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Danielle Massaro

1,085

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Finalist

Bio

I am writing this specific to a scholarship. I had a rough childhood growing up on a reservation, in project housing, living in a tent and a condemned building. This was our upgrade from the the reservation. I joined the Army at 17. I managed to overcome the loss of my son to SIDS without addiction. To be honest I vested myself into Mix Martial Arts and now I have been doing it for 14 years as well as coaching both children and adults. I will receive my black belt this year or next. I had a decent aviation career; however, after leaving the war machine after 15 years I have had a hard time trying to stay out of the war machine. I am in Nursing school. The VA will only give me vocational rehab for aesthetician school which is an industry I have been in for 2.5 years and left due to recession slowing down the industry. My GI Bill conveniently expired just as I found my way. I saved it for my masters degree; however, I was too late. I have been fighting with the VA for year for Vocrehab and 6 months for an extension on my remaining 22 months GI bill. And to no avail I am paying out of pocket trying to avoid unsubsidized student loans. I search scholarships regularly. I want to go into a position where endocrinology and mental health are used to heal in a less drug dependent and more natural symbiotic manner. I am finding it difficult to pay out of pocket. I have been washing boats; however, nursing school is too demanding to work if I can help it. I am 90% disabled vet and the VA has refused to assist. I have A's in the the three classes I have taken so far.

Education

Herzing University-Madison

Master's degree program
2024 - 2025
  • Majors:
    • Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing

American Public University System

Bachelor's degree program
2010 - 2018
  • Majors:
    • Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services, Other

Miscellaneous

  • Desired degree level:

    Doctoral degree program (PhD, MD, JD, etc.)

  • Graduate schools of interest:

  • Transfer schools of interest:

  • Majors of interest:

  • Not planning to go to medical school
  • Career

    • Dream career field:

      Health, Wellness, and Fitness

    • Dream career goals:

      Holistic Wellness coaching (Gut, vitamin, hormone, mental, and inflammation health)

    • VP of Operations

      MBSC Global LLC
      2019 – 20223 years
    • Beauty Technician

      2021 – 20243 years
    • Aviation Advisor

      Non-Disclosed
      2014 – 20162 years
    • Chief Of staff

      Non-Disclosed
      2016 – 20182 years
    • Helicopter Mechanic

      Army
      2003 – 201411 years

    Sports

    Mixed Martial Arts

    2011 – Present13 years
    Connie Konatsotis Scholarship
    Our body is an interconnected eco-system and I have developed a dynamic understanding of this fact throughout my life. I am an individual with layered trauma from childhood to adulthood. It started with regular childhood rape at the age of five with my twelve year old step brother. Why would a twelve year old boy in the early 90s know what sex is and have chlamydia. There was physical and mental abuse with my stepfather. I had a unhealthy relationship with my mother that only came to fruition following the death of my son whom passed from SIDS. I enabled my mother until the age of 27. I joined the military when I was 17 years old hoping to do better with my life. Between project housing, living in a tent and a condemned building I wanted to do better. Not realizing in a way, I may not have done better I just did different as the command and control nature of the military you realize when you get out that it is just another type of mental and physical abuse you signed a contract for. I do not regret my time in the military; however, I am a realist. I left with another level of trauma and do not get me started on the wounds dealing with the VA creates mentally. I have always been an extremely logical over emotional individual despite tunnel vision within certain relationships. My mother and brother are both bi-polar, ADHD, OCD, and ODD. This was in the house I grew up in. I learned how to navigate and manage mental health issues without an education out of necessity. I had thought about going into mental health when I was younger; I even left high school with 16 credits in Psychology and sociology credits. I joined the military because I did not want to get saddled with student loans; additionally, I was/am very smart but not extremely special in any sort of scholarship way. My extra curricular activities were working and taking care of my mother and brother. The VA is refusing to help and I have been paying out of pocket for nursing school trying to find an option. When my son passed away I immediately found a Psychiatrist I knew there were no answers at the bottom of the bottle. I did that once after a bad break up where there was infidelity when I was 21. The foundations I built from the psychology classes I took in high school genuinely created a knowledge within in me. When my son passed away I knew I could not do it alone. I had started MMA prior to pregnancy; however, I got back into it and focused my anger, sadness and emptiness there. You have to check your emotional baggage at the door. If you do not focus you have a bad day. At the end of sparring what little you have left is the negative energy that is in your "figurative" emotional baggage. When you walk out the door it is lighter or empty. It fills back up each day. I've been training for over 13 years and it is a massive part of my mental health and stress management. After 2.5 years at a Medispa. I have learned the connection of gut, vitamin, and hormone health and mental health. I want to get my RN and counseling license and learn endocrinology to assist people in a whole health manner. If I could combine that in/with an office that uses brain scans for mental health treatment I could make a real difference.
    Strong Leaders of Tomorrow Scholarship
    What makes me a leader is I care too much. I joined the military due to the fact I grew up in poverty. Despite being extremely smart I did not excel anywhere extra circular because working and taking care of my mentally ill mother and brother were my extra circulars. I know how to do what needs to be done even when it is not asked for. I understand the importance of personal accountability even when no one is watching. If I break something I clean it up and or fix it. If it needs to be addressed I own up to it. It took me a long time to learn how to ask for help; however, I learned as the home I grew up in you were on your own. For a long time I had an unhealthy ability to ask for help due to being let down within my household. I know as a leader I do not have to know how to do everything. I just need to know how to identify who knows and ask for assistance or advisory. If there is no one that is why there is a library, google (due to information saturation and conflicting data I have started to trust this less), and if all else fails there is applying critical thinking skills for troubleshooting. An example of this is from back when I still worked on blackhawks. There were 4 of us on nights. The team lead was gone. No one knew where the book was to install the Rotor Analysis Diagnostic System (RADS Kit). I started to do it by memory. The two other technicians helped with one of the engines. They did it wrong. The next day I show up for second shift and the inspector says hey these two things were installed wrong. I saw your note. They had found the only install book available on top of a 15 foot cabinet. Conveniently, I am 4'11. I took the blame for the incorrect work the other two technicians did. Nothing was signed off, it was no big deal additionally, there was no inspector there to sign off the work anyway. I could either sit around and do nothing for 7 hours or work from memory then make a few minor adjustments. Only one thing I installed was 45 degrees off the correct angle. I actually was amusingly written up three weeks later for this incident. I still did bring up the fact the other two technicians were the ones that incorrectly installed the equipment on the one engine. Layoffs were coming due to a deployment of half of the aircraft and I was not a good old boy. Additionally, I was the most minority as I was the only female and hispanic. I was written up for not following the book. Not even two hours after signing my write up that same individual started yelling at me for following the book. There are certain inspections that we combine together otherwise you're opening up panels twice. I resigned that day. Being a leader is not just knowing how to lead, it is accepting and acknowledging when it is time to move on. Although the last example is not ideal, I was going on the deployment. They put me on orders early so I could help prepare crew chiefs and mechanics for deployment. One of my biggest pet peeves in big business is layoffs for cost savings. You want to save money, approach your low level workers and ask them where the waste is! You will immediately cut costs!
    Veterans & Family Scholarship
    I joined the military when I was 17 coincidentally for the financial education part. I loved working on helicopters so much I did not take advantage of the tuition assistance the way I intended. I was not special enough to get a scholarship despite being an honor roll student. My extra circulars were working and taking care of my mother and brother whom are both bi-polar and ADHD, with a sprinkle of OCD and ODD. Joining the military was supposed to be my escape from poverty. I had a lucrative aviation career; however, I decided to leave the war machine. I wanted mental and emotional stability. It has been a less than successful task leaving a 15 year career as I have ended up struggling. I have found a career field and client base I enjoy; however, I need a nursing license and a counseling license. I am actively enrolled in a Nursing program. I thought I was going to have VA funding; however, after 6 months of a fight for my GI Bill (delimination) and 12 months fighting for VRE I am paying out of pocket and can only get an unsubsidized loan. I have all A's so far. I am trying not to work. I am 90% VA disabled and the school I am attending has accommodations for my disabilities. My long term goal is to offer wellness coaching to help those with gut, inflammation, vitamin, hormone and mental health issues through a holistic approach before a pharmaceutical one. I intend on spending time in an endocrinology office. Through research, trial and error diets, and working with a eastern medicine doctor I have found natural ways to manage my service connected health issues to the best of my ability. I want to share this with people. On the long term I may even continue education in naturopath as I believe food and the things that grow naturally are medicine. There are multiple doctors offices in the Nashville area that practice this. I plan to go into an office and learn and work; however, I also want to work in a Wellness coaching aspect. I have found that many people will trust a nurse before they trust their nutritionist and personal trainer. I want to bridge this gap. Additionally, I want to help decrease the number of people seeking out body contouring treatments that are not their answer. They work; however, there are often underlying issues. While working in a medispa I realized Medispa owners go into body contouring in order to help women; however, as overhead does not care that a client needs hormone therapy first. The owner does treatments to make money and suggests hormone therapy; however, hormone therapy should be done first. I have 2.5 years in this field and I want to be part of the solution of guiding these women to what they need before body contouring. The body contouring works; however, it is rarely the first step despite most women chasing this step.
    ADHDAdvisor's Mental Health Advocate Scholarship for Health Students
    In 2018, I left a lucrative career in aviation. I started subcontracting in IT which led me to a Medispa that I spent 2.5 years at performing non-invasive treatments of fat reduction, face lifts and skin tightening. Due to some moves and other factors the spa declined and I decided to go back to school for nursing. The longer I spent at the spa the more I realized there was a gap! Medispa owners start out with good intentions; however, with $150k in loans, franchise fees and other overhead they cannot afford turn clients away when it comes to hormones, inflammation, gut health, mental health, and general bad habits. During my transition and rocky journey I have learned that this client base is my favorite types of customers. They are men and women genuinely trying to regain control of their bodies. I plan to go into a more holistic doctors office to grow my endocrinology experience. I will continue to pursue a certificate in counseling as mental health, endocrinology and gut health are all symbiotic and required for homeostasis. Additionally, I believe consumption is where many health issues stem from including ADHD, Bi-polar and Autism. I will offer affordable wellness coaching. I have been able to get my service connected health issues somewhat managed with naturally occurring flareups with little help from the VA. I want to help others achieve a similar level of management holistically. I grew up in a household of a mother and brother with ADHD, Bipolar, ODD, and OCD. In the carnivore and elimination diet communities there has been great success and improvement in mental health. I have a brazilian Jiu jitsu program written and copyrighted; however, not published yet for coaching those with sensory overload in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I started nursing school in March; however, the VA has refused to help pay for my education any further. I have been paying out of pocket from my VA disability and living below my means the best I can. I drive a 1999 Lexus and live in a 38 year old boat I own for low overhead. I do have some credit card debt from the decrease in income at the medispa for covering medical and other expenses irresponsibly with my credit cards I am trying to responsibly pay down by boat washing instead of debt consolidation. I cannot get a subsidized student loan hence scholarships.
    Community Health Ambassador Scholarship for Nursing Students
    In 2018, I decided to leave my lucrative career in government aviation. I hit career burn out and I wanted emotional and mental stability. I returned back to the USA after nearly five years in UAE. I went from making $120K a year to $0. I tried working on semi-trucks, locksmithing, and IT. I picked up a good consulting job with a veteran owned business; however, COVID destroyed us. I had done the IT course as part of a goal of hiring better for IT as I was the VP of Operations and I was the owner of the IT department. I was furloughed and graduated in the same month. I started subcontracting in IT which led me to a Medispa that I spent 2.5 years at performing non-invasive treatments of fat reduction, face lifts and skin tightening. Due to some moves and other factors the spa declined and I decided to go back to school for nursing. The longer I spent at the spa the more I realized there was a gap! Medispa owners start out with good intentions; however, with $150k in loans, franchise fees and other overhead they cannot afford turn clients away when it comes to hormones, inflammation, gut health, mental health, and general bad habits. My long term goal is to be the bridge between the clients when they decide they are ready to regain control of their body and when they decide to go through the expensive extreme of body contouring or plastic surgery. During my transition and rocky journey I have learned that this client base is my favorite types of customers. They are men and women genuinely trying to regain control of their bodies. I plan to go into a more holistic doctors office to grow my endocrinology experience. I may continue to pursue a certificate in counseling as mental health, endocrinology and gut health are all symbiotic and required for homeostasis. I will ultimately offer affordable wellness coaching. What I have found is people will listen to a nurse before a nutritionist or personal trainer. This is even when the nurses are not knowledgable. People will take what they say to heart. I have been able to get my service connected health issues somewhat managed with naturally occurring flareups with little help from the VA. I want to help others achieve a similar level of management holistically. I started nursing school in March; however, the VA has refused to help pay for my education any further. I have been paying out of pocket from my VA disability and living below my means the best I can. I drive a 1999 Lexus and live in a 38 year old boat I own for low overhead. I do have some credit card debt from the decrease in income at the medispa for covering medical and other expenses irresponsibly with my credit cards I am trying to responsibly pay down by boat washing instead of debt consolidation. I cannot get a subsidized student loan.
    John Young 'Pursue Your Passion' Scholarship
    In 2018, I decided to leave my lucrative career in government aviation. I hit career burn out and I wanted emotional and mental stability. I returned back to the USA after nearly five years in UAE. I went from making $120K a year to $0. I tried working on semi-trucks, locksmithing, and IT. I picked up a good consulting job with a veteran owned business; however, COVID destroyed us. I had done the IT course as part of a goal of hiring better for IT as I was the VP of Operations and I was the owner of the IT department. I was furloughed and graduated in the same month. I started subcontracting in IT which led me to a Medispa that I spent 2.5 years at performing non-invasive treatments of fat reduction, face lifts and skin tightening. Due to some moves and other factors the spa declined and I decided to go back to school for nursing. The longer I spent at the spa the more I realized there was a gap! Medispa owners start out with good intentions; however, with $150k in loans, franchise fees and other overhead they cannot afford turn clients away when it comes to hormones, inflammation, gut health, mental health, and general bad habits. My long term goal is to be the bridge between the clients when they decide they are ready to regain control of their body and when they decide to go through the expensive extreme of body contouring or plastic surgery. During my transition and rocky journey I have learned that this client base is my favorite types of customers. They are men and women genuinely trying to regain control of their bodies. I plan to go into a more holistic doctors office to grow my endocrinology experience. I may continue to pursue a certificate in counseling as mental health, endocrinology and gut health are all symbiotic and required for homeostasis. I will ultimately offer affordable wellness coaching. What I have found is people will listen to a nurse before a nutritionist or personal trainer. This is even when the nurses are not knowledgable. People will take what they say to heart. I have been able to get my service connected health issues somewhat managed with naturally occurring flareups with little help from the VA. I want to help others achieve a similar level of management holistically. I started nursing school in March; however, the VA has refused to help pay for my education any further. I have been paying out of pocket from my VA disability and living below my means the best I can. I drive a 1999 Lexus and live in a 38 year old boat I own for low overhead. I do have some credit card debt from the decrease in income at the medispa for covering medical and other expenses irresponsibly with my credit cards I am trying to responsibly pay down by boat washing instead of debt consolidation. I cannot get a subsidized student loan.
    Mental Health Importance Scholarship
    Our body is an interconnected eco-system and I have developed a dynamic understanding of this fact throughout my life. I am an individual with layered trauma from childhood to adulthood. It started with regular childhood rape at the age of five with my twelve year old step brother. Why would a twelve year old boy in the early 90s know what sex is and have chlamydia. There was physical and mental abuse with my stepfather. I had a unhealthy relationship with my mother that only came to fruition following the death of my son whom passed from SIDS. I enabled my mother until the age of 27. I joined the military when I was 17 years old hoping to do better with my life. Between project housing, living in a tent and a condemned building I wanted to do better. Not realizing in a way, I may not have done better I just did different as the command and control nature of the military you realize when you get out that it is just another type of mental and physical abuse you signed a contract for. I do not regret my time in the military; however, I am a realist. I left with another level of trauma and do not get me started on the wounds dealing with the VA creates mentally. I have always been an extremely logical over emotional individual despite tunnel vision within certain relationships. My mother and brother are both bi-polar, ADHD, OCD, and ODD. This was in the house I grew up in. I learned how to navigate and manage mental health issues without an education out of necessity. I had thought about going into mental health when I was younger; I even left high school with 16 credits in Psychology and sociology credits. I joined the military because I did not want to get saddled with student loans; additionally, I was/am very smart but not extremely special in any sort of scholarship way. My extra curricular activities were working and taking care of my mother and brother. The VA is refusing to help and I have been paying out of pocket for nursing school trying to find an option. When my son passed away I immediately found a Psychiatrist I knew there were no answers at the bottom of the bottle. I did that once after a bad break up where there was infidelity when I was 21. The foundations I built from the psychology classes I took in high school genuinely created a knowledge within in me. When my son passed away I knew I could not do it alone. I had started MMA prior to pregnancy; however, I got back into it and focused my anger, sadness and emptiness there. You have to check your emotional baggage at the door. If you do not focus you have a bad day. At the end of sparring what little you have left is the negative energy that is in your "figurative" emotional baggage. When you walk out the door it is lighter or empty. It fills back up each day. I've been training for over 13 years and it is a massive part of my mental health and stress management. After 2.5 years at a Medispa. I have learned the connection of gut, vitamin, and hormone health and mental health. I want to get my RN and counseling license and learn endocrinology to assist people in a whole health manner. If I could combine that in/with an office that uses brain scans for mental health treatment I could make a real difference.