In the ashes I rose.
Just like the Phoenix.
For more than two decades I’ve been a photographer, but it was never just about beautiful images. It was about creating spaces where people felt safe, celebrated, and truly seen. My camera became a conduit for something deeper—a calling I sensed but didn’t fully recognize until I began living in my truth: bringing people back home to themselves.
My life has been shaped by fire. I became a mother at 15 and again at 23, carrying the weight of raising two children alone. I walked through abusive relationships, situationships that made me question my value, and long-term relationships that never led to marriage. I also faced profound loss: my father to cancer, two brothers (one to suicide), and most recently my nephew to suicide. Through it all, I kept rising—often pouring myself into achievements that looked impressive on the outside but were really attempts to prove my worth.
By 23, I was making six figures and managing at a Fortune 500 company—an achievement most women, let alone Latina single mothers, don’t often reach. By 25 I owned my first home and launched into entrepreneurship. But titles and paychecks didn’t heal me or teach me I was worthy. It was suffering that taught me resilience, compassion, and perspective. It pushed me into photography and eventually coaching, where I began helping others see their beauty when I couldn’t yet see my own, and forced me to face my abandonment wounds so I could finally receive healthy love.
I learned I had to surrender to God to open myself to the love I’d always prayed for. Out of that surrender came not just a Godly marriage, but also the movement I was meant to lead—helping others do the same. My story is proof that no matter where you start, you can rise from pain, build a life of purpose, and find love that nurtures instead of tears you down.
the journey back to myself
From Survival to Sacred
I'M Denise, A branding + boudoir PHOTOGRAPHER & embodiment + relationship coach in phoenix, arizona
He saw my light before I saw it myself. He held space for the woman beneath the armor, the healer, the creative, the divine. With him, I learned what it meant to be cherished, not managed. To be loved in my wholeness, not just in pieces.
Our love became more than marriage. It became sacred ground. A partnership rooted in God, legacy, and truth. It mirrored back to me the parts of myself I had abandoned and reminded me that my power wasn’t something I needed to earn, it was something I was born with.
That remembrance changed everything. It awakened my true calling: to guide women back to themselves, to their worth, to their divine essence. To help them see that even in the wreckage, there is beauty. And that the journey home is not about becoming someone new, it’s about reclaiming who you’ve always been.
This is why I do the work I do today. Because I know what it’s like to feel lost in the shadows, and I also know the radiance of stepping back into your light.
He didn’t rescue me, but he gave me something I had never experienced before: permission to be fully me.
When I met my husband, Robert, everything shifted.
Where pain became power,
and power became purpose.
After long hours of deep conversations during our Godly courtship, I discovered that my husband carried his own calling to minister and guide. For years I prayed for a man who not only shared my passion for purpose but would also walk beside me in building something greater. Out of that prayer, MickSauce Coaching was born—a joining of our partial last names to symbolize one union, one mission, and one movement.
MickSauce has three paths: I guide women through healing, self-worth, and stepping into their feminine power. Robert speaks to men, helping them embody true masculinity, leadership, and wholeness. And together, we work with couples, teaching them how to create partnerships rooted in love, respect, and Kingdom values.
What makes this movement even more meaningful is that it was born out of our deepest wounds. I shared with Robert how my family was torn apart after my parents’ divorce, and how my brother’s depression and eventual suicide left me with an ache I carried for 27 years. I prayed for a way to honor him, and though I didn’t know how, I knew one day it would come to fruition. MickSauce became that answer to prayer.
At its core, MickSauce focuses first on self—healing, self-worth, and alignment—because you cannot build healthy love or family without wholeness inside. From there, we guide couples in cultivating marriages built on trust and union, and then families and legacy. We teach resilience, because strength doesn’t come from success. It comes from suffering. It comes from facing the darkest parts of yourself and learning to rise. It comes from stripping away external validation—cars, money, status—and finding a purpose so rooted in God’s truth that you wake each morning ready to live, not just exist.
Whether it’s through my camera, my words, or our coaching programs, my mission has always been the same: to help people remember who they are, to honor their soul, and to remind them that they are absolutely remarkable simply because they are alive.
for love, leadership, and legacy
MickSauce is more than coaching—it’s a spiritual awakening and a movement
-Amber
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND them
Working with Denise and Robert was life-changing. They saw me in ways I had never been seen before. Denise helped me reconnect with the parts of myself I had abandoned, while Robert modeled the kind of steady, masculine leadership I had never experienced before. Because of their guidance, I’ve stepped into a version of myself that feels whole, free, and deeply loved. This work gave me me back.
