Her Story
About Shania
Shania Samuels is the owner and founder of Beyond Barre Fitness, a fitness studio based in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, dedicated to creating an inclusive and empowering environment through movement and wellness. Since beginning her career in the fitness industry in 2021, Shania has worked as a fitness instructor specializing in Pilates, barre, yoga sculpt, and mobility-focused training. Alongside her entrepreneurial journey, she also serves as a Delivery Consultant with Oracle Healthcare (formerly Cerner Corporation), where she supports healthcare technology implementations, workflow improvements, and client solutions.
Shania brings together her passion for fitness, business, and community-building with her educational background in business administration and marketing. She earned her Associate of Arts degree from Metropolitan Community College–Kansas City and her Bachelor of Business Administration degree with an emphasis in Marketing from the University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Business. Her professional experience spans healthcare information technology, client services, account management, data analysis, and project coordination, giving her a well-rounded foundation for leadership and entrepreneurship.
As a certified fitness professional, Shania specializes in comprehensive Pilates instruction, including both classical and contemporary methods, as well as pre- and postnatal Pilates, barre, yoga sculpt, and stretch classes. Through Beyond Barre Fitness, she focuses on representation, accessibility, and helping clients feel confident and supported in their wellness journeys. Shania attributes her success to lifelong learning, embracing feedback, and her commitment to encouraging others while building a strong, inclusive fitness community.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Shania
01What do you attribute your success to?
Being a life learner has helped me continue to be successful. Always being open to feedback, constructive criticism, being open to learning more. Never stop learning. Learn something new every single day. Always be open to taking a course or grabbing a coffee with someone who knows more than you.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice would be to keep going and don't give up. My purpose and my push really comes from the community really helping people feel seen while doing fitness, not just coming in and taking a class and leaving, but that community aspect, the aspect of mobility and health. So with all of that, I am pushed every day to just keep going. Even when I face challenges and trials, just keep going. Don't quit.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say, again, never give up, keep going. Even that 1% every day of getting better, you're moving in the right direction. So, just keep going, continue to learn any way that you can, and yeah, just take ahold of those opportunities.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge in my field is really helping everyone see what mobility training can do for their body. You can talk about it, but until the client really tries it out, then they're able to see for themselves how much they feel better after working out and being focused on their mobility. The greatest opportunity is to get everyone together, build that community.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values of really encouraging others. I'm really big on encouraging others in class, out of class, really helping them feel represented and empowered, so sticking to those, really being there for others, caring, and being a good friend.
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