Emily's clients look to her to help, motivate, and support them toward their goals in fitness, health, and overall wellness. She understands their feelings — about themselves, about exercise, about the need to overcome obstacles in order to lead a healthy life.

Ten years ago, Emily was seriously overweight and unhappy with her body. An emotional, unhealthy eater, she had been troubled since her earliest years by severe digestion issues and undiagnosed food allergies. She was at a very low point in her life, and she'd been on her way there since her early teen years.

In 2001, the year after she graduated from Kansas State University, Emily had begun working as a graphic designer for a small Internet firm in her native New England. Having gained more than a hundred pounds since high school graduation, she knew she should take advantage of the free gym membership that was one of her employee benefits. The idea intimidated her, but finally, after putting off the decision for three months, she gathered her courage, overcame her indecision, gave in to her mother's nagging, and walked through the gym door.

Emily's reaction was a complete surprise: she loved working out! She began hitting the gym three or four times a week — sometimes more — and joined a morning exercise group led by a trainer who made the process fun and older classmates who made her feel comfortable. Over the course of a year, she lost weight, got healthier, bought smaller clothes, revamped her eating habits, felt less depressed, and generally got more enjoyment from life. As her self-confidence grew, she began dating and met the man she would soon marry.

When work cutbacks left her with a part-time position, Emily worked as a fitness floor person in exchange for free gym membership, and she was able to continue her fitness regimen. In October 2003, when she and Bill married, Emily weighed one hundred seventy-six pounds, her lowest weight in many years.

In 2004, a new job took Emily too far from the gym to continue her membership. Without her exercise regimen, and with her husband now doing most of their food preparation, she began a roller-coaster ride of weight gains and losses. In spring of 2005, she and her husband moved to northeast Ohio. At that point, her weight had risen to over two hundred pounds, and after the move she gained another twenty.

Realizing that gym membership was critical to her weight-loss efforts, Emily joined a local fitness facility, working out with a personal trainer when she could afford it. A series of weight-loss programs — diets, eating plans, exercise regimens — brought her down to about one hundred seventy pounds, but her weight continued to fluctuate.

In spring of 2009, more interested than ever in fitness, training, and the satisfaction of helping others, Emily entered a lengthy program to become a certified personal trainer and began seeking a way to finish her weight loss journey once and for all.

But in November 2009, the physical stress of gym employment had led to a severe shoulder injury, and ignoring the pain and hoping it would go away didn't work. By the time she sought help from her doctor, in February 2010, Emily was a candidate for a full frozen shoulder and was told she could need six months to a year of rehab work, maybe even surgery. Her insurance covered just six weeks of rehab, which restored about sixty percent of the shoulder's function, so her fitness routines were now strictly curtailed: limited cardio and leg exercise, but no upper body work.

Not long after the shoulder injury, one of Emily's colleagues had told her about Niki DelGrosso, the trainer she was working with as a figure competitor. The colleague felt that, with Niki's education and record of success with all kinds of clients, Emily could benefit from her help. Emily decided it was time to see whether she was right.

After a long chat about diet, nutrition, and training, Emily was convinced that Niki was the one who could help her. She began a trial membership at Titans Gym, training with both Niki and gym owner Geoff DelGrosso, attending Niki's nutrition classes, and following Niki's spreadsheet nutrition regimen. By the time the trial membership expired, Emily knew she had found her fitness home. In three months since beginning the program, she has lost twenty pounds and has surpassed one of her many fitness goals. Her aim was to do a body-weight pull-up: in mid-August, she did three.

While Emily's weight-loss journey continues, her shoulder is fully usable (although occasional pain and discomfort linger), and her self-image is completely healed. She is content in her own body and secure in her strength and mental toughness. Her husband is delighted that, after watching his wife endure years of gluten intolerance with its sickliness and digestion troubles — along with emergency gall-bladder removal surgery in October 2006 — she feels well and is happy with her physical condition. Emily's mother is very proud of her, and happy that her daughter is finally content in her own skin. And Emily herself looks forward to helping her clients on their personal journeys to fitness and health.