Q: What is your athletic background?
A: It may sound cliché, but I've been an athlete my entire life. I was in hockey skates by age 3, on a soccer team by age 4, and picked up a lacrosse stick at age 5. I played all three sports competitively through high school and was fortunate to receive a scholarship offer to attend Duke University for lacrosse.
Sports are a huge part of my identity. As far back as I can remember, I have memories of extreme discomfort in athletic endeavors. I remember 6 AM hockey games at age seven that required a 5 AM arrival to an outdoor rink, sitting at single-digit temperatures in the depths of winter in Upstate New York. Your fingers would crack as you tied your skates. Once you hit the ice, the air in your lungs was so cold you'd experience this faint taste of blood in your mouth. When you'd remove your skates at the end of the game, the blood would rush to your toes, causing the most excruciating pins and needles, leaving many kids in tears. I share this because I'm convinced my perpetual exposure to discomfort in athletics through all stages of life has created a high tolerance for discomfort and distress. Frankly, it's been a lifelong mental exercise of redefining "hard" daily.
This high tolerance for discomfort translates directly to persevering as a founder and operator through constant challenges. Obstacles and failure are inevitable in building anything, but the ability to keep moving forward and move the needle of progress regardless of setbacks differentiates a company.
Q: Do you have a Prove Yourself Right challenge for the coming year?
A: Yes! Sub 3 Marathon at Eugene in April. I'm still working to find something for the fall or winter. Maybe my first ultra? Also, I'd like to find time to complete a yoga certification – RYT-200 (200-hour Registered Yoga Training).
Q: What does Go One More® mean to you?
A: I tend to take a more abstract approach to Go One More. For me, Go One More is a standard.
We live in a world obsessed with optimization and life hacks—everyone is looking for ways to get more while doing less. Go One More is a commitment to a standard of effort. It recognizes that without work, there will not be outcomes. It's doing whatever it takes to ensure you are marginally better today than you were yesterday because even marginally better is progress. Many think hard work is dated. In my experience, the only success that feels good is the success earned through hard work.
KT's gut check: You get to the finish line of life. A relative is standing there and asks, "Did you take any shortcuts?" If your answer to that is "Never" then you're on the right track.
Q: What are you passionate about and why?
A: I could probably write a book on this, but I will keep it brief.
My passion for health and wellness has roots in two origin stories. First, I'm a foodie at heart. I'm not a foodie in the hipster sense of obsessing with food fads—I simply love cooking and creating. Food is not just fuel but rather a powerful medium for connecting people. I love nothing more than preparing a meal for loved ones, sitting back, and watching them enjoy it.
The second origin story is athletics. When you spend your entire life playing sports, you build an unbelievable appreciation for the human body. When you play competitively, you quickly realize that the very activity that used to be "good for you" quietly wears you down and takes a toll. This understanding then starts the cycle of redefining wellness. Health and wellness are everyday commitments, not destinations.
In the same way an athlete's style of play and skill level evolves, a person's definition of wellness should develop. I am a constant learner who believes "strong opinions, loosely held" is the best approach to wellness. Formulate your opinions based on consistent experience but be open to evolution and change as research and knowledge develop.
The combination of these two passions helps bring clarity to my purpose. My passion for food represents the product side of the equation. My passion for athletics and human performance represents the industry of focus. If we can formulate products that make people's daily lives incrementally better, and those persons make incremental progress daily, and we share that progress as inspiration and motivation to countless others, then we truly can make our mark on society.
Q: Favorite BPN supplements?
A: Daily... Strong Greens and Reds, Strong Multi-Vitamin, Strong Joints, and our Electrolytes drink mix (Strawberry is awesome!) and the BPN Field Bar (Peanut Butter Crunch).
Our most underrated product is easily Peak Sleep. I would cite myself as a bad sleeper for life. Peak Sleep helps in a way I've never experienced with any other sleep product. I am working to be more consistent in taking this sleep support every evening.
The product I just started experimenting with is our cognitive enhancer In-Focus. I'm incredibly sensitive to caffeine and am slowly weening off coffee. My goal is to replace my cup of coffee with a serving of In-Focus daily to avoid the coffee jitters!
