From a young mother navigating the harsh realities of poverty to a visionary CEO leading multiple healthcare and wellness enterprises, Stacey Krause embodies the power of perseverance, courage, and reinvention. A Registered Nurse since 2020, Stacey didn’t just step into a career—she carved a path that blends compassion, strategy, and innovation.
Her journey is nothing short of remarkable. Becoming a mother at 16, Stacey faced life’s toughest lessons early, learning resourcefulness, resilience, and the kind of unconditional love that shapes not just a parent, but a leader. Surviving an abusive marriage and raising five children, she transformed adversity into fuel, proving that circumstances don’t define your ceiling—they forge your character.
In 2021, Stacey launched RN Plus Staffing, a home healthcare company that reflects her commitment to dignity, care, and access. She expanded into aesthetics in 2023 with Stara Med Spa, offering not just treatments but a space for restoration and confidence. By 2025, she further amplified her impact with a non-emergency medical transportation company, ensuring that barriers to health and well-being no longer limit communities.
Stacey’s story is one of fearless entrepreneurship, authentic leadership, and the relentless pursuit of purpose. Through her journey, she demonstrates that courage isn’t the absence of fear—it’s taking action despite it, and that real strength is built in the fire of life’s most challenging seasons.
Read her full interview below to discover how resilience, courage, and vision shaped her extraordinary journey.
You grew up in poverty and became a mother at 16 — how did those early experiences shape the woman and leader you are today?
I didn’t grow up with safety nets. I grew up understanding what it was like to go without – without money, without stability, without the luxury of dreaming big. When I became a mother at 16, there was no space for self-pity. There was only responsibility.
Poverty taught me resourcefulness. It taught me how to stretch a dollar, how to stay calm in crisis, how to solve problems with whatever was in front of me. Becoming a young mother taught me something even deeper – sacrifice, resilience, and unconditional love. My child didn’t need excuses. He needed me to be consistent.
Those early years shaped my leadership in ways no classroom ever could. I lead with empathy because I know what it feels like to struggle quietly. I lead with determination because I’ve survived seasons that tried to break me. I don’t quit when things get hard, because hard was my normal for a long time.
Growing up in poverty and becoming a mother at 16 didn’t limit me. It forged me. It made me compassionate, strategic, protective, and determined. The woman and leader I am today was built in the fire of those years—and I wouldn’t trade the strength that I gained for anything.
You made the courageous decision to leave an abusive marriage to protect your children. What did that moment teach you about your own strength?
Leaving an abusive marriage at 27 years old with three children forced me to redefine what strength really is. Growing up in dysfunction, I used to think strength meant enduring—staying quiet, holding everything together, surviving whatever was placed on my shoulders. But I learned real strength is knowing that just surviving isn’t enough.
I learned that strength is clarity. It’s recognizing that love should feel safe. It’s understanding that protecting my children required me to protect myself first. I also learned that I am capable of rebuilding from nothing. That I can make hard decisions even when I am afraid.
That moment showed me I wasn’t fragile. I was powerful, and once I saw that in myself, I never unlearned that.
As a mother of five, how did you balance guilt, ambition, exhaustion, and hope while building your future?
Balancing guilt, ambition, exhaustion, and hope wasn’t something I mastered. It was something that I managed one day at a time. The guilt was real. Every late night of studying, every long clinical day, I wondered if I was missing something. But I had to reframe it. I wasn’t choosing ambition over my children – I was choosing a stronger future for them.
There were seasons that I ran on my faith and caffeine. Motherhood teaches you that you’re capable of more than you think. Hope was the anchor and made the hard days meaningful. I wasn’t just building a career. I was building stability, options, and a different example for my children—one that showed them that circumstances don’t have to define your ceiling.
I didn’t balance it perfectly. Some days were messy. Some days I doubted myself, but I kept going. I never wanted to show my kids that I gave up on my dreams.
When you look back at the 16-year-old version of yourself, what would you tell her now?
When I look back at my 16-year-old self, I see a girl carrying more than she should ever have had to carry. I would tell her this: you are not behind, you are being built. I would tell her that all of the tears, questioning her worth, and the fear will only refine her.
I would tell her that becoming a mother so young doesn’t end her story; it deepens it. It gives her purpose before she even understands the power of it. I would tell her that one day she will build the stability where there was once uncertainty. That she will become the safe place she once needed. And most importantly, I would tell her to be gentler with herself. She is stronger than she knows—and everything that she is walking through is shaping the woman she will one day be proud to become.
After becoming a Registered Nurse in 2020, what inspired you to take the leap into entrepreneurship instead of staying solely in clinical practice?
Becoming a Registered Nurse in 2020 was a defining accomplishment for me. Once I stepped fully into clinical practice, I realized something – I didn’t just want to work in the system. I wanted to build something within it. My dear friend, Shara, and I decided to open our Home Health Care Company, RN Plus Staffing, in 2021.
Nursing showed me gaps. It showed me families who needed more support and patients that needed more advocacy to make it easier to remain in their homes while getting medical treatment.
Entrepreneurship wasn’t about leaving clinical nursing—it was about expanding it. It was about impact. I wanted the ability to serve more people, create more opportunities for other nurses, and design care that models compassion and integrity. Taking the leap was scary. Clinical practice felt secure. Entrepreneurship felt uncertain. Instead of choosing comfort, I chose vision, and that decision allowed me to step into leadership in a way that aligns with both my heart and my ambition.
In 2023, you opened a Med Spa. What made you pivot into aesthetics, and how does it complement your healthcare mission?
Opening Stara Med Spa in 2023 is an expansion of my healthcare mission and is personal for me.
Aesthetics became more than treatments to me. It became about restoration—not changing who you are, but helping you reconnect with yourself. When I experienced how small enhancements could shift how I felt walking in a room, how I carried myself, how I spoke—I realized confidence is a powerful medicine.
That’s when I understood this wasn’t separate from healthcare. It complemented it. As a Nurse, I’ve always cared for physical healing. Through aesthetics, I help support emotional healing and self-confidence. Both matter. Both are valid.
Opening Stara Med Spa also gave me the opportunity to create a safe, ethical space where beauty treatments are grounded in medical knowledge, integrity, and education. It all connects back to the same mission: helping people feel stronger in their own skin. Whether I’m advocating for a patient’s health or helping someone enhance their natural beauty, the heart behind it is the same—care, empowerment, and transformation.
By 2025, you expanded again with a Non-Emergency Medical Transportation company. What strategic vision connects all three of your businesses?
At the core of all three businesses is access, dignity, and continuity of care.
As a Nurse in Home Care, I saw firsthand how many patients missed appointments simply because they didn’t have reliable transportation. As a Med Spa owner, I witnessed how confidence and self-care can transform how someone shows up in life. And as an entrepreneur, I realized that true impact happens when you build systems that remove barriers—not just treat symptoms.
Healthcare provides healing. Aesthetics provides confidence. Transportation provides access. When you remove obstacles—whether it’s lack of care, lack of confidence, or lack of transportation—you empower people to live better lives.
Each business may look different on the surface, but they all solve a problem. They all create opportunity. And they all reflect my commitment to building services to restore stability, dignity, and independence in the communities I serve.
Many women fear they need perfect timing to start a business. What would you say to women waiting for “the right moment”?
I would tell women waiting for the “perfect moment” that perfect timing is a myth. Life will always be messy. Responsibilities will always compete with dreams. The truth is the right moment is the moment you decide to start.
I became a mother at 16, dropped out of high school and earned my GED, obtained my bachelor’s in nursing at forty years old, and launched multiple businesses along the way—and none of it happened when it was “perfect.” It happened because I acted despite fear, despite uncertainty, and despite exhaustion.
Starting isn’t about having everything figured out. It’s about starting with what you have, learning as you go, and trusting yourself to adapt. Courage doesn’t wait for convenience. Opportunity doesn’t wait for certainty. Your timing is now—the best time to step into your vision is the moment you decide you won’t wait any longer.
What were the biggest obstacles you faced when launching your first company, and how did you overcome them?
When I launched my home healthcare company, RN Plus Staffing, some of the biggest obstacles were navigating exhaustion, securing funding, and building a reliable team from scratch—all while balancing the demands of being a shift nurse and a mother. It felt like everything was stacked against me.
I overcame them by leaning on the resilience I had developed over the years: breaking challenges into manageable steps and trusting perseverance would carry me through. Each obstacle became a lesson in leadership, problem-solving, and self-belief—and ultimately made me stronger too. I relied on prayer and the belief that God equips us for the path he calls us to walk.
Your story is rooted in resilience and reinvention. What legacy do you hope to leave — not just for your children, but for women watching your journey?
The legacy I hope to leave isn’t just about the business I’ve built or the milestones I’ve reached—it’s about showing women and my children what resilience looks like in action.
I want them to see that no matter where you start, no matter the obstacles, you have the power to reinvent your life, step into your strength, and create your own path. I hope women reading about my journey understand that courage isn’t the absence of fear—it is taking action despite it. That setbacks aren’t failures, they’re lessons. That motherhood, ambition, and leadership coexist, and that choosing yourself doesn’t make you selfish—it makes you empowered.
If my story can inspire even one woman to believe she is capable of more than she imagined, to take that leap to start over, or to reclaim her life, then the legacy is already fulfilling. It’s about proving that strength, vision, and purpose aren’t inherited—they’re built.
