Maria's Bio

I was born in Chicago, Illinois. Growing up I wasn't always fit and my dad's Italian cooking I was an overweight child.

I started swimming at the age of 3 and at 7yrs old my whole life revolved year- around competitive swimming and went to Nationals for Breaststroke. As swimming came to and end after 16 years, I needed to find another competitive sport.

I took 2 years off and really put on the weight and was tired of being overweight and feeling bad about myself. I took-up running and aerobics and received my degrees in Exercise Physiology and Sports Nutrition.

I ran the Chicago Marathons, Coors Lite Biathlon and 10K runs. I really enjoyed it and it became part of my life.

As step aerobics and aerobics classes became very popular in the 1980's I became a Certified Step Aerobics and Aerobics instructor for 10 years at Bally's Chicago Health Clubs. As that was my part-time time, my full-time job was working full-time at a Pharmaceutical Company as a Marketing Coordinator in Arlington Heights, IL and started a Fitness Program for the company.

I got married and moved out of state and came to Atlanta in 1994. I worked as a Systems Engineer and travelled for years. Fitness was still part of my life. I then was remarried in 1999 and when I was pregnant with Mia travelling became very difficult and I then decided to go back into the Fitness Industry as a Personal Trainer. Renewed my WITS, ISSA, and ACE certifications. Loved working and helping people with their nutrition programs and helping them achieve their goals.

As soon as my youngest son went to school I went back to work full-time personal training and have it enjoyed it ever since. I was also PTA President at Boston Elementary and started a successful Fitness Challenge program. I then became The Townelakers Pathfinder of the month for this successful program. The Challenge started the beginning of the school year of Aug 2007 and ended May 2007 to ensure a change of life program. Two teachers won for the most weight loss and biggest percentage of body-fat loss and are still today losing weight today. As of the end of 2007 I now own my own Personal Training/Nutrition business and love working and helping everyone who comes in for the next challenge.

• Over 25 years Experienced and certified Step/Aerobics Instructor
• Over 20 years of fitness/strength training experience
• CPR/First Aid Certified
• WITS, ISSA, ACE, Certified
• Certified ISSA Sports Nutritionist