Rising Stars: Meet Amanda Hart

Check out my interview with VoyageLA where they share LA’s most inspiring stories. Thank you for the feature!

Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Hart.

Amanda, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?

I started out on my fitness journey at a very young age — I was 13 when I started to run as a competitive athlete. Coming from an extremely toxic and abusive home, running served as a physical and emotional outlet for me. I happened to be very good at it and I was recruited to the varsity cross-country and track teams in eighth grade.

Being a part of a team at such a young age provided me with confidence and purpose in my life which was lacking elsewhere. With little to no support at home, I dove head-on into the sport and spent a lot of time putting in the miles and improving my times.

Going to college was a dream of mine. When I would tell my mother I wanted to go, she’d laugh at me and say, “Keep dreaming.” I did and I never gave up. But I knew I had to come up with a plan to pay for college since my siblings and I grew up in subsidized housing with a single mom. There were nights we couldn’t even put food on the table so I knew college was a stretch. But I kept dreaming and pushing.

My running career in high school continued and my times got better and better. I was awarded the title of “captain” on my high school cross country and track teams and it was then that I realized I had another love outside of running- it was to lead and coach. I loved being that person my teammates went to when the going got tough. I loved being the one in the locker room pumping everyone up before a big meet.

I knew if I didn’t get to college on an athletic scholarship I would join the military. But I prayed I’d get awarded a scholarship from somewhere. I did. I went to college on an athletic scholarship at a division one school — Hofstra University in New York.

I continued my running career for all four years and again, was awarded the title of captain my sophomore year. I was thrilled. It was in college that I discovered weightlifting and knew I found something special.

I graduated in 2008 with a bachelor of science in public health. Not long after that, I began working at Equinox in New York City as a personal trainer. I knew I wanted to coach and help other people. I had such a passion for athletics and helping others that I thought personal training would be perfect for me. It was. I fell in love with it immediately. I got my certification through the National Academy of Sports Medicine, learned a ton about the business of training and racked up a number of additional certifications such as kettlebell, TRX, pre and post-natal fitness and nutrition while working at equinox.

I opened up my LLC, Amanda Hart Wellness, formally Body By Amanda, in 2011, left equinox and have been running my own digital online company since then. I’ve grown and expanded my business since the early years to take on a more well-rounded, holistic approach to wellness.

Now, I specialize in weight loss, reverse dieting and pre and post-natal fitness. I help and educate people on how to best take care of their bodies as well as their minds. I believe true health is a wide spectrum that includes a lot more than just exercise. It also includes what we eat, what we’re thinking and our relationship to ourselves and others.I’m a HUGE proponent of mediation and breathe work and offer these amazing stress-relieving tools to my clients as well.

Recently, I’ve also learned how to become an integrative coach and started working with folks who are interested in microdosing with psychedelics. This has been the newest addition to my offerings. I personally began microdosing with psilocybin in late 2019 and know from my own personal experience how helpful this alternative medicine can be to so many folks.

I like to say I’m a one stop shop for fitness and wellness. I work with anyone who is interested in optimizing their body, mind and spirit!

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?

My mother and father were pretty absent at a young age. There was neglect, verbal, emotional and physical abuse.

My father was in prison most of my life and my mother worked at McDonald’s. My childhood was not fun if I’m being honest, but I’m grateful I had the strength and courage to climb out of it and discover athletics as early as I did. I thank god for my coaches and counselors in high school. They saw something in me I didn’t see in myself and I am forever grateful to them!

When I opened my LLC in 2011, I was in for a rude awakening. I was a public health major in college with a minor in sociology. I took NO business and marketing classes. The nice thing about equinox was you never had to worry about “finding” new clients. Those gyms have a revolving door of new members coming in looking to train immediately. The biggest challenge I discovered upon working for myself was marketing my business and finding new clients. This was a big adjustment alone compared to working for a corporation! I can’t lie – I failed miserably. I couldn’t make ends meet in the beginning years without proper marketing knowledge so I had to work part-time at a small boutique gym training in person while still building my online empire.

I hired a marketing manager to help me with SEO since I knew nothing about it. Looking back, this was one of the best decisions I could have made.

The other challenge I found while running my own business was needing to do my own taxes and keep track of my books. These were overwhelming tasks in the beginning years of being an entrepreneur. Taxes are still tough for me to manage alone so that too has been something I’ve outsourced to my accountant who also keeps track of my books throughout the year.

I am so grateful for the challenges I faced in my childhood and in the early years of starting my company. There is a lesson in everything- especially the failures!

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?

I’m most known to be a mindset coach and nutrition coach. I call myself a holistic health coach optimizing the body, mind and spirit. I offer nutrition coaching, personal training and stress management. Stress management includes meditation (which I learned and have been practicing myself since 2011) and breathwork. I’m really big on learning these tools and teaching them to my clients to help manage stress.

I primarily work with folks who are looking to lose weight, build muscle, reverse diet, and overcome eating disorders. If you’re looking for a “life overhaul”, I’ve also got you covered! I work with people all over the world, completely online so location is irrelevant.

My offerings are a monthly subscription-based coaching programs for people who want to work with me one on one. I also offer zoom workouts for one on one clients.

I will be coming out with more offerings for people who want/need support but can’t commit to the one on one coaching programs so stay tuned! More group options and classes coming soon.

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?

• Failures are opportunities- look for the lesson. Evolve and get better.

• Don’t fear the unknown, fear staying the same.

• Even a rose can grow from concrete. KEEP GOING. Never give up.

• What the mind believes the body achieves! Trauma is at the root of most vices we have as adults. Get to the root of the trauma, and you will cure most of your vices.

• We are not our thoughts. Most of the time our thoughts are not even true. Audit your thoughts and watch how your reality changes. Yes, you have that much power!