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Meet Amy Hinderer Feltus

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Amy Hinderer Feltus.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Amy. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Prior to becoming a mom, I was an attorney in the Phoenix area, specializing in tax-exempt finance. It took my husband an I longer than we expected to start a family – we dealt with infertility and ultimately pursued adoption. When we brought our oldest son home, I decided to take a long (six months) maternity leave and decide at the end what I would do career-wise. One of the things I did not expect about motherhood is how isolating and lonely it can be at first. I had moved to Phoenix for a job, and all my friends here were people I knew professionally who either did not yet have children or who had returned full-time to the legal profession. I found myself at home, all day long, every day, with this baby – and no idea what I was supposed to do! I had wanted motherhood for so long, and now that I had it, I didn’t exactly know what to do.

One day during nap time, I was reading a Shape Magazine. In the very back of that magazine, there was the tiniest advertisement you have ever seen, for what was then Stroller Strides (now FIT4MOM). I cut it out, and later that day googled to see if we had this wonderful program here in Phoenix. Lucky for me, a franchise was open an operational and had classes close to my home. I started as a Stroller Strides mom in October of 2008, and by January of 2010, I had become a certified instructor and was teaching classes for what was then Stroller Strides of Phoenix & Scottsdale.

Fast forward to 2013, we had added a second son, and our daughter was on her way via adoption, and the franchise was for sale. I became the owner of FIT4MOM Phoenix Scottsdale in December 2013, and have never looked back. This second career for me allows me to blend my passion for motherhood with that of providing fitness and community for other moms. I frequently tell people I have no idea where I would be as a mother or a professional today if I had not found Stroller Strides in 2008. It gave me that community of moms I needed. It brought me out of that new mom isolation and gave me a village. I hope to continue to do that for other moms for a long time to come.

Has it been a smooth road?
Balancing motherhood and business ownership is not the smoothest of courses in general, but overall, things really seemed to fall in place for me with FIT4MOM. Had the franchise I own now been sold any sooner, I would not have been in a position to buy it. It was available right when I was ready to return to the workforce in some capacity. The timing couldn’t have been better.

That said, like all parents, I sometimes struggle to find that elusive “balance” everyone talks about. I’ve decided balance doesn’t exist. The founder of FIT4MOM, Lisa Druxman, once told me it’s not really balanced, it’s plate spinning. You set one plate spinning, move to the next, and try to get back to the others in time to always keep them going. Some days I focus more on my children and family, others I focus more on the business. And overall, hopefully, I’m doing at least an okay job with it all.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the FIT4MOM Phoenix Scottsdale story. Tell us more about it.
FIT4MOM is the nation’s leading prenatal and postnatal fitness program, providing fitness classes and a network of moms to support every stage of motherhood. From pregnancy, through postpartum and beyond, our fitness and wellness programs help make moms strong in body, mind, and spirit.

All of our instructors are moms, and all of our instructors have been trained by FIT4MOM in pre and postnatal fitness. We offer great workouts for all stages of motherhood, but I think what really sets us apart is the way to give moms a community. We focus on connecting moms to their kids, to each other, to us and to themselves. In addition to workouts, we offer playdates for the kids after our Stroller Strides classes, Moms’ nights out for all of our moms, and we participate in community service and charitable events with each other.

We take moms from our prenatal fitness program, FIT4BABY, through Stroller Strides and Stroller Barre, and then even kick up the fitness level with our stroller optional program, Strides 360, and our mom only high-intensity interval training (HIIT) class, Body Back. Whatever your fitness level or stage of motherhood, we have a class for you.

So, what should we be on the lookout for, what’s next in store for you?
I am looking forward to offering the full slate of FIT4MOM programs in Phoenix and Scottsdale in the months and years to come. FIT4MOM Phoenix Scottsdale is currently working in partnership with FIT4MOM Metro Phoenix so that we can offer FIT4BABY (prenatal) fitness starting this month at a central location in the city of Phoenix. We have plans to partner on future programs and classes as well and now allow our clients to use one membership at all of our locations. I don’t have any big changes planned – I just want to reach all the moms in the greater Phoenix/Scottsdale area that I can!

Contact Info:

Image Credit:
Robert S. Hinderer Photography, Lulliloo Photography

Getting in touch: VoyagePhoenix is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

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