Kristy Hakwins was born and raised in Texas in 1980. In 1994, she started attending Longview High School. In 1998, she graduated from high school and started attending Texas A&M University that same year. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering in 2002, graduating summa cum laude and with University and Foundation Honors. She earned a Master of Science in Chemical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 2005. She graduated from Caltech in 2008 with a Ph.D. in chemical engineering.
Scientist career
In 1999, Kristy worked as an intern for the Eastman Chemical Company and from 2000 to 2002 she worked again as an intern for the Solutia Inc. From November 2008 to August 8, 2013, she moved to Emeryville, California where she got a job as scientist for metabolic engineering of Saccharomyces cerevisiae at Amyris Inc. Since August 19, 2013, she has working as director of yeast engineering for the company Lygos.
Bodybuilding career
In elementary school, Kristy described herself as very heavy. She took dance lessons and became a twirler, but she said she wasn’t active enough and didn’t have proper eating habits. She suffered from anorexia nervosa, which lead her to starve herself. She eventually got into the gym to burn calories. At first she started with cardio and than weight training. At the age of 15 years old, she got her own gym membership and went every day after school and work. The owners were hosting a competition and taught her the basics of training, nutrition, and posing. At the age of 17, she traveled with some people from her gym to Mississippi for an ANPPC show and placed 3rd in the novice women’s short class. She has twice placed in the top four at the NPC Nationals. In November 2007, she won the light-heavyweight and overall at the NPC Nationals and received her IFBB pro card.
Kristy Hawkins gets our vote for Most Interesting Woman and Sexiest Scientist Awards.
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