A Hula Hoop Changed This Chemical Engineering Alumna’s Life

Believe it or not, the Princeton alumna you may have seen hula hooping on national television in June once thought she was shy and uncoordinated.

Yes, the one in the hot pink leggings, grinning from ear to ear as she set a world record for hula hooping “around the bum,” as the British Guinness World Records reps call it, for an hour and 15 minutes on the prime-time bonanza America’s Got Talent.

“I couldn’t throw or catch anything,” she said over Zoom from a pub in London, recalling life before the hoop. “I was very lazy. I tried to take tennis lessons and I was told I was listless. I couldn’t dance. I just didn’t feel in touch with my body in any way.” Plus, as a scientist she spent her days in front of a computer, which didn’t help.

Then one day, she saw a girl hula hooping. “She looked really free and happy, and I thought, interesting, maybe I’ll try it.” A few minutes at a time quickly became an obsession. Turns out, there are whole online communities of hula hoopers who share tips and support. Conferences. And many shows and events looking for a pro to dazzle and inspire audiences.

“The hula hoop has changed everything in my life,” she says. “I didn’t know I could become a fit, sporty person. I didn’t know I was one. I love performing, and I love people, and I love parties.

“I always thought my life was a bit OK. My kids were grown up. I was enjoying my job,” she says. “But you know, we kind of think, is this all there is? And then to realize there’s this whole world — it’s been incredible. I’m happier than I’ve ever been in my life.”

A grin. “Well, I was pretty happy at Princeton when I was a grad student, but you know what I mean.”

Today, she goes professionally by Andrea Hulamyhoop. Ageism and unwanted attention are two real problems for a woman working as a solo performer, which is why Andrea guards her privacy closely, and why PAW agreed to withhold her last name and class year from this story.

She came to Princeton for a Ph.D. in chemical engineering following her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, where her father was a professor in the field. Postdoctoral work took her to Imperial College in London, where she still lives.

Andrea has two children who have come around to their mother’s career shift and occasionally seeing her viral videos pop up in their social media feeds. She holds nine world records at the moment, according to the Guinness website, but thinks she’s broken 14. (Sometimes she breaks her own records.)

“Butt hooping,” as Andrea’s glute-circling technique is sometimes called, is just the beginning. She can swing multiple hoops from multiple body parts simultaneously. She says you’d be surprised how much she’s tapped into her science education, using physics to balance out the weight, speed, centripetal force, and circumference of the hoops. The next record she plans to break involves butt hooping while jumping (using a really long) rope.

With the biggest talent show in America under her belt, Andrea is heading this summer to the airwaves of Romania, where she’ll appear on yet another similar show. Previously she was on Germany’s Got Talent, among others. She teaches classes in hula hooping, and she says the very best part about her second career may be the people who see her hooping and want to give it a try.

“I just want to make people laugh, and I want to make people see that it’s not just hula hooping on your waist — there’s so much fun stuff you can do,” she says. “I hope I’ve inspired people to hula hoop, to know that you don’t have to be a kid, you can be my age and do it. Anybody can do it.”

Watch Andrea’s performance on America’s Got Talent: