Former LSU soccer star Mo Aiken-Isom shares her incredible story

LSU is a special place to many, including former Tigers’ soccer star turned author, Mo Aiken-Isom.

Wednesday morning, I had the privilege of talking to the mass communications major about her amazing journey through life.

Isom began her LSU career when she became a part of the school’s soccer team, playing the goalkeeper position. She was an integral part of the program from 2008 to 2011.

“I really loved my time there. LSU is a great university. The culture is so rich… Going into college I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I grew a tremendous amount of love for LSU, the fan base was so supportive. The coaches were great and worked us hard to get the best out of us. It kind of served as a wake-up call as to what it really took to be a collegiate athlete.”

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Perhaps one of the most unique things about the former athlete is that she became the first female to ever try out for an SEC football team when she auditioned for the kicker position not once, but two times on the Tigers football team.

“It was wild. That was definitely a unique opportunity,” Isom said of her audition for the squad.

“It was great to work with the guys. It was neat to slide into that training environment. It was a big leap of faith for me, but I knew I had the athletic ability. I put myself in a man’s environment, and I opened myself up to a lot of public scrutiny.”

The athlete had a lot of fun in her endeavors, launching a Youtube series called “Meaux vs.” in which she challenged a number of LSU football players to a contest to compare her athletic abilities to theirs – and there was never too much of a difference between the two.

Isom said she received a lot of support and a lot of criticism for the position she put herself in.

“I didn’t know what the outcome would be, but there was always that chance. It was months and months of 3-a-days, and I was playing soccer and practicing football at the same time. Getting the ‘no’ was really hard to stomach at first, but in the end it was okay.”

Overall, Isom believes the tryout was a great experience that has affected her life for the better, and she still keeps in touch with the vast majority of the members of the 2013 and 2014 LSU draft classes.

“I don’t really root for any NFL team – well my husband is a huge Tampa Bay Bucs fan so I guess I kind of have to,” Isom said jokingly. “But I do keep up with all of the individual LSU players in the NFL and cheer for them. It’s amazing to see the success that they’ve had like Odell (Beckham Jr.), (Jarvis) Landry and Brad Wing. It’s kind of weird to see them on SportsCenter now since I went to school with them, but I’m really happy for them.”

But Isom’s life certainly hasn’t been all fun and games. In fact, she’s endured more adversity than most do in a lifetime.

When I asked her about the events in her life that have changed her as person, she mentioned three in particular. These were the suicide of her father, a car accident that nearly claimed her life roughly a year later – and the most recent one that she told me was her favorite – becoming a mother.

Isom’s father took his own life on Jan. 3, 2009 – about a year into her college soccer career. Since, she has spent countless days researching suicide to understand how and why someone could do something a drastic as taking their own life.

She said the event was something “massively devastating” that she dealt with in all the wrong ways at first, but has made her an even stronger individual in the end.

“The suicide of my father was massive. It changed my trajectory in life. But as weird as it sounds, it’s something I’m grateful for. You have to be grateful for adversity, it makes you grow.”

Less than a year later, Isom was involved in a major car accident over Thanksgiving break while visiting her home state of Georgia where she currently resides. It is in this event that she claims to have realized life is so much bigger than we think, and that she truly found God.

“It was in my car accident I came to Jesus and accepted him as my savior. There’s a great purpose and great hope in this life, and that experience was paramount.”

A far more positive event that impacted Isom’s life was the birth of her daughter, Auden Noelle Aiken last year.

“Having a child is physically a lot harder than anyone would think. It makes college football training seem easy,” Isom laughed. On a more serious note, she said, “having a child is one of the most incredible blessings in life and it’s made me a better woman.”

It was a combination of all of these events that led Isom to write her famous book, Wreck My Life: Journeying from Broken to Bold, which was released in August of last year.

“I’ve always loved writing. Creating that art is something I love to do. What really compelled it, what was so exciting about it to me is that books stand the test of time. A reader can piece together the events of your life and be connecting to it and relating to it without you even knowing it. You don’t have to be right there in front of them, that’s the difference between writing and going out and speaking.”

It took Isom a while to gather the courage to put her experiences on paper, but she acknowledges it’s one of the best decisions she’s made in her life.

“There is so much power in our testimony. It’s hard to find the courage to share our stories. But to speak hope, encouragement and strength trumps all the nervousness that’s there. When I see someone benefit from it, then the hard stuff wasn’t a waste. I hope the way I lived has given people light and hope.”

Today, Isom lives in Georgia with husband Jeremiah Aiken and travels the country giving motivational speeches to audiences all over the nation who come to hear her miraculous story and her view on living by God’s word.

Upcoming speaking dates can be found by visiting her personal blog, MoIsom.com.

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