I was born in Inglewood, CA and lived in Brea, CA… “The OC” for 5 years. During that time, another addition was added to our family, Chris Fakhouri. At 6 years old, we moved to Puyallup Washington, which is about 40 miles south of Seattle. It was great living there. Back then, it would snow a foot or so every year, so there were many cancelled school days. We lived right across the street from the school and there was a hill next to our house, so our school friends would get together and go sledding down it on those days.

At 12 years old, I got a paper route. The Herald, it was delivered 3 times a week. My friend, Erika, who I’ve known since we were 6, and who will be at the wedding, used to go on the route with me and help me collect money from the customers at the end of each month. It was $3.50 a month and that was before people thought about giving tips. They were the cheapest people ever! They would make me come back 3 or 4 times to get paid because they would only have a $5 and I didn’t have change.

My dad purchased a condo in Puerto Rico, so every summer we would spend 6 weeks there. After that, my mom, Chris, and I would go to my grandparent’s farm house in Rupert Idaho, a small town near Boise. They’d have horses and we’d go horseback riding all over the place.

At 14, my dad got transferred back to Los Angeles. We lived in Moorpark, CA, which is about 45 miles north of Los Angeles. It was OK, but there wasn’t much to do there. Pretty boring. They built tons of homes but forgot to add stores and restaurants.

After I graduated from Moorpark High, I went to Moorpark College for 2 years. Then I transferred to BYU in Provo, Utah and got my English degree. I’m not sure why I chose English, I just didn’t know what I wanted to do still. After that, I worked at a bank for a year as a bank teller, and then got a job as an underwriter at State Farm. That was the worst job ever. It had job security (although the office closed down a year after I left) but it was in a cubicle setting and I was a paper pusher. Ever see Office Space? That was exactly like my office.

In the meantime, my parents retired and moved to Marysville, WA (about 40 miles north of Seattle). My brother lives in Iowa.

The whole time I was working as a personal trainer on the weekends. One day, I heard a guy who had a fitness show on the radio in the Westwood area. I ended up going to see him and his gym, and he offered me a job as a trainer with the same pay. Hence, “the place where I met Ryan” (see Our Story). So I moved from an apartment in Thousand Oaks to Santa Monica.

A couple years later I decided to go back to school and get my Masters in Nutrition and dietetic degree at Cal State LA. Now I have opened my own business called TNT Wellness Group where I train high-end clients.

Ryan is one lucky man!