I have always been athletic, a tomboy you could say, I grew like a weed and towered over almost my whole fifth grade class. Awkward, tall and skinny, I got teased quite a bit. By age nine I was racing motorcycles in the California desert and kicking the boys' butts, I might add.

As I grew into my height and started to fill my frame, I got into modeling. I had been lifting (light) weights and doing aerobic exercise, but I was told again and again that I needed to be very careful as not to become muscular. You know that one right? "I just want to get some definition, you know tone up, I don't want to be a muscle girl!" Well, that stuck with me, so I got real good at Yoga, Ballet, Pilates, Spinning, and circuit training with light weights.

My diet was a combination of strict vegetarianism and then the crazy modeling starvation diet so needless to say my protein requirements were not even close to being met. When I met my future husband, who is a bodybuilder, we began to work out together and I repeated my mantra "Tone, Cardio, blah, blah, blah...or I might not get hired for the next job!"

He was very understanding and worked me into his bodybuilding program. I was training for a marathon at that point so we shaped my workouts around the intensity of all the running I was doing. When my work became a scheduling conflict with the marathon, I was disappointed and relieved at the same time. Sad that I would have to concede the challenge of the marathon, but excited to be able to give weightlifting a real go. We worked a lot on strict form, isometrics instead of circuit training; he had me in his body parts split sequence. What I discovered is that I am a competitor; I wanted to prove that I could do it too, and that's when it happened.

One day without my knowledge or consent I realized that the monster had bitten me! The monster that lives in my head, the one that says "You can do more, go heavier, hold it longer and bust that last rep to failure!" I loved the high, we trained six days a week like animals, sometimes twice and during cardio season three times a day.
I felt something that I had never felt before, this process of loving the pain, my body tingling in anticipation of the soreness that those last two reps would give me two days later.

I was hooked like a fat kid loves cake! My body really began to change, I felt like a coiled spring, tight and ready! So you can guess where this is going. I decided to compete. I entered in the Miss Galaxy contest, which, if you are not familiar with it, is a figure round proceeded by a full military obstacle course. That was a trip! I unfortunately suffered a shoulder injury for which I curse the Galaxy often. I did well, in my first outing I placed 14th out of 128 women.

I wasn't hooked on that kind of competition, though. I didn't have any gymnastic experience so fitness was out. So, I looked to figure as an alternative. I focused my training on doing a figure show. I went in hook, line and sinker and about halfway through my training my husband and my other trainer, Francesca, said that I needed to reel it back, because I was getting too muscular to compete. Then he said, "You could do the Women's Bodybuilding Show at Muscle Beach in Venice."

Well, my friend, that was it. I went to the dark side, I threw out all my brainwashing about women and muscles and dug deep, deeper than I have ever dug in my life. I won the Middleweight Class and the Overall in my first ever contest. I couldn't believe it! And here comes Bob Chicherillo to give me my trophy! We also met Valentina Chepiga at the show and afterwards she told me that she had called me as the winner before the show even started! I was so excited because her FTV video was one of the videos I bought for inspiration.

We had said that we would try this show and see where to go from there. Needless to say, I was eager to do another show. It just so happens that I had met Steve Wennerstrom and he suggested that I do the '04 NPC "CAL" show. So, I really needed to try and bring my legs up to par with my upper body. I had heard my husband and others talking about how you aren't really a bodybuilder until you puke on Leg day. I thought ewww, gross but kinda cool at the same time! So as my Husband/Evil Bastard Mean Trainer Guy was killing me at Gold's Gym Hollywood with a 750 lb. Leg press.

I managed to one up the puking ritual. I pissed myself right there in the sled, I'm serious, there was a little puddle of pee on the mat under the seat! That evil guy was laughing so hard he was on the floor as I am running to go get towels before anyone notices. After paying the crazy price for a new pair of shorts at the pro shop we kept right on going. Oh, and I have puked on leg day also, so I am part of the club. I got some extra help from Paulina Talus at Venice Gold's with my posing (SHE ROCKS!) and some training advice from Charles Glass. I totally submerged myself in the Venice vibe and surrounded by the cream of the crop I really felt like a bodybuilder.

I entered the L.A. show and had some serious competition. I missed my carbs, came in a bit depleted and due to some schedule mix up, I barely made it to the stage in time for my routine, no pump up or anything. But I pulled it off and, in my second contest ever, I won the middleweight and novice classes as well as qualifying for the nationals!

So, I am now training for the NPC show in Pittsburgh in May and then the 05 Nationals in Atlanta. I want to go for my pro card, but I am going to take it one day at time and work my hardest to bring my weaknesses to my strengths.

I must give big respect to the women who have paved the way for women like me coming from the "Beauty" perspective to be able to embrace my muscular beauty and not worry what the "establishment" will say. Latest contest was the NPC Pittsburgh PA where I placed first in my middleweight class and took overall!

Favorite Exercise: Bicep curls and dips

Least Favorite Exercise: Pull-ups!

Most Hated Diet Food: Dry, crumbly (makes me choke) ground Turkey!

Favorite Treat Food: Homemade oatmeal chocolate chip bars

Top Five Favorite Female Bodybuilders: Pauliina Talus, Yaxeni Oriquien, Valentina Chepiga, Anja Langer