Meet The Echelon Instructors
Nancy is the Content Director for Echelon, a personal trainer, mother of 3 and a wife of just 1. She also has backgrounds in mental health and acting. Nancy's passion is motivating others to change, though she is stubbornly determined to never grow up.
Amber may look small, but she is fierce! As a personal trainer before group fitness instructor, she has taught classes from trampoline aerobics to hip hop kickboxing. Her stand up desk at work ensures that she doesn’t sit for long, and just by taking her classes, you will see how this jumping bean is all GO GO GO! But most of all she wants to motivate you to stay active, live well, and just be happy!
Brianne is a farm girl at heart and owns her own bakery! Yes, we said bakery … obviously cycling keeps this busy girl in balance! Her down to earth sense of humor will keep you riding even when those legs want to quit.
Jama homeschools FOUR boys all under the age of 11! After her first marathon, she realized cycling could give her an awesome workout without making her question her sanity. Once a scrawny kid, she is now a personal trainer and a fitness fanatic.
Though not the Missy Elliott you may have jammed out to in the 90’s, our Missy Elliott is just as cool. An avid runner both on the road and on the trail, she discovered the magic of indoor cycling as part of her training for her first triathlon.
Brianna is an outdoor freak who whitewater kayaks, runs, and rides. She is a manager at a medicine clinic and is a health and life coach. She considers her greatest challenge to be getting a tan.
Nicole is an artist and creates pieces of art with reclaimed materials and owns her own art gallery. She drove her mother crazy collecting random stuff off the ground to make new inventions. Lots of energy here!
Janet stays busy as a personal trainer and being as athletic as possible. She is a huge animal lover and volunteers with Animal Rescue. She tries to balance work, faith, fitness, family, friends and, of course, FUN!
Patricia was a tomboy growing up which makes her career as a college Phys Education teacher pretty much perfect. Don’t let her sweet smile fool you- her classes are tough and she will push you to your edge!
Josh is a stay-at-home father of 4 children, 2 of which are identical twin toddlers. If that isn't tiring enough, he is also preparing for his next IronMan. Terrible at sports as a kid, he is an adventurer: cycling, camping, water sports and roller-coaster-hunting. Balancing it all is a constant but rewarding battle. Do it all. YOLO.
Megan rides for the exercise, for the love of teaching and because she love cookies.She is an executive assistant, a competitive rower, and a life and sports mindset coach. She loves nothing more than helping others realize their greatest potential. She cannot sit still but LOVES sloths. Totally doesn't make sense.
I grew up playing soccer and have always had an appreciation for being active. As an adult I became an avid runner which led me to the sport of triathlon in 2009, without knowing how to swim! After conquering this major obstacle I have completed 2 Ironman races, several half distance 70.3 Ironman and currently an Ironman Bronze All World Athlete.
Jennifer Valdes is a Latina, born and raised in Miami, Florida. She is an entrepreneur, motivational speaker, and professional dancer. She was a Miami Heat dancer for two years and has since danced for various artists such as J. Balvin, Nicky Jam, Neyo, and JLO, just to name a few. She is currently on tour with Pitbull as a member of “The Most Bad Ones” and has also toured with Prince Royce and Yandel. She is also a co-host on Pitbull’s podcast, “From Negative to Positive.” Her life motto -- “Live Limitless.”
I found dancing and cycling at a time in my life when I truly needed to become healthier, both inside and out.
I've always been involved in sports and dance growing up, but made fitness my career as an adult because I realized it was my passion
I’ve always loved sports so I’ve always been active. I always knew I wanted a career in sports or fitness.
I have a 20+ year love affair with indoor cycling as a student but was intimidated to teach. However, after losing both my parents to complications from preventable diseases, I wanted to do more for myself and others. Cycling was a way for me to cope with the grief then and now instructing is an avenue to help someone else improve their health. The greatest compliment I can receive is for someone to say because of you I am doing "this" differently to improve my health. My greatest personal accomplishment off the bike was completing 750 barre classes in 3 years.
I have had an interest in fitness since high school. Throughout my life I have participated in various fitness disciplines and programs from cross-fit, indoor cycling, mountain biking, running, & yoga. I am proud that I trained for and completed a full trail marathon. However, life happens! I had fallen out of a fitness routine for about 2 years and became very apathetic. Echelon came into my life at the perfect time. I was re-energized by our community first as a client and then had the opportunity to become an instructor.
I grew up in a fitness oriented family, but really got committed to my health as a young adult. I started running & that changed how I viewed my abilities & my overall image. I’ve run a bazillion half marathons, a couple full marathons, an Olympic triathlon & so many miles with my workout partners I couldn’t even begin to count! My consistency is something I’m super proud of and I always keep a race or a goal on the calendar to keep me moving in the right direction.
I played sports as a kid through high school and fell off from fitness after I graduated. I just stopped exercising and started to gain all the weight as my metabolism started to slow down. I knew I had to do something, I was dealing with stronger issues of depression and body dysmorphia. I finally said enough and joined a local gym and started taking group fitness classes. I took some of Nicole's cycle classes and was totally hooked. She encouraged me to seek out a cert. to start teaching and I've been teaching group fitness for 9 years and counting ever since. One of my proudest moments was completing the Chattanooga 70.3 Ironman. It was the hardest race I've done so far and group fitness - cycling helped me prepare for it. Iv'e done 3 so far and I'll definitely do more. I want to encourage other people to take on fitness challenges no matter the distance all things are possible if you just give it a try.