Today we’d like to introduce you to FitCityBlonde Jeannie, Christina and Elizabeth.
They’re fitcityblonde – three blondes who met in college, now balancing healthy lifestyles + big-girl jobs in Chicago (Jeannie + Christina) and Los Angeles (Elizabeth).
Elizabeth (who also goes by Eli — like, The Book of) is from Kansas City, MO & played D1 soccer at Notre Dame (+ won an NCAA National Championship her freshman year). She moved out to SF after graduation to work for LinkedIn and fell in love with California. She recently relocated to LA and is so excited to be a part of the wellness scene there.
Jeannie moved to Chicago in 2014, where her passion for fitness and wellness began. She’s a newly-certified yoga instructor and has fallen in love with connecting with her students. Eventually, Jeannie has ambitions to become a health coach, and she is currently enrolled in the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. When she’s not at the yoga or the pilates studio, you can find Jeannie on a new travel adventure, hanging out at home with her fiancé and puppy, or curled up with a good book.
Christina calls Michigan home, but Chicago stole her heart. She’s a Saint Mary’s College alum and is currently working at her dream job in the Loop. In her own words, “I’ve grown a TON since we started fitcityblonde in 2014, but sometimes, I still feel like I have no idea what I am doing. A few months ago, I began meditating which lead me to make the conscious decision to live in the moment and trust in the Universe – and things haven’t been the same since. I am all about embracing this crazy, slightly confusing journey that is life and leaning into authenticity.” Christina is always down to meet new friends – especially if kale salads, good workouts & great vibes are involved.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The three of us started corporate 9-5’s immediately after graduation and found the routines + recommendations of many of the fitness leaders we were following on Instagram to be unrealistic for the average worker-bee. So, we started fitcityblonde with the goal of providing a REALISTIC source of health + fitness for the average city-dwelling, working twenty-something (NOT Australian fitness models).
In all honesty, it can be difficult to show this real side of ourselves. Being vulnerable on a platform that’s followed by thousands of people doesn’t exactly come naturally to us. There are times we would rather not post about our late-night binges, hormonal issues, the times we go weeks without workouts… but these are the posts where we can make a real difference. When at least ONE person out there can relate to our reality (and hopefully be inspired by it), it makes it all worth it.
Our advice? Be you. Refine your message, find your true voice and say it loud.
Please tell us about FitCityBlonde.
Aside from it keeping our friendships strong (we literally talk all day, every day), we love engaging and building community with our #fitcityfam! When people message us and say they tried a new class because we recommended it or are seeing great results with Pressed Vibrance (one of our amazing partners) or even just WANT to work out with us at all – wowowow – it’s a feeling we can’t describe, but results with many heart-eyed emojis and “OMG THIS MAKES ME SO HAPPY”. It’s true: we’re so happy to be here and love everyone who has joined us on this crazy adventure!
We love that we’re real and have stayed true to ourselves + the brand. We’re the girls who typically DON’T have their shit together – and that’s OK. We’ve found that as much as people LOVE to aspire to be these seemingly-perfect people on Instagram, they also love to hear that other people are just doing their damn best too and that by golly – that’s good enough! We forget our laptops at home, are late to meetings, spill coffee on ourselves, send e-mails to the wrong people, have pimples, eat candy, trip overweights in class and it’s ALL ALRIGHT.
Often it feels as if the media, by and large, is only focused on the obstacles faced by women, but we feel it’s important to also look for the opportunities. In your view, are there opportunities that you see that women are particularly well positioned for?
Women are particularly well positioned for “doing it all.” We have been trained and wired (almost) to wear many hats, and that is something we are able to use in our favor. So many of us spend our days juggling many things — work, blog, multiple hobbies, showing up as a good friend, a dedicated partner, etc.
We don’t want to say that it is easy or we should have to do it, but we believe that women, in particular, were born with the skills to multi-task effectively and, in general, have more opportunities to be fulfilled in many different aspects of life.
Contact Info:
- Website: fitcityfamily.com
- Email: fitcityblonde@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fitcityblonde/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fitcityblonde/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/fitcityblonde?lang=en
Image Credit:
Andrew Weber, John Onelio
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