Client Spotlight - Alison Coen Searcy and Connor William Coen Searcy
CLIENT SPOTLIGHT - ALISON AND CONNOR
Written by Alison Coen Searcy
1. Full Names: Alison Coen Searcy & Connor William Coen Searcy
2. Age- Connor is 9 years old and Alison is much older than that!
3. Years at Grassroots- Over 5 years for Alison and 2 years for Connor
4. Favorite Food- We both loving going out for Italian. Connor’s favorite is pasta with butter, parmesan and pepper. Alison loves seafood or anything lemony.
5. Favorite past time- Connor spends all of his free time either playing soccer or reading books. Alison’s favorite past time is spending time with Connor, especially traveling.
6. Favorite exercise- For Connor, anything soccer related. Alison loves strength training and anything non-cardio!
7. A little blurb about Alison and Connor -
I (Alison) was born and raised in Illinois, attended the University of Illinois and moved to NYC a couple weeks after my wedding in 2006. Both of my parents came to this country via NYC (my mom from Colombia and my dad from Ireland) and I love living where it all started for them. I’ve been in banking since I moved here, first spending several years at Citigroup and I’ve been at Barclays now for over 4 ½ years.
While I spend a lot of time working and traveling for work, I always try to find time for Connor (first and foremost) and fitness. Before finding Grassroots, exercise just wasn’t my thing and I rarely did it. Ever. My son attended preschool at the Brownstone School which is across the street from the old location. I was at the school auction one year and Margarita Viani (another Grassroots client) encouraged me to bid on the Grassroots package. I did it begrudgingly and won it, and honestly I figured I’d go in for the evaluation and use the free session and be done with it. But I decided to continue after that, mostly because of the encouragement I received from Wil who evaluated me and trained me a couple times. I decided to buy a few more sessions and go from there but I was in no way ready to commit. Over 5 years later, and the rest is history! I’ve probably worked with every trainer that has come through there in that time, some for years and some for only a couple sessions, and it’s been a great experience with all of them. They all talk to each other and let each other know the things I like and the things I can’t stand (like cardio and the bike!), and so even with a new trainer I feel like they already know me so well. Wil and Heather have built such an amazing community and I love being a part of it. When I moved from the UWS to the UES a couple of years ago, I thought (briefly) that I should find something more convenient but I knew I wouldn’t find anything like Grassroots so I deal with the schlep from the east side. It’s definitely worth it!
Connor was born here in NYC so he’s the true New Yorker in our family. He attended The Brownstone School for 3 years of preschool and is now in 4th grade at the Allen-Stevenson School. I love raising him in a city that is so multicultural and gives him similar perspectives as those I grew up with having two foreign parents. We also travel a lot with Connor and he has been lucky enough in his 9 years to have visited places like Colombia, Ireland (we hit both of these in June!), England, Italy, Hawaii, Aruba, Cabo, the Dominican Republic, St. Thomas…and many other great spots. While soccer is his passion and takes up a lot of his time every week, he has made time for various classes at Grassroots like Kids Skills and Parkour. He loves going where mommy exercises and these classes have helped him build more strength and balance. He is treated like a member of the family when he is at Grassroots, and we hope he can continue finding challenges there for years to come!
