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    This is the story of my life. I started out very poor, and very overweight. Through lots of hard work and determination I overcame all of that to be the person that I am today. I hope that you read all of it and enjoy my story! Many, many people have written me about my bio. It seems that this is one of the things people are the most interested in about me. Although it's kind of embarrassing, I share it hoping that it will inspire someone to strive to become whatever it is that they want to become. I was born in Raleigh, North Carolina a few short years ago. When I was eight years old I moved to Bell County Kentucky. I was not prepared for the way Kentucky was, not that it was a bad place to live, but I wasn't aware of all the home cookin' that I was about to encounter! I had always been a slightly overweight child and all the down home southern food that my family started having did not help in the battle that I was about to start. I went into high school weighing 175lbs, and even though I was not one of the popular people, I wanted to be very badly! So I went into the summer break determined to be a new person when I walked through the doors the next year. I worked hard all summer, but only made a little progress since just about every day I was left on my own and didn't have the willpower to resist all  the food that was in the cupboards. Still, I went back to school weighing 10lbs. less and I was determined to reach my goals through the school year. By the following I was ready to be a healthy person. I wanted to really knock everybody out the next year, I didn't want to be skinny, I wanted to be fit. I really didn't understand everything that was involved in having that lean, sexy body I wanted so badly, I just thought that you had to run or do aerobics and you could look like a fitness model. I started to work out and do aerobics with the morning T.V. show. As summer went on I really didn't know what to eat, so I ate baked potatoes and tuna all the time. But, through the summer, there is always time for cake, cookies, Ice cream and family get-togethers. My family was very poor, but we lived on stuff from the farm too. That means stuff like whole milk, real farm fresh eggs, bacon and all kinds of greasy stuff with gravy on everything. All things that I used to love. My parents aren't really into fitness at all and they thought that I was just a normal girl. Somehow I still managed to get down to 126lbs... I was on top of the world. I pretty much stayed that weight for the rest of my senior year, but little did I know that things were going to change very soon. I was ready to enter college and with that came all the cool things that a college town offers, things that I had never had access to before. One day in November of 1995 I decided that I was at the end of my rope, and the only thing left for me to do was really learn how to take care of myself 
through a well balanced diet, weightlifting and cardiovascular conditioning.
I knew that I had to get started and had a personal trainer write out a program
where I ate 6 small meals a day, I was scared of so much food. So, he let me eat
two protein bars in place of two snacks. I also started weightlifting and doing
kickboxing three days a week. On my off days from doing that I walked in the mall
until it got warm enough to walk the trail at the park. As I got in better shape
I tried to start jogging at least 1/2 mile two days a week. I set the goal of 3
weeks to start jogging the full mile. I achieved that goal, and set the next one
of running a 5k with one of my friends from kickboxing. She was a track runner
and in great shape. When the day came I was determined to do it, and came in 24
seconds behind her! I was so proud that I had finished the race.I continued with my kickboxing classes and became very interested in the martial art classes, which were Jeet Kune Do and Kali. For those of you who do not know what these are the first is a self defense system that Bruce Lee developed while he was here in the United States and the kali is a Filipino martial art that deals with weapons such as sticks and knives. As I got further involved in the martial arts I became more and more confident. I even entered a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu tournament where I was the winner in the women's division. I brought the gold medal back to my gym. I felt awesome. As I got in better shape and lost the first 50 pounds I had the desire to teach what I had learned. I felt I needed to look the part, so I was patient, and continued to watch what I ate and I learned as much as I could. The first thing that I ever did was run the class through stretches. I was hooked. One of the girls in our class did a lot of pageants, and asked if she could take a couple of pictures of me to a photographer. I was so excited that she asked; I said yes right away. The photographer called the very next day and we sat up a photo shoot. This became the first in a long list of photo shoots 
with many
different photographers. Eventually, I ended up connecting with Rob Sims, one
of the most professional and most sought after fitness photographers in the
business. With his help and the help of publisher Bob Kennedy I have been able
to finally really get my career started.So, I continue to train and work out, and l live my life to the fullest now. I have now competed in two pageants so far and I won the state title and placed top 10 at the national pageant in Hawaii. I have been published in some of the largest and most popular fitness magazines in the world. I feel that my life is so full now and that I am truly blessed by God. I will continue to update and change things around on my site as well as add more to my bio, so please come back. Always feel free to ask any questions. I look forward to hearing from you, and God Bless!
last updated 6.1.03 please note that as of 6.1.03 this sports page is pending final participatory approval and commitment by Tonya Elliott |
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