Inspiring Conversations with Matthew Sese of Para Performance Co.

Today we’d like to introduce you to Matthew Sese.

Hi Matthew, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I didn’t start in fitness. I started in hospitality — long hours, nonstop motion, and the proud Hawaiian spirit of taking care of people. Then COVID-19 hit, and the industry I’d built my life around collapsed. I needed a new direction, one that still let me serve people but in a way that felt meaningful.

So in 2021, I earned my NASM-CPT and moved back home to the Bay Area to rebuild. My first step was at FYZICAL Therapy and Balance Center, where I learned how to help people move again — not just lift weight, but recover strength, confidence, and trust in their bodies. From there I stepped into a corporate amenity gym, coaching busy professionals who needed consistency more than anything.

An opportunity brought me to Los Angeles soon after, where I took on a gym manager role and grew quickly as both a coach and a leader. Joining Equinox elevated my craft even further — I worked alongside elite trainers, taught a wider range of clients, and refined my training philosophy. While building myself at Equinox, I also started teaching group classes at a boutique studio in Silverlake. That space became home. I built a community, took on private clients, and eventually stepped into the role of club director.

My journey has stretched from rehab rooms to polished corporate gyms, from luxury fitness to small, gritty, heartfelt community spaces. Every step taught me something new: how to listen, how to coach with intention, how to balance intensity with care, and how to build people from the inside out.

I didn’t just change careers — I rebuilt my life. Now I help others do the same in their own way: moving better, getting stronger, and discovering what resilience really feels like.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
1. The Collapse of My First Career
COVID didn’t just disrupt my job — it erased an entire industry I had invested my identity, stability, and future into. Pivoting wasn’t optional; it was survival. That’s a heavy emotional and practical challenge most people never fully appreciate.

2. Reinventing Myself From Scratch
I didn’t slide into fitness from a related field — I jumped. New certification, new skill set, new expectations. Reinvention demands humility, discipline, and a willingness to be a beginner again.

3. Starting in the Most Demanding Environment: Rehab
Entering through a PT clinic meant dealing with pain, fear, and fragile bodies. That’s not easy terrain for a new trainer. I learned under pressure — no shortcuts, no room for guesswork.

4. Rebuilding Life in a New State (Twice)
Leaving Hawaii after COVID → restarting in the Bay → uprooting again for Los Angeles. Distance, cost, loneliness, and the constant weight of starting over… that’s a gauntlet few run successfully.

5. Climbing Through Every Fitness Tier
Each environment brought its own challenges:

clinical accuracy at FYZICAL

corporate expectations at amenity gyms

intensity and charisma at group class settings

elite standards at Equinox

leadership pressure as a club director
Each one required a different version of me. That stretch can burn people out — I turned it into growth.

6. Balancing Multiple Roles at Once
Trainer at Equinox. Instructor in Silverlake. Private coach. Manager/club director.
Wearing all those hats simultaneously is a challenge in time management, emotional bandwidth, and self-belief.

7. Earning Trust in Every New Space
Every gym you entered meant new faces, new leadership, new culture, new clients. I had to prove myself again and again — and I did.

8. Turning a Personal Pivot Into a Calling
The emotional toll of losing my original career, finding uncertainty, and choosing purpose instead of panic? That’s an obstacle that defined the depth of my resilience.

As you know, we’re big fans of Para Performance Co.. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Para Performance Co. Silverlake is top tier. Our facility has received thousands of 5-star reviews. Gym capacity is closely managed allowing a private feeling gym even while offering classes, open-gym, and private training space rentals. Our classes are challenging for all skill levels and are lead by elite trainers. We meet you where you’re at! I’d say we are most proud of the community we have built in our little pocket of LA – Silverlake.

Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
1. Don’t chase the loudest voice — chase the one who lives the life you want. A real mentor doesn’t need to brag. Their results speak. Their character speaks louder. Look for someone whose habits you want, not just their skill set.

2. Show up curious, not needy. Mentors don’t want to carry you; they want to guide someone who carries themselves. Bring questions, bring initiative, bring hunger. Effort is the currency — curiosity is the conversation.

3. Make it easy for them to say yes. Be specific. “Can you mentor me?” is vague. Try: “Can I shadow you for an hour a week to learn how you program / coach / lead?” Clear requests get clear answers.

4. Add value before asking for value. Support their events, share their content, volunteer to help out, show face. People invest in people who invest back.

5. Don’t look for perfection — look for honesty. The best mentors give unfiltered truth, not sugar-coated compliments. Find someone who’ll challenge your blind spots, not just applaud your strengths.

6. Respect their time like it’s gold. Because it is. Be early, be prepared, and don’t ask them to do work you haven’t done yourself.

7. Apply what they teach — that’s the real thank-you. Nothing earns a mentor’s loyalty like watching you take a lesson and run with it. Execution > admiration.

8. Understand that mentorship is earned, not assigned. It’s a relationship built over time, through consistency and trust. Don’t force it. Let it grow. Let it breathe.

Pricing:

• Personal Training – starting at $150/hour
• Classes – $35/class (Unilmited $220/month)
• Open Gym (2-hr limit) – $20 ($125/month)
• Classes+OpenGym – $250/month

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.paraperformanceco.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paraperformanceco/?hl=en
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/ma.sese.fit/