Origin Stories

Life is never what we expect. One day, you’re walking down a fairly flat path with no curves and then whamo! The next thing you know, you’re on a hilly zig-zag pathway in a completely new place. It is during these sudden changes that people often find themselves asking “what just happened”? This was the scenario I found myself in almost five years ago. One day I was the dancing queen, teaching ballet and committing my life’s work to teaching and choreography, then suddenly I became the authority on all things fitness. What the heck right? If you would have asked me just five years ago if I’d ever stop dancing and solely focus on functional fitness I would have told you to fly a kite. I was a dancer and was never going to stray from the love of my life. Eehhh. Try again.

I found fitness at a time when my entire life seemed to be falling apart at the seams. For two years I was running my own dance studio, working part time leasing apartments to pay the bills (I HATED that job by the way), and barely scraping by in life. For a while, I was even homeless, sleeping in my dance studio until I could find an affordable place to live. To add into the drama I found myself dating codependent men, or men that only had sexual interests in me, and still struggled with food and body image. What a cocktail that was! Luckily, one of those ex-boyfriends got me into weight lifting. I got rid of the dues but kept the gym!

I had been lifting weights for maybe two years, but I still didn’t know what in the hell I was doing and ended up tearing my infraspinatus and abductor along the way. I was a Planet Fitness girl until one day (more like one boy if I’m being honest) suggested I join LA Fitness even though I had to put it on a credit card to pay my membership. My life path changed almost instantly. The general manager saw potential in me and recruited me to come work in membership sales. I loved being active and fit. Running my dance studio along with working somewhere I didn’t hate was a win win! Or at least I thought. Soon after I was hired, I found that working full time in fitness sales and running my business was burning me out and fast. My Grandmother and mother also both ended up incredibly ill and in the hospital and it was all too much to bear. With a saddened heart, I closed my studio, started to teach my classes at a ballroom studio, and dove into fitness head first. It only took a few months for me to throw in the towel with teaching; fitness sales was competitive and I just wanted a job to collect a paycheck while I was pursuing myself. In one instance, I stopped pursuing myself. Looking back on it, I made the best decision I could at the time, but damn I should have never given up!

Despite the stress of sales, I loved working out. In fact, I started to love it more than I loved dancing. Sure I would go dance around the group fitness room to blow off steam and continued to dance with a local company for about two years, but I was becoming obsessed with fitness. I learned as much as I could from the trainers I worked with and worked out almost everyday. One day I realized that my body didn’t hurt like it did when I was dancing all of the time. Sure I’d get sore, but my hips wouldn’t ache to the point where I was wearing sweatpants and covered in tiger balm in the middle of a Florida summer. Then another very, and I mean VERY surprising thing happened. One day I just stopped having issues with food and my body. The bulimia ceased and I started to have a womanly shape- a jacked womanly shape at that. I was strong, felt feminine and had beaten a 16 year battle with an eating disorder. I became a walking testimony for strength training. I of course decided to become a certified trainer and got back to teaching, but this time fitness instead of dance.

I’m sure you’re asking “how in the hell does all of this relate to food Julez?” Well let me tell you, it has everything to do with food! Had it not been for the noticeable change in how great my body felt, I probably would have continued on with my ongoing battle with bulimia. It was through fitness that I realized that my body was worthy of proper nutrition, and needed that food to heal itself. I realized the damage that had been done could still be reversible. I learned to enjoy food again, instead of punishing myself with it. I met foodie friends that loved to explore new places to eat and helped me get over the fear of food. The fear of gaining weight. The fear of not being thin enough to be accepted by my peers. Without weight lifting, none of those fears would have subsided.

Here I am, five, almost six years later in what I attribute to addiction recovery and feeling the absolute BEST I have ever felt in my life. I joined my sister in the CrossFit community and have found even MORE confidence than I have ever had in my life. Now it is my turn to help others learn how to have a healthier lifestyle through food. Ironic right? Being able to teach people how to cook amazing food that is not only delicious but also highly nutritious fills my heart. My crazy path in life has allowed me to help others.