Today on the podcast, I have a very important conversation with Whitney Otto. In our time together, Whitney talks about her experience as an endurance athlete, particularly as a world champion rower. Whitney was a member of the national rowing team and an alternate in the 2000 Olympics. She has also worked with Women’s Sports Foundation to help bring sport to girls in the inner city. Following her full-time rowing career, Whitney went on to get her masters degree in Counseling Psychology and work in the eating disorder field. She currently resides with her family in Cambridge, Massachusetts and runs Life Alive Coaching, where she works in leadership development, and executive and performance coaching.

While we all know it’s helpful to move our bodies, the pervasive messages of diet culture can often warp our relationship with movement and our bodies. In today’s episode, Whitney speaks so authentically about the very real body image pressures of being an endurance athlete and her own struggles with disordered eating. We also talk about the unhelpful cultural messages around health and beauty. Often times, being muscular or thin doesn’t equate with holistic wellbeing. All of that to say, I am so grateful for the experience, vulnerability, and heart that Whitney brings to today’s conversation. I can’t wait for you to listen.