As a senior in college, Amanda Behrens fought tooth and nail to find the magic solution to her mysteriously dry and irritated skin.

Behrens said she saw little improvement after multiple doctor’s visits, countless skin creams and endless medications she used to treat her developing eczema.

According to Behrens, she has the book “Wheat Belly” by William Davis to thank for her health transformation.

After reading the health advice book in 2013, roughly four years after graduating from college, Behrens cut gluten from her diet for two weeks and said she noticed drastic changes in both her skin and her digestion.

“That’s the first time I thought, ‘Wow, food is so powerful,’” Behrens said.

Behrens, who worked as a video editor for AACC from 2009 to 2016, started taking nutrition and fitness classes at the college in 2014.

But it wasn’t until she was editing a promotional video about AACC’s Ratcliffe Scholars program, which helps entrepreneurs start up their businesses, that she realized she wanted to use her passion for health and wellness to create her own company.

“The Ratcliffe Scholarship was changing their lives,” Behrens, who recalled being teary-eyed while watching the footage of successful entrepreneurial students, said. “They’re good promoters. They hooked me.”

Behrens won the Ratcliffe Scholarship in 2015. This meant the college would pay for the entrepreneurial, nutrition, fitness and business courses she took in 2016 as she learned how to start her business.

She presented her idea, “Real Food Store Tours,” one-on-one grocery store touring to help clients shop for healthy foods, at the 2018 Entrepreneurial Institute’s Business Pitch Competition and won $2,000.

“I want to be able to help other people struggling like I did,” Behrens said.

Behrens said she uses the money to maintain her website and attend professional development seminars. Behrens plans to use her remaining scholarship money to become certified in entrepreneurship this semester.

Since she won the contest, her company, now dubbed “Get Real With Amanda,” has expanded beyond just grocery store tours.

She’s now a health coach and offers non-credit wellness workshops to faculty and staff here. She said she hopes to offer the workshops to students in the future.