The Origin Story as Told by Wendy

By Wendy Shafranski, Co-owner of Cerus Performance

The origin story of Cerus Performance isn’t a really dramatic one, but it includes a bunch of chance meetings and fate.

I used to compete in CrossFit at a high level and qualified for Regionals several times. My last year was 2014 and, at the age of 39, it was going to be my final year. As chance had it, an athlete by the name of Jeff Evans made his debut in 2014 and actually qualified for the Games. We didn’t know each other then, but I remember his intensity in the athlete area and on the floor. And to be honest, he was quite intimidating! We didn’t get to know one another at the event. My mindset was just to have fun, as I wasn’t a contender to make it to the Games and he was all focus. 

Fast forward a few years and I was selling a set of jerk blocks that I owned and put them on Craigslist. A guy named Jeff wanted to buy them and made the three-hour drive from Naples to Vero Beach, Florida to pick them up. Holy crap, it was Games athlete, Jeff Evans! Jeff owned a gym at that time and we officially met, along with my husband. Rob, and Jeff was a nice guy, but again we parted ways.

Now fast forward a few more years and Jeff was now working for a food delivery service and living just 45 minutes away from us. He contacted me and asked to do a tasting at our gym. He ended up doing a few and we became customers of his and got to know him better. 

After being at our gym a few times and seeing Rob’s process and coaching skills, Jeff asked Rob to start coaching him as he was planning on making a comeback to CrossFit. So, a deeper relationship started.

In just a few short months, Jeff went from retirement to making the podium at The Granite Games, a high-level CrossFit competition in Minneapolis. 

With that coach-athlete relationship intact, Jeff came to our gym quite a bit and a friendship between all of us deepened.

A chance conversation between Jeff and a friend about supplements then inspired him to start researching and creating a pre-workout blend.

He gave it to Rob and I to try and we were sold! We then had our gym members try it and the feedback was phenomenal. So, Rob and I decided to take a chance and ask Jeff if he wanted to partner up and launch Cerus Performance.

And here we are today!

So, chance meetings and fate and the universe doing its thing…for me, that’s the origin story of Cerus Performance. You really never know who you are going to meet and how they will impact you. You just have to be open to it. It can be life-changing.