Commerce Official's Side Path Into Sound Therapy

At a Glance

• Cristine Pontillo, a 15-year U.S. Department of Commerce field representative, contributes a chapter to the anthology "The Moment We Rise," released September 9, 2026

• The book hit bestseller status in multiple categories across the U.S., Canada, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom

• Pontillo's chapter, "Mystical Vibrations," traces her move from a data-and-statistics career into sound therapy and energy-based wellness practices

• She founded Mystical Vibrations, a Broward County, Florida holistic wellness practice, while continuing her federal career and pursuing a Doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine

A federal statistics professional has become a published author in an international bestseller by writing about an entirely different subject: sound therapy. Cristine Pontillo, a longtime field representative for the U.S. Department of Commerce, is one of 15 contributing authors in "The Moment We Rise: Stories of Healing, Purpose, and the Courage to Choose a New Beginning," an anthology released September 9, 2026. The book reached bestseller rankings in categories including Biography Reference & Collections and Mental & Spiritual Healing across five countries.

From Quality Assurance to Energy Work

Pontillo has spent 15 years working in data, statistics, and quality assurance for the Department of Commerce. Outside that role, she built a separate interest in holistic practices, prompted by personal experiences that led her to question intuition, energy, and how humans and animals respond to each other. She says animals can feel the energy of a person, and that this is how they know whether someone is a good person or not. Energy, she says, does not lie.

Those experiences pushed her toward a string of modalities: aura imaging, numerology, astrology, yoga, and Bio-Well technology, a system used to assess energy fields. Her research into energy and frequency eventually brought her to sound therapy specifically, after which she began pursuing formal training in holistic healing.

"I feel these animals know something about me that I don't."

— Cristine Pontillo, Field Representative, U.S. Department of Commerce and Founder, Mystical Vibrations

Commerce Official's Side Path Into Sound Therapy

A Personal Rebuilding Process

The chapter also covers difficult personal territory. Pontillo writes about her parents' divorce, the death of her brother at a young age, strained friendships and relationships, and years spent as a single mother of three children while feeling she needed to prove her worth to others.

That period of self-doubt eventually gave way to a different outlook, one she says she has since passed on to her own children. "I have learned that I needed to learn to love myself, that I am good enough for anything that I put my heart and soul into," she writes. "I matter!"

The chapter's arc, from career-driven professional to someone questioning her own worth and then rebuilding it, forms the backbone of her contribution. It also connects her personal narrative to the broader themes running through the anthology.

Pontillo also points to a belief that a person's role on earth may differ from their role in the afterlife or heaven, noting that Jesus was a carpenter on earth but is the Son of God in heaven. She paraphrases Hebrews 13:2 in her own words: don't neglect to show hospitality, because by doing so some have welcomed angels as guests without knowing it.

Building Mystical Vibrations

Pontillo founded Mystical Vibrations, a holistic wellness practice based in Broward County, Florida, as an extension of the interests she describes in her chapter. The practice currently offers sound therapy, Bio-Well assessments, aromatherapy, and energy-based practices, with auriculotherapy and herbalism planned as future additions.

She runs the practice while remaining employed at the Department of Commerce and while working toward a Doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine. That dual track, a federal statistics career running alongside certification work in holistic modalities, is the throughline of her chapter and the basis for the "unexpected path" framing used to describe her story.

Originally from Yonkers, New York, Pontillo built her wellness practice after raising three children and establishing her federal career first. Her approach, according to her published bio, combines sound, energy, and natural modalities into personalized sessions aimed at supporting balance and overall well-being.

Part of a Wider Anthology Trend

"The Moment We Rise" features 15 authors writing on topics spanning illness, grief, trauma, relationships, identity changes, spiritual experiences, and career pivots.

Multi-author anthologies built around personal transformation and wellness themes have become a recurring publishing format, often used by contributors to build individual platforms around niche practices while sharing a single book's marketing reach. For practitioners like Pontillo, who work outside a traditional clinical setting, that format offers a route to visibility that a standalone title might not provide as efficiently, particularly when paired with bestseller status across multiple national markets.

The anthology's premise, that a new beginning often builds gradually through accumulated experience rather than a single turning point, applies directly to Pontillo's account of moving from a conventional federal career into holistic wellness work over time rather than through one deciding moment.

Pontillo's chapter adds one practitioner's account to a bestselling anthology built around transformation stories. Her next steps include completing her holistic healing certifications and her Doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine, alongside expanding Mystical Vibrations to include auriculotherapy and herbalism. Pontillo says readers will be able to order the book, with an option for an autographed copy, through her website.