My story didn’t just start in 2010 when I attended my first Zumba instructor training. It’s been a journey! As a kid, I was far from physically fit – I always said I was more of a Mathlete than an athlete. :stuck_out_tongue: Sports did not work out in my favor. When I tried baseball, the only time at bat that I made contact with the ball, it came right back down and made contact with my arm. Out! 🤣
As I grew up, I knew that I had to do something about my health, but gyms were so intimidating! I remember going to the campus fitness center in college and feeling brave – that is, until the back of my pants split open on the leg machine and I never went back!! After I graduated, I let a friend drag me to a gym full of excessively muscled men picking things up and putting them down. I felt an overpowering sense of not belonging. Also an overpowering smell of sweat socks! 🤢 I didn’t join that gym, but I found an unscented one where I toiled miserably away on the elliptical while glancing curiously at the group fitness room. What was behind those doors? Why was the music so loud??
One day, someone smiled at me and invited me in to try a class. If I had to choose one moment that was the turning point of me feeling like I belonged, that was definitely it. (If you think about your own stories, was there a friend, a family member or even a friendly stranger who first made you feel welcome?)
Believe it or not, the gym I went to did NOT have Zumba classes. 😱 In fact, this was so long ago, that I’m not sure anyone in Pennsylvania had heard of Zumba unless they saw it on an infomercial! I actually fell in love with a step aerobics class. I idolized the instructor with her bouncing ponytail, infectious smile, and fingers stretched high in the air counting down how many steps remained. Eventually I found myself taking every class from the front row, stretching out my own arm in cues to help those behind me. “Why don’t you become an instructor?” they said. “You’d be great!” they said.
Me??? Could I? 🤷♀️ Maybe someday!
Fast forward a few more years and I was ready. But now I was stuck in a Catch 22… I couldn’t teach without experience and I couldn’t get experience without teaching! 🤪 Someone said “Try Zumba. It’s easy to become an instructor.” I’d never tried a Zumba class and I was pretty darn sure I would NOT like it, but I agreed to give it a shot.
Well you know what happened next because the same thing happened to all of you! The music started pumping, my hips started shaking and I was 100% sold! 😍
Over the past 10 years, I’ve gone from teaching Zumba classes to being a fitness instructor and now a business owner. I’ve hosted flash mobs, glow parties, fundraisers and children’s birthday parties. I sold clothes, cut up shirts and created custom keychains to sell on my website. I became an expert on Zoom, sound, lighting, and internet connections. I branched out from dance into teaching drumming, strength training, flexibility. Now that I think about it, I’ve done a LOT! 🥳
I hope you all know how much joy you’ve brought into my life!
Love,
Kim