Check Out Monica Davis’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Monica Davis.

Hi Monica, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I started in fitness ten years ago when I was auditioning for acting jobs and needed a gig with flexible hours. I wasn’t great at restaurant work and I’ve got lots of energy (plus, I love to exercise, I know, eye roll) so it was a great fit for me. Pretty immediately, I got a great response from clients who frequented my classes religiously. And while staying in shape is one reason I like my job, moreover, I like feeling like I’m a part of people growing more comfortable in their skin. It is so, so hard to like yourself and then if you do like how you look, you’re told to quit being conceited. So, it’s a struggle to establish healthy self-esteem and I feel good knowing that I play a role in that with my clients.

But last July, at the beginning of a Covid surge, it seemed like I might have reached the end of my fitness career. I was asked to come back to work at a reduced teaching rate. But, I worked for a major gym for three years and being asked to come back for less money was an insult. I felt like my employers were not prioritizing my health and in light of the protests of last year, I felt empowered to speak up. I think workers are often afraid of raising any issue with the businesses who pay them, and I certainly was, but I thought we could come to a solution that included hazard pay for instructors if all the instructors banded together. I figured since we were going to be interacting with clients so closely it made sense to receive hazard pay as instructors. But they didn’t and instructors needed to get back to work. I decided to stand my ground and spoke to the press. As a result, I was fired from my job. But, surprisingly, people responded positively to my story and started hiring me to train them virtually. Then, when we felt more comfortable, and Covid numbers declined, I started training people in person.

I have been so grateful that my speaking out proved to be a good thing for my business. Now, I feel encouraged to take on more projects of my own. Sometimes, that little spark of bravery can translate into other big moves.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The pay isn’t always great when you work for a gym. Group fitness classes are notorious for paying instructors very little. Most of us do it because we genuinely love the interaction with clients. We, and I’m speaking very generally, are all so high energy that most jobs are not dynamic enough to keep us motivated. Surprise to no one, I’ve got ADHD so, I need to spin a lot of plates to stay engaged.

Also, if you’re an actor, group fitness is so fun. It’s like doing a play. Classes are always changing, they’re never perfect, they involve lots of moving parts (music, choreography, equipment, lights, new clients, clients with injuries, etc.) so you have to stay present and malleable.

But, when I got fired, I was in a better financial place than I’d been in a decade. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I committed myself to doing a daily Instagram live class at 1pm. It was donation-based and I kept it going for 13 months. And from donations alone, I sustained myself.

While the shock wore off, I put my life together. I was able to move out of my parents’ house, get a new laptop, and pay off debts that I’d had for years. Before, I was literally *always* broke, scrimping and saving everything, pumping myself with vitamins to avoid ever getting sick because if I didn’t work then I didn’t get paid. Many of my friends in fitness don’t have health insurance (like so many people in the country) so even before the pandemic, I was obsessed with my health. A cold could send me into an existential crisis. (How would I pay for gas, groceries, new shoes, what if I blow out a tire…IYKYK) Now, I feel so much more empowered. I honestly didn’t realize how financially disenfranchised I was until I started my own business.

But, as you know, starting a business is tricky. Getting a business license, filing the proper tax forms, doing my accounting, paying for ads, programming client sessions and finding new clients is a full-time job. But on top of that, I’m a writer and am working on my first novel – so I have to schedule every little chore of the day otherwise, it doesn’t get done. I even schedule things like “take out the trash”, “stretch break”, and give myself stern reminders like “Do not watch Survivor” (that last one is very important) to stay on track. God bless my daily planners for keeping me on task.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
While most people know me as a personal trainer/group fitness instructor, I’ve always been a writer. I’ve written half a dozen television pilots and a feature comedy script that I’d like to produce. But my passion project is the novel I’m working on. It’s about a fictional spy agency of white-passing black actors who infiltrate a secret white supremacist circle in Hollywood. It’s a John Grisham spy story meets Bad Girls Club. Imagine if Dan Brown listened to Cardi B. How much better would the Da Vinci Code be? It’s told from the point of view of someone like me who would be bumbling and anxious in high-stress scenarios. But I think there’s a certain fish out of water quality to the stories I like to watch (Legally Blond, My Cousin Vinny, etc). Those characters, who are just barely staying afloat, and thwarting danger along the way, are so fun to root for. There’s a charm to those people that endears other people to them and that’s a very important skill when you’re trying to gather information. I wanted to see what that looked like in the fictional world of spycraft in Hollywood.

Also, I’m mixed (black, white and Japanese) and belonging to three ethnicities, but not looking like those things, is an unusual existence. I have often felt like a “spy” in my own life, so I thought it would be interesting to take that metaphor literally and write about an agency that used their ethnic ambiguity to their advantage. And Hollywood is an industry I love but it’s also the whitest industry in the country (according to the Kinsey study from March, 2021). In researching this book, I’ve pored over that study and many statistics and it’s staggering. (Look it up if you’re interested. Don’t take my word for it!) How can Hollywood be this liberal beacon of creativity and still keep so many people of color out? My solution is: infiltrate from the inside. Hence, the need for spies.

This story feels both personal and grandiose. But moreover, I’d like for it to be funny. I don’t think anyone takes a message in if they’re not thoroughly entertained. So, I hope to write a book that feels silly and, ultimately, impactful.

Any big plans?
I can’t wait to finish and sell my book. I’m such a planner that I’ve already got rough outlines for the next two books (I’d ideally write them as a trilogy). Then, I’d love to produce the books as films or television series.

In the meantime, I’m plugging away at training and growing my business, staying healthy and working on myself. I like to have several pots on the fire at once so I’m busy busy.

Pricing:

• Sessions are $80 each
• 4 sessions are $280
• Couples sessions are $60 per person

Contact Info:

• Email: monicadavisfitness@gmail.com
• Website: www.monicadavis.co
• Instagram: @monicadavisfitness

Image Credits:
Buzzfeed (images with headlines) All other images belong to me Photography credit (on the basketball court) goes to Cesar Cortes