, I began to realize that feeling safe and grounded couldn't depend entirely on the people I loved, the circumstances around me, or my ability to keep everything under control. It had to come from within.
I began loosening my grip on expectations, moving at my own pace, and paying closer attention to what I wanted, not simply what others needed from me.
The shift wasn't about becoming someone new. It was about becoming more myself.
Over the years, through writing, community initiatives, podcasting, and the women's circles I've curated, I've witnessed what happens when women feel safe enough to speak honestly and be fully themselves. Something shifts. Perspectives open. Possibilities emerge. We begin to recognize strengths, wisdom, and parts of ourselves that may have been waiting to be rediscovered.
And then came a reminder I wasn't expecting.
On the very last day of excavating through the ashes and rubble of our home, two things emerged from the dirt: one of my favorite mugs inscribed with Embrace the moment, and a DVD of Anastasia.
Of all the things that could have survived, these two found their way back to me.
One, a reminder of how to live. The other, my name.
Sometimes life shakes us so profoundly, stripping away what we thought we needed, that we have no choice but to surrender, listen, and remember what matters most.
I had received the message. The universe was simply making sure I knew it was meant for me.
WINGED grew from this belief: that sometimes we need less advice and more space. Space to pause, listen, reconnect with ourselves, and imagine what might be possible.
There is a Greek word, Anamnesis, meaning remembrance: the actual act of remembering what has always been within us, sometimes obscured by the expectations and stories the world places upon us.
This is at the heart of WINGED: a journey of rediscovering our innate wisdom, forgotten passions, and the possibilities that emerge when we reconnect with who we are.
I believe fiercely in our individuality and equally in the oneness that connects us. Every woman has a story worth knowing. Every story hold the possibility of transformation. And none of us is ever finished becoming.
I'm still becoming, too. And I still believe anything is possible.
Welcome to WINGED.