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

Antonio, appreciate you joining us today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

Lifestyle Movement is a new Activewear Brand purely created to spread awareness of reducing Childhood Obesity in nationwide, starting out in San Diego. With every purchase, 10% of all profits fund programs that are currently reducing and preventing Childhood Obesity in San Diego. We are the only Activewear Brand trusted by Healthcare company (UCSD / Department of Community Health) and we already donated $1,500 to programs in San Diego within one year of active business. Besides our purpose, we focus on detailed quality for our new collection drops. We cater to not only athletes, but to the average person who believes in our Mission for the future generations.

Antonio, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My journey first started as 19 year old Personal Trainer, wanting to make a positive impact in my community. I truly believe that Fitness changed my way of life and it all starts with a balance. During that time, I was attending community college for Pre-Physical Therapy and by the age of 20, I started working for Kaiser Permanente as a Physical Therapy Aide. From treating patients in the Hospitals to training clients in the community, I love helping others as it fuels my passion. With this experience, I noticed a challenge we are having as a society, finding out that 1 out of every 3 children in San Diego public schools are Obese or Overweight. I wanted to help our future generations and coming from a low income family, I understand how difficult it is trying to maintain a health diet and active lifestyle. So the best idea I came up with was to host Free Fit Camps every Sunday for 2 months in Mission Bay to spread awareness of reducing Childhood Obesity in San Diego. Within those 2 months, we had over 200 San Diegans come out! They wanted a logo and T shirt to represent the cause, so I created the original Lifestyle T Shirt. That sold old out in two days. My girl friends wanted leggings, so after 12 samples of designs I dropped the first Esse Leggings. Those sold out in a week. I then realized there is no doubt to create a Activewear Brand to spread awareness of reducing Childhood Obesity Nationwide!

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

Before thinking of starting this business, I had many side hustles after high school. I have been a Polynesian Entertainer my whole life and Fire Knife Dancer since high school. While going to college full time, I was working minimum wage jobs, Personal Training 17 clients a week, and performing Polynesian Shows on the weekends. At age 23 I finally saved up the most I’ve ever saved and was going to eventually buy a house when the market drops. But when this whole new journey of Lifestyle Movement was created, my vision was clear that I needed to invest into this business as I truly feel like this is my purpose in life.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

There are only a few books that impacted my thinking when it comes to my purpose-driven brand. The first book is called “Think like a Monk” by Jay Shetty. Its about Personal Development, finding your purpose in life and how to help others while maintaining your personal happiness. Another book is called “Believe in People” which is about working on bottom up solutions compared to top-down solutions. Believing in people and the community you are creating is what’s keeping me going with this journey.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lsmfit.com/pages/our-mission
• Instagram: @lsm.fit
• Facebook: LSM.APPAREL
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRDez1wE6tA&t=12s

Image Credits
Photos by Nick Haugen (San Diego Photographer)