During a hiking trip at age 20, Mia Natalia suffered a major spinal injury that left her unable to walk. She was training to become a firefighter, but is now embarking in business as a motivational speaker. Photo by Ben Hensley

“I felt like I was falling forever, but then all of a sudden I stopped abruptly.”

Those were the thoughts of Mia Natalia, a then 20-year-old firefighting academy student, moments before her life changed forever.

Mia Natalia was born and raised in the Valley. After graduating from Central High School in 2015, Mia moved north to Butte County to train as a firefighter.

“My main goal with anything in life has always been to help people,” she said. As the first member of her family to go into firefighting, Mia said, “It was something that intrigued me, so I just went for it.”

While Circumstances would sideline Mia’s original goal, she has transitioned into another vocation that is fast becoming a business centered on inspiring others.

 

After living in Butte County for two firefighting seasons, Mia moved back to Fresno to study at the Fresno City College Fire Academy.

However, several months into the academy, Mia suffered a serious spinal injury on a hiking trip.

“I remember waking up that morning just feeling like something was ‘off,’” Mia recalled.

Her cousin, who had been asking her to go hiking for some time, finally convinced her to go on the morning of Sept. 2, 2017. “I was halfway through the academy and decided to take him up on his offer.”

Eventually planning to hike Moro Rock in Sequoia National Park, the duo decided to stop and look for swimming holes before heading up the mountain.

“That required walking around the bends where cars are coming super fast,” she said, explaining that while walking along the side of the road, she lost her footing and fell down the side of the mountain.

“I just remember seeing clouds, and then seeing my legs fly over me,” she said. “After the second or third tumble, I realized I couldn’t grab onto anything. I caught momentum too fast.”

The next thing she remembered, she was lying face down in a bush. “The moment I was pushing up, I felt like I had broken ribs.”

Her second thought: “Where are my legs?”

Fortunately for Mia, a passing park ranger had witnessed the entire ordeal.

Unfortunately, it took nearly two hours to reach Mia, harness her to a CHP emergency helicopter and airlift her to Community Regional Medical Center.

Mia’s stay at the hospital started in the worst way a physically active 20-year-old could imagine.

 

“I had injured my spine at T9,” Mia said, indicating the region of the spinal column that was damaged. “When he [the neurosurgeon] came in I remember him sitting beside me, looking at me, and saying, ‘I know you’re young, but you might never walk again.’”

Doctors gave Mia a 10% chance to ever walk again.

“My heart completely shattered because I had this identity wrapped around being athletic, outdoorsy, adventurous, firefighting; I felt like my life was set,” she said. “I worked my butt off to reach that goal and now to be hearing that I won’t walk again — something I’d been doing up until that time 20 years — really shattered me.”

Mia’s next year was challenging from an emotional perspective. While she graduated the fire academy at Fresno City College, and began working for the Fresno Fire Department’s investigations unit, Mia began motivational speaking.

“It became a side-hustle while I was still at the fire department, until February 2020, before the pandemic hit. That’s when I decided to go all-in,” she said.

Since then, Mia has turned her motivational speaking into a full-on business, hoping to find a physical office location and expanding.

“Right now I’m working from home and doing presentations at corporations,” she said. “The next step for me would be to get a physical location to work out of and then eventually hire employees.”

The pandemic, however, slowed things for Mia.

“When I resigned from Fresno Fire, my goal was to go all-in with the business. Then the following month, the pandemic hit and it threw off all the operations,” Mia said.

Due to the pandemic, the business — still in its infancy — had to refund customers, and move all of their presentations to Zoom and other online platforms.

Now back in full force, Mia hopes to expand within the coming year.

Mia was also mentored by a legend in the motivational speaking industry, Tony Robbins.

“[As] one of the top motivational speakers, to get coaching from him and have him as a mentor has really opened my eyes,” Mia said.

Mia partners with two organizations: NorCal SCI, a nonprofit group serving the spinal cord injury community in Northern California, and Central California Adaptive Sports Center (CCASC), another nonprofit focused on assisting people with spinal cord injuries get active outdoors.

“For a while I was getting business mentorship from their [CCASC] founder Randy Coffman,” Mia said. She has worked closely with both organizations through outreach events, hospitals and more.

Mia has given public speaking events throughout California. She mainly presents for business executives and other leadership groups. One day, she hopes the business will expand across the country.

While being forced to undergo a tremendous life change, through therapy, positive role-models, and a personal commitment to helping others, Mia has come out on top and hopes to help others in the future through her story.

“I’m just grateful to be able to do what I do and still have that impact on people in a different way,” Mia said. “To know that you said something or you helped someone that really resonated and they needed to hear at the time really keeps that fire lit within me.”