I am a mom of a toddler born in 2022. I always had a passion for fitness and always lifted weights most of my adult life. At the beginning of 2020 when the world shut down, I thought it was a good time to get my personal training certificate since I had extra time on my hands. Once I did that, I had figured out that I had been working out all wrong for years. Before I used to find random work outs on Pinterest and would do a ton of cardio (which I hate btw.) I had finally figured out why after all these years of working out and lifting weights, why I didn’t have the results in my strength to show for it.

While I was studying to take my CPT exam, an opportunity had come up at my favorite local yoga studio. She was holding her first yoga teacher training, the class had already been full but she had someone back out about a week before it was set to start. I immediately sent the owner a message telling her I was interested (without first discussing with my husband haha.) It was a big investment, that night I had told him about the opportunity and he said “if you want to do it, I think you should go for it.” So that’s what I did, I took my CPT test the week my yoga teacher training began and then started to focus on my yoga teacher training. All of this was done while working a full time job about 40-60 hours a week.

I finished my 200 hour yoga teacher training in March of 2021. After I was done I looked around at various local gyms (we have very few) to see if anyone was hiring for a part time trainer or a yoga instructor. No one was. Finally in the fall of 2021 I saw an ad for a newer gym that was hiring a part time trainer, I applied. Thankfully he hired me, I had a really hard time finding anyone who would without having experience training people before. How was I supposed to get experience if no one would hire me? I started training many different clients, teaching yoga and decided to get my pre/postnatal training certificate. I knew I wanted to be pregnant soon and really kind of got that certificate as education for my own training. I also had a few clients who were pregnant so I thought the knowledge would be a great addition.

Once I had my son, I kind of took a step back from training clients and just taught yoga. With a newborn baby it was just a little too much trying to continue with that, plus my regular job. Occasionally I would still come in and train people if the owner needed help, if someone was sick, etc. In 2024 I reached out to a seasonal lodge down the street from my home to see if the owner would be interested in offering yoga to his guests. He told me “Absolutely!” I spoke with his manager about getting it started and he had said “Yeah, we will just have guests book directly through you.” Well, I didn’t have a way for guests to book through me, so I went home and started to do research and find a booking site that would work for me, and that is how Knik Yoga and Wellness was born.

After doing all this leg work I decided I wanted to use it for more than just my weekly yoga. I wanted to reach more people. I wanted to start training people again. I started taking courses on how to train people online. I could build programs and help people all while staying home with my son. I could be a mom and still do the thing I love.