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Photo by Weiferd Watts
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A little about myself – I’m currently living in the NYC area and
working full time as a structural engineer.
I graduated summa cum laude from Cornell University with a
Bachelor’s of Science in Structural Engineering and a Master’s of
Engineering in Management. While
at Cornell, I competed for the Varsity Softball team and competed in the
pole vault for the Varsity Track team, earning an Ivy League
Championship in each. I’ve
been an athlete my entire life – well, I guess since 3rd
grade when my mom decided I needed to take my nose out of books and
signed me up for my first softball team!
In high school, I played Varsity Softball, Volleyball, and even
decided to join the Swim Team my junior year, even though I was afraid
to put my face in the water when I started!
Regardless of my questionable start, I still managed to make it
to State a year later as an alternate for the relay team… which I
consider a victory. My
junior year, our high school added Weight Lifting as an elective course.
I immediately loved the thrill of watching my maxes increase
drastically as I learned the technique of each lift, and soon began
competing in a few power lifting competitions. However, after graduating, I focused on athletics (and
academics!) and lifting became a mechanism for running faster, jumping
higher, and most importantly, hitting more home runs!
By my junior year, I squat over 300 pounds and weighed 173 pounds
at just under 11% body fat. The
following year, I transitioned from the softball team to the track team,
and although the power and weight could be used as an advantage, my
coach’s goal was, as he put it, to ‘transorm you from a Mac Truck to
a Ferrari…’ Well, all the additional running and sprinting worked!
After graduation, I
continued to vault in the city at a local high school, but found that I
really needed to give my shins more rest after suffering from stress
fractures in both shins my last year.
I continued training in the gym, but with nothing to work toward,
began getting frustrated. I
had several trainers in the city speak with me about Figure
Competitions, so I finally decided to take on a local coach and give it
a try. I loved the new
found thrill of competing, the challenge of pushing myself beyond my
expectations, but mostly enjoyed having a goal again to work towards in
the gym. I could have done
without the cardio at 5:30 AM, but hey, who wouldn’t agree!
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