Life By Athletes

I am absolutely HONORED to have the wise, incredible, and inspiring Dominic Fusco on the pod!!!! YAY. Dom played college football at Dickinson College. Post-college, in the real world, Dom has created a name for himself as he progressed on his physical and mental health journey after taking ownership of his life. Dom currently has over 37,000 followers on Instagram where he motivates people to become the best version of themselves through fitness, nutrition, and mindset. He also has his own podcast channel called “Pure Ambition”, which is a platform that empowers you to become the best version of yourself physically, mentally, and spiritually. On it, Dom has conversations on fitness, performance, mindset, leadership, entrepreneurship, and leaving a lasting legacy. In addition to these creative platforms, Dom also has a Youtube channel and is the Head of Growth and a personal trainer for Upspace, which is a social media platform and app for all things wellness. To top off his already impressive background, Dom recently ran the Philly Marathon in November. This is definitely an episode you do not want to miss as Dom shares his insight and mentality with us!

LBA Website/Blog: https://www.lifebyathletes.com/

LBA Instagram: @lifebyathletes

My Health/Wellness Instagram: @lifebytay7

My Personal Instagram: @taylorsmith_17

LBA Website/Blog: https://www.lifebyathletes.com/

LBA Instagram: @lifebyathletes

My Health/Wellness Instagram: @lifebytay7

My Personal Instagram: @taylorsmith_17

I’m so happy to have had the pleasure of being joined by not only a super genuine and kind soul, but also one of my close friends, Miss Emma Duerr!! Emma is currently in her senior year of college where she is a student-athlete. She first started her collegiate basketball career at the University of Tulsa, but then transferred to the University of Scranton halfway through her junior year. Emma describes her college journey from experiencing her first collegiate basketball season to hitting rock bottom to tearing her ACL to transferring. Plus, she touches on her plans and mindset for life after basketball! The amazing Emma shares super relatable feelings to make you feel not alone, while also giving beautiful advice along the way!

LBA Website/Blog: https://www.lifebyathletes.com/

LBA Instagram: @lifebyathletes

My Health/Wellness Instagram: @lifebytay7

My Personal Instagram: @taylorsmith_17

Hello party people! Welcome back to yet another episode of the Life By Athletes podcast with yours truly, Taylor Nicole Smith. Today, our special guest is Mark Wang. Mark ran on both the Men’s Club Cross Country and Track teams at the University of Oregon. He graduated in 2019, but still continues training and competing, while balancing work life and other creative outlets. Mark gives us insight into how to mentally cope with injuries during sports, what keeps him motivated in the midst of things not going according to plan, and life post-grad!

LBA Website/Blog: https://www.lifebyathletes.com/

LBA Instagram: @lifebyathletes

My Health/Wellness Instagram: @lifebytay7

My Personal Instagram: @taylorsmith_17

I’m SO HYPE to introduce a beautiful soul to the podcast——THE Sophia Carter. Sophia was on the Women’s Volleyball team at Western Washington University. Sophia struggled with eating disorders that became amplified during her time as a collegiate athlete. But since then she has grown immensely as a human being during her process of healing her relationship with food and her body. Sophia then began an “all things mental health and self-love” Instagram based account where she shares her unedited life, new and improved mindset, and relatable content with the world. She has amassed over 66,000 followers as an influencer on Instagram since beginning her account in 2021. Make sure to follow her on Instagram @sophiaecarter !!!! She is one of my absolute favorite influencers and 1000% worth the follow!

LBA Website/Blog: https://www.lifebyathletes.com/

LBA Instagram: @lifebyathletes

My Health/Wellness Instagram: @lifebytay7

My Personal Instagram: @taylorsmith_17

This week, I got the pleasure of sitting down with an awesome human being—a.k.a. Ally Gibb! Ally is a current Division 1 lacrosse player. She started her career at the University of Denver and transferred this year as a junior to play at Mercer University. Ally opens up and gives us the inside scoop on her lacrosse journey from first beginning the sport to being recruited to play at her dream school, known to be ranked highly in the nation for both lacrosse and academics, to deciding to transfer. Her decision was not made lightly, but she did what she knew was right for her and led with faith in the process. 

Ally begins by explaining her realization that “pressure is a privilege”, as it is the title of her story she wrote for the Life By Athletes blog. She then gets vulnerable and shares her struggles of transitioning from high school to college, performance anxiety, and depression. We dive deep into the ins and out of these topics and give advice to those in similar situations!

LBA Website/Blog: https://www.lifebyathletes.com/

LBA Instagram: @lifebyathletes

My Health/Wellness Instagram: @lifebytay7

My Personal Instagram: @taylorsmith_17

Y’all get SUPER EXCITED because I have a VERY SPECIAL GUEST on the pod today—Austin Tchikatilov!!!!! Austin is an incredible, authentic, and well-rounded human being who shares his knowledge, expertise, mentality, and passion for overall health and wellness (emphasizing holistic wellness) with us!! He touches upon how to reach “flow state” to achieve maximum performance and focus, the benefits of being a multi-sport athlete, why you should meditate, and more!

Austin is a professional pickleball player, personal trainer, and Board Certified in Holistic Nutrition (BCHN). He played a semester of college basketball at the University of Rochester before he stepped away from basketball because he felt called to pursue a different path. His new path led him to study pre-med at the University of Northern Florida. Austin now has a Masters of Science (M.S) and is currently continuing his medical training at National University of Health Sciences where he studies chiropractic, acupuncture, and natural medicine while finding new and innovative ways to care for his patients. Ever since Austin decided to follow his heart, he has developed a strong passion for fitness and living a healthy lifestyle in general. To top off his already impressive background, Austin is an avid yogi and meditator, and he even dabbled in professional spikeball for a bit! This is clearly an episode you cannot miss people.

LBA Website/Blog: https://www.lifebyathletes.com/

LBA Instagram: @lifebyathletes

My Health/Wellness Instagram: @lifebytay7

My Personal Instagram: @taylorsmith_17

Welcome to the VERY FIRST episode of the Life By Athletes podcast hosted by yours truly, Taylor Nicole Smith. I’m so incredibly happy to have you here! 

Today, I am joined by Reagan Tenaglia who plays Division 1 Lacrosse. Reagan begins by opening up and sharing her journey during her transition to college lacrosse at the United States Military Academy at West Point to her deciding to transfer to Siena College. As Reagan describes the struggles she faces along the way, I add pieces of my own story as well, as I play Division 1 Lacrosse at the University of Colorado Boulder. Together, the two of us have a super raw and real conversation about mental health in athletes from depression to anxiety to OCD to imposter syndrome to body image to comparison and more! You definitely do not want to miss this episode…Enjoy! :) 

Don’t forget to please subscribe to my podcast, turn on notifications, and leave a review! I would greatly appreciate it. If you want to be on the pod or have any suggestions, please reach out to me. Love you people!!!!

LBA Website/Blog: https://www.lifebyathletes.com/

LBA Instagram: @lifebyathletes

My Health/Wellness Instagram: @lifebytay7

My Personal Instagram: @taylorsmith_17

Hi guys!! :) My name is Taylor Nicole Smith and I’m currently a junior on the Women’s Division 1 Lacrosse team at the University of Colorado Boulder. I just wanted to say hi and give a brief explanation for why I created the Life By Athletes platform and the purpose of this podcast. There will be more episodes with other athletes coming ASAP— So stay tuned for unedited, relatable, and inspiring conversations about everything and anything mental health and wellness related!

#ClaimYourThrone #RawAndReal #AthleteMentalHealth #ByAthletesForAthletes #LifeByAthletes #LBA

Also be sure to check out the Life By Athletes website/blog and Instagram! Info for everything is below:

LBA Website/Blog: https://www.lifebyathletes.com/

LBA Instagram: @lifebyathletes

My Health/Wellness Instagram: @lifebytay7

My Personal Instagram: @taylorsmith_17