I have a couple of confessions to make.
1) I like most people. I'd have to look long and hard to find someone that I just really do not like.
2) I did not like Liefia Ingalls.
Really I'm not sure what it was but online she seemed to be very distant, only concerned with herself, never "part of the group", and I have no idea how else to explain how I saw her via The Internet but it just wasn't in a positive light.
Then, at Worlds 2018 I was sitting next to my gym bag and I looked over and there was Liefia standing next to me. I'm almost blind without my glasses on but I could see her purple hair next to me and all I heard was "Clint, you pack EVERYTHING, do you have a screw driver?". I was sure it was some type of joke where she could say "Here, SCREW YOU" but that is not what I got at all. I apologized because I didn't have one and then she expressed her frustration as she was having some type of trouble with her lever belt and patted me on the back as she walked by, continuing her mission.
A few minutes later she walks back over, this time someone with her. Liefia stood in front of me and said "Hi Clint, I would like you to meet my mom. She came to the competition with me and I really wanted you two to meet." Now, I really am not sure WHY she wanted me to meet her mom. I'm pretty sure she wasn't trying to set me up (sort of sure anyways) but the way that she came across was that Liefia valued ME so much that she also wanted her mother (someone who means THE WORLD to her) to meet me as well. As someone who also used to travel to competitions with my parents, this meant The World to me and told me almost everything that I needed to know about Liefia Ingalls.
Literally, my heart dropped. At that moment I realized that Liefia is distant because she isn't focused on drama. She is concerned with herself because she commits herself to the highest of standards and holds herself accountable to her commitments. She isn't "part of the group" because she stays out of online drama. This really got me more and more interested in who Liefia was and what she does with her life.
Liefia was the first person in her family to go to college and has a BS in Neuropsychology / Pre-Med. She started her own business doing work that she can only describe as "work I would gladly have done for free". She didn't tell me what this is but it is widely known in the underground world of strongman that she is a snake tamer. No, this is not the same as a snake charmer and if you have to ask that question then you don't deserve to know the answer.
She claims to have paid off all of her debt before the age of 30 but I dispute that it is possible that she could be age 30 or how any strongman athletes could possibly actually be debt free.
Liefia once picked up Dennis Rodman from rehab in a zebra painted limousine. She was the driver and appointed by The Court as "the responsible party". Dennis Rodman drove and she sat in the back.
She competed in the first Arnold Pro Strongwoman OPEN contest in 2017, is The Strongest Woman in The World Middle Weight in 2018, and World's Strongest Woman MW 2018.
Some of her Personal Records include The Circus Dbell Press PR of 160 lbs
Atlas Stone Record of 335 lbs (I have video of her recently breaking this by loading a 340 lb Atlas Stone)
Placed 2nd by 2 points behind The World's Strongest Woman by 2 points at The Arnold 2018 AND THE NEXT DAY loaded a 315 lb Slater Stone (no tacky) at The Record Breakers Contest. (When I began Strongman a lot of men could not load a 315 lb stone WITH TACKY).
She can also hold her feet together like they are hands.
Liefia can also make a tater-tot grilled cheese sandwich. It is unknown if she can make one with her feet though.
When I asked her how I could get my "Cool Kids Card" she did point out that my blue glasses were helping me but that they are not Awesome Sauce White like hers but she also went on to say "I don't know how to answer the "coolest thing" about me. I think I'm pretty uncool. But maybe like in the awkward way that people's grandparents are uncool, so then it's kinda endearing??"
I'll leave you with this quote that I finally pulled from Liefia after a lot of poking and prodding, and this will tell you almost everything that you need to know about her as well as why I like her so much. We have a lot in common.
"If I died today, the feeling of pride for my life path and knowing that following my passion led me to a place where I can contribute some small thread of happiness or self-worth to a bunch of other people...that. That would be my greatest accomplishment."