“I didn’t have a master plan.”

I didn’t grow up around fitness at all.  I failed gym class in high school, never played a team sport and knew absolutely nothing about exercise until my early 20s.  While living in Texas with my sister, I started running simply because there was nothing else to do in Fort Worth but stare at cows.  I followed a “Couch to 5K” plan and barely made it across my first finish line.  But when I did, a complete stranger high-fived me and that moment stuck.  I immediately fell in love with the fitness community; everyone there showed up for the same reason and they were all so damn positive about it. 

When I moved back to Virginia to attend VCU, I practically lived in the Cary St. gym.  Much like running, I had no clue what I was doing when it came to strength training, so I watched other people, cut off my sleeves, mimicked their moves and Googled each exercise when I got home.  Having struggled with ADHD and identity my entire life, I found something in strength training I hadn’t experienced before - structure, control, mental strength and accountability.  I fell head over heels.   About a year later, I stepped on stage as a figure competitor in a bodybuilding show.  And when I stepped off, I made an instant decision to learn this the right way.  I studied to become a Certified Personal Trainer.  If it weren’t for the people who helped guide me and the education I gained along the way, I’d probably still be eating turkey sandwiches and doing exercises incorrectly, thinking it was getting me somewhere.  The impact of people who actually cared and took the time to teach stuck with me the most.  And that’s what I wanted to give back: not just workouts, but real knowledge, guidance and a better experience for the people trusting me with their bodies.

Over 15 years ago, I was training in different gyms around Richmond.  I eventually landed at Onward Fitness in Forest Hill where I was given the freedom to really grow both in clientele and as a trainer.  Three years later, I took a leap and started renting space in a warehouse gym in Scott’s Addition, running my own business.  A lot of my entrepreneurial mindset came from growing up watching my dad.  He ran a mulch and garden center in Hampton and without ever sitting me down and explaining it, he taught me what it looked like to build something from the ground up through long hours, consistency and most importantly, that first handshake.  My clients following that big transition of mine started the shift in my career.  I stopped viewing this as just training sessions and started building something bigger.  We trained together but we also showed up for more: weekend workouts, Spartan races, nonprofit drives causing a real community to form.

That’s where the phrase #noexcuses came from.
Not just a mindset in the gym but a standard for how we show up in life: there's no excuse not to do better for ourselves and for others.

Then COVID hit, and like everyone else, things changed.  For a stretch, I trained clients in backyards until an opportunity came through my website; an inquiry needing a new trainer because…her gym was shutting down.  That moment turned a dream into a reality.  I obtained the client AND the lease to her previous gym space to make my own. NOEX Fitness on Patterson Ave. opened in June 2020 as a private training space.  From there, it evolved into what it is now 6 years later, CLUB NOEX with multiple full time trainers, a growing membership base and a high accountability community with over $20,000 raised for local nonprofits and a culture built around self care.

But wait, theres more...