I was born July 14th 1979. I grew up in an awesome town in Connecticut. Ridgefield had great schools, great people, and a great support for its childrens participation in sports.
I started to swim, before I could walk. My mom had me in a "Gym and Swim" class with her. She says as soon as she gpt me in the watter I took off! haha I guess I was born to be a swimmer
I swam on a team from the age of 5 thru my first year of college. I swam for various summer clubs, USS Teams, and for my High School (where I was the Captain Sr Year).
I loved the sport, loved the competition, and love pushing myself to the next level. I also played soccer
fast forward to 2004, when I decided to move to San Diego, with a few of my girl friends. When I got there, I realized that the 5 years of drinking and eating pizza every day, had taken a toll on my body. I was up to about 160. I carried myself very well, so it didnt really look like i was extreamly over weight. but for being 5'5, the weight that i was holding was just too much for my frame.
SOOOOO! i got a trainer and started busting my tail to lose the weight. I lost 30 lbs in about 3 months. Once I had lost the weight, a had a lot of people tell me I should do a Figure show. at the time, i thought these people were crazy. and i had never payed attention to BBing and didnt know anytihng about the sport.
fast forward again, I moved to back to the east coast, and lived in NYC. I got a trainer there, and he was an NPC BBer. I went to a show he did, where he took the overall. After seeing this show, I knew I could totally do this, and the journey to the stage began. That was in May of 2007, and I stepped on stage Nov 2007 at the Eastern USAs in NYC. I placed 3rd in my class, and the rest is history. I was bit my the Figure bug and wanted to take it further.
In 2008, i did the NY Metro, Placing 1st in my class, the Atlantic States, placing 2nd in my class, the CT State Championship and the CT State Open, where I won both Overalls, THEN I did the Eastersn 2008 where I placed 3rd in my class, THEN FINALLY Natioanls here I didnt place....
PHEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! LONG ASS YEAR RIGHT! in the course of a year, i did 7 shows.... needless to say i was BEAT and my systems rebounded and needed a break.
So I took a little time off and set my sites for 2 shows and two shows ONLY for 2009. JR Natioanls and USAS. I didnt place at either show, and this was the year that I was told I was too muscular for figure, and should consider moving to Fbbing... I was shocked. Heartbroken. I could not understand why I was doing so well locally and not at the national level.
After USAs, I had my surgery for my chest enhancement
WOOHOO! it actually helped bring balance to my frame. Before I competed I was a Natural DD and when i started competing, i fell down to an A
waaaa!!! A lot of people think I got the surgery for the sport, but that is TOTALLY NOT why i did it. I wanted to get back what I had lost due to training. My family gave me a lot of push back on it because they were worried. BUT I was paying for it myself, and I had done so much reserach and knew exactlay what i wanted. I had seen about 10 drs and knew i had found the one for me! I got them 1 month after my 30th Bday
I went over the muscle, 500 CC, Silicone Gels. I love them! best gift i ever bought myself!
SO after takign 2 months off after surgery, i started training for the Arnold Am 2010. I placed 8th, and was totally excited! maybe this was goign to be my year!!! I did the NY Metro again, a few months later, and placed 2nd in my class. I then set my sites on Team U. At Team U, i again was int he last call outs. and again, i was too hard and muscluar for the look they wanted... sigh.... I did the CT Europa a few weeks later and won the Over all there. I was planning on goign to USAS but was told by a judge that will reamain nameless, that i should not show up at USAS... that I would still not place...
I decided that I would give this one more shot, and hit Nationals. Now i forgot to mention that I had changed my look going into every show. All the advice i was given, i took and made the changes, yet it was never what they truly wanted, hahaha me OUT OF FIGURE LMAO!
SO Nationals comes, and yes, again, last call outs..... my heart was broken. I stepped off stage and decided I would never compete again. I was done. Brokedown. had lost the love of the sport, and had lost myself in trying to bring wha thte judges wanted of me.
Dan Ray, one of the best photogs, pulled me aside and mentioned that they were coming out with a new division, the WP and that I would be perfect for it, bcause it was supposed to be between Fbbing and Figure. Of course, at the time I didnt want to hear anything about competing every again. so i shrugged it off.
I decided it would be best for me to attempt my own diet and training goign forward. I had worked with PJ Braun for two years, and had learned so much from him that i knew i could do this on my own. A few weeks later, after many people pushing me and guiding me to do Physique, i decided to do it. with a very short off season, of only 2 months, I started my diet for JR USAS, the first show that Womens Physique would be at. I was so excited!! I worked with Michelle Brent on my posing and routine for 16 weeks haha i know that seems like a long time but i wanted it all to be perfect!
I ended up placing 4th at the show, which i was ESTATIC about! after talkign to a few judges, they said i needed to town down my straitions but that i was perfect for this division. At that point i had set my sites on USAS in July, but I decided to do the next show JR Nationals in Chicago. Boy was it a smart idea! CAUSE I WON!!! WOOHOO!!!
After that, I realized I would have the longest off season I have ever had because there were no Pro shows till this year! I started workign with Kenny Wallach out of Golds Gym New Haven, on my Arm training. I needed to grow my arms since i had never teally trainied them much for figure.
I started dieting for the First Pro show, The Desert Muscle Classic, in Feb of this year. where I ended up placing 3rd! again doign my own diet and training, Kenny doing my arm trainging once a week.
Now I am 5 weeks out of the Orlando Europa and will hit the NY Por after that!!!
I will post some pics in order of my shows so you can see my progression from my first shows till now!!
