The Biggest Loser and the Biggest Winner
I had to get really creative with how to burn extra calories when I was sitting at my desk at work. I would close my office door and my window blinds and dance around my office!

One-forty-two.” Those three words did not mean much when my doctor said them to me after weighing me…after all, I was only 11 years-old. Who would have imagined that I would be taken back to that day when my husband and I auditioned for NBC’s The Biggest Loser? Why that day? Well, it served as my benchmark because it reminded me just how long I had been struggling with my weight. Why that show? I was always amazed by the dramatic transformations contestants had on the show – and I wanted to know “the secret”. The time had come to find a permanent solution to my lifelong problem.

I gave up soda and fast food first, and then, I simply watched my portion size, and incorporated exercise into my daily routine.

I became pregnant with my son in 1999. At that point in time I weighed roughly 130 pounds. I had always been active, and enjoyed working out, so I assumed that because I was in good shape, I would only gain 25-30 pounds. I also believed that because I was “with child”, I could and should eat for two. Boy, was I wrong!

Throughout my pregnancy, I gained an inordinate amount of weight, topping the scales at 200 pounds! With all of my weight gain, I was sure I was having a 10 pound baby, (or so I had hoped). But when my son arrived weighing a measly 6 pounds, I was disappointed that I wouldn’t be leaving the hospital a little lighter.

Preparing for the interview with Wendy Pepper, finalist of Season 1 of Project Runway, what I found when Googling her name were the words “talented but a real villain, ferocious and backstabber.” The collections associated with her name carried two distinct signatures: luxurious colored fabrics and haute couture eveningwear. So it was with great trepidation that I wondered what I should wear that would look best with the knives I expected in my back. Entering her studio in Middleburg I was prepared for Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada. What I got was Wendy Pepper. Who within less than one minute made me feel both welcome and at ease.

Wendy, who was in the midst of sewing her new line, Pony Express (more on that later), spent the better part of our time together discussing the importance of being part of a community. “I believe in working where you live. People can come visit and see what I do and I hire people who live here. I could have gone anywhere after the show.

Adriana Escalante Calderon considers herself a typical modern mom. She has three small children (Alberto, 6, Alejandro, 5, and Valeria, 7 months), a sterling jewelry company called Vaccari that she founded in 2002, and a new venture — a thriving blog, www.themomsbuzz.com, that she writes and sells advertising for.

Of course, the Peruvian-born beauty doesn’t realize the wonder woman she is — and when it’s pointed out shrugs off the compliment saying that her life is similar to most women today.

“We’re all juggling a million things, and everything we do is important to us so we don’t want to give anything up,” Calderon believes. “The goal, then, is to find balance and that’s why I started my blog. We write about things that help busy mothers juggle all the good stuff.”

As a Fairfax County elementary school teacher, Dolin worked in both special and general education classrooms. When she left the classroom in 1998 after her first child was born, she found inspiration in working individually with students as a tutor. Some parents of players on the youth basketball team she was involved with approached her about tutoring their children. Word-of-mouth recommendations expanded her clientele to where she was working seven days a week and sometimes until ten at night. Following the suggestion of a former teaching colleague, Ann incorporated her business. Currently, her company, Educational Connections, Inc. employs 100 tutors and serves about 300 students, according to a July 31, 2008 article published online by The Baltimore Business Journal.

Ann’s dedication to individualized instruction remains at the heart of her business. She frequently gives presentations to school and parent groups about accommodating different learning styles and calming homework stress. Noticing that most of her clients struggle with organization and time management issues, Ann created and recently patented and trademarked an organizational methodology tutors can use with their clients. Her passion yields results. “One-to-one instruction can make such a difference to a child,” she says, “The feedback we get from parents is ‘You’ve given me my child back.’”

Meg is originally from the Boston area, and moved to Northern Virginia in 1995 to attend the Washington School of Law at American University. After graduating with honors, she clerked for the Honorable Judge Claude M. Hilton in the Federal District Court. After working for one year at Weil, Gotshal and Manges, LLP, as an international trade attorney, she went into the federal government and has been a trial attorney for the the United States Department of Agriculture for the last 8 years. Meg, and her husband, Rick, live in Old Town Alexandria, and have two young sons, James who is 2 1/2 and their newest addition, Brentan, who was born in June. Currently, Meg has decided to balance her work and family life by decreasing her work days to only 3 days a week. Along with spending her days with her family, she also enjoys traveling, meeting new people, collecting wine, and being creative in the kitchen.

With four kids, a love of running and a new passion for nonprofit work, she seems to have less time for relaxation than when she was officially working full-time. Between sports, activities and homework, she needs a matrix to organize her days with the kids. Every mom knows the effort it takes to raise her children; the important thing for her is to make sure she has fun with her kids every day, while also having time for herself.
She has been an avid runner for years and even ran through all four pregnancies. In 2007, she began running competitively in local races and in the last year, she set personal records in the marathon, 10k and 10 mile distances. “Running is more than just exercise to me, it’s my time to focus and plan out my day, so I make it a priority.”
When she is not running or corralling the kids, she leads the Infinitive Foundation and recently launched the Infinitive Championship Series to bring people together to exercise, have fun and raise money for families in need. The Series has been a great way to marry her own passion for exercise with non-profit work.

Alicia Anderson, a wife and mother, upon completion of graduate school in 2005 began planning the launch of Attaché Services, a company helping women thrive in their professional and personal lives. With several years of management experience in large corporations, a degree in Industrial Engineering and a keen sensitivity to women’s issues, she recognized a dual opportunity – 1) to help high-performing women build their own support system and 2) to help companies implement strategies to keep the female talent they’d worked so hard to attract. But launching a company was no easy decision. A corporate downsizing was the impetus for serious introspection for Alicia. Facing the 2nd cut in 2 years, she asked herself if she really wanted to remain in such a volatile environment. In addition to dodging the hatchet, she was dealing with her own personal struggle - trying to maintain superwoman status in corporate America and at home. After much consideration she decided to take a severance package and leave her Fortune 100 employer in pursuit of her dream. With three children, an ambitious Harvard trained husband, a degree in Industrial Engineering and an MIT Sloan MBA she exited the predominantly male operations department of a large telecommunications company to launch her own business. Alicia resides in Reston, VA with her husband, Dr. Alan Anderson and children, Alan (8), Alexander (7), and Allison (3).

Dr. Rana Barakat is a well known orthodontist practicing in Northern Virginia since 1996. She is known as a caring doctor that is fully aware of the impact she has on her patient’s lives. Improving a smile is an important task she takes very seriously. With incredible educational credentials on her resume including degrees from Vanderbilt University, University of Tennesse and University of Rochester, she is a force in her business. She is also known for her commitment to her community and loves giving back to local charities.
She is married to her husband Jerry and has two adorable children, Hope, age 6 and Paul, 22 months old. Her most treasured moments in her busy life include time with her family. She gives meticulous attention to the time she devotes to her family while pursuing her career. “I believe you should pursue your dreams and set an example for your children so that they grow up knowing they can do the same,” Rana adds.
She is a true modern mom as her time is split equally between work, carpools, ballet classes, swimming, tennis lessons and play dates.

Dima Ali, MD is fun and it’s not just her infectious laugh that sets her apart. She truly enjoys life, is passionate about her career, and crazily in love with her children. She is also a woman on a mission.

A mission to empower women of all ages to look and feel the best they can. This from a woman whose philosophy is: Don’t just believe in miracles ... expect them!

There is also the serious side. The one that makes her eyes fill with tears. Like when she remembers being at the bedside of a dying child while a resident at the Oncology Department of DC’s Children’s Hospital. That defining moment changed her from pursuing a career in Pediatrics to the one that has brought her much success in women’s preventative health care and dermatology.