- Meet our July Mom of the Month: Meghan!
- If you've been to Monday night Body Boost, you already know her. She shows up every week, keeps us laughing, and just a great part of our community. You'll also catch her on the virtual screen and at the occasional weekend class. We are so glad you're in our village, Meghan.
- Tell us about your family!
- My husband Ryan and I have an 8 year old Victoria, a spunky lover of bugs and Math. We have lived in Berwyn for 9 years and have been married for 13 years.
- Current/previous career?
- I wear a few hats. I’m the Director of Reproductive Health at PCC, which has 12 community health clinics around the west side of Chicago and near west suburbs. I am a registered nurse and lactation Consultant, and my team focuses on pregnancy and postpartum care in underserved populations. I am also a professor at UIC college of nursing, teaching the brand new nurses how to care for patients.
- What does motherhood mean to you?
- Motherhood means bringing the next generation up with love and care. Because of my work, one of the great honors of my life is helping others become the moms they want to be with support and compassion.
- Favorite local spot?
- It’s riverside, but Quincy Street Distillery is delicious and on Saturdays has the silliest bartenders who make the space so fun and lively.
- How did you find Fit4Mom?
- My best friend from nursing school, Zoë, dragged me along to a strides 360 class with the dream than my kid would corral her twins. I found out about other classes from there and signed on up!
- What's the best part of Fit4Mom?
- It’s a non judgmental space. No one bats an eye if I struggle or sweat, they cheer you on and help you get better. I feel like I’m finally taking control of my fitness and the focus is function and building myself up, not a scale or appearance. Also, I love making friends in classes with likeminded folks.
- Favorite class/exercise?
- Anything that happens in body boost with Melissa. I love that it’s a class with the same people you get to know and it routinely kicks my butt. I’m writing this sore as hell from class yesterday.
- Proudest moment?
- So many to count, but I think it coalesces in the ways I’ve grown my team to support so many patients. This last year I started a baby closet for patients, a wish I’ve had for a decade, and my body boost session came together to fill up the closet and get much needed supplies to people who need it.
- What is something that would surprise us?
- I have a pretty zany background, so I don’t think anything I say here would surprise my boost session given I answer our weekly questions with the weirdest answers every week. I’m a nurse now, but in undergrad I researched primate brain evolution. I worked at the field museum but the actual research I did involved filling hundreds of macaque skulls at museums across the country with medical grade beads to measure volume. I slowly went insane in a room full of dead things, but secretly I loved it.