Above: Eliana Roth, left, with fellow Haydenettes skater Sharon Neff.
For New Jersey native Eliana Roth, it was a journey that began with her years on her synchro team. She was a member of the five-time World bronze medalists the Haydenettes. Today, she's a behavior analyst working with those on the autism spectrum, their caregivers and therapists.
"Knowing I was going to Boston to skate for the Haydenettes, I applied to Boston-based colleges and universities," Roth said. "I attended Boston University from 2013-2015 while skating with the Haydenettes and graduated with a degree in psychology."
Roth then officially retired from synchronized skating in 2017, ending her skating career, but not before competing in the World Championships in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
"My favorite competition memory is competing at the 2017 World Synchronized Championships," Roth said. "My team faced a lot of adversity leading up to the competition, but we came together as a team and skated our hearts out."
Her skating life completed, Roth moved on and began a graduate program in applied behavior analysis at Simmons University and worked as a behavior therapist for children with autism at a nonprofit ABA company. It was the beginning of an impressive career.
"After graduation, I passed my board exam and accepted a position as a licensed and board-certified applied behavior analyst," Roth said. "As a behavior analyst, I managed a caseload of 10 to 12 clients, all the clients having a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder."
Roth conducted assessments and used those assessments to develop evidence-based ABA interventions.
"The programming consisted of strategies for reducing my clients' challenging behaviors and increasing their functional skills to lead more independent lives,” Roth said. “My responsibility was to train the therapists and parents to implement the programs accurately.”
In September, she accepted her current position as a Clinical Operations Director at a new company and relocated to Stoneham, Massachusetts.
"It was a big leap for me professionally, but I was confident in my skill set to be able to take on the challenge at such a young age," Roth said. "I am now managing a team of behavior analysts. It has been a big transition jumping into a new role, but I enjoy the challenge and to be able to continue building my professional skills."
For Roth, the best part of the job is seeing the impact she has on her clients.
"I have a strong clinical approach, and I enjoy training analysts to become better analysts each day,” she said. “I especially enjoy seeing the clients' progress as a result of what I do.”
Despite not skating in over five years, Roth has happy memories of her synchro days and working with her team.
"When I think back, I miss all the happy times with my friends," Roth said. "I miss the plane rides, the bus rides, the strolling through the streets of Europe with our skate bags. I miss pushing myself and my teammates to physical exhaustion just to perfect an element and finally get it."
She also believes skating prepared her for her work today.
"Skating has taught me the discipline, time management and interpersonal skills that are necessary for what I do," Roth said." However, the most important thing skating has given me is perspective. With perspective, you can keep pushing, knowing that some days or weeks will be more challenging than others. Everything is temporary and a process. The end result will always be worth it, and if it isn't, well, you learned something."
