How ClubFitness CEO Maria Gonzalez is using her role to be a champion for others and pay it forward in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Maria Gonzalez’s passion for exercise and competition began at 4-years-old.
Growing up in Colombia, it was there she started taking swimming lessons and quickly mastered the sport. Just a year later, she transitioned to year-round swimming and has been competing ever since. Gonzalez even went on to play water polo at the Colombian National Team level and taught swimming throughout college.
Gonzalez moved to the U.S. at the age of 20 and was once again drawn to the world of aquatics, landing a job at the Miami Swim Gym as an instructor.
“I didn’t speak much English at the time and my coworkers taught me three phrases: ‘Put your face in the water, kick your feet and move your arms,’” recalled Gonzalez. “Those words plus using body language, demonstration and helping swimmers position their bodies, with lots of love and care, helped me to teach hundreds of children to swim without speaking English.”
After two and a half years, Gonzalez and her husband left Miami and moved to Greensboro, North Carolina, where they knew just one person. That friend helped Gonzalez get a job at a local country club by acting as translator between her and the aquatics director.
“That interview was a first for both the director and me — my first time being interviewed in English and his interviewing a non-English speaker,” said Gonzalez. “He said I was one of his best hires, and I became his head of lifeguards the following summer. More importantly, he became a mentor and great friend.”
In 2001, Gonzalez became a lifeguard at ClubFitness, a multipurpose for-profit gym in Greensboro with two locations averaging 50,000 square feet in size. It was soon apparent she’d found her professional home at the club, becoming first the aquatics director four years later, then club manager, executive director and ultimately, CEO.
Looking back, Gonzalez’s passion for competition and sports certainly helped her get to where she is today.
“I enjoy the race part of the competition, but I love the journey of training and working to reach my goals — and this has transferred into everything I do,” said Gonzalez.
Beyond competition, Gonzalez always had a passion for bringing people together through fitness and activity. As a young girl, she gathered kids for runs in her neighborhood, and asked friends and family to go on bike rides. Today, she is part of a social dance community that gets together regularly to celebrate dancing of all types and from all cultures.
“I love anything that’s movement related, and I’m a people person,” said Gonzalez. “When you love something, and you have that way to connect with others, why wouldn’t you merge those two things? When people are moving and active and interacting with others, people are happy. That breaks barriers and builds bridges.”
A great example of Gonzalez’s passion for bringing people together through fitness is Noches Latinas, a monthly event Gonzalez created in partnership with Casas Azul of Greensboro — an organization that celebrates Latino culture — and Greensboro Downtown Parks.
The event started off as simply a way to expose more people to dancing. The expectation was the first event would draw between 10 and 15 people. In fact, Gonzalez had planned to just bring a boom box to the park for the music component.
However, once the event was announced, the response was overwhelming. It received 500 likes and 200 shares on social media. Gonzalez quickly realized she may have underestimated the event’s interest. So, she hired a DJ just in case the gathering was larger than expected.
That foresight paid off. The first event drew more than 100 people of all ages and backgrounds.
“It was crazy,” said Gonzalez. “People were laughing, many were dancing, and some people were just standing by because they heard the music and wanted to see what it was all about. We just had the second one recently and it was the same thing. People are like, ‘This reminds me of back home.’ Or, ‘I had such a tough week and this has given me a breather.’ If we all could achieve that with our gyms — just get people moving and laughing and meeting other people — that has such a huge impact.”
According to Rob Overman, the executive director of Greensboro Downtown Parks, Noches Latinas has turned out to be its most popular activity so far this season, speaking to the need in many U.S. communities for family-friendly, fun activities that also provide a social element.
“This summer that has hands down been the program I’ve received the most feedback on,” said Overman. “Everybody loves it. I was out of town for the first one and my phone was just buzzing. It was all my friends who were in the park enjoying the event saying, ‘Please tell me this is coming back. This is amazing. My kids haven’t had this much fun in a very long time.’”
According to Gonzalez, events like Noches Latinas are a great example of ways people and the fitness industry can give back in a real way to the communities in which they reside.
“We need so much more community work,” said Gonzalez. “I think sometimes we all get so busy in our lives we don’t take the time to do that. It’s not just about me giving, it’s me receiving as well. To me that’s what life is all about: What can we do for each other?”
However, Gonzalez cautioned against organizations or leaders giving back just because it’s the “right thing to do.” She said you must have a real desire and passion for doing so — otherwise your act of giving won’t resonate.
“It has to be almost like this organic flow of things — you’re not forcing it,” said Gonzalez. “I think sometimes people try so hard to do something because they know they should, and then it just doesn’t work. But if you have good intentions, with every seed you plant, at one point everything starts flourishing because you have been cultivating, you have been there for people.”
This sentiment applies to efforts surrounding equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) as well. Today, many organizations are attempting to address EDI and understand its value.
However, Gonzalez warned just like community partnerships, your intentions behind prioritizing EDI must be pure. Again, it can’t just be a box you’re checking off.
“I think sadly right now with diversity and inclusion, it has become a box for a lot of people,” said Gonzalez. “And maybe a box is better than nothing. But on the other hand, it’s not going to work by itself. I don’t know anything in life that you just do to do that’s going to have a big impact.”
That’s not to say prioritizing EDI is easy. However, Gonzalez said just like exercising, it’s something you need to work at, and it gets easier over time.
“How many times are we in circles of people and everybody looks the same?” asked Gonzalez. “A lot of times those groups will say, ‘Well, those people don’t come to us, or those people, we just can’t find them.’ But it’s kind of like with exercise — it’s hard. If someone said exercise was hard you’d say, ‘Even if it’s hard for you, it’s good for you, and you need to do it.’ So if my circle is the same circle, and it’s hard because other people are not coming — how hard are you working to bring those people in and to invite them? Are you really going out of your way? If you really do want to have different perspectives and bring the groups of people you’re not normally reaching, the question is how bad do you want it? And how hard are you willing to work to make that happen?”
Gonzalez has seen firsthand how powerful it can be to bring people together from different backgrounds and perspectives.
To illustrate this point, she thought back to her process to become a U.S. citizen, which involved a naturalization ceremony at a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office.
“When I became a U.S. citizen, we were not in a very big room,” recalled Gonzalez. “But there were around 58 countries represented in that small room. The person who was leading everything said, ‘If each one of you brings the best of your own culture, if each one of you brings the best of your upbringing to your citizenship, that’s what makes this country great.’”
This viewpoint widened Gonzalez’s perspective on how she sees diversity and the value it can bring to not just communities but businesses as well. “I believe diversity is beautiful and powerful, so I created a diverse team with different backgrounds, perspectives and talents,” she said. “I am intentional in looking for this diversity.”
According to Overman, Gonzalez’s genuine passion for community and bringing people together is what makes her such a great pillar in the community. Everything she does, she does so with purpose and passion.
“She truly does care,” said Overman. “I have witnessed a lot of organizations that are checking off a box or creating media they can use to tout their involvement in the community. With Maria, that’s not the case — the end goal for her truly is to reach her community and to have a positive impact on it. She runs ClubFitness, and that’s obviously a for-profit entity, but in partnering with us and our downtown parks, she’s been able to take that same kind of attention to fitness and provide it to folks who will never set foot in her gym. She recognizes that and makes sure there are ways to bring fitness and healthy lifestyles and all of these great things to people.”
Beyond Noches Latinas, Gonzalez is involved in a number of other initiatives that combine fitness, health and wellness with social impact.
Recently, she partnered with the Young Women’s Christian Association to offer a swim program to teen moms and their babies. She works with the Hirsch Wellness Network to offer art and wellness classes for cancer survivors, caregivers and the medical community. Also, she has joined the Board of Trustees of Cone Health, one of the top 15 health systems in the U.S.
Ultimately, although it’s Gonzalez who serves as the face of these initiatives — not necessarily ClubFitness — the club brand is still elevated in the eyes of the community through her involvement.
“I was at IHRSA and one of the keynote speakers said, ‘You are your brand,’” said Gonzalez. “When you do things in goodwill, when you do it because you’re genuine and you care, people feel that and they want to be part of it. People feel that connection. People will reach out to you, people will ask for support and people will want to come. This includes your members, too. When they see you are involved and you’re giving, it just gives them an even greater purpose of being part of your club.”
Over the years, Gonzalez herself has benefited from the support of others: her parents introducing her to swimming, her friend translating for her during that first lifeguarding interview, all the mentors she’s had over the years in the fitness industry, and the talented team she works with at ClubFitness. Every person has helped her get to the position she’s in today.
Seeing the impact others have had on her life, she wants to now pay that back tenfold.
“We have to be champions for others,” said Gonzalez. “If I would not have had the opportunity to participate in sports, I wouldn’t be where I am today. We have to create opportunities for people to shine — we owe it to our kids and we owe it to our communities, especially those communities that can sometimes be overlooked. It’s to the benefit of every organization, every community and every country.”
