LEAKED from our Founder: Happy Holidays + Letter of Gratitude to my OG's

Hey Besties,

Jess here - In case you haven’t heard from me in a while, hey again. I am sending this email to all my past OG SHINE/School of Fitness/JTF members. I want to send a letter of gratitude and Holiday Wishes. 

I’ve been doing A LOT of reflecting over the past week as we wrap up a year and head into a new one. In case we’ve lost touch, I have spent the past 4.5 (almost 5 years!!) building SHINE FIT. This week actually marks my 7 year anniversary as a group fitness instructor. That’s bananas. 

Growing up, I was a competitive dancer. I didn’t know it at the time, but I struggled with body image from a young age. It might be normalized for women to pick apart our bodies in the mirror, but it’s not okay - especially for young girls. After I retired from dancing competitively, I got into fitness and sucked into a spiral of toxic fitness culture. There, the body dysmorphia, disordered eating, and punishing relationship with working out only intensified. No matter how much I worked out or how little I ate, it never felt like it was good enough. I hated my body, and I was miserable. 

Becoming a group fitness instructor was my little beacon of light. I started making workouts that I thought others would have FUN doing, and I began to have fun too. I realized I couldn’t be a “leader” in fitness standing at the front of the room shouting praises and telling my participants how proud I was of them for showing up for themselves, if immediately after class I was body checking and tearing myself apart. That’s when I decided to change. I wanted to be a better leader for my participants - and so began the journey of healing my relationship with fitness.

I started picking out things I liked about my body, complimenting myself more, being proud for simply showing up, creating a realistic routine, working on my mindset, journaling, reflecting, and finding joy in everyday life. I began documenting this on Instagram @jesstakimotofitness, and we all know what grew from there. 

I was in university at the time, and when my study abroad term got cut short, I started livestreaming free workouts on Instagram from quarantine. That much, we all know.

But I’m not sure many of my earliest cheerleaders and participants know what came next in the story. The first year of SHINE I was flying high. The community was growing like rapidfire and everything was amazing. Until it wasn’t. As the pandemic ended and lockdowns were lifted, I graduated, I moved to Toronto, and I watched the community I had poured everything into building evaporate everyday. Nobody wanted livestreams, on demand, or anything virtual. We all wanted in person connections. I lost 80% of my members over the span of 6 months. I was drowning in payroll expenses and had just moved to a new city. The following year was the worst year of my life. I felt like I hit rock bottom. I struggled with severe anxiety, depression, and financial insecurity. 

But I had committed to going all in on SHINE, and I simply had to figure it out. Step by step, day by day, I worked to heal and figure out what I really wanted. About 2 years ago, I said a Hail Mary and invested into a coaching program for fitness businesses. I pivoted and began building an in person studio. That was October 2022, and since then, I have continued bootstrapping a Bricks & Mortar studio downtown Toronto. 

Now, I’m really really proud of the community spark that’s re-igniting, and the business I’ve built. We have studio members and a thriving online community with 15 livestreams a week, on demand, mindset trainings, and so much more. I think it’s easy to look on social media and say that it’s growing fast, that I’m happy everyday, that I’m crushing it, or that it all happened overnight. As an OG, you know that couldn’t be further from the truth. I’ve been showing up for 7 years, every single day, talking about my mission, about making fitness about changing the way you feel, not the way you look, and empowering women to become their happiest, healthiest, most confident selves. 

It has been an uphill battle, to say the least. There are still so many days where I question what I’m doing, where I feel like an imposter, where I feel like I’m not far enough along or should’ve achieved more by now. The inner bully voice has gotten a lot quieter over the years, but it never fully goes away. 

I wanted to share this all with you because this is thanks to you. My own personal confidence transformation is a byproduct of leading this community and showing up to face my fears everyday. I wouldn’t be here without you. You believed in me and cheered me on before I believed in myself or had the confidence to cheer myself on. And for that, I am eternally grateful. 

Thanks to you, SHINE has changed over 1,500 lives. I am now the proud owner of a fitness studio in Yorkville, with a team of 9 instructors and 5 admin staff. I am by no means where I want to be yet - and that is inherently a privilege. Having experienced what hopelessness feels like and have no idea where I want to go or what I want to do, I am extremely grateful to have projects in motion and big, hairy, audacious goals.

My BHAG for 2025 is to 10x the business. I have no idea “how” yet, but I’m excited about a goal that feels like a size too big. It’s forcing me to stretch, grow, and think in a different way. Remember, that’s the purpose of a goal: to grow. It’s not about achievement (looking at you my recovering overachievers, perfectionists, and good girls).

I will wrap up this very long winded letter with a little holiday gift for you. In case you’re in that place of “stuck-ness”, “lost-ness” or even hopelessness, I would love to be your coach and cheerleader again. My energy is the same as it always has been, but what has changed is my experience. I’ve worked with hundreds of women over the past 7 years, and I can now say with confidence - I know how to help you change your life. The resources and structure my team has developed put what I was doing in university and the pandemic to dust (in the best way).

I’m running a 6 Week New Years Transformation Challenge starting January 6th, and I have two spots to giveaway for free. If you’ve been wanting to make a change, check it out here: www.shinefit.co/nytc I secretly hope at least one of the giveaway winners is one of my OG members. 

As always, I am cheering you on. I am so freaking grateful to have had you by my side on this journey of confidence, entrepreneurship, and growing up. Wishing you a safe, happy, healthy holiday season and a new year filled with health, love, abundance and confidence in every form.

XOXO,

Jess

PS. Feel free to reply to this email or send me a DM @jesstakimotofitness - I always love hearing from my OGs <3