Colette Nelson

Colette Nelson (born 1974) is a former American professional female bodybuilder and nurse practitioner. Born in Southfield, Michigan, and raised in Royal Oak, she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at 12, and her doctor told her to start insulin and exercise to keep her blood pressure under control. She graduated from Clarence M. Kimball High School in 1992, teaching up to 20 aerobics classes a week, then took a bachelor's degree in dietetics with a dance minor at Michigan State University and moved to New York City for a master's degree in clinical nutrition at New York University, becoming a registered dietician, certified diabetes educator and sports dietician. She became interested in weight training at 19, as a freshman, after meeting her first female bodybuilder working at the front desk of the Powerhouse Gym.