Community Highlights: Meet Diemend Richardson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Diemend Richardson.

Hi Diemend, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born and raised in Charleston, SC. My mom was a single-parent mom and raised both me and my older sister. Because I went to art and gifted school growing up, I was an extremely active kid, from sporting events, to plays, dance recitals, art shows, to steel drums performances, etc. I was definitely a busy body. I honestly do not know how my mom balanced it all because she worked multiple jobs, ran a household of two girls, my sister had her own school life, and then with me. It was always one thing after the next.

But my mom structured our lives and seemed to manage all of the activities with grace. She leads by example, and seeing how organized and detail-oriented she has really rolled over into how I organize and manage my time when it comes to being a business owner, brand influencer, and published model, all while staying healthy and having a social/personal life.

My first love was track and field. I started running in the 7th grade, I went from being on junior varsity to varsity within the first week. I honestly thought track was my life and I would go to college on a track scholarship until my mom suggested that I try out for volleyball (mom knows best right?). (Fun fact: I actually skipped the first day of tryouts because I didn’t want to play volleyball I only wanted to run track.) As soon as I gave it a chance and tried out, I fell IN LOVE! My junior year, I stopped running track so I can pursue volleyball full time for the high school team and for a travel volleyball team. By my senior year, I got offered a full-paid scholarship to a Division 1 University (Grambling State University).

Entering college, I studied Biology with the intention to enroll in an accelerated nursing program post-graduation. I had my five-year plan in my head and I was determined to stick with it. Until two weeks before graduation, I decided to play a game of non-contact flag football. I ended up getting tackled, causing me to completely tear my Left ACL.

From that point on, everything changed for me. Being an athlete, I was blessed enough to never endure a serious injury that required a prolonged time of sitting out. Tearing my ACL is the downfall that birthed my business. ACL recovery on average, takes 6-8 months, with an additional three years to feel completely “normal” mentally and physically. I hit a low point during my recovery, I had a victim mentality, I was in a dark place mentally, and I emotionally ate, causing me to gain 25 lb within the first few months of tearing my ACL.

It took me looking in the mirror and not recognizing myself to finally wake up and make a decision that I needed to change. I began studying health, nutrition, training, recovery, etc. and developed my own lifestyle program. Thanks to the powers of social media, I was able to share my journey with honesty and transparency, which gained a lot of traction, causing others to reach out and want to work with me to help them improve their health and fitness. So I stepped out on faith and started my own health and fitness business. As my business grew, so did my audience, which birthed my journey as a social media influencer. As I grew within the social media industry, so did the start of my modeling career.

The beautiful thing about life is how things come back full cycle at different points in time. Although I didn’t pursue nursing, I utilize the information I learned while obtaining my biology degree to better understand the human body and how to better serve my clients. The creative foundation that I was taught while at art and gifted school I’ve been able to use when it comes to content creation and my modeling career.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It definitely has not been a smooth road, but that’s the beauty of life. I now embarrass challenges and adversity because I know it’s required to level up in any and every category of life. Aside from growing through my ACL recovery process, I would say the biggest challenge has been mastering my own mind. What I mean by mastering my own mind is: challenge and push past any self-limiting beliefs I may have and not just stopping there but also going deeper to discover where did that self-limiting belief come from? We as humans are not born with negative self-talk, self-limiting beliefs, negative self-imaging, etc. it is learned. It is our responsibility to grow our awareness and do the work that’s necessary to understand those deep hidden layers. At times that can be challenging, especially when we set goals, envision our dreams, and we begin that journey to obtaining what we want, deserve, and desire out of life but I’ve learned that I have the power to create my own reality and my past does not define me.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am an online health and fitness coach. I have three ways of helping/guiding my clients. I have a program called leGENdary Fit & Fuel which is a 100% customized fitness, nutrition, mindset, and habit coaching program. Focused around breaking generational health habits. MY goal is to shift the focus from “What’s your Family medical history?“ to “What are the family habits that created the medical history?”.

Another one of my programs is called “Train Like An Athlete Again” which is for my former female athletes who have gained weight post-career and want to look and feel like an athlete again. I do offer a Free Challenge before signing up for the program itself.

Lastly, I have a program called “Plant Powered Transition,” which is for individuals who are interested in transitioning into living a vegan/plant-based lifestyle. I do have a free ebook called the “Vegan Experience” If someone has thought about transitioning or may not fully understand what a plant-based lifestyle looks like.

I am most proud of the culture that I have created within my business. My main priority with everyone that I work with is creating and building a strong relationship with them. Having these personal relationships that are built on trust, honesty, transparency, and openness is essential for my ability to best serve those that I take on as a client.

How do you define success?
Everyday is an opportunity to be successful. Success does not end, it is an experience of becoming. Success to me is living everyday in gratitude, living everyday surrounding myself with quality and deeply connected relationships. Success to me is living the change that I want to see. Success to me is having clarity on what I want out of life and wholeheartedly loving the process. Success to me is having self-trust that I am exactly where I need to be at this point in time of my life.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: diemendchanel.com/IGlinks 
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diemendchanel/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DiemendChanel/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@diemendchanel?lang=en

Image Credits
Anthony Paderewski, Jeffrey Bowens,  Dalvin Adams, Courtney Diaz