In high school, Sophie Gray was voted most likely to be a trophy wife. It was silly high school stuff, not a formal vote, but “I thought I was stupid,” she recalls, reflecting on her teenage years, where she felt out of place in traditional academic settings.
Little did anyone know she’d soon be the one taking home the trophy.
Gray’s entrepreneurial spirit sparked early on, and propelled her well past the notion of being anyone’s person but her own. In Grade 9 she dived deep into a project on local business tycoon Evelyn Charles. “I didn’t want to cut hair; I wanted to own the chain,” she says, remembering her teenage research into the salon mogul. This drive led her to launch a successful fitness company, WayofGray, straight out of high school, flexing her entrepreneurial muscles before many of her peers had even considered a career path.
But behind the glitz and Instagram glamour, Gray battled her own inner demons. Depression, eating disorders, and eventually an OCD diagnosis had her tapping out. “I was so desperate. I read every article about mental health I could,” she says. Her personal struggles lit the fuse for DiveThru, a mental-health platform making therapy more accessible.
“Accessing support is really hard,” says Gray, “and I want to make sure people don’t have to hit rock bottom to get help.”
Now, when she’s not throwing punches in her Muay Thai sessions, she’s taking swings at mental-health stigma, one session at a time. As she steps into the ring of life, it’s clear that Gray’s greatest match isn’t against an opponent, but in the daily dance of self-discovery and healing.
This article appears in the Nov/Dec 2024 issue of Edify
