NAC Masters: Getting to Know Steph Ballou

NAC Masters

Getting to Know Steph Ballou

You’re a Nashville native? What? Tell us more about your life, living and growing up in Nashville?

 I am a total unicorn, not many of us around these days. I am the only “local” on my street in Green Hills.

I grew up in Gallatin, TN on a 350-acre cow farm and I graduated from Hendersonville High School. I couldn’t even see my neighbor’s house, heck I never even knew who they were, now it’s all built up.  I have a younger sister and brother who were both NAC swimmers.

Growing up on a farm was fun. We spent most of our time outside.  My best memories are jumping hay bales, playing family “baseball games, walking our property with my Dad, and driving my Dad’s truck around our fields. I think my siblings and I were all driving by age 10.

Nashville was a completely different place all those years ago.  There wasn’t a lot going on, so that’s definitely the reason why I went to school in DC and moved to Chicago.  Cool thing is my favorite places are still here, such as San Antonio Taco (SATCO) and the Exit Inn. I saw Alanis Morissette there for 10 bucks and I was five feet away from her 26 years ago with her Jagged Little Pill Release.  I will be catching her at Bridgestone this summer for the anniversary tour.

What do you do for a living? You’ve lived in some pretty extreme places?

I am an internal audit manager. My team and I are responsible for independently and objectively evaluating the organization’s operations. We bring a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control, and governance processes.

I spent 20 years working in Chicago and spent most of my time traveling to business locations outside of the US to leads audits. I really enjoyed the travel aspect of my job as I have been able to travel all over Europe and Asia.  I spent extensive periods of time in the UK, and Singapore. Of course, it’s not all glamorous. I also spent long periods of time in Green Bay, WI during the winter which made Chicago feel like a tropical paradise.

 You were recently named President of the Nashville LGBT Chamber of Commerce, tell us more about this group and what the goals are for you?

It is such an honor to be the President of the Nashville LGBT Chamber, the Chamber was founded in 1998 and I am the first woman president since its inception.

The Nashville LGBT Chamber of Commerce mission is to advance common business interests, economic growth, and equality in the workplace and society for its LGBT members, businesses, and allies by providing educational, networking, and community building opportunities.

If you are a small business owner or if your company isn’t currently a member of the chamber, let’s talk!  Membership in the Nashville LGBT Chamber of Commerce is one of the most professional and consistent methods to show potential customers, clients, employees, and suppliers that a business, company, or organization is LGBT-friendly.

One of our goals is for the Chamber to go statewide.  This will provide a greater advocacy platform and help grow our membership.

How did you find NAC? Are you new to swimming? 

I started competing in the Nashville Swim League when I was six for Cages Bend Swim and Tennis Club.  At the age of 10 I started swimming competitively year around with STAR (Stones River Aquatic Club, which became Excel Aquatics).  I moved to NAC at 16 to swim on the National Team with Coach Morse. 

I received a full swimming scholarship to The George Washington University in Washington DC.  I was Atlantic-10 Champion in the 100 and 200 butterfly and set school records.

About a year after I moved back to Nashville in 2018, I was running some errands by the Sportsplex and decided to pop in to see if Coach Morse was in his office.  I had not been back in the Sportsplex or seen Coach Morse in 20 years.   Wow! It was like walking through a time warp.  So many wonderful memories came back, and Coach Morse hadn’t changed one bit.  We caught up on the past 20 years and he told me I should get back in the water with the master’s team and that an old teammate of mine was coaching the program, Ashley Whitney.  Ashley was actually at the Sportsplex that day. We caught up and I decided after being out of the water for 24 years, I would give it a go.

I honestly never thought I would get back in the water, but Ashley is such a great motivator and coach.  I have fun when I come to practice.  I have reconnected with many old swim friends who swim masters and have also met so many fabulous new teammates.  Prior to COVID, I did my first open water swim in Lake Fontana in 2019 it was awesome.

How did Covid-19 affect you and your family and did swimming help at all during the pandemic?

I have enjoyed my time at home during Covid. Emma and I have been able to spend more time together and we have really enjoyed the time home with our dogs.  We bought kayaks right when COVID started and we really got the use out of them last year. We’re looking forward to hitting the water this year as well.  For selfish reasons we have missed traveling, but we're happy our families have been healthy during this terrible time.   Emma’s family lives in the UK, so we look forward to seeing them as soon as we can.

Hitting the pool always feels great!  It has been hard seeing my friends/teammates and not being able to hang out.  So, I look forward to catching up on all this time we have missed. 

Tell us something we probably don’t know about you?

I love and can eat crazy spicy food.  I am a member of the Hall of Flame at Jack Melnick’ in Chicago after signing a waiver and finishing a plate of XXX Hot wings with Trinidad Scorpion Pepper.

My dream will be to enter a Phaal Curry Challenge.  It is considered one of the hottest curry dishes in the world and originated in Birmingham UK.  While I was living in Birmingham, I ate it every Friday night.  People would come out of the kitchen to watch me eat it.     

Favorite swimming or life anecdotes?

I have a college friend who always has funny swimming related post on Facebook and the one that really cracked me up is “We swim because we are too sexy for a sport that requires clothes”

So, it’s all good. I have gone up in my training suit size since I was 20, but just even more sexy now.

Anything we’ve missed?

Also I am a huge Women’s soccer fan and have been lucky to attend the past two World Cup finals in Vancouver Canada and Lyon France— where USA won the trophy!