Women in fitness share how they came to the fitness industry, impactful lessons they’ve learned, important leadership qualities and more.
The following women all show the diverse set of qualities a leader can have, but the pursuit of excellence is a common factor. Here, they share how they strive to set the example and uplift their teams along the way.
Hope Riccobono, Membership Director, Stone Creek Club & Spa
What led you to the fitness industry?
I’ve been an athlete for most of my life. I started my fitness journey as a personal trainer and group fitness instructor when I was 18 years old. I began bodybuilding at 34 years old, and this year marks eight years I’ve been competing. I love what exercise can do for someone. I’ve witnessed total transformations in people and not just physical transformation. When someone finds confidence in their own skin, it’s life-changing.
What is one characteristic you believe every leader should possess?
Compassion. Being a compassionate leader helps me to connect with my team and members on a deeper level. We have a wide range of people seeking membership. Some need to exercise daily for their mental health, some are seeking community and others have been told by their health care providers they need to lose weight, just to name a few. Being a compassionate leader means listening without judgment, encouraging others, having empathy and speaking with kindness. Being able to recognize where people are in their fitness journey and meeting them there is key.
What is the best piece of advice you have been given?
Stay true to yourself. I could go on and on about this, but to keep it short, be real, authentic and yourself.
What advice would you give to other leaders in the industry?
Find a mentor and be a mentor. There are always people you can learn from. The fitness industry is constantly changing and evolving. Be open to new ideas and be open to sharing your experiences with those who are just getting started.
Burch Valldejuli, Co-founder, mActivity
What led you to the fitness industry?
My background is in research psychology and psychiatry. I worked at Harvard University for 27 years in research and research administration, and then at the Yale School of Public Health for seven years. I was always interested in a preventive model of mental health. When I was looking at what I wanted to do, I knew we as a society needed to improve mental health, which meant moving and sleeping more, eating right, and being social. All those components can be found in the right model of a gym. I started talking to people and found a business partner who had more of a gym background. We had a very similar vision, and that’s how mActivity came to be a little over eight years ago.
What is one characteristic you believe every leader should possess?
There’s a number of them, but the greatest one is humility. Owners are often visionary, but being able to be a good listener and hear your staff and members’ wonderful ideas is important. Be willing to admit when you’ve made an error. You can’t innovate without making mistakes, and that’s OK. You learn from them and you move on.
What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
If you don’t ask, they can’t say yes. It’s about the willingness to try and go out on a limb. A little anecdote is when I was in college, my friends and I had a break in exams. When we went to get lunch, there was a hot air balloon in the parking lot near school, and I said to my friends, ‘Let’s see if we can get a ride in it.’ They told me I was nuts, but I went running over and asked the person working it. They said, ‘I can’t take you for a ride but I can take you up on it.’ And so, we all got to go up in this hot air balloon about 100 feet in the air. So, you always have to ask. An individual or organization has the right to say no but they just might say yes.
What advice would you give to other leaders in the industry?
One, be flexible and be open to doing something new. I just recently read a great book called “Unreasonable Hospitality” by Will Guidara, and one of the things he talks about is being outrageous with a small part of your budget. You’re tight with 95% of your budget but with the other 5%, be really outrageous and willing to take risks. Doing something very forward facing for your members and being flexible is really helpful.
Two, don’t be afraid to raise your rates. There’s been a sort of race to be as inexpensive as possible, and that puts a strain on staffing and budgeting. We recently raised our rates close to 40% to survive the COVID-19 pandemic. We had never raised our rates before and when we looked at all the levers we could now move, one of the biggest was the ability to retain quality staff. In this industry, there’s a lot of staff turnover. It’s really made a huge difference for us. Surprisingly, we lost fewer members than we anticipated with a rate increase. Don’t be afraid to raise your rates, especially in this economy with inflation.
Sammi Soliven, Senior Director of Club Design and Equipment, In-Shape Family Fitness
What led you to the fitness industry?
As a child, I used to sit on the gym floor next to my aunt while she cycled on the recumbent bike, and it was in those moments I developed a deep appreciation for health, fitness and the gym in general. During high school, I discovered a job opportunity at a local club called In-Shape, which had a special perk — a free gym membership for its employees. The job involved looking after kids in the Kids Zone, which turned out to be not just fun but also a fantastic experience. That initial position was my foot in the door, and 24 years later I’m still deeply passionate about being part of this dynamic industry, at a company I love, where I’ve had the opportunity to grow my career into a leadership position.
What is one characteristic you believe every leader should possess?
I firmly believe every great leader should possess humility. Humility means recognizing no one is an expert in everything. It’s about celebrating and harnessing the strengths and contributions of the team to enable significant growth and value for the organization. Being a humble leader allows for the emergence of fresh ideas, empowers team members, builds trust and respect, and ensures the team’s contributions are acknowledged and celebrated. Ultimately, at In-Shape we all believe achieving results and making an impact is a collective effort.
What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Fail fast and learn quickly. Striving for perfection can sometimes hinder productivity and action. It might lead to missed opportunities to take risks, make mistakes, learn from them and get to the finish line faster. Some of the most inspirational leaders, both from the past and the present, have made mistakes but have always led with a strong sense of direction, learning and agility. Being an example for your team and cultivating a culture where it’s acceptable to make mistakes — as long as the focus remains on the best interests of the members — can lead to rapid progress.
What advice would you give to other leaders in the industry?
Stay curious. Cultivate a willingness to learn from any and every source including your team, other industries, new experiences and anywhere else you can draw inspiration. Curiosity is the catalyst for fresh ideas, the adoption of new technologies and the development of innovative strategies. It enables you to adapt, improve and evolve to better serve the needs of your team, members and your business.
Merissa Luna, Vice President, Valley Fitness
What led you to the fitness industry?
I was 20 years old playing college soccer, and I was working out at a local gym down the street from my school when the manager of the club asked me if I was interested in working there. I accepted the offer and started work the next day.
What is one characteristic you believe every leader should possess?
Understand your way is not always the best way. We must be willing to listen to our team and others and know sometimes they may have a better solution or idea. Be open to change, knowing how to navigate situations and how to change directions if needed. Learn from others. Be a sponge and soak up good information as much as possible. Then, share that knowledge with your team.
What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
Always be honorable and kind. This is something my grandmother told us before she passed. It really resonates with me in all aspects of my life. It has helped me be a more patient servant leader. We want our teams to be able to trust in us and our decisions. We want them to believe we’re going to teach them everything they need to know while understanding they’re human too and deserve kindness just as much as our members.
What advice would you give to other leaders in the industry?
Know the fitness industry is forever evolving. We must be the ones to educate as many people as possible to understand how important it is and why it needs to be part of their lives. We as leaders in the fitness industry must remember to always base our decisions with our members in mind. Don’t get too caught up in everything else and forget about that.
Allison Rand, Vice President of Marketing, YouFit Gyms
What led you to the fitness industry?
I started my career at the dawn of the internet, working at iVillage on their Diet & Fitness channel. I loved how content and community could really help people. From there, I spent about five years at Discovery Channel before I moved to VIDA Fitness. While I was at VIDA, and now working as the vice president of Marketing at YouFit Gyms, I started to build relationships with other marketers in the fitness industry. I am proud to work for an industry that shares ideas, supports each other and exchanges best practices.
What is one characteristic you believe every leader should possess?
I’m lucky to have worked with Aaron Moore at VIDA and Josh Rider at YouFit Gyms. Both allowed me to speak my mind, have autonomy and take risks. I try to give my team opportunities to expand and let them speak openly with me. I wouldn’t be a good creative leader if I couldn’t give positive and constructive feedback which is really important to anyone but especially for marketers.
What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
My mentor, Mark Irwin from Discovery Channel, taught me how to work more strategically. He said, “Don’t wait for someone to give you the bigger, more senior-level work. Do the job you want.” Take on projects, raise your hand and get involved with strategic projects.
What advice would you give to other leaders in the industry?
One, build relationships in the industry. The fitness industry is filled with great advice — especially suggestions on vendors and software. Two, look outside the industry and see what you can learn. Three, understand what your agencies are doing and work closely with them. Four, protect your data.
Tavia Patusky, Wellness and Fitness Director, Columbia Association
What led you to the fitness industry?
I was always very interested in science and math in both grade school and college. That’s what I loved. I thought I would go into engineering and biology and get a job at a lab, but I also really loved being around and serving people. I had the opportunity to start teaching some group fitness classes, and it led me to discovering there’s a way to use my love of science and math. With science in exercise physiology and math for business and managing, I could make a career of it in fitness. When I was younger, spending time in studios or gyms was a way for me to socially connect and feel the positive benefits of being in a supportive environment. I also really loved fitness spaces. I think by nature of me finding a space I really loved, seeing the positive impacts I had with people and leveraging the skill sets I had led me into fitness. I’m very happy here. It’s a blessing to be able to work in this industry.
What is one characteristic you believe every leader should possess?
This may be an obvious one but resiliency. The ability to practice resiliency, do the work and try to get better to meet the needs of a variety of individuals within health and wellness cannot be understated. It’s about being able to not just say you’re resilient, but to put it in practice and exemplify that skill set for your team on challenging days. It’s harder to practice that resiliency muscle as a leader, but it’s extremely important.
What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
Assume the individuals you’re engaging with are coming from a place of positive intent. When someone engages with other people, they probably have the best interests of everyone at heart — even if you have a difference in opinion. They’re coming from a place where they want to be better, or they want to improve their work with others. It really does help you engage with them and understand their point of view. It allows you to see things from other perspectives and try to find a solution together. As leaders, we work through a lot of creative conflict. By the time an issue involving customer service or a team member reaches us, it’s often more complicated than it was at the beginning. Being able to step back and say, “OK, everyone is coming at this from a different perspective, but perhaps with good intentions,” allows you to work through that conflict.
What advice would you give to other leaders in the industry?
I’ve been blessed to have amazing mentorship. And I think as leaders in the fitness industry, we need to keep prioritizing our development and the development of the people we work with. Sometimes we can get really busy in strategic planning or the ins-and-outs of the business. It’s critical to make sure we prioritize becoming better leaders ourselves and investing in future leaders. As they learn and improve as leaders, they’ll then pay it forward to the next generation of individuals who are interested in helping to do good work in the fitness industry.
