She Stayed. She Rebuilt. Now She Helps Others Do The Same.

In 2019, Stephanie Geiger’s life changed in a single conversation.

Her husband had been unfaithful. Their daughter was two years old. And suddenly, everything she thought she knew about her life, her marriage, and her future collapsed.

“I remember thinking, this is not the life I thought I was living. I didn’t know what the past meant anymore. I didn’t know what came next,” she says.

That moment was the catalyst for everything that followed. She stayed in the marriage, not out of denial but with a mission: to rebuild something stronger, if that was possible. Over the next two years, Stephanie and her husband worked to reconcile. It wasn’t a continuation of their old relationship. It was the start of something entirely new.

“I always say we’re in a second marriage now. We had to get to know each other again. Trust each other again. It was a total restart.”

Today, she’s helping others find their own restart.

Wildfire Retreats Was Born From Isolation

Stephanie had support. A job. A roof over her head. Friends. But none of it felt like enough.

“I felt deeply alone. I didn’t want to share my story, and yet it was all I could think about. There was so much shame, and nowhere to put it,” she says.

She started reading everything she could find on trauma and recovery. Books. Articles. Therapy guides. Eventually, she found the International Association of Trauma Recovery Coaching, and something clicked.

“I knew these were my people. I signed up immediately.”

In 2022, she became a Certified Trauma Recovery Coach (CTRC). At the same time, she was building something she wished had existed back in 2019—a space where people could process relational betrayal without judgment or guilt. That space became Wildfire Retreats and Coaching.

“I wanted to create something that didn’t feel clinical or heavy. I wanted to help people find clarity, not just closure.”

The Business Was Personal. But the Skills Came From Corporate.

Stephanie spent over two decades in retail and tech. She worked in stores, in boardrooms, and in between. She led projects at Kohl’s, managed teams at Jewelers Mutual, and now works full-time at Charter Manufacturing.

“I'm still in my corporate job which I love, which provides the stability and mental stimulation I value and enjoy, but Wildfire is where my heart and creativity live” she says.

Years of experience gave her tools she didn’t even realize she’d need as a founder. Managing cross-functional teams. Handling budgets. Having difficult conversations. Letting go of a virtual assistant was one of the harder moments, but she handled it with the same calm she learned in corporate.

“I do everything myself. The content. The Canva. The copywriting. The marketing. The logistics. It’s exhausting, but it’s mine,” she says.

She Coaches Through Lived Experience, Not Theory

Stephanie’s coaching clients are often navigating betrayal in all its forms. Some are working through infidelity. Others are facing familial wounds, work-related trauma, or even health-related betrayals like a breast cancer diagnosis.

“Relational betrayal doesn’t only happen in marriage. It happens when someone close to you breaks a bond you thought was sacred. That’s what I help people process,” she explains.

She’s clear that coaching is not a replacement for therapy. Instead, it’s a parallel tool, focused on helping people reclaim agency in their own healing. She incorporates education on trauma and the nervous system, breath work, somatic techniques, and grief management into her practice.

“I’m not here to prescribe a path. I’m here to help people find their own.”

What’s Next: A Funnel from Healing to Community

Right now, Stephanie is rebranding. She recently bought the domains theaffaircoach.com and theaffaircoach.org. She’s working to make her offerings clearer, more accessible, and more inclusive. Some male clients weren’t sure she would coach them. Others weren’t sure if retreats were still happening.

“There’s a lot I want to do, but I don’t have the bandwidth” she says.

Her vision is to connect coaching with retreats. To have clients start one-on-one, then move into group retreats. And eventually, into a 12-week online program with both structured content and personal coaching.

“I already have the content. I just need to record it and get it online. It would be weekly group coaching, one-on-ones, and tools for people to process their trauma and rewire how it shows up in their life,” she says.

She knows not everyone will work with her personally. But the course could reach far more people than she ever could one-on-one.

“That’s the future. Giving people the tools to heal themselves. That’s what I did. And I’m still doing it.”

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