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Home / Fashlete™ of the Month

Fashlete™ of the Month

Stacy Schwartz : Get Away... Get Fit

Name: Stacy Schwartz
Occupation: Ketanga Fitness Retreat - Founder

Wouldn’t it be great if you could quit your job and travel for 100 days? Imagine all the places you could go and the experiences you could have. But how could you just pick up and go? What would happen when you returned? What about money? What about job security? It sounds like a dream until you start to imagine that your life might unravel as a result...

Stacy Schwartz had the dream. She also had the apprehension, the fear, the doubt. Finally, Stacy decided to face her fears, give up a steady job in Corporate America, and turn the 100 day travel adventure dream into a reality. Such life changing decisions, though rewarding in hindsight, are also usually the most difficult, the most risky, and the most challenging...

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Laurel Ivory : 15 and Unstoppable

Name: Laurel Ivory
Age: 15
Occupation: High School Student

If you ask Laurel Ivory what she has her mind on these days, you will not get something that sounds like a typical high school Freshman response. In fact, Laurel has a sense of purpose and a talent that is unique even when compared to most adults that I know. Wise beyond her years, talented beyond measure, passionate about soccer, Laurel is dedicated to becoming the number one goalkeeper in the country.

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Transform Your Body and Mind : Challenge Equals Change

Name: Shondelle Solomon Miles
Age: 40 and Fabulous
Occupation: Owner of CrossFit 954/Coach

There are two main criteria for being chosen as a "Fashlete":

1. The individual is committed to health and fitness in a way that has changed her life in significant ways. You can't help but look at her and say: "Oh WOW".

2. The individual uses her knowledge and experience to help others do the same. She will look right back at you and say: "Now let me show you how." 

As long as I've known Shondelle, she has always had that "Oh WOW" factor. She attacks life with an intense energy, often with her two young kids in tow. She loves life and wants you to love it too. Since graduating from Columbia University in 1996, it has been Shondelle’s personal and professional mission to improve and transform lives via the vehicle of health and fitness.

 

Shondelle opened Synergize!, a multifaceted small-group personal training center after graduating with her Masters in Sports Medicine from University of Miami. Additional certifications have followed and she has no doubt become an expert in body fat loss and weight management for men and women.

BUT… being an expert is not enough. Some of the best coaches are the ones who seek out experiences in which they do not necessarily excel. A true leader will face her own fears in order to become stronger both mentally and physically. And once the fear is conquered, she will lead others down their own dark and daunting paths until they too find the first break of light...

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Leading Girls to Strength : Empowering the Next Generation

Name: Mindy Coby

Occupation: CrossFit Kids Coach at Practice CrossFit, 2nd Grade Teacher

Mission: To teach young girls that they are strong, capable, beautiful individuals who can achieve literally anything they want to.

"Getting teen girls involved in our program is like pulling teeth... these girls don't have any women in their lives that promote fitness, strength, and health, so they have little or no desire to try it themselves. To them, exercise is for people who are fat, which is such a shame. I'm starting to finally connect on a personal level with a couple of them, so I'm looking for little things to slowly bring them into the program.” -Mindy

What does it take to change mindset of these young girls? How can we as a community – whether you are a parent, teacher, coach, friend, etc. – reach young girls who do not value fitness as part of a healthy lifestyle? And most importantly, why is it so important that we do? Mindy has some great answers...

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Meredith Atwood : Swim Bike Mom



Meredith Atwood is a wife, mother, attorney, Ironman, coach, and author of "Triathlon for the Every Woman". Not only is Meredith out there conquering her own goals, she has dedicated herself to helping other women do the same. Through her book and her blog (Swim Bike Mom), Meredith inspires and educates women who want to get off the couch (or out simply of a rut) and across a finish line.

Before having children, Meredith was an athlete, and quite a good one at that. "Back in the day" she won the Junior National Olympic Weightlifting Championships, and went to Junior Worlds in South Africa where she almost made the next world team.

Many years, and a couple children later, Meredith did not like the woman she had become - overweight, out of shape, her athletic accomplishments a distant memory. In our interview, Meredith explains how she went from 5k to Ironman, and why reviving her inner athlete was so important - especially as a busy wife and mother...

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