Community Highlights: Meet Miss Bennett

Today we’d like to introduce you to Miss Bennett.

Hi Miss Bennett, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?

Well to start my first name is really “Miss” aka MissFit Bennett, that name was given to me by my mom who wanted me to always be given respect. My love for fitness and the spark to become a personal trainer was because of my father. Some of my earliest childhood memories were of me and my dad working out at the park. My father who was an avid runner and athlete cultivated my interest and created my love for fitness. Growing up, I ran track, played tennis, basketball and studied martial arts. My dad was my first coach and trainer. When I was 12, my dad purchased my first gym membership and immediately I fell in love with weight training. As a teen, my passion for fitness was fueled by the desire to study and learn about my own body. I collected and scoured every fitness magazine that crossed my path. After training and working out on my own for many years, I felt that I had proven to my dad that I was committed enough to invest in a personal trainer. When I finally mustered up the courage to ask him to pay for one, he responded, “Why do you need a personal trainer? You know more than they do!” You know what? He was right, so I continued to learn and train myself.

From the age of 17 to the age of 22, I pursued a career in fashion. Although I loved it, I began to feel that career choice wasn’t feeding my need to evoke change or give back. I knew myself well enough to know that I would only work doing the things I loved and couldn’t live without, so… I became a personal trainer.

After ten years working for different companies, I became an independent personal trainer. Taking baby steps gave me the experience of training all types of people. It also helped me determine (if given the opportunity) what I would do differently and how I would personalize my own business. I never imagined that the opportunity would come in the most unforeseen way.

When the COVID-19 Pandemic was taking a turn for the worst, I was in New York scheduled to shoot a film that I had been preparing for almost a year. I had landed a role as the trainer of the main character, and I would be playing myself. I felt this film was the opportunity I needed to bring my career to the next level. However, a week into production, New York had declared a state of emergency and the city was shutting down. I came home to Los Angeles and within a week, I lost my job, and like many others, I had lost the only place that brought me solace. All gyms were shut down. For weeks, I was scared and depressed. I finally tried to pull myself off the floor and started to do whatever I could to secure some kind of normalcy. I wanted to connect with my clients and offer them a space to find some “normal” too. After months of training people via Zoom, I transitioned to workouts in the park but I was constantly thinking about the future. I decided I needed to find a space that was big enough for social distancing and one-on-one sessions; just me and one client at a time. I always dreamed of having this kind of gym model but thought it to be impossible being that multiple trainers and members are how private gyms generate income to pay rent. But if there was ever a time to do the impossible, it was now! And because most of the world stopped, the impossible seemed possible.

I started my business six months into the pandemic because I saw an opportunity to do something different and special. I saw an extreme need for a gym that was private and safe during and after Covid. When my job at the gym shut down, I needed to seize the moment and turn lemons into lemonade. I always imagined having a gym that felt literally like an extension of my home. A place where people are invited and felt welcomed. I wanted it to have a vibe. A vibe that was transcending from the outside world. I realized that after more than 25 years in the fitness industry, I had been curating this space in my head over the years. This was the time to launch my vision and I began to clearly see what kind of environment would not only support physical growth but also support our mental health in this climate. It’s critical to set your intentions and not have them altered by outside energies. I really think it’s important to have that. Another gem my dad taught me was the importance of making your space peaceful and intentional. Sometimes it’s hard for people to do this, so I get to do it for them and share this GYM experience with them thanks to my father’s inspiration.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?

Although creating this kind of space took everything I had, it wasn’t the hardest thing I’ve ever done. My life up to this point was mostly an uphill battle, but the thing I found most difficult was redefining who I am after having my life and world completely changed all at once because of Covid 19. I had nothing in front of me but uncertainty. I’ve never been a stranger to adversity because adversity was the one thing I could draw from my past. Struggling to pay for the cost of competing, being diagnosed with Hashimoto, not being able to train, dealing with a labrum tear in my hip while preparing for my show, while my father was in the hospital with declining health are just a few of the things I had to overcome. But in this new environment, there was no gym, no competitions, no filming and no means to earn or make a living. Nevertheless, I was forced to let go of the things from the past in order to accept the things I needed to do to move forward.

Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?

What I love about Los Angeles is the diversity. I literally have friends and clients from all parts of the world. People come here from everywhere to seek opportunity. I feel LA has a great entrepreneur spirit and it allows me to be authentic in what ever I do. That is why I was able to open up an exclusive private gym that is thriving. I like that in my city you can still find hidden gems like my gym and other unique creative businesses. I’m originally from Inglewood California by way of LA county but I’ve worked and lived all over Los Angeles and still there is so much that I  haven’t discovered in this melting pot.

What I don’t like about LA is the stigma that the people here are “fake”. Now, I’m not insinuating that everybody in LA is a real genuine person; but I feel like the law of attraction is real, which means if you put out a certain energy that’s what you’ll attract.

So if you’re from here or come here faking the funk that is what you’ll get! So keeping it real is what is important to this native. Because doing what I’m good at and what I believe in has allowed me to do something that seem like it couldn’t be done; opening a private exclusive gym that clients can book all to their self. Giving clients a space to do you and only you, just like celebrities or professional athletes. So even everyday hard working people can experience that luxury of feeling like a VIP every time they train. So continuing to keep it real and grind for the best is more LA then anything else. It’s the City of Champions and there is nothing fake about that!