Write a short blurb on yourself, introducing who you are and what you do: 

I’m Olivia, Founder of Kent Wellness Club and a social media wellness influencer. I’m 27 and pursuing a career in both building my own personal brand and creating a space for women all over the world to come to and feel supported in their wellness routines. Growing up, I tried nearly every sport and in my early 20s, I completed a 240-hour intensive Pilates certification. Since then, I’ve been curating my own approach to working out that threads together strength, cardio, and my Pilates expertise that I share with thousands of young women all over the world.

What Motivated You to Start Your Wellness Journey and Focus on Self-Care? 

This question makes me realise it’s hard to pinpoint when I really started my “wellness journey.” To paint a picture of my growing up, my family is from England and my Mum cooked dinner with whole foods every night but we still enjoyed a block of chocolate or strawberries with heavy cream for dessert, I didn’t try soda until I was 13, I started playing sports as soon as I was old enough, my Dad ran marathons and kickboxed, and I noticed my Mum always making time for a morning and night skincare routine with a cup of tea. Food was always celebrated as a source of joy and energy, and exercise was a way to spend time with friends and feel fulfilled in the day. It wasn’t until I went to the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill that I felt lost without a sport or coach to tell me what to do, so I took a class to learn how to teach group fitness and auditioned to teach Pilates at the school gym. I would spend time thinking through creative flows for the Pilates classes and then take some of those moves to add to my own workouts at the gym. After my freshman year, I transferred to the University of Miami and was quickly exposed to a packed social calendar. As much as I loved the lifestyle that came with being 20 in Miami, I had to carve out time to slow down and recharge. That’s when I started waking up early enough to enjoy a slow coffee in the morning, exploring new face creams, and soon a wellness routine with slow moments and intentional movement became non-negotiable.

How Can Pilates Improve Both Physical Strength and Mental Wellbeing? 

Pilates is a longevity sport, meaning it’ll support you throughout your entire life to fuel your best mind and body. I didn’t know what mind-muscle connection was before practising Pilates. It teaches you how to drop into your body, learn what it means to be intuitive, and of course how to gracefully push through something that is so difficult. I think Pilates requires such strength and focus, that it’s actually changed the way I approach so many things in life. A key principle in Pilates is opposition – the balance of pushing & pulling to create your own resistance to sculpt your muscles. It’s that constant resistance and time under tension that makes it uniquely so tough and so effective. It can also teach you a thing or two about the push & pull of daily life. And while I think every man should be enjoying Pilates, I also think there’s something so beautifully feminine about it that makes me feel more confident every time I spend time on the mat.

What Are the Best Wellness Practices to Complement Your Workout Routine? 

People say it’s 80/20 when it comes to nutrition and working out for your dream physique. I personally think it’s more like 33/33/33 with nourishing foods, daily workouts, and mental health. Limiting distress is my number one priority when it comes to a fulfilling wellness routine. For me, that means eating healthily most of the time, but never overthinking indulging, making time for slow moments throughout my day, spending time with people I love, moving my body every single day whether it’s a Kent Wellness Club workout, signing up for a workout class, or going for a long walk, and showing up consistently for the career and life I dream of for myself. As you can imagine, my days are booked and busy, so I try my best to be intentional with everything I do.