Monica and Joanne's Bio
<< back
Mo n' Jo
It all started on a plane flying from Atlanta to Los Angeles… back in 1995!
Both Monica and Joanne were returning to LA, CA from the IFBB Olympia weekend. Both had competed in the Ms Olympia (Joanne- Bodybuilding and Monica- Fitness)
By chance (if there is such a thing) Jo and Mo were seated next to one another on the packed flight and the friendship was sealed when Monica brought out the white chocolate coconut haystacks and offered to share with Joanne!
“I don’t remember much about what we talked about, but I do remember the chocolates, after an Olympia diet, it doesn’t get much better than white chocolate!” - Joanne
“I don’t recall what we chatted about either.. but I am sure it was very important! Ha! Ha! I just remember Jo wearing some really tight and cut out sexy pants! She was in killer shape and had the entire flight checkin her out!” - Monica
Joanne was coming to the end of her impressive Bodybuilding career, retiring the next year after 13 years of competition and Monica was just embarking on her journey which would take her to the very top of her field becoming an inspiration to women all over the world!
In 1998 Mo decided she needed some extra help in her preparations for the Fitness Olympia and hired Jo as her trainer! Jo put Mo through the ringer for about 5 months of intense sessions and after many teary workouts and pep talks from Jo, Mo won the prestigious IFBB Fitness Olympia title!!
After all these years, Mo and Jo have remained firm friends with trust, integrity and lots of memories to build a great foundation for their future goals!
“Most friendships have their up and downs but we have only had our ups!” - Joanne
“I have learned over the years that Jo is a special friend that I can count on no matter what! It has never been a forced friendship.. no matter how much time goes in-between a phone call or visit, we always land right back in the same place of understanding one another!“ - Monica
Mo and Jo and Venice Nutrition
"We have both worked to get ourselves into exceptional condition and we have both worked with a great many people to help them do the same! We know the questions and we have experienced the frustrations!
"We found our way through decades of personal experience and study, we know what works (because we know what doesn’t) and the program we offer here is one we know will work for you!
"We are very proud to put our name behind Venice Nutrition!"
Work with Mo, Jo and other licensed coaches through ‘MoJo Pro Wellness’ and let them educate and guide you to the results you deserve!
MoJo Pro Wellness - Nutrition and Conditioning Seminar
Corporate Wellness presentations
Guest speakers at your next event
Bring the gift of health to your business, a couple of hours can change lives forever.
"We started the Seminar at 7pm, I learned so much myself and the Q&A went into the night, I think we eventually left at 11pm! The feedback was fantastic; we are certainly doing it again in the New Year." - Mary Trumpi DC Santa Monica Sports Medicine
Please email one of us for full details on Seminar presentation and Corporate Wellness Packages.
Monica BrantFitness Expert, Professional Fitness Athlete, & Model
read bio >>
Joanne LeeNutritionist, Fitness Expert & Professional Bodybuilder
read bio >>
Monica Brant's Bio
Monica BrantFitness Expert, Professional Fitness Athlete, & Model
(Quoted by Jim Rosenthal, past Senior Writer- Weider Publications)
“Monica Brant - Her name is as familiar to fitness as Joe Namath’s is to football!”
(Quoted by Contributing Writer, Lara McGlashan for Muscle & Fitness Magazine)
Since her first appearance as a cover girl for Muscle & Fitness Magazine in November 1994 she has gained momentum and is currently at the top of the female fitness world, evident by her unprecedented national and international magazine exposure – over 100 covers and almost as many articles/interviews to this date.
Along with her “normal” schedule of training, traveling, competing, answering emails, booking appearances, fulfilling orders, making trips to the post office, and updating her website; Monica is positioning herself to bring her drive and enthusiasm for fitness into the “mainstream”.
The first step toward this endeavor was signing a deal with a Licensing Company (Bradford Licensing Associates, LLC) in which the company released Monica’s first book deal with Sports Publishing, LLC titled "Monica Brant’s Secrets to Staying Fit & Loving Life!” The book is on shelves now and can be purchased via her personal website: http://www.monicabrant.com
Taking a step back in time, Monica has grown up accustomed to hard work! Raised on a 20-acre ranch, where her mom was a professional horse trainer for 15 years, Monica was riding and showing horses of all disciplines since the age of 7. To this day Monica still enjoys riding; Jumpers being her favorite! Along with the horses, Monica was also a zealous athlete in school– running sprints during track season and playing volleyball. In her sophomore year of high school she was on the Texas State Mile Relay Winning team, running her leg of a quarter mile under 60 seconds!
After graduating from high school, Monica decided to attend a fine arts college to study Equestrian Science and marketing. Along with school, Monica started her first steps towards the fitness stage by competing in local and statewide bikini contest and working part time as a San Antonio Budweiser girl. Winning a brand new Mustang (car) was her top prize in a contest...building her confidence that she had what it took to be on stage!
In 1991 Monica started lifting weights and noticed a photo of Marla Duncan winning a fitness competition in a national fitness publication. Marla’s beauty and physique impressed her so much that she wanted to try her hand at the fitness competitions. Just a few months later in 1991, Monica competed and won her first show! After competing for a few more years based in TX; she decided to make the move to Los Angeles where she turned her hobby into a full-blown career. Since her move in 1995 and earning her Pro Card in the IFBB, Monica competed in 1-3 contests a year through 1999. After the Fitness Olympia in 1999, she decided to retire from the Fitness stage, however, she was still continually booked for appearances around the world (Germany, Italy, Austria, France, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Africa, Argentina and many tropical islands too!) promoting a healthy lifestyle!
After 3.5 years hiatus from professional fitness competitions; Monica was invited to compete in the first Professional IFBB FIGURE International 2003 at the prestigious Arnold Classic. To this date, Monica has competed in 12 IFBB Pro Figure Competitions and has continued to place in the top 2-3 at every show!
As a veteran to the Olympia stage, Monica won the FITNESS Olympia in 1998 (which was held in Nice, France) and is happy to say she was the first athlete to ever compete in more than one division of the Olympia competition!
Unlike Figure’s sister division, Fitness, the Figure category has no dance/strength routine involved. It is comprised of two rounds, both in ‘swimsuits’- one and two piece. The ladies are judged by a panel of experienced judges on their symmetry, full muscle bellies, conditioning of their “physique package’ and stage presence including their grace/poise count too!
The Olympia is the pinnacle of Professional bodybuilding, remembering Arnold Schwarzenegger made his debut in the entertainment world by winning the Men’s IFBB Bodybuilding Olympia title “back in the day”!
Beyond the stage, Monica still models for the top fitness publications and in June 2003 Monica was honored with the solo spot on Muscle & Fitness Magazine, one of very few women to have this opportunity in the history of M&F Magazine!
Karen Hawley, Senior Art Director (1998-2003) – Muscle & Fitness Her’s says, “Monica’s accomplishments speak for themselves, she simply shines – truly a fitness icon for the millennium!”
Monica’s love of helping others achieve their own personal goals is the driving factor in her motivation for her lifestyle. So true to form, she is now hosting F.E.M. (Fun! Educational! Motivational!) Camps for all aged women interested in health, fitness, competing, modeling and proper nutrition! The F.E.M. Camps are scheduled both in the USA and in Canada! (For more details on the F.E.M. Camps, please log onto www.FEMCamp.net)
At the present time, Monica has settled down in Austin, TX with hubby of 4 years, Scott Peckham, a new home and even Miniature Dachshunds (Fenway and Camy)!!
Yet with all the new changes in her life, you can be rest assured Monica will continue to bring fitness to as many others as she can while maintaining her own goals and living a very full and happy life!
Joanne Lee's Bio
Joanne LeeCertified Nutrition Coach & Personal Trainer
Joanne grew up in the North East of England, born under the glow of an industrial blast furnace Joanne’s parents worked hard to achieve their dreams and were able to move their family into a wonderful home in a beautiful village called Hilton.
Hilton is still where Joanne calls home, her parents still live in the same house, some 35 years later and maybe its that solid family foundation that gave Joanne and her brother, Simon the stability to be able to spread their own wings, create their own destiny and dance to the beat of their own drum.
Joanne was always the athlete, while others at school played hockey and netball (England remember); Joanne was always told to get back out on the track. High jump, 100m and 200m with the occasional hurdles were her forte. Although her dislike for the high jump was pretty intense she persevered and took all her events to county level where she competed for several years.
While training at the track Joanne was encouraged to train with weights to strengthen her legs, this would be the first time Joanne entered a weight gym - when she was 14 years old.
It was pretty much love at first rep and by 17 she was onstage competing in Bodybuilding. In her 20’s Joanne won the British, European and World championships. She turned professional, competed in the Ms Olympia a couple of times before retiring at the age of 30.
When not in the gym Joanne was quite a good student going from college to University to gain her BA (hons) in Business and Finance.
With two main goals achieved, to get her degree and to get her “Pro’ card, Joanne turned her sights to travel and moved to Australia. On her return flight to England Joanne had second thoughts about going home and when the plane landed in Los Angeles for a stop over, Joanne got and didn’t get back on …. 14 years ago.
Dreams do come true and Joanne turned her great passion for training into a personal training business building. Gold’s Gym in Venice became Joanne’s base (and this is where she first met Mark McDonald of Venice Nutrition) her clientele and reputation grew; she became the go to girl for ‘conditioning’, the best advert of her skills being herself.
The path for Joanne didn’t always run in a straight line. With no formal education in nutrition and being involved in a sport which demanded such insane conditioning and just as insane dieting... Let’s let Joanne tell her side of this somewhat fairy tale story...
"People ask me ‘what did you look like before you started training’ and the truth is I really don’t know, I’ve always trained and one of the greatest blessings of my life is that I started so young. That being said, I was in the North East of England, not known for their culinary fare and this was in the 80’s where super low calorie diets were all the rage and fat was a very bad word.
The first diet I did was as a teenager and the advice of my coach was to eat as little as possible. Prior to the show I didn’t drink any fluids for 4 days and then I was given liquid liver “for Iron” ….. I thought there had to be a better way !! I started reading everything I could get my hands on and that was the real start to my training.
I remember reading that protein built muscle, so I got a huge box of cereal but only ate the nuts ! I read more and learnt that nuts weren’t the best protein choice and that there were these things called essential amino acids .. fascinating, no one had told me about those!
I read and I read, I asked questions and I watched and I trained. By the time I left the stage I knew my body so well but I was about to learn a huge lesson. I had by this time been dieting for shows every year for 12 years and although I always ate quality food I would always put on a very acceptable 15 lbs off season. My metabolism was in an utter state of confusion. If I ate a little too much I packed on the pounds, if I dieted hard it came off, but now I wanted consistency, I wanted off that roller coaster ride.
I looked beyond the calories, I looked at my metabolism, my energy, I changed my training, I ate to fuel my body and I took my body from a state of shock into a place of balance … my body became the best training tool at my disposal. For years I had used diets and treadmills to achieve the results I needed, with study and research and trial and error I soon discovered that the best tool I had was in fact my body.
People also say to me ‘You must have great genetics’ and indeed I am very blessed, but I have also traveled quite a journey. The reward I get from helping others take control of their health is the greatest prize of all and makes that liquid liver almost worth it."
My favorite words to live by
“Complacency is the Devil and Boredom is Hell .. we need not meet either”
<< back