Shout of to my Sponsors and Partners! -Jess

I just want to say thank you.

I believe in Olympic sports. The reason is the same reason I prefer college football to the NFL. HEART. Athletes that chose to dedicate their lives for something so short lived for nothing but a memory and in few cases a medal or trophy are truly heroes. The road for these athletes in my opinion is much bumpier with much less reward. What is more honorable than dedicating your entire life to something that doesn't offer much back? This said how many people out there do anything that doesn't offer anything in return? Very few in my experience. By no means am I trying to say feel sorry for these athletes or our life is so hard. Lots of people's life's are hard. Our life is what we chose. I want to work my ass for every single day. I WANT to be an Olympian. I WANT to beat my body down to nothing. I WANT to only feed my body things to help it work better. All I'm saying is these athletes deserve a lot of respect. The average Olympic athlete spends 10 years training before they have an opportunity to even attempt to make an Olympic team. The statistics of even that athlete making the Olympic team is still 1/39 million.Can you imagine spending half your life for something you may or may not ever get? Have you ever worked that long for anything? Have you ever worked that long at the same thing? Many business professionals don't even continue on the same journey for that long. 

As an Olympic athlete I want to draw some attention to the companies that respect the long, hard journey we chose. I made a personal choice a few years ago that my priority was going to be 100% God, and weightlifting. Staying true to that decision a lot of other things I wanted or smaller goals of mine were pushed to the sidelines. The companies I chose to surround myself with on my journey are so important to me for that reason.I pick companies supporting me that aren't just "sponsors". Yes, the money is helpful to not have to work as much and dedicate more time to recovery for weightlifting. However the money isn't my number one motive when either reaching out or accepting sponsors. 

My first priority and first question I ask is "why do you want to sponsor me?" I pray the answer is that they believe in me as an athlete and a person. I want people around me that know I can make my dreams come true even when I'm too beat up, tired or down to believe it myself. I also want them to understand and respect my choice to put weightlifting first. They respect who I am and who I want to be as a role model, an athlete and a wife. 

The second priority is what the company stands for. How do they present themselves on social media, what do they do for the community etc. My brand and my image is very important to me. I'm a Christian woman, I'm a wife, one day I hope to be a mother. I want my kids and my husband to be comfortable with the image of these companies. I don't want to have to be a sexual figure to make money or get publicity. Nothing against those that do, it's just not the path I want. Are these companies trying to make the world a better place? That's the bus I want to be on. That's the person I want to stand beside and help support. 

My third priority in picking a company is what I can do for them. If the company is asking so much from me that I know I can't follow through on or would cut into weightlifting, it's not a good fit for me. I want to be able to do as much as I possibly can while still balancing my life. That may sound bratty or like I'm being a diva but let's be honest, would you let anything stop you from something you've worked for this long? Probably not. 

Anyways, the point is every company that I'm involved with have inspired me, moved me or done something so special that I appreciate so much. This isn't about me, this is about them. I don't care about how much money they make me. Maybe this makes me a poor business woman, I really don't care. I care about my husband, my future kids and all the young girls growing into amazing strong fearless women. I care about using my goal and my dreams to teach them dreams come true. I care about changing someone's life. I care about growing my sport. I care about making the world a better place. 

Fearlessly, Jess