As a single mom of three and a solo therapist, Porsche carries the weight of the world on her shoulders. Yet, she still retains the same radiant smile.

“Do you want to start with when they were born, or how would you like me to talk about my kids?” Porsche said as her face lit up with excitement.

“Oh my gosh. So my eldest, Elijah, he's my buddy. And, when I found out that I was expecting, I had Chinese food that day, and I opened my fortune cookie and it said, ‘You have found good company. Enjoy.”

Porsche was a very young mother when she'd welcomed Elijah to the world. “I took him to college with me my senior year. He was my study buddy.” Now he’s in his second year of undergrad and playing club soccer, making his mom proud.

“Josiah, my creamy middle. Oh my gosh, he's my baby genius.” As Porsche gushed about her middle child, he shifted with embarrassment. His mother loves him, and she’s not holding back. She continued, “He actually has my whole face out of all my kids.”

Last but especially not least, “Jenesis! My little baby girl. This is my inner child, personified.” Porsche praised her youngest daughter. “So we have a bond that, sometimes goes beyond words. It's like we know what each other is thinking or saying.”

Porsche shifted her tone. Through her joy, you could feel her frustration. All she wants is to spend time with her kids, but so many things get in the way of that. She paused, “I have a lot of quantity time with them, but I don't get a lot of quality time with them.”

Every decision she makes costs her money. “The pressure of trying to provide as a single mom and a solo therapist, it’s hard to explain that,” Porsche told us. Most days, she doesn’t have enough time or energy left over to spend with her kids. She sighed, “I feel mom guilt a lot.”

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Living in the Inland Empire just east of Los Angeles, Porsche spends most of her days chauffeuring her kids around town, hosting client sessions, and doing whatever it takes to provide for her family.

When Headway sat down with her, we took the time to pause and reflect. She opened up about everything that’s led her to the chair she was in today, reminding us that resilience is earned.

Porsche has a collection of sayings that she lives by and shares with her patients — her “VIPs” — when they're experiencing something similar. Each offers unique words of wisdom. And each tells its own story through her. These are her Porsche-isms.

On April 28, 2019, Porsche started to feel an acute pain in her stomach. “Like right here,” she said, pointing to the exact spot. “It didn't take a rocket scientist to know it was my appendix.” Without hesitation, she went straight to the emergency room.

Her pain was overwhelming, but she was sent home without any answers — only painkillers. They ignored her. “And this is where I say the intersectionality of being a black woman does come in,” Porsche added.

The next day, she went back. The doctors suspected cysts, so they gave her a pelvic ultrasound, only to find fluid. Porsche was sent home a second time.

By May 2, Porsche didn’t know it at the time, but she was dying.

“I looked like a zombie. I was like, What is going on? I can hardly walk. I can hardly stand up straight. I didn't want to eat. I couldn’t keep food down. It was scary.” She called 911. Just as the ambulance had arrived, her son, Elijah, was just getting home from school.

After five days of feeling ignored, Porsche was finally rushed into surgery. She was put into a coma and spent 11 days in the hospital while Josiah was only in kindergarten. “I missed his Mother's Day,” she told us, her heart breaking at the thought.

That wasn’t the end of it. When she got home, she was still feeling very winded. Something wasn’t right. After being home for three days, Porsche’s mom suggested she go back, — ultimately saving her life. “I’d gone septic. So if my mom had not convinced me to go to the hospital, I probably wouldn't have made it through the night.”

Porsche’s diagnosis was hospital-related pneumonia. In two medical procedures, the doctors removed 1060 cc of fluid in her right lung and she was hospitalized for an additional three days, during which the doctors had ultimately removed 50 pounds of fluid from her body — leaving her scarred.

“And then 16 days after I got released, I had to go back to work. Not because I wanted to.”

When Porsche returned from the hospital, she was met with a harsh reality. Bills had stacked up, mortgage payments were due, and the fridge needed to be filled. And then eight months later, the pandemic hit. “I was just like, I can't catch a break.”

Survival instincts kicked in. As a single mom, Porsche is no stranger to tapping into that part of herself, but she doesn’t want to give up her life working. She put it bluntly: “I don’t want to be known for being a hard worker. I want to be known for being a smart worker.”

So she took initiative. “I knew I could own my own practice,” Porsche said, “and I’d already created my logo because I was painting and being all cutesy.” It was time to make it happen.

“Having my own practice gave me a little bit more freedom because I didn't want to be in survival mode.” That was the final push she needed to open her own virtual practice. Porsche Cares was born.

One day, Porsche received a piece of mail that she’d never expected. It was a cease and desist from a certain car company, asking her to stop using her own name in her business. “I'll let you figure that one out,” she laughed.

After everything she’d been through, she wasn’t going to let some car company bring her down. So she got a lawyer, fought back, and won.

“Now I hand out keychains that say Porsche Cares to all of my clients. Because Porsche is my name, and no one can take that away from me.”

When Porsche found Headway, she thought it was almost too good to be true. No more hours wasted on the phone chasing down reimbursements from insurance companies. Finally, she was going to get paid biweekly for the care she delivered — no matter what.

A massive weight was lifted. “Because of the financial consistency that Headway provides, I’m able to finally balance and go hang out with my kids.”

Porsche’s newfound confidence in taking insurance is something she’s even talked about with her VIPs, because it impacts them, too.

“I'm in the present, in the moment with them, explaining how these flawed systems fall down on them,” Porsche explained, “my clients would say that no one takes their insurance. And I’m like, rest assured, it’s not because we don’t like you. There’s a problem with this cycle, right?”

In a system that felt like it was always working against her, Porsche knew that she could count on Headway to have her back — to be her advocate. After the Change Healthcare Outage, she knew this to be true.

In February 2024, an extensive cyberattack and data breach severely disrupted healthcare operations, freezing claims and provider reimbursements nationwide for nearly half a year. Porsche recalled, “Imagine continuing to work, being expected to work and having all those expenses, but getting zero payments.”

Headway knew the devastating impact that this had and stepped up to pay providers. “If it wasn't for Headway continuing to pay us during the Change Healthcare outage, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything — let alone continue to see patients.” Porsche continued, “Headway was the only company that paid therapists even though they weren't getting paid. And I really admire them for that.”

And since Headway is completely free to use, Porsche doesn’t have to worry about any extra bills. Instead of having to pay for her EHR, telehealth, or even continuing education credits, she can spend more money on treating her kids — and herself.

Porsche loves pink roses. When she buys them, it’s her own way of thanking herself. This is self-care. “So if I have the money to buy the roses, I feel more energized because that's all I wanted.” Instead of waiting on anyone else, she gives herself her flowers. They bring her joy.

“I think therapists deserve to live joyful and comfortable lives. When we care for ourselves, our gifts can bloom for other people. And ourselves, too.”

With her private practice operational, Porsche now had to balance an entirely new set of responsibilities. “Being a single mom and a solo practitioner, I feel like it's all on my shoulders,” she explained.

Porsche’s kids, her clients, her business — everything demanded her attention. Everyone needed her support. Moreover, she consistently faced systemic barriers. Payments were rarely on time, and she struggled to make ends meet.

That’s why self-care is crucial for her, “Because I am somebody's mother. I am somebody's daughter. I am somebody's friend. I am somebody's sister. I am a human too.”

Porsche's whole world has revolved around caring for others. But she's rarely had enough time or energy to spare for herself. “In this field, it’s like general expectation is for you to put your needs last,” she said, “or sometimes they forget that we’re people too.” It’s a troubling feeling.

“I feel like a hypocrite if I've spent 40 hours telling 40 people how to take care of themselves better, how to be more assertive, how to advocate for themselves. So, not getting paid in a timely manner really did impact me in this career. It almost made me not want to do it anymore.”

Headway changed that.