Suzanna McGee, Six Foot Lion

Can you imagine giving up your home, country, career and relationship to venture into the unknown, in pursuit of your personal vision?

Suzanna McGee did just that when she moved to Venice Beach, California in June of 1996. The six foot European beauty was born in 1965 in Czechoslovakia and moved to Sweden in 1988 after earning her Masters in Technology. Once in Sweden, the multi-lingual (she speaks six languages) Suzanna completed a Masters in Computer Science and began lecturing at the university level. In between lectures, Suzanna became a personal trainer and soon realized that fitness and training would eventually become a full time career.

A brief visit to Venice in the summer of 1995 proved to be more than a simple vacation. It made Suzanna realize that she wanted to live near the sun and sea to pursue a disciplined journey towards a perfect body and a balanced mind. After selling her home and belongings, quitting her job and ending a relationship with her boyfriend, Suzanna moved to Venice Beach the following summer. She arrived in California with one bag and a mountain bike, not knowing a soul and not speaking the language.

Once in Los Angeles, Suzanna quickly learned English and started personal training in Marina del Rey. She joined the infamous Gold’s Gym in Venice and focused on training, nutrition and rollerskate dancing. In 1997, she began to compete in a few fitness contests in which she performed her routine on rollerskates. Suzanna’s height and muscular frame led people to suggest that she try amateur bodybuilding. She rose to the challenge and entered a contest, which she found very exciting.

Not one to simply dip a toe into the water, Suzanna dove in and competed in 19 contests that year and gained a large amount of stage experience. The hard work paid off, first with a win in the Ms. Venice Beach contest in 1998, followed by winning the 1999 Ms. Natural Olympia contest, a yearly all-natural (no drugs / steroids folks allowed) body building competition featuring hundreds of amateur bodybuilders from all over the world. Suzanna also added the 1999 Red Bull Great Skate national champion title in artistic rollerskate dancing to her growing list of accomplishments. In 2000, Suzanna won first place in the heavyweight class of the Steel Rose competition. In all, Suzanna has accumulated over 40 trophies since relocating to California. Suzanna’s love of performance has also led to a national television commercial for Lipton Iced Tea and video work. She has recently begun a weekly television fitness and training program that airs globally via Pars TV, a satellite network.

These days, Suzanna uses her computer background to maintain her own website, http://www.sixftlioness.com The website receives approximately 12,000 hits per month from fitness fans across the globe. The site features a monthly newsletter written in Suzanna’s humorous style and is filled with training and nutrition tips as well as jokes, photos and motivational essays. The Lioness, as she is known to fans and friends, strongly believes in the power of the subconscious mind and its ability to be a powerful tool to help people realize their life goals. She respects body and mind equally, and strives to live her life in balance and joy and to share this with others.

Suzanna McGee believes in “think happy, be happy.” Her spiritual and disciplined approach towards life are a joy and inspiration to those who know her and she is living proof that brains and brawn need not be mutually exclusive.