She's been doing this her whole life.

Most kids look forward to their 15th birthday for the party. I was counting down to my first day of work.

At 14, I talked my way into a lifeguard certification course meant for 15-year-olds — knowing if I missed the window, I'd have to wait another full year. I pushed until they let me in. I passed. On my 15th birthday, I showed up to my first shift as a lifeguard and swim instructor at my local country club. A year later I was running my first business, trading swim lessons at my apartment complex pool for homemade brownies delivered to the front office. I was 16.

It started even before that. At 9, I watched the women's Olympic swimming on television and something clicked. I got in the pool and never really got out.

Through my competitive years, I was shaped by coaches who refused to let me quit — coaches who helped me discover how strong I was, taught me to set and chase goals, handle loss and burnout, and care for my body as an athlete. Those coaches changed my life. Becoming that for my own athletes drives everything I do.

My career in the water earned me Middle Georgia Swimmer of the Year after winning state in the 100 butterfly three consecutive years, a spot founding and captaining my high school swim team, and three All-American titles at nationals in college. Then a double rotator cuff tear cut my collegiate career short. Instead of walking away, I went deep — studying anatomy, biomechanics, injury recovery, and prevention. That experience lives in the way I teach technique and build performance today.

My professional coaching career has taken me from Assistant Head Swim Coach at the YMCA in Summerville, SC, to Director of Operations and Lead Trainer of swim instructors at The Swim Revolution — recognized as Atlanta's number one swim school. There, I helped make industry history: The Swim Revolution became the first swim school to offer full-time salaried positions to its instructors. The reasoning was rooted in something I understood deeply — children learn better with consistency. Handing a child off to a new face every few months doesn't just disrupt progress, it undermines trust. That conviction shapes how I run my own practice today.

Over 18 years, I've worked with every kind of swimmer — from infants taking their very first breath in the water to competitive athletes chasing titles, and everyone in between. One of my deepest areas of focus is adult fear cessation: helping grown-ups who have carried anxiety or fear around water for years — sometimes their entire lives — finally reach a place of calm, capability, and even joy in the water. It is some of the most meaningful work I do.

Underlying everything is a principle I come back to with every single client, at every age: before technique, before endurance, before competition — you have to learn to love the water. That relationship is the foundation. When a person genuinely loves being in the water, everything else follows. Teaching that foundation, and watching it take hold, is what keeps me in the pool every day.

I've continued my education through the CHEK Institute in Scientific Core Training, Program Design, and Health and Performance for Women, bringing a whole-body, movement-science perspective to every program I design.

Eighteen years. Every age, every ability, every fear, every goal.

I'm not looking for swimmers who already have it figured out. I'm looking for the ones who are ready to find out what they're made of.

CPR Certified | Fully Insured | CHEK Institute Trained