I was born in Michigan and lived there until I turned 16. At the age of 16 I moved to California where I learned that I loved the beach. I began surfing and skateboarding along with skiing and snowboarding. I was always very athletic, playing a variety of sports, including soccer, track, softball, and gymnastics, which is my favorite. I was the perfect height/ weight: 5 ft. tall and about 95 pounds when I started. I also loved sprinting and hurdles in track, which was my favorite floor exercise in gymnastics. I always wanted to go further but I had two severe injuries at the age 15 that stopped my track and gymnastics progress. California was great because I could go to the beach during the day and drive to the snow at night.
I've worked various jobs - waitressing, working for a drug manufacturing company and of course at auto plants here in Michigan. The long hours and sometimes not so healthy conditions of that particular job put a halt on my bodybuilding career. I was just so exhausted after working 50 plus hours a week to devote enough time to bodybuilding, which is something that really makes me feel good. Backing up a bit, I lived with my father for a while when I first went to California. Then he got relocated to Colorado and I wanted to stay where I was, so I rented an apartment a block from the beach. The apartment was actually the beach where Melrose Place was filmed. I soon found out that I would need a lot more money to live this lifestyle so I decided to work for a Stripping Agency. I did really well at that for awhile but soon became involved with people that were not whom I wanted to be around, so from their I went to the Strip Clubs. I stripped for about 8 years after that, working in California, Las Vegas, Canada and finally back in Michigan. I moved back to Michigan due to a health problem with my mother and kind of just stayed there. Family is very important to me and I feel that I had missed out on a lot being gone for so long. It was very lucrative for awhile.
I was about 115 lbs when I started and made great money. As I got bigger, I developed a following and had to deal with self conscious men as well. It wasn't always so much fun anymore, except for my regular following. I found myself having to deal with more attitude than it was worth, so I quit at that time. I was 180lbs and by far the biggest girl in this state still stripping. I started bodybuilding around age 20, nothing big but just starting. I met my boyfriend who was a bodybuilder at the gym and I was convinced I could be Ms Olympia totally natural. Ha ha! I soon learned that I loved the shape my body was taking and began to really look at some of the pro women and I wanted to look like them. Bodybuilding was a great outlet for me. I knew that I wanted to compete although I am ridden with stagefright, which is ironic after all the years of being onstage. I used to have to bring towels on the stage with me from all the sweat, it was terrible. Actually when I was the skinny big breasted woman on stage I was fine, that was the look everyone who frequented the clubs loved. But as I got more muscular and had more attitude problems to deal with from the patrons, it was very stressful for me. That is the reason why I quit.
I have only done one show - The Ms Michigan which I won the first time round. It took Lenda Murray two times to win that show. I am looking forward to competing again in the spring and trying to go pro.
I also plan to re-attend college in Florida and continue in veterinarian medicine. I volunteer for an animal rescue program where we go out and feed people's animals, make dog houses and bring hay for them. We try to encourage people who are not taking care of their animals to let us take them - sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. It's very important here for people to bring their animals indoors in the winter but they don't always do so. There are a lot of pets that end up freezing to death outdoors because people do not take care of them. We are not allowed to physically take the animals without consent, but we can report abuse to local animal control officers. It's very hard to see the kinds of conditions these animals are in and even harder to leave them when the owners want no assistance. As for strays, they all know where I live. I feed wild cats that live around here, which their are a lot of because I live in the country. I take in as many as I can depending on how I feel they will get along with my other animals. I would also love to work with the Special Olympics because I feel I have a lot of knowledge that I think would be helpful.
