We recently connected with Maya Brewer and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Maya, thanks for joining us today. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.
Learning how to ask for and accept help from others in my field really changed the way I approach new endeavors. My instinct has always been to do everything myself. This was satisfying when it worked out, but navigating roadblocks on my own hindered my growth without me realizing it. Once I leaned into vulnerability and reached out to people who had encountered and overcome the challenges I was facing, it opened up a world of new opportunities. It also resulted in some truly incredible mentorship experiences that I hope to pay forward someday, myself!
Maya, 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?
When people ask me what I do, I tell them I’m a fitness professional. This is a broad term, and that’s on purpose! There isn’t just one thing that I do when it comes to fitness. I train clients, give lectures, write articles, create content, and this list will continue to grow as I continue to grow, myself.
I began pursuing fitness as a career path after realizing that fear is a nearly universal barrier to starting something new. Fear of the unknown is tough to overcome when you don’t know what you don’t know! I know this because I was in that space, too. The more I was taught and the more my breadth of knowledge grew, the I realized that I wasn’t alone in feeling that way. I just didn’t know it! That’s how I got started training.
My calling is to empower people with knowledge, because that’s how we overcome fear. The more we know, the more powerful we become!
I want to provide everyone the opportunity to better themselves on their own terms. Doing it your own way is a huge factor in reaching your goals. That’s why I’m most proud of the achievements that I’ve seen my clients make after we have parted ways. It’s proof that they really learned something and feel confident that they can use that knowledge on their own! It’s amazing to see!
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I was convinced that in order to achieve something truly great, I had to go it alone. I thought that my achievements wouldn’t mean anything if I wasn’t solely responsible for every scrap of greatness that I pulled off along the way.
That idea was based on fear of being vulnerable, and letting others in on my plans felt like a very, very vulnerable thing to do. I didn’t want to take the chance that others might see me fail.
What it took for me to unlearn this was surprisingly simple. I was in a low spot, and I came across a creator whose genuinely heartful fitness content struck a deep chord with me. I reached out on impulse to essentially ask, “How are you doing this? How do you do what you do?”
Fast forward to today, where I have spent six months working with my good friend and mentor (Hi, Hampton!), and I cannot BELIEVE where I am now! Look at me, I’m doing an interview! It’s amazing.
I would never have guessed that simply reaching out to ask for guidance would be the catalyst to this incredible new chapter in my life. You better believe that I will never again be afraid to lean into that vulnerability, and you better believe I’ll be out here encouraging others to do the same.
Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?
Empathy and compassion are the most valuable tools a fitness professional can develop. There comes a point when we have been “experts” for longer than we were beginners. It’s important to not only remember what it was like to get started, but to be able to put yourself in that person’s shoes and actually be there with them in that space. Fitness is a perpetual learning experience, for both the professional and the client. You can only learn it by doing, so it’s our job to be a resource for both knowledge and support.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: instagram.com/upward.fit
- Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/mayabrewer
- Youtube: youtube.com/@mayabrewer