We recently connected with Tiana and Brandon Dottin and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Tiana and Brandon, thanks for joining us today. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?

We both have a similar upbringing, with extremely supportive and present parents. The most important thing they ever did for us was making us believe in ourselves. They gave us the tools we needed to take on the risk of entrepreneurship and small business ownership, the most important of which is the confidence to bet on ourselves. They instilled the values of hard work, consistency, and accountability. They made us. believe that the world is at our fingertips, and so far it has been.

Tiana and Brandon, 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?

We’re Tiana and Brandon Dottin, the co-founders of Fire + Voice! We help people create a sustainable, feel good, results-based movement routine for life— free from fads, trends, and restrictions. Through personal training, yoga, and wellness retreats we give people the tools to live their best lives long-term. We believe that living an embodied life that you love is possible for people of any body type, age, race, experience level, and background, and we believe in making all feel welcome in the wellness space.

We are passionate personal trainers, yoga teachers, retreat leaders, and world travelers with a “lean in” approach to life. We believe in saying “yes!,” taking risks, and living boldly. We embody this physically by staying present and strong in our bodies, as well as in our lifestyle by prioritizing travel, new experiences, and personal growth. To us, this is all part of what it means to live a movement-based life— and what we hope to impart to our clients through in person and virtual sessions, group classes, and wellness retreats around the world.

Raised in California but now a bonafide New Yorker, Tiana knows what it means to live a life of movement. She started dancing at the age of 2, where she developed a love for the body, movement, and exploration. She is a certified Personal Trainer, Nutrition Specialist, and Orthopedic Specialist with the American Council on Exercise, a registered Yoga Instructor with the Yoga Alliance, a certified Boxing Coach with Everybody Fights, and a certified Life Coach with the American Life Coach Academy. The only thing that rivals her love of fitness is her love of travel. She has been to over 40 countries with no intention of slowing down!

Brandon is a born and bred New Yorker— and it shows in his passion, drive, and heart. His love of fitness started with track and field, competing in both high school and college and eventually becoming a coach. He is a certified Personal Trainer with the American Council on Exercise, a registered Yoga Instructor with the Yoga Alliance, and a certified Life Coach with the American Life Coach Academy. In his pursuit of physical strength, he strives to bring awareness and mindfulness to all athletic endeavors. He strongly believes that we are the gods we’ve been looking for, with the ability to shape our lives exactly how we want. He lives this personal truth daily and continues to claim power and strength in his life.

Together, we are Fire + Voice.

“Fire” comes from the solarplexus chakra— the center of power, strength, will, and sense of self. “Voice” comes from the throat chakra— the center of truth, creativity, and the expression of self. We fully believe that through movement, every individual can harness their own fire and voice, and live a more powerful life. We know that fitness isn’t just about hitting the gym, but about showing up as your fullest self in every area of life. We practice movement through physical activity, travel, and personal growth— all of which are components of what it means to move.

To that end, Fire + Voice offers personal training, yoga, and retreats with movement and expression at the center. Our mission is to help you create a sustainable, feel-good, fun AF movement routine— free from fads, trends, and crazy restrictions— in order to live fit, free, and balanced long-term.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

The pandemic was a time when we had to completely rethink our approach and pivot to stay in business. The entire fitness industry shut down, and a lot of people left the industry completely. We had to ask ourselves, do we call it and find a new career path? Or do we love this enough to lean in and do what we have to do to thrive in a challenging time? We decided to stay and put in the work, and the years that followed were our most profitable years in our business.

Since we couldn’t get together in person, we recorded hundreds of on demand videos and created a subscription based membership platform. We literally built a makeshift recording studio from a car garage tent we bought at Home Depot in Brandon’s parents’ backyard, and put up white-painted plywood so make an all white background to film against. We recorded on-demand classes daily and livestreamed classes for our community, first on Instagram and Facebook Live and then in our membership group. We shifted 95% of our sessions to take place via Zoom. For those that felt comfortable meeting outdoors, we brought weights, medicine balls, battle ropes and more to parks all over the New York area. It was a year of absolute hustle, and we came out stronger on the other side with a happy and loyal client base.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

We’ve built our reputation over a 10 year period by staying consistent and true to ourselves. It takes a while for people to trust you, and eventually to buy from you. But we knew we had a long runway and time to build that trust, and it’s something we’re still building. We have built a brand that people trust to give them the honest truth, while also meeting them where they are. Over the years our approach has remained the same. We advocate for sustainable approaches to health and fitness, and give people the tools to live a life that they love, inside and outside of the gym. It’s a message that resonates with people. Most importantly we invested in our long term clients, many of whom we’ve worked with for a decade. We have extremely high retention, and a great referral network that brings us new clients on a regular basis. We don’t run ads on social media– all of our marketing is word of mouth, grassroots, and based on trust. People know what they’re getting from us. They know they can expect relatable content, effective training sessions, fun and restorative retreats, and overall good energy when they work with us. People trust us with their bodies, their money, and their time. It’s a responsibility we take seriously, and it shows in the work we do.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.fireandvoice.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fireandvoice/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fireandvoice/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiana-dottin-572833195/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/fireandvoice
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQtsiO22kBZho-cyPXgW44Q