I have spent most of my life in my hometown, the “Soo“, except while away working on my undergraduate/graduate studies. I am very proud to be from the North and have had many great experiences growing up here. I also have many relatives here since most of my Dad’s siblings (nine brothers and four sisters!) also reside here. It’s pretty neat being from such a large family. I am very close to my parents, Ross and Bonnie, who lovingly put up with all of my “crazy” athletic pursuits and have traveled all over the world to support me throughout my life. My beautiful sister Kelly, is also very special to me despite being my extreme opposite in almost every way! Kelly is a teacher too so we enjoy having our summers off together and taking trips to the beach. My brother-in-law, Derek is also an important part of my family and is truly the best brother I could ever ask for—even though he teases me to no end and seems to find everything about me entertaining! Love you, Derek…

As for how I became interested in competing in Fitness…My mother would say it all began with the cartwheels I performed at birth! For as long as I can remember, I have always loved flipping and being upside-down, but since I grew up just on the outskirts of town, I was not able to participate in any organized sports until the age of 12 when we moved “in town”. I began taking recreational gymnastics lessons and quickly fell in love with the sport. Due to my flexibility and strength, I was shortly invited to try out for the regional team and eventually moved up to the provincial team before retiring at the age of 19. Because of my late start in gymnastics, I was never able to achieve my dream of competing at a National level, but, I did have the fortunate opportunity of growing up under the direction of the BEST coach ever, Michael Lemieux. In my opinion, Michael is the most knowledgeable and innovative gymnastics coach in Canada (if not North America). I attribute my discipline, work ethic and continued desire to excel in athletics to what I learned from Michael.

Following my gymnastics career, I went on to become both a varsity diver at Principia (a private liberal arts college) and a national-level pole-vaulter. Diving was both fun and challenging, but pole-vault was definitely the love of my life. I was the first woman ever to pole-vault at Principia and went on to finish third at the NCAA III Championships as well as compete in three Canadian National Championships. Unfortunately, due to a severe stress fracture in my shin, I was forced to retire following my final competition, the Canadian Olympic trials. I was devastated when this happened because I don’t feel I even began to come close to reaching my potential in the sport. But, after a year of moping around and burying myself in my studies, I once again spoke with my former coach, Michael, who inspired me to give competitive fitness a try.

I pondered the idea over while heading off to grad school, but my demanding class schedule and teaching duties were too much to realistically pursue this goal. I kept it in the back of my mind though, and joined the Purdue gymnastics club to maintain my skills. In 2003, I finally returned to the Sault to begin teaching and started training at a gym called Northern Lights, where I met my first trainer, Kieran Foley. I told Kieran about my interest in competing and he agreed to train me for my first contest, the Northern Classic Physique Challenge in Petoskey, Michigan. Kieran advised me to enter the bodybuilding class in order to develop my physique and learn the basics about competition dieting, training and posing. He worked closely with me for 16 weeks and to my surprise, I won the overall at my very first competition! It was at this moment, that I fell in love with the sport and decided to pursue it on a more serious level.

At my next competition, the Natural Ontario’s, I decided to enter into two categories, bodybuilding and Fitness, with the hope of figuring out where my physique would fit best. I ended up placing first in both and qualified to compete at the 2004 CBBF Canadian National World Qualifier. Needless to say, my first year of competing in this sport was an amazing rush--at the end of which I was definitely addicted to competing! I just wasn’t sure exactly what direction I wanted to go in…When the CBBF refused to allow me to compete in both, it was then that I decided to go with Fitness.

Following my 2nd place finish at the World qualifier, I felt a little frustrated and decided to try out different federations to see where I would do best. For the most part I fared well in these ventures, but never quite managed to come home better than runner-up. While I learned a lot from these experiences, I realize now my error in participating in competitions not sanctioned by the CBBF--I was actually penalized for being “too fit” and advised to “stop training my arms and shoulders for a year”. I did not feel that my athleticism was being appreciated and by the end of my 2005 competitive season, I found myself at a standstill in my fitness career…I found myself wondering if perhaps I should have stuck with bodybuilding instead of Fitness.

Unsure of what to do, I decided to return back to the CBBF competitive stream and was later pulled aside by photographer, Doug Schneider. This moment was a turning point in my career because he helped me to make the decision to focus solely on Fitness and pointed out some areas to improve in my stage presence and physique. He proceeded to direct me to two people who could help me improve them--IFBB Pro Mindi O’Brien, and her amazing husband Dennis Beitler, better known as TEAMOBRIEN.

During the summer of 2005, I went to Hamilton to work with Teamobrien and fine-tuned my posing and routine skills, as well as completely restructured my approach to training and dieting. Shortly after, I returned home with a new vision for the future--to win the natural and regular Canadian Championships. A little less than three months later, I debuted a new and improved package that took first place at the London & Western Championships.

It was only the beginning of what became a very exciting year that capitulated at the IFBB World Championships in Spain, where my routine scored 2nd and I took home a 6th place overall finish! What a whirlwind of a year!

The year 2006 definitely had some amazing high-points that I will cherish forever, but it unfortunately also ended with an incredibly disappointing low—I separated my A.C. joint in my left shoulder during my routine in Spain (luckily I didn’t show it though!!!) It had been plaguing my training for quite some time leading up to the competition, but the athlete in me, made me push it too far. Although I had a great finish in Spain, I lost nearly six months of training in the aftermath. Certain that I was facing retirement I began to say my good-bye to the sport of fitness, when Dr. Shamess worked his magic with prolo-therapy treatments. It was excruciatingly painful, but worth it in the end, as 2007 became my best competitive year to date. I re-qualified to compete with Team Canada at the IFBB Women’s World Championships in Spain and won the CBBF National Championships—simultaneously earning an IFBB Pro card!

My wildest dream came true! I am both ecstatic and overwhelmed at the thought of what my future in fitness will bring…I know it is important to begin setting new goals, but I also want to enjoy the moment as “Canadian Champ” for a while, as I know it won’t last long—after all as my Dad says, “There’s always someone even better who will come along”. So, while I dream of competing at the Olympia one day, for now I’m simply going to enjoy getting ready for my last amateur competition, the Euro Elite Tour/Weider Trophy in Marseille, France on November 17th. Following this event, I intend to fully enjoy the thrill of competing with the BEST of the BEST on the pro-circuit! It’s an opportunity that I am incredibly honoured and grateful to have and I know that I could never have achieved it without hard work and the support of my family and friends, and most importantly, my trainers, Teamobrien. I will be forever indebted to Mindi and Dennis for believing in me and for guiding me towards achieving my dream! I hope to continue making everyone proud in my competitions to come!

If you wish to continue following “my fitness story”, please be sure to check back frequently to my website for competition updates, photos and future plans…