AROUND TOWN: Former local hoops standout, coach, Whittington plans fitness center for women
May 21—Throughout her career, playing in high school and college, pursuing her master's degree, then on to coaching, and now as a mom, Carbondale native Joya Whittington has learned some pretty valuable lessons.
Now, you can add entrepreneurs to that list.
Whittington, most recently the head women's basketball coach at Goucher College, will soon be returning home with her family, wife Ashley and 2-year-old son, Levi, to open a fitness center geared primarily to women.
E-Motion Fitness will open in the Mermelstein's Plaza on Business Route 6 in Carbondale in the near future, the genesis a combination of a business plan Whittington came up with while at Seton Hill University, and her own experience as an athlete, coach and mom.
"I was working with a small group at Seton Hill in the Small Business Development Center and they were a women's group, supporting women-owned businesses and they helped me a ton to just develop this plan," Whittington said. "I didn't even know, this is really coming full circle for me. I was working at a fitness club out there, and I was training and it was just amazing.
"The culture, the environment, there's a ton of moms coming in. Just people that really needed that atmosphere, that social life, plus the health piece that was coming along with that, you know. They're moving their bodies, they're getting strong because with little kids running around, you need to be strong. You need to be able to move in multiple planes."
Whittington described it as one of the most fun times in her life, and once Levi came along, it seemed like a much better idea than she and Ashley working full-time jobs and being fully immersed in her other full-time job
"You don't really know motherhood until you're really in it," Whittington said. "And then we were in it. Full blown.
"And I was the person that was the target market in my business. I was this woman and I had a career and I had a family and I was not taking care of myself and I wasn't getting to the gym and I had I'm a consistent fitness advocate always going to the gym."
So the business plan that was a down-the-road thing became a hear-and-now.
"It's just been something that's been on the back burner, in the development phases," Whittington said.
"Having a very young child, to understand who we are and what we really want our life to look like, and the people that we really want to spend our time with and impacting as much as possible, we looked at each other.
"Our son is going to a Montessori school out in Maryland. We looked at each other and we're like, what are we doing? Our son is not even 2 and he's kind of being raised by someone else. "We both don't have a choice but to work full time.
"We're not taking care of ourselves, and we were just really caught and you know what, a lot a lot of women are doing today which are they're being superheroes. They're being moms. They're working full time careers. They're taking care of their parents, if that's needed. They're running around with their kids."
They continued to brainstorm and are soon to be launching their venture.
"We tweaked it and we just birthed E-Motion fitness," Whittington said. "It's a great, great location, in Mermelstein's Plaza right off Business Route 6.
"Stay tuned, really. Our website is in development. Our socials are going to be popping up and a lot of information about our business is going to be popping out."
The main component of Whittington's vision will be building relationships.
"We know what women are living every single day. We want to provide a space and environment where we can be that third choice on their mind," Whittington said. "So if it's family, work, and then our gym, because the people there are amazing and they know what each other is going through, they're there to support and have resources for each other.
'Whether you're working out next to someone, or you know, you're just in a strategy session with myself or one of our other coaches, and you're just sitting there and you can sit next to someone and be like, 'Yeah, me too. I get that.'
"So you could be working your program next to someone else and that woman is like, 'yeah, I just did this with my son or daughter.' Even if you don't have kids, are thinking about having kids or maybe you're not, just I have this crazy career, whatever it is, it's about community, resources, relationships."
Ironically, her own serious knee injury in high school taught Whittington a lesson she carries with her today.
"I really believe that getting our hands on some of these young athletes, it's another target of ours," Whittington said. "You know, getting in front of these athletes and saying hey, we have the ability to design programs to help you prevent injury, and get your body moving in multiple planes."
Sessions will be semi private — about four to six women in a group — and each will have a customized program based on the client's goal.
Contact the writer:
570-348-9100, ext. 5437
@mmyersTT on Twitter
