Sheila Barden Joins the Family of Fast as Brand Manager
Matt Mosman started EndurElite to help athletes Fuel Fast in 2017, and over the past few months, I have learned from him and come to share his passion and love for EndurElite. I’m Sheila Barden, and I’m so excited to be part of the family as the Brand Manager.
For years, I was a CrossFit addict, training in the gym, on a road bike, in the ocean and across the country. What started out as a hobby, a hope and a dream, quickly became my life. Early morning runs and late-night training sessions. I went from weekend warrior to elite level CrossFit athlete in less than two years. I ran into the fire with my head down and my eyes forward, and that’s what made me so successful as an athlete, and what has made me so successful in my career.
When owner, Mark Glazier, and the NutraBio team reached out to me in 2017 to join Team NutraBio, I initially said no, twice. I never took supplements, not even protein, because one of my biggest fears was that I would consume a product that was spiked with a banned substance and not only would my CrossFit career end, but my reputation that I had worked so many years to create, would be ruined in a single moment by something out of my control.
It took weeks of emails, a trip to the NutraBio manufacturing facility in New Jersey and a lesson on full label disclosure by Mark himself before I agreed to join the NutraBio family. Looking back, it was one of the best decisions of my entire CrossFit career.
After eight solid years of training and competing at the highest level in CrossFit, I ended my career with a sixth place finish at the CrossFit Games in 2018, immediately followed by my first of two back surgeries. I was devastated when my athletic journey abruptly ended, and I was nervous about what that would mean for my career, supplement sponsors, and fans.
For almost three years I struggled to find balance, sessions in the gym went from hours long, six days a week, to fighting to even walk into the gym. When I would find the energy and the motivation to work out, most of my sessions ended with me crying on the floor from frustration and anger because I felt as though I had let everyone in my life down by no longer competing at the highest level. I free floated for a bit, coaching, traveling, running away from the pain and the fear.
During my entire athletic career, and for the years after, I never worked with any supplement company other than NutraBio. Mark and the crew stuck by my side through all the highs and the lows, sending me love and supplements even after we all knew that my days of competing had ended.
And then I received a call from Mark in July 2021 that shifted my world.
“Sheila, I have an opportunity, and I want you to be part of it.”
Initially, I was hesitant. I was loyal to NutraBio, I believed in everything that Mark had created and the BioCrew. But just like when I joined the NutraBio family in 2017, Mark chipped away at me for a month, helping me to understand that EndurElite had all the same core values and full label disclosure that NutraBio was built on, and that it was formulated for the endurance world that I was used to training. Mark finally convinced me when he told me all the EndurElite products would be manufactured and distributed out of the same facility as the NutraBio products. My two worlds, endurance and NutraBio had finally collided. I agreed to join the team full-time because just like everything in my life, I have to be all the way in, or not involved at all.
I’ve run triathlons, obstacle course races and hit the road with my bike for miles. I trained long distance ocean swimming with a former Navy Seal and hiked mountains across the country. I’ve trained for hours in the gym and chipped away at weaknesses for years, knowing that I was always destined to be part of something so much bigger than me.
I am excited to be part of the Family of Fast, to meet all of you and to share adventures and stories as we continue to grow together.
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Sheila Barden
