Tag Archive for: speaking

MHSAA Women in Sports Leadership Conference: Making Change

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I felt honored to speak to a group of strong young women last week at the MHSAA Women in Sports Leadership Conference. I loved seeing these ladies interested in mental health and asking thoughtful, important questions.

And it struck me, looking out into the audience, that these high schoolers are the future of sports. These are aspiring coaches and athletic directors.

They will impact lives.

I saw great potential, but also heartbreak. A few tears were shed in the audience as I shared my eating disorder experiences. Having spoken about my own story for years now, I’d forgotten the impact it first had on me, and how new it is for these students to hear. I’d forgotten how scary it was when I first admitted that something was wrong, because now it is so easy to talk about, and I am so far into recovery.

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Book Tour: The Final Day (Walden Pond, Boston University)

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I took on my first book tour 11/29 through 12/7, landing in Boston, driving to Vermont to speak at Saint Michael’s College, driving back to Boston to speak at BU, driving to Rhode Island to speak at URI (Kingston), and back to Boston for one last talk at BU. You can read the first entry here, the second here, the third here, and the Rhode Island trip here. The following details my final day on Wednesday 12/6:

For my last day in Boston, I visited Walden Pond.

I had learned about Henry David Thoreau in school of course, so I knew about his two-year stay at Walden Pond and what an important role that played in literature and environmentalism.

I didn’t know that standing before Walden Pond would bring me to tears.

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Book Tour: Day Trip to Rhode Island

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I took on my first book tour 11/29 through 12/7, landing in Boston, driving to Vermont to speak at Saint Michael’s College, driving back to Boston to speak at BU, driving to Rhode Island to speak at URI (Kingston), and back to Boston for one last talk at BU. You can find the first entry here, the second entry here, and the third entry here. The following details my journey Tuesday 12/5:

My third talk was at the University of Rhode Island, Kingston. When scheduling this, I made sure to connect with Jill Puleo of the YouTube channel A Case of the Jills, because when we found each other on social media a few months prior (and messaged briefly), she mentioned that she was living in Rhode Island.

If you have not looked into Jill’s YouTube channel yet, then you should. She discusses a side of exercise/training I had never looked too deeply into: amenorrhea (cessation of the menstrual cycle). And her discussion of amenorrhea is not limited to women, either. Even through our talk together that day for lunch, I learned so much about what men experience with overtraining (not necessarily amenorrhea of course, but certainly clear signs of a body deteriorating from the stress of overtraining).

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Book Tour: The Adventures Continue With a Talk at BU

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I took on my first book tour 11/29 through 12/7, landing in Boston, driving to Vermont to speak at Saint Michael’s College, driving back to Boston to speak at BU, driving to Rhode Island to speak at URI (Kingston), and back to Boston for one last talk at BU. You can find the first entry here, and the second entry here. The following details on Monday 12/4:

Paula Quatromoni, for those of you who don’t know, is one of the nation’s top experts on the intersection of nutrition, eating disorders and athletes. We met each other back at the Eating Disorders in Sport Conference in August, where she bought my book. She thought it would be a great idea for me to come to speak in Boston, and when Emily from Saint Michael’s put together everything to have me speak at her college, I saw that Boston wasn’t too far away . . .

So here we were, Monday night December 4, working together!

About 15 minutes before the start of the presentation, Nancy Clark arrived (internationally respected sports nutritionist, weight coach, nutrition author, and registered dietitian who specializes in nutrition for performance, health, and the nutritional management of eating disorders). I have been a fan of Nancy ever since I read her book Sports Nutrition Guidebook back in my freshman year of college (I even mention it in Running in Silence). And here she was, with HER copy of Running in Silence, asking me to sign it.

The presentation itself went well–in fact, I feel like everything I’ve been working on these past five years is coming together. I emphasize all sides of eating disorders–including binge eating, of course–and share the intensity of it (not just physically, but EMOTIONALLY and SOCIALLY), as well as ways in which we as a society (or coaches, parents, and peers) can improve on how we identify eating disorders going forward.

After presentations, I always enjoy meeting with everyone who attended. For this talk, it was students from Boston University, dietitians, athletes (including the whole soccer team who rearranged their practice time to attend the talk), a cross country coach, and others who have struggled with disordered eating. A few of us carried on the conversation at a restaurant across the street.

The people I’ve met and the connections I’ve made were some of the greatest parts of this trip. With that said, I must give a huge shout-out to Paula for being the one behind all of this. I’m thankful for her enthusiasm and belief in what I do, and for all SHE does in the realm of eating disorders in sports. She is the one who continues to push forward with these important issues and is rooting for me (and the book!) all the way. She is likely my biggest promotor for Running in Silence, and has helped me to gain more confidence as I navigate this speaking journey.