I have been longing to start this blog for more time than I’m willing to admit. Let’s just say, life has been BUSY! Obviously I had no idea when I finally left television news at the end of 2018, that barely more than a year later our world would be flipped upside down. My timing (or rather, God’s timing) could not have been better. And you’ll probably hear me say that a lot as I tell my story. But for now, I’ll keep it simple — I am glad I got out of the news before Covid hit.
That said, here is the short version of how Momstrong Fitness started…
A short history: In 2005 I started college at a local JC studying whatever interested me. In 2008 I got pregnant with my first child and decided it was time to get serious about school, so I worked on my general education and eventually ended up in a Mass Media Communications class that completely rocked my world. I should have known I’d end up interested in journalism; I’d been a part of every school newscast and writing class since 2nd grade. I’ve always been nosy and enthralled by the craziness that is the world around me. I love a good story and I have a passion for writing. So after that class, I had my heart set on attending San Diego State University and writing for news. My dream job was really to become an embedded journalist on the frontlines of war torn countries, but I had a daughter to take care of, so I settled for a more narrow scope and stayed local.
After completing my bachelors degree at SDSU, I took a web writing job at NBC 7 San Diego and eventually found myself on the assignment desk. For anyone who doesn’t know what that job entails, I describe it as “911 dispatching for the news.” The desk folks take in information from everywhere — social media, police scanners, email, phones, other news organizations, and more. Then we decide what is worthy of coverage, how and when it will be covered, and by whom. It’s a high paced, high stress job, and I was damn good at it.
A few years later I got pregnant with my second daughter and shortly after my maternity leave, I switched from NBC 7 to KUSI-TV doing the same job on a better schedule. I did this for another two years before realizing that although I was good at the job, it didn’t quite fit my personality. I love a good story, but I also love people. I felt grimy preying on tragedy for ratings. I would spend my days building relationships with people who had lost homes or loved ones, had their lives ripped out from under them, and worse…the never see them again. I covered dead cops and kids, tortured animals, bombings, terrorist attacks, and so much more. It weighed heavy on the heart of this empath.
About halfway through my time at KUSI I got heavily involved in fitness. I worked out daily, lost all of my pregnancy weight, and in 2017 I competed in my first bikini show. By the following year I was eyeing the prospect of becoming a personal trainer and had already earned my nutrition certification. I enrolled in San Diego Mesa College’s Personal Training Certificate program in August of 2018 and left TV news entirely by November of the same year.
I passed my ACE Certified Personal Trainer exam in April 2019, one month before completing the program and three months into my internship at a small boutique gym in San Diego. After my exam, I was immediately hired at Crunch Fitness and started building my client base.
Fast forward another year, and on March 6, 2020, I left Crunch to pursue my training business in a warehouse-style gym. But exactly one week later, Covid shut down all gym operations and I was forced to move my business into my home. THIS was a blessing in disguise. Because the gyms were closed and I already had a full load of clients, I was able to maintain a socially distanced training schedule, teach bootcamp classes over Zoom, and open up an online coaching venture.
In June 2020, my husband and I moved into a bigger home with better space and built our dream home gym. I’ve been training from there ever since!
So, in short, I am a reformed journalist turned full time personal trainer, and I made the pandemic work for me and my clients. The best part of the job is the people, and I get to be a part of their story, instead of just covering it to line the pockets of The Man.
