We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mekole Wells a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Mekole, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
I had gained a lot of weight over the yearsI had always had weight issues as a kid and as an adult. I had gotten up to 240 lbs a size 20 in 2002. I had been on fad diets, always wiggling between between 190 and 240. My self esteem was low and I saw I was allowing anything into my life, as far a relationships/ people/ circumstances etc. When a person vibrates low and doesn’t feel good about themselves people do allow anything into their lifestyle. Well I got tired of being tired/ The first wake-up call happened in 2008 I was in my late 30’s and had to have heart bypass surgery. So i lightly began the health journey, however I was still eating bad,drinking sugar drinks, and processed food etc. etc.
I had started the sport of pole dancing and began to lose more weight but my weight loss wasn’t intentional. Then in 2011 I had another heart attack, this time i had an 80% blockage in my main artery of my heart called the “widow maker”. After that incident my dog died that I had kept for 9 years, and I broke up with the one man I thought I was going to marry.. Those three things placed me in a rotating cycle of depresson. So I began to research online about fitness andd health. I had also begun my doctoral program and researched statisitcs that stated , ” African American and Latino women make $10,000 – $35, 000 less annually than whiite women based on their aesthetic and how they looked. This a was troubling but true fact …so I began the journey of fitness. Taking my last $650.00 for a month to hire an online trainer. I was so hungry for change I went from size 12 to a size 6 in 90 days. By changing my eating , exercising daily, and lifiting weights.
In 2015 my father died, my last and only living parent depression set in again. So instead of overeating I competed in my first physiqueI competition, in the category of women’s physique at the age of 50 and I won all my categories. After competing I began to take this journey more seriously as a continued my doctorate studies and research I began to research statistcs of health amongst African American and Latino women finding that Memphis, Tennesee had some of the highest rates of obesity, heart disease, , diabetes amongst African American women . Then I researched at the age of 40-50 many women of all races suffer from children leaving home, husbands leaving them after years of marriage. The wife and many women don’t understand nor practice self care .After divorce it is harder to date and mzny women are left to overeat,grieve , and stay depressed becoming overweight and many find themselves in a unhealthy diress. In 2019 I became a ISSA trainer and along with my research with my doctorate candidacy
In 2020 after the panademic I was working so much and with gyms closed I gained my weight from 145 to 190 lbs. However. my life was really moving forward I had begun my consulting business.But my body was a whole other issue. I was overweight and unhappy about it. Since I had a bout with heart disease before I knew I had to do something about it. I was searching for an apartment, whie living in an AirBnB in Washington , DC. In December , 2020 I had a dream of some high stairs the night before I was introduced to the building of my home and business, In the dream I heard it you don”t climb the stairs you will never reach your success.. The next day i went to see this apartment and saw the same stairs in the dream I had the night before. In the building was an empty storefront. My two clients that trusted me enough as a trainer, would join me and work out it front of the storefront beofre I owned it. People would laugh at me and say smart remarks. I just kept telling my clients ,” Laugh now ask me how later” Well in February I inqured about the space nd March 17, 2021, Memphis 40/50 Fit was born. The beauty of this is I went from 190lb to 145lb in one year, and I went from 2 cleins to 30 I manage by myself, now in 2022.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Well Memphis 40/50 Fit is more of a health and wellness experience. I believe that alot of our issues of bad eating are because we dont eat enough and we don”t love ourselves enough. I research the spiritual meanings of pain, weight gain, heart disease etc. I got into this industry of health and wellness, becaue I have been continually learning to love myslef and heal myself. An individual can have a personal chef, a personal trainer, and a therapist, however if you dont heal yoursef or want to truly heal inside an individual will always suffr physically, mentally, and /or spiritually. The scripture Luke 4:23 says “Physician Heal Thyself”. and I am doing that with my life and the lives of other women. My mother and father wer married 43 years, then my Father decided to remarry and divorce my mother. I saw my mother suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, however in 2002 she died suddenly from Takotsubo cardiomyopathy “broken heart disease”. After this I began to live by and research the spiritual meaning and backgroun ds of illness and disease. After my heart attack and two bypass surgeries at a young age, I began to change my life in three ways relieve stress, eat better, and work out using fitness as a tool instead of sugars and fats.
I am a motivational speaker, a personal trainer, an community activist for the marginalized, most of all I am a bad -ass trainer in the DMV area Baltimore and DC. My target groups are women of color over 40 who have given up on life and want a second chance to be their baddest, most powerful self. Not for anyone else, but themselves. So I provide 1 hour one-on -one training, .meal plans,doctoral research on fitness and issues of the body with women, and a sisterhood of wellness, for many women who have never been given the opportunity or focus to love themselves, be their best self, and most of all resonate in their individual POWER.
I am so honored that heaven and the atmospheres chose me to for this exceptional journey to train women to be powerful, beautiful, and non-dependant on things that “cover” the pain, and not “heal” the pain.. This is an atmosphere of healing, change, and empowerment forthose that choose and want a change in their lives.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
The lesson I have learned through out business ownership is to never think emotionally, always think strategically and factually. As a personal trainer when people left I sometimes thought it was me. Thinking this way made me think I was always at fault when clients left or there were disagreements. I always tried to reach out and apologize, many times for no reason. So I have learned when clients leave let them leave, because evey person can come and go as they please. And most decisions of people when they leave have its the individals choice. i cant make people choose me or my business. As I work hard to train my clients, offer great customer service nd the majority of clients are satified.That is the most important thing, one person will NEVER mke Everyoen happy.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
My business has been grown with two factors: Word of mouth and referrals. Since this is a specialized service I give one on one training. I have grown my business through results of my clients , referrals and word of mouth. Training women to be their best selves through fitness, better eating, and mental/spiritual wellness. This has been my most effective strategy, along with keeping God first and staying prayerful and grateful, no matter how what is happening with the business. Trust , Faith , action , and continual creation are the keys to business success.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.racizmiz.com
- Instagram: @m4050_fit
- Linkedin: Mekolewells
Image Credits
Client Breyawnna Washiton in the red Photo courtesy of Memphis 40/50 Fit