Featured Member – December 2018 – Lisa Chiarelli
To finish the year off on a strong note (heh heh pun) our Featured Member of the Month is, the badass, Lisa Chiarelli! Lisa is an LA native who grew up in Burbank and Thousand Oaks her entire life. Not only has she worked for Disney for a large majority of that time, but also has 10 years of boxing experience under her belt! If you follow her on Instagram, you’d know by now that she has a deep-rooted love for animals and has been an advocate for raising positive awareness about Pit Bulls. She says, “I had my first Pit Bull at age 12 and I didn’t understand why they had such a bad reputation because they’re such loving family dogs.” Her mission now is to save as many dogs as she possibly can in her lifetime.  In a nutshell, she describes her life as being filled with Disney, dogs, and CrossFit. “When I’m not at work, I’m at CrossFit, and when I’m not at CrossFit, some of my favorite moments are spent at home with my animals and reading books.” Not only does Lisa have two dogs of her own, Lola and Frankie, but she continuously fosters, rehabilitates and re-homes dogs who have been pulled from the shelter or off the streets. “I love saving the dogs who otherwise would never make it out of the shelter for being deemed aggressive or just are the ‘wrong color’ or breed”.  |
Her passion doesn’t stop there. It’s connected her with the Costa Rica Dog Rescue, where she has visited Costa Rica and has saved several dogs off the streets there, fostered them herself, and found them loving, forever homes back here in the U.S! “We certainly have no shortage of dogs here in the US but they have ZERO exit strategy in Costa Rica.” On one visit to Ciudad Quesada in 2015, she met a little girl named Ashley (after offering to help with medical care for their family dog.) After seeing their living conditions and realizing how much a little help really does go a long way, she realized that her calling is to help others in need – human and animal alike. Lisa hopes that one day she can tell Ashley how much she has inspired her to help other children around the world. Personally, I think Lisa embodies the definition of a strong woman physically and emotionally (and at CFTY we seem to specialize in those!!) “I love the idea of women empowering women, that women can be [physically] strong too” she says, “I love the friendships that I’ve built, and I feel that relationships are the basis of life.” She also says “I love[hard work.] I want to push myself as hard as I can and continue to get better, grow and learn in all aspects of life.” “We have to be willing to fail to really succeed. I want to make the world a better place as best as I can, and I will never stop trying.”GO GET ‘EM, LISA. It’s people like you who can really make a difference in this world. Thank you for being you! |
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