Katie Austin knew since childhood she needed to be in entrance of the digital camera.
The daughter of health pioneer Denise Austin and tennis-player-turned-sports-agent Jeff Austin, the 31-year-old multihyphenate — whose titles embrace licensed health coach, entrepreneur and host, to call a number of — recollects fearlessly hopping into the body of her mother’s shoots, laying the muse for a burgeoning profession within the highlight that has since reached the heights of Sports activities Illustrated Swimsuit.
“When she would film her show while we were on vacation, I would always jump right in,” Austin instructed The Publish in a latest interview. “There’s really cute videos of me walking up to my mom while she is filming her show, and I just smile at the camera, I’m literally 3 years old.”
Rising up in an athletic family, the Virginia native fostered goals of changing into an NBA host — “my dad’s a basketball agent so I grew up around a lot of NBA players” — with these aspirations taking her throughout the nation to USC, the place she performed Divison I lacrosse.
“I think sports at a young age taught me determination, taught me teamwork, leadership, time management and how to work with other people, so I feel like I’m very grateful that I was involved in sports at a very, very young age,” Austin mentioned.
Austin began in 16 of 18 video games throughout her freshman season in 2013, scoring eight objectives and tallying 9 assists. Upon touchdown a sports activities internet hosting function in her sophomore yr, the balancing act grew to become troublesome to handle and Austin give up lacrosse, selecting to give attention to her future.
“I wanted to break out of my shell because I already knew what I wanted to do in life and it was hard to still play the sport,” she mentioned.
Veering into uncharted territory in a post-student-athlete period, Austin — who had lengthy labored out with teammates and coaches — had extra time on her fingers and located herself cultivating a brand new group within the health area.
Taking inspiration from YouTube movies, she went on to host intimate courses on campus and even shared her exercises on-line.
“I think it all started through community and connecting with other girls who kind of feel intimidated by the gym and don’t really know how to start,” mentioned Austin, who acquired her coaching certification after commencement.
With 179,000 subscribers on her YouTube web page and counting, Austin’s star has solely continued to rise since school. Whereas serving as a co-host at Fox Sports activities West from 2017-19, Austin additionally arrange her self-titled platform in 2018 that homes on-demand exercises and recipes.
However even in her success, Austin grappled with profession setbacks as she was rejected by Sports activities Illustrated Swimsuit a number of occasions after her first strive in 2017.
“No one believes in you as much as you do and I’m so happy I kept persisting,” Austin mentioned.
In 2021, Austin was named a co-winner of Sports activities Illustrated Swimsuit’s annual Swimseach casting name, alongside together with her now-bestie, Christen Goff, the spouse of Lions quarterback Jared Goff.
“Being able to audition for so many years and then the process of it all, I’m so grateful that I’m doing it all with my best friend,” she mentioned. “I don’t think it would ever be the same if Christen was not in it with me because she’s truly my best friend.”
Each newlyweds, Austin and Goff have been integral elements of each other’s huge days final yr. Goff served as a bridesmaid at Austin’s Could nuptials to Lane Armstrong, whereas Austin was by her BFF’s aspect on the Goffs’ marriage ceremony in June.
Since being named co-Rookies of the 12 months in 2022, Austin and Goff proceed to pay it ahead to Sports activities Illustrated Swimsuit’s incoming rookie courses.
“We feel like we are in this position where we can make the rookies feel welcomed and feel like they belong. And so, I feel like it’s been great for me and Christen to show the rookies some love,” she mentioned.
Austin additionally tipped her hat to fellow Sports activities Illustrated Swimsuit vet and 2019 cowl star Camille Kostek, the longtime girlfriend of NFL nice Rob Gronkowski, who did the identical for her.
“Camille Kostek was a huge reason I auditioned in the first place,” she gushed. “… And she’s also someone who is so genuine and inspires me so much.”
At the same time as Austin embraces new and distinctive alternatives sooner or later, like her weekly on-line cooking present, “Come On In,” a lesson shared by her mother and father stays on the forefront.
“Something they’ve really taught me is longevity in a career,” Austin mentioned. “… I still know my career is just getting started so make decisions not based on today or even this year, make decisions based on 20 years from now. Making sure you’re always thinking about the length of your career is really important, especially in an industry that can go so up and down.”
Trying on the yr forward, Austin needs to develop the viewers of “Come On In” — “It’s my passion project, I’m obsessed with cooking!” — and maybe dabble again right into a enterprise from her previous.
“I would love to get back into sports hosting since that was kind of my roots,” she mentioned.
