MEET ALLI - WHERE I’M FROM, WHAT I’VE DONE

Hi guys!

Second blog post, here we gooooooooo!

So I figure I should probably tell you about myself, other than what you’ve already read in my ABOUT section. Let’s begin, shall we?

I was born and raised in Winnipeg, MB. My parents, Jim and Elaine, are wonderful humans. I am an only child to them, but my dad was previously married and had two children from that past life. I have a half sister, Pam, who is much older than me and lives in Vancouver. I had a brother, Garrett, who left our life way too soon, passing away in 2004. I will share this story another time.

I went to an all girls private school from Grade 3 through to Grade 12 and honestly, LOVED IT! I know many people have different feelings when it comes to education and types of schools, but I have so many incredible memories of my school (shout out to Balmoral Hall in WPG - love you!), the friendships I made and just so much gratitude to my parents for making that investment in my education. I was extremely involved in many activities, volunteering, sports, musical theatre and student council during my years there.

Want to know a super fun fact? I took Japanese for a few years there AND won the Japanese Award in Grade 6, no big deal. I love tossing out a good line or two (let’s be honest, that’s all I remember!) at dinner parties. It can always guarantee a good laugh LOL.

I could probably go on and on about my high school life, memories and how much I loved it but I know I have more details to get to!

For as long as I remember in my younger years I wanted to be an actress. It was a massive dream and who knows, maybe that opportunity could still be on the table!

I had my heart set on the Acting program at Ryerson University but ended up rethinking my plans and applied to Ryerson’s Radio and Television Arts and Fashion Communications, and to my delight I was accepted to BOTH! Such a WIN!

So at the end of August 2004 I moved from Winnipeg to downtown Toronto to get set up in my Uni Rez and hit the ground running with the 4-year Fashion Communications program! It.Was.Amazing. I learned so many different things during my program and was exposed to so many incredible opportunities that I always took advantage of. I was kind of the “yes” girl, never wanting to let an internship or volunteer opportunity go to waste which I think was a great thing, as it allowed me to figure out my interests during school rather than after I graduated. It allowed me to make countless connections and really fill up my resume- all great things for when it came time to apply to jobs. *great advice for any Uni students reading this, just sayin’*

I landed my first job out of University pretty quickly and it was AMAZE! I worked for MTV Canada as the Wardrobe Stylist for almost 3 years, loving every single minute of it.

Let me just say that I fell in love with the Hills during third and fourth year of Uni and then got to be working alongside Dan + Jessi for the Hills Aftershow. It was a DREAM! Lauren Conrad is just the loveliest in real life, Tom Cruise is most definitely short and Jake Gyllenhal is an absolute babe. I figured it was only fair for me to share a few of those deets with you.

I left MTV Canada in my mid 20s and went into Public Relations at a boutique firm in downtown Toronto. It was an interesting shift to go from being media to pitching media - fun little change!

After about 2 years at that firm I was in the right place at the right time (on a date at my first Toronto Maple Leafs game!) to meet the President and CEO of the luxury automotive group I soon went to work for. I worked for this company for nearly 7 years, starting at a coordinator level and growing in to a management level by my final years. I was so fortunate to travel to some incredible places and experience some pretty magical things in my time there. The best part of my time at the company? Meeting Matt! But that’s a whole other story for another blog post :)

I left my corporate job in January 2019 (it was a rather emotional departure for me to be honest, I really loved my job) to make the big leap into fitness full time- eek! It was something I had talked about for quite a while. I had full support from Matt and, well, there’s no time like the present - right?! One of my bffs has a tattoo that says “jump and thy net shall appear” and it’s amazing how many times I think about that tattoo all these years later.

It was a big, scary change but OH so exciting! I worked at a small personal training gym in downtown Oakville, ON for a few months as well as coaching group fitness at F45 Training. I loved the dynamic of having one-on-one personal training clients as well as the energy of a studio full of people.

My career path story really exploded with the purchase of our gym, BENCHMARK BURLINGTON, last June - a BIG LEAP! Matt and I bought the gym we were members of for 5 years, located in Downtown Burlington. It’s already been a year and what a ride it has been! This was something on our 5 year plan list of goals and holy smokes did the opportunity present itself earlier than we imagined. But you know what? Jump and thy net shall appear!

Though I’m new to this whole business ownership thing and I understand that it certainly has its ups and downs, it has been so fun, rewarding and fulfilling to be doing this alongside my ride or die.

BENCHMARK is a new baby for us and boy oh boy do we have a vision of greatness for her!

I’ll use this opportunity to just say that what you study in school doesn’t necessarily have to define you or your career path.

I will always love and value my 4 years at Ryerson’s School of Fashion and I have taken different skills that I learned there and applied them to my various careers in different ways. Love that!

That’s the beautiful thing about life- you are in the driver’s seat of how you want to grow, continue to learn and challenge yourself.

Life is short, do the things that make you happy and never stop chasing your dreams!