A little in-sight on your friendly neighbourhood Kinesiologist! I began my career in 2013 as a CSEP-CPT (personal trainer), providing in-home visits across the GTA. During this time, I learned to adapt programming to equipment and space available.  I graduated from the University of Toronto with a bachelor's in Kinesiology in 2014. Shortly after, I began working in retirement and Long-term care as a registered Kinesiologist. This is where my passion for fitness longevity began. During these 6 years I worked closely with our aging population. I provided programming, from Tai-chi, chair yoga, and functional fitness classes. I also lead the falls prevention program, care planning, transfer assessments and 1:1 rehabilitation programs during my time there. I found a strong love for removing barriers to activities of daily living and providing quality to individuals end- of life care. I got creative working with individuals with end stage dementia, and innovative, working with Waterloo engineering students to design a wheelchair with an automatic braking system (to prevent falls). (Some of my proudest work!)

    My time there came to halt as I began growing our family. After three kids, and a lot of prenatal, and postpartum rehab studies, I developed a pull towards programming for prenatal and postpartum. Yet a completely different stage, that I found myself encompassed by. I am an avid runner, marathoner, soccer and volleyball player. In my younger years I played wide receiver(football) for the University of Toronto’s women’s football team. As I have never been a stranger to sport, postpartum was like starting completely anew. In this time I learned, and worked with pelvic floor specialists and developed a program that brought me back to the competitive level I once was.( No small accomplishment if you ask any mom you know!)

  As my kids got older, and began to become interested in their movement development, I began planning march break, and summer programs for my kids. I wanted them to find a way to enjoy movement for life, and also be confident enough to know proper technique and form. I knew this would help remove a lot of barriers they experienced when it came time to begin movement in school. Something that sits deeply with me as I battled childhood obesity when I was younger. Falling in love with running at only the age of 11 as a larger kid, gave me the empathy, strength and confidence I needed to pursue what made me the happiest. Something I wish for all children.

   Now that I've had my time to reflect on the work I've done, I realize that my sense of fulfillment comes from exactly that. I find joy in being able to remove, adapt and assist individuals in their barriers to being active. I am a firm believer in science-based training, and staying up to date with best practices. I believe that movement you enjoy, is movement you will adhere to and it is the single most important factor to living an active life.