Speaker
Debra has been speaking on fitness and life-enhancing topics for more than 30 years. She’s a member of the National Speakers Association and has spoken to hundreds of audiences of all types and sizes including church groups, women’s groups, bankers, professional fitness associations, sheriffs associations (hold the fire!), insurance groups, Health Care Associations, and Golf Pros. Personal responsibility for physical activity and nutrition is the common theme in her message, whether that message is for greater productivity at work, decreasing stress levels or improving life satisfaction. She’s a Barely Boomer and speaks frequently on Active Aging.
Coach
Debra is a Certified CoachU Graduate. She coaches clients in the areas of wellness, personal relationships, academic choices, career moves, and growing their personal training business; ultimately creating the changes they want to create the life that they want. As a coach, she’s not one to step over many things. She hears what you don’t say. You could find it irritating if you prefer to stay stuck. If you’re ready to move and get where you’re going, you’ll get along famously. In 2013 she was Live Healthy Iowa’s Dream Team coach. She is America’s Boomer Babe Fitness Expert .
Biz Entrepreneur
Debra’s first lemonade stand included an assortment of broken, discarded toys pulled from the dark confines of her closet. Her mother set her up with a muffin tin and coins to make change for customers. While business was slow she dropped the quarter she was fiddling with into the grass and lost it forever. She proceeded to the Bank-of-Mom to ask for a replacement. Mom informed her that that’s not how it works and she realized this being in business stuff was hard! Since closing the stand, she’s run a profitable in-home personal training business, led a team of over 20 trainers at three facilities to their best seven years ever in the worst economy ever by applying marketing and sales training techniques that work, and knowing that never was there a time that people needed the positive attitude and environment fitness provides more.
Energy Manager
Getting what you want requires energy management. Debra knows a little about that. She is a five-time Ironman starter and a four-time Ironman finisher. She completed an Ironman (with a smile) in the same year her first book was published and she traveled to and attended all of her son’s golf matches during the summer and fall as he went through the college recruiting process, led a team of trainers to the best year of personal training and two record breaking months; in addition to being a single mom and tending to all the daily details we have in running a household. Knowing when to embrace chaos and when to work and when not to work, both with intention, is her key.
Credentials
Debra earned both her B.S. and M.S. in Exercise Science and Exercise & Sports Psychology, respectively, from Iowa State University where she later served as a Senior Lecturer for 14 years. She taught core courses for Kinesiology majors that prepared students for leadership roles in fitness and continued to supervise internships for Kinesiology majors after she left the classroom.
She is certified by the American Council on Exercise, the National Strength and Conditioning Association, and has been an international presenter at events including: IDEA Personal Training Institute, Congress, World, and Fact Fest (‘02, ‘03, ‘04, ‘07, ‘12, ’14), Can-Fit-Pro (‘05, ‘06) and National Strength and Conditioning Association’s Personal Training Congress (’08, ‘09) and National Conference (’15). She’s presented for the International Council On Active Aging (’13, ’14, and ’15). Debra is an ACE Faculty CEC provider specializing in customer service, marketing and sales for advancing the business of personal training. She was honored as selection committee member for Personal Trainer of the Year award for IDEA, and a Subject Matter Expert and item writer for ACE’s Advanced Health Fitness Specialist exam. When she is not presenting, she makes a point of attending to listen to her peer colleagues and is a life long student.
Contributions
Debra co-authored and was featured in the Dvd How to Grow Your Personal Training Business Today (Championship Books and Videos) and authored the text book companion Live Right: How to Cope with Stress in College and Beyond (Benjamin-Cummings). Her book is Dollars and Sense of Selling Exercise: Promoting Personal Training with Integrity was published by Healthy Learning (2011) and she created two additional dvds in 2013. She has authored hundreds of articles locally, online and nationally for the fitness industry. She was invited to serve on the NSCA Personal Training conference planning committee in 2013 and published Navigating Fitness After 50: Your GPS for Choosing Programs and Professionals You Can Trust . She created and published Prevent Back Pain with Five Steps hosted on Udemy. An expert Author on Ezine, you can follow her here . She is excited about You Still Got It, Girl! The After 50 Fitness Formula For Women , where women can learn to Eat More, Exercise Less, Heal Hormones and Boost Energy Naturally for Whole -You Wellness. Watch for it Nov 2015 and check out the blog by the same title and the online course , membership, and video series . It’s a suite of services so you can find just the level of participation you want.
(and see how she can get you press, too)
