Welcome to the very first Coastside Health and Fitness blog! As it’s the first entry, and a new business, I thought it would be helpful to let you know more about me, my background and how Coastside Health and Fitness came to be.
To begin, my life of fitness started when I was a child growing up in Palm Springs. From the age of 8, I was a dancer which I continued to do throughout high school, even teaching dance and tumbling to younger students at my studio.
After graduation, I went to Pepperdine University and earned a BA in Advertising. While there, I began training on Flying Trapeze in Woodland Hills. My coach, Richie Gaona, saw potential in me and encouraged me to train with other professionals in different aerial disciplines. I began training 6 days a week, and upon graduation from university, I joined the circus...not the regular path of progression for a newly graduated young adult! I worked in a few circuses, then got a job performing a duo silks act on Princess Cruises for 9 months.
After that ended, I started performing in night clubs in Las Vegas on different aerial apparatus’ as well as doing contracts with different circuses around the US. I eventually got a job performing in a permanent circus show in Hawaii and lived in Oahu for a year and a half before returning to the mainland.
Finally, in 2008, I got selected to audition for Cirque du Soleil’s show, Mystere...I can’t explain how much the thought of even auditioning meant to me. It was literally the dream of my life! Ever since I was 8 years old, I wanted to perform on the bungees in Cirque du Soleil, ideally in Mystere. I used to promise myself that if I EVER made it, I wouldn’t ask for anything else in life. And I did...I got selected got to perform in Mystere for 2 1/2 years in Las Vegas doing Bungees, Chinese Poles, playing Taiko Drums over the audience and walking on stilts.
In 2010, I moved to another Cirque show, KA which is located in the MGM Grand. There I learned more incredible skills and performed for another 3 wonderful years.
In 2013, I decided that it was time to retire...I was still single, didn’t own a house or car, loved to travel and wanted to see more of the world. My plan was to move to Spain, with no other agenda besides becoming fluent in Spanish and possibly getting a job in a cafe. Life, however, had a different path for me. In January of that year, I went to Australia and caught up with my old friend, Adam, who lived in Sydney.
We decided we really liked each other and after 9 months of a long-distance romance, I retired from Cirque du Soleil, packed my bags and headed the opposite direction and moved to Australia to be with him.
Before leaving Cirque du Soleil and making the move Down Under, I became a Certified Personal Trainer through NASM. Once in Australia, I began teaching flying trapeze, aerial silks and other circus skills and eventually as a Personal Trainer and boot camp instructor in Sydney. We decided to move back to the states in 2015, so Adam could advance his career and I could be closer to my family, and headed to the Bay Area in California, with our miniature dachshund, Jack.
Personally, things have been very busy since Adam, Jack and I moved back to the states. We’ve moved more times than we can count, Adam and I got married, we bought a house and just got a puppy named Bronte! She is also a miniature dachshund, like Jack and is keeping all of us on her toes with her razor teeth, willful personality and poor house-training habits!
Professionally, since moving back to the states, I continued personal training and teaching group fitness & aerial classes at various gyms and studios in the Bay Area. I also managed an aerial arts studio in San Francisco, where I taught several aerial and conditioning classes then made my way into corporate fitness at Linkedin in 2016.
As a personal trainer at LinkedIn, I had the opportunity to work with people with various goals, ages and body types. After a couple years, I became LinkedIn’s National Group Fitness Director and managed over 50 people at 6 locations around the US.
In September 2019, I decided to take the leap and open my own personal training and health coaching business, called Coastside Health and Fitness in El Granada, California. I believed that I could continue to help people outside the corporate setting in my community and offer them personalized coaching either at my home or theirs.
My main objective with Coastside Health and Fitness is to offer clients the opportunity to improve their lives through fitness and health coaching. We set ourselves apart because we focus on the “why” behind certain issues, such as weight gain, to get to the bottom of the problem and come up with solutions so the behavior doesn’t continue to happen. This is often overlooked by not only the individual trying to lose weight but also the health professional (nutritionist / personal trainer / gym) who is responsible for helping them.
People (especially women) have a tendency to put everything before their own needs. This can range from work, childcare, housework, etc., often at the detriment of their own health and fitness. If they are not taking care of themselves, then it is impossible to give 100% to all of the other important aspects of their lives.
Coastside Health and Fitness focuses on encouraging clients make to themselves a priority by helping them realize their health is important, and coaching them on how to dedicate time to themselves.
I am really excited about my new venture and taking the leap to open my own business. I hope to continue growing Coastside Health and Fitness and plan to do community events, group fitness classes and offer nutrition and dietetics counseling.
In January, I am also going to be going back to school with the goal of becoming a Registered Dietician.
Please let me know if you have any questions or are interested in learning more about Coastside Health and Fitness. I apologize if this first blog post reads more like a resume but I really wanted to give a little more insight about my background and what has driven me to start my own business. I am really excited to get to meet and work with more people and look forward to growing Coastside Health and Fitness!!
Comments