Female Fitness Entrepreneur: Building a Strength Training Empire - Santina Philips

Episode Summary

What if everything you've been told about business success is wrong?

This week, host Jess West sits down with her longtime friend Santina Philips, female entrepreneur and founder of URSUS Fitness in Hong Kong, for a raw conversation about redefining success, building fitness business community, and the grit it takes to thrive as a woman in business in a male-dominated industry.

Perfect for fitness entrepreneurs, female business owners, and anyone seeking entrepreneurship motivation and business resilience strategies.

About Santina Philips

Female fitness entrepreneur and Founder & Director of URSUS Fitness in Hong Kong, Santina has spent the last 10 years building a fitness community around strength, grit, and growth. A passionate fitness business owner, personal trainer, and programming expert, she's dedicated to helping others fall in love with training and themselves.

A champion of women's fitness, Santina has led a women's strength & conditioning program for over 4 years, advocating for education, empowerment, and fitness confidence. From strongman athlete to successful business owner, her entrepreneurship journey is raw, real, and packed with lessons in business resilience, leadership, and showing up with purpose.

Episode Highlights

🎯 Career Pivot Success: From Languages to Lifting

• How Santina transitioned from studying Russian and German (and nearly dying from peritonitis in Siberia!) to founding one of Hong Kong's most beloved fitness businesses
• Career change inspiration: Why she stepped away from translation to follow her passion for strength training business
• The early days of driving 5-ton trucks around Hong Kong, dragging 300kg tires for functional fitness classes

💪 Female Athlete Entrepreneur: Competing at World's Strongest Man

• What drove her to become a strongman athlete and compete on the world stage
• How proving herself physically helped establish business credibility in a male-dominated industry
• The moment she pulled a truck on camera (that wasn't even meant for her!)

🏋️‍♀️ Women in Business: Breaking Barriers as a Female Gym Owner

• Navigating the fitness industry as a young female entrepreneur in a male-dominated space
• Female leadership challenges: Why she felt she had to work twice as hard to earn respect
• Business confidence strategies for being taken seriously

🌪️ Business Resilience: Weathering the Entrepreneurial Storms

• The breaking point: sitting in hotel quarantine, watching sewage flood her fitness business
• How the pandemic and health scares (including developing celiac disease from stress) forced her to redefine business success
• Entrepreneurship resilience: Why she almost walked away—and what kept her going

🔄 Sustainable Business Growth: Redefining Success

• Her evolution from chasing revenue and expansion to prioritizing sustainable business practices
• Business strategy pivot: Why she closed a second location and chose depth over breadth
• Entrepreneurship intuition: How she learned to trust her gut instincts in business decisions

👥 Fitness Community Building: From Competition to Connection

• The transformation from "sc

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Connect with Jess:

Instagram: @kalicoaching.co

Website: www.kalicoaching.co.uk