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moment while on a road trip with her mother in Maine, they came upon a devastating car accident. “I saw this woman lying on the ground, her head bleeding, and I literally watched the life go out of her,” Fields painfully recalls. “As I looked up, I realized her kids had seen it all unfold, so I ran to the minivan to try to comfort them.”

In college, Fields focused on crisis work and ensuring nobody felt alone. She also began to see that the stories we internalize in childhood stay with us throughout life and prevent us from living in a deeply satisfying way. Throughout her career, she has helped people recognize, unpack, and rewrite these stories.

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Fields’ own story of not deserving a good life also has childhood roots. One of five children, her youngest sister is severely disabled, requiring full-time care. “She can’t eat or walk on her own, and we are all deeply affected by that,” Fields says. For a long time, Fields held onto the belief that she didn’t deserve to have a great life because of her sister’s condition – and now, looking back, sees the way she sabotaged her own happiness. “I would think to myself, who am I to have great love and life when my little sister will never get to live like that? I came to see that I owe it to her to do all the things I am supposed to do,” she says. “You aren’t supposed to dim your light because you feel guilty or bad, but instead rise up and do what you are meant to do.”

Before becoming Executive Director, Fields spent three years on Trackside’s Board of Directors. While deeply inspired and