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

When we first started Nori Athletics, the two of us started the business because we felt that we wanted to be more personable with our clients than a regular commercial gym allowed. We wanted to help our clients how we saw fit, and not just to make a sale. As we grew our business, the motivations for Nori Athletics changed. We still had our clients in mind, but we wanted to make a bigger impact than just providing a fitness program, we wanted to actually "change lives" which is what many personal trainers are known for. We realized that the people needing the most help were people who were exposed to WAY too much information, and overwhelmed with their busy lifestyles. They were people that felt they lost control of their lives and routines, and that now felt they followed what life threw at them, rather than creating a life for themselves. Having been growing the business, and experiencing a lot of stress, and overwhelm, we finally understood and felt what a lot of people were going through. When we were able to positively change our routine, gain back energy, and gain back control of our lives, we wanted to help others do the same. We know how much of an impact incorporating a healthy and sustainable routine had on our lives. We know how it felt for us to struggle to find the right program that we could stick to and how difficult it was to get the support and encouragement along the way. Now we feel that one of our bigger purposes in life is to help others incorporate healthy and sustainable routines into their lives so that they can live their lives to their fullest while educating them, empowering them, and showing them full support and accountability along the way to reach their goals. Building relationships with our clients, and building a community of like-minded individuals, to show people they are understood and not alone has been a differentiator for our business in comparison to other personal training businesses. A client is not just a client, but a friend, and someone we see as part of our family, and seeing someone who is a part of our family win, is the most rewarding. We will continue to make every person who leaves our space feel heard and understood and leave our space feeling like they have won that day. We will continue to grow our community by showing up online, collaborating with other businesses, and creating our events or contributing to other events.

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 make sure that every person that walks through our doors is welcome as we always find being personable to be important. Whether they are an appointment, a long-term client of ours, or a trainer who is renting out our space, we make sure that every person knows each other to create a comfortable atmosphere and also provide a safe space for them to socialize while they workout. Our clients consist of mothers, fathers, business owners, and employees, and being able to connect with them has created opportunities not only for us but for them as well. We have had many group sessions, as well, that provide our clients the opportunity to socialize and have fun while getting in safe and effective exercise. See the video here: https://youtu.be/wkn_JhdiwYg?si=ZwMqsQeimA2o7bZH Find testimonials here:https://www.noriathletics.com/testimonials The other way we support and uplift our community is by running our fitness challenges. With the challenges, not only do we connect people online; but we also give our customers the ability to connect in person with each other. The challenges have always been a great way to safely encourage our clients to step out of their comfort zone, which contributes to their personal growth, and a great way to celebrate the wins throughout their journey, not just with us, but with the community. We are forever grateful for these challenges as they created lasting bonds with clients, and also gave Nori Athletics amazing opportunities to work and connect with other local, small businesses. Some of the many small businesses include Organika, Body Energy Club, etc. They provided some of the most amazing prizes, and we also had the chance to share their amazing products with clients, on our social media, and through newsletters, to help their businesses grow in return. Here is a video from a challenge: https://youtu.be/JAio2_Hlfhc?si=jadyfTEe0ts8WXAP Lastly, we have held events and will continue holding events. The events served as amazing ways to collaborate with small businesses – for instance, we had sponsors like Hard Bean Cafe and RVN Wellness. They helped sponsor food, activations, or prizes, and in return, we would showcase them across all our social media, newsletters, and website. These events also helped grow our community, allowing our clients to bring their families, friends, and others who have heard of us to join us. Here is a video: https://youtu.be/VNe-OnFAO7o?si=CDOibJeiHq_H5ehR View attachments of partnerships and metrics.

Why do you deserve to win the Business Impact award?

I know many businesses deserve the Business Impact Award, but what sets us apart is we prioritize and know that impact starts with one action. When we help our clients with one habit, it leads to more habits. As more habits build, bigger changes start to happen in their fitness and wellness journey. As they improve their fitness and wellness journey, the rest of their lives improve. As the rest of their lives improve, they attract and motivate other individuals to start making changes in their lives. We know and have heard from many of our clients how working with us has not only changed their fitness routine and helped them reach their goals, but has also changed their lives forever. We knew the moment we could do this with one person, we would have the ability to replicate and do this with more people. Now, having worked with over 360 people, we can see that we are leaving a footprint of positive change behind us. And while we have worked with so many people, we still prioritize every single individual, because we know how much of an impact that individual can later make in other people's lives. We have big aspirations to continue to grow this footprint by changing the lives of more clients and the small businesses we work with. We want to hold more events, speak at more events, and collaborate with more businesses because we know it takes "just one" to make an impact. Winning the Business Impact Award would be proof that the impact we believe we are leaving within our community is true.

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 top five values include; ethical, sustainable, health, community, and commitment. We ensure that whoever we work with, whether it's our client, a small business, or a contractor, we stay honest in our actions and words. With honesty, we have made great partnerships with small businesses and contractors, but also long-lasting and great relationships with our clients. With our focus being on the health and well-being of our clients through our sustainable approach, our clients always feel welcome coming to our gym, knowing and trusting that we have their well-being at the top of our list. We are always committed to going above and beyond through our service, and beyond what people generally expect of personal trainers, by providing our clients with a supportive community, accountability, unlimited access to knowledge, and a safe space (our gym). We strive to make every client feel heard, seen, and understood, by showing them through our actions that they are not just a client to us, but a special relationship that we cherish. Running our business ethically, with honesty, and committing to providing the best for our clients and the business that we worked with, has fostered long-lasting relationships with these small businesses and allowed us to work with them multiple times. This, in turn, has helped each of our communities and businesses grow.

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

We are good contenders for the Premier's People's Choice Award because our business is solely based on the relationships we have prioritized to build and foster with our clients, other trainers, and small businesses that we worked with. Without prioritizing each person we worked with, and each relationship we developed and fed, our business wouldn't be where it is today. We have accomplished what we have so far from the support and opportunities created and given to us through the relationships we built. We have received support from our community countless times as our business has grown, and many have been there with us through all the highs and lows of running a business. We are certain that our community will show up and support us for the Premier's People's Choice Award.