Vying for Muscle & Fitness Hers Magazine's Ms. Health & Fitness 2019
Photographer: Angela Wood Photography & Design
To all the amazing people that have been cheering me on:
I want to give a HUGE heart-felt THANK YOU to everyone that has been voting for me and sharing my posts with their friends and family. I am deeply appreciative of everyone's willingness to help throughout this competition, and cannot thank you enough for all of your support. I feel like I have an army along side me powering me through this and it's amazing! THANK YOU SO MUCH!
I jumped into this competition on a whim 'just to see what would happen', never expecting to make it this far, and still cannot believe I'm this close to possibly going into the final round. I know many people have been voting that don't even know me, and those that do know me, may not know my story. So, I wanted to share a bit about who I am and my background.
I'm a local mom of one amazing 7 year old boy, wife and business owner. I was raised in Taunton, Massachusetts where I went through the public school system and graduated Taunton High in 2002. Like many students, I floundered from job to job, trying to figure out what my path was. I went to college, and had the help and support of my parents, but they weren't able to give me the guidance necessary to make the best choices and stick to a clear path. Both of my parents were born and raised on Santa Maria, one of the Azores islands, and immigrated to the US when they were in their late teens, barely speaking any English. I remember being my son's age now, waiting up until 1am, listening for my dad's car to pull into the driveway when he would get home from working 2nd shift at a machine shop; then pretending I was asleep so he wouldn't get upset that I was still awake. We weren't well off by any stretch, but if we were struggling they didn't make it obvious to us. They both worked hard to support our family, and made sure my sister and I always had what we needed growing up as best they could.
That work ethic stuck with me when I began working at 15 years old, and always made sure I held at least 1 job through high school and college. I struggled. I didn't know what I wanted to do. Although I held numerous jobs in many different fields, bouncing from one to another, I always worked. I always understood the importance of hard work even if I didn't like what I was doing. I knew I wanted to help people and knew I needed to be active and doing something physical. I credit my 7th grade history teacher and girls track/cross country coach from Parker Middle School, Leonard Hull, for getting me into the weight room and introducing me to weight training. Mr. Hull was a huge proponent of getting his girls lifting and building a strong foundation vs just focusing on running and agility drills. Parker Middle School shared a gym and weight room with Taunton High, where Mr. Hull would bring us girls and made sure we were treated fairly while the THS football team also trained. I fell in love with weight training, and from there mixed my desire to work with people with my college business and marketing education, as well as experience from the various jobs I had held, and decided I wanted to get into the fitness industry. I badgered the owner of the Raynham Athletic Club for a position there, ANY position, I didn't care. I just wanted my foot in the door. Eventually, he called me in for an interview and told me he didn't really have anything available, but my persistence made him decide to bring me on board anyway. That's where I started the foundation of my personal training career. I was 20 years old then. At 23, knowing this is what I want to do, I decided to work for a personal training studio to get the feel of a smaller, boutique style set up. That opportunity introduced me to the Duxbury community. However, the company ended up filing for bankruptcy without much of any notice to its staff or clients. I found out after a phone call from a client that the business would be shutting its doors at the end of December 2008, leaving me out of a job and clients out of a gym. I had just turned 24. I couldn't afford my rent, student loans or car loan, and needed to figure something out quick. I reached out to the clients I had and began contracting space from another studio in Duxbury. Within 4 months, and with the help if my then boyfriend, he and I purchased that studio's equipment. On April Fool's Day of 2009, during one of the worst economic times - Duxbury Fitness officially opened its doors. Since then, we've grown from 1 to 8 employees and purchased a building in town to call home to Duxbury Fitness. In my own personal fitness journey, I've grown as well. I began competing as a figure athlete in 2015, and have since nationally qualified within the NPC organization. My goal is to earn my pro card (hopefully) at Nationals in 2020.
I share my story because I'm a regular person. I've had struggles and setbacks, I've had to fight and grind my way through, searching for opportunities and revamping plans A, B, C, D .. EFGH... until finding what works and what's right. I have had a lot of support over the years, from my parents, my now husband and the South Shore community. I truly believe that when people have confidence in their health and fitness journey, it breeds confidence in every other aspect of their lives as well. If they can feel good, healthy and strong about themselves, they will see situations in their lives through a clear and positive lens that may create opportunities they would have otherwise missed. In 2015, with this idea in mind, I began the Give Good Health Project. GGHP works with individuals that, due to extenuating circumstances in their lives, can't afford a fitness coach. GGHP offers nutritional support, lifestyle coaching/mentoring and fitness training to get individuals feeling healthy, strong and confident. I started this program to give back to the community in a meaningful way, giving individuals tools that they can carry with them forever.
Getting involved in Muscle and Fitness Hers Magazine's Ms. Health & Fitness 2019 has been a great way for me to grow toward my fitness goals and spread my message, but also continue to be able to give back. Muscle & Fitness Magazine has partnered up with Jared Allen's Homes for Wounded Warriors, who's mission is to raise money to build and remodel injury-specific, accessible and mortgage-free homes for our critically injured United States Military Veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan. This organization is meaningful to me because in 2001, when 9/11 happened, I was a senior at Taunton High School. I vividly remember sitting in my English class when another teacher burst through our door to tell us the North Tower had been hit. My teacher brought us to another room where we had a television set and put the news on, as we all clamored with our theories of what was happening and thinking there was NO way this could have been intentional.. Then the room went completely silent as we watched the second plane crash into South Tower. I don't remember much after that except the deafening silence in that room. The rest of our senior year had a very different feel to it then it otherwise would have as many of my classmates, along with '02 graduates across the nation, made the decision to enlist in the military because of that day. I remember looking around on graduation day at those that I knew would be going off to Iraq or Afghanistan and realizing how quickly students can be catapulted into the scary realities of life. Many of my classmates and friends came back physically unharmed, but many others were no as fortunate.
As I head into this final round toward 2019’s Ms. Health & Fitness, I am asking for your continued support in daily votes, as well as contributions toward Jared Allen's Homes for Wounded Warriors. Every little bit helps, and each dollar donated counts as 1 vote. Please share with your family and friends as we all have some connection to this organization. Thank you so much for your support!!
I want to give a HUGE heart-felt THANK YOU to everyone that has been voting for me and sharing my posts with their friends and family. I am deeply appreciative of everyone's willingness to help throughout this competition, and cannot thank you enough for all of your support. I feel like I have an army along side me powering me through this and it's amazing! THANK YOU SO MUCH!
I jumped into this competition on a whim 'just to see what would happen', never expecting to make it this far, and still cannot believe I'm this close to possibly going into the final round. I know many people have been voting that don't even know me, and those that do know me, may not know my story. So, I wanted to share a bit about who I am and my background.
I'm a local mom of one amazing 7 year old boy, wife and business owner. I was raised in Taunton, Massachusetts where I went through the public school system and graduated Taunton High in 2002. Like many students, I floundered from job to job, trying to figure out what my path was. I went to college, and had the help and support of my parents, but they weren't able to give me the guidance necessary to make the best choices and stick to a clear path. Both of my parents were born and raised on Santa Maria, one of the Azores islands, and immigrated to the US when they were in their late teens, barely speaking any English. I remember being my son's age now, waiting up until 1am, listening for my dad's car to pull into the driveway when he would get home from working 2nd shift at a machine shop; then pretending I was asleep so he wouldn't get upset that I was still awake. We weren't well off by any stretch, but if we were struggling they didn't make it obvious to us. They both worked hard to support our family, and made sure my sister and I always had what we needed growing up as best they could.
That work ethic stuck with me when I began working at 15 years old, and always made sure I held at least 1 job through high school and college. I struggled. I didn't know what I wanted to do. Although I held numerous jobs in many different fields, bouncing from one to another, I always worked. I always understood the importance of hard work even if I didn't like what I was doing. I knew I wanted to help people and knew I needed to be active and doing something physical. I credit my 7th grade history teacher and girls track/cross country coach from Parker Middle School, Leonard Hull, for getting me into the weight room and introducing me to weight training. Mr. Hull was a huge proponent of getting his girls lifting and building a strong foundation vs just focusing on running and agility drills. Parker Middle School shared a gym and weight room with Taunton High, where Mr. Hull would bring us girls and made sure we were treated fairly while the THS football team also trained. I fell in love with weight training, and from there mixed my desire to work with people with my college business and marketing education, as well as experience from the various jobs I had held, and decided I wanted to get into the fitness industry. I badgered the owner of the Raynham Athletic Club for a position there, ANY position, I didn't care. I just wanted my foot in the door. Eventually, he called me in for an interview and told me he didn't really have anything available, but my persistence made him decide to bring me on board anyway. That's where I started the foundation of my personal training career. I was 20 years old then. At 23, knowing this is what I want to do, I decided to work for a personal training studio to get the feel of a smaller, boutique style set up. That opportunity introduced me to the Duxbury community. However, the company ended up filing for bankruptcy without much of any notice to its staff or clients. I found out after a phone call from a client that the business would be shutting its doors at the end of December 2008, leaving me out of a job and clients out of a gym. I had just turned 24. I couldn't afford my rent, student loans or car loan, and needed to figure something out quick. I reached out to the clients I had and began contracting space from another studio in Duxbury. Within 4 months, and with the help if my then boyfriend, he and I purchased that studio's equipment. On April Fool's Day of 2009, during one of the worst economic times - Duxbury Fitness officially opened its doors. Since then, we've grown from 1 to 8 employees and purchased a building in town to call home to Duxbury Fitness. In my own personal fitness journey, I've grown as well. I began competing as a figure athlete in 2015, and have since nationally qualified within the NPC organization. My goal is to earn my pro card (hopefully) at Nationals in 2020.
I share my story because I'm a regular person. I've had struggles and setbacks, I've had to fight and grind my way through, searching for opportunities and revamping plans A, B, C, D .. EFGH... until finding what works and what's right. I have had a lot of support over the years, from my parents, my now husband and the South Shore community. I truly believe that when people have confidence in their health and fitness journey, it breeds confidence in every other aspect of their lives as well. If they can feel good, healthy and strong about themselves, they will see situations in their lives through a clear and positive lens that may create opportunities they would have otherwise missed. In 2015, with this idea in mind, I began the Give Good Health Project. GGHP works with individuals that, due to extenuating circumstances in their lives, can't afford a fitness coach. GGHP offers nutritional support, lifestyle coaching/mentoring and fitness training to get individuals feeling healthy, strong and confident. I started this program to give back to the community in a meaningful way, giving individuals tools that they can carry with them forever.
Getting involved in Muscle and Fitness Hers Magazine's Ms. Health & Fitness 2019 has been a great way for me to grow toward my fitness goals and spread my message, but also continue to be able to give back. Muscle & Fitness Magazine has partnered up with Jared Allen's Homes for Wounded Warriors, who's mission is to raise money to build and remodel injury-specific, accessible and mortgage-free homes for our critically injured United States Military Veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan. This organization is meaningful to me because in 2001, when 9/11 happened, I was a senior at Taunton High School. I vividly remember sitting in my English class when another teacher burst through our door to tell us the North Tower had been hit. My teacher brought us to another room where we had a television set and put the news on, as we all clamored with our theories of what was happening and thinking there was NO way this could have been intentional.. Then the room went completely silent as we watched the second plane crash into South Tower. I don't remember much after that except the deafening silence in that room. The rest of our senior year had a very different feel to it then it otherwise would have as many of my classmates, along with '02 graduates across the nation, made the decision to enlist in the military because of that day. I remember looking around on graduation day at those that I knew would be going off to Iraq or Afghanistan and realizing how quickly students can be catapulted into the scary realities of life. Many of my classmates and friends came back physically unharmed, but many others were no as fortunate.
As I head into this final round toward 2019’s Ms. Health & Fitness, I am asking for your continued support in daily votes, as well as contributions toward Jared Allen's Homes for Wounded Warriors. Every little bit helps, and each dollar donated counts as 1 vote. Please share with your family and friends as we all have some connection to this organization. Thank you so much for your support!!
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