The BUF Story

Build Up Fitness began with one relationship.

For nearly three decades, I owned Mom's the Word, a small business I started in San Francisco with $15,000, a toddler, and another baby on the way. What began as one neighborhood store grew into a successful multi-location, multi million dollar business, built almost entirely through relationships, word of mouth and people who kept coming back— and bringing or telling their friends. 

 When the pandemic arrived in 2020, I found myself asking what I could do while much of the world seemed to pause. Sitting still has never been one of my strengths, so I became a Court Appointed Special Advocate  volunteering with one amazing young person in the foster system. 

I expected to help.

Instead, I was changed.

Over the next five years, I witnessed extraordinary resilience alongside extraordinary barriers. I saw cracks in systems that too often define young people by the worst thing that's happened to them, the worst thing they've done, and never see who they are. I also saw a caring, funny, smart, generous, kind human with grit and talent. 

That young man is who I call Moonbeam.

Shortly after his eighteenth birthday, he became my unofficial personal trainer for a few weeks. It took less than five minutes to realize he had a remarkable gift. He challenged me, encouraged me, and made me want to come back. I remember thinking, People would pay for this and be very happy.

But the path in front of him looked very different. 

That experience stayed with me. I kept asking myself a simple question:

What if young adults impacted by mass incarceration had the opportunity to build careers around the strengths they already possess?

Over time, that question became impossible to ignore.

I made what many people considered a crazy decision. I closed the last Mom's the Word store and began building Build Up Fitness.

Not because I had all the answers.

Because I couldn't stop believing the question was worth pursuing.

Build Up Fitness is preparing to launch its first apprenticeship and personal training pilot in San Francisco. Paying clients will work one-on-one with paid apprentice trainers under the guidance of an experienced coach. Apprentices will earn while they learn, receive mentorship, develop professional and client service skills, and build meaningful careers in fitness. Clients will receive exceptional personal training while becoming part of something bigger.

Over five years, Moonbeam and I taught one another far more than either of us expected. Neither of us needed fixing. We needed a relationship built on trust, respect, honesty, and the belief that every person has strengths worth sharing.

That simple idea became the foundation of Build Up Fitness.

Fitness is what brings us together.

Relationships are what change us.

None of this would exist without the extraordinary generosity of friends, family, mentors, advisors, board members, volunteers, and early supporters who believed in this vision long before it had a name. While one relationship sparked this idea, Build Up Fitness has always been built by a community.

We're just getting started.

Whether you're looking for a trainer, interested in becoming an apprentice, hoping to volunteer, or simply curious about what we're building, we'd love to meet you.

___________________

We're just getting started. If you'd like to help build what's next, we'd be grateful for your support.