Jen has always been an active person; she was captain of the swim team in high school, she loved to run, play volleyball, and participated in little league sports like baseball and soccer as well as all sports at camp. Although she was not a star athlete, she always loved competition and playing in all types of sports. She remembers and is still proud to this day of winning many jump rope competitions in Ogden Elementary School with Dr. Goodman, who would give her 1st Place certificates for lasting the longest on the jump rope in her class.

Throughout Jen’s childhood, she witnessed her mother going to the gym 6-7 days each week and knew it was an essential part of her mom’s daily routine. Her daily schedule, social life, doctor’s appointments and errands revolved around the classes at the gym and her workouts. Jen never understood why her mom prioritized going to the gym so much and why she had this mentality, until her mom basically pushed her to go to a spinning class one day with her cousin Tara at the age of 14 because she had a 3-day guest pass. Jen and Tara were by far the youngest kids in the entire gym, and from the moment they stepped into the room they wanted to leave because they were intimidated; other members were staring at them and they were physically uncomfortable sitting on the spin bike. The instructor, Michael, adjusted their bikes and gave a crash course in positions 1, 2 and 3. Once class began, Michael constantly approached them and continued to correct their form on the bike. Within 15 minutes of the class starting, Jen and Tara gave up and left the spin room.

After much thought and fighting through her sore arms and legs, Jen decided to go back to the gym to try another class the next day without her cousin. She stayed most of the class, and when she walked out she realized she may actually like to spin. Over time, she developed a relationship with the instructor, Michael, and enjoyed learning about how to feel and use your body properly and in a way she was unfamiliar with. One by one, Jen started taking his other classes such as step, weight training classes with dumbbells, kickboxing, trampoline, and bootcamp, where Michael taught her everything she knows to this day about exercise safety and proper form. From that point on, it was safe to say that Jen was becoming a gym and exercise lover. Her favorite thing to do became going to the gym, and she started revolving her life and schedule around gym classes just like her mom, and finally understood why. Jen was the youngest person in every class and did not care because she loved being there more than anything. She saw her body changing, she felt stronger, more energized, and learned about the value and importance of exercising for overall health.

With her acting and singing background, Jen had no problem being in front of a room and speaking. She always thought in the back of her mind that she would love to be a fitness instructor like Michael some day. She immediately shut down those thoughts when they crossed her mind, because she felt it was not a good enough job that her parents would approve, so she never even thought to pursue this idea. It was just a dream for many years.

After graduating from Brandeis University in 2009, Jen wanted to start working right away instead of going to graduate school. Her original plan was to become a dermatologist and go to medical school, but she decided to go into the administration side instead and work as a hospital administrator down the road. She landed her first job at a 600-bed nursing home in the Admissions office and soon decided to go back to school for her Master’s Degree to be eligible for a promotion. The CEO eventually promoted Jen to Assistant Administrator and convinced Jen to start the process of being a New York State Licensed Nursing Home Administrator, which she knew would take several years to accomplish. Jen never really thought twice about this decision, because she knew that having this license would create a strong financial future for herself.

As the years progressed, Jen’s passion for the gym only grew stronger. She would rush out of work and drive 45 minutes to an hour in traffic to make it to the gym for the classes. It remained an important part of her life that she did not want to lose. Despite her busy and hectic days at the nursing home, the gym was always in the back of her mind throughout the day. She became upset that she was becoming less and less active having to sit in meetings and at her desk all day. Eventually, her job became more and more demanding once she received her license and landed her first job as a Health Care Administrator, and the gym only became a weekend activity for Jen.

The stress from these jobs became unbearable after 5 years in this stressful role, but Jen continued to persevere because she knew how hard she worked to get to this point in her career. She refused to give up; she continued to wake up every day and go to work, putting on her suit, heels, makeup every day, while she dreamed in the back of her mind that she could put on her leggings and sneakers to go and teach a fitness class instead. She was on call 24/7 over those 5 years, always on the phone and her e-mail, phone calls throughout the night, days off were never days off, she completely lost work/life balance and felt she could not go away on a vacation without working; she also realized that everyday she could not be herself and had to be someone she was not. She did not like the person she was becoming and started to lose herself and her fun, outgoing, happy personality.

After fighting it internally for many years, Jen finally admitted to herself that this lifestyle and career as an Administrator was simply not meant for her, and she left her career of 10 years to pursue her love of health and fitness at Healthtrax Fitness & Wellness. She taught classes at first, and a few months later passed her Personal Training exam, where her book of business grew faster than she ever imagined.
Jennifer started her company, Enerjenic Fitness, to be able to bring personal training and group fitness classes into people’s homes and backyards, virtually, or out in public spaces; she is beyond ecstatic to share her passion and knowledge for fitness and exercise with the world and help others achieve their goals and feel better physically, mentally, and emotionally.