April 22, 2026 • 24 mins
Welcome new listeners! This episode is a fresh starting point, sharing who I am and what I want this space to feel like. I connect my personal story to a practical mission: turn real experiences into strategies that build mental resilience, stronger bodies, and better self-care.
• the one-woman production and why I keep it raw
• growing up fast as a firstborn daughter and carrying armor
• using personal stories to offer lessons and reframes
• launching the podcast and thinking long term
• bodybuilding highs and health recovery lows that shaped my coaching career
• calling out fitness misinformation
• why strength training supports longevity and independence
• redefining training failure and real-life failure as useful data
Get in touch with me (see the show notes below).
If you want the deeper lessons behind strength training, join my newsletter called Between Reps: Building the Unbreakable Woman. Check it out HERE
Instagram: www.instagram.com/tianamoves
Website: unbreakablemb.com
Email: info@unbreakablemb.com
Disclaimer: This show is for education and entertainment purposes only. This is not intended as a replacement for therapy. Please seek out the help of a professional to assist you with your specific situation.
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:07):
Welcome to the Unbreakable Mind and Body
Podcast.
I am your host, Tiana Gonzalez,a multi-passionate creative,
storyteller, and entrepreneurwith a fierce love for movement.
This is our space for powerfulstories and actionable
strategies to help you buildmental resilience and elevate
(00:28):
your self-care practice.
Together, we will unlock thetools that you need to create an
unbreakable mind and body.
Welcome back to the show.
I'm your host, Tiana.
This is a special episodebecause I have realized that I
have a lot of new podcastlisteners.
(00:49):
Welcome.
And I want to do a newintroductory episode for you.
So what has been happening isrecently the show has been
getting a bit more uh tractionand people asking me where they
should start.
And I've been sharing the veryfirst episode, which I dropped
(01:11):
March 11th, 2025.
Now, of course, it's still agreat episode.
It's still true because it's mystory.
However, I feel like, well, if Isend somebody the first episode,
do they feel obligated to startthere and then continue in a
linear in a linear pattern,going from one to two to three,
(01:33):
and so on and so forth.
And truth be told, the firstepisode certainly is not my best
work.
So what I want to do here isreintroduce myself.
And for the new people in theroom, I'm so excited to have you
here.
Now, if you want to go back andlisten to the very first
episode, please, by all means, Iwould be very grateful.
(01:53):
But if you want to just followalong on the journey right now
from where we are at, I drop anew episode every Monday
morning.
Sometimes I'll throw out a bonusepisode if I happen to feel
really inspired or moved, orthere is something that is uh
pulling on my heartstrings andtelling me, you know what, we
(02:15):
really need to talk about thisand publish it immediately.
Now, this is a one-woman show,and I do everything on my
MacBook in my apartment.
I do not have a fancy setup.
I invested a little bit of moneyin some equipment, so I do have
a microphone, headphones.
I also at one point had anothermicrophone and a pop filter and
(02:40):
a different pair of headphonesthat I was using, but I have
found that the setup I'm usingnow is optimal for me.
I live in an apartment buildingin the suburbs of New York City
and I live in a small city.
So occasionally you're gonnahear my neighbors or traffic
outside or sirens.
(03:00):
And when I first startedpublishing this show, I used to
either stop and edit things, orI would just completely wait
until the noise was done andthen start recording again.
Sometimes I do that, but most ofthe time you're just gonna hear
it very real, very raw, and veryunedited, unfiltered, because I
(03:23):
believe that authenticity is thegateway for true connection.
And my desire for this show isfor you to feel like we are
sitting in the coff in a coffeeshop having a very, you know,
intimate, deep, meaningfulconversation.
(03:44):
Or maybe we're at a lounge or abar or something.
You pick, you pick and imaginewhatever vibe you want.
But either way, I want this tofeel like it's just you and me,
and that's all that matters.
So, introduction.
Where do I begin?
Well, let me tell you what I'mup to now, and then I will fill
in the gaps with some parts ofmy story that may be interesting
(04:09):
or may give you uh some insightinto my character and what has
brought us together to thisconversation that we're hosting
on the Unbreakable Mind and BodyPodcast.
So, my name's Tiana Gonzalez.
I'm a native New Yorker.
I have moved around a lot when Iwas a kid.
I did a little bit of living inNew York City and a little bit
(04:32):
of living in Westchester County.
I actually was born in LongIsland, which is also a suburb
of New York City, for those ofyou not familiar with the
Northeast.
And I had an interestingchildhood, a lot of uh
excitement and drama, and itcertainly made me who I am
(04:56):
today, in the simple fact that Ihad to grow up pretty fast, and
I had to learn how to keep myhead below the radar and
survive.
And when you are a firstborndaughter like me, sometimes that
can heavily influence how youmake decisions for yourself, for
(05:17):
your future, and it can have anegative impact on the way that
you see other people and whetheror not you trust them.
And so I moved through thebetter half of my life with this
very thick armor on the outside,being tough, having to face a
(05:39):
lot of challenges, makedecisions that were probably
well beyond my years and levelof maturity at the time.
And yet there I was making thesedecisions.
For example, at 12 years old, mydad went to prison, and I was
the one who was the gatekeeperand the coordinator for his
(06:00):
visits, for sending himpackages, for getting letters.
And now that I think about it,it just probably really was not
the most appropriate thing.
But I would not have wanted itany other way.
So I had to sort of undo a lotof the narratives that I was
(06:22):
carrying around as I got olderand realized, wow, I actually
was deprived of a lot ofexperiences that young women
have because I was too busyworrying about my dad instead of
him being worried about me.
Now, if you stay tuning into theshow week after week, you will
(06:45):
hear me weave in a lot of thesestories in the episodes.
But this podcast is actually notabout me.
This podcast is a platform forme to share with you here's what
I learned and here's how itmight help you.
(07:06):
That's the game here.
Every single episode of thisshow is designed to share a
truth, to share lessons, toshare experiences, sometimes
funny, sometimes tragic.
And I will then offer yousolutions or strategy or a way
(07:29):
to reframe how you see things sothat if you find yourself in a
similar predicament in thefuture, perhaps you can call
upon what you heard on this showand apply it in your life.
That is the main thing here.
And I will say right now, thisshow is primarily a one-woman
(07:49):
show.
I have not done any guestinterviews just yet, but that
could be something I do in thefuture.
I work as an in-person trainerat a very nice gym not far from
where I live.
I train people exclusively,one-on-one and in person.
And I recently started a newbusiness because I wanted to do
(08:15):
something official with the workthat I'm creating here on this
show.
So I started the podcast andofficially launched in March of
2025.
And then in February of 2026, Igot my LLC for this brand and
have submitted applications fora few copyrights for different
(08:35):
things that I'm working on toprotect the brand, to protect
the name, and to think bigpicture long term.
When I started the podcast, Ihad no plans of being an
entrepreneur again, and I'llshare with you a little bit
about that in a second.
Um, but sometimes we are calledto do things, and even if we
(08:58):
can't really see the fullpicture, you know that you just
have to take the next step,especially if it's something
that like keeps coming back,whether it's in your dreams or
in conversations or in the workthat you do with certain topics,
certain things, certaininstances.
And so when that happens, you'vegot to listen.
(09:21):
And so that's really whathappened with Unbreakable Mind
and Body LLC is that I had thisgreat podcast, and people would
ask me, okay, well, like, can wework together or do you have
more stuff coming out?
Do you have merch or a book oryou know, anything at all, some
(09:42):
type of workbook or um lessonsor any sort of tangible product?
And so not really knowing wherethis is gonna take me, I
realized, yeah, you know what?
I gotta get the LLC just toprotect the brand so that when I
decide to make choices and dothese kinds of things, I'll have
(10:07):
the brand already in place.
But that's a beast in and ofitself.
If you've ever owned your ownbusiness or done your own small
business venture, you have toget all of the legal stuff in
place, you have to make sure youhave uh protection of your
assets, you also want to have anofficial bank account.
And so, you know, there's a lotof steps that need to be taken.
(10:28):
It's not difficult, it's justyou need to make sure that
you're mindful of all thosethings.
So, why in-person training?
Well, I will tell you through myown trials and tribulations uh
and lessons that I learned aftercompeting in bodybuilding for
many, many years, going throughmy own journey with my health
(10:50):
and the roller coaster ride of,you know, being lean and stage
ready and then gaining the wayback and then being lean again
and back and forth.
I realized through thoseexperiences that there was a lot
of misinformation out in theworld.
And I knew that I could be thevessel to share this message
(11:11):
with women to one help preventthem from making the same
mistakes and choices that I mademany years ago, and two to help
them trim the fat because theindustry as we know it today
preys on people's insecurities,whether they're talking about
(11:32):
weight loss drugs andmedications, whether they're
talking about, you know, whateating clean means or sharing
misinformation aboutperimenopause, menopause, HRT,
TRT, supplements, the list goeson and on.
And it is a vast and wide wild,wild west jungle out there.
(11:57):
So if I could use my voice tomaybe help somebody else, then
it was critical that I did that.
So that's why I chose to getinto fitness um as a formal
means of income and as a career.
Back around 2011.
I didn't actually take the leapand leave corporate America
(12:17):
until 2013.
Because I'm a planner, I alwayslike to make sure I have all my
ducks in a row and I understandwhat I'm getting myself into
before I just run into somethingblindly.
But even the most careful peopleand even the most planning,
having the most plans andpreparation, you're still gonna
(12:41):
make a lot of mistakes.
You're gonna still learn thingsthe hard way and you're gonna
get your heart broken.
So it's not about avoiding thosethings, but it's about preparing
yourself when those things docome and they will.
How will you respond?
How will you react?
(13:01):
So after taking this twistingjourney in my career, going
through engineering school, thenI worked in engineering, then I
worked in the pharmaceuticalindustry in their operations
department, then I got intocommercial real estate, and I
thrived as a commercial realestate property manager.
(13:21):
I really loved that career, butI got burnt out with it.
I was also bodybuilding all ofthat time as a hobby.
So it was during my time as aproperty manager and then going
through my own health issuespost-competition that I realized
there is something to this and Ineed, I need to answer the
(13:43):
calling because women keptreaching out to me, sending me
emails or text messages, orstopping me at the gym and
saying, You, you know aboutthis.
I need your help with something.
And it was incrediblyoverwhelming to say the least.
The reason for that is because Iwent through a huge
transformation where I got verylean for a show, then I stayed
(14:07):
lean for a few more, then Igained some weight, then I got
lean again, then I got reallylean, got my pro card, and then
I ballooned up.
And I spent the next three orfour years working on getting my
health back in order.
I really did a number to mysystem.
And so it's through that periodof time, those three or four
(14:28):
years where I was still chippingaway, trusting the higher power,
knowing that I wasn't gonna bestuck there forever and just
stepping one foot in front ofthe other and only worrying
about the task at hand, that Iwas able to get results.
And so those results reallyspeak for themselves.
So when someone's looking for acoach or a trainer, you want to
(14:52):
know their story and you want toknow that they can relate to you
in some way, shape, or form, andthat maybe they've been where
you are right now.
So they're probably the bestperson to get you out of that
space that you're in and headingin the direction that you
desire, whether it's to put onmuscle or to lose a few pounds
(15:13):
of body fat or to compete in anevent.
That's why it's important thatyou find someone who walks the
walk.
So after being in fitness anddoing that with a lot of
different ways, meaning, like Iworked in person, I had an
online business, I worked at aboutique studio, and like that
(15:33):
looked very different.
Every couple of months it waschanging, which is common for
people that work in the fitnessindustry, by the way.
And typically speaking,especially if they're working
somewhere and they're notgetting a higher percentage of
the commission rate from theirpersonal training sessions, more
like more than likely they aretraveling to people's homes to
(15:56):
do private sessions, they teacha couple group classes in
addition to the training, orthey hop around to different
establishments.
Like, for example, they mayteach a boot camp at one place,
they may teach a Pilates classsomewhere else, they might do um
like a kids' program, and thenthey work a full-time one-on-one
training gig at a gym.
(16:17):
And that's literally exactlywhat I did for many years.
While in addition, I also had abusiness that I have now
dissolved doing one-on-oneonline coaching.
So I did a lot of work in frontof the computer way before the
pandemic and where everybody wasworking remote.
(16:38):
So by the time that came, I wasvery burnt out with it.
And I decided after, I don'tknow, maybe a year or two after
the pandemic, I was like, okay,this industry is really
saturated.
I want to go back to using mydegree, to using my brain, to
not having to be in front of acamera every single day to
(16:59):
create content, obviously.
And so I went into construction.
And there was a period of about15 months where I worked at
three different constructioncompanies in a row and then
realized this isn't the rightfit for me.
Took a summer off and then cameback to training.
One-on-one in-person training ismy jam.
(17:22):
I absolutely love it.
I love what it can do for myclients.
I love how we can turn anegative situation into a
positive.
It's not the cure, but it'ssomething that can help someone
feel a little bit better, youknow, feeling better when they
leave as opposed to when theyfirst started the session.
(17:44):
And it also gives me a ton ofideas for things to talk about
on this show.
So it's through connection thatI will remember different
stories, and then I share mystories here, and that
cultivates more connection.
And then I see people andthey'll talk about the things
that I shared on the show.
And so you see how this is anever-ending cycle of sharing
(18:05):
experiences with each other andcreating connection through
being vulnerable.
Now, vulnerability is somethingthat a lot of people are very
uncomfortable with.
And I guess because of thingsthat I've been through in my
life, I'm okay with being alittle uncomfortable from time
(18:26):
to time.
So being vulnerable has neverbeen an issue for me.
But one thing that has been anissue, and it is part of the
reason why I actually came upwith the idea for this podcast
in 2022, but it didn't actuallylaunch until 2025, is because I
didn't want people to hear mystories and feel sorry for me,
(18:50):
or to think that I'm sitting inmy victimhood because I can't
get over certain situations.
I'm still talking about them somany years later.
And that was my own judgment ofmyself.
I was gaslighting myself, I wastelling myself, nobody cares
about your stories, nobody wantsto hear what you have to say.
Why, why, why do you thinkyou're so interesting?
(19:13):
Isn't that insane?
Like I would never let someoneelse talk to me like that, and I
would never talk to someone elselike that.
But my inner narrative and theway I was speaking to myself was
so harsh.
And I can happily say over thetime between when I had the
(19:35):
inception of this show idea andwhen I launched, I did a lot of
healing work.
I did a lot of peeling back thelayers, sitting in the
discomfort, meditating, goingthrough my emotional and mental
archives to really come to termswith and make peace with parts
(19:58):
of myself that I didn't reallylove or that I didn't really
understand.
So on this show, you're gonnahear me talk about things from a
conceptual level.
You're also gonna hear my funlittle stories, like the one I
shared about my boyfriend when Iwas in college throwing a fit in
the bagel shop and disrespectingmy mom.
(20:21):
I broke up with him three weekslater.
Of course I did.
But you'll hear stories likethat, but then you're also gonna
hear me talk a lot about mycareer and how I feel about
certain things in the health andwellness space and what I
believe to be the gateway tolongevity.
I might as well talk about thatright now because it's the
(20:43):
premise of everything I do.
And that is that strengthtraining is the chef's kiss.
It is the gift, it is the goldengoose egg.
If you can get two or threesessions at a bare minimum of
strength training, I am nottalking about no class, and I am
not talking about uh an at-homeworkout using five-pound
(21:08):
dumbbells.
No, no.
I'm talking about lifting somereal heavy weight, stimulating
muscular hypertrophy, gettingyourself to the point of fatigue
and exhaustion, which cansometimes be inferred as
failure, and we'll talk aboutthat in a second, what failure
means, because it's actually agood thing.
Two or three times a week, at aminimum, you are gonna live a
(21:32):
much happier and healthier longlife.
As you get older, you will stillbe thriving, you will still have
more um independence versussomebody who's been a victim of
skinny talk and they just wantto be tiny and small and they
don't want to lift weights.
You are choosing to be weak, youare choosing to be frail, you
(21:54):
are choosing to make sure that Ihave to carry your weight if
we're in a disaster or if there.
An emergency you are choosing tobe the weaker person in the
room, and I don't really lovethat.
Why would you want to be theweak person in the room?
Why would you want to have torely on somebody else?
(22:14):
Why would you want to have toask for help to put your luggage
in the overhead storage bin onthe plane?
No.
We want to do that ourselves.
So when we talk about failure,and we're talking about it in
the sense of exercise, failureis that point where you feel
(22:36):
like you just can't possibly doany more.
And it's a good thing.
And failure in real life is alsoa very good thing.
Because if you fail atsomething, it means you actually
had the guts to go out there anddo something.
It means you actually had thecourage to try.
(22:57):
It means that you were willingto put yourself out there and
subject yourself to people'sopinions and thought processes,
or whatever people want to sayin the comments on your social
media, or when you get negativefeedback and reviews, but you
use that as constructivecriticism to make yourself
(23:19):
better.
That is a wonderful thing.
So you're not paralyzed by thethought of failing.
So you're not paralyzed by thethought of not winning.
Because when you reframe it andthink of, well, I'm either gonna
win or I'm gonna learn.
Those are both wins in my book.
(23:42):
So I hope that for my new peoplehere in the room, this episode
was helpful for you.
You can catch me uh primarily onInstagram.
I also have a newsletter onSubstack.
And if you check the show notes,you'll see how you can get in
touch with me.
Give me a follow.
You can send me a DM.
You can also send me a textmessage or leave me a voicemail,
(24:05):
which is really cool.
So check the show notes for allthat good stuff.
Uh, I love all things strengthtraining, particularly for
women.
I believe that becoming theunbreakable version of yourself
is the most important work thatyou could ever do.
You will learn a lot about yourown character, who you are, what
(24:27):
you're made of, what you canhandle.
And I'm here to tell you it'sprobably way more than you
actually think right now.
So thanks for tuning in.
I appreciate you being here.
I appreciate your time andattention as always.
And I'll catch you on the nextone.
Welcome to the Unbreakable Mind and Body
Podcast.
I am your host, Tiana Gonzalez,a multi-passionate creative,
storyteller, and entrepreneurwith a fierce love for movement.
This is our space for powerfulstories and actionable
strategies to help you buildmental resilience and elevate
(00:28):
your self-care practice.
Together, we will unlock thetools that you need to create an
unbreakable mind and body.
Welcome back to the show.
I'm your host, Tiana.
This is a special episodebecause I have realized that I
have a lot of new podcastlisteners.
(00:49):
Welcome.
And I want to do a newintroductory episode for you.
So what has been happening isrecently the show has been
getting a bit more uh tractionand people asking me where they
should start.
And I've been sharing the veryfirst episode, which I dropped
(01:11):
March 11th, 2025.
Now, of course, it's still agreat episode.
It's still true because it's mystory.
However, I feel like, well, if Isend somebody the first episode,
do they feel obligated to startthere and then continue in a
linear in a linear pattern,going from one to two to three,
(01:33):
and so on and so forth.
And truth be told, the firstepisode certainly is not my best
work.
So what I want to do here isreintroduce myself.
And for the new people in theroom, I'm so excited to have you
here.
Now, if you want to go back andlisten to the very first
episode, please, by all means, Iwould be very grateful.
(01:53):
But if you want to just followalong on the journey right now
from where we are at, I drop anew episode every Monday
morning.
Sometimes I'll throw out a bonusepisode if I happen to feel
really inspired or moved, orthere is something that is uh
pulling on my heartstrings andtelling me, you know what, we
(02:15):
really need to talk about thisand publish it immediately.
Now, this is a one-woman show,and I do everything on my
MacBook in my apartment.
I do not have a fancy setup.
I invested a little bit of moneyin some equipment, so I do have
a microphone, headphones.
I also at one point had anothermicrophone and a pop filter and
(02:40):
a different pair of headphonesthat I was using, but I have
found that the setup I'm usingnow is optimal for me.
I live in an apartment buildingin the suburbs of New York City
and I live in a small city.
So occasionally you're gonnahear my neighbors or traffic
outside or sirens.
(03:00):
And when I first startedpublishing this show, I used to
either stop and edit things, orI would just completely wait
until the noise was done andthen start recording again.
Sometimes I do that, but most ofthe time you're just gonna hear
it very real, very raw, and veryunedited, unfiltered, because I
(03:23):
believe that authenticity is thegateway for true connection.
And my desire for this show isfor you to feel like we are
sitting in the coff in a coffeeshop having a very, you know,
intimate, deep, meaningfulconversation.
(03:44):
Or maybe we're at a lounge or abar or something.
You pick, you pick and imaginewhatever vibe you want.
But either way, I want this tofeel like it's just you and me,
and that's all that matters.
So, introduction.
Where do I begin?
Well, let me tell you what I'mup to now, and then I will fill
in the gaps with some parts ofmy story that may be interesting
(04:09):
or may give you uh some insightinto my character and what has
brought us together to thisconversation that we're hosting
on the Unbreakable Mind and BodyPodcast.
So, my name's Tiana Gonzalez.
I'm a native New Yorker.
I have moved around a lot when Iwas a kid.
I did a little bit of living inNew York City and a little bit
(04:32):
of living in Westchester County.
I actually was born in LongIsland, which is also a suburb
of New York City, for those ofyou not familiar with the
Northeast.
And I had an interestingchildhood, a lot of uh
excitement and drama, and itcertainly made me who I am
(04:56):
today, in the simple fact that Ihad to grow up pretty fast, and
I had to learn how to keep myhead below the radar and
survive.
And when you are a firstborndaughter like me, sometimes that
can heavily influence how youmake decisions for yourself, for
(05:17):
your future, and it can have anegative impact on the way that
you see other people and whetheror not you trust them.
And so I moved through thebetter half of my life with this
very thick armor on the outside,being tough, having to face a
(05:39):
lot of challenges, makedecisions that were probably
well beyond my years and levelof maturity at the time.
And yet there I was making thesedecisions.
For example, at 12 years old, mydad went to prison, and I was
the one who was the gatekeeperand the coordinator for his
(06:00):
visits, for sending himpackages, for getting letters.
And now that I think about it,it just probably really was not
the most appropriate thing.
But I would not have wanted itany other way.
So I had to sort of undo a lotof the narratives that I was
(06:22):
carrying around as I got olderand realized, wow, I actually
was deprived of a lot ofexperiences that young women
have because I was too busyworrying about my dad instead of
him being worried about me.
Now, if you stay tuning into theshow week after week, you will
(06:45):
hear me weave in a lot of thesestories in the episodes.
But this podcast is actually notabout me.
This podcast is a platform forme to share with you here's what
I learned and here's how itmight help you.
(07:06):
That's the game here.
Every single episode of thisshow is designed to share a
truth, to share lessons, toshare experiences, sometimes
funny, sometimes tragic.
And I will then offer yousolutions or strategy or a way
(07:29):
to reframe how you see things sothat if you find yourself in a
similar predicament in thefuture, perhaps you can call
upon what you heard on this showand apply it in your life.
That is the main thing here.
And I will say right now, thisshow is primarily a one-woman
(07:49):
show.
I have not done any guestinterviews just yet, but that
could be something I do in thefuture.
I work as an in-person trainerat a very nice gym not far from
where I live.
I train people exclusively,one-on-one and in person.
And I recently started a newbusiness because I wanted to do
(08:15):
something official with the workthat I'm creating here on this
show.
So I started the podcast andofficially launched in March of
2025.
And then in February of 2026, Igot my LLC for this brand and
have submitted applications fora few copyrights for different
(08:35):
things that I'm working on toprotect the brand, to protect
the name, and to think bigpicture long term.
When I started the podcast, Ihad no plans of being an
entrepreneur again, and I'llshare with you a little bit
about that in a second.
Um, but sometimes we are calledto do things, and even if we
(08:58):
can't really see the fullpicture, you know that you just
have to take the next step,especially if it's something
that like keeps coming back,whether it's in your dreams or
in conversations or in the workthat you do with certain topics,
certain things, certaininstances.
And so when that happens, you'vegot to listen.
(09:21):
And so that's really whathappened with Unbreakable Mind
and Body LLC is that I had thisgreat podcast, and people would
ask me, okay, well, like, can wework together or do you have
more stuff coming out?
Do you have merch or a book oryou know, anything at all, some
(09:42):
type of workbook or um lessonsor any sort of tangible product?
And so not really knowing wherethis is gonna take me, I
realized, yeah, you know what?
I gotta get the LLC just toprotect the brand so that when I
decide to make choices and dothese kinds of things, I'll have
(10:07):
the brand already in place.
But that's a beast in and ofitself.
If you've ever owned your ownbusiness or done your own small
business venture, you have toget all of the legal stuff in
place, you have to make sure youhave uh protection of your
assets, you also want to have anofficial bank account.
And so, you know, there's a lotof steps that need to be taken.
(10:28):
It's not difficult, it's justyou need to make sure that
you're mindful of all thosethings.
So, why in-person training?
Well, I will tell you through myown trials and tribulations uh
and lessons that I learned aftercompeting in bodybuilding for
many, many years, going throughmy own journey with my health
(10:50):
and the roller coaster ride of,you know, being lean and stage
ready and then gaining the wayback and then being lean again
and back and forth.
I realized through thoseexperiences that there was a lot
of misinformation out in theworld.
And I knew that I could be thevessel to share this message
(11:11):
with women to one help preventthem from making the same
mistakes and choices that I mademany years ago, and two to help
them trim the fat because theindustry as we know it today
preys on people's insecurities,whether they're talking about
(11:32):
weight loss drugs andmedications, whether they're
talking about, you know, whateating clean means or sharing
misinformation aboutperimenopause, menopause, HRT,
TRT, supplements, the list goeson and on.
And it is a vast and wide wild,wild west jungle out there.
(11:57):
So if I could use my voice tomaybe help somebody else, then
it was critical that I did that.
So that's why I chose to getinto fitness um as a formal
means of income and as a career.
Back around 2011.
I didn't actually take the leapand leave corporate America
(12:17):
until 2013.
Because I'm a planner, I alwayslike to make sure I have all my
ducks in a row and I understandwhat I'm getting myself into
before I just run into somethingblindly.
But even the most careful peopleand even the most planning,
having the most plans andpreparation, you're still gonna
(12:41):
make a lot of mistakes.
You're gonna still learn thingsthe hard way and you're gonna
get your heart broken.
So it's not about avoiding thosethings, but it's about preparing
yourself when those things docome and they will.
How will you respond?
How will you react?
(13:01):
So after taking this twistingjourney in my career, going
through engineering school, thenI worked in engineering, then I
worked in the pharmaceuticalindustry in their operations
department, then I got intocommercial real estate, and I
thrived as a commercial realestate property manager.
(13:21):
I really loved that career, butI got burnt out with it.
I was also bodybuilding all ofthat time as a hobby.
So it was during my time as aproperty manager and then going
through my own health issuespost-competition that I realized
there is something to this and Ineed, I need to answer the
(13:43):
calling because women keptreaching out to me, sending me
emails or text messages, orstopping me at the gym and
saying, You, you know aboutthis.
I need your help with something.
And it was incrediblyoverwhelming to say the least.
The reason for that is because Iwent through a huge
transformation where I got verylean for a show, then I stayed
(14:07):
lean for a few more, then Igained some weight, then I got
lean again, then I got reallylean, got my pro card, and then
I ballooned up.
And I spent the next three orfour years working on getting my
health back in order.
I really did a number to mysystem.
And so it's through that periodof time, those three or four
(14:28):
years where I was still chippingaway, trusting the higher power,
knowing that I wasn't gonna bestuck there forever and just
stepping one foot in front ofthe other and only worrying
about the task at hand, that Iwas able to get results.
And so those results reallyspeak for themselves.
So when someone's looking for acoach or a trainer, you want to
(14:52):
know their story and you want toknow that they can relate to you
in some way, shape, or form, andthat maybe they've been where
you are right now.
So they're probably the bestperson to get you out of that
space that you're in and headingin the direction that you
desire, whether it's to put onmuscle or to lose a few pounds
(15:13):
of body fat or to compete in anevent.
That's why it's important thatyou find someone who walks the
walk.
So after being in fitness anddoing that with a lot of
different ways, meaning, like Iworked in person, I had an
online business, I worked at aboutique studio, and like that
(15:33):
looked very different.
Every couple of months it waschanging, which is common for
people that work in the fitnessindustry, by the way.
And typically speaking,especially if they're working
somewhere and they're notgetting a higher percentage of
the commission rate from theirpersonal training sessions, more
like more than likely they aretraveling to people's homes to
(15:56):
do private sessions, they teacha couple group classes in
addition to the training, orthey hop around to different
establishments.
Like, for example, they mayteach a boot camp at one place,
they may teach a Pilates classsomewhere else, they might do um
like a kids' program, and thenthey work a full-time one-on-one
training gig at a gym.
(16:17):
And that's literally exactlywhat I did for many years.
While in addition, I also had abusiness that I have now
dissolved doing one-on-oneonline coaching.
So I did a lot of work in frontof the computer way before the
pandemic and where everybody wasworking remote.
(16:38):
So by the time that came, I wasvery burnt out with it.
And I decided after, I don'tknow, maybe a year or two after
the pandemic, I was like, okay,this industry is really
saturated.
I want to go back to using mydegree, to using my brain, to
not having to be in front of acamera every single day to
(16:59):
create content, obviously.
And so I went into construction.
And there was a period of about15 months where I worked at
three different constructioncompanies in a row and then
realized this isn't the rightfit for me.
Took a summer off and then cameback to training.
One-on-one in-person training ismy jam.
(17:22):
I absolutely love it.
I love what it can do for myclients.
I love how we can turn anegative situation into a
positive.
It's not the cure, but it'ssomething that can help someone
feel a little bit better, youknow, feeling better when they
leave as opposed to when theyfirst started the session.
(17:44):
And it also gives me a ton ofideas for things to talk about
on this show.
So it's through connection thatI will remember different
stories, and then I share mystories here, and that
cultivates more connection.
And then I see people andthey'll talk about the things
that I shared on the show.
And so you see how this is anever-ending cycle of sharing
(18:05):
experiences with each other andcreating connection through
being vulnerable.
Now, vulnerability is somethingthat a lot of people are very
uncomfortable with.
And I guess because of thingsthat I've been through in my
life, I'm okay with being alittle uncomfortable from time
(18:26):
to time.
So being vulnerable has neverbeen an issue for me.
But one thing that has been anissue, and it is part of the
reason why I actually came upwith the idea for this podcast
in 2022, but it didn't actuallylaunch until 2025, is because I
didn't want people to hear mystories and feel sorry for me,
(18:50):
or to think that I'm sitting inmy victimhood because I can't
get over certain situations.
I'm still talking about them somany years later.
And that was my own judgment ofmyself.
I was gaslighting myself, I wastelling myself, nobody cares
about your stories, nobody wantsto hear what you have to say.
Why, why, why do you thinkyou're so interesting?
(19:13):
Isn't that insane?
Like I would never let someoneelse talk to me like that, and I
would never talk to someone elselike that.
But my inner narrative and theway I was speaking to myself was
so harsh.
And I can happily say over thetime between when I had the
(19:35):
inception of this show idea andwhen I launched, I did a lot of
healing work.
I did a lot of peeling back thelayers, sitting in the
discomfort, meditating, goingthrough my emotional and mental
archives to really come to termswith and make peace with parts
(19:58):
of myself that I didn't reallylove or that I didn't really
understand.
So on this show, you're gonnahear me talk about things from a
conceptual level.
You're also gonna hear my funlittle stories, like the one I
shared about my boyfriend when Iwas in college throwing a fit in
the bagel shop and disrespectingmy mom.
(20:21):
I broke up with him three weekslater.
Of course I did.
But you'll hear stories likethat, but then you're also gonna
hear me talk a lot about mycareer and how I feel about
certain things in the health andwellness space and what I
believe to be the gateway tolongevity.
I might as well talk about thatright now because it's the
(20:43):
premise of everything I do.
And that is that strengthtraining is the chef's kiss.
It is the gift, it is the goldengoose egg.
If you can get two or threesessions at a bare minimum of
strength training, I am nottalking about no class, and I am
not talking about uh an at-homeworkout using five-pound
(21:08):
dumbbells.
No, no.
I'm talking about lifting somereal heavy weight, stimulating
muscular hypertrophy, gettingyourself to the point of fatigue
and exhaustion, which cansometimes be inferred as
failure, and we'll talk aboutthat in a second, what failure
means, because it's actually agood thing.
Two or three times a week, at aminimum, you are gonna live a
(21:32):
much happier and healthier longlife.
As you get older, you will stillbe thriving, you will still have
more um independence versussomebody who's been a victim of
skinny talk and they just wantto be tiny and small and they
don't want to lift weights.
You are choosing to be weak, youare choosing to be frail, you
(21:54):
are choosing to make sure that Ihave to carry your weight if
we're in a disaster or if there.
An emergency you are choosing tobe the weaker person in the
room, and I don't really lovethat.
Why would you want to be theweak person in the room?
Why would you want to have torely on somebody else?
(22:14):
Why would you want to have toask for help to put your luggage
in the overhead storage bin onthe plane?
No.
We want to do that ourselves.
So when we talk about failure,and we're talking about it in
the sense of exercise, failureis that point where you feel
(22:36):
like you just can't possibly doany more.
And it's a good thing.
And failure in real life is alsoa very good thing.
Because if you fail atsomething, it means you actually
had the guts to go out there anddo something.
It means you actually had thecourage to try.
(22:57):
It means that you were willingto put yourself out there and
subject yourself to people'sopinions and thought processes,
or whatever people want to sayin the comments on your social
media, or when you get negativefeedback and reviews, but you
use that as constructivecriticism to make yourself
(23:19):
better.
That is a wonderful thing.
So you're not paralyzed by thethought of failing.
So you're not paralyzed by thethought of not winning.
Because when you reframe it andthink of, well, I'm either gonna
win or I'm gonna learn.
Those are both wins in my book.
(23:42):
So I hope that for my new peoplehere in the room, this episode
was helpful for you.
You can catch me uh primarily onInstagram.
I also have a newsletter onSubstack.
And if you check the show notes,you'll see how you can get in
touch with me.
Give me a follow.
You can send me a DM.
You can also send me a textmessage or leave me a voicemail,
(24:05):
which is really cool.
So check the show notes for allthat good stuff.
Uh, I love all things strengthtraining, particularly for
women.
I believe that becoming theunbreakable version of yourself
is the most important work thatyou could ever do.
You will learn a lot about yourown character, who you are, what
(24:27):
you're made of, what you canhandle.
And I'm here to tell you it'sprobably way more than you
actually think right now.
So thanks for tuning in.
I appreciate you being here.
I appreciate your time andattention as always.
And I'll catch you on the nextone.
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