As an outsider, breaking into an industry can often seem like an impossible challenge and so we reached out to some very generous folks who agreed to share their stories of how they broke into their respective industries.

Marquita Owens

I was on a wellness journey to take back my health, I used to ride my bike past this particular cycle studio wondering what it looked like on the inside but always made excuse why not to go in until one day I built up the courage to go in. The next day as riding pass like I normally did I went in a got information on the classes and decided to sign up for a ride. That ride ended up feeling like the worst decision on my life, it was so hard and challenging it had me questioning my whole fitness journey. Funny thing is I had no clue that this was the 1st day of the reset of my life! I started attending classes, crazy right, it was something about have strong I felt mentally. Read more>>

Ieisha Beasley

Returning to Louisville, KY, after college, I found a vibrant community that gathered on weekends. Conversations often revolved around their work at a residential facility for adolescent girls in foster care, girls facing severe mental and behavioral health challenges. Hearing their stories, both heartbreaking and inspiring, sparked something in me. In July 2006, I applied for a Youth Counselor position with this agency and was fortunate enough to receive an interview. Read more>>

Rogel Abreu

Truth be told, what I do now it wasn’t always something a saw myself doing in the past, I’m from Angola, and the reason I moved to USA, was for education, so i went to school for engineering to ended up as fitness coach believe I might be disappointing for my parents (laugh), therefore I knew I would be as happy as I am if I was working corporate. Keep things short, I was always the one person that would train friends, family, etc… and I loved so I decided to pursue fitness as career so I got my certification and from there officially start helping more people, leading fitness group class, helping people changing their lives. Read more>>