Qualifications: 5-time A.A.U. Karate Champion. Captain of the 1980 US Olympic Karate team. Has a 7th degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

Personal History:  I was the 4th child of 15 kids from a hard-working, but poor African-American family. In 1980, I went to Boston after training in Toronto for 8 years on weekends. Eventually, I opened my own studio in Rockland, MA and gave demonstrations in public schools, speaking about my belief that karate teaches discipline, focus, and self-reliance. In 1998, I moved to LA were I worked in security and got a starring role in the movie "Bloodfist." The next year, I opened my World Training Center in Sherman Oaks, California.

Workout Philosophy: True fitness, excellence, and human value come from the inside. Physical exercise is a tool to reach that inner state of grace.

Success Story: Michele began Tae-Bo in January of 1998 as a participant in the original test market group for the Tae-Bo workout videos. When she began doing Tae-Bo, she listened to my advice to try it for six months and to forget about focusing on her weight, appearance, or pants size. She worked on training her spirit, her will, her focus, and determination and - according to Michele - she learned that Tae-Bo truly worked from the inside out. Over the next six months, she droppped 8 dress sizes. She kept at it and dropped another 6 dress sizes in the next 6 months. Altogether, she lost a total of 92 lbs! In fact, she found that her accomplishments had exceeded what she perceived as her limits.