My favorite memory about growing up in the Bahamas was running around playing sports. Similar to many young boys, my days were spent outside. However, sports and exercise were also an escape from my abusive environment. I specifically remember when I learned how to play soccer, wanting to keep up with what my peers were doing. If I was not going to be celebrated by my birthgivers, I was going to find a way to be celebrated by my peers. That experience started me on the path to fitness.

When I was thirteen years old, now living in Florida, my mother got mad at me and slashed me across the stomach with a knife. Unhappy with our living situation (and clear to me now unhappy with life in general), my mother decided she would move my little sister and me to New York. I had decided I had enough, so I refused to get on that bus. As one might imagine, I kind of wished she had begged me to come, but instead, she told me that I would never amount to anything and left me behind. That was the last time I saw my mother.

Bouncing around seven different foster homes was demoralizing. I started focusing on the things that I could control. I was the only ESL student who was voted to the honor roll lunch. I started to understand that there were people who believed in me, and for the first time, I began to see my role as a student and someone who could inspire others. 

One morning during freshman year of high school, I was motivated to go for a run at five in the morning because I wanted to be fast and strong. My goal was to be faster and stronger than my fellow football players. After all, I was 5 ‘2, 140 lbs; small to play the game, even as a running back. That morning run turned into a habit, and through those habits became accomplishments. I received honors as the best running back in the county during my senior year in high school and earned a football/academic scholarship to Lehigh University- a life-changing victory.

my story 

As a freshman in college, I was about as homesick as a young person could be. Pennsylvania felt cold and unfamiliar, both literally and figuratively. My parents, friends, and family told me that I was not allowed to squander this awesome opportunity by giving up and coming home. And so, for those four years, Lehigh University served as the foundation of independence, teamwork, and community. During my senior year in college, I was featured in Sports Illustrated for overcoming adversity as well as my athletic accomplishments, one of which was winning offensive player of the year. When the article came out, I remember walking with a teammate, saying. “If you had told me at the age of thirteen, could I ever have imagined myself in the position where millions of people would be reading about me, I would have said no.” This moment of my life brought me the ultimate reward that was the end result of years of work. 

Today, my biggest priority is my child, Addison, and my ultimate goal for me and my clients is to create a life that has a balance of adaptability, flexibility, thoughtfulness, determination, and wellness empowerment.