A Bit More About Me

I was a young single parent attempting to attend UW–Milwaukee, having just graduated from

high school. This meant navigating enrollment, loans, grants, child care, and the logistics of

traveling daily to Milwaukee from my apartment in the ’burbs on my own. My mom had

disowned me during this time and my dad could only do so much. Besides, he wanted me to

be a flight attendant.

After almost three years, one arrest (for outstanding parking tickets from UWM), three flat

tires (two in one day), and four eviction notices, I dropped out.

I was paying more for daycare than I was making at my part-time cocktail waitress job, and

the gas money back and forth to UWM was killing me. Also, I had bad car karma (still do),

resulting in lots of breakdowns. Plus I really needed to be with my daughter, not always just

dropping her off and picking her up.

During a student teaching gig as a Phy Ed aide, I had discovered I wasn’t interested in the

skills needed to play team sports. The silent sports were the ones that spoke to me, ones that

I could do for the rest of my life: swimming, hiking, working out, skiing, skating, bike riding,

kayaking, and backpacking, as well as racquetball. I worked hard at staying in tip-top shape to

enjoy them, and depended on nature and long hikes to counter the challenges of being a

young single parent.

From the moment I dropped out of school, everything shifted. My dad, the only person in my

life who fully supported me, died unexpectedly. I had to pull on my big women’s panties, hitch

them up with both hands, and figure out what it was I wanted to do with this one precious life.

I wanted to do what I excelled at and share my love for exercising and for the great outdoors.

I decided to become a fitness instructor and took the first-ever test in Chicago for

group exercise leaders. The certifying organization was called IDEA (International Dance and

Fitness Association) and is now called ACE (American Council on Exercise).

I passed with flying colors and took a position at the local YMCA, which sent me to numerous

training programs, including my national YMCA Strength and Conditioning training and

subsequent certification. I knew I was on to something when I passed both these tests easily.

School had never been that easy for me.

For the next 10 years I worked for Milwaukee’s Southwest YMCA as the director of

strength and conditioning and taught numerous water and land exercise classes. Then I was

hired as the director of group exercise by a private multi-facility club, where I spent

the next 15 years. The West Allis Athletic Club (later named the Wisconsin Athletic Club) was

considered Milwaukee’s premier athletic club. It had a close affiliation with IHRSA

(International Health, Racquet, and Sports Association), and I attended their conventions,

trade shows, and workshops throughout the United States.

Eventually I became the general manager of the club, which expanded to own and operate

four more facilities. I was instrumental in the purchasing, remodeling, equipment updating,

and start-up of their Greenfield location. I became well-known in the fitness industry for

creative programming and for my unique teaching style.

And then I burned out. I hit rock bottom and spent the majority of my time in the woods, trying

to de-stress and find balance in my exhausting life.

By then my daughter was married and had her first child. I decided it was time to save

myself—so off to the Driftless area I went. First I lived with a man who had an alpaca farm

and four kids. I lasted six months. Next I lived alone, off-grid, in a cabin on Pa’s Road; I could

have stayed there forever. And finally I moved to an old abandoned house overrun with rats,

mice, bats, and hornets. It is now my beloved home.

During that time frame, I started Fitness Choices, a series of exercise programs I taught in

and around the area. Later, Turtle Adventures created opportunities for women to get

outside and connect with the earth. And now I’m initiating Trailblazer Health and Wellness

Coaching.

I’m hoping that my persistence in following my dreams, my resilience in sticking with them

through major health and personal challenges, and having a job that I adore will inspire

women to take that first step toward their own dream.

Meanwhile, I still lead exercise classes six days a week, write a weekly newspaper column,

and am the author of a series of children’s books and two books of essays. I live in a secure

home in a beautiful valley, no longer off-grid, and share my space with a variety of well-loved

animals.