Aileen grew up 2nd-generation Filipino, Catholic, gay, and wishing to be both a ninja and Batman.
She left a career as a sound engineer in Hollywood to pursue Muay Thai full time, not even knowing what that meant.
She trained under Kru Puk — the Godfather of Muay Thai, founder of the first Muay Thai gym in the United States. Then under the Vice President of One Championship. Then mentored for years under Haru Shimanishi, who has produced over twenty world champions. She fought in Muay Thai, kickboxing, and MMA and became a Muay Thai champion. She taught thousands of classes and coached amateur and professional fighters for over a decade. She learned she liked teaching women how to knock people out a lot more than she liked actually knocking women out in a ring.
Aileen left the fight world to forge her own Muay Thai path, but instead faced the complete burn out of her central nervous system. This put her in bed 18+ hours a day for years. She had believed her entire life that her value lived in her physical abilities and capacity to work harder than anyone else. Now both were gone and she could either feel sorry for herself or become stronger. It took over seven years for her to rebuild her health, body, and sense of self. It was the hardest seven years of her life. And the most valuable.
Aileen sees everything, including things most coaches miss. Your breath pattern, why your right shoulder is tense, the imbalance in your feet. She is not a coach you make excuses with, because she won’t entertain them. You either will or you won’t, you either want to or you don’t, she knows the games our minds play to cheat us of our potential and avoid personal responsibility. She is not interested.
She also loves BlackPink. Deeply.
