Denise had the need for creative thinking dumped on her at an early age. When she was three, during a particularly bad temper tantrum in the middle of a grocery store cereal aisle, Denise’s mother proceeded to dump a bucket of water on her head. At that precise moment, Denise realized she would have to come up with a more creative way to get what she wanted. Kicking and screaming was replaced by determination, persistence, and a lot of hard work. Next was finding a way to stop her “I-don’t-like-myself” diet of eating a pound of peanut M & M’s a night. That took soul-searching, will power, and a lot of exercise. To this day, exercise is her religion.
Acting was her passion, and she pursued it for years. When she couldn’t get casting directors to notice her, she had the creative idea of standing in front of studios with a sandwich board that read, “Audition Denise McCanles.” After finally realizing her female Bart-Simpson-type was not easily castable, she decided to move on to something even more challenging –something that scared her to death– stand-up comedy. She performed stand-up for a number of years, then shifted gears and started shooting and editing video, eventually producing her own woman-on-the-street video interviews because she loved connecting with people and talking to them about life’s absurdities.
Out of that experience, Denise started her own video business specializing in people discussing their lives. She loved hearing their stories and learning their hopes, dreams, and regrets. She wasn’t sure how, but she knew she wanted to help people improve their lives. After a lot of soul-searching, she realized what an important role exercise and a healthy lifestyle played in her life. How much they helped her over the years with changes in her own life, and the insecurities she was feeling around getting older. She recognized that having the energy to deal with difficulties and new challenges really makes them easier to conquer. That was the, “Aha!” moment that lead her to coaching. She went on to earn her coaching credential and now specializes in helping women see the value in exercise and living a healthy lifestyle.
