Today we’d like to introduce you to Natalie Morgan
Hi Natalie , it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My story is quite a long one. I always tell people that I’ve lived many lives. I was born in a small Appalachian town in WV. I moved out to LA when I was 19 for music school. I got an Associate’s Degree in music performance. After I graduated I was playing in a cover band and even got to play some of the most iconic venues on the Sunset Strip, such as the Viper Room and The Roxy. This is how I found my love for Muay Thai. I was drinking a lot and getting out of shape. I come from a very healthy and active family so this was unusual for me. I would watch UFC fights on the weekends with friends and thought that the stand up portion “Muay Thai” looked like fun. I went to a class and fell in love. As I continued to train and learn more I became interested in fighting. I had my first fight about 1 year after my first class and I was hooked. I knew that I wanted to pursue it as a full-time career. Here we are 14 years later. I had a wonderful fight career. 7 years of that was professional. I fought all over the world. I won 4 national titles as an amateur and 1 world title. I obtained the WBC Muay Thai National Title in 2019 as a professional. This was a dream for me. I was the first ever Cuacasian American woman to fight at the famed Lumpini Stadium in Thailand. I was part of a reality competition show that aired in Asia, The Challenger, and found my way into some movies and T.V. shows along the way as an expert in my field, such as HBO’s Room 104. I have since retired a little over a year ago and am now working in the field of Environmental Geology. I put myself through school while I was fighting and graduated from California State University in 2021. Life is full of amazing adventures and I can’t wait to see what new lives lie ahead for me. The moral of my story, is that you get to make your own, so whatever it is that you want to do/be, you can.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has definitely not a smooth road. I loved every second of it but there were struggles. I moved out to LA alone when I was only 19 years old from a small town. Roughly 5,000 people kind of small. I knew 1 of my roommates at the time and just met the other. It took me a while to get my footing and love the city. After about 3 years I felt like I was established. It was a big culture shock at first when moving too. Even just getting used to driving in the big city was hard. Back then there were no Google maps or Waze. You had a Thomas Guide for directions or printed from your desktop. When I started fighting 14 years ago there weren’t a lot of women fighting. Getting matched up was hard at times. It wasn’t until years later when UFC started having women fights that women started getting more interested in fighting in general. That was a struggle during the early days of my career. Also, Muay Thai fighters don’t make much money as professionals, so I had to work 2 other jobs to get by while training. I worked in the service industry as a server/bartender for 16 years and was a personal trainer teaching one-on-one lessons and group classes. This made training for fights difficult at times but I somehow made it work. I look back and wonder how I even did it. Did I ever slee but to be honest but when you have an extreme passion for something you will do whatever it takes to succeed. This made me also realize that I had to have an exit plan after I was done fighting, so that when I was also going to school part-time as well. So, 3 jobs and part-time at the university the majority of my fight career.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Now, I work in environmental consulting as a staff geologist and I can tell you what sets me apart from others is that I have the grit and determination that most don’t. I’m willing to do the “in between” stuff that is boring to get where I want to go. The life skills that I learned from Muay Thai make me different from most people. I’m a geologist by trade so in my industry we focus on environmentla clean up from contamination. I love this about my job. I love that we make real-time changes for our planet for the better. Everyone at work knows me at the geologist who was a fighter. I specialize in soil work out in the field and behind the scenes. Soil investigation and working with subcontracted drillers is truly my thin. There is still much to learn about what I do as I am new to this career, so I’m always asking a ton of questions and willing to take on difficult and new tasks that will help me do that. I am still most proud of my athletic career and who it helped me to become.
What do you like and dislike about the city?
So many things to love about L.A. I literaly have it tattooed on my side. I think there is such a diversity of culture there and people have a really open mindset about things. People live very healthy lifestyles as well. I recently moved to the east coast and you can truly see a difference in the people. That said, I wish L.A. weren’t so expensive to live. That was always a struggle and essentially how I ended up back on the east coast so that my husband and I could purchase our home. LA will always feel like home to me.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ladykillface
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ladykillface
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-morgan-a706a2b0/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ladykillface
Image Credits
Michelle Kim, Pari Aryafar, Walt Zinc
