member of the month

Where are you from? Born and raised in the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia.  Did a 7 year stint in North Carolina but am home now!

What do you do for work?  I'm a math and PE teacher at St. James School in North Philadelphia/East Falls

As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? I wanted to be a crossing guard. ??

What is your favorite local(ish) restaurant? Byrne's Tavern in Port Richmond (best wings in the city, also great potato logs).  I can also be found at O'Jungs on Two Street regularly.

How did you end up at CrossFit 2 Street? I had lived on 2nd street for over three years and was always too intimidated to come in.  I had an online fitness coach, and it was going well - but I started to plateau and wanted to shake things up.  My free trial class was with Bob and he told me if I stuck with it 4-5 days a week I'd look like Spiderman.  I have a huge crush on Tom Holland and Andrew Garfield (both played Spiderman) so I was sold.

Advice for new CrossFit / BootCamp athletes…. Just keep showing up (it's more than what most people do).  Find the fun in movement and lean into the community. Scaling is your friend!

What is your baseball walk-up song? "Look What You Made Me Do" by Taylor Swift   or  "I'm Gonna Getcha Good" by Shania Twain

What is your most frequently used emoji?

😂😂😂??😂😂😂

Who would play you in a movie about your life?  Jonathan Bailey.  Jennifer Coolidge would have to be a supporting actress.  

What is your favorite 2St. memory? Too many to pick just one!  The first time I went to the Open (shoutout to the other Dave R!) and trivia night definitely stick out to me.  Also when Maura taught me how to climb the rope - I got to the top I realized I didn't know how to get down. 

A little about me... I moved here from Pittsburgh in 1996 after losing the love of my life. 

I became Director of the Female Offender Program initially with the Court of Common Pleas. 

I lived originally in Old City, becoming the first of three Spinning Instructors in Philadelphia at that time. I taught and continue to teach Spinning (since 1996) originally  Old City Iron Works and later at Sweat Fitness where I continue to teach.  I am a certified Personal Trainer and teach Kickboxing and HIIT as well for the past seven years. 

By day, I am the Senior Director of Clinical Consultation, a passion really not a job but my work focuses on child abuse and neglect, conducting home visits, testifying as an expert witness in Family Court and in Criminal MH Court. 

I am a licensed social worker, and it took 11 years of night school to get my bachelor's degree. My mother had cancer at that time and so i was one class at a time. She passed away in 1981 at the age of 52; but I persevered and continued my studies, moving into the MSW program and completing that at night full time while working full time in Community Mental Health in Pittsburgh.  

Personally, I am a twin, and a complete surprise.  They only heard one heart beat so when my sister Mary was born, I was hidden behind her, and 7 minutes later I came into the world.  I have two other sisters and a brother, all living to this day in Pittsburgh.

I have a beautiful niece, the only child in our family now 38 years old born to my twin and she has two beautiful children who are my hearts  - Grace and Desmond.

My mini cooper is full of exercise equipment and often engage in a workout when I visit children and youth in foster homes. It doesn't take much for me to wrap battle ropes around a telephone pole, pull out my boxing mitts and gloves, and a couple of kettlebells to create a workout with the youth who never have those opportunities. 

What people don't know is that I was a chef at an Italian restaurant and worked with intellectually disabled children and adults while in undergraduate school.  Right after high school I was a senior stenographer for Gulf Oil Corporation and still can type 110 words a minute to this day. 

A little snapshot into my life.