“A six foot two house plant, with long blonde hair and bright red toenails.” Yeah, that was where Taj McNamara was headed in 2009, after a series of personal and physical challenges brought this tall, blue eyed mother of two to her knees. She laughs now about that, but two years ago she wasn’t laughing at all.
An unknown and dormant medical condition had brought her to a standstill. “I was a different person, and it wasn’t a good version of me. It was quite possibly the worst parts of me, taking center stage, all the time.”
She found herself starting over alone, still fighting her condition, “With everything that I was facing, and facing my husband giving up, there was no logical explanation for the myriad of symptoms….I was suicidal for a while there— and so I shut everyone and everything in my life, out.”
The first thing she did; a purge. She changed every product and component of her personal care routine. Everything.
“Think about all the things you use, every day. Soap, shampoo, toothpaste, lotions, creams, cleansers, laundry soaps, anything that would come in contact with your skin.”
Then she started going to the gym again. This unlikely place is where MsMoto became a concept, and later a reality, with Taj finally feeling up to a regular workout, and joining a Crossfit group at her local gym.
“Starting MsMoto was a bit of an accident, it was something I was doing for myself….that turned out to have bigger implications and options for other women with my condition….and when I started learning to ride a borrowed KTM…..I already had the basis for what I was doing with Crossfit, and the kit migrated between activities with me.”
“I wanted to ride so badly, and I was almost to the point of suffering the symptoms to do it, but I knew, I had to get my body back before I could do anything else, try anything else. I had to understand what my body was trying to say to me, first.”
With both the activity and the gear, she was facing a second set of challenges, and her research and education for what she could use for her personal care, became an even bigger facet of her routine. “I was adding a second and third facet to what I was asking of myself- I was putting on gear and clothes, riding in dirt, sun and wind.”
She runs her fingers along her jaw line and above her eyes, “My gear rubs against my face here, and unlike a guy, I don’t have tougher skin or facial hair to protect me, what skin I have on the track on Saturday is the same skin I have when I go out for work on Monday or for a night on the town a couple days later- my skin isn’t something I can change like my clothes.”
Why moto girls? She laughs and makes a pair of goggles out of her hands, framing her eyes with her fingers. “Ever notice how at the track, you can tell the girls who are riding, no matter what color their gear, you look thru those helmets and most times- there’s a gorgeous pair of made-up eyes behind them?” She smiles wide, “Moto girls may be tough, but we know we’re pretty underneath all that tough.”
Taj is the first to admit that women who ride are a different breed, and a strong one at that. “This KTM I’ve been practicing/learning on, it’s challenging me in every way, and it is growing on me, I’m building up. I had to Crossfit for 3 months before I could run. I hadn’t run in 18 years. Now I run. I love it. ”
The kits are simple, basic and no-frills. The products are natural and without preservatives or chemical additives. Made in small batches, and packaged by Taj herself.
“I had to find out what I needed to do to take care of myself, and then do it. I wish I had gotten more support from others in that time, but I suppose — I had to do this for myself, and by myself, because no one could do it for me.”
You can see where she got the inspiration for her logo, the blue eyes that gaze strongly, defiantly from her products, mirror her own blue eyes, fixed on whatever holds her focus at the moment. “I am strong now, and that has made all the difference.”
Visit www.msmoto.co to see the lineup of MsMoto skin and health care products!
