Camille L. Miller: Prioritizing authenticity

A Calling That Arrived in an Instant

Dec. 5, 2015.

That’s the date Camille L. Miller found her purpose. And it takes her all of two seconds to say it when asked.

She was in Bedminster, New Jersey, standing in an integrative pharmacy. The former nonprofit CEO, who’d recently lost her job when her organization was defunded, had come to a Natural Awakenings magazine networking event and found herself in a room full of acupuncturists, naturopaths, energy healers, and chiropractors who weren’t talking to each other.

“I was like, why don’t you guys know each other?” Miller recalls. “A healer should know a pharmacist or a chiropractor. You’re all using the same clients.”

Miller went home that night and wrote the business plan for what would become the Natural Life Business Partnership, the overarching professional organization that now houses the Soul Professional Movement and School, which she created in 2020. She describes the experience as part of her “claircognizant gift,” an absolute knowing that arrives fully formed.

“It’s like the birth of a child. It’s overwhelming. It’s joy. It’s knowing. Now you have this bigger obligation in life, and it’s your obligation to get it through life.”

That obligation became building a global community for what Miller calls Soul Professionals: people “who live in a higher vibration, have an alternative approach to business, and are here to help repair the world.” Today, the movement spans 30 countries with members taking a pledge to be good global citizens and help each other rise.

Rebuilding a Life and Business from the Ground Up

Getting there required resources Miller had to fight for and skills she developed through crisis. She faced her father’s test for happiness: “If you won the lottery today, would you still get up and do the same thing tomorrow?” That clarity about alignment has guided every decision she makes.

The timing was complicated. Miller’s marriage to a man who “loved the structure, loved the high paycheck I brought in” was fracturing and he took her to court to force her to keep the status quo. When he inherited millions but refused to share access, Miller gave him one year to change his mind. Twelve months later to the day, she served him divorce papers.

The decision left Miller a single mother of three teenagers with no alimony, no child support, and a startup that turned profitable within 90 days but couldn’t cover everything initially. Her family provided co-signers for housing. State assistance and food banks filled gaps between business revenue and expenses.

“There was a time in the car with one of my children where I was like, I literally don’t know how I’m going to get food,” Miller remembers. “My daughter said, ‘It’s okay, Mom. That’s why the food bank is there.’”

The crisis forced Miller to unlearn what she’d been taught as the oldest daughter in an Italian family. “I thought my self-worth had to do with how clean my house was.” She chose “help” as her word of the year and spent 12 months practicing receiving, now a pillar of what she teaches.

Breaking social conditioning became central to her work: “We’ve been taught to wear masks. We’ve been taught that this is what people like you do, this is how people act. We have to break those rules a little bit and go, why?”

Scaling her business brought expensive lessons. Miller hired consultants who couldn’t execute her vision, spending significant money before recognizing her unique capability: “I can hold very large visions and figure out how to get there. That’s why I’m a visionary.” She learned that vision and execution are different skills, and knowing which is yours determines who you need on your team.

Living in Alignment and Leading with Intention

Miller’s approach to building authentic success centers on integration, not sacrifice. She starts work on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 1 PM because she hits the gym first. Weekends are computer-free. “It’s adding your lifestyle to your business,” she explains.

Her honesty about uncertainty strengthens her credibility. Miller recently closed her membership and podcast because “I don’t know what I’m doing with all these people” in a post-pandemic world where community needs have shifted. This fall, she’s conducting focus groups worldwide to understand what her movement needs to become next. Uncertainty while remaining committed to the mission is courage, not confusion.

Miller and her now-adult children remain close. An avid traveler, success to her is “being able to send my kids plane tickets to meet me anywhere in the world.” Two years ago, she moved to a new town – her next chapter, free of old associations. The woman who once controlled everything now trusts her intuition and builds according to her own timeline.

She’s in bed reading by 8:30, up early to hike or work out. “I really don’t care anymore” if people like me, she says. Her personal circle is small and intentional.

“I date with intention,” she says. “I’m looking for someone who is more successful and will add to my life. I’d love a committed relationship with the right partner who has his own life, own house, and is changing the world in his own way.”

Her message for others considering their own midlife pivot is direct: “You have the power within you to be and to do anything you want in this world. It’s not easy, but we have the power to do it.”

The Soul Professional Movement continues expanding. Miller envisions in-person meetups globally, a rebuilt school, and thousands of people who can identify themselves by the pledge they’ve taken. Even after food banks and failed hires and starting over at 49, her answer to her father’s test remains yes. “If I won the lottery today, I would still be doing this work. That’s how I know I’m in alignment.”

That’s what courage looks like after 50. You don’t have to have all the answers. Build anyway.