A Life of Reinvention, Connection and Trusting My Inner Guidance
My journey has never followed a straight line.
It has taken me from Aruba to the international Miss Universe stage, from the Turks and Caicos Islands to Florida, and from professional dance and public relations to publishing, metaphysics and community building.
Through every chapter, one pattern has remained constant: I recognize a need, listen to my inner guidance and find a way to create something meaningful.
Today, as I begin another chapter at 62, I understand that I am not starting from scratch. I am beginning again with more than 30 years of experience—and with every lesson, success, setback and transformation that brought me here.
My Beginnings in Aruba
I was raised on the beautiful Caribbean island of Aruba in a multicultural and multilingual environment. I grew up speaking four languages and now speak five. Learning to communicate across languages and cultures shaped how I see the world and how naturally I connect with people from different backgrounds.
Dance was one of my earliest passions. I became a professional dancer, expressing myself through movement and discovering the discipline, creativity and confidence that performance requires.
In 1989, I also had the honor of becoming Miss Aruba and representing my island as a contestant on the international Miss Universe stage.
That experience introduced me to a larger world of international media, public appearances and cultural representation. It taught me how meaningful—and how serious—it is to represent a place, its people and its identity before a wider audience.
Long before I became a publisher, I was learning about visibility, communication and the power of telling a story well.
Becoming an Entrepreneur
My entrepreneurial journey began in my 20s when I founded Profile Marketing & PR Agency in Aruba.
This was before the internet, websites and social media became part of everyday business. Print newspapers were among the primary ways to reach the public. We relied on personal introductions, printed promotional materials, telephone calls and fax machines to communicate and build visibility.
The technology was different, but the essential principles of marketing and public relations were the same: understand your audience, create a meaningful message, build genuine relationships and give people a compelling reason to care.
That first agency gave me the foundation for a career that would eventually span entrepreneurship, marketing, public relations, publishing, media and community building.
A New Chapter in the Turks and Caicos Islands
My journey later took me to the Turks and Caicos Islands.
With my background as a professional dancer, opening my own dance studio was a natural progression. It gave me an opportunity to share my love of dance, mentor young people and build another business within a close-knit island community.
But I was also a mother.
I wanted to remain an entrepreneur while being present and available for my children. I did not want to feel that I had to choose between building a business and being the kind of mother I wanted to be.
As my children grew, I discovered another gap. They—and the children of other working parents—needed a safe, engaging place to gather, enjoy activities and spend time with friends during the summer.
Instead of waiting for someone else to create it, I established the Kids Club Clubhouse.
For several years, the Clubhouse provided summer activities for local children. Friday Movie Night: On Friday nights, we hosted movie nights where my children could spend time with their friends while I remained close and involved. Other parents were grateful because their families needed the same kind of environment.
I had created a business around the changing needs of my children. It allowed me to remain an entrepreneur while also remaining an available mother.
Looking back, I can see a pattern that would repeat throughout my life: a need entered my personal experience, I discovered that others shared it, and I created something that served more people than myself.
Starting Again in Florida
I moved to Royal Palm Beach, Florida, in 2008 without an established professional network and without knowing what my next chapter would become.
My children attended elementary and middle school in Palm Beach County. As a newcomer, I wanted to understand the local education system and become actively involved in the environment shaping their lives.
I became a substitute teacher for the School District of Palm Beach County. That experience allowed me to observe education from inside the classroom and gain a deeper appreciation for the needs of students, teachers and families.
In keeping with my commitment to remain present for my children, I also served as vice president of their school’s Parent Teacher Organization for four years. I wanted to understand what was happening, contribute where I could and help strengthen the connection between families, educators and the school community.
During this same period, I served as vice president of the homeowners association in the community where we lived.
These roles gave me valuable insight into human needs, expectations and relationships. Whether in a classroom, at a parent meeting or within a residential community, I saw that people want to feel heard, informed and included. I also learned how easily frustration can grow when communication is unclear or people feel disconnected from the decisions affecting them.
I have always believed that when we recognize a problem and possess the ability to help, we should be willing to participate in creating the solution.
My personal philosophy is simple:
If I have the potential to make a positive difference, I believe in stepping forward and doing my best.
I do not believe in standing on the sidelines and criticizing what is missing when I may be able to contribute something meaningful.
It was during these years of teaching, parenting and community involvement that another unexpected opportunity began to emerge.
I never imagined that Florida’s dance industry would become the foundation of my next publishing venture. But I have always listened to my inner guidance, and at that time, the message was loud and clear:
There was a community waiting to be connected.
In 2009, I established Affidian Inc., doing business as Affidian Publishing, Media and Marketing.
I began at the grassroots level. I walked into dance studios, dancewear stores, performance centers and cultural organizations. I introduced myself, shared my vision and built relationships one conversation at a time.
My drive was relentless because my belief in the opportunity was strong.
While continuing to serve as a school PTO leader, an involved mother and a community volunteer, I created The Dance Magazine of Florida.
As the publication’s reach and vision expanded, its name evolved first to World of Dance Magazine and later to DANZ’N.
DANZ’N became a sought-after media platform connecting Florida’s dance community. It helped studios, dancers, educators, performers and families discover one another while giving competition companies, universities and other organizations outside the state a trusted way to reach the Florida dance market.
The magazine did more than report on dance. It gave a geographically dispersed community a shared venue through which people could celebrate accomplishments, find opportunities, promote programs and remain connected.
That experience confirmed something I had already begun to understand through my work in schools, neighborhoods and the arts: people may occupy the same geographic or professional space and still remain disconnected.
A dedicated platform can help people see one another, understand one another and recognize that they are part of a community.
When the World Stopped
In 2020, COVID-19 brought the dance and live-performance industries to an abrupt standstill.
Studios closed. Performances and competitions were canceled. An industry built around movement, gathering and human connection was suddenly forced to pause.
The shutdown also forced me to pause.
It gave me time to reevaluate my work, my identity and the direction of my life. Once again, I found myself asking a familiar question:
What am I being called to do now?
The answer led me more deeply into a path I had followed since childhood: spiritual growth, consciousness, human potential and the nature of our inner lives.
Becoming a Metaphysicist
I committed myself to formal study and earned bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in Metaphysical Science.
My education was not separate from my entrepreneurial journey. It transformed the way I understood it.
I studied the power of thought, consciousness, human potential, ancient wisdom, metaphysics and the relationship between inner development and the lives we create.
I began working as an online coach and mentor. I published The Meta Lifestyle Magazine [Affidian Magazine] and hosted a weekly livestream program featuring interviews with people working in the holistic, spiritual and personal-development fields.
I had spent years studying transformation. Eventually, life would ask me to live those principles more deeply than I ever anticipated.
A Season of Family, Loss and Grief
I later placed my projects on hold so I could spend time with my parents in Aruba.
The years that followed were filled with profound personal loss and sadness. I needed time to grieve, heal and reset.
There are seasons when moving forward does not mean producing more, working harder or immediately beginning something new. Sometimes moving forward means becoming still enough to process what has happened.
That season changed me.
It gave me a deeper understanding of impermanence, resilience and the importance of allowing one chapter to end before forcing another to begin.
Finding a New Home and Purpose
In 2023, I moved to The Fountains in Lake Worth and began settling into a new home and community.
After several years shaped by family responsibilities, personal loss, grief and reflection, I slowly felt the desire to become involved again. I began paying closer attention to the area around me—its neighborhoods, residents, businesses, restaurants, professionals, organizations and community life.
Then, in 2026, an unexpected community situation prompted me to take action.
What began as an idea for a community lifestyle magazine soon became something much larger.
I spoke with more than 100 local businesses and discovered that many shared the same challenge. They needed a reliable channel through which they could communicate with nearby residents, increase their visibility and build lasting relationships within the communities they serve.
At the same time, residents needed a better way to discover the businesses, services, restaurants, events, organizations and extraordinary people located only minutes from their homes.
As I studied the area more closely, I recognized that many of these residents and businesses shared the same roads, schools, services and everyday experiences but lacked a unifying regional identity.
I coined the name Greater Lake Worth to describe the broader central Palm Beach County community located primarily between Forest Hill Boulevard and Hypoluxo Road, extending from Military Trail west to State Road 7/US 441.
Greater Lake Worth is not an official municipal or governmental designation. It is a community identity I created to bring greater visibility, recognition and connection to the residents, businesses and organizations throughout this largely unincorporated area.
To see who is included in Greater Lake Worth and explore our complete service-area map, [click here to discover Greater Lake Worth].
I saw a large and diverse community without a dedicated media platform or organization focused on connecting its residents and businesses under one shared identity.
Once again, I had discovered a gap.
And once again, my inner guidance told me to act.
Greater Lake Worth Living
I founded Greater Lake Worth Living as a regional lifestyle publication dedicated to showcasing the people, businesses, organizations, events, experiences and stories of Greater Lake Worth.
The magazine is intended to help residents discover what is around them while giving local businesses and organizations a meaningful platform for visibility.
It is also intended to help Greater Lake Worth see itself—not simply as a collection of separate neighborhoods and businesses, but as a connected community with an identity, a voice and stories worth sharing.
The Greater Lake Worth Society
As the magazine developed, I realized that telling stories and creating visibility would not be enough. People also needed opportunities to meet face-to-face.
That realization led me to establish the Greater Lake Worth Society.
The Society brings together residents, business owners, professionals, employees, nonprofit organizations and community leaders through social gatherings, business events, educational opportunities and collaborative initiatives.
The magazine and Society are two parts of the same vision.
Greater Lake Worth Living creates visibility. The Greater Lake Worth Society creates relationships.
A resident may discover a business or organization through the magazine and later meet the people behind it at a Society gathering. Businesses gain greater visibility. Residents make new discoveries. Conversations begin, relationships grow and the community becomes stronger.
One cannot thrive without the other. It is a cohesive dance between those who live here and those who work, serve, dine, shop, play, create and invest here.
The Affidian Institute Foundation
The third part of this vision is The Affidian Institute Foundation, the charitable and educational arm of the growing Greater Lake Worth ecosystem.
While Greater Lake Worth Living creates visibility and the Greater Lake Worth Society develops relationships, the Foundation is intended to transform those connections into opportunities that create a lasting community impact.
The Affidian Institute Foundation reflects my longstanding commitment to education, personal development, entrepreneurship and service. Its purpose is to support programs and collaborative initiatives that help individuals develop their potential, acquire practical knowledge and become more active participants in their own futures and communities.
This work may include educational programs, entrepreneurship development, mentorship, community initiatives and partnerships with people and organizations that share a commitment to strengthening Greater Lake Worth.
The three platforms work together:
Greater Lake Worth Living tells the stories and creates visibility.
The Greater Lake Worth Society brings people together and builds relationships.
The Affidian Institute Foundation creates opportunities to educate, empower and give back.
Together, they form one connected vision: to help people and businesses become more visible, bring the community into stronger relationship and reinvest knowledge, resources and opportunities into the people who call Greater Lake Worth home.
For me, the Foundation is also a natural continuation of everything that came before it—teaching, mentoring, serving through the PTO and HOA, creating opportunities for children and families, supporting entrepreneurs and helping people recognize their own ability to make a difference.
A strong community should do more than connect people. It should create pathways through which people can learn, grow, participate and contribute.
Beginning Again at 62
As I approach my 62nd birthday, I find myself entering another entrepreneurial and community-building chapter through Greater Lake Worth Living, the Greater Lake Worth Society and The Affidian Institute Foundation.
I do not see this as starting over. I see it as bringing the many parts of my journey together.
The professional dancer understands the discipline and beauty of movement.
The former Miss Aruba understands the responsibility of representing a place and its people.
The public-relations professional understands how to develop a message and bring attention to worthwhile stories.
The entrepreneur understands how to recognize a need and create a practical solution.
The substitute teacher, PTO leader and HOA vice president understand the importance of listening, participation and community involvement.
The publisher understands how media can connect a dispersed community.
The Metaphysicist understands that transformation begins within and that every ending can contain the foundation of a new beginning.
The mother understands that the most meaningful ventures often emerge from the needs of real people and real families.
Every one of those women is part of who I am today.
The Vision Ahead
My hope is that Greater Lake Worth Living, the Greater Lake Worth Society and The Affidian Institute Foundation will work together to close gaps in communication, connection, education and opportunity throughout Greater Lake Worth.
I want the people of Greater Lake Worth to discover more of what exists around them. I want local businesses and organizations to become more visible. I want relationships to form between neighbors, entrepreneurs, professionals and community leaders.
I also want city councils, county leaders, regional organizations and the broader South Florida media community to look more closely at Greater Lake Worth.
There are extraordinary people here. There are businesses worth discovering, organizations creating meaningful change, events bringing people together and human-interest stories that deserve a wider audience.
When journalists, editors and producers need a Greater Lake Worth source, local perspective, business, expert, event or story idea, I want them to know they can reach out.
Greater Lake Worth deserves to be recognized as a vibrant community with its own identity and voice. My purpose now is to help create the relationships and media channels that allow that voice to be heard.
Still Becoming
My journey is not a story of uninterrupted success. It is a story of movement, reinvention, courage, loss, listening and beginning again.
I have learned that life does not always reveal the entire path. Sometimes it gives us only the next step.
My responsibility has been to listen for that step—and then have the courage to take it.
At 62, I am trusting that process once more.
This time, I am bringing everything I have learned into one focused purpose: connecting people, creating visibility, strengthening community and helping Greater Lake Worth share its stories with the world around it.
I am not beginning from scratch. I am beginning again with experience.
Connect With Me
Dr. Karina Felix
Founder and Publisher
Affidian Publishing, Media and Marketing
Greater Lake Worth Living
Greater Lake Worth Society
Email: Lifestyle@GreaterLakeWorthLiving.com
Phone: (561) 317-8751
Website: https://GreaterLakeWorthLiving.com