Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristin Weaver.
Hi Kristin, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My story has definitely taken a few unexpected turns.
For more than 20 years, our family’s life has been connected to the NFL. My husband, Anthony, played in the league before transitioning into coaching. Along the way, we have experienced moves and challenging seasons, but also the incredible relationships and opportunities that come with that life. For many years, I was known as Coach Weaver’s wife or AJ and Justus’ mom, and I am so proud of both of those roles. However, I also felt an urge that there was more I wanted to build for myself.
That led me into personal development and eventually life coaching. I founded Dream By Weaver and began working with adults, helping women gain clarity, build confidence, and create lives that felt more intentional and aligned. What came next changed the direction of our family’s story.
When our oldest son, AJ, was 11, he went through the toughest battle of his life with debilitating anxiety. This was not just being nervous or worried. Anxiety completely flipped the way he moved through his day. I slept on his floor for three months and met with clients online outside of his school window so he would know I was close by. There were mornings he could barely walk into school, times when fear took over physically, and moments when we were doing everything we could as parents just to help him take the next small step forward, literally”. As parents, watching your child hurting in that way transforms you forever.
We found professional support, learned new tools, leaned heavily on our faith, celebrated the tiniest wins, and slowly started seeing pieces of AJ come back. Today, he is on the other side of that incredibly difficult chapter, and we jokingly call him “AJ 2.0.” He is stronger, more self-aware, more confident, and most importantly, he understands that anxiety did not define him. That experience became a turning point in the direction of my work.
I had been coaching adults and corporations, but after walking through this with AJ, I knew I wanted to support kids and families too. I also knew we could not keep our story to ourselves. There are so many children struggling quietly and parents wondering if they are the only family going through it.
That is why AJ and I wrote our first book, A Family’s Playbook for Coping With Anxiety. I tell the story from a parent’s point of view, while AJ shares his experience kid-to-kid. We wanted children to be able to see themselves in his words and parents to feel understood in mine. One of the most meaningful parts of the book is that it is not only our story. Other children and families bravely share their experiences as well. Their honesty shows just how different anxiety can look from child to child, while also reminding families that they are not walking this path by themselves.
Our biggest goal is to help break down the stigma around childhood anxiety and get people talking about it. Kids should not feel ashamed because their brains and bodies respond differently to fear or stress. They need tools, support, understanding, and examples of other kids who have come through difficult moments and found their way forward.
Our family’s journey also came full circle when Anthony’s coaching career took us from Baltimore to Miami and then brought us back to Baltimore when he returned to the Ravens as defensive coordinator. Coming back felt incredibly meaningful because Baltimore holds so much of our family’s story. It is where AJ experienced some of his hardest days, but now it is also where he gets to return as AJ 2.0.
Today, my work brings all of those pieces together. I coach, speak, teach CIJ CLarity Catalyst Course, work with kids and adults, and continue building Dream By Weaver around resilience, confidence, emotional intelligence, and helping people move through life with more intention. I never would have chosen what our family went through with AJ, but it gave us a purpose we never expected. If sharing our story helps just one child feel less different, one parent feel less alone, or one family start a conversation they were afraid to have, then telling it is absolutely worth it.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I would definitely not call it a smooth road. One of the biggest struggles for me has been learning how to keep growing through seasons when life did not look anything like I expected it to. I love the quote, “You are only as happy as your most unhappy child.” It hits different when you have a kiddo struggling the way AJ did. There have been times when I have had to start over, redefine what success looked like, and figure out who I was outside of the roles I loved most. Building something of my own also meant getting comfortable with being uncomfortable and putting myself out there, trusting my intuition, hearing “no,” changing direction, and continuing anyway.
I have also learned that personal growth is not nearly as polished as it sometimes looks from the outside. There have been periods of self-doubt, fear, exhaustion, and questioning whether I was on the right path. There were times I had to push forward, while others required me to slow down and really listen to what life was trying to teach me. If anything, the battles have taught me that resilience is not about having everything figured out. It is about being willing to adjust, stay consistent, and trust that even the detours can lead somewhere meaningful.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Through Dream By Weaver, I work with adults, kids, families, and organizations through life coaching, speaking, workshops, and personal development programs. My focus is on confidence, clarity, emotional intelligence, resilience, and helping people understand that the way we think and move through challenges can be learned and strengthened.
I am especially passionate about working with children and families around anxiety, resilience, and emotional wellness. After watching our son struggle, I decided to help children learn practical tools they can actually use, but I also want them to feel understood. So much of my work is about guiding people to realize that they do not have to be ashamed of what they are feeling or wait until life feels easy to start moving forward.
What sets me apart is that my work is very personal and extremely practical. I am not teaching from a place of theory alone. I have lived through high-pressure environments, constant change, parenting through difficult seasons, building a business, starting over more than once, and watching the tools I teach make a real difference inside my own family. I think that allows me to connect with people in a very real way.
I am also a licensed facilitator of personal development and emotional intelligence programs rooted in Stanford’s Creativity in Business program, so I love combining proven tools with real-life experience in a way that feels approachable rather than clinical or intimidating.
What I am most proud of is the direction my work is heading now. Writing our book with AJ, creating conversations around childhood anxiety, and being able to use our family’s journey to support other children and parents feels incredibly meaningful to me. If someone walks away from working with me feeling more confident, more capable, and a little less alone, that is the win.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
I am always reading, listening, and looking for ways to continue growing personally and professionally. I have the mindset that if I am asking other people to do the work, I need to be doing the work too. Walk the walk so to speak.
Rob Dial is one of my favorites. I love his book Level Up and regularly listen to The Mindset Mentor podcast because he has a way of making mindset and personal growth feel practical and easy to apply to everyday life. Jennifer Grace’s Directing Your Destiny has also had a huge impact on me. She has been my mentor and business coach for years. Her work around intentionally creating the life you want is closely connected to so much of what I teach today. The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer is another book I return to because it challenges you to become more aware of your thoughts and let go of what you cannot, which creates more space between what happens to you and how you respond. Another favorite is Atomic Habits by James Clear for its reminder that lasting change usually comes from small, consistent choices rather than huge overnight transformations. Mel Robbins is probably the GOAT for me, especially her work around releasing the need to control other people and putting your energy back into your own life. Her podcast The Mel Robbins Podcast, is a must-listen experience. My husband is a big part of this too. Anthony has always been my rock. His fortitude and ability to keep showing up through high pressure and uncertainty have taught me so much about resilience. There are times when I borrow a little of his strength until I can find my own again. Having someone beside me who believes in me and grounds me has made a huge difference in the way I move through life.
And really, some of my best resources are much simpler: journaling, meditation, prayer, movement, and conversations with people who challenge me to get out of my comfort zone and keep moving forward. I think being intentional about what you allow into your mind is just as important as being intentional about what you put out into the world.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.dreambyweaverlife.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristinweaverlife/
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@kristinweaverlife
