I was born and raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and graduated in 2001 with a bachelors degree in psychology. During my last two years at the University, I worked in the biopsychology laboratory doing research on personality traits and the development of hypertension. During my last year of school, my interests took a turn toward studying anatomy and human movement. Rather than pursuing a Masters degree in psychology and going into counseling, I decided to enter the fitness field.
I began working in the fitness industry in 2001 first becoming a group exercise instructor. I obtained certifications with Reebok Cycle, Body Pump, Resist-A-Ball and others. After about 6 months of instructing I took my ACE Personal Training Exam and began working as a personal trainer at Gold's Gym in Northern Virginia (a few miles outside of Washington D.C.). In the beginning, my primary focus was weight loss and coaching female runners. After a year of teaching group exercise classes and working as a trainer, I began to see a connection between improper movement patterns and injuries. This led me to the bodywork field and I decided to go back to school to obtain a diploma for massage. I graduated in 2003 receiving extensive training in anatomy and kinesiology. I studied various types of massage including, neuromuscular therapy, swedish, deep tissue, sports massage, trigger point therapy and myofascial release. Since then, I have received continuing education in medical massage, passive stretching techniques and neuromuscular therapy.
In December 2003 shortly after graduating with my massage diploma, I moved to California and began working part time as a massage therapist and part time as a personal trainer. Within a couple years I began to take a personal interest in nutrition and supplementation and my mentor gave me a book titled "How to Eat Move and Be Healthy, by Paul Chek. I was so inspired by the book that the following year I attended a certification program offered at the CHEK Institute for Holistic Lifestyle Coaching. With this certification I came to the understanding that to be truly fit and healthy, exercise cannot be the only focus. Factors such as stress, diet, thoughts, breathing and sleep must all be addressed, which brought me full circle back to my foundational training in psychology.
I am now able to blend the best of my education in psychology, movement, nutrition, massage and stress reduction to work with and educate each client on how to achieve life-long health