Confessions of a Bikini Pro

Today I speak with IFBB Bikini Pro Lisa Reid, a 32 year old newly crowned Bikini Pro from Australia who entered her first competition back in 2014 and was immediately hooked. Now, almost a decade later I has competed in 23 shows and her passion and love for the sport only continues to grow. She started in the Natural Bodybuilding federations first: winning pro status and world titles in two federa...

Today I celebrate six years of the Confessions of a Bikini Pro Podcast! Sometime I feel like it's been longer and sometimes I feel like it was just yesterday! So much of my life has changed over the past six years, but the one constant has been the podcast. Join me today as I look back on the past guests, lessons learned, and what the future holds!   TOPICS COVERED -6 lessons learned -6 mental hea...

Today I speak with IFBB Bikini Pro Amanda Lam, from Hong Kong. She and her partner Isaac, are the first Chinese IFBB pro couple. She is the director of PUMP Personal Training Gym in Hong Kong and is also a transformation and Prep Coach. She is also an occupational therapist with 2 years working experience in the psychiatric department working with adolescents with autism, depression, and eating di...

Today I speak with IFBB Bikini Pro Pamela John, a certified personal trainer, strength coach, and nutrition coach, who started competing in 2012 and earned her Pro card at Masters Nationals in 2015 and has competed over 50 times! After the birth of my last daughter in 2000, her body went haywire which eventually led to a diagnosis of Graves disease. Along the way, she discovered that no matter whe...

Today I speak with IFBB Bikini Pro Christina Sanggor, a 27 years old who was born & raised in Houston, Texas. She started working out at age 19 while in college for her education degree. She decided to go back to pursue her passion of exercise science and will be graduating this spring. Christina works as a personal trainer and is a caretaker for her mother and grandmother.     She first competed...

Today I speak with IFBB Bikini Pro Tianna Pistone, who started bodybuilding at age 16 years and did her first show at 17 years old. She earned her Pro card USA's in 2023 when she was just 22. As a young teenager, she struggled with underrating, always wanting to be the thinnest girl. She was inspired to start bodybuilding by her father, a former bodybuilder.   Outside of competing, I graduated col...

Today I speak with IFBB Bikini Pro Janine Herrera, a single mother to 3 amazing girls aged 10, 8, and 4. She is also an AGACNP-BC with a focus and passion for functional medicine. She has spent the better part of her life serving others, but was in need of purpose unique and personal to her, and she has found that in bodybuilding.   In addition to being a high school sprinter and cross-country ath...

Today I speak with IFBB Bikini Pro Sammy Jo, an online health and fitness coach & posing coach. She started competing in 2022 and earned her Pro card one year later in 2023 at NPC Universe. She has a degree in business administration and quit my 9-5 in sales job back in 2022 to pursue competing and coaching. She is also a suit stylist with Toxic Angelz Bikinis and co-host of Bikini Things Podcast....

Today I speak with IFBB Bikini Pro Carrie Hennessy, a wife and girl mom to a 18 months old and 13 year old plus a dog mom. She loves true crime podcasts, being outdoors and anything adventurous. She loves connection, laughing and advocating for women. One of her favorite quotes is " If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude." She entered the bodybuilding...

Today I speak with IFBB Bikini Pro Jessica Dexter, an online lifestyle/ bikini competition prep coach, who also offers posing coaching. She has been competing for four years and earned her Pro card at 2021 North Americans after coaching her self. Her bodybuilding journey has been her saving grace and she wants to encourage other women to have the strength to take care of themselves mentally and ph...

Today I speak with IFBB Bikini Pro Maddy Michielssen, the CEO of Mpowered Fitness, who earned her Pro card at 2023 Nationals with the Overall win. She grew up a Ballet dancer with the Orlando Ballet before quitting at the age of 15 and took up weight training & wakeboarding. After a major accident, she put wakeboarding to bed and got into college at the University of Florida. She began training cl...

Today I speak with IFBB Bikini Pro Amanda Rivas, an actor, writer, filmmaker, comedian, and dog enthusiast. She is the writer & creator of EX Weeks Out - a film about bodybuilding and the strongest muscle of them all - the heart. Amanda competed in the NPC for nearly a decade with placings including everything from dead last to overall. Staying committed, consistent, and never giving up, she final...

Today I speak with IFBB Bikini Pro Manuelita Acuña, a 20-year-old from Colombia, who has lived in the USA for 2.5 years. A former member of the Columbian National Trampoline team, she retired after winning the 2019 National championships and sustaining an injury. Who her mom came to visit her in March of 2022, she realized she wasn't in a good spot mentally or physically, so she decided to make a...

Today I speak with Jordan and Drew Brannon. Jordan was born & raised in Tampa, Florida. She has her Bachelors Degree in Exercise Science from the University of South Florida, where she also met her husband, Drew Brannon. Drew is from Miami, Florida. Like Jordan, he also has his Exercise Science degree from USF.   After college, Jordan & Drew opened their own gym, Pinellas Ultimate Strength House....

Today I speak with IFBB Pro Casey Marshall,   a coach of NPC/IFBB athletes and lifestyle clients for 13. She specializing in the overall package - presentation, glam, suit, sportsmanship and overall creating healthy happy athletes. Her team, Team Boss Bodies, has turned over 50 women pro and have had athletes win pro shows in masters and open. She is also the author of the book The Bikini Bible.  ...

Today I speak with David DeMesquita, a functional health coach on a mission to "make lives better". For the past 8 years, he has helped people from a wide range of backgrounds to not just optimize internal systems, but ALSO achieve their best physiques ever. He has worked with some of the top Olympians in the IFBB and continues to help athletes of all ages and experiences. David has over 10 years...

Today I speak with Lexie Maitland, a NASM certified CPT with a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Physiology from the University of Tampa. Before online coaching, she was an in person personal trainer and has been a coach for Team ProPhysique since 2019. She competed for the first time in 2017 (out of a dorm room) and then took a few years away before coming back to the stage. As a coach, Lexie puts...

Today I speak with Sean Irwin, a Bodybuilding Contest Preparation Coach, Lifestyle Coach, and Personal Trainer. He is also an experienced Bodybuilding Athlete associated with some of the top competitors and brands in the sport. At an early age Sean developed his passion for competitive preparation through various individualized sports that demanded peak levels of physical performance. He is consta...

We are back for our 3rd coach series and I want to preface this week by saying every coach I am bringing on is a professional with their own achievements, education, and experience. Many of them you will recognize as well-known names.   If I could fit every amazing coach in the bikini competition world on the show, we would have a whole other podcast, but I am so excited about the coach's I will b...

Today I speak with IFBB Bikini Pro Stephanie Warden, who has been competing since 2018 and turned pro at NPC Universe in 2023, which was her 14th show. She made her Pro debut at the Hawaii Pro where she placed 4th. Outside of competing and fitness modeling, she is an eye doctor, a wife, and a coach, who will soon be launching a podcast with Lauren Kralovec and Kaylia Rhodes.     TOPICS COVERED -mo...

Today I speak with IFBB Bikini Pro Megan Van Vleet, a 39-year-old with a masters in Management & Leadership who has been competing since 2013. She is married to her high school sweetheart and currently live in Oregon. Before bodybuilding she did ballet, rode horses, and played & coached softball. She competed in 24 shows, including 13 pro qualifiers before turning pro in November 2023.   She start...

Today I speak with IFBB Bikini Pro Andrea Loces, a talent acquisition professional at a tech start-up, who has her bachelor of science degree in entrepreneurship from Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. Originally from Palm Springs, CA, she earned her pro card at Nationals 2023 on the 3 year anniversary of the first check-in with her coach! A lifelong athlete and former ballerina, Andrea...

Today I speak with IFBB Bikini Pro Lauren "Lolo" Kralovec, born and raised in Oregon and currently lives in Boise, Idaho. She started competing in 2017 and turned Pro in 2021 at the NPC Olympia Amateur. She has competed 19 and first hit the National stage in 2019. Lauren decided to take 2022 as a long improvement season, before returning to the Pro stage.   She is dedicated to bodybuilding but als...

Today I speak with IFBB Bikini Pro Theresa Mendoza-Cura, who recently turned pro recently at the 2023 Muscle Contest Masters USA after competing for 7 years. She has been competing since December 2016 and has been working to earn her pro card 2018. She has competed in over a dozen shows and has worked   to make the best out of the situation and used the time to really develop the physique she need...

Today I speak with NPC/IFBB Pro League Promoter & Professional Olympia Judge, Joe Pishkula. Joe has been on the podcast before and today he's back to tell us about the Women's NPC Seminar in January. I am so proud to be speaking this year on mental health and bodybuilding. We start with hearing Joe's start in bodybuilding and how his relationship with it evolved over time. Joe and I cover a multit...