Today we’d like to introduce you to Ciandre Taylor.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Ciandre. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I am a Buffalo, NY native and graduate of the University of Phoenix with a Masters in Business. I attended Performing Arts for vocal training, theater and dance. I always been into entertaining and arts so in 2011, I made the decision to leave Buffalo, NY with my two young children and moved to California to pursue acting as well as assist my daughter in her dance career as she progressed in her own dance endeavors.
In my pursuit of acting, I was able to finally be cast on my all-time favorite show the CBS Survivor Show for season 33. For ten years I diligently tried to get on the show and it wasn’t until I moved to California that the opportunity came, my dream came true. I did okay on the show but seeing myself on the show, I was not pleased with the way I look. I realized that I wasn’t as fit and healthy as I thought l was and if I was, I may have lasted on the show a lot longer. After my stint on the Survivor Show, I proceeded down a path of health and fitness. I wanted to change my body and get fit. I competed in several Spartan Races, hiked and worked out daily and tremendously changed my diet and eating habits. The next thing I knew, I lost 30 lbs and transformed my body into a healthier and fit body, which I happily debuted at my 40th birthday bash. I truly began to love working out and all of a sudden my friends and people I didn’t even know were reaching out to me and wanted to know what I did to lose weight. This led me to wanting to help and encourage people through fitness so I decided to make it official so k studied and became a NASM Certified Personal Trainer and was hired at 24 Fitness as a personal trainer.
After a year of training clients at 24 Fitness, I decided to take my fitness up a level and I decided to compete in a bodybuilding competition. My first show out the gate I won 3rd place in the Muscle Bikini Challenge. Today I continued to train and I am dedicated to helping and improving the health and lifestyle of others through exercise and encouraging a healthy diet. This season I am again taking things to another level as I am currently enrolled in night school pursuing my license to become a Certified Massage Therapist. This will accentuate me as a personal trainer because I’ll also have the skills to help you with recovery of your body after training you. There is an ultimate goal which is to open and run a Boutique Gym and spa in the future. You may also wonder what happened with my acting goals. Well, I haven’t gave up on that dream, I audition and I audition and work on scripts that I’ve written in my spare time. One day I plan to star in my own project or be cast as a Personal Trainer or Massage Therapist in someone else’s project LOL. Whatever you dream is endless, God has a way of putting you in the right place, with the right people at the right time, so that whatever you believe and desire will happen in God’s time.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Ciandre. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Definitely not a smooth road. I moved from Buffalo, NY where the cost of living is 10x lower than it is in Los Angeles. I was married, taking care of a home that had two incomes and moved to California and became a single mom of two children to live in LA where the living expenses and cost of living are insane. My first year in LA I worked three jobs. I did background acting during the day, worked as an audience member for cash midday and finally worked as a armed security officer on the graveyard shift to make sure my kids were fed and taken care of. I didn’t have a room mate. I didn’t know anyone in LA but I believed in myself and I knew my daughter was talented and I knew she was bigger than Buffalo and I wanted her to dance under Debbie Allen. AND she did. Her talent got her into the Debbie Allen Dance Academy and later she danced on television and was in several seasons of Debbie Allen’s Nutcracker. My daughter’s dance career is a whole another story LOL. I needed to work these jobs to pay for her dance tuition, my acting expenses, as well as this high rent and living expenses in LA.
There were times that I didn’t think we were going to make it and I fell behind in my rent but I knew that giving up was not an option. I wanted to install in my kids that no matter how hard it gets that if you work hard and believe in yourself no matter the obstacles you can make it. Now pursuing a career in acting is hard in itself. The constant auditions, while also working full time and taking care of children, I did it. I was cast in several small roles on a few shows but the ultimate for me was getting cast on the Survivor show, not because it’s my favorite show but because I am a Survivor. I survived poverty as child growing up and now I’ve survived being a single mom living in one of the most expensive cities in the country.
Let’s talk about how hard it was to become a competitive bodybuilder. Well, you’re no longer working out 3x a week, you’re now working out 2x a day six days a week. YES 2x day and you are on a very strict diet. No sugar, no dairy, no junk food, and you must eat 6 small meals a day. The average person who works a full-time job with minimum exercise normally will eat 3x a day, now imagine forcing yourself to eat 6x day. It’s almost impossible but you have to because you have to feed your body because you’re working out 2x a day. If you don’t feed your body your muscles can’t grow and your body will starve itself, so all of that hard training is basically canceling out itself. I had to do all this as well as work my full-time day job as an insurance adjuster, as well as train my clients in the evening at 24 Fitness. I was working out on the morning before my two jobs and again once I got home in the late evening. I was so drained and tired I don’t even know how I drove myself home, let alone got up in the morning to do it all over again.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
As a Certified Personal Trainer, and Wellness Coach. I educate, train, coach, motivate and inspire others to change their lifestyle to become healthier and fit through exercise and healthy eating habits. This is a complete transformation of your body, spirit and mind. You have to change your inner body as well as your outer body to completely make a transformation into a healthier lifestyle. If you change your inner and outer habits you can change your lifestyle. I do this by encouraging individuals to find a way to cleanse their spirit rather its by prayer, meditation, daily affirmations, as well as implementing an exercise and diet regime based on a person’s current level of fitness. I implement this through social media, through online videos as well as one on one in person training. I however specialize in training. If you are a beginner who does not exercise at all and you eat virtually anything you can get your hands on, I would start off by asking he is she what are their current habits, obstacles and reasons as to why he or she aren’t exercising and eating healthy. This is what sets me apart from others. I want to get to the why before I can help you with the how. What I’m most proud of is if I can inspire just one person to change and they have results then I’ve done my job.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
I am looking forward to graduating an obtaining my Massage therapist license so that I can increase my brand and eventually open and run my own boutique gym and wellness spa.
Contact Info:
- Email: song4u3277@yahoo.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/cocoachanel_fit
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/ciandre
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/ciandrecece
- Other: www.youtube.com/user/song4u3277
Image Credit:
CBS Survivor, NPC Muscle Contest
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