Her Story
About Isis
I was a competitive swimmer for most of my life, and when I stopped, I wanted to find a way to stay athletic. I started weightlifting with my cousin, who was a personal trainer at the time, and she showed me the ropes of how to stay in fitness and stay healthy. During my undergraduate degree, I wanted a job that wasn't serving because I was very tired of that, and I loved working out, helping people, and showing my friends how to work out, so I decided to become a personal trainer. I took the test and applied for Equinox, where I became a coach. One of my clients at Equinox is a journalist, and after I finished my undergraduate degree, I was talking to her about not knowing what I wanted to do. I told her I love reading, writing, researching, and talking to people, and she suggested I try writing about fitness. I started writing pieces about the fitness industry and issues I saw in it, doing research, and I thought to myself, this is so interesting, I love this. So I literally, on a whim, applied to NYU, and only NYU, for grad school, and I got in. It's become my passion because it takes all of the things that I already love, just all in one career. My day-to-day is incredibly full. I wake up at 5:30, do a couple of sessions at the gym, work out, go to class, and go to my internship. I spend most of my days writing, doing interviews, and trying to find things to write about. My internship sends me around the city to police stations to talk to police, and I call city council members to discuss new bills trying to be passed. What I love most about journalism is being able to experience so many different things and write about them. You don't just go to a show, you go behind the set, learn what everybody's doing, why they came there, and get everybody's personal background. You get a really in-depth perspective on many different things in life. I love that I get to meet new people all the time and maybe help some people through my writing. I wrote about a women's shelter that was not receiving any funds for its programming, had no security, no mental health resources, and my piece became so popular that they started to receive more help. Some of the shelter residents reached out to me, and that was truly the most rewarding experience.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Isis
01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
For journalism, make connections. If you're going to school for journalism, become best friends with every professor that you have, and learn from the peers around you. Anytime there's a guest speaker, you take down their email and you email them. Even if you feel underqualified, even if you don't have much to show, you talk to everyone around you and you get their opinion. Take the time to do your research about a topic before you start your reporting, to make sure that you're as educated as possible. Be a go-getter. In journalism, you have to just want the information and try to get it. You can't be afraid, you can't be super nervous, or if you are nervous, you have to pretend that you aren't. Definitely just lean into what you're passionate about. If you're passionate about writing about one subject, go into it. For personal training, also on the research side, learn as much as you can. Just because you get your certification, that's not the end-all be-all. You have to keep educating yourself. You should be coached by other professional coaches, you should take workshops, you should be studying, you should try to train a variety of clients, and make sure that you are also trying new things in your own program so that you can help other clients. In terms of growing a business, I would say sales is the number one thing to learn how to do. Being great with people is the most important, but at the end of the day, to become an entrepreneur in this business, you need to understand sales. Take sales workshops, do role play. If you are working in a gym, work with your manager as much as possible, get comfortable with selling. And also be a shark, be a go-getter. Believe in yourself, and just go for it.
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