“Life isn’t necessarily supposed to be a cakewalk.”
Tracy Hafen serves as the director of physical exercise programs for BrainSavers, a company whose mission is to maintain healthy minds throughout aging. She is certified as a personal trainer by the American Council on Exercise and holds a master’s degree in exercise science and cardiac rehabilitation from Northeastern Illinois University. Hafen is the co-author, along with the bestselling author Dr. Michael Roizen, of RealAge Workout. She served as the exercise physiologist for Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s Center for Partnership Medicine and co-developed its fitness program, and was fitness director for the University of Chicago Hospitals Executive Health Program. Prior to that, Tracy founded and directed Affirmative Fitness LLC in Chicago, serving private personal training clients, and she started the first online national personal training referral service with access to more than eighteen hundred trainers. She is the mother of eight and lives with her family in Centerville, Ohio. (www.BrainSavers.com)
The Interview
Tracy and I met in February of 2009 when she appeared in the YOU: Having a Baby exercise DVD I was producing. I had just finished the original Epiphany promotional video and had it with me, so she was one of the first people to ever view it. After watching and giving her feedback, she then mused that she didn’t think she’d had a big epiphany yet. But after a couple of days had passed, she told me she’d reconsidered it and realized she did have one. I still marvel at her and her story of unbelievable endurance, determination, and love.
Tracy Hafen with her family
