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She had wanted to finish all of her paintings by July, but her schedule is often hectic. So in the final days leading up to the Strong Women Experience, Paige reassured herself with advice from a former mentor.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t bleed for every painting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Painting strength<\/h3>\n
All of the women Paige has painted form a diverse but unifying collection. And the story behind each woman is unique.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s Tia Stokes<\/a>, the mom of five who, when diagnosed with leukemia during the early days of the pandemic, chose to dance her way through treatment as she was isolated even from her family in the hospital. Every day during her treatment, she did a dance on TikTok to share the joy of being alive.<\/p>\n There\u2019s Sarah Frei Mills<\/a>, who at the age of 17 had both of her legs amputated above the knee due to an auto accident. Paige was so struck by Mills\u2019 optimism in the face of something so unimaginable that she painted \u201cHope on the Horizon,\u201d which shows Mills on Antelope Island at sunrise.<\/p>\n One of Paige\u2019s favorite paintings, \u201cIt Counts to Try,\u201d shows 26-year-old Annie Ogden hanging from a bar with a sort of wry expression on her face as she struggles to complete her first pullup.<\/p>\n For Paige, all of these stories highlight different forms of strength. Since art can often act as a mirror, she can see glimpses of herself in these women, in these paintings.<\/p>\n Their strength adds to her own.<\/p>\n Her strength \u2014 physically, mentally and spiritually \u2014 is something she\u2019s worked hard to build and rebuild throughout her life.<\/p>\n And it\u2019s something she has come to especially rely on in the 14 years since the death of her 3-year-old son.<\/p>\n Paige describes a moment that separates her life into two distinct parts.<\/p>\n On Sept. 26, 2011, Paige pulled her 3-year-old son, Victory Morgan, motionless from a swimming pool. <\/p>\n On that day, her life \u201cshattered into a million pieces.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know if there really are the words to describe how it feels to lose your kid,\u201d she previously said in a clip<\/a> that aired during her run on \u201cAmerican Ninja Warrior\u201d last season. \u201cYou realize that you\u2019re super broken, that you\u2019re just shattered. You gotta find a way to channel it.\u201d <\/p>\n Victory Morgan died Nov. 12, 2011, after seven weeks in the hospital. <\/p>\n Art was an immediate outlet for Paige to work through her grief. She found it cathartic as she let her emotions out on the canvas. Shortly after her son\u2019s death, she painted a portrait of Victory that has always had a place in the entry of her home.<\/p>\n But the artist needed another outlet, so she got into running \u2014 somewhat of a stretch for her since she described herself as more of a \u201cnerdy musician\u201d type than an athlete growing up. <\/p>\n When her family moved to Utah in 2015, she started going to a nearby gym and gradually built up her strength through fitness classes. That eventually led to rock climbing. She fell in love with the problem-solving aspect of the sport, overcoming one obstacle after another. <\/p>\n Not long after that, while at the gym, a surprising thought popped into her head: Try out for \u201cAmerican Ninja Warrior.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI just kind of brushed it away,\u201d Paige told me in July<\/a> after her most recent appearance on \u201cANW\u201d aired. \u201cBut I\u2019ve just learned in my life that God is really persistent with me, and if I ignore him, then he will keep telling me the same thing until I listen.\u201d<\/p>\n So when the thought kept coming back, she filmed an audition video.<\/p>\n \u201cAs I went to start, all of a sudden I felt my son, who had passed away, and I felt him say, \u2018Let\u2019s do this, Mom,\u2019\u201d Paige recalled. \u201cIt was totally unexpected. I didn\u2019t anticipate to feel him there.<\/p>\n \u201cBut in that moment, because I felt my son with me, all that hesitation and the fear, it just left.\u201d<\/p>\n After filming her video \u2014 and surprising herself by completing stunts she never imagined doing \u2014 she looked at her husband.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe I could be a ninja,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Paige has now competed on \u201cAmerican Ninja Warrior\u201d five times, but it wasn\u2019t until her run this past season that the show finally gave her airtime. <\/p>\n For a long time, that frustrated her. But after her fourth season of competing, she felt a strong message from God that made her realize she was focusing on the wrong things. <\/p>\n \u201cGod was kind of like, \u2018Oh wait, Jenedy, did you think this was about TV? Did you know I actually care way more about the development of an individual than I do about TV?\u2019\u201d she told me. \u201c\u2018Look at yourself: You are a completely different person than you were four years ago, and I needed you to become a different person. I needed you to become a stronger person. This was just a path that I gave you to help you become a stronger person.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Physically, Paige is stronger now than she was when she started doing \u201cAmerican Ninja Warrior\u201d at age 34.<\/p>\n In 2017, she made a New Year\u2019s resolution to do one pullup. <\/p>\n In early July \u2014 just a few hours before chatting on the phone with me \u2014 she completed 19 pullups in a row. <\/p>\n The faith that it took to get her there has also helped her grow spiritually and mentally. <\/p>\n \u201cSo much of \u2018Ninja\u2019 is falling and getting up again and having the courage just to show up,\u201d she says. \u201cIt builds you in so many ways.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cI think one of the best things that you can do with your grief is find purpose in it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 \u00a0Jenedy Paige<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Finally getting airtime on \u201cNinja\u201d this past season gave Paige the opportunity to do what she had always hoped \u2014 share her story with viewers. <\/p>\n \u201cThe thing with grief \u2014 and so many people have said this \u2014 is that it has layers to it, and you grieve differently in different years,\u201c she says. \u201dMy son would be 17 now \u2014 I would have this big teenager, and he\u2019s not here.<\/p>\n \u201cI think one of the best things that you can do with your grief is find purpose in it.\u201d<\/p>\n The timing of her \u201cANW\u201d appearance this past season, Paige believes, was divinely orchestrated. The show ended up filming her run on Sept. 26, 2024 \u2014 13 years to the day that she pulled her son out of a swimming pool.<\/p>\n \u201cIt just seemed like a God stamp on this whole thing,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Paige returns to \u201cANW\u201d a sixth time for Season 18. She filmed her run for the upcoming season on Sept. 22 in Las Vegas. <\/p>\n And just a few days later, she was back in Utah, showcasing one of the biggest art projects of her career to date \u2014 one that would never have come to life had it not been for \u201cAmerican Ninja Warrior.\u201d <\/p>\n When it comes to \u201cAmerican Ninja Warrior\u201d competitors, Jessie Graff is near the top. <\/p>\n During the show\u2019s eighth season, she made history by completing Stage 1 of the national finals \u2014 the furthest any woman had ever gone in the competition. <\/p>\n She\u2019s a legend on the show who has been featured on billboards. She\u2019s also a stuntwoman who has lent her physicality to blockbusters like \u201cThe Dark Knight\u201d and \u201cWonder Woman 1984.\u201d <\/p>\n So when Paige encountered Graff at a ninja competition in 2021, she was shocked by the impression she felt from God.<\/p>\n \u201cAsk her if you can paint her.\u201d <\/p>\n At that moment, Paige says, she had no idea why she would paint Graff. But as she\u2019s been reminded over and over again throughout her life, ignoring a prompting from God is a losing battle. <\/p>\n So she asked. And Graff said yes. <\/p>\n Still not knowing what her image would be, Paige flew to Los Angeles on a Saturday and hiked 10 miles with Graff. They worked out at a ninja gym together. And then, at the gym, the painting materialized right before Paige\u2019s eyes. As Graff did a pullup, the flexed and toned muscles in her back were on full display. Paige was in awe. <\/p>\n \u201cOf course I\u2019d want to paint that,\u201d she thought.<\/p>\n The next morning, Paige woke up in her hotel room with another strong impression: In a world acted on by gravity, downward forces are acting on people at all times \u2014 both physically and spiritually.<\/p>\n \u201cI need you to pull up,\u201d she felt God tell her. \u201cI need you to resist that downward force. And when you resist that downward pull, you get stronger, and when you get stronger, you can help lift other people.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never seen so much in a pullup in my life,\u201d Paige told me.<\/p>\n She went on to paint Graff\u2019s pullup \u2014 a defining piece that stands 6 feet tall.<\/p>\n Over the next few years, she found herself painting one inspiring woman after another.<\/p>\n \u201cGod just kept putting these women in my path,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd they all had incredible stories.\u201d<\/p>\n Paige\u2019s paintings develop one layer at a time, and the Strong Women Experience came about that way, too.<\/p>\n The concept evolved from a solo art show to a full-day interactive conference with 10 of the women Paige painted sharing their stories, followed by several strength-building activities \u2014 including \u201cAmerican Ninja Warrior\u201d-esque obstacle courses, pilates and aerial silks.<\/p>\n Paige never imagined her event would land at the Hale Centre Theatre. With a full season of plays and musicals, the venue only hosts a handful of outside events each year. <\/p>\n But to the artist\u2019s surprise, the theater was able to fit her in. There was just one day available during her preferred month of September \u2014 the 26th. <\/p>\n \u201cI literally burst into tears,\u201d Paige recalls. \u201cThat\u2019s the day I became a strong woman. That was the day that God asked me to step up to something super hard. It feels divine, but it also feels totally coming full circle. That day that was so terrible has also become a day that\u2019s so beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n You don\u2019t get a practice run on \u201cAmerican Ninja Warrior.\u201d <\/p>\n You get told how the obstacles work, but you don\u2019t actually get to navigate the course until it\u2019s your big moment on national TV. <\/p>\n That\u2019s how launching the Strong Women Experience felt for Paige. All she could do was prepare, step up to the stage and hope it went well.<\/p>\n She did have a major boost of confidence going into the morning of Sept. 26, though: The event was sold out. <\/p>\n The energy at the Strong Women Experience that morning was palpable as women started filing into the theater lobby around 8 to explore Paige\u2019s vast collection of paintings \u2014 including the one of Kamali\u2019i Stopper and her son that she had been finishing up just the week before.<\/p>\n In total, the panel length for all of Paige\u2019s artwork spread 45 feet.<\/p>\n Roughly 500 people \u2014 around 30% from outside of Utah \u2014 attended the event. Inside the auditorium, in the minutes leading up to the Strong Women Experience kickoff, the woman on my left shared with me that this event couldn\u2019t have come at a better time: Her family had recently moved to Utah after her husband lost his job.<\/p>\n She told me that Paige was so touched by her story that through a scholarship established for the event, her expenses for the Strong Women Experience were covered. <\/p>\n A visibly emotional Paige then ran out onstage and greeted the hundreds of women who came to celebrate this moment that had been a long time coming.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first person I want to thank is my God,\u201d Paige said, choking up as she shared how this very day, Sept. 26, has taken on new meaning for her. \u201cHe has led me here.\u201d <\/p>\n Paige\u2019s emotion and energy set the tone for the whole conference, which, fittingly at a theater, felt more like a production. <\/p>\n There was entertainment \u2014 including an aerialist routine from \u201cAmerican Ninja Warrior\u201d competitor Aly Larson, and performances from \u201cEncanto\u201d star Adassa Candiani and singer Claire Boone. <\/p>\n As the event moved from one speaker to the next, it often felt like a pep rally. <\/p>\n There were solemn moments, like when Tia Stokes recalled her harrowing cancer diagnosis that left her isolated from her family for weeks at a time as she underwent chemo during the pandemic, or when Sarah Frei Mills told of the car crash in Logan Canyon that severed her spinal cord in two different places.<\/p>\n But the solemn moments were fleeting. <\/p>\n \u201cYou can choose to be happy,\u201d Stokes told the women in the audience. \u201cYou get to choose, how beautiful is that?\u201d <\/p>\n She told everyone to write down the following statement: \u201cIt is not happy people who are grateful, it is grateful people who are happy.\u201d <\/p>\n Mills, 22, shared how she accepted the grief, the loss and the trauma from the accident that paralyzed her from the waist down, and then chose to make the most of it. She got married this past summer and has landed her dream job as an elementary school teacher. <\/p>\n Rather than trying to do everything on her own, she said, her strength has come from asking others for help, recognizing that she can\u2019t \u2014 and shouldn\u2019t have to \u2014 do it all alone. <\/p>\n \u201cI need people,\u201d she said through tears. <\/p>\n Inspired by her daughter, Jessie Graff, Ginny MacColl stepped into a gym for the first time at the age of 63. Now, at 73, she has appeared on \u201cAmerican Ninja Warrior\u201d several times and is the oldest woman to compete on the show.<\/p>\n \u201cStrength is ageless,\u201d MacColl said as she flexed and smiled for the cheering crowd at the Hale Centre Theatre.<\/p>\n After Boone performed Lauren Daigle\u2019s \u201cYou Say\u201d \u2014 the song that gave Paige comfort before she competed on \u201cAmerican Ninja Warrior\u201d for the first time \u2014 Paige took the stage.<\/p>\n \u201cIt all just feels like a dream come true,\u201d she said with emotion before sharing the greatest source of her strength: her faith.<\/p>\n \u201cI have a firm belief that our creation process did not end when we were born, that we are all works in progress that he is continually working on if we let him.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you make God the focus of your life, the sure foundation that you build on, then he can do incredible things with you.\u201d <\/p>\n Now that it\u2019s over, Paige doesn\u2019t know where exactly she goes from here.<\/p>\n As she kicked off the Strong Women Experience, she said with emotion that she believed in her heart this was \u201cjust the beginning.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cTo build muscle, it first has to be torn … and God totally tore me. And then he put me back together. But he didn\u2019t put me back together as I was \u2014 he put me back together stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 \u00a0Jenedy Paige<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n At church the following Sunday, Paige flipped over a Strong Women Experience sticker to find a message from her daughter: \u201cIt\u2019s done. But not over,\u201d it read, as she shared in a post on Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n Like many of her paintings, or competing on \u201cAmerican Ninja Warrior,\u201d she believes this event is a work in progress and there\u2019s room to grow. <\/p>\n She feels this so strongly, in part, because of what she\u2019s endured to get to this point. <\/p>\n \u201cTo build muscle, it first has to be torn … and God totally tore me,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd then he put me back together. But he didn\u2019t put me back together as I was \u2014 he put me back together stronger. And when you\u2019re stronger, you can help lift others.\u201d <\/p>\n In four years, she painted 30 women who lifted her up with their own messages of faith, resilience and hope. And she\u2019s certain that was only the beginning.<\/p>\n \u201cI am confident I could spend the rest of my life telling the stories of strong women and never run out of good stories to tell,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/resizer\/v2\/SOVT74V77VEM3PUCSQVHRZXZ6E.JPG?auth=dd450bdae6fc623447057bb395309b497cd17d21bc1f20ae14ee6435ad8e0de4&focal=0%2C0&width=800&height=533\")
\u2018You\u2019re just shattered\u2019<\/h3>\n
\u2018I needed you to become a stronger person\u2019<\/h3>\n
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\u2018Pull up\u2019<\/h3>\n
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The Strong Women Experience finally arrives<\/h3>\n
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\u2018Just the beginning\u2019<\/h3>\n
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