Apr 18 • General discussion
My Story — Why I Built This For You
In 2009 I was 29 years old, sitting in a windowless government basement, staring at a computer screen thinking… this cannot be my life.
I knew I was meant to do more. I just didn’t know what.
I looked into police work first — but my husband wasn’t on board. So I kept searching for ways to serve and stumbled onto firefighting. And then I almost talked myself out of it immediately, because I honestly wasn’t sure women could be firefighters.
But something in me said keep going.
Here’s what I was working with at the time: I was a mom of 4 kids — one was still a baby, the others in elementary school. I had zero athletic background. I didn’t play sports growing up. I wasn’t lifting weights. I was, as they say, a cardio bunny coming off the couch.
And the field? It was overwhelmingly male. There weren’t many women ahead of me to look to. Barely any resources online. I was figuring most of it out alone — and it was hard and isolating in ways I didn’t expect.
Then I found her.
One woman. A firefighter and a mom, who saw me struggling and decided I was worth her time. She took me under her wing and walked me through the entire process — fitness, training, the academy, all of it. She was a gem. She didn’t have to do that. But she did.
And I made myself a promise the moment I graduated: one day I will pay this forward.
Because I learned something she taught me without ever saying it out loud — we cannot do this alone. And we shouldn’t have to.
I graduated from Monterey Peninsula College’s fire academy in 2011. I became a firefighter. A CrossFit coach. Then a fitness instructor at the very academy I graduated from.
And quietly, over the years, I started helping other women do what I did — get strong, pass the CPAT, survive the academy, and get hired.
A few of them have. And every single time, something in me lights up that no other accomplishment touches.
That’s why FireFit Women exists.
Because in 2009 I needed this community and it didn’t exist. I needed someone who had done it to say yes, you can too — and here’s exactly how.
I was lucky enough to find one woman who said that to me. Now I want to be that for as many women as possible.
And it hasn’t stopped at one-on-one mentoring. I co-founded California Fire Women, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting women in the fire service. I launched the MPC Girls Fire Camp — the first of its kind in Monterey County — to get young women excited about and prepared for a career in fire. Our 4th annual camp is coming up with over 40 girls attending out of 135+ applicants.
Because this mission doesn’t start when you’re 29 sitting in a basement. It starts earlier. And the more doors we open, the more women walk through them.
FireFit Women is the next door.
You shouldn’t have to figure this out alone. And in here — you won’t.
Welcome. Let’s get to work. 🔥
~ Athena
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My Story — Why I Built This For You
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Firefighter, coach & mom of 4.I’ve walked women through the full journey:fitness, CPAT, academy & getting hired.This is the mentorship I wish I’d had.
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