Contributor Elle Meinholz has been in love with swimming all her life. Growing up she swam for the Waukesha Express Swim Team and Catholic Memorial High School. The oldest daughter of two former UW-Badger swimmers, Elle went on to college to fulfill her lifelong dream of swimming as a Wisconsin Badger from 2009-2013. During her first three years at Wisconsin she trained as a backstroker. After finding her niche in middle distance/distance freestyle and training with one of her favorite coaches her senior year, Elle had one of her most successful seasons yet swimming sub five minutes in the 500-yard freestyle (an event she actually loved!)
Elle graduated from the University of Wisconsin with two degrees in English and Communications. Her work experience prior to graduation was lifeguarding, coaching, and teaching swim lessons. If she could have it her way, those responsibilities would be a lifetime career, but other opportunities called. Fortunately, a few short months after graduation Elle landed a job in downtown Milwaukee working as an Admission Counselor at Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE). She absolutely loved the school, her job, and her co-workers. Her favorite part of her job was working closely with high school students and being their guide through the craziness of making a college decision.
After being out of school for over a year, Elle started getting the itch to go back to school. In addition to working at MSOE full-time, she decided to attend the university to go for her Masters of Business Administration. She successfully graduated from MSOE in May 2016. Upon completion of her degree, Elle left MSOE for an exciting opportunity as the Director of Marketing for A3 Performance, the fastest growing brand of competitive swimwear in the United States.
Her two passions in life are swimming and writing. Elle finds time to fully fulfill her passions by writing for SwimSwam as often as she can and getting in the water every now and then. Although she is very busy, she absolutely loves taking on new and exciting opportunities (especially when it comes to swimming!) and is always looking for more!
Other significant loves are her best friends, her three siblings, her parents, her dog Ace, and ice cream!
