ICF accredited Certified Coach; Neuro Leadership Institute

Fitness Trainer - Impact British Training Solutions

Group Class instructor: Body Combat - Impact British Training Solutions

TRX instructor - MeFitpro 

Kettlebell Instructor - Mefitpro 

Kettlebell 101 - Flux Training

Kettlebell Russian Style Intensive - World Kettlebell Federation 

Spinning®️ Instructor - Spinning®️ International 

Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certification - Precision Nutrition

Bachelors in Commerce Degree - University of Pretoria

WBFF Pro Athlete

Hi my friend! My name means hope. And hope is the ever-present constant throughout my life story.

Hang on for a few minutes of reading, because you’re going to get to know me better than most of my friends. (;

A life story that would solidly hit rock bottom at age 36, after divorce and giving up a very successful career in fitness and media and then being reconstructed by self acceptance, self love and ultimately Self realization (realizing I’m not this mind or this body, but the immortal, blissful Soul with-in). 

GROWING UP

I grew up in a small South African bushveld town called Phalaborwa and even through tumultuous years of living on the breadline and ever fearing the next outburst of domestic violence, I always had this knowing that there is grace in every experience that we go and grow through.

I want to highlight my mom for a quick sec, as she is the one who endured most of the hardship with raising 3 children and a mentally and physically disabled husband (my dad) on a meager salary of $200 a month. Her faith in God, our Creator was an absolute in our upbringing and I’m so grateful for all her prayers and spiritual guidance throughout the years.

Shame, embarrassment and not feeling good enough was the foundation of how I viewed the world and like a misguided alchemist, I used those emotions to fuel my ambition to prove myself to everyone who ever doubted me.

Layer by layer I started to construct masks of masculinity and sensuality and I saw every person and experience as a possible someone or something to save me from my circumstances that could hopefully lead to a life that “looks” like success.

It was the classic story of having codependent relationships, always making sure that I don’t hurt anyone’s feelings by saying or doing what I truly want or need… and never, ever feeling worthy or good enough.

RELATIONSHIPS

I met my ex husband while studying at university - I received an academic scholarship and still in awed gratitude towards my mom to help facilitate this - as a friendly acquaintance at first and after almost a decade of friendship, we got married in 2007.

He was the first person that was a true safe haven and stable male figure in my life and I genuinely looked at him as the savior from all the uncertainty of the past and future. (See the red flag there?)

I had so many doubts when he asked me to marry him, but I rarely voiced it and if I did, I would feel ashamed and guilty for hurting such a good man, so I thought he knew better anyway, we’re great friends, I can do this. 

MOVING TO DUBAI

Okay, backtrack to 2004 when I moved to Dubai to pursue a career as a flight attendant with Emirates Airlines. I was 23 years old with the world literally at my feet, feeding my cultural curiosity traveling to different continents every week and also enjoying the comforts and recreation that all kinds of freedom at such a young age brings. 

I indulged in almost every worldly pleasure, food, partying, sex, anything that could make me feel validated and seen...oh, did I say I indulged in food? ;)

I gained almost 20kg in the first two years in Dubai and slowly started withdrawing and feeling gross and depressed. I was like a little sail boat at sea without a steering wheel, I felt purposeless, which dulled the flame in my heart. Was this how I wanted to live the rest of my life?

THE BEGINNING OF MY CAREER IN LIFE COACHING AND FITNESS.

In 2006 I came across Nick Vujicic, the man who was born without limbs, who was traveling the world spreading hope and love wherever he went. Witnessing Nick’s inspiring life was the catapult that introduced me to the next phase of my life.

I learned about self development and goal setting after an extensive and continuous search for knowledge about how to change the course of one’s life. I lost all the excess weight and created a lean physique within 3 months of disciplined eating and training and I knew that if I, a self professed couch potato, could undergo a transformation, anyone can do it! And from this belief came the desire to help other women reach their goals.

While I was still traveling the world, I continued my studies in the fields of fitness and nutrition and also pursued a life coaching accreditation.

In 2010 I transitioned from the airlines to starting my own coaching business in which I combined fitness, nutrition and life coaching and pioneered the first holistic transformational coaching program for women in the UAE, GloryGirl Fitness - hence my Instagram moniker; @glorygirlfit.

COVER GIRL AND MEDIA STAR

I started competing in international fitness pageants, pursuing a dream of becoming famous and making it big in the fitness world ;) (Remember the ambition that I spoke about earlier? I wanted to prove that I can make it anywhere). 

My fitness adventures took me to Las Vegas, Miami, Boston, Capetown, Johannesburg, Denmark and Toronto, Canada and yes, all the hard work paid off. 

I became the first professional bikini athlete in the Middle East and filled the covers of 7 international magazines, including Women’s Health Middle East.

Social Media took off in the Middle East and I was awarded as 2016’s favorite female personalities in the UAE (United Arab Emirates), Stylist magazine’s social media star and recognized as one of the top 100 most influential people in the UAE for four years in a row according to Ahlan Magazine’s, Ahlan Hot 100. 

I was invited to travel to exotic destinations on media and social media trips on a monthly basis and I literally had to pinch myself about everything I’ve managed to accomplish… despite me running away and trying to escape the reality within myself.

I faced an internal crisis, amidst all the external accomplishments and worldly success. All the validation in the world couldn’t fix the suffering within myself.

DESTRUCTION OF LIFE AS I KNEW IT

I felt trapped, I wasn’t living the life that I knew I wanted to live. I was living a wannabe, worldly copy of my true nature.

I tried to be and fit into being the version that I thought I had to be for others, even my then-husband, to accept me. I tried to appear perfect to win approval and validation from others. It took a mental and emotional toll on me.

I never resolved the shame, guilt, and feelings of unworthiness from traumatic childhood experiences and rarely spoke my true-Truth and I was caught up in a story of searching for things and experiences that made me feel good, seen and loved.

I thought I loved myself, but my manic depressive behavior, frequent secret binge eating and constant avoidance of life proved otherwise. 

Which caused more shame and hiding, of course.

I found myself in an incredible cycle of suffering and I couldn’t speak to anyone about it.

I worked with a therapist and uncovered that my biggest fear was; that other people will find out that I’m not good enough. That was an incredible breakthrough.

I tried, and hustled and worked to build those masks of physical perfection, building a successful brand and being everything for everyone.

I started doing things that were completely out of character and after almost 10 years of faithful marriage life, I stumbled and looked for “love” - yet again not within myself - but somewhere else. (This is incredibly hard to share with you.)

And the reactions to my actions brought even more pain for me and my loved ones.

AND THIS IS WHERE I HIT ROCK BOTTOM

I felt selfish, shameful and numb and knew that if I didn’t completely quit the way that I’ve been living, I’d always feel trapped in the world and circumstances that I’ve created.

I wanted to be alone and heal. Figure out who I really am and what I really want for the rest of my life.

I didn’t want to look at anyone else to “save” me anymore, I wanted to take 100% ownership of who I am and how I create my life and not let others do that for me, because they might know better… It was heart-wrecking hard, but I did it.

I left the marriage and broke contact with almost everything and everyone that my old identity was attached to, except a handful of close friends.

I stopped coaching clients and stopped doing speaking and media work.

I isolated myself for two months and went on a quest for self-discovery. The two months turned into almost 2 years.

NOW

I’m 41 years strong and I can truly say that I'm in the most joyful, loving and content place that I’ve ever been!

One of the biggest lessons that I’ve learned is that we absolutely HAVE to do the work. The inner work.

I couldn’t love anyone or let anyone love me unless I learned how to graciously accept and love myself first, with a little humor on the side of course ;).

The inner work that I’ve done for those first two years post-rock-bottom breakdown was so painful and yet profound, it was a solo journey (with a handful of loving and true friends) filled with uncertainty and financial ruin, but I’d absolutely do it again.

What have I done differently the last few years to bring me to a place of continuous contentment, love and joy?

I’ve cultivated a disciplined spiritual practice and I’m continuing to learn who our Creator is without the confines and structures of the human mind and (man made) religious dogma. This is what truly liberated my mind and body.

I created a sacred time every day where I practice quieting down and going within, practicing breath work and meditation, a time to connect to my true Self and recentre before the adventure of the day begins.

Of course, there are always challenges, but with the self-nurturing love, tools and practices that I’ve cultivated since 2017, the anchor of peace in my being is unshakable…

So… now that you know me a little more, I can’t wait to get to know you better.