The beginning:

Court’s Story

Rach and I met my senior year of college on the first day of RA (Resident Assistant) training. We had time to eat breakfast in the dining hall before everything started and I was scanning the room for somewhere to sit because I didn’t know a single person. Then I spotted Rach! She was cute and she was talking animatedly to the other people at the table. I asked if I could sit next to her. Her energy was infectious and, come to find out, she didn’t really know the other people at the table, but she had quickly made everyone feel comfortable (as Rach does). By the second day of training someone said, “Oh my god! You’re so lucky that you got placed in same building with your best friend.” They clearly didn’t think we had only met the day before! When you click, you click. As we say, “soulmates”.

Rach’s Story

Court and I went to Boston University together but didn’t meet until her senior year, my junior year, when the universe finally decided it was time for us to combine forces. Court came up and sat next to me in the dining hall at RA training. She was so confident and I thought she was a grad student because she seemed so much older, but that’s just Court.We clicked immediately and within hours (maybe even minutes) it was evident to everyone else that we were best friends – no matter how new our friendship was. We lived three floors apart that year and spent most of our (limited) free time in each others’ rooms or at Starbucks where the baristas knew our names and orders (I guess not much has changed on that front). For my last two years of college in Boston we were inseparable. She came to see me cheerlead, listened to me talk endlessly about my team, I posed for photos, cheered her on when she took “the best photo ever”, listened to her talk about photography and baseball, we studied together, we worked together, we went out together, etc, etc, etc.

Our journey to Sweat and Shine:

Court’s Story

My last year of college was pretty much perfect. Rach and I squeezed in as much time together as our crazy schedules allowed. There were nights where we snuggled into one of our twin size dorm beds and talked until we fell asleep. Once I graduated and moved out of the building it was more of an effort to see each other, but we made it happen without complaint!

Fast-forward- Rach graduated in 2012 and took a job in Colorado Springs, CO as a middle
school physics teacher with Teach for America. I was still in Boston working for my company. This became a really hard time in our friendship. I only say “hard” because it was really hard for us to be apart. I got into a toxic, emotionally abusive, secret relationship (that’s another story for another day) and Rach was struggling with the ups and downs of being a teacher in a low-income community. This time tested us as individuals and as friends. I couldn’t have survived that time without her.

Then it was my turn to move! Just when we thought we were going to be reunited, I got a promotion and took a job in Los Angeles as a field sales rep.  Shortly after I arrived in LA, Rach moved back to Boston. Our long distance relationship continued!

However, Boston wasn’t the same happy place that it used to be for Rach. She became very unhappy. On the flip side, I had never been happier.  As a best friend (and soulmate), it hurt my heart to see my other half so miserable. We talked a lot about how much fun it would be to live together again (this time in the same apartment, not just the same building). Then she came to a MAJOR crossroads- to stay in Boston or to not. I begged her to come to LA. I knew she would be so much happier here. After a few conversations with family and friends, she decided she was moving west!

Rach had already bought tickets to come to LA to be there for my first NPC Bikini competition.  She just didn’t use the return ticket… When she landed it was all about me- Food prep, hair, makeup, photoshoot, drive to San Diego, competition tan, hair, makeup, SHOW TIME. She had just broken up with her boyfriend of almost 5 years and moved her life 3,000 miles. Yet you would never know- she was the one taking care of me those first few days. She was waiting for me smiling and crying when I stepped off the stage with a 1^st place trophy in hand. Could anyone ask for a better friend?

Rach had been incredibly supportive of me through my prep. She thought it was awesome that I had chosen a difficult goal and was pursing it with passion. She has always understood my competitive side because she has it too- though our backgrounds are very different. I grew up playing club soccer and running track, Rach was a competitive dancer and a cheerleader.  I won my first competition and I was hooked.

In less than a month of being in LA, Rach found herself substituting teaching yoga at a gym in the South Bay. Substituting quickly evolved into 4 classes a week on the regular schedule (Rach also has a full time job). Her dance and cheerleader background make her a natural yogi, but she has only become so incredibly talented through intentional, consistent practice.  As her passion for yoga increased so did my passion for bodybuilding. We quickly found out how different our two passions were and yet, how similar they made us feel.

Rach’s Story

My last two years at BU were two of the best years of my life. In my senior year, I applied and was accepted into Teach For America’s 2012 Colorado Corps and before I knew it, I was packing all my possessions and saying goodbye to all my friends and family. Court dropped me at the airport. I will spare you the sob-story that was that goodbye.

Colorado was hard. My life was hard. Teaching middle school is hard. But, I loved my kids more than I can possibly explain here and my passion for science and physics education was developed and honed during these two years. What I also found in Colorado was a new version of me. I began to carefully consider years of my parents’ food advice and started to change old habits that were making me feel (and look) really bad. I became a pescatarian, I went gluten free, I stopped eating genetically modified foods, and I finally stopped abusing my body with my (sometimes unrealistic)  gymnastics goals and cheerleading. Three days a week, I coached my middle school cheerleading team, but physically, that didn’t give my body what it needed. I’ll save my full yoga journey for another post, but I stumbled into a Core Power Yoga down the street from my apartment, and my life was forever changed.

Courtney ran the Boston Marathon on April 22, 2013. Again, let’s save this story for another post… but needless to say that was the scariest day of mine (and so many other peoples’ including Court and her families’) life. Not only did the bombing stop her from being able to finish running, but she tore her meniscus and her running career as she knew it ended there. It was this trauma (emotional, physical, and mental) as well as a pretty horrible relationship experience that left Court feeling weak and powerless that led her to pick up some weights and take her power back.

Our long distance relationship was hard but not impossible. We never went longer than 2 months without seeing each other and didn’t go more than a few hours without texting. Court helped me get through the worse days of teaching, being an adult, and missing my long-distance boyfriend. I decided to move back to Boston after my two year commitment – partially to be with Court, partially to be in the city I thought I loved, partially to be closer to my family, but mostly…. mostly for a boy. Court’s job moved her to LA a month before I officially moved back, which was heart breaking, but also so good for her because she was so over living in Boston at that point and needed a fresh start and some sunshine. I went to visit her about two weeks after she moved and found myself falling absolutely head over heels with Los Angeles. When life in Boston proved to be the exact opposite of what I wanted and needed, when I was so heart broken that getting out of bed was a physical labor, when even the sun on my eyelids couldn’t make me smile I found myself thinking about uprooting my life again and heading west. Which, if you’ve followed our journey, you know I did in April of 2015.

The first three days I was in Los Angeles were consumed with meal prepping, and fasted cardio, and photo-shooting, and spray tans, and doing everything I could to help Court prepare for her first NPC Bikini competition. Being there to support her and see how hard she had been working was such an incredible experience. And being there to see her WIN was even better! I knew in my heart that it was the beginning of something incredible for her! And I was not wrong. In fact, it was the beginning of something incredible for me, too. After a week in LA, I was asked to start subbing yoga classes at my gym. And within a month of subbing, I had been officially added to the schedule at the gym. Combining my passion for yoga and teaching is the most incredible thing I’ve ever been able to do in my life.

Becoming Sweat and Shine:

Our Story

When we were in Carlsbad, CA right after Rach’s move and Court’s show, Court bought Rach a little shadow box that had the words “Choose Happy” painted on it. This became our mantra. We had both overcome so much in our lives and especially in the time we’d known each other and yet we continued to be bright, shiny, and happy. We both believe happiness is a choice. Not a journey, not something you find, not something you work towards, but something you posses and get to decide to be every moment of your life. As two people who’ve always loved movement, athletics, and health, it was only natural that the idea of happiness for us be so tied up in our fitness routine, food choices, and positive self-talk.

The conversations in our apartment became centered around poses and flows, macros and supplements, self-improvement and self-love. We each helped each other learn more about health, fitness, our bodies, and loving ourselves.We began to realize the interesting combination we made, a so likely, yet unlikely pair. Through social media, friends and family we began to realized we had a lot we wanted to share with a larger audience. People were always so excited about our friendship, and our collaborations, as well as our personal successes. Collaborating was something we’d been talking about for about two years, but it was finally combining our worlds that pushed us to take our dreams and ideas more seriously. We decided we wanted to talk about the power that SWEAT has to one’s SHINE. The power of HARD WORK to one’s SUCCESS. To sweat, to us, means to put in effort, work, and power towards a goal, while to shine means to be happy, successful, confident, and healthy! We are passionate about sharing how fitness and health has changed us and allowed us to experience a happiness and self-love beyond anything we’ve ever experienced before.

We want to share our dreams, ideas, feelings, struggles, failures, and successes with you. We don’t claim to know it all or even to be experts, but we can share what we have learned, what we do know, and our own journeys with you! This isn’t a place for all of the answers, this is just two soulmates, a yogi and a bodybuilder, hoping to help you be healthier and happier (strong emphasis on the happier).

We are Sweat & Shine!