ABOUT ME...the details
My passion for fitness began at the age of 15. I had a boom box in my garage and would do my own version of Jane Fonda. When it got too cold for the garage, I joined a small local gym and did circuit training, teaching myself how to use all the machines. Though I was still a teenager, adults started asking me how to use equipment. I advised them as best I could with what I knew; I was a pseudo personal trainer at 16. I would ride my bike to the gym, work out, ride to the track at the junior high school to run, then home. I did this every day. While my friends did the things teenagers do, I was a gym rat. I felt confident there, and while my teenage insecurities grew, so did my muscles. I absolutely fell in love with being strong. The gym felt like where I belonged. By the time I was 18 and in college in Florida, I was training like a bodybuilder. I grew a lot then. I lifted heavy, learned good form, talked to people who I admired, and asked a lot of questions. I graduated with a degree in English, but I had no desire to pursue a career at that time. I told my parents after I finished college that I wanted to become a personal trainer. I already knew I wanted to show other people how wonderful it feels to be strong. I wanted to teach people how incredible it is to know that a they can change their bodies. I had to impart the joy it brought to me. My parents thought it was a poor choice, but, I was 22 years old and it was my life. That next year, 1993- 1994, many major events happened. December 1993 - I became a personal trainer at Jack LaLanne's after passing the ACE exam. April 1994- I took a job at East Islip Fitness Center to work alongside a local bodybuilder, named Paul Neville, who was doing a bodybuilding show. August 1994 - I entered my first bodybuilding competition. I took second place. I realized this is not what I love about training. I never competed as a bodybuilder again. (In 2015, 2016 and 2017 however, I won 2 and placed in 3 powerlifting competitions). 1995 to 2012 - I made a part time living as a personal trainer and group Fitness instructor in the gym my former husband and I co-owned. However in 1996, I decided to pursue a Masters in Education. I thought I wanted to be an English teacher. While I loved training people and I had a great clientele, I felt the need for security, and wondered, at 27 years old, if it was time to be a professional. Looking back, it was time for me to learn. I have had several growth spurts in my life, times when my spirit becomes restless and I need to learn. I received my Masters in 1998, and I became an English teacher. I loved the work. I loved stretching my brain to new places. I was teaching people; it's what I had already been doing for 13 years. January 1999 - East Islip Fitness Center -business was booming.
November 2000 - Paul and I got married. I am 31. January 2002 - First baby, Leah was born. I left my beloved job and career. July 2003 - Second baby, Paul Jr. was born. Full-time motherhood. In 2007, I pursued a teaching job with no luck. In 2008, I began substitute teaching. I felt unsuccessful for the first time in my life. Sadness and self -pity overtook me quite swiftly. I decided to get in great shape to alleviate some of the malaise. When I was almost 40, I realized I was experiencing extreme depression; life was all wrong. By 2010, I was broken. I was no longer the person I spent 40 years thinking I was. Some events are life-altering. I found a new pursuit to replace an irrepressible feeling of sorrow. The spirit is indomitable. I know this much is true. 2011, Pilates entered my life. I had a new love of the body- mind-spirit connection I had back when I was 16. It became my adventure to pursue fitness from every possible venue, learning from all the places I possibly could. In 2015, I open my small studio space -The Studio on Main, because I am happiest when I am teaching. I need to be in service to others to share my love of movement. Everyone is welcome.
