In 2006, Tenia Fisher graduated from UW-Milwaukee as a successful track star holding five school records. But in her post-grad years, Fisher was losing her joy in running.
"After college no one talks about what you do after that as an athlete. Running on my own felt lonely and not fun at all," says Fisher, former collegiate runner and Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) teacher.
Then she found a running group called F.E.A.R. that would reignite her love for the sport.
"F.E.A.R. stands for forget everything and run, and it became very important to me because I was missing that family and team aspect as a young adult being done with collegiate sports. F.E.A.R. literally came in and filled that void for me," says Fisher.
With pep back in her step, Fisher now helps grow F.E.A.R., allowing others to find their stride and their path.
"Majority of F.E.A.R. are young adults that have never run in their lives," she said. "That's part of F.E.A.R.'s mission, for people to be able to see how they can connect and network all through running. It will give them that family aspect to where they can see themselves living here and see this as their home."
Putting Milwaukee's best foot forward, Fisher was still caught off guard when an international running brand reached out.
"I thought it was spam. I thought it was spam, so I didn't respond for a long time," says Fisher.
Wanting to feature F.E.A.R. as a part of their Live Uplifted campaign, the brand was persistent, and eventually, ASICS came to Milwaukee.
"I just shot a national commercial in my city, I'm born and raised here. That means the world to me," she said.
Now, the world can see Milwaukee the way Fisher does, not just as a city but as a team.
"Millions of people from all over can see what Milwaukee is doing and how beautiful Milwaukee is. They just did an amazing job of highlighting pretty Milwaukee is," says Fisher. "Having a team is having someone that can hold you accountable, most importantly people to feed odd, people to encourage you, people to inspire you. I love getting all that from my new family and teammates from F.E.A.R."
