Successful AF Pod

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

• Jesswest • Season 1 • Episode 4

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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

Love this episode? Hit subscribe and leave us a review! And if you know someone who's redefining success on their own terms, nominate them at successfulafpod@gmail.com - we're always looking for incredible people to feature.

Connect with Jess:

Instagram: @kalicoaching.co

Website: www.kalicoaching.co.uk

Speaker 4

What if everything you've been told about success is wrong? Welcome to Successful af, the podcast for women who've checked all the boxes, but still feel empty inside. You know the story. Perfect cv, impressive job title, great salary. Everyone thinks you've got it all figured out. But behind closed doors, you're working yourself into the ground and wondering why success feels so completely exhausting whilst fantasizing about opening a jam shop in the country. Or perhaps that's just me. I'm Jess West, and I've been exactly where you are. Corporate climber by day, anxious mess by night until I realized the game was rigged from the start. Each week on successful af, we are rewriting the rules. No more grinding until you break. No more pretending perfection members is a superpower. No more building your worth on other people's scorecards. We'll hear from women who've cracked the code, the one who set actual boundaries that stick and learn to succeed without sacrificing their sanity. This isn't your typical. Lean in and work harder advice. This is about dismantling the achievement trap and building something better. Because here's the truth, you can be successful without being miserable. You can be ambitious without being anxious, and you can finally stop feeling like a fraud in your own life. Ready to get successful? Af, hit subscribe, and let's burn down the old playbook together.

Speaker 2

Today I'm joined by Santina Phillips, which I'm so excited about. So, Santina and I met 10 years ago when I walked into her newly opened gym called ssis. She's the founder and director, and it's just the most incredible gym I've ever been to, but we'll get to that in a minute. I think SSIS had been open for about two months when I turned up. And Santina was my first friend in Hong Kong, primarily because I was one of the like very few people in the class, which is. Basically impossible now.'cause the classes fill out ridiculously quick. We ended up living together for a year and even after I left Hong Kong seven years ago, Santina remains one of my very few long distance friendships, and it doesn't even feel like long distance. It's just a friendship. 10 years on S is thriving and that is all down to Santina because this is more than a business to her. It's a mission. She spent the last 10 years building a community around strength, grit, and growth. A passionate coach, a personal trainer, and a programming expert. She's dedicated to helping others fall in love with training and themselves, and that's something I can really, really attest to. I had never touched a barbell before. I met Santina, and then I completely fell in love with weightlifting. A champion of women's health Santina has led a women's S and C program for over four years, advocating for education, empowerment, and barbell confidence. From strongman athlete to business owner. Her journey is raw, real, and packed with lessons in resilience, leadership, and showing up with purpose. Welcome, Santina. Thank you for having me. Thanks so much for being here. We're gonna dive straight in. Tell us your story. How did you become this business mogul?

Speaker

I grew up in England. I did a degree in England. My dad lived in Hong Kong, so when I finished my degree, I left the UK and came to Hong Kong. I didn't really like my degree. I did languages, so I was felt really boxed into doing translation and things like that. I just, I tried it for a bit and it was the most boring thing I'd ever done. And I just thought this office life and like, just being like, you know, sat at a desk, like typing the same shit every day. I was like, this is just not the life for me. So yeah, I came to Hong Kong, was very lucky to have, my dad and my sisters all here and my stepmom and. I've always, always been into sports and fitness, and to be honest with you, I didn't even really know that could be a career for me. Anyway, I was like, I'm not, I'm not, I can't do this translation thing, it's just it's not for me. And did a whole bunch of, certs and things like that in terms of like strength and fitness and then started working at a few gyms, got a lot of experience and. I met two guys who became my business partners. And we started doing all these outdoor, crazy classes in Llama, which is an island in Hong Kong. All these like functional strongman kind of classes. And they got load to height, load attraction. And then, you know, we, we were driving our own five ton truck around, around Hong Kong island, going to like Cyberport and places like that. And yeah, it's not really scalable. It used to take up loads of our time, like dragging really heavy stuff in and out of a park. So we decided to. Get like a brick and mortar gym brick. Which is a big risk in Hong Kong actually, because if anyone has ever lived there, obviously, you know that rent is through the roof, so you, your putting your on the line. And yeah got a gym in and it's honestly 10 years gone by in like two seconds.

Speaker 2

There's a few things we should call out there. Firstly, you didn't just do languages at university. You did like some mad mix of like Italian and Russian and you had to live in Russian. I did. I did Russian

Speaker

and

Speaker 2

German. Yeah. There we go. And you lived in Russia for six months and you got peritonitis and like nearly died in Siberia. Like, I think because all of these things like it's the grit. I think that. Is just such a, a golden thread through your journey. And so, you know, you've kind of just said that, oh, you know, we sort of drove heavy things around. You drove 300 kilo tires around and they were there for people to flip. Like I think you really brought. Functional fitness to Hong Kong because I, you know, I'd even like, I'd never experienced anything like it before. You know, I was like, what is this flipping attire situa like? I think there's so much more to it than you've actually just said would be my

Speaker

Yeah, I agree. I agree. So obviously, yeah, the whole doing crazy degrees and stuff like that. I mean, I did live in Siberia for a period of time. And when, when you, I was only 20, right? I'm 20. I'm in Siberia. Which may I add is out there right? As a 20-year-old who, you know, I didn't have like phone contracts. I felt I, I old right? 15 years ago. Those where I like some could the other people who I met there. In Siberia, I was very far away from my family and like didn't really have any contact with anyone. And I had like a dongle stick that would go on and off all the time, and I'd try and Skype my family and I'd get upset and yeah. And then obviously I got ill out there and had an operation in a hut, which was interesting. Anyway, actually, the guy was a really great surgeon, but yeah, and we, we all have struggles in life and they were hard, but like you said, sometimes that kind of. It makes you a bit more robust and if you show a bit of grit and if you really, for the amount of money that I was getting paid to, to do all of this, driving around and dragging really heavy equipment out, it take us like a whole hour to drag all of it out. It was more just out of passion and being like, I believe this is great. I believe that this can bring something to people, it can start a community. And it was the only thing I was really passionate about. I was like, I love this so much. Like we, we do all, we'd actually drive there earlier, drag it all out, train ourselves, and then everyone else would come because we were, we were so involved in the whole thing. So, yeah, I mean, it was, it was crazy at times and sometimes I'd be like, what am I doing? What am I doing here? But I just, I don't know. For me, it was never really, I never really questioned it because I just, I just loved it. I really

Speaker 2

did. Yeah. And I think that's the thing, right? Because you know, you've just said, oh yeah, 10 years has flown by. But that's 10 years of really hard work. That's 10 years of having a gym through COVID. That's 10 years of like having to not just be the founder and the director, but also be the head of marketing, the head of hr, the head of property, the head of programming, and it's, you know, I think. It's not as simple as just ah, yeah, like it, you know, there've been real struggles, but also real wins and, and actually you consistently showing up the passion that you have has been the real undercurrent to that, as I see it anyway.

Speaker

Yeah, I think so as well. Obviously it's my business. I'm the founder. Yeah. Without my passion, obviously I, there, there are definitely things over the 10 years that could have, could have broken me, but only because I care so much. I think I was able to overcome some of those things. Like you said, things like pandemics and like that was really hard. Like for years and years, if anyone was in Hong Kong or even, you know, in the UK and stuff like that, loads of businesses struggled. So it was really hard. And I think if you own a business, you just have to, you just have to dig deep and you have to have a really good team around you. That's like the most important thing. Anything than you can tell the businesses that that don't last long, because if you don't care enough, I don't think it will last long because not all of it is glamorous and not all, like you said, not all of it is great. But at the end of the day, I just, I, I do get really proud and I'm really, if at the moment I think I'm more proud of myself than I ever, than I've ever been in terms of owning my business, like more proud than ever, but probably as well.'cause I'm older and I'm a bit more switched on and I've got a bit more of like my life planned out. But yeah, very proud. But there, there has definitely been periods where I'm like, this is, oh, this is getting me the breaking point, but. Yeah, nothing, nothing's really worth having. If it's not, if it comes easy, you're a bit like, eh,

Speaker 2

have you ever thought about walking away? Honestly, yeah. Really?

Speaker

Yeah. Yeah, I have. I mean, I don't think I ever would, but there's been parts that I remember. There's been two points, actually, more just one, one point where I was in. A hotel room. A hotel room in quarantine. Because when you, just to explain, when you mo when you were during COVID, if you wanted to go elsewhere and things like that, you had to quarantine for like one to two weeks in ho one point it was three weeks, but in a hotel room in Hong Kong. And I was in a hotel room and I, one of the staff at us was sending me photos and videos of, our old location there was. A flood and it's obviously not my property, and our landlord wouldn't fix it. And I just thought, I can't cope anymore. Like I can't cope with this. Like it's all my equipment, it's all my stuff. I know that these people aren't gonna pay for it. I, I can't bear it. I just, I, there's just not a lot of law to protect business owners and people who are, you know, renting here. So. That was the one moment I just sat with my head in my hands in this hotel room and I just cried and I was like I'm, I'm this close to being like, I just can't do it. It was just one thing after another.'cause it was after co it was like during the end of COVID. So I was just like, wow, this is a bit too much for me now. But then I kind of, once I had a bit of a cry about it, I then was a bit like, got the rage in me or like, I wanna prove myself and I just thought, hmm. It's okay. You are bad people and you'll, you'll get yours. Like, trust me and I'll put all my hard earned money and I'll fix the problem and I will, I'll pay for the damages.'cause I care enough that I can't let you beat me in that way. If I'd lost my passion, I'd walk away and go, do you know what? I don't really seem to care that much anymore and it's time to walk away. Bad luck and bad people ruined this for me. So I was just like, take a deep breath. Don't think about, don't think about how unfair it's because it was really unfair. But you sometimes you just have to think, but I want this more than, I think it's unfair, so just gonna do it.

Speaker 2

I think that's, that's the thing, isn't it? It's wanting it more than wanting to give up. And just, yeah. Being able to go, right, fuck it. This really sucks. But do you know what, what would suck more is not having this business.

Speaker

Definitely. I think it's, whether this is healthy or not, I don't know, but it's definitely part of my identity. Like it's basically been my whole young, yeah, like young adult life. So yeah, it is kind of tied in with my identity a bit as well, I think. If us were to ever close, it would, it would take a part of me with it,

Speaker 2

but I think it had to be, you know, when we were living together, like you'd be getting up at 5:00 AM every single day to go and open the gym to run personal training sessions. Like you're not just an owner. And even now, like, you know, there's a lot of. Business owners, a lot of gym owners who will step back and let other people do the PT sessions and, and, but you've always been involved and that's never really changed. And so if you, if it wasn't a part of who you are, you wouldn't have been able to do that.

Speaker

No, I know. If you, yeah, I think you are right. A lot of business owners get to a point where they are just. They're in the background, but I still want to have so much presence inside my business and I want to do these things. I do like personal training. I really like group class coaches coaching. I really like, writing, programming and stuff. But in order to keep that going for a decade, almost like it'll be a decade in October, you do need just like unwavering passion. But even if I didn't have to go to work, I just love going, even if I just went there, train and say hello to a few.

Speaker 2

We used to go train during typhoons. So for anyone who's not ever been to Hong Kong, like in a typhoon, say like T eight, T 10, everything shuts down because furniture flies off roofs, it's really dangerous. And obviously you couldn't open the gym. And we would just go and train because we were like, well, there's nothing else to do. None of us are going to work. We'll all just go to us. And it was just so much fun. It was like a snow day, but. Typhoon day. Yes.

Speaker

Yes. Exactly. Exactly. Those are good memories as well. I actually think I still have some of those photos.

Speaker 2

I do, yeah. I've got a picture of you, me and Chika holding,

Speaker

doing a deadlift or something. Yeah. But it was

Speaker 2

like a 250 ki of deadlift, the three of us, obviously. It's like the actual one with the tires. Yeah. Um, that's, that was just fun. Anyway what does success mean to you?

Speaker

Well, I have a really successful dad who kind of came from nothing. So I'm very much like, I think I've always kind of been like, I want to make a name for myself. Doesn't, I don't think it really matters like what you do. And I think when I was younger I was very much of the opinion, like, more gyms, opening more locations, rev like numbers revenue. What, what we taking this month? How does it compare to. That was probably a bit more of a focus when I was younger, and now that I'd say, yeah, now that I'm older, much less so. We all know you need money to run a business, right? I'm not saying that money isn't a priority because it, it is, but sometimes that came at a cost and a cost that I'm not willing to pay anymore. So I think success for me now means a bit more to do with. The money side of things. Yes. But how happy I am, how proud I am of what I do. How do I feel healthy or do I feel really burned out? You know, you need, you need a balance of all things. So if I lead a life where I have, you know, I don't really want for anything, I feel like I'm not burned out. I feel like I, uh, have all the things that I want. I have a happy partner, happy family. That to me means more than having loads of gyms. Sometimes. Sometimes I think when you have big, big ideas, and I've also tried to. You can always compare yourself to other people and go, wow, they started at the same time as us and they have eight gyms and you know what, good for them. But sometimes that just takes away all the, the, all the like joy you get out of what you've done. Because I have to also look at where I've come from. If I look at pictures back at SSIS when it opened, I'm like, wow, I've actually done so well. Like we did not have a big budget to start with and to, you know, if you look at the, if you look through all the iterations it's gone through. If you look at it now. Cool man, it's boutique, right? That to me, I, I walk in there every day. I'm like, this is success. I have, you know, I work hard. I wake up early still, but that's kind of the life of someone who works in fitness. But I've definitely made more effort to prioritize my health as well. You know, make sure I don't feel burned out, make sure that I also have a good team around me. So, yeah, success to me. Bit about the money bit. Mostly me being happy and healthy, having a nice team where we all have a nice life.

Speaker 2

Yeah. Was there like a moment that that switched for you or was it just like, almost like as you went through the process you were just like, actually, like this is now becoming more important want?

Speaker

Um, there are probably a, a few key things. So I think after the, the pandemic and stuff, I. I, I've read anyway, I, I found out I was celiac kind of after that. And Celiac, sometimes people find out much later in life quite often as well. But you can, you can get it from, like if you're a woman and you're pregnant and stuff like that, lots of the time it's like a stress response. And I was like, oh my God, if I burn myself out so much and stress myself out so much that I've. You know, we all kind of, you can have the defective gene, but like, you kind of imprinted it in me because I've been so stressed, and a part of me is like, yeah, you probably did.'cause there was one point where I was so, so stressed about the whole thing. Like, you're hanging on by a thread, right? Yeah. In terms of finances and things like that. And also just morale, like, it was really bad, particularly for people in the industry. Like everyone's just leaving and you're, there's like no talent left and now it's good again. But yeah, probably then I was like. This can't, this can't be like success. Even if it was making money. Like I, I'm not, well, I don't feel good. So that definitely made me think I need to like, think about my health a bit more and put like boundaries in place and things like that. And I dunno if it's honestly just part of growing up a bit and not being like 25 and being like, you know, I wanna go on holiday to all these amazing places all the time. And just being like. A bit more chilled out about things. Yeah. And a bit more like sensible, but most, mostly the health thing. Yeah, the, the health thing is a lot. And also, like I said, not comparing yourself to other people. Someone else's journey is not your journey and you don't know how happy that person is or how that really works or you know, you might have, imagine if I had five gyms, but I never saw any of my friends and I never saw my girlfriend.

Speaker 3

Yeah,

Speaker

I would, I don't want that, like I don't want to do 120 PT sessions a week'cause I want a life like, so the balance of that for me is, is what I would call success. And yeah, those are the things that, yeah, kind of seeing where there, there were times where I we opened a second location for a year and I don't think I saw anyone for a whole year. And I remember thinking. And then there were loads of riots in Hong Kong and I was like, okay, we need to like cut this now. Like this is gonna like basically bankrupt me. Luckily that worked out, but yeah, I don't wanna not see anyone. So things like that, you go, right, that was a really, really bad idea.

Speaker 2

Yeah. And

Speaker

yeah, definitely would make that. But you tried, I don't, but

Speaker 2

do you think it was a bad idea or do you think it was like something that you had to try to get out of your system and then be like, if.

Speaker

No, if I'm really honest, I knew in my gut it was a bad idea. I knew it was, and I, and I almost kick myself, my younger self for being like, why? Why didn't you put your foot down more? Because I felt like I was outnumbered and I was in a room of men, and it was like, this is what we're doing. I remember thinking. Is it what we're doing? Like I, I'm not so sure about this. And like, it's also really hard to replicate a team, right? Yeah. It's really hard to replicate a team and be like, so we had some of us going back and forth constantly and where it was, it's close, but it, it still eats up chunks and chunks of your day going back and forth and. Rent in Hong Kong is so expensive. I was like, we're just doubling or outgoing. It's like it, it wasn't a smart move and it's definitely not one I would make again.

Speaker 2

But then lesson learned, great.

Speaker

Exactly. Lesson learned and, and glad I learned that lesson.'cause I think it, at some point I would've felt so pressured to open another one.

Speaker 2

Yeah. I just wanna pick up on something you said, like the difficulty I. That comes when comparing yourself to other people. And I think that is something that, you know, they say comparison is a thief of joy. And I think it's so true. But I also dunno who said that, so I can't accredit it to them, but anyone knows, let me know. Well, is it maybe Theodore Roosevelt? Let's just say it was, maybe it was him. I think it's particularly now with social media and how EA and obviously everyone just shows their highlight reel. They never show like the challenges they're going through to overcome that is something that should be applauded.

Speaker

I've definitely felt like that a bit, but not so much that it would like deeply ruin my, my joy, which I, I know I'm really lucky with.'cause I know a lot of people struggle with things like Instagram. I'm quite, I don't know, I don't wanna say I'm like. Or anything, but I'm quite confident. I'm just like, I know what I do is good. I know what I offer is good. Yeah. And I know that things will be okay because I feel like I have a good product, so it should work and it, it always kind of has worked for me. So yeah, obviously there are, we're all guilty of it a bit. There are certain people that I'm. Or I'm more just like, hats off to you. How have you done this? Yeah. Like, wow. Or you know, there are lessons that I would take away from, from things like that going, I can see actually what that person has done, and I wish I had done that. But you sometimes you can't fix that, like in hindsight, right? Yeah. So you think that was a really, really smart thing to do. You've invested money really, really cleverly in parts of your business, or you've hired people who are influencers and things like that. Or you started writing online programming before it popped off and now you are making absolute bang off of that'cause you did it at the right time. You know? So I can see why they, why they're successful. And I try, I just kind of think. Good for you. You, you know, you, I guess you should be'cause you thought about doing it before the rest of us thought about doing it and Yeah. I, I don't think I often let those things bother me too much. If anything, it just makes me go, well look, if they did it, so why can't I?

Speaker 2

And I think that's actually exactly how to overcome it. It's the celebration rather than comparison of actually someone else has done really well. And then actually that. Because envy just is, use is a useless emotion. Right? And so actually that, but also then being like, great, so almost those people are showing us, you know, actually what I could do this differently. Or like it, it's almost the expansion of, oh, if someone else can do it, then obviously it's possible. And actually being able to see that I think is it's also quite a unique point of view in a world that wants us to compare ourselves constantly.

Speaker

I know, if anything, I just find it quite inspiring. I really do. I, I, you know, I follow a bunch of gyms in the UK and Australia and things like that and in Hong Kong as well, and I think, yeah, good for you. You've got a good product, you're doing a good thing, you're doing it in the right way. You seem to have, you know, invested the right money in the right things or so, so yeah, you, you probably deserve all that success. Also, sometimes I think there's room for everyone. Do you know what I mean? They're still on the same street sometimes. I don't like the competitiveness too much unless you're literally on the same street. There's room for everyone. Particularly in terms of fitness, like there's so many people that wanna go to the gym. It's okay.

Speaker 2

Yeah. Yeah. I think the only competition should be in the gym.

Speaker

Exactly. That's right.

Speaker 2

You've talked about a lot of these, but. Any other barriers that you've had to overcome?

Speaker

I think I obviously work in a male dominated industry, right. And I'm a woman and I was a very young woman when I started the gym, right. So I, I actually don't know that many female gym owners particularly on their own, right. So, I don't know many female gym owners because Yeah, it's, it's, it's really male dominated. And I think that's definitely changed a lot over the 10 years as well. Like if women did own gyms, they owned cute little Pilates shoot, and I'm not hitting on Pilates, but it was very much like the boys owned the strength gyms and the girls did like yoga and Pilates and like that kind of stuff. Whereas I was like, I'm not only do I own a gym, but I own gym. It was quite a masculine gym as well. It was like strong man. The branding was quite like, rough and ready, but that's changed now, which is something I'll come onto later. But yeah, I think, I don't think that was easy for me to begin with. I felt like I had to say yes to a lot of things that I didn't want to say. Yes. And I felt like I had to get to the point where I really couldn't deal with it anymore before I said something where I was like, that's, this isn't okay. Or like

Speaker 3

mm-hmm. You know,

Speaker

things where you feel like you get treated unfairly as a woman and or just certain allowances are made for men and you. What, and I also, this has nothing to do with the men that I work with, but I also felt like I had to work twice as hard to earn the respect than like my male counterparts had to, like, even with members and stuff, you're like, I'm a young woman and all these blokes think I don't know anything. Now I'm gonna have to show them that I do. And you know what? To this now I feel, and, and it didn't take long to be honest with you, this is in the early days now. I feel tremendous amounts of respect from all our members and like people I've coached and stuff like that. But it did take a minute and it didn't take a minute for the boys, is what I'm trying to say. Like if you are a big lad with big muscles, no one's, no one often questions, things like that. Or maybe they do more nowadays, but I definitely felt in the early days, like i'm gonna have to prove myself a lot, lot more. And you know what, maybe every coach should have to prove themselves, but every coach, not just the, not just the female ones. You know what I mean?

Speaker 2

Yeah. Do you think that's what drove you to doing like the strong man? Because, you know, we haven't even really touched on that. I know we talked about it, but like Yeah. You, you competed at World Strong Man.

Speaker

Yeah. World's strongest man.

Speaker 2

Yeah. And like, you know that. Yeah. Like you were what, 27 and you're there like lifting up a car? Yeah.

Speaker

I think it definitely, I think it definitely drove me to be a bit more like, and guess what? None of the labs got invited, but I'm really strong and I'm gonna prove to you all that I'm really strong and I'm gonna go to all these competitions. Like I went to Australia as well. Like I, I actually did some really cool things. Like I was definitely a different athlete. Do you

Speaker 2

remember?

Speaker

I know, I know. That was actually so cool. And like the competition that we held in Asia World Expo, like the Arnolds and stuff, it was, we did some really cool things and I was involved in some really cool strength competitions and I was, I was really strong. But yeah, I think it probably drove me even more, like even more, I'm gonna show you all how strong I am and how I know what I'm talking about, and. Also it is a bit scary. Like it's not a team sport it's you on your own and you're putting yourself out there for everyone to see, am I gonna win now? Am I gonna lose what's gonna happen? Like I kind of, yeah, I like the thrill of it, but I also like the kudos it gave me.'cause I was like, can't argue with that.

Speaker 2

Yeah, exactly. But all like, you know. I think, obviously I don't work in the fitness industry. I, but I work in a very male dominated industry and I do think things have changed in the last. Even 15 years actually. But I think there is still like an element of like, well, you know, she's a woman. And so I think it, hats off to you for just being like, fuck it. I'll just, I'll show you. You'd never sort of fought it. You were just like, fine, whatever. I'll do my own thing. I'll, I'll go and show you. And like, you know, you, was it, were you on the front cover of a magazine pulling that truck? Like Yeah. You know, just, and you've always been very. Sort of understated about the whole thing, but just like what, just you just got on with it?

Speaker

Yeah, pretty much. I, I was obviously given some really great opportunities and I loved it and we, you know, we had a real niche at that time. And you know, we've also had to move along from that niche because. The fitness industry changes and your journey with fitness changes and who I am changes and the people that you're trying to attract changes. But yeah, I did. I had some really cool opportunities and I definitely, I mean, you know, I wasn't even supposed to pull the truck that day.

Speaker 3

No, I know. That wasn't

Speaker

for me. Again, it was for the man and I just went and they were like, Hey, do you wanna see if the girl can do it? And I was like. I mean, there's loads of cameras here filming me. There's like news reporters, everyone. I was like, I guess the worst that's gonna happen is it won't move. And I was like, oh my God, it's legit moving. I'm pulling this thing. You know, I was bigger then, but I wasn't that big. Like I was like, this is very cool. Like, so yeah, it wasn't actually, the truck wasn't even there for me, but I got my chance. I proved them all.

Speaker 2

What advice then would you give to your younger self?

Speaker

I would definitely get a mentor, definitely, and I don't mean to like hate on the boys, but I would definitely get like a female mentor and yeah, I, I definitely get someone that I looked up to, a mentor I would. Invest more in things like marketing and really think about branding and things like that. So when we first opened, I don't think I thought about, maybe I should have done these things more, but back then I didn't have, I didn't have the language in my brain, or I didn't, I didn't do a business degree. I did a politics degree with languages, right? What was I doing anyway? I didn't know what, what's your avatar? Who are you trying to attract? What does this branding say? And when I went through like the second huge big change of s's, I sat down with a woman who is amazing, by the way. Her name's Alana. Concrete, creative.

Speaker 2

Well link, we'll link her in the play notes.

Speaker

She was absolutely amazing. We spoke for ages and ages and ages. We did a questionnaire. She helped me with my branding. I wish I'd done that from the get go. You can't just go, yeah, okay, it looks great. Like you can't do that stuff. It, it damages you For years. Like for years people thought ss was like a big scary boy gym, and now there's so many women that go to, it's like very different now. The branding is like. It's run by a woman. It's literally run by a woman. And we, and we don't do strong man. There's no tires. We do like, you know, functional fitness. We do high rocks, we do like full body strength training, like we're very big on strength training and stuff like that. So, and I needed, I needed the branding and even the, the font and the colors to kind of embody that for me and not have the kind of, yeah, you, you need to invest in things like branding, a hundred percent. Again, things like Instagram marketing, I'd probably put more money into that and make sure you get a really good team that you trust, and this can be difficult'cause people can be difficult, but having a really good team, having a mentor, and also having boundaries, I think. I think the boundaries that I've set now, I definitely think I would set for myself when I was younger. So that I didn't have to sometimes feel like, oh my God, I can't cope with this. This is too much. Like, yeah. And just, and probably, sorry. And probably, yeah. Speak up for yourself more. Yeah. And trust your gut, like it's your business. Feel confident to say this is what we are doing. And I very much do that nowadays, but for the first few years, I found it really difficult to put my foot down and be like no, that's not happening. I felt like, you know, you, you wanna, you need, I was very young as well, and sometimes I wanna forgive myself for that as well. Like, it, it was, I felt a, a, a huge load, a huge weight on my shoulders, like, so yeah. Now I very much deal with that differently and there's still time where I feel pressure and stuff like that. But yeah, making sure you really stand up for what you think and also trusting your gut a bit. Like there's certain things where I'm like, I knew that was gonna, I knew I. Or things like saying we should do this. This will be a success. And having people say, no, no, no, and guess what it is because it is a success. And then you go, I knew it would be, and that's why I said it, and that's why I put my foot down and said, no, we're doing it. I don't care what Neil says, we're doing it.

Speaker 2

Yeah. I think there's also, I just wanna touch on the functional fitness piece because you are incredibly passionate about women's health and you, you've done a lot of work around it. You've obviously got a program exclusively designed for women. Obviously there are also programs for men, but like, you know, do you wanna talk a little bit more about what it is that, obviously you are a woman, but like that really drove you into sort of creating that space for women?

Speaker

Well, one, I felt honestly a bit bad and a bit guilty that I had a gym that seemed scary to women. I was like, this is not the vibe I wanna create. Like, I want people. And to be fair, the women that did come loved it, but it was like trying to get them in the door, right? Yeah. I was like, look, I really wanna create a space where women. Want to train and they, want to lift weights and they want to get fit. So like I said, us, this was very much like a strong man gym. And then that's very, very, very niche. So like bit by bit we kind of phase that out and I changed as well as an athlete, I. Saw the importance of being fit. How can you run a gym? I was like, I'm just not fit though. Like I, I can lift one thing once, but there's, I mean, everyone knows that you are VO two max and you No, no, not everyone knows that,

Speaker 2

you know?

Speaker

Okay. So. Two max, what that means. You're gonna live, what's a VO two max? Not everyone knows. It's basically a number that says how fit you are. Okay, there we go. There's a number that says how fit you are and you can get a test and stuff like that. I mean, you can have it on a watch, but no, they're so, so basically how fit you are, right? How healthy your heart is and stuff like that. That's very much linked to how long you will live. It's not cool not to do cardio, like you don't have to go and run marathons or anything. But I was like, actually, I'm not that fit. And I very much then got into functional fitness and I was like, this is great. I can be strong, I can be fit, I can feel healthy, I can feel. It was really good for like morale and group classes. And of course, you know, bear Camp became like the most popular thing ever because it made everyone strong and fit and they had a really good time and they all went out for coffee afterwards and then everyone became friends and then it makes you wanna go to the gym more and then you become really healthy and so on and so on. And. So trying to get more women in the gym. I also know that there's, it, it is much better now, but there was a point where loads of women, like you said, the first time you found out what a barber was when you came to ss. Yeah. And I realized what lifting weights had done for me. And I was like, this will only benefit women of all ages. I need to like get them in here. And once they're in here, guess what? Women are great, right? They're lovely to coach and they tell all their mates.'cause guess what? They're like, I feel good and I'm gonna tell my friends that and share the love. And I used to be like, great. So me and my friends started a women's program at where we did strength training and fitness and it's just gone from strength to strength. I think it's like three over three years old. I mean, I went out for coffee with them all this morning. Like they're super, super lovely. We have the best time. But yeah, I was just like, we need to spread the word. We need them. Strength training, understanding what things, what you know, how to train. I love that. Loads of them, you know, people leave Hong Kong all the time and they've left with a world of knowledge. They can, you know, they can go to a gym now and know what to do. They can go to a hotel when they're trained, when they're, uh, working and stuff like that, and know what to do rather than just like walking on a treadmill, no shade to walking on a treadmill. But it's good to do some strength stuff as well. Right. So, yeah, I think. Trying to change the direction of the business. And, but also, again, it's a it's about money and you also need to, you need to give the people what they want. Right? So I was like, we need to change the direction of the business. Like, it's not really giving anymore. And like, we want people to be holistic and healthy and like our whole. Ethos and motto is turning training into a lifestyle. The whole thing is supposed to be a lifestyle, right? You do your strength training, you do your fitness, you know, you see your friends. It's not like, oh God, we've gotta go to the gym. Like, I hope people don't think that we come to us, but like it's supposed to be like fun and all encompassing and make you like a well-rounded, healthy individual for your life. Yeah, and getting as many women as I could get involved in that. Especially, like I said,'cause I am a woman. I'm like, please calm. I can't tell you how much better this has all made me feel. And

Speaker 2

they listened and it's been great. I think that there's something in that holistic piece though. And you've touched on it, but the, you, it's not just go lifts some weights go to work, you know, like there's loads of other globo gyms that, that's your word, Globo gym manufactured gyms, shall we say, where you can just go, you can turn up, you can do your own thing, you got your headphones in and actually creating a community around fitness. I remember like I used to love it because I would go and see my mates before work and I'd hang out and it kind of meant that. However, shit the rest of my day was, I'd started it really well. And I think there's something in that being part of a community that did make you healthy, that did make you strong. And but also like, you know, lone, we know that loneliness is one of the biggest killers and actually bringing people together is so important.

Speaker

It's very important. And, you know, I, I love the fact that loads of people are friends. Like loads of my friends I've met, I've met through the gym. I mean, I met you at the gym. Yeah. I met my partner at the gym like. You also look for people with similar hobbies. Like, like you said, it's also another driving factor to get you to the gym.'cause you think, oh, but all my mates will be there tonight, so I'll go. And I, you know, I think that's important. I think sometimes, you know, people wonder why, you know, boutique functional gyms, uh, like independent gyms, they do charge more than your global gyms. Like, you know, your pure, your virgin active, stuff like that. Because you are, you are getting more for it. Sometimes just for like my own kind of, I like to go sleuthing and stuff like that. I like to go around, see different gyms and I went to a few, like global gyms. I've been to a few in like different countries and every time I just have the same experience. I'm like, first of all, I find it so depressing because everybody is doing nothing. I'm like. As in like not being mean, but like what they're doing is so inefficient and I'm like, no one's got program. Everyone's just kind of walking around and doing a few things on each machine. Like there's no structure. Like I just wanna be like, you know, you look like a person with a job who doesn't have a lot of time. Do you know what you could get done in 45 minutes? And how that would, and if you kept doing it, how it would transform. Like how you feel and, and being fit. And none of this like, just constant like, oh, I just go to the gym and nothing ever happens. Like I find it so depressing to watch that stuff and nobody talks to each other. And I'm not hitting on global gyms. I know they have a place, but like, I do actually think that places like, you know. Whenever I go abroad, I always try and go to like boutique independent gyms because I want that vibe. I also wanna support, but I do want that vibe where I'm like, someone says hello to me and like I do a class and like people are nice and yeah. I think that's what, what a gym like mine can offer programming where you actually get a result and friends for life.

Speaker 2

Right, but it's not just the gym though, right? Because you do virtual programs and I think, it's about spreading that word of the importance of getting fit, doing the right thing and what you've just said there, like the amount of time, and this is actually making me think I really need to like sign up for a program from you.'cause I've made that for a long time. So note to self, put that in the list on list of things to do. But actually it, it doesn't. Just have to be this way. Like it can be different and I think, but until, you know, it can be different you just carry on with what you know, like it is the whole thing of like, you do the best with what you know until you know better and then you do better.

Speaker

Yeah. Also, like lots of people don't have the motivation to do really hard things on their own.

Speaker 2

No, it's hard. It is so hard. It's hard being, having able to

Speaker

combine the, having.

Speaker 2

Yeah. That accountability of like, you've written me a pro. Yeah. I'll send you a video of me actually doing what you've told me to do.

Speaker

Yeah. Exactly. Otherwise, you know, or like just checking off a box, being like done, done. Like people. Yeah. Yeah. PE people want something to, to stay accountable with. Otherwise it does just feel a bit like, well what am I doing today? Like, I just hate the thought of like, people like going to gyms and just like achieving nothing.

Speaker 3

Yeah.

Speaker

cause it actually doesn't have to be that way.

Speaker 2

You really

Speaker

care? Like look at you changing the face of the fitness industry? I do. No, I really do. Like, I honestly, sometimes I don't wanna be that I, I, I would never give unsolicited advice, right? I never wanna be that person who's like going up to people in the gym. But sometimes when I'm at the gym, I just wanna be like to some people like. Honestly, do you wanna work out together? Do you wanna work out together? Because I feel like we would have a good time and you would probably get a lot done. Or like, you can, I'll follow you on some stuff and whatever, but Yeah. And also just to like,'cause no one talks to each other in those kind of gyms, but yeah, I, it doesn't make me happy when I see just like random stuff all the time.

Speaker 2

Yeah. You

Speaker

know?

Speaker 2

Which kind of leads us to our next question what is your weird, like what's the weirdest thing you've ever done?

Speaker

Okay, so I did think about this, and it of course goes back to Russia. Um, of course all Rosalie to Russia, of course. Of course it's gone back to my time in Siberia. So as a fresh 20-year-old off the plane I went to, because obviously no one learned Russian at school in the uk right? So I'd learned, uh, German, but I hadn't learned any Russian. So when I got to uni, we learned how to like read and write Russian and speak and blah, blah, blah. And then like two, two or three years in we had to go on a year abroad. And because we weren't good enough to get jobs at that point, we went to uni, a bunch of us. So I ended up off the plane and into like, honestly, I don't even know what we were doing. We were like at some of. Sister's house or something in this like weird hut in like the forest in Siberia. And they have these things, lots of them called ERs, which is essentially like a sauna. And we were trying to get involved in the culture and I was like trying to be like, okay, go in this with like, you know, open mind, like you're here, like whatever. And at this point, obviously I'm okay at rushing, but I was much better after I left Siberia six months later, English. So I remember being. Oh my God, what am I doing here? I'm not just like, like having a massive internal panic being like. These like crazy Russian women who were hosting came out and were like talking about like obviously in Russian, like, oh yeah, we're gonna go to the Baia. Come on. And like I was the only one that said I would go out of the girls and all like literally six Russian, like BCAs, like descended on me and like took me to this baia and they strip you naked. I mean, it's actually wrong on so many levels, right? So I'm stood there with, with a gaggle of women while they've stripped me naked. And then they put you in this banger and I was laying there while they like beat you with like birch sticks and leaves. So I'm being beaten with these, like, they like pr, like beat you with the sticks and the leaves because it's supposed to be like revitalizing and like Ingo. Nice you anyway. And I just remember laying there and being like, get me the fuck outta here. You can't leave me here for six. Anyway, I just got beaten up by a bunch of, to be fair, I actually did feel quite nice afterwards, but you're in the sauna getting beaten up by women with six and I was like,

Speaker 3

you're 20 years old.

Speaker

20 years old and I remember thinking, what am I doing? Like some of my friends had gone to like Paris and I was like, what am I doing here? What prompted the Russian, like why Russian? I. Oh, I'm such a loser. I wanted to be a spy. I was obsessed with James Bond as a kid. I had like a flip, you know, like Id badges. Yeah. Where I'd gone to the oh oh seven Museum with my two cousins. Oh, so cute. I had a, I had a picture of me with a guy like the, you know, like when he's like this or whatever, and I would like always like wanted like. Spy toys as a child, like such a wi and like a binoculars. Such a weird little kid. Anyway, I wanted to be a spy and to be fair, my tutor, when I finished, he was like, you could totally like do something with this, but you should go and learn like sassy and pasture. And I was like. I just love gym man. I don't wanna do this in my life. I wanna, I want a nice life. I just wanna go back. Squat, please. Please leave me alone. So, yeah, I wasn't spy in the end back. Yeah, just now I own a gym and I'm very happy with my life choices.

Speaker 2

Great. So that's good news. There you go. So that's some advice your younger self, like, continue on this path, don't do the, the spike. Yes, definitely. But we never would've met if you were in MI five.

Speaker

That would've been sad. I know. I can't believe we met her saying, you're so lovely. Like loads of like my best people I've met at my gym,

Speaker 2

but I, you know, I was just thinking about that while you were talking, so thus you know, you are the fourth guest on the pod and I. Three out of the four I've met doing something fitness related. So like, oh, you two young, wow. Big up fitness. You obviously, and then my sister, we just happen to meet'cause we happen to be related. It's not just about the fitness, it's about the community. It's, it's about enriching your whole life. Mm-hmm. Rather than just, getting abs. If that's your vibe,

Speaker

of course, like it's kind of like a hobby, right? If you don't like cycling or something like that, how else are you gonna meet someone? Like for me, it's like, it's my hobby, it's my passion. So yeah, I love the fact that so many people meet at the gym doing like yoga, whatever.

Speaker 2

Oh, are you supposed

Speaker

to meet people?

Speaker 2

Yeah, we, and, but also you, you said something earlier that actually I meant to sort of pick up on, but it's about having the same hobbies. Like if you are friends with people who wanna go out drinking every single night, like fair play to them, they're not gonna be getting up for a 6 45 class. So it's about, and that's you find your people, you, you, I like, I hate this expression'cause it's so cheesy, but it's so true. Like your vibe attracts your tribe. And like actually when you are really, I knew

Speaker

you were gonna say that.

Speaker 2

Do you know I actually, when I first moved to Hong Kong, I had no friends and I'm so lonely. And I saw that, I saw that quote on Instagram and I screenshot it and I was like, okay, like I'm gonna find my people. I'm gonna find my people. And actually just being, I know I'm such a loser.

Speaker

Being, no, you're not. I definitely did the same thing. I had like party friends for like a year or two and I was like, this is not my vibe or my fucking tribe. No.

Speaker 2

Yeah, and it's, it's about just like when you are yourself then you, your people find you because like, you know, it's just, that's happens like when, because people can tell as well when you're not being real. And so it, it just sort of happens quite organically.

Speaker

That

Speaker 2

it

Speaker

does. It happened very organically for us.

Speaker 2

It went for a little coffee day. I, I also

Speaker

feel like, I also feel like you just kind of know when you wanna be friends with. People can tell as I get older, I remember being, I remember meeting you and I. I'm definitely gonna be her friend. She's cool, man.

Speaker 2

Yeah. But I think it comes back to that gut instinct, right? And we all have it, but it's, I think as you get older you sort of go back to it and you're like, oh, like I, yeah, I get like, I knew this, I knew this from the get go. Um, yeah. Yeah. Anyway, thanks so much for being part of the pod. Really enjoyed having you. Oh my God. Thanks so much.

Speaker 5

Thank you so much for listening today, and thank so much to Santina for being part of the program. Obviously I've known Santina for a decade now, but I still learned so much from this conversation. It was such a fascinating opportunity for me to step back and really listen to her journey, so I really hope you've been able to take loads from it too. What I really got was that success doesn't have to come at the expense of your sanity or your health. Sun's evolution from chasing revenue and expansion to prioritizing sustainable happiness and wellbeing is such a powerful reminder that we get to define success and what that looks like for us. I also took away the critical importance of trusting your gut instincts, even when you're the only woman in the room or the youngest person at the table. I love Sant's unwavering passion and her absolute commitment to building something meaningful rather than just profitable. She obviously acknowledges the struggles, the flooding, the pandemic, the health scares, but her determination to create genuine community and help people fall in love with fitness kept her going. I think there's so much to be learned here. When you're building something, you truly believe in something that's bigger than just business metrics. You'll find the resilience to weather any storm.

Speaker 6

If this conversation sparked something for you, I want to hear about it. Send me your thoughts. Your questions, your holy shit. That's exactly what I'm going through. Moments, whatever's on your mind. Drop me a line at successful af pod@gmail.com. And here's the thing, I am always looking for incredible women's feature on this show. Women who've broken the mold redefine success on their own terms or just in the thick of that transformation right now. If that's you or someone you know, don't be shy. Nominate them or yourself at successful af pod@gmail.com. Also, do me a solid and subscribe. Maybe even write me a review and send it on to your mates, because the more stories we share, the more we prove that there's not just one way to be successful af. Thank you and see you next week.