SO I DECIDED TO BECOME A ZUMBA FITNESS INSTRUCTOR

I must start this blog entry off by stating that I have always been gutsy.  Growing up, entertaining mom's guests in the salas while she perfected her eyebrows upstairs, falling off stage mid-sentence but still finishing my lines during a college musical, auditioning for a TV commercial for a Marilyn Monroe role at 200 lbs. or competing AND winning at Dance Sport competitions here and abroad made it impossible for me to be anything but thick skinned! 

I was fat for most of my adult years.  I found that it gave me license to use humor and skill to get people to like me, if not fall in love with me.  If I could not lose the weight, I just made sure I got anything or any job done WELL and life would still be great.  Genius, right?!

Then I heard of Zumba Fitness.  I hadn't even tried it yet when I decided I wanted to hold classes at The Roxy.  I went straight into training and got my license for both Basic 1 and Basic 2.  One month later, I flew to Singapore to get a special license to teach Zumbatomic, the one geared towards kids between 4 and 12 years old. 

Hmmm, I thought, so much qualifications and I will pay others to do what I know I can do well myself?!  Four months later, I was teaching classes at The Roxy for experience.  Two months after that, I was accepting private and corporate classes!  

My strategy to avoid so much comparison with my thinner colleagues, was to use a different playlist, far from what everyone was using.  I made sure to choreograph my own dances (using the Zumba handbook/ guidelines, of course) so that I was unique but still effective.

At Merville Park, we started with 17 students.  We are now close to 50 regular attendees every TTH.

I've been telling people during my seminars (yes, Im a speaker for workshops), that there is no time but NOW, that shy people do not get rich, that people who believe they can, can and those who believe they cannot, are right.

I have decided that I will always dance with a smile.  It is my hope that my students get the feeling that Zumba Fitness is easy--that if  "fat me" can survive an hour of vigorous dancing, then "fat them" can do it too!

I write this, in the hope that I continue to inspire childless, over 40 years old, and/or heavy-set women to JUST FUCKING DO IT!