Heather Walton

When you meet Heather Walton, it’s easy to think she has always been a glamorous and successful woman who radiates confidence, charm, and wit. Her confidence and assertiveness cause people to often describe her as “a little intimidating” because of her striking looks and the way she commands attention when she walks into a room. But as the old saying goes: “Never judge a book by its cover,” and Heather’s life story will both surprise you and inspire you.

Heather, wearing hand-me-downs from her older three siblings, was embarrassed to invite friends to their tiny, rundown home for fear of being judged. She asked her parents to drop her off a block away from school so no one would see their beat-up, patched vehicle or find out she was from a family of dirt-poor tomato farmers.

Heather grew up with a nagging feeling that she didn’t belong—surely life had something better to offer! From an early age, she began a crusade to improve her life and create her own wealth. She was a farm kid starting from nothing, with no chance of a college education, and was on her own. The knocks along the way seemed to motivate her to rise from the ashes over and over. Heather became resilient. Each time life beat her down, she rose a little stronger. She had a passion to succeed, and life put resources and people in her path for her to learn from, even if they weren’t put there in a nice way.

Despite all the negatives and hardships along the way, Heather remains a positive person and sees every hurdle as an opportunity for self-improvement, not just for her personal development but for others’ as well. Heather hopes that by reading her story, others won’t have to go through what she did to create personal health, wealth, happiness, and overall well being.

Heather’s life has been a dramatic journey. While From Rags to Riches summarizes Heather’s first fifty years, she knows there is a deeper dive still to make on a range of topics covered in this book. Life has been a huge learning ground for her. Publishing this book at age fifty feels like “right timing” and it is nothing less than one of her proudest accomplishments. Her rise to become the Number One Sales Person in Real Estate within the Ray White Group in New Zealand was also a highlight—perhaps a future book will be a step-by-step guide on how she did it!

But before Heather was an award-winning real estate agent, she was a struggling single working Mom, and Heather’s story reveals secrets known only to a few people—one of them being her teenage son, “James.” He gave his Mum permission to write this remarkable story. Together, they’ve shared a tumultuous journey, and James is proud of his Mum for everything she’s done, including writing From Rags to Riches as part of her therapy to heal from past trauma. The words flowed, and she loved the process. Heather has deep empathy and concern for women who have experienced abuse or trauma—so many women experience it but are scared to share their stories because of the shame attached to victims of abuse. Heather hopes her story will benefit women who haven’t yet been able to overcome life’s hard knocks. Her deep desire is to be of service, and it brings her enormous joy to know that others may derive strength and inspiration from her story of rising from rags to riches. She hopes readers will use the Tips and Actions in this book to overcome adversity and even to thrive. If Heather can do it, so can you.

One of the most refreshing things about Heather? She hasn’t finished yet. She believes we are always learning until the day we take our last breath, and she’s still writing her life story. No one is perfect, but we can have empathy for and humility toward others and challenge ourselves daily to be better people. Heather is excited about the future and can’t wait to write her next book. Her vulnerability in sharing this story is brave. Her grit and determination show the world that you can succeed no matter what start you are given in life.