Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tori Whitaker. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Tori, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

In 2021, in the middle of a pandemic, I walked away from job security at an upscale gym to build something of my own. On paper, it was reckless. I was one of the top performers in a stable role, but the environment had shifted, and I felt stuck. What I really wanted was to create something that mattered—to support moms in ways I hadn’t seen done before. I just felt I was meant for more.

That’s when I launched Better After Baby. Starting a business as a single mom with two during such an uncertain time was terrifying, but the bigger risk was staying somewhere that I knew I’d outgrown. I knew if I wanted to help moms rediscover themselves, I had to take the leap myself.

That leap paid off. Better After Baby isn’t just a business—it’s my way of helping moms in a way I couldn’t inside a gym. It’s messy, it’s personal, and it’s real. Walking away from stability was scary but staying where I would’ve been even scarier. Looking back now, I’m glad I trusted myself, because I know this is what I was meant to do.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m Tori, the founder of Better After Baby. My roots are in athletics—I was a competitive gymnast for 14 years and later captained my collegiate team. After graduation, I coached for 16 years and went onto build a career in fitness and became one of the top-performing trainers at an upscale gym. On paper, it looked like everything lined up. But real life pushed me onto a very different path.

I was thrown into motherhood as a single mom within the first six months of my son’s life. I had no family within a thousand miles, and while the easy choice would’ve been to go back home to Atlanta, I decided to stay in New Jersey. I wanted to show my son we could make it—that we didn’t have to be another statistic tied to domestic violence or single motherhood. That decision set the tone for how I’ve approached every challenge since, because failure was not an option.

By 2021, I now had two kids in tow and was still training at that gym. But the pandemic changed everything—the environment wasn’t the same, and I felt this pull I couldn’t ignore. I knew I was meant to create a space that I didn’t feel existed, one I could have used during my transition to single motherhood and one that gave moms real support after having kids. So, I left my secure job and started Better After Baby.

Quite candidly: I help moms simplify postpartum health. That means cutting through the noise and teaching them the fitness, nutrition, and mindset habits that actually yield results without adding more stress to an already full plate. The women I work with often come to me exhausted, guilty, and feeling like they’ve lost themselves. Society tells us we’re supposed to give up our time, our bodies, and even our goals once we become moms. I refuse that narrative—and I teach moms to refuse it too.

What sets me apart is that I’ve lived this and I help my clients collapse time. I have failed so many times my clients don’t have to. I built my life and this business as a single mom, so I understand firsthand how heavy and overwhelming it feels when you don’t even know where to start. My approach is realistic and doable—it’s about thriving in motherhood, not martyring yourself to it.

I’m most proud of the women who come into Better After Baby feeling stuck and leave feeling strong, confident, and more themselves than they’ve felt in years. To me, that’s what this is all about. What I want people to know about my work is that you don’t have to settle for “less than” after kids. My clients don’t have to say OR; we say AND. You can be you AND a mom. You don’t have to choose. You can come out of motherhood stronger, more confident, and more you than ever. That’s the heart of Better After Baby.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

The biggest lesson I’ve had to unlearn is that I had to do everything on my own. I grew up believing that strength meant carrying it all without asking for help. After my divorce, I thought my ex’s family would be my support system (since they were in NJ)—but when I left, they turned their backs on me. They held resentment toward me, and suddenly I had no one to lean on. I had nowhere to go and ended up in a shelter with my baby.

That experience made it painfully clear: I can’t do it all alone—and I don’t need to. People won’t offer help if they don’t mean it; it’s okay to say yes. It truly does take a village, whether you’re a single parent, a co-parent, or in any other family setup. Asking for help doesn’t make me weak; it makes me stronger. Learning to let people in has been one of the hardest but most freeing lessons of my life, and it’s something I’m proud to model for my kids.

Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?

If I could go back, I think I’d always end up here. I started coaching gymnastics and fell in love with helping kids transform and grow through their journey. I went on to study elementary education, but after my divorce, I realized my true calling was in personal training. Over time, that evolved even further—I narrowed my focus to working with moms because I could really connect with them, understand their struggles, and help them feel like themselves again. It feels like the path I was meant to take, even if it wasn’t obvious at the time.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bebetterafterbaby.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/torikwhit/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/toriwhitaker819/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/toriwhitaker/