Heather Parisi’s story begins with her personality. Bright-spirited and driven, her passion and dedication to the things she loves has created unprecedented opportunities for children in Africa.
“When I like something, I’m in 110 percent. No question,” said Parisi, a Farmingdale native who now lives abroad just north of London, England.
In first grade, Parisi fell head-over-heels in love with gymnastics, but a break to her leg fractured growth plates. Surgeries and staples later, Parisi had a crooked leg that was missing an inch of bone leaving it shorter than the other—an invitation for classmates to tease her.
“I didn’t know how to acclimate. It caused insecurities and eating disorders,” Parisi said. “There’s never a day that goes by that I don’t think about food differently than other people.”
Through those trying times, Parisi discovered “how to find inner strength, accept and overcome and find love in yourself.” Her obstacles have transformed her into someone who recognizes her strengths and weaknesses and isn’t afraid to accept her faults. In fact, her will to overcome her challenges is what sparked the idea for what would change the lives of children on the other side of the globe.
Through actively traveling the world with the company she worked for, Parisi was exposed to the vastly different ways children lived and learned in other countries—specifically Uganda. As she made an effort to be active and find ways to stay healthy, a lightbulb went off and Parisi founded Flip2BFit, a board game designed to teach children fitness in a fun and engaging way. She sold the game to elementary schools across the U.S. and eventually took it to the African country as part of her nonprofit organization Fitness For Africa that brings fitness and education to students and parents in Uganda to teach children the same principles of fitness that American children had already learned.
“It’s helping kids overcome the fear of exercise and letting them learn the basic elements so they can feel confident in knowing how to move their bodies,” Parisi explained. “I used that game for the school in Uganda. It was a combination of bringing health, wellness and the idea of fitness to a community to help them and their children have a better hope for tomorrow.”
The school she spoke of was Pearl of Hope, a school Parisi founded and had built in Uganda in early 2013 for three levels of kindergarten and two levels of primary education.
“Five years after going through my program, kids were excited to get up and go to school because they had better ways to eat and stay healthy,” Parisi said. “It doesn’t matter who you are, where you are or how much money you have; you have the ability, the right and the choice to live a healthy lifestyle.”
Though Pearl of Hope closed in 2017, Parisi said the work she’s done in Uganda has left her with an incredible amount of fulfillment.
“What [the people] have shared with me for five years will stay with them for the rest of their lives,” she mused. “Those children learned so much and are so far ahead of what traditional curriculum would be. Their lives will be forever changed and I helped to make their lives change. I can’t even begin to express how I’ve changed as a person.”
Parisi’s mother, Cheryl, is co-president of the Farmingdale Women’s Club and is a village trustee. A woman of strength and leadership, it is no wonder where her daughter found the inspiration to share her passion.
“I always saw a very strong woman who took control of things and always has a very positive outlook on life,” Parisi said. “I’ve embraced so much of her strength and positivity
and I’ve seen her become someone so empowering and positive. My mother has been incredible. She did everything she could to help me.”
With everything Parisi has done, she said she stays motivated simply by believing in herself.
“I wake up every single day and before I get out of bed I tell myself I can,” she said. “I don’t question if other people believe it.”
