Professional Cheerleaders Who Have Turned To Very Normal Careers

Professional cheerleaders are admired for their beauty, charisma, and peppy personalities. However, few fans truly understand the intense physical endurance and brainpower it takes to earn a highly-coveted professional cheerleading role. Oftentimes, cheer stars go on to pursue unimaginable careers after retiring from the sport. Some even balance these full-time jobs with their demanding cheer duties. 

Cheerleading is so much more than what happens on the sidelines. Money revealed that team members must adhere to strict guidelines and maintain pristine public images upheld by charity work and numerous community appearances — and they're not always fairly compensated for these tasks. Cheerleaders are paid for their work during games, but not for all of the other duties they are expected to fulfill.

This is why some former cheerleaders use the sport to advance their professional careers. Pro cheerleading is not a sustainable career, but these women use the skills they learned in the stadium, and their impressive educational backgrounds, to obtain incredibly prestigious jobs.

These professional cheerleaders turned to very adult careers.

Some professional cheerleaders go on to pursue careers that align with much of the work they did on their squads. This opens up many opportunities, as professional cheerleaders perform duties far beyond what we see on the sidelines. They have volunteer and community work obligations, they speak at events, and so much more (via Money). So, they gain tons of experience that is applicable elsewhere. Tiffany Monroe-Unsworth is a former NFL cheerleader for the Philadelphia Eagles who took advantage of what she learned on the sidelines to pursue a career in physical education.

According to Money, Monroe-Unsworth cheered for the team from 2006 to 2014, commuting an hour each way to cheer. Following her departure, she focused on her job as a physical education teacher in New Jersey. She actually balanced both teaching and cheerleading during her career and was even awarded the honor of representing her team at the 2011 Pro Bowl, per The Press of Atlantic City. This is quite an impressive accomplishment, given how hectic her busy schedule was. She talked about managing both careers in an interview with Money. "I really felt like I had two full-time jobs during the season, and our season never really ended," Monroe-Unsworth said. This teacher proves that professional cheerleading opens up many doors.

Although Stacy Keibler began her career as a cheerleader for the Baltimore Ravens, she is better known for her time with WWE as a professional wrestler. She made a lasting impression in the ring and earned a prestigious spot in the wrestling world after gaining recognition for winning World Championship Wrestling's "Nitro Girl" search, per WWE.

After retiring from WWE, Keibler dabbled in acting. The former cheerleader's IMDb indicates that she earned minor roles in a few TV shows, including "How I Met Your Mother" and "Pysch." However, it was her time on "Dancing With the Stars" that put her back into the spotlight after leaving wrestling. She finished out the show in third place after garnering new fans throughout her ballroom dancing journey (via WWE). Keibler's relationship and highly-publicized breakup with actor George Clooney also brought in quite a bit of media attention, per People.

By the time IGN interviewed Keibler in 2007, she had moved on from wrestling to her other pursuits in entertainment. Keibler told the outlet, "You say the word 'wrestler,' whether it's a male or female, and I feel that people are thinking big, muscular, meathead. Kind of like a mean personality." The former wrestler explained that being on "Dancing with the Stars" "was a good opportunity to smash those stereotypes."

Nicol Bush embarked on a drastic transition when she left the Dallas Cowboys' cheer team to pursue a career as a pediatric urologist. According to NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, Bush enrolled in medical school after cheering for the team for two years during the 1990s. She detailed the similarities between the two contrasting career paths. "When you think about any sort of performance at the level of a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader, we practice for something over and over and over until it was perfect," the doctor explained. "So when I go into operating room, it's the exact same thing" (via NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth).

So, how did Bush decide to go into the medical field after professional cheerleading? According to the multitalented mom, the decision did not happen overnight. "I decided in high school that I wanted to help people by becoming a doctor," Bush shared in an interview with Science Cheerleaders. She also elaborated on her daily job duties. "There are about 350 pediatric urologists in the United States," Bush revealed. "We help when there are problems with the kidneys, bladder, and girl and boy private parts." This former Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader is challenging stereotypes through her incredible accomplishments.

Phyllis Smith is best known for her role as Phyllis Lapin-Vance in "The Office," but the actor began her career as an NFL cheerleader. In an interview with Slate, she explained how her love for dancing led her to pursue burlesque and cheer. "In my heart, my first desire was to be a dancer," Smith shared. "I always wanted to dance and I danced from the time I was 7 till I was well into my 30s. I did ballet, tap, jazz, modern, I taught dance here in my hometown of St. Louis." She clarified that the burlesque dancing she did was "not risqué."

Although her burlesque costumes were not revealing, the St. Louis Cardinals' flirty cheer uniforms seemingly drew Smith to the team. "I was at the height of my glory, because I loved dancing and wearing the boots and the hot pants, the tied-up shirts, looking really hot," she told Slate. Smith joked that she also took the opportunity to talk to a few of the players. "My dad used to have season tickets, so I was flirting with the guys on the sidelines as much as I could," the actor admitted. "The organizations make sure that the cheerleaders and the players have minimal contact, but that's what you try to do." 

Aside from cheerleading and burlesque, Smith's acting career has also taken some interesting turns. According to Yahoo! Entertainment, the actor started out as a casting director for "The Office" before a role was created for her on the show.

Emergency room nurse Carole Mazer is a former Las Vegas Raiders cheerleader. The sport teaches a level of determination and perseverance that likely helps Mazer through the difficult days of working as a nurse during a pandemic. After all, the process of becoming an NFL cheerleader is extensive and the job itself is extremely demanding. Money revealed that auditions can span an entire week. Additionally, cheerleaders must master time management for their expected engagements.

Cheerleaders likely pick up versatile skills while learning how to juggle all of these responsibilities at once. In an "Inside Edition" clip, former Raiderette Carole Mazer can be seen putting her physical endurance and perseverance to use while working as a nurse. 

She is pictured doing the splits in her nursing scrubs. Perhaps Mazer's cheerleading background helps her remain in good spirits while fighting to save lives. "You can take me off the field but you can't take the cheerleader out of me," Mazer told "Inside Edition." The NFL Cheer Alumni Twitter proudly retweeted Mazer's interview with "Inside Edition," writing, "Cheers to our Frontline NFL Alumni CheerLEADER Heroes!"

Kiana Tom is best known for her fitness show "Kiana's Flex Appeal." The ESPN hit was the network's top-rated fitness show, according to Tom's website. This was not her only hit ESPN gig. The fitness TV show host shared a Facebook post in remembrance of her time as a cast member on the workout series "Body Shaping." This stint marked the start of her career in fitness TV.

Tom was a professional cheerleader for the Raiders before both of these opportunities came along. She discussed one of her cheerleading accomplishments on her website. "While cheering for the NFL as a Raiders Cheerleader, I was one of 10 cheerleaders (of the 48 cheerleaders on the squad) to travel with the Team for the American Football Game at Yokohamo Stadium," she shared. Tom went on to pursue entrepreneurship, hosting her own virtual workout classes and helping clients with their fitness goals. Her LinkedIn details many of these accomplishments.

Anastasia Lusnia balanced her hectic nursing schedule with her professional cheerleading duties for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. According to the Daily Hampshire Gazette, Lusnia is a major NFL fan, so earning a spot as an NFL cheerleader must have been a dream come true. The Massachusetts native faced unexpected challenges in both cheer and nursing when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Cheerleading auditions were virtual for months, which meant Lusnia had to wait quite some time before she could get out on the Buccaneers field. "This was a challenge that I've never faced before. It was tough as a rookie because I didn't know anyone," she said of attending practices over Zoom calls (via The Reminder). She also spoke on the uncertainty of when the team would no longer be virtual. "It's been a roller coaster of a ride," Lusnia told the Daily Hampshire Gazette. "We've been just kind of living day by day. We never really knew if we were going to be able to cheer or if there were ever going to be fans."

Along with adjusting to virtual cheerleading, she also faced serious challenges working as a nurse in the midst of a pandemic. Still, Lusnia managed to balance both careers and maintain a positive outlook. "That's one of the things when discovering this whole professional cheerleading world is you can have a full-time job and cheer for a professional sports team," she said to the Daily Hampshire Gazette. "It's an amazing way to continue (dancing)."