THE BEFORE & AFTER

I have not always been in shape or skinny. I come from a West Indian background where food comes in abundance plus I used to smoke, drink, and hang out a lot.  After my first year of college and I realized how uncomfortable I felt with myself at times. I hated clothes - especially in the summer. I decided to try and make a change.

I was young and in school, working but not making much. A friend from high school, Mark Anine, introduced me to boxing. (Originally I was interested in kick boxing - but was turned off by the smell when I walked in. It smelled like toe jams.)

I never intended to fight - I just wanted to lose weight and be cute... but my original trainer, Mike Smith, saw something in me cause after about 6-8 months. He ask me to commit myself to actually competing. I was 155lbs and he wanted me to get down to 125. I thought there was no way in hell!!!!! Still I agreed - not knowing what I was getting myself into - I did it as a test to myself.

I wanted to see if there was another part of me. I am not one to be the center of attention so this was definitely going to be something outside my comfort zone, but I committed anyway.

My 3 days a week turned into 6 days a week. I dedicated everything and all my time into this. I cut everything off - including some of my closest friends. Not because I wanted to, but because my time was spent at the gym and at home. My days started early in the morning and there was no room to hang out.

In 2005 I competed and won my first Golden Gloves. It's now 2016 and I'm still here.

My purpose is to let people understand that me becoming a world champion isn't because I set out to be one. It's because I challenged myself every time  I reached a goal that I set for myself. Even if I never became a world champ, I would still feel this way because of the physical changes I made to my body. And that came from the day after day pushing and visioning what I wanted to look like. To this day, I keep setting new goals because I know I can do more.