ABOUT ME
My Story
On March 23rd, 1993, my mom and dad gave birth to me in Zurich, Switzerland. My parents named me after the main character of the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee (which is actually a little tom boy girl who has some real similarities to myself). My dad knew as early as 16 years old that he wanted to give his first daughter the name “Scout”. If you know the book and the main character, you can imagine that it was not hard to convince my mother of giving me the name Scout. My two other "middle names" are the native american based Shawnee and the name of a daughter of a Florida acquaintance of my parents, Shalon.
Since I was born, my parents have tried to encourage me to do sports. It started very early with parent-child gymnastics, ballet, karate and artistic gymnastics. I also had a phase where I tried out vaulting and ice skating. Besides that, I loved to play soccer (I was a huge “Die Wilden Kerle” fan).
When I was six years old, I discovered fencing through a school event. Even though I told my parents at the beginning that I did not want to do competitions, I started pretty soon with fencing as a competitive sport.
Over the years this commitment meant a lot of training, sports school, sports college, and competitions on almost every weekend. I believe that this life period shaped me into a strong young woman, who knows how to win but also how to lose, which is probably the even more important part. I would never change the way I’ve grown up.
Right from the start I was trained by a true Maître (engl. Master of Fencing). He was an extremely strict and focused old school military guy. He barely complimented me on anything. I could win tournaments and all he said was “good”, which was probably already too much said for him. When I came to the first training session at the age of six, the first thing he said to me was “grab a jumping rope and go rope jumping in the corner”. I didn’t even hear a “hello, welcome to your first fencing class”, but as it seems it didn't bother me. I guess I was being groomed into someone with a warrior heart who doesn't need a lot of affection and attention. But at least at the beginning, this probably was also one of the reasons of my low self-confidence at the time. That day was the start of a physically and mentally intensive and hard sports career in fencing - and thousands of hours of rope jumping. :-)
At the age of 13 I made my way into the youth national team. At 14 I switched from public school to a gymnasium for artists and sport athletes. In the same period my parents split up. This phase was probably one of the toughest phases in my life so far. Being separated from my two sisters (because I’ve chosen to stay with my dad), new school, new people, hard training sessions, a lot of studying and traveling had a hard impact on me. For five years my life consisted of travelling from school to training during the weekdays and travelling to and competing at national and international competitions from Friday to Sunday – and all over again, every single week. During this time, I was supported by my dad. He dedicated most of his time, besides his normal work, to my busy competition schedule, planning travel/flights and accommodations, drove and accompanied me to almost every competition during those years, which is why I am very thankful to him.
Click here for more fencing impressions
I won and lost a lot of fights/competitions and I learned focus and discipline on sometimes almost unimaginable levels. I always did more than anyone else. I trained more, I was stricter with my food intake and at the same time I studied for school like a maniac. I always had exceptionally good school grades. In all aspects of life, I was extremely hard on myself, probably sometimes too hard. I wanted to be better every day and better than anyone else. I wanted to make my family proud, which meant extra hours of memorizing techniques, drills, strength & conditioning training and attending a special speed training.
For a long time, I never questioned my way of life. I dedicated my whole being to this sport until I reached a burnout. I started to get mental problems, eating disorder and my menstruation stopped for over a year. I started being unhappy with myself, my body and my performances. As if that wasn't already enough, my body screamed for a break by having more and more injuries, like fatigue fractures on both of my feet and problems with my ligaments. On top of all this came the frustration of unfair and sometimes nepotistic treatment of the athletes in the national team of Switzerland.
Inequity and ignoring of true, measurable merit accumulated and the resulting stress level became too much for me. This was it. From one day to the next I decided to quit. I gave up 13 years of fencing as a top ranked fencer. I didn't want to just cut back from competitive sports and continue with a hobby-based training. This seemed too unnatural to me because I can’t do things halfway. I am always all in or all out.
Very soon I found a new combat sport in Muay Thai. I trained every day for about two years. Like I already explained, I’m always all or nothing, I wanted more and showed my coach that I want him to organize a fight. Since I am female and my weight was noticeably light it was hard to find an opponent in Switzerland. At the same time, I started with my further education as a fitness coach and after that with the academic studies “Bachelor of Arts in Fitness Economics”.
My studies led to a more casual fitness training phase in my life. In this life period, let me call it a “time out of competitive sports”, I went through an intensive and difficult teenage love/hate phase. If I could go back, I would shorten this phase. But still, I’m sure that this part of my life did teach me something positive: How to love and prioritize myself and my family more (which now includes loving and let myself be loved by my wonderful & crazy lovable husband).
After some years of hearing my dad say “go, let’s try out Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, it’s a popular becoming martial art and a more and more dominating skill in the UFC”, I finally went to a trial class at the academy Carlson Gracie Zurich.
After my first 60 minutes on the mats I already knew, this is it. This is the thing I want to do for the rest of my life. I can’t really put the feelings I had in this moment into words. But the fact, that after the first hour of Jiu-Jitsu I already signed the membership contract and came back the next day and the day after and the day after until today, explains everything. I felt like I’ve fallen deeply in love with a new sport. I never had that feeling for a sport before. Since November 13, 2017, I was more days on the mats than I wasn’t.
I wouldn't change my sporting career for anything in the world. I am sure that everything had to happen just like it did to get me into today's situation.
Jiu-Jitsu gave me a new sense of living.
Jiu-Jitsu…
…gave me back my lust for life.
…gave me the best second family and friends in the world.
…gave me a new reason to travel the world and compete.
…showed me that I still have the fighter heart in me (stronger than ever).
…gave me something to aim for.
…gave me the love of my life, my husband.
Jiu-Jitsu gave me dreams…
A dream of winning as much competitions as possible.
A dream of becoming a world champion.
A dream of someday being a black belt.
A dream of owning a dojo with my husband.
A dream of turning passion into a job.
A dream of coaching people to success.
A dream of changing other people’s life with the help of Jiu-Jitsu and my overall knowledge of a life full of sports.
I am still very hard on myself; I always want to be better and do more. I am never satisfied with my performances, be it in sport or in life in general. But that’s okay. This is what keeps me alive. This is what keeps me going. - Through good and bad times.
Read about my previous successes in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu here. Read about my successes in Fencing here.
Click here for more Jiu-Jitsu impressions
Personal Data
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Scout Shawnee Shalon Feitosa Pereira
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maiden name: Bosshard
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born March 23rd 1993 in Switzerland
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currently residing in Switzerland
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+41 79 273 80 13
Language Skills
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Swiss German: mother tongue
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German: mother tongue
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English: spoken & written very good
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Brazilian Portuguese: spoken & written; independently learning with daily use, language at home
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French: spoken & written good
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Italian: spoken & written
Further Description
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Reliable
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Self-reliant
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high concentration ability
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structured way of working
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very good organizational ability
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ambitious
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thinking ahead
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sociable
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very sporty, grown up with sports training
Work Experience
Employee in the Children's World kidin.ch at kidin.ch GmbH
starting from 10.01.2022
Employee Marketing & Sales at Swiss Academy of Fitness & Sports AG
23.09.2019 - 31.12.2021
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Sales
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Customer support and care
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Interface for different departments
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Operation of job platform www.jobfitness.ch
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Proofreading of Marketingmaterial
Stay abroad in California (USA) and Tokyo (Japan) for training
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and competing
01.07.2019 - 22.09.2019
Assistant of the creative management and the project development management at the Fabritastika Gestaltungsatelier AG
01.04.2018 - 30.06.2019
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Support, supplement and discharge of the creative management, project management and the main management, the creation and the execution with all arising tasks (administration, brainstorming, thinking along, etc.)
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Development, optimization and maintenance of pendency, weekly and deadline plans, project facts and project cost overviews as well as statistics
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Project management assistance in the conception and implementation of events, public attractions, trade show appearances and interior design
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Carrying out various searches
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General appointment coordination
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General administrative work
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Booking of travels
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Preparation and participation in important meetings
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Customer contact
Human resources assistant at the basefit.ch AG
01.03.2017 - 31.03.2018
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Personnel management and attendance planning
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Control of wages and payroll accounting
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Leading the selection process for commercial apprentices
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Apprenticeship training (vocational business trainer of commercial apprentices)
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Planning, implementation and evaluation of quality / standard checks
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Correspondence with insurance companies, authorities and offices
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Support of personnel recruitment, processing of the complete application process including monitoring of the relevance of job advertisements and conducting job interviews
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Quarterly and extraordinary conduct of employee reviews as well as the conduct of recruitment and dismissal discussions after consultation with the management
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Monitoring of the completeness and timeliness of employee documents incl. vacation and school planning
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Creation and archiving of all contract documents of the employees
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Processing of all HR requests and employee requests
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Processing of several forms (for example employer’s certificate, income loss applications, interim earnings forms)
Intern in the human resources and marketing department of the basefit.ch AG (accompanied by studies)
01.02.2015 - 28.02.2017
Human resources department:
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see tasks above
Marketing department:
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Selection and booking of the locations for promotion activities
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Selection of poster locations
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Ordering marketing material
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Supervising the website and several social media profiles (for example search.ch, Google+, fitness.ch, fitscout) in consultation with the management
Job searching
11.12.2014 - 31.01.2015
Fitness coach (accompanied by studies) at the Uniq Fitness AG
01.09.2013 - 10.12.2014 | opening of bankruptcy on the 08.12.2014
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work out/training support
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administration
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desk clerk
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conducting promotional activities
Intern as a certified fitness coach at the basefit.ch AG
15.08.2012 - 15.08.2013
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work out/training support
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sales talks and sales
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administration
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desk clerk
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conducting promotional activities
Education
Certificate Marketing Manager Communications and Events SLM
Swiss School of Live Marketing | 2017 - 2018
13 months extra-occupational education as a certified Marketing Manager Communications and Events
Bachelor of Arts in fitness economics
Deutsche Hochschule für Prävention & Gesundheitsmanagement | 2012 - 2016
Dual Bachelor of Arts studies in fitness economics | Bachelor of Arts (grade 1*) | Bachelor’s thesis (Note 0.5*) „Desire for a female health club: a breakdown of the demand and chances as well as a development of a 4P model“
*= very good, highest grade, German grading scale
Certificate Vocational Business Trainer
berufsbildner.ch | 2016
Vocational Business Trainer Course
Certified Fitness Coach
Swiss Academy of Fitness & Sports | 2012 - 2013
Internship as a fitness coach
High School Diploma (Matura)
Art and Sports High School Rämibühl | 2007 - 2012
Profile modern-language
Mandatory School
Public School Mönchaltorf | until 2007
Swiss elementary school and 2 years of “normal” Swiss High School in Mönchaltorf (ZH)
