Meet Shamika

My non-traditional journey to becoming a full-time fitness trainer and personal coach allows me to be able to better motivate and connect with my clients because I can relate to them so well.

I spent most of my childhood as a precocious and outgoing kid, but I was always the largest in the classroom. My family has a history of obesity and obesity related chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers; it’s just always been part of my world. In school, my size made me think I had to be prove I was "normal," so I tried out for and made the cheerleader squad, very aware that I didn't look like any of the other girls. I juggled being an academic scholar with the demands of being an athlete. Looking back now, I see that making this squad was the beginning of my understanding of fitness and how important it is to health and wellbeing.

Professionally, I first entered the world of fitness back in 2003 when, as a full-time college student at Tuskegee University, I sold gym memberships and offered personal training at a popular gym in Auburn, AL. This was a job I loved; it was rewarding to watch clients get stronger and I needed those positive boosts to help me though the struggles of losing my mother to obesity related complications earlier that year.

I graduated in 2004 with bachelor’s degrees in chemical engineering and physics and turned down a job offer to become General Manager at a local gym to take the more stable route and accepted a job in Boston.

Shortly after moving to Boston, I started business school, set a goal of becoming an entrepreneur, and was head-down focused on my career and ambitions. Looking back now, it's unsurprising that this is when my weight really started to increase. I was entirely focused on my career's health and not on my own health and wellbeing. Over the next 10 years, I started to travel a lot internationally for work, gained more weight, and in 2015 I was diagnosed with high cholesterol, high blood pressure. I also was pre-diabetic. This was the turning point for me: it was time to take control of my health. Seeing the perils of unhealthiness in my mom wasn't enough to trigger the lifestyle changes necessary to make the switch; it was the first-hand experience of my doctor telling me that my health was seriously at risk.

Just before my 38th birthday, I changed my diet and started exercising regularly. When I found myself starting to think that going to the gym was inconvenient, I took that out of my psyche by hiring an in-home personal trainer. Over a year, while still working full time in my corporate job, I lost 50 pounds and gained back confidence and drive. Upon returning to my doctor, my bloodwork came back at healthy levels. I had taken control of my health.

In 2018, I needed major surgery on my shoulder. While recovering on the couch, I had the time necessary to look within and think about what I really wanted for my life. I was feeling great physically after taking control of my health, but I still had a lot of stress, boredom, and a lack of fulfillment from my job. I realized how fulfilled I'd feel if the backbone of my career was my passion for fitness, instead of some corporate ladder. I got excited. My whole life, personal and professional, could be focused on the thing that changed my life and made me excited to wake up every morning.

In 2019, I retired from corporate America to focus full-time on personal training and building my wellness brand, thereby fulfilling my goal of becoming an entrepreneur. My whole world is around promoting health, fitness, and wellness, and I am proud to have taken full control of both my health and my career. With the help of Julie Dileo, Owner of Women's Fitness of Boston, I now have a safe space to develop professionally and serve the community by promoting health and wellness as a fitness trainer and personal coach. The services I offer are the exact ones that were so critical to me when I needed them most, and I feel blessed to be able to help other people find the joy in health that I have found. If I had taken the job managing the gym right out of college, I wouldn't be nearly the trainer I am today. Since I have lived these struggles so thoroughly myself, I'm better able to help my clients reach their goals.

Be Well.