We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Shantel` Hansbrough a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Shantel`, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about serving the underserved.
The health and wellness brand, SWEATNOWDRIPLATER strives to help people mend their relationship with food, fitness, and body image. In a world that screams thinness is superior you have millions of people going to extreme lengths to change their bodies through extreme diets, workouts, and surgeries. We’re here to show people that there are healthier alternatives to reaching your goals and recovery is possible. Our goal is to focus on healing the root problem to get lasting results.
Over 28 million people are affected with eating disorders. The cruel snares of diet culture has taken over the lives of many people, leading them to a lifetime of dieting in hopes of becoming thin. Through our blog we are able to pour into the BIPOC community with more awareness and preventive strategies; ultimately encouraging people towards a life of food freedom and walking away from habits that no longer serves them. People deserve to live a life without being chronically obsessed with weight loss and body image!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I am a 26 years old health and wellness entrepreneur from Los Angeles, California. SWEATNOWDRIPLATER: Fitness and Nutrition Company blossomed at my alma mater; Prairie View A&M University SWEATNOWDRIPLATER, originally called “Plus&Fit” was a safe space created to give individuals of all shapes, sizes, and exercise levels an opportunity to get a great full-body workout!
After becoming more aware about the negative impact diet culture has on the fitness and weight loss industry, I became fascinated with learning more about intuitive eating and eating disorder awareness. I love taking my lovebugs on my personal journey of healing and recovering from binge eating disorder. I love my ability to be vulnerable and transparent through my content. SWEATNOWDRIPLATER simply means giving it your ALL! Be proud of the consistency and dedication you put into your healthy lifestyle so that you may reap the benefits of your hard work!
We are home of being “The Ultimate GYMBABE”, shes confident, bold, disciplined, and consistent above all else and she looks good while doing it. It’s only right for our GYMBABES to protect their pretty hands and add a POP of color to while staying fly in the gym.
We will be relaunching SWEATNOWDRIPLATER.COM where you can shop our “FLYGIRLSLIFT” Fitness Gloves, perfect for avoiding unwanted hand calluses and provides extra grip and protection for your wrist and hands. A GYMBABE is all about wellness and girl code, be sure to sign up for our newletter, “A Healthy Babe’s Blog” and get a FREE copy of our digital recipe book, “Experience: FREEDOM” Which includes 27 meal ideas and 7 refreshing cocktail recipes.
We are always inspired to expand in the health and wellness industry and gratefully our creativity runs and flows deep, I would definitely encourage any GYMBABE to stay tuned for new products and more encouraging content!
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
It’s honestly a blessing to even share this story on the other side of something I thought was meant to break me. I was personal trainer, group fitness instructor, and gym rat for quite some time; I loved the gym and the results it gave me, so much that it became addicting. Being known as a public figure in health and wellness industry gradually turned my passion into a chronic obsession. I had a significant weight loss over the span of my collegiate career. The results of my new body changed the way I was treated and although I’m a beautiful hardworking woman, I dare to believe that being in a slimmer body shifted a status change socially. People held Shantel with the slimmer body to a high regard and I soaked it up. Overtime it became hard to keep up with my results because I was chronically dieting and putting my body through extreme workouts to sustain my frame. My body was tired, but my inner gym rat was much louder than any excuse I could come up with so I pushed my body harder and harder. I pushed myself so hard that I ended up spraining my knee, leaving me with no other choice but to stop for medical attention. I ignored every sign of pain my body sent me because essentially I prioritized body goals over my health and well being.
Losing mobility in a limb was something I never expected to experience for myself. The fearless independent entrepreneur became dependent and hopeless. Before I got a chance to notice, my mental health had rapidly declined; leading me to be consumed by my binge eating habits I thought I put behind me. I went from being highly active, running 2 miles every morning to an isolated and sedentary lifestyle. When you combine my pause in physical activity and my binge eating habits weight gain is the obvious result. Gaining the weight back that I went lengths to lose crushed me.
I truly thought my career in fitness industry was over. Of course the dramatic side of me took time to sulk in the sadness. Thankfully, my best friend Tia Alaman and my supportive community extended an olive branch of the help I didn’t know I needed. I fought boldly to make a comeback mentally and physically by starting therapy sessions and meeting with a registered dietician that specializes in eating disorders.
I applied my prior knowledge of health and wellness to my situation which sparked curiosity to learn more about eating disorders for myself. I went down a rabbit hole of articles, books, and videos learning that my negative relationship I had with food for years had a name for it, binge eating disorder. I learned that so many people struggled with and are affected by this problem.
Choosing to bounce back and work in active recovery for my knee and eating disorder fuels me daily. I am proud of myself because I always say “Healing is not linear.’ meaning their will be ups and downs on my healthy journey, but choosing to walk towards progression makes all the difference. I know that people living with BED can feel like there’s no way to break this never ending cycle, but my hope is that my story can encourage someone to know that recovery is possible. We’re resilient through our efforts and we are capable of walking away from a habit that no longer serves us. As always happy healing.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
Being known as a public figure in health and wellness industry has been nothing short of fulfilling. SWEATNOWDRIPLATER simply started with me picking up my phone camera to vlog, bringing my followers along my weight loss journey. I’ll never forget, my now close friend Toni Hall asking if I could train her. She was happy to come across someone who looked like her and knew how to get a great workout. Since I was in middle school I’ve always had an entrepreneur spirit, looking for innovative was to come up with my own hustle. Essentially something sparked and little did I know God placed my business idea right in front of me and I will be forever grateful for it!
SWEATNOWDRIPLATER: Fitness and Nutrition Company blossomed at my alma mater; Prairie View A&M University. SWEATNOWDRIPLATER, originally called “Plus&Fit” was a safe space created to give individuals of all shapes, sizes, and exercise levels an opportunity to get a great full-body workout! Overtime my clientele grew rapidly; I hosted fitness events, became a group fitness instructor, published a health and wellness eBook, also consecutively won entrepreneur of the year, and much more. I was proud to be known as the go to girl to help women appreciate their bodies while reaching their goals.
Transparency, consistency, and my marketing skills are the three main contributors of how I built a solid reputation within my market. People want to be able to relate, empathize, grow, and trust the content and work you produce. I have taken my followers with me throughout my entire journey. They’ve gotten glimpses of my most rawest moments; from sharing about my weight gain to my eating disorder. I’ve also pivoted several times throughout my entrepreneur journey; going from being known as “Keto Killa” to now leaving diet culture and practicing intuitive eating. My trust worthy content reassured my followers that as I grow in knowledge within my field I will always share tips and information that will lead them to a healthy relationship with food, fitness, and body image.
All cockiness aside I think I’m a marketing guru. I absolutely love everything under the umbrella of marketing. Creating captivating graphics and posting routinely has taken me far. It takes time and effort to make, but showing up for my business daily is what sets me apart. It shows people that I’m dedicated and serious to all things within my business. I have always went hard behind marketing my business despite imposter syndrome telling me not to. If you don’t market or believe in your business there’s no reason to expect anyone else to support or know about you. No matter how cringe it may be to actively choose to show up on social media I did it. I’m so grateful that I didn’t stop on the tough days where I wanted to throw in the towel, because now each post starting all the way back from my first added up to where I am now. SWEATNOWDRIPLATER is a house hold name and I boldly let that be known through my marketing and consistency. 
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sweatnowdriplater-com.myshopify.com
- Instagram: @sweatnowdriplater
- Youtube: sweatnowdriplater
- Other: TikTok: @sunraays