Rising Stars: Meet Travis Mickel of Wilmington

Today we’d like to introduce you to Travis Mickel.

Hi Travis, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Hi, my name is Travis Mickel. I am the founder and president of a local nonprofit called Fronting Life. I have been described as an intuitive leader, meditation teacher, motivational speaker, role model, recovery advocate, and well-known in Wilmington, NC. Recovery community and beyond for my sunny disposition, charismatic personality, and contagious enthusiasm before moving to North Carolina in 2020. I had a successful career in NYC, working in the luxury fashion industry, jet-setting worldwide, and living a life most people only dream about. But like many adults who suffer from substance abuse disorder, I lost everything and was homeless with nowhere to go and no one to turn to. At that moment in my addiction, I sought treatment and began a new journey to recovery.

Over the past 3 years, I have been studying and practicing meditation and mindfulness and began sharing my talents to help enhance and improve the lives of my local recovery community. I wanted to create a path paved with compassion, kindness, and love. This path would allow my peers to perceive the world in an entirely different light letting go of old patterns and behaviors to embrace another type of healing from the trauma they have experienced in their life and the world. I wanted to allow everyone to change, heal, and love. In 2021 I formed Fronting Life to support people in recovery using a community-centered approach providing compassionate, mindful, safe resources to help reduce relapse and increase recovery lifestyle retention. We first began offering Monday Mindfulness to help our peers explore and better understand themselves and the world around them. We embrace meditation, holistic medicine, energy, frequency, and sound, allowing our community to find purpose, meaning, and joy in their lives. We are building spaces where all forms of recovery coexist, no one is turned away, and our community grows stronger—creating a world with less suffering and more compassion for those around us. Fronting life allows everyone to discover what life truly has to offer. We have had great success with this program and currently have 50-70 people in attendance each week. Allowing our participants to discover the great wisdom that lives within stillness.

Many people in our community found themselves with nowhere to go and nothing to do and would return to harmful behaviors, people, places, or substances. I wanted to change this and began partnering with local small businesses around Wilmington. In 2022 we decided to develop the C+S (Clean and Sober) Social Club to help improve the lives of our members by creating monthly social and networking events to allow individuals to create a larger network and a greater foundation for their recovery lifestyle in the hopes of helping reduce relapse. I have developed an entire 2023 calendar of events: 70’s Bowling Party, Sober Blackout, The Search, River Boat Dance Party, Wellness Weekend, and so much more! Events created by addicts for addicts where we can experience life without the temptation of drugs or alcohol.

Our organization is not focused on getting people clean but on how we can help maintain and enhance their new recovery lifestyle. Our Board members and Community Advocacy Advisory Board is made up entirely of individuals in recovery to help us stay better connected to the population we serve. We aim to build a recovery community center that can act as an information resource and house our programs, events, and workshops, creating a new recovery infrastructure and social support model rooted in inclusivity, fellowship, and love. We lead the country in the opioid epidemic; we want to lead the country to a solution.

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
When I first began, many people in our community and beyond did not believe anyone would be interested in learning about meditation and engaging with different healing modalities through energy, sound, and frequency. Fronting Life first began at a remote location. There were 4 or 5 of us that would meet. I continued to invite individuals and groups to experience what it feels like to engage with the silence surrounding us all. Little by little, word and success about our program increased, and we had to move to a larger location. Less than 2 years later, we now have 50-70 people attending our weekly meetings and are hopeful we will find our perfect location to grow and develop. I work with different local recovery hours, treatment centers, and 12-step fellowships to share my meditation practices with a larger community.

The most difficult and time-consuming task was starting the nonprofit itself. I incorporated the nonprofit, received 501C3 Federal Tax-exempt status, and all of the red tape and paperwork that goes along with it. This took about 1 year of research and commitment before everything was set up, including designing the website and social media. I had never worked in this industry and knew little about the process, but that was about to change. I have made it my mission to ensure anything hosted or created by Fronting Life is rooted in love, compassion, kindness, empathy, and understanding, which all of our members and participants have very well received. The road remains smooth as I plan for the upcoming months and years.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I have worn many hats when it comes to my career. I have had a successful career in Luxury fashion, working for Prada and Alexander McQueen. Before losing my career in fashion, I learned a vast amount of knowledge regarding business, marketing, branding, and client relations. I am learning the ins and outs of the industry.

Since moving to North Carolina, I started a new career and worked in Imports and Purchasing for a furniture manufacturer. I oversee our production facilities worldwide and coordinate our international logistics to our main warehouse facilities on the East and West Coasts. I am a Licensed Life Insurance Agent and have taken courses in programming and coding. I have also studied to be a real estate agent.

I have found my greatest passion in learning and teaching meditation. I am enrolled in the Meditation Magazine Teach Training Course and will complete this in the coming months. Meditation has allowed me to change who I am and how I think fundamentally. I have been leading and teaching meditation for Fronting Life for almost 2 years. I found my love for this practice through a meditation recovery program called Recovery Dharma that I joined in 2020.

What’s next?
I have been planning a Wellness Weekend for May 2023. We will host a weekend campout focused on a new kind of self-care, allowing participants to engage with Reiki, Healing Touch, Shaman Fire Ceremony, Drum Circle, Sound Bath, Breathwork, Meditations, and more, allowing them to reconnect with themselves and their community in nature.

I look forward to developing our Recovery Community Center, which will be the information resource hub for recovery and their friends and families, where we can provide the necessary information for individuals seeking guidance and support. This location will house our events, programs, and workshops and create a lasting change for all those in our local community. We are working tirelessly to find and submit different grants to help find initial funding for this endeavor.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.frontinglife.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frontinglife/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frontinglife/
• Other: https://insig.ht/bSZyFMF8lyb 

Image Credits
John Lam and Sai Mo Media