Tell Us Your Story. What motivated you to start your business? Why are you passionate about what you do?

beSTRONG Training was created in order to give people the ability to say YES. To say yes to going for a hike with friends on the weekend, to say yes to skiing at 70, 80 or 90 years old, to say yes to pick up kids or grandkids without fear of pain or injury. We acknowledge that everyone's journey in the gym is so unique and each person's goals reflect that. We wanted to create a coached approach that allowed us to meet people where they were at but also create a community of inclusion, growth, education and collaboration. We are passionate about empowering people to do the things that they love, with the people they love. The gym is an incredibly intimidating place for many people and also a difficult place to go if you have a new baby or children at home. We were motivated to help bridge this gap for parents - to make the gym a place that infants are welcome, a space that's fun and safe. Working with a team of all female coaches that have the knowledge and drive to help people learn to lift weights and then to support them at every stage from beginner to world level competition is an incredibly unique and motivating environment to be a part of. We all strive to be better every day - for each other and for our clients.

Describe and demonstrate, including metrics, your community support. How do you support and uplift your community, and how do they show that support in return? Minimum 25 words, maximum 2500 characters.

We support and uplift our community by making exercise accessible for everyone. We know that personal training and high level coaching is not something that everyone can access and so we have developed many resources and events for our community to access this. 1. Free Events: We run multiple events every month that include a stroller friendly run/ walk club in the Tri-cities area and bi-weekly interval training for all levels. These get attendance from 10-30 people each time. We also offer free virtual education evenings multiple times per year which have over 60+ registrants - topics include Return to Running Postpartum and Navigating Exercise and Nutrition through Perimenopause. 2. Free Resources: We have 7 free programs online that have all had over 50 downloads - these include 0-6 week postpartum, a 12-week strength and conditioning program, 0-5km run program, a fully coached beginner to barbell guide and more. 3. Low Cost events: We host monthly in person educational seminars that we charge $10 for and have 10-20 people attend. We donate all proceeds to Pearl Space. These events include 'Hormones 101' and 'Pelvic Health for the Female Athlete' and 'Navigating Nutrition'. 4. Collaboration: We have recently collaborated with Run Uphill to offer a 0-5km 10 week running program in Squamish. We had 35 women sign up and complete the program. We hosted weekly in person runs and provided digital programming for strength training and further running. We are also in the process of collaborating with Harbourside Youth Foundation to support female youth in sport. We work alongside sports teams to help youth athletes understand their hormones, strength training and nutrition. Through a 1 hour workshop (we've done 2 so far and impacted over 30 athletes) we deliver this information.

Why do you deserve to win the Business Impact award?

Because having more awareness of the incredible work our team is doing will help us impact more lives for the better. We truly want people to feel strong and empowered in their bodies and to live in a way that allows them so say YES to doing the things they love, with the people they love.

Tell Us About Your Culture. How are you creating a sustainable and healthy workplace where everyone feels welcome? Provide examples of leadership you show in interactions with clients, vendors, contractors, staff and others.

Our core values are inclusivity, collaboration, empowering and relationships. Inclusivity: we treat our staff, our clients and people around us with care, curiosity and respect. We welcome all ages, sizes and races into our facilities to train with us and encourage the same from our events. Collaboration: we foster an environment where our coaches can ask each other questions and learn from each other - we encourage them to shadow each other and even though many of our coaches are contractors, we ensure that all hours beyond just coaching clients - meetings, education hours etc are all compensated. We network and support other businesses - for example working with Run Uphill to deliver a 0-5km run program. Empowering: Many of our clients have incredible success stories - People that have recovered from back injuries to competing at the World level in powerlifting. People that have moved away from pain and wake up feeling good every morning. Mom's that are no longer afraid to bend over and pick up their kids. Women that can run and jump without incontinence. Relationships: Our client and coach retention speaks volumes to the relationships we foster. With 70% client retention over a 3 year period so far and 95% coach retention. We are invited to personal celebrations all the time - parties, birthdays, recitals and more.

Why do you think you should win the Premier’s People’s Choice Award?

Because having more awareness of the incredible work our team is doing will help us impact more lives for the better. We truly want people to feel strong and empowered in their bodies and to live in a way that allows them so say YES to doing the things they love, with the people they love.