Debra Harris had just retired from a 27-year career in federal law enforcement and was preparing to launch a second career as a travel advisor when, at age 51, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

A Type A personality to her core, Harris said she was stopped in her tracks by the 2013 cancer diagnosis. “It was like hitting a brick wall. I had all the questions anybody’s who’s ever been diagnosed with cancer asks: Why me? What did I do? What is the universe trying to tell me?”

Harris was enrolled in a travel professional certification course and was deciding how to structure her as-yet-unborn business, Life’s Journey Travel, LLC, when she was forced to hit the pause button. For about a year, she put her business dreams on hold while she focused on her health.

After recovering from the necessary surgeries, Harris moved from greater Washington, D.C., to Myrtle Beach, S.C. Then she took stock. “I said, OK I’ve got this. Now how can I share this path, this journey, with others?”

Awakening to her mission
The cancer experience had changed Harris in big ways, including by opening up this former “just-the-facts ma’am investigator” to her more creative side. “This was my awakening,” she said.

It also altered her plans for her travel business. “This whole cancer thing was like a long dream. When I woke up, I had better defined what I wanted to do.”

“What the cancer journey told me is that I really need to find people who need to benefit from this. Some of them are baby boomers, and some are those people at the top of the echelon who are very very busy, who just check a box when they travel. But life isn’t about checking a box, nor is travel.

“I feel that my mission is to help people slow down and savor…