I’ve been an athlete for as long as I can remember. Sport has always been a place where I’ve felt safe, free to express myself and move my body in affirming ways. In my early twenties as I began to grapple with my gender, I began to feel less and less comfortable in my body. I felt a lot of pressure to perform my gender in ways that were deemed more socially acceptable. I used exercise as a tool to try and change the outward appearance of my body, and my relationship with movement and my body became strained.

In 2017 I joined a weightlifting gym and began learning the fundamentals of strength training and Olympic lifting. I became inspired by the ways that my body could move, and by how strong I felt in it. I loved getting stronger and putting on muscle, and being part of a community where that was encouraged. It felt so affirming! But toxic fitness paradigms and the tools of white supremacy are pervasive, and my gym culture was not immune. There was unspoken pressure to achieve a mainstream fitness aesthetic. There was often emphasis on loading up weight over moving safely and sustainably. I continued to push my body to extremes, and I was rewarded for it with social capital and praise. But it came at a cost.

In 2019 I had just completed a coaching seminar and was beginning my work as a trainer when I suffered a severe nerve injury that left me barely able to walk for several weeks and unable to train for months. When I was eventually able to begin approaching my sport again, I had to reimagine what my training might need to look like to be supportive and sustainable. No more extremes, no more pushing through my body’s pain signals and dissociating. No more chasing aesthetics at the expense of my physical wellbeing. I started questioning the “expertise” of the predominant voices - cis-het, white, male coaches - and narratives in the fitness industry and instead tuned in to seminars and workshops that elevated marginalized voices in the fitness community. I listened to the experiences and expertise of other coaches with intersecting, marginalized identities. I started unpacking and uncoupling outward physical changes from movement and exercise. I shifted the focus of my own training towards building better foundations and embodying my strength, and began working with queer, neurodivergent (ND) coaches who could better empathize with and understand my needs as an athlete and as a trans person. I began healing my relationship with exercise, and with my body.

As I continue to train and move in ways that feel safe, affirming, and empowering, I feel more connected to and stronger in my body, more confident in myself, and more joyful in other aspects of my life.

my vision

I do this work out of a desire to support people (especially queer and trans folks) in moving their bodies and building strength in a way that feels safe and empowering. I want people to be able to find strength, ease, confidence, and joy in their physical bodies and in their everyday lives. I understand firsthand the challenges that come with physical activity and being aware of one’s body. I’ve also experienced the ways in which traditional fitness spaces and gyms emphasize outward presentation of the body as an indicator of fitness and success, and often alienate queer folks, trans folks, disabled folks, fat folks, non-white folks, women, and the elderly. I believe that movement and strength training is for everybody and every body. I take people’s comfort, wellbeing, and safety very seriously and work to create a safe and affirming space for every individual to engage in movement. My experience as a long-time teacher and a coach has taught me that people are the experts in their own bodies. I work closely with members to develop individualized, performance-based goals, and create programs and adjustments to movements to meet each person’s specific needs. In all of my practice I emphasize work on mobility and physical strength, as well as build confidence and capacity both within and beyond our training sessions.

my experience

I have over two decades of athletic experience ranging from competitive team sports at high school, collegiate, and recreational levels to individualized training in distance running and (more recently) Olympic weightlifting and Powerlifting. For the past five years, I have trained in a hybrid of Olympic lifting and general strength and conditioning. I have coached middle and high school basketball teams, and have coached Crossfit at a local gym in Western North Carolina. I have over a decade of classroom teaching experience ranging from middle grades to college undergraduates, and hold a Master of Science in Education and in Biology. I received my CPT from the American Council on Exercise, my USA Weightlifting Level 1 certification from USA Weightlifting, and my CF-L1 Trainer certificate from Crossfit Downtown Atlanta. I have also participated in trainings around inclusive movement spaces including, “Fitness for All Bodies,” and “Creating Affirming Movement Spaces.”