#BossLadySeattle // Rachel Garcia + Caitlin Ibarra
It’s #BOSSLADYSEATTLE Friday here again… this time South Seattle version. I had the chance to talk with two fellow business owners here in my neighborhood of Beacon Hill, Seattle who have been continuously bringing together women in support of healthy bodies and family support.
Meet Rachel Garcia and Caitlin Ibarra, co-owners of Fit4MomSeattle and South Seattle Fitness.
Tell me a bit about Fit4Mom South Seattle. What kind of business do you two run, and how did this come about? How did you two start working together?
Caitlin has owned Fit4Mom South Seattle since 2016, when she bought the franchise when her oldest, Ford, was a baby. She ran Stroller Strides (baby/tot and me), Fit4Baby(prenatal) and Body Back (HIIT) classes in Seward and Jefferson Parks and rented venues for indoor classes around South Seattle. Caitlin and Rachel met at a neighborhood barbeque in 2017 and the dreaming of what we could build together started soon after. Rachel came on as an instructor a few months later and then, after many discussions of our dreams of becoming a hub for women’s health and community in South Seattle, became co-owner with Caitlin in the spring of 2018 when we bought our Beacon Hill studio together. By that point it had become clear that we wanted to keep expanding, and there was continuing demand for our classes and community in South Seattle, but that we needed a fixed location in order to continue to grow and offer more classes in our schedule. We figured out how to purchase the building that we now own on the corner of Beacon Ave. S. and S. Graham. It was an adventure, because it had been in disuse for 15 years and was in a sad state. But we were able to build it into the kind of space that we had imagined for our community, and that would show love and care for all of the mothers and families who come together there. With our studio, we’ve been able to add more programs, like Run Club and Body Ignite (strength-training) and offer more services to our members.
Our mission at Fit4Mom South Seattle is to lead a community of women and families in South Seattle who come together to find greater support and strength in motherhood and beyond. Through physical fitness and health, we help our members find a gateway into greater empowerment, self-love, and sisterhood.
Every class we teach, every newsletter and social media post we send out into the world, every social event, like Book Club and Moms Night Out, is crafted with our mission behind it. We are incredibly lucky to have a brilliant, strong, dedicated and creative team of instructors in all programs who walk our talk, and are all in with us.
What do you love most about having your own fitness studio and online business?
So many things!!!! I think what we love the most is watching women become more empowered over the time they spend in our community. It’s an incredible honor to bear witness to women’s lives changing in motherhood and life, and supporting them in times that can feel vulnerable and raw. We love being able to say, “We got you. We’ll catch you. You’re safe here,” during those times, and then staying steady as they find their way in the next phase of motherhood and life, leaning on the sisters in our community for strength. The empowerment women find in physical strength, working out hard, finding their fit, and feeling STRONG is a huge gift and we both love being a part of it. We get so much strength from our sisterhood too!
What are you doing to support your clients right now?
We are teaching virtual classes on our normal schedule, and we have actually added two classes per week so that we offer HIIT classes every weekday, and a new strength-training class on Sundays. Because we know schedules are wacky right now and clients can’t always attend classes live, we send the video recordings of each class as soon as they download to all those who are enrolled, so that, if they aren’t able to make it live, members can work out with the recording at any time for the next 24 hours. This has been huge for clients, as the routine of each day can be different, mamas are juggling so much right now, and we’ve gotten a lot of feedback that the recordings make all the difference. We are also trying to keep our community together socially through activities such as our new Book Club, launched in April; Thursday Activity Time activities, which are art or science activities that we post on social media every Thursday; Family Recess, which is a live dance party/exercise break for the whole family posted on our Facebook page Mondays and Wednesdays at 12:30; Fitness and attendance challenges for prizes, etc. We also try to make it clear to all members that if they are going through financial hardship, we will work with them to keep them in our classes whether they’re able to pay or not. But perhaps the biggest thing is just providing a space, albeit virtual, where our members are able to be honest about how they are, what they need, what life is like right now. And with that transparency we’re able to offer love, support and community care. And then teach a tough workout and help mamas gear up and find energy for the challenges of each day.
What is the biggest challenge for you running Fit4Mom South Seattle right now? How can we help?
We have had to postpone Run Club, which continues to be disappointing. And we’re constantly worried about keeping our community together. We all really miss each other. Since our business is community-based and thrives in a full studio of women, not being able to see each other, hug each other, and work out in the physical presence of one another has been emotionally hard. We worry about the future of our business financially with changes that we’ve had to make, but our membership is so dedicated and feels such a part of our business, that people are hanging in there with us. By this showing of love and support and dedication, we are humbled and deeply grateful.
South Seattle can help by trying classes with us! They are so much fun, such a great way to keep moving during the pandemic and building community virtually. And not all of our members are mothers, we have several women in Body Ignite and HIIT classes who are not mothers, but appreciate having a safe and supportive community with which to work out. The first class is always free, and we absolutely love seeing new faces and getting to know all those in our South Seattle community.
Any positive things come out of this pandemic for you? If so, what?
It has taught us how close our sisterhood is, that it takes more than a pandemic to separate us. And also we now know that we will never again take a sisterly hug for granted.
If you don't already, be sure to follow Fit4Mom South Seattle’s accounts here:
Instagram: @fit4mom_south_seattle
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Fit4MomSouthSeattle/
www.southseattle.fit4mom.com
#BossLadySeattle