Sound Decisions

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Gina Mancuso was a professional Equestrian and serial entrepreneur before joining the MSA teaching staff.

At Miller School of Albemarle, we believe excellence can take many forms and the first step toward excellence is discovering your passion. For math teacher Gina Mancuso, pursuing her passion led to excellence in professional athletics as well as business. She now uses these experiences to help MSA students cultivate their own passions in the classroom where she teaches economics and statistics as well as in sports where she coaches tennis. 

We sat down with Ms. Mancuso to learn more about her fascinating ride as a world-class professional equestrian and then as a successful entrepreneur.

At the age of 18, you made a big decision to pursue a career in professional sports instead of attending college. Tell us more about this. Was it a difficult decision or did you know your path was professional Equestrian.

Turning professional after high school was one of the toughest decisions I have faced, and it was one that only I could make. I had three roads ahead, one was to go to University, I was accepted to all that I applied to, the second was to do a PG year at Hotchkiss in Connecticut, and the third was to pursue my passion for riding and turn professional. I had ended my junior career riding ranked amongst the top riders in the nation, and I had gained a lot of recognition in the sport. While I was competing in Wellington, Fl during the winter of my senior year in high school, I was offered the opportunity to train and work for Laura Kraut, who is one of the top riders in the world. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I knew I would regret if I did not take it. That is when I made the decision to turn professional and defer going to college. 

Equestrian is an international sport. Where did you travel and what impact did this have on your view of the world?

I competed in Holland, Germany, and throughout Canada. There is a lot of travel involved in show jumping, nationally and at the upper levels internationally, I was always on the road. Sometimes I would get off a horse in the states, head to the airport, and then wake up in Holland and be on my first horse before lunch. Due to the nature of the riding world, I was able to experience these countries with locals and not as a tourist. My fondest memories were when we would grill out after a long day riding or competing. The culture was my biggest take away, no one was in a rush and meals were about being together and great conversation. I feel the conversations had more depth and that everyone was well educated and read. It was interesting to see how other countries ran events, prepared for competitions, and approached the business side of show jumping. Traveling motivated me to be a more well rounded person and taught me to enjoy the moment. 

You competed in the Olympic Trials. Was the Olympics always a goal for you as an athlete? 

I think the Olympics is a goal for many athletes, I was lucky at the time to have a horse that was able to compete at that level. As a young rider it tested my skill to the max and built the foundation for the worth ethic I have now. This experience taught me about opportunity cost, and that if I wanted to be taken seriously, I had to step away from my personal life and focus on training. However, I can still feel the emotions and sense of ‘I did it’ after my first round. That feeling of confidence in the show ring stayed with me for future competitions. You have to have a lot of grit, resilience, and confidence in your own ability. This opportunity set me up for future nations cup competitions. 

As a professional rider, you parlayed your success in the ring to success in business–buying and selling horses. Tell us more about becoming an entrepreneur. 

I kind of fell into being an entrepreneur, at that time I did not know that was what I was, to be honest. I had this mount that I had purchased in Europe that another trainer was interested in, when he came to the states. My dad is my biggest mentor and he guided me through the transaction, which allowed me to purchase more horses in Holland and Germany and then resell them here. I learned a lot through my successes and failures. My father once told me that you have to fail to succeed, and I learned that is true, through this business. Later in my career, when I was raising investments for my tech company, I came across an investor who would only fund entrepreneurs who have had a failure. Also, when you report to yourself you have to hold yourself accountable. Being an entrepreneur taught me about creating structure, work ethic in the business field, and that there is no such thing as a free lunch. 

What are some of the most important lessons you learned as an athlete and how do these lessons inform your teaching and coaching at MSA?

That nothing is easy and that you can never stop learning or trying to improve. No matter how talented you are or how hard you work, things happen. It taught me that you cannot give up when something does not go your way, that you need to dig deep (grit) and keep moving forward. Also, it taught me that when you succeed at something that you have fought for and worked so hard for, the feeling of accomplishment is worth every moment that it took you to get there. I love teaching and coaching because of this, there is nothing better than seeing a student when all their hard work has paid off and they have this magical smile on their face, knowing that they made it happen or accomplished the task. With my students and athletes my goal is to encourage them to want to know more, or leave it all on the tennis court. That no matter how good an athlete you are, you still have to work hard and challenge yourself. I want them to walk away curious and always wanting to know more. 

After retiring from riding and attending college, you became a serial entrepreneur. Tell us more about your businesses and this experience. 

While attending the University of Miami, I worked at the wellness center as a personal trainer and spin instructor. Having been an athlete, fitness was a huge part of my life, so it was a natural transition to work in the health industry. After Miami, I came across the opportunity to own a boutique fitness club in Coconut Grove. I jumped at the opportunity. The focus of BodySculpting studios was 1-on-1, or 2-on-1 personal training and pilates sessions, and I had a small spin studio for cardio classes. I grew the business to have 7 personal trainers, plus myself, and a high-end clientele list. This business taught me so much about management, marketing, customer relationships, and bookkeeping. I learned about Chambers of Commerce, defining target markets so that I could advertise to the clientele I was trying to attract, and I learned about hiring and employee benefits, etc. This opportunity really tested what I had learned in school on starting a business in a real world setting.  I eventually sold the business to a client, which was mainly valued by the client list.