
The Women in Fitness Association is a global organization. We are always looking to add to our ambassador team. No matter where you are in the world, WIFA has a place for you. If you are interested in being considered for the ambassador role, apply here!
USA Ambassadors


Lori Patterson
US Midwest
One of the fitness industry’s leading experts on entrepreneurship, Lori Patterson has built her career on creating and implementing group training programs throughout the US. After serving in the US Army and 36 years in the fitness industry, she still runs and operates a fitness business. Lori is the CEO of Victelib and creator of the Boot Camp Challenge®.
- Email:[email protected]

Marisa Hoff
US West Coast
Named one of IHRSA’s Women Who Inspire in 2019, Marisa Hoff is the Director of Operations at Stevenson Consulting, a full-service consulting firm based in Westlake Village, California. Marisa’s
current focus is working with fitness professional and their businesses to achieve growth and continued
success. For nearly ten years, Marisa was the General Manager at Stevenson Fitness, a full-service 7500
square foot boutique health club in Southern California. Marisa oversaw all club operations and worked
to build a membership of over 2000 members with an NPS (net promoter score) consistently in the 90s,
retention rates over 70 percent, high active user rates, and a booming group exercise program. Both the
personal and small group training departments thrived under her leadership. Marisa holds a master’s degree in education and is an international presenter at fitness conferences, including IHRSA, The Retention Convention Beijing, Club Industry and IDEA.
- Email:[email protected]


Akaylah Jaeke
US College and University
Akaylah Jaeke is a faculty member at Madison College in the Fitness, Recreation and Wellness programs. She is an ACE Subject Matter Expert and holds all four ACE certifications including: Medical Exercise Specialist, Personal Training, Health Coaching, and Group Fitness. She holds a BS in Exercise Physiology and a MA in Health and Human Performance. She also serves as the College and University Ambassador for The Women in Fitness Association. She enjoys teaching future leaders in the field and is passionate about the student college experience.
- Email:[email protected]

Ashley Carter
US East Coast
My background is in Public Health, and because I have an interest in Health and Wellness, I went on to get certified in Health Coaching and Personal Training. For the last three years, I have gained experience in managing sites with 1000+ users, fitness and wellness program development, implementation and oversight.
- Email:[email protected]

Liana Salas
US West Coast
Liana Salas is a life coach, group fitness instructor and yoga teacher in Phoenix, Arizona. Her personal weight loss transformation developed her passion for fitness and wellness. She has a Bachelor's degree in Psychology, Certificates in Life Coaching and Nutrition, ACE Health Coach, Group Fitness and Personal Trainer certifications, 200 RYT and multiple speciality certifications.
She currently teaches for Vasa Fitness & EXOS, in addition to virtual classes. Her branded Dreamcatcher CoachingⓇ, focuses on mindset, manifestation, fitness and nutrition. It is her purpose to be an example of what is possible and help women smile, sweat and live their dreams.
- Email:[email protected]

Khara Dimick
US West Coast
I have been in the fitness industry just over 12 years, teaching over a dozen exercise formats, and personal training. I have been in leadership positions at the YMCA. I love to mentor people to be fitness instructors, and better instructors. I have implemented new programs, launched group challenges, and helped to boost our membership base. I am a certified Health and Life Coach, have a Nutrition Certification, and I will be launching my own business very soon, helping people who are frustrated with their unhealthy lifestyle @wellnesscoachkhara
- Email:[email protected]
Canadian Ambassadors

Kelly Thorne
East Canada
Kelly found her passion early on in her fitness career as a Personal Trainer. Over the past 17 years her commitment to helping others achieve their goals evolved from clients to leaders in the Fitness Industry. As the VP of Studio Fitness at Movati Athletic, Kelly is responsible for the strategic growth, innovation and leadership development of the Personal Training, Small Group Training and Group Fitness departments across all 17 locations. Kelly is passionate about the development of female leaders in the fitness industry and can be found sharing her knowledge and experience at fitness conferences across Canada as a keynote speaker.
- Email:[email protected]

Lisa Greenbaum
East Canada
Lisa Greenbaum E-RYT 500, C-IAYT Yoga Therapist & Author. Lisa has a strong passion for fitness, yoga and movement. She is the founder of Sangha Wellness Retreats and the Director of Trauma Informed Yoga Therapy Programs for Rituals for Recovery, empowering her students through the practice of yoga and community. 2018 Canadian Presenter of the Year for canfitpro and Optimyz Magazine’s top 100 Health and Fitness Influencers in Canada 2017-2020, Lisa has been teaching since 2001.
- Email:[email protected]

Connie Beaulieu
East Canada
Connie Beaulieu, B.Soc. Sc, CSCS, CPT
Connie has dedicated her life to leading others toward living a healthy, active lifestyle. Since the year 2000, Connie has influenced thousands of lives through her personal training, coaching and fitness education career. Connie owns and operates S.W.E.A.T® Inc in Ottawa, ON, where she specializes in Personal and Small Group Training, Online Virtual Training, Outdoor Boot Camp and Corporate Fitness Training . She has taught Fitness and Wellness for the Police Foundations Program and the Canadian Armed Forces at Algonquin College, certified hundreds of Fitness Professionals as a veteran PRO Trainer with canfitpro, and is the founder of ACTIVATE, a series of inspiring events that unite Fitness Professionals and Enthusiasts for a day of education, connection and motivation.
Connie has been featured on CTV, Rogers TV, The Globe & Mail, The Huffington Post and Chatelaine Magazine. She holds a Bachelor of Social Sciences degree, University of Ottawa; Fitness and Lifestyle Management Diploma, George Brown College and is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, with The National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA).
- Email:[email protected]

Tamera Rude
West Canada
Tamera is the Director of Impact & Operations for XTHERAPY Athletics, a rapidly growing, multi modality boutique studio in the heart of DT Edmonton. Heading a diverse team of fitness professionals, Tamera leads with her passion for great workplace culture and high service standards.
Tamera’s relentless commitment to the success of herself and her teams, has resulted in award winning performances, speaking opportunities, mentorship, & business performance turnarounds makes her extremely impactful to any team she is a part of.
- Email:[email protected]

Jomana Elwenni
West Canada
Jomana is the Director of Human Resources for Orangetheory Fitness Canada. Championing national leadership and management of full range of HR functions for over 100 locations across multiple groups (Franchises, corporate, and headquarters). She is an innovative HR leader focused on developing and promoting engaged cultures and cultivating teams of natural brand champions. A strategic change-agent HR Professional with progressive Canadian and US experience in demanding, national environments with extensive history supporting organizations experiencing rapid growth and major restructuring.
A sought-after HR trailblazer, Jomana is a HR mentor, speaker, and award winning professional. Jomana is the 2018 Rising Star Award recipient from the Chartered HR Professionals Association and named one of Canada’s most promising young HR leaders in 2019.
- Email:[email protected]

Michelle Moses
East Canada
2019 marks 30 years for me as a leader in the health and fitness industry (instructor, trainer, facilitator, management, administration). In the last two years I've added a personal brand, blog, podcast and I just published my first book - How to Be Fit for Life - available on Amazon and Kindle! With my education (original, continuing) and experience I am able to combine program delivery and support to those who make wellness a priority in their lives. I strongly believe in the wellness continuum: spirit, mind, and body. All areas of ones life should strive to incorporate the three elements in some shape or form. Check out my blog, www.livewellwithmichelle.org to see all of my offerings).
- Email:[email protected]

Suaad Ghadban
East Canada
Suaad Ghadban is a leading fitness and health expert and creator of Montreal’s hottest
Workout Hot Booty Ballet™. She has 20 years of teaching and training experience which include; dance, gymnastics, circus and fitness, as well as being a World Dance and Sports Aerobic Champion. Suaad is the fitness correspondent for Global TV Montreal for the past 8 years and has been featured in many media and print outlets such as: The Huffington Post, The Gazette, TVA, The Globe and mail, Salut Bonjour, Radio Canada and many more.
Always at the forefront of creativity and trendsetting, Suaad launched the Hot Booty Ballet™ virtual studio in 2018 to ensure instructors and studio owners had continual access to fresh movement and training ideas. The HBB virtual studio houses the community of fabulous fitness pros who can deliver the program in person, outdoors thanks to ‘Ballet By The Water™’ and virtually all over the world!
As a motivator and a role model, Suaad’s passionate personality and unique energetic style of teaching allows her to connect easily with people, bringing out the best in every individual and helping them go beyond their personal goals and expectations.
- Email:[email protected]
Australian Ambassadors

Deborah Goldberg
Australia
Australian FitTech Entrepreneur, founder of Morfus, Subaclass & innovative software products; that enhance the process how humans connect with technology to be able to create more sustainable jobs in the fitness industry.
Deborah spearheaded Zumba Fitness & Piloxing as a leading distributor & marketer spawning tens of thousands of jobs in the region and increasing memberships in all major big box gyms. Australian Global Ambassador for the Women in Fitness Association. Based in Sydney,Australia. Born in Venezuela, Adventurous mother of 3.
- Email:[email protected]

Leisl Klaebe
Australia
Leisl is the Group Exercise Manager of 3 new Virgin Active clubs in Sydney. She manages a timetable of over 400 classes a week, with a team of over 70 highly skilled GEX Coaches. With close to 20 years experience in the fitness industry, Leisl is respected as a motivational leader, a regular industry writer, a popular GEX Coach and a former recipient of the coveted Virgin Active Star Award.
- Email:[email protected]

Fiona Kriaris
Australia
Fiona Kriaris is the Health and Wellness Product Manager for YMCA Victoria based in Melbourne, Australia. In the past decade she has had exposure to various aspects of the business which includes being a fitness professional, leader in staff development and culture, facility management, business tendering, and product development. With a dedicated focus on holistic wellbeing her studies extend internationally from UCLA at the Mindful Awareness Research Centre, being the first Australian with this global accreditation. Her most recent role as an Implementation Leader for the Victorian Government initiative ‘Change our Game’ is to bring equality and inclusivity to females in sport, active recreation and leadership roles, ensuring there is cultural and social change.
- Email:[email protected]

Miriam Cohen
Australia
Miriam has been working in the fitness industry for over 20 years transitioning through group fitness instructing, personal training and into management roles. Originally from Canada, she moved to Australia in 2010 to work with Les Mills Asia Pacific as a business partnership manager. Miriam has worked with over 1000 clubs globally with experience in Canada, Brazil, Malaysia and Australia. After completing a business degree, she worked in management in the hospitality industry before following her passion into full-time fitness. She completed an NLP Diploma and Life Coaching Level 1 and 2 certifications which she uses to help clubs understand consumer needs in an effort to grow exercise adherence. She has had the pleasure of sharing her knowledge through seminars, webinars and conventions including FILEX.
- Email:[email protected]
New Zealand Ambassadors

Nikki Williams
New Zealand
I have worked around the world in the fitness industry for 30+ years as a group exercise instructor, personal training, studio coordinator and small business owner. A military husband meant there as been a lot of moving, rebuilding and reinventing my skills & offering in the exercise market in my new area. We landed in NZ in 2007 and since then, I have contracted to many NZ facilities and had fun creating a large exercise network, including being NZ Distributor for Power Music and NZ Personal Training Council Ambassador for Auckland. I started in my Auckland based role as Business Development Manager with ExerciseNZ in October 2018.
- Email:[email protected]

Tracy Minnoch
New Zealand
Tracy Minnoch-Nuku has lived in South East Asia for 17 years and is currently living in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. With a background in group fitness team and program development, Tracy was instrumental in the roll out of Les Mills classes across Asia. Working for Fitness First Asia and Les Mills International, developing trainers and business processes to support licensees, the key learning has been “think globally, act locally”. In 2016, Tracy left Les Mills to co-found FIRE Fitness, a chain of boutique fitness clubs in Malaysia. Tracy has spent the past 12 months consulting for a new Asia Based fitness APP called FIO and will continue to work on digital programming for FIO and FIRE. So much of Tracy’s learning and growth in the past 18 months has been the ability to connect with incredible women in fitness through WIFA.
- Email:[email protected]
European Ambassadors

Maike Kumstel
Germany
Maike was born and raised in Düsseldorf, Germany and started her career in the fitness industry immediately after graduating from college with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. Her first job as Event Manager for FIBO Germany, the world’s leading trade show for fitness, wellness and health, accelerated her lifelong passion for fitness and opened the doors to the global fitness market. She specialized in the development of instructor and business education for FIBO and built a strong network of industry experts and brands.
In 2018 she took the opportunity to move to the US and launch FIBO USA, a geo-clone of the German trade show. As the Industry Relations and Content Manager for FIBO USA she established the global brand in the US market. She also became a NASM Certified Personal Trainer and WIFA member. Her goal is to empower women to overcome their personal barriers in order to be free, capture life’s opportunities and shine as their self- confident bests.
- Email:[email protected]