We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nicole Nahed. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nicole below.

Alright, Nicole thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Hi, I’m Nicole Nahed, the owner of Sculpt Studios, a female-focused fitness studio in downtown Royal Oak, Michigan!

I grew up Lebanese in Metro Detroit – a culture that in my experience and many of my peers’ – rarely prompted women to play sports or be active. Despite this, I was a very active kid and teenager. I played sports until age 15 when I suffered a bad ankle injury, requiring 2 reconstructive surgeries, a year in a cast, and years of physical therapy to relearn basic skills like walking.

I spent years after frustrated and struggling with body image, weight loss, disappointing diets, you name it… then one day I decided it was time to make a change and focus rather on healing my body to become fully capable and strong again.

The process of learning how to heal led me to find knowledge, confidence, and strength – both physically and mentally. It has become my passion and purpose to help other women do the same.

I got my start in fitness as a part-time group fitness instructor in college while pursuing a BBA at the University of Michigan. I continued into a corporate marketing position but years later realized my true passion lied in fitness.

And then the pandemic hit – and the ample free time gave me a unique opportunity to spend time exploring what a career in fitness could look like for me. I took to Instagram and started teaching free online classes which led to individuals reaching out for personal training. I quickly found that so many women were in need of a female trainer who could understand what they were going through and help guide them through their deeply personal journey.

This inspired me to build Sculpt Studios – a space created to eliminate all intimidation for people, especially women, at the gym and create an environment that is not only empowering, but takes an understanding and forgiving approach to health and fitness!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?

I am a personal trainer and nutrition coach that specializes in helping women uncover the underlying mental and physical hurdles that have stopped them from reaching their goals.
For so many of us starting our journeys, there is so much self discovery that we need to do internally before we can hit our external goals. Your mindset – the ability to believe you can accomplish your goals – is one of the most determinant factors in you doing so. What has made me so successful as a coach is that I spend so much time working with my clients on their mindset and helping them build a new internal voice. I value self-awareness and education so much and try to teach my clients all the tools they’ll need to be able to do this on their own one day!

Nothing makes me feel as proud as making sure every single woman knows how powerful it feels to be confident and happy in their skin. Over the years I have seen many of my clients transform physically but it is the mental transformations that are the most rewarding. I can’t tell you how amazing it is to see women who’ve walked in on their first day saying, “I won’t be able to do this” hit goals they didn’t even know were possible.

Sculpt Studios was built on the premise of empowering women to become the most confident versions of themselves and for many women, this may be the first time in their lives they’ve felt this way. It impacts all aspects of their lives including their careers, relationships, and mental state!

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I grew up in a family that valued taking the traditional corporate path. My parents came as immigrants to the US and cherished the stability that a corporate job provided them and could provide me. In society in general, we place so much of our value on external markers such as where we went to school and what our job title is. As I stepped away from my corporate job and into entrepreneurship, I had to dig deep and unlearn this concept to decide what I truly valued – which was helping others and building a community!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

It takes 3 things to build a strong social media audience – you need to provide value, show up consistently, and be yourself!!
When I started, my Instagram was my personal page and I barely posted. Occasionally I would post something about fitness and people would respond positively. When I decided to pursue fitness as a career, I started taking social media very seriously and treated it like it was part of my job. I am all about learning from others so I took to YouTube to learn some strategies from the pros, as well as looked to other IG influencers I admired in the fitness space.

In the beginning I experimented with different types of posts to find what works – use your insights – data never lies! This is where providing value becomes so important. People want to follow pages that help them or entertain them. I made sure that my page wasn’t about me but rather about how I could help others.

Consistency is extremely important on social media. If you want to build an audience that trusts you, you have to show up consistently and often. They start to look to you as a subject matter expert, plus the more you show up, the more you stay top of mind when they need something.

Lastly, and maybe one of the most important factors is to be a human and be yourself. I think one of the scariest things about social media was having to show up and be vulnerable in front of so many people but the more I saw it positively impacting others, the easier it got. I was shocked at how many complete strangers would message me and share their personal stories or ask for advice. That level of connection is what helped me to build my business!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.nicolenahed.com/ | https://www.sculptstudios.co/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicolenahed/?hl=en | https://www.instagram.com/sculpt.studios/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolenahed/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwe2s6vwsvDrZLbGLpfvOCA

Image Credits
Costy & Carine Photography