It’s my daily reminder to let myself
burn to ashes and rise anew.
~Glennon Doyle
Hi, I’m Coach Carrie.
It has been a great honor to have experienced an extensive, 35+ year background in dance and fitness (training, teaching, choreography, group fitness, personal training). Movement has been my most sacred passion since I can remember. I’ve studied ballet, tap, jazz and contemporary dance from a young age at Accent on Dance Studios in Wisconsin, Oklahoma City University as a dance major, and graduated summa cum laude from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a Bachelors degree in dance.
Since graduating, I became certified as a personal trainer through International Sports Science Association and a group fitness instructor through Athletics and Fitness Association of America. I also had the pleasure of training dancers of all ages and levels at several studios from Milwaukee to Chicago areas.
In 2004 I realized my childhood dream and opened a performing arts school in the Chicagoland area. Through the next 17 years I grew as an entrepreneur and continued teaching, choreographing and eventually coaching the dancers.
When I was in my mid-30s, I learned I had another passion, wellness! I realized how much I needed to balance my own health as a maturing wife, dance instructor, entrepreneur and as of 2013, I gratefully took on a new role as “mother.” I signed up with my first health coach, around that time,, who helped me learn about wellness and build healthier habits into my life. What a game changer this was for not only me, but my dancers too!
The dancers I was working with at that time, needed wellness education, too. Not only did they need to know how to prevent injury, fuel their bodies, have a healthy mindset and deal with stress, but also, longevity. How could I help sustain their sacred dance journeys as long as possible?
I became certified in Holistic Wellness Coaching through the Institute of Integrative Nutrition in 2012. From there I was able to start to level-up my life as well as helping my dancers do the same.
In my early 40s I developed painful arthritis in my feet and realized I couldn’t move my body the way I was once able to. I had to stop dancing in order to have surgery and recover. This was devastating for me. In re-imagining how my career/life would look going forward, I decided to retire from teaching dance and closed the school in 2020.
Within the two years following closing the school, I took time to heal my arthritis, focus on my own health, develop my gardening and bird-watching hobbies, spend time with my family, and figure out how to “move forward”. How does our passion to “keep moving” look as we age into mid-life and beyond? This is something I am constantly exploring and finding there are so many safe ways to enjoy moving our bodies at every stage. And even though there is some grief we go through as we age, it’s possible to continue thriving.
I intuitively felt a strong calling to build my wellness coaching practice in hopes of helping other women thrive as long as possible. I am currently working on updating my credentials through Precision Nutrition’s Master Coach Level 2 program.