Who's Marlie?
Photo by Juan Granda
Who am I and why am I writing this?
Hello readers and thank you for being here :) For those of you who don’t know me personally, I wanted to introduce myself, share my story, and why I started this blog!
My name is Marlie and I was born and raised in Toronto, ON. I started dancing when I was 12, (I am now 23), and have been obsessed with it ever since. I am now an Argos Cheerleader, Pro-level company member of the Find Your Fierce dance company, and freelance dancer having performed for many local artists and events. My dance dream is to be a backup dancer for a major artist and to dance at an awards show such as the MMVAs. I also aim to work on the business and marketing side of the dance industry!
Fitness and running have always been a huge part of my life, having grown up in a family of serious runners. However, growing up I struggled with body image issues and disordered eating; always wanting to be skinnier and having a terribly unhealthy relationship with food (post on this coming soon). In the past 2 years I have finally gotten to a place where I am genuinely happy with my body and have a healthy relationship with food and exercise. I am very passionate about health and fitness because it has helped immensely with my body confidence, so I want to share my journey in order to inspire and help those who may be struggling with similar issues.
My third ‘passion’ is business. I put passion in quotes because how I feel about business is obviously not the same kind of soul-fire I feel for dance, but I am interested in it nonetheless. I studied business at university and went straight to work for a startup in Toronto that got acquired by a huge company. It was fantastic career opportunity and I really enjoyed it for the first year or so… until I didn’t anymore (post on this also coming soon). Ultimately, I decided that I never want to wake up in regret wondering “what if”. So two months ago I quit my job, quit drinking, and change my life. My ultimate goal is to combine all of my passions by working on the business side of the dance and/or fitness industry.
Although I no longer work full-time, I spent a year working full-time while balancing dance (Argos Cheer, Find Your Fierce, Badass Babes, various gigs, + drop-in classes), working out, and launching a company (Monday Girl), so in this blog I’m happy to share some of the strategies I used to keep it all going. I will also of course be sharing my new lifestyle and where it takes me. If there is anything in particular you want to know about, lmk!
At this point in my life, it’s not about success or failure. To fail would be to not even try, therefore I am already succeeding :) I LOVE to connect with likeminded individuals and hear about how others are chasing their dreams, as well as helping people to do so, so please do reach out if you feel so compelled! This blog is not meant to be me showing off; I’m not any better than anyone else and trust me I can curate a nice highlight reel on social media but always remember that I’m just figuring it out as I go along too :)
Sincerely,
Marlie