Hi I’m Vanessa
Mama, health, fitness, nutrition, lifestyle coach and founder of Healthy Minded Momma
The full story
Hi I’m Vanessa! Mama, health, fitness, nutrition, lifestyle coach and founder of Healthy Minded Momma
Thank you so much for being here, and for your desire to want to learn, grow, become a happier, healthier you from the inside out and intentionally create an incredible life that you joyfully love.
Over the last 28 years in the fitness industry I have been a professional hip hop dancer, choreographer and teacher for 15 years in the dance industry, from teaching at studios across Los Angeles, CA and Ventura County to Wake Forest University in Winston Salem, North Carolina. I carry a B.A in Liberal studies in Dance Education.
This all led to my passion to move into fitness training and coaching in 2007, when I became a Metabolic Effect Certified personal and group fitness trainer and Nasm Certified personal trainer and nutrition coach.
For the last 13 years in the fitness industry, I have ran and owned an outdoor fitness company in Ventura County, California called Anacapa Fitness, where I coached and personal trained over 3,000 + women from all ages, fitness levels and walks of life, conducted and ran over 10,000 outdoor group fitness exercise classes and workouts as well as nutrition, mindset and lifestyle coached with clients to help transform their lives from the inside out. I have written and created hundreds of videos sharing health, fitness, nutrition, mindset and lifestyle content, tips, tools and solutions.
When I became pregnant with my daughter Olivia in 2016 I not only joyfully birthed her in 2017, but also felt empowered like never before to birth a new online coaching business called Healthy Minded Momma to help women and mom’s all over the world live more abundant in every area of their life, mind, body and spirit. Helping to empower them to walk in their power, speak their truth, be intentional with self-love. Living in 100% abundant joy, fitter, stronger and more balanced with their relationship with nutrition and themselves that is free of shame and stress from the inside out.
Becoming a Mama has been one of the greatest joys of my life and bringing all of my personal experience, coaching expertise and passion into this business to help women and mom’s live healthier, happier, stronger and balanced is my intention.
My deepest passions are coaching in the areas of mindset, fitness, nutrition and lifestyle, which I do via my Healthy Minded One-on-One Coaching program, my 8 Week #Leanfitmama DIY Fitness Program, and my Healthy Minded Nutrition Coaching Program
A few things you might not know about me…
-I’m originally from North Hollywood, Ca but am from divorced parents and have lived everywhere from CA, AZ, IA and in over 17 different apartment buildings growing up which taught me to become incredibly adaptable and a resilient kid early on, but am incredibly grateful for
-I am Puerto Rican and Mexican and have a giant family that I love and can’t get enough of
-Dance has been in my blood since I was a kid. In 5th grade I started my first Dance group with two other girlfriends in my apartment building and named the group “BNV” It was an acronym for our names Brooke, Natalia and Vanessa. I choreographed our hip hop dance and we performed in the school talent show and took 1st place for the win. From there, I knew I wanted to teach dance as a career, ha!
– I’ve been with my husband since we were 15 years old. I’m 38! We have a giant passion for each other, our daughter, helping people, business, adventuring at sea, on the road or on a mountain and are intentional in creating and enjoying life every moment
-In 2007 I bought my first two investment properties at 24 years old on the east coast and have been grateful to provide a place for college students, couples and families to have a space they can call home.
-When I was pregnant with my daughter in 2016 I spoke out loud, manifested and visualized at week 18 daily (After watching “The business of being born”) that “I am going to have a joyful, magical, easy, pain free, drug free birth and delivery with her” and it absolutely became a reality when I went into labor and deliver her!
-My favorite things to do with my 3 year old daughter is to have dance parties in the kitchen, swim weekly, and laugh so hard my abs hurt
Thank you for stopping by. I’d love for you to send me an email info@healthymindedmomma.com and let me know how I can help you!
THE FULL STORY
My road from perfectionism, body shame, binging and depriving with nutrition to freedom, self-love and balance.
My career in the fitness industry began with my passion and love for dance at 9 years old where I began my first ballet/ jazz & hip hop classes at a Dance studio by our house in Simi Valley, CA. It than moved into my teens and into my twenties with working, teaching, and choreographing at dance studios to also working with a small dance company.
My passion for dance led to getting my B.A in Liberal Studies with a concentration in Dance Education at California State University Channel Islands.
Although I couldn’t quite name it as a kid, my relationship with perfectionism started young and was stemmed from shame, fear of failure and control, so I tended to be a high overachiever in everything I touched or was involved in. During college is where I started to be much more aware of this behavior but wasn’t sure how to break free yet.
Shortly after college I moved to the east coast and started teaching hip hop dance at Wake Forest University. I also loved fitness and decided to become a Metabolic Effect Personal and Group fitness trainer. My passion to want to help others transform their lives lit a fire in me like never before and I decided to move back to Ventura County, Ca to birth an outdoor fitness company called Anacapa Fitness.
My life and business were thriving and than my mindset and perception of myself and body took a wild turn the first couple of years to add body shame on top of my perfectionism. It was something I had NEVER experienced in all my years as a dancer. I held fast to this belief that “I had to look and be lean, fit, tight and strong all the time because I am a personal trainer” which truthfully speaking I was already a lean, fit, strong woman when I began my journey in the fitness industry.
This mindset eventually bled into my relationship with nutrition and a cycle of depriving and binging to keep my body as lean and strong 24/7, Monday-Friday to only lead to binging Friday night-Sunday and the cycle repeating over again once the week began. After being in a battle with my physiology and will power, mental heaviness, trying to keep everything perfect all the time, having an unhealthy relationship with food…
I finally decided enough was enough and wanted to live life a completely new way, a healthier, happier, more sustainable way. I couldn’t keep going on trying to live perfectly and nor did I want to. I wanted to stop picking apart / shaming my body. I wanted my relationship with food to be healthy, effortless and enjoyable every time I ate. I wanted to love myself wholeheartedly and walk in complete freedom, living life in abundant joy.
So in 2010 I finally had the courage to breakup with my relationship w/ perfectionism for good. I worked on re-wiring my mindset. I started looking inward, introspecting, doing the work on myself day in and day out, one layer at a time to get back to my core. I started vulnerably showing up as who I really was without shame, fear or control in the way. I stopped the negative self-talk and spoke daily loving affirmations over myself, my body and got back to walking in 100% self-love. I started finding what foods worked best for my body. I started listening to my body and trusting myself more. Nutrition became effortless and enjoyable and I broke free of binging and depriving and created a healthy balanced relationship with food again. These choices not only led to breakthrough and freedom in my life but also walking in abundant joy daily.
In 2016 I became pregnant with my daughter Olivia and had the most empowering pregnancy experience and joyfully birthed her in 2017. I felt empowered to also birth a new online coaching business called Healthy Minded Momma. And It is my mission and passion to help and teach other women and mom’s how to break free of these cycles. Transform their lives from the inside out to live more abundant in every area of their life, healthier, happier, stronger and balanced. To start owning and trusting their process in their health journey, working on their mind game and intentionally creating an amazing life they love. This includes all aspects: Mindset, body and lifestyle.
In my 13 years as a health, fitness, nutrition and lifestyle coach I have been so grateful to help 3,000 + women and mom’s, conducted over 10,000 group fitness exercise classes to transform their health, mindsets, bodies, lifestyles and live happier lives…and that means everything to me and why I wake up everyday and have a passion to continue my life’s work in the health industry.