So when I think of the two staff being highlighted this week, there is one thing that jumps out at me immediately about both of them which is…WOW what did we do without them???
Let me start by introducing Crystal. Crystal sums herself up perfectly by saying…”most people hear me coming before they see me coming.” Ha!! Hilarious but spot on Crystal. We LOVE Crystal's energy and exuberance!! It’s hard to believe that Crystal has been with us for less than a year as she recently moved from Kansas to Michigan. She met Ami walking their dogs. Ami introduced us to Crystal and we knew right away she was going to be perfect fit for BL. In addition to teaching on both the yoga and the fitness side, we recently hired Crystal as a desk manager as well. One of the many things we love about Crystal is her capacity to learn her students’ names. Her ability to thank every person by name at the end of each of her classes is absolutely uncanny!! Fun facts about Crystal is that she has moved around A LOT as a kid and as an adult. (Ask her to name all the states she’s lived it!). She graduated from KU with a BS in Education and a minor in Special Ed. She loves doing ANYTHING active including running, hiking, biking, and gardening. She has run seven full marathon and several ½ marathons, loves college basketball and is forever a Jayhawks fan. In addition to sharing her love for movement with all her BL students, she also shares it with the next generation by coaching 7/8 grade volleyball and 5/6 grade basketball. She says that coaching is her “FAVORITE thing to do!! “ Crystal and her husband Mike have two daughters Julia (13) and Allie (10) and live in West Bloomfield. I am confidant that Crystal’s relationship with BL has only just begun as she has SO much to offer our BL community. Crystal we are looking forward to many more “sweaty hugs” from you for years to come!!
The first thing that comes to my mind about Claudia is that she is a bit of an enigma. And, of course, I mean this in the most positive of ways. Claudia has the claim to fame of being the ONLY person who has done a feedback class (kind of like an audition to teach at BL) after which neither Chris nor I had one constructive suggestion on how to improve. She just nailed it!! After the class she even came up to me and offered to cover for me the next day seeing that I had two classes. I was impressed with her confidence and assertiveness that day and she has continued to impress all of us moving forward. Claudia pitches ideas for several workshops throughout the year and consistently packs the house. She is great at encouraging peeps to attend her workshops because she is so passionate about what she does. Of course I share this passion and have on occasion been described as a bit pesty but I often tell Claudia that second to me she wins for positive pestiness. Her drive and ambition have resulted in Chris and I giving her several other responsibilities at BL. In addition to being one of our desk managers, she took over as retail manager which means she is responsible for ordering all the items in our Body’s Boutique. (As you can imagine this job requires some thick skin as she attempts to satisfy the diverse tastes of all the BL peeps.) We also recently assigned Claudia as our sales manager and she has done a great job connecting with new members to give them options on their next BL memberships. Some things you might not know about Claudia is that graduated from Albion with a major in Chemistry and a minor in Math (What?) She was the president of her sorority, can recite the periodic table (this impresses me), loves hiking, paddleboarding and anything outside. She is a self proclaimed sports fanatic and especially loves college basketball. She got married to her husband, Rob, in September of 2020 and 2.5 weeks later joined Body Language’s yoga teacher training program. She shared with me that she signed up at 11 pm 2 days before the training started and “it was the best decision I ever made!!” Claudia actually met some of her closest friends in the teacher training program. In Claudia’s words…”you can find me basically living at Body Language. Body Language has been my home away from home for a long time now. I have always been a chatty little spit fire and I love to add spice to all my classes.” Claudia you add spice to everything you do at BL and we are so grateful to have you such an integral part of our Team BL!!
