We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jane Vandervoort. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jane below.

Jane, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I’ve always felt there is a gap in women’s fitness. On one end of the spectrum you have the male-dominated gyms. This environment can be intimidating to many women, especially beginners! On the other end of the spectrum, you have a whole lot of fear mongering around strength training for women. If you search “women’s fitness” on any platform, you are met with myths, click bait, and videos almost entirely focused on aesthetics.

I wanted to create a space where women could improve their physical and mental health through strength training. My studio, Movement & Mindset, offers a warm and inviting space for all levels! I started with personal training and as that grew, I wanted to help my clients build strong communities in New York. From there, Small Group Training was born.
Small Group Training offers all the benefits of Personal Training combined with the fun and community of Group Fitness!

Since we’ve built out our Small Group Training program, we’ve seen our community explode! It’s clear to us at Movement & Mindset that NYC women are craving a welcoming and safe space to lift weight and build friendships.

Jane, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I began my strength training journey the summer before my freshman year of college. Back then, my goals were entirely focused on the way my body looked and at the time, I was willing to do anything to achieve that. Over the years, this backfired. I was living an unsustainable life, full of restrictions. I was disconnected from my body and felt lost in my health and fitness journey.

Fast forward to 2019… I decided to take my power back. I got my personal training certification from the National Academy of Sports Medicine to help build my confidence in the gym. Shortly after, I started her personal training career at Equinox and then in the Summer of 2020, I started my own brand, Movement & Mindset. Since 2020, Movement & Mindset has served thousands of people! My goal is to help people feel physically and mentally stronger by building confidence through fitness education.

As women, we are constantly told we need to take up less space, and shrink ourselves to fit into this mold of what society tells us is “healthy.”

I believe that health is so much more than this. Fitness can empower you with confidence, provide an outlet for a stressful day, introduce you to new ways to connect with yourself, and build lifelong friendships. Fitness should add to your life–not take away from it–and remind you how strong and capable you are. This is what Movement & Mindset is all about!

How did you build your audience on social media?

I’ve always loved taking my audience along as I build Movement & Mindset. I talk with them about the ups and downs, the biggest wins and the biggest mistakes. This has helped my audience be a part of building the business! They get excited when we launch a new product or service, because they saw what it took to get there. They’ve been a part of it from the beginning when I was filming workout videos in the living room of my shoebox apartment.

We’ve built almost our entire clientele through TikTok and Instagram. As a training business, people are signing up to work with a coach they like, know, and trust. We’ve had the most success by simply showing our genuine selves on socials and providing a service we know our community will love!

My biggest advice is don’t overthink it. Things that seem like mundane tasks for you could be fun and exciting for someone else to see. Everything is content! Just post – the more you share, the more you’ll be able to see what your audience connects best with.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

As a start up, I always remind my team that we are building this together! I place high value in their input and ideas. They are laying the foundation for future Movement & Mindset coaches. The most important thing for us has been keeping a line of open communication. I want them to succeed and they want the business to succeed. So if something isn’t working for us, we work as a team to find a solution.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.movementandmindset.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/movement.and.mindset/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@janekvandervoort
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@janekvandervoort

Image Credits

Lizzie Frankenthal