The well-defined muscles of her upper back flexed and strained as she slowly lifted skyward. Pushing her finely tuned body to its remarkable limits, she leaned back and squeezed her eyes closed. Her delicate lips parted, becoming tightly drawn back and allowing critical oxygen safe passage into her lungs. Her spirit lifted as her back arched and slowly overcame the force of gravity. She felt good, as she was on top this time. Appearing to be in the final throes of a convulsive, passionate frenzy, with the sweat dripping off her brow finding its way down through her shallow, taught cleavage, her chin eventually lifted up past the bar, completing yet another hard-won pull-up. Two 45-pound plates hung from a chain attached to a leather harness wrapped tightly around her hips. The steel pull-up bar creaked as her eyes leveled out, allowing her to stare back at herself in the full-length mirror of her home-based fitness studio. Lowering herself down slowly, she began to feel the familiar overwhelming burning sensation throughout her entire upper body.

Brigitte approached life with the utmost passion and fortitude. It was as if the essence ofbeing itself required constant challenging and a healthy dose of verification. Dr. Brigitte Sheen, head of her own small company, Graphane Technologies, and former interim chair of the chemistry department at UC Davis, had become the epitome of the successful, integrated modern woman. Owning a company that developed and marketed her patented state-of-the-art graphene membrane system, Brigitte cherished what little time she had left in her day to keep her body fighting fit, especially now, as her company was chosen by a world-renown Japanese auto manufacturer as a preferred supplier for their new hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCVs). Having gained numerous medals and accolades in gymnastics, weight-lifting, martial arts, and almost every athletic pursuit known, she had been well acquainted with absolute pain and determination. At just shy of six feet tall and with ample, striated musculature at about fourteen percent body fat, this Korean-American woman’s countenance was nothing short of imposing. Energy just seemed to bristle off her entire body, especially through her dark, mysterious eyes when she focused her attention. Both her physical and mental strength was immense and reflected her star sign, Taurus—the bull. She had recently reflected that it had been just over two years since the highly successful iFuse surgery on her pelvis, having fractured the sacroiliac joint slightly while putting her life on the line to save her boyfriend (now her husband) from a rather h