Featured Diva Member: Abby Anzalone

Background: Middle sister of three who all attended Sweet Briar College (at the same time for one semester!), MBA from Boston University, leasing negotiator for DLA Piper, eight years’ experience teaching Pilates classes in places as diverse as a military base in Germany.

Hobbies: I inherited my mother’s athleticism.  I love golf, running, and team sports of any kind.  I always have a project going.  My mom used to say:  “you need a cup of coffee before Abby wakes up—she has an unbelievable amount of energy.”

Most profound moment so far: Watching my mother die.  It was naturally heart wrenching, but it connected me to the cycle of life and the following months made me realize how strong I can be.  I think JK Rowling wrote about the experience well, allegorically, in Harry Potter, using those dragon-horses that only appear to those who have seen death.  The experience changes you and shifts your perspective on the world.

Interests: How-to books—everything fascinates me.  Leftover from my childhood moving every 18 months with my father’s job, I love house hunting and seeing possibility in charming older houses.

GOALS . . .

Social, Love & Dating: I am newly married to a wonderful man, and we have a corgi-mix through whom I have met many of my neighbors over the past four years (while I have been living primarily in Boston).  I am looking forward to joining a running club and the local Stitch n Bitch chapter by Thanksgiving, though I am already finished with most of the Christmas gifts I planned to knit!

Style & Beauty: I am a New Englander by heart.  My style reflects the Yankee adage to “reuse it, repair it, make do or do without.”  I am learning how to incorporate new things slowly (e.g. I have started wearing makeup occasionally since I turned 30), but I still won’t stop wearing my black Helly Hansen fleece that I bought the Thanksgiving before my father died.  Sentimentality and function trumps every style rule on the books.

Home: This weekend, I am completely renovating the bathroom of our East Village loft while my hubby is away on a boys’ weekend in New York City.  New paint, new fixtures, new linens—everything! The rest of the loft is very modern guy chic, since this is Joe’s bachelor pad.  I want the bathroom to be an airy retreat within a world of boy, without clashing too badly.  Pictures to follow!

Life Coaching: Joe coaches me every day!

Career & Business: I am opening my own Pilates practice!  After two years in b-school, I learned that you have to live your values and pursue your passion to find happiness.   I am taking advantage of San Diego’s naturally gorgeous weather to offer outdoor Pilates classes all over town.  I provide the equipment for groups of up to 15 people and we stretch and strengthen for an hour together while taking our daily dose of Vitamin D.  I am always looking for new cohorts!

Health, Nutrition & Fitness: See above!  Besides teaching open air PiIates classes, I also hope to train for a half marathon for the spring.

Financial: My ultimate financial goal is to earn enough to buy a cute little house in Coronado and a cabin in Vermont before I am 40.

Featured Diva Member: Annah Kate Blanton (1st member!)

A Southern Belle to say the least, Annah grew up just North of New Orleans.  She attended the University of Mobile in Alabama for degrees in Marketing and Management.  She grew up in the financial industry around her father Don Blanton.  Customer hospitality with a white glove and marketing are her passions.  When she isn’t working she enjoys spin class three days a week, traveling, and spending time with family and friends.  She is active in her church in McDonough, Georgia.

Note from the Founder:
Annah Kate flew out from Atlanta the week before my Grand Opening in August 2008 to help me with the event.  There is no way the event would have gone off the way it did had it not been for all her ideas and hard work.  I am so proud to have her as my official first Diva Center Member!  Her father, Don Blanton (pictured above), is an amazing man and my personal financial mentor.  Her mom, Connie (pictured below), has inspired me to want to learn how to decorate a home and entertain like a true Southern Belle . . . which is still very much a work in progress!  The good news is this family will be in my life forever and for that I am truly blessed!

Featured Diva Member: Swan Rochford

Swan Rochford – Motivated Mother of 6!
Swan joined the center in August 2009 and is so motivated to really grow personally and professionally over the next year.  She has an interest in real estate and is currently working to obtain a real estate license.