Daily Inspiration: Meet Jayen Wells

Hi Jayen, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Started working with movement as a professional dancer through Disney and eventually moved to Hollywood and was lucky enough to do a huge K-pop gig performing with a group called BLOCK B & WOOZICO at a sold-out staple center in Los Angeles, California.

During this time, I was working as a certified massage therapist specifically in sports deep tissue/ therapeutic services & eventually became a group fitness instructor at Equinox teaching in multiple locations in Southern California.

Now I am lucky enough to be working with PopSugar, which is an online platform that has many avenues in health, wellness, beauty and fitness. I am currently a fitness host which you can view,  follow along, and workout on PopSugar YouTube Channel.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
During my time as a dancer, you can imagine that the opportunities for work came far & few between so it was definitely a struggle. Luckily I had already been a massage therapist for four years at the time, so was able to work at various spas and private clientele in between those jobs in the entertainment industry.

Once I became a group fitness instructor at Equinox, I slowly started building a community of like-minded people who want to workout, get strong and have fun along the way, which has led me to PopSugar Fitness and it has been an absolute dream come true! I am hoping that more opportunities will come in the future but for now, I am very happy that I stuck with my goals of bringing entertainment to people through movement.

So currently I have a private practice as a massage. Therapist have an office space where I do bodywork in Pasadena. Currently, I’ve been a therapist for about 10 years and have learned many modalities such as deep tissue, cupping, prenatal, relaxation, and many other techniques, that I always use in sessions to help clients move and feel better.

I think what helps me a lot is my background in dance and movement, which has taken me into the fitness industry so I am able to take all the disciplines I have learned whether it be strength training, mobility, or flexibility, I bring them all into my work as a massage therapist.

I’m also very proud of the fact that I have you have a very silly, outspoken, big personality, but through it all I’ve remained to be myself and be a mix of joy & fun while still remaining professional, and I hope that resonates with many different types of people across the board.

I think the most important thing I learned during our COVID-19 crisis is to slow down and take care of our bodies. And I don’t just mean that in a physical sense, peace of mind & mental health all play very important roles in making sure our health and wellness are at 100%.

As I mentioned before, I was doing a lot of different types of ‘gigs’ for work, Massage, dance, commercial fitness, anything and everything to get by, and as we were all forced to slow down I really got to know who I was and what I wanted and needed in life. I’ve taken that mindset outside of the pandemic.

Not to say that I don’t still experience ups and downs but I think it’s important for everyone to find a way to connect with themselves,  especially as the world gets back to “normal” fast pace way of living, I think it’s OK to slow down, take some time,  and be kinder to yourself.