When Brandy Evans took her first steps toward fitness and a healthier outlook, little did she know she would land on national television commercial for Weight Watchers. But the icing on the cake was dinner with talk-show host and mogul Oprah Winfrey.

Every journey has a turning point, and for Brandy Evans, hers would eventually land her a spot on a national Weight Watchers commercial with Oprah Winfrey.

“I joined Weight Watchers about two years ago because I just wasn’t happy with myself,” said Evans, vice president of communications for Shreveport-Bossier Convention & Tourist Bureau. “I had gained a lot of weight and didn’t feel good about myself.”

Evans has been with Weight Watchers in the past. “I knew the program worked,” she said. “It encourages you to eat healthy, but it’s more than that. It helps you focus on your mind, your body and your spirit.”

An emotional eater, Evans was channeling negativity from her life, namely a divorce she never dealt with, into weekend binge eating, resulting in weight gain.

“When I was unhappy, I ate,” she said. “I would eat from the time I woke up until I went to bed, and that’s how I ballooned to 185 pounds. The things I would say to myself, I wouldn’t dare say to anyone else.”

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Over the course of those two years after rejoining Weight Watchers, Evans began walking early in the mornings.

“When I would walk, I would pray,” she said. “I lost weight, but I also began to shed unforgiveness, things I had been holding in – despair. I learned to speak well of myself. I would tell myself my best days are ahead of me, not behind me. The best is yet to come.”

She would say it on days when she didn’t necessarily mean it.

At the same time, Evans’ daughter was preparing to start college, and Evans would face “empty nest.”

“I was worried about what would happen to me when she left,” she added.

So, again, she prayed as she walked, spoke well of herself and in the process, lost 32 pounds.

In December 2016, Weight Watchers kicked off the “Live Fully” campaign focused on helping people live the life they want, full of the great foods, people and experiences they love, and the energy that comes with good health.

Evans said it is that well-rounded approach to weight loss, focusing on her entire well-being that added up to her success.

“The campaign teaches us to embrace all the good things about ourselves,” she said. “Weight Watchers has this motto: ‘We don’t live well to eat, we eat to live well.’” As a matter of support, Evans joined a social platform – Connect – just for Weight Watchers’ members.

“Members post their struggles, as well as their successes, recipes, just all sorts of things,” she said “I get such inspiration from the Connect app.”

Sometimes Evans would post on it, too.

In September 2016, Weight Watchers Magazine’s editorial team contacted Evans, interviewed her and asked if she would be featured in their January-February 2017 issue.

A team flew to Shreveport, photographed Evans at different locations and shot a video at her home.

“I was extremely honored that they would include me,” she said. “It was amazing, and I was so honored by the whole experience.”

But it gets better. In October, Evans received a phone call from a producer with OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network). She said he asked questions and requested photos.

In November, Evans drove to New Orleans to visit her college co-ed daughter, and while returning home that Sunday afternoon, she received a second OWN producer phone call.

“She said, ‘We want you to be a part of our campaign … and the phone went dead,” Evans laughed.

It was the following Friday before Evans and OWN made connection again, and they asked her to be part of the campaign with Oprah Winfrey as spokesperson.

“I flew to California to film the spot in December,” she said. “It was so exciting.”

The commercial, which began broadcasting in January, shows eight WW members from various backgrounds – two from Louisiana.

“The other young lady is from the New Orleans area,” Evans said. “Between all of us, we have lost 595 pounds … it’s an incredible group of people with some of the most amazing stories ever.”

Also amazing: Evans’ childhood hero, Oprah Winfrey. “Oprah is a very gracious person,” Evans said. “She superseded my expectations of who I thought she was. In person, she is so lovely.”

The commercial is based on an actual dinner with Oprah, where the ladies were encouraged to just be themselves and eat, drink and converse as if there were no cameras rolling.

“It was the most incredible time of my life,” Evans said. “I will never forget having dinner with Oprah Winfrey. It was very authentic. No stopping or redoing anything. The smiles you see in the commercial are genuine.”

Back at home now, Evans knows she is still on a journey, but it’s a journey she is taking with self-confidence.

“I’m living what I spoke two years ago,” she said. “I am living out my best days.”