Teri Tom was born in San Francisco, grew up in the small town of Redlands, California, and graduated Cum Laude and Phi Peta Kappa from UCLA with a degree in communications studies. Time that should have been devoted to those studies, though, was misspent prowling LAs smoky roots and indie rock clubs. Teri has peeled off surfabilly guitar licks on stages that include Antones in Austin, San Franciscos DNA Lounge, and the House of Blues in Los Angeles. Before hanging up her trademark midnight-blue Gretsch, she acquired the elusive “White Girl chord from guitar legend Billy Zoom himself and briefly filled in as the hired gun for punk rock icon Exene Cervenka.
She now holds a masters degree in nutritional science and is a registered dietitian specializing in sports nutrition for body composition and the fighting arts. Her clientele includes #1 pound-for-pound boxer Manny Pacquiao, UFC champ Andrei Arlovsky, and Olympic medalist and WBA International Lightweight champion Amir Khan.
Tom has spent over 1000 hours in private study with Sifu Ted Wong and is one of the worlds most knowledgeable instructors on the lattermost stages of Bruce Lees martial art, Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do. She is a board member of the Bruce Lee Foundation, pens a monthly column for Black Belt Magazine, and is the author of three books, The Straight Lead: the Core of Bruce Lees Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do, Jeet Kune Do: The Arsenal of Self Expression, and Martial Arts Nutrition: a Precision Guide to Fueling Your Fighting Edge.