Growing up, my parents were thriving personal trainers, working with celebrities like Kate Beckinsale and Michael Sheen, to name a few. And with my mom being a nutritionist, it was safe to say (and to our then disappointment) our lunches never included things like Dunkaroos.

(Peep my sister Julia and I with Kate and her daughter, Lily, back in the day).

Despite having parents in the health + fitness industry, I never played competitive sports other than cross-country running; I loathed gym class. I was always a little shy and preferred reading and spending time with animals. Sports seemed way too aggressive for me. In high school, during gym class, I remember being the only girl unable to do a single push-up and couldn't lift the bar on the bench press. I remember hearing some of the more sporty girls whispering about me. 

Eeks, that was an awful feeling.  

When I was 19, my boyfriend, Michael (my now husband), took me to the gym for the first time. I laugh thinking about it! He led me into a busy weight room filled with many fit people, mostly men, and instructed me to bench press what looked like a heavy barbell. Lol — as if, right? I wobbly attempted and failed, felt stupid, and wanted to leave. 

I hated feeling this way.

I won't lie: Those first few months in the gym were hard. I was self-conscious and often refused to do lots of the exercises Mike suggested. In my defence, he was training like a "bro," and I had spaghetti arms LOL. But thankfully, we kept at it, and I got stronger and stronger. Eventuallyyyyy, I was not only going on my own, but when I did go with him, I would often lead the workouts!

I became obsessed with "building a booty" and putting muscle onto my naturally small frame. So I learned everything I could, took a Personal Trainer Certification, tried different diet plans and fitness programs, meal-prepped daily, and trained hard and regularly.

I felt f*cking strong. 

I saw my body changing in ways I never imagined, and it gave me this newfound confidence and strength not only in my athletic performance and body but in my strength as a woman and what I was capable of. 

It sounds cliché, but I started walking taller, bolder, braver, and prouder.

Around this time, I started thinking about taking clients as a personal trainer. But, unfortunately, I also had this other "icky" feeling because as much as I loved fitness and wanted to help other women feel strong and confident, another part of me worried that it was disempowering for us women to focus so much on our appearance. I hated the idea that someone might feel like they should have to change themselves to feel worthy, so I put my dream of being a personal trainer on the back burner. I just wasn't ready.

On a side note—my mom, Crystal Andrus Morissette, is now the author of five internationally best-selling books and eventually coined the term "Empowerment Coaching," opening up The S.W.A.T. Institute (Simply Woman Accredited Trainer) in 2009, an Empowerment Coach Certification for women with students now in over 45 countries around the world. 

The school is also my full-time gig! I'm the Operations Manager, and working here for the past five years has taught me much about women, including our needs, feelings, wants, fears, insecurities, and dreams. I realize now how it all marries so perfectly with personal training!

For the next few years, I continued training hard and doing everything I could (naturally) to get bigger and stronger. I put on 35 pounds and cheered for every ounce of hard-earned muscle!

I had, however, reached a point where I was ready for some new goals. I was at my heaviest weight, and to be entirely honest, my eating had gotten a little lazy. Around this time, we decided to put a sick-ass gym into our home (honestly, the best decision everrrrrr, especially when Covid hit). My home gym re-inspired me—to be honest, it's my favourite place to work out ever. I trained hard and placed nutrition at the forefront of my goals. I lost nearly 25 lbs and got into "competition shape" (as my mom would often tell me), and before I knew it, I saw muscles in places I didn't know existed. I felt incredible, healthy, strong, and, more than anything—sooooo myself—my Real Self.

The best part was my confidence, especially as I celebrated significant life events such as my own wedding. (Yay!)