Today we’d like to introduce you to Deanna Eng and Samantha Carnall.
Deanna and Samantha, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
We met through a mutual friend (basically a blind friend date) about three years ago (but seems like we’ve known each other for way longer!). We immediately bonded over our mutual passion for all things wellness and fitness. After organically syncing workout schedules and overall healthy lifestyles, we realized that we had all the components in place to create content that was truly organic in nature to share with the world and classhoppers was born! We also came to realize that the Boston fitness scene, although booming, is missing the perspective of class-goers vs. instructors and other various content creators. We sought out to bring this perspective to our followers in December of 2017 and are excited about the great response thus far.
Has it been a smooth road?
Classhoppers has been more of a hobby for both of us and an organic extension of our lifestyle. The cool thing is that we do this stuff anyways, now we just take photos of it! We both have other full-time jobs, so if anything it’s been a bit challenging balancing our time between classhoppers and other obligations but we really do enjoy it so it’s been super manageable.
Our advice for young women starting a similar journey is to find a niche to fill and pick something you’re passionate about. Something that feels like a passion rather than “work” will always be more successful and sustainable for the long haul!
We’d love to hear more about classhoppers.
We strive to bring a different perspective to an established Boston fitness community and motivate our followers to get out there, try some new workouts and be overall healthier and happier! One of our hopes for classhoppers is to share all the good that comes from working out, beyond just physical fitness results – new friends, a supportive community, confidence, happy endorphins! Our class reviews are also a huge component of our mission and we plan to further build this out as a one-stop resource for must-go classes in Boston (no one wants to waste their time and precious Classpass credits on a not-so-great workout class)! Along with all things fitness, we also provide insight into the healthiest eating spots in the city along with our own spin on recipes and healthy habit tidbits.
We’re interested to hear your thoughts on female leadership – in particular, what do you feel are the biggest barriers or obstacles?
We feel the wellness industry as a whole is very advantageous towards female leaders and professionals. Many of our favorite instructors and fitness influencers are women, which is so inspiring to us. A big barrier we can all knock down is negativity and instead, focus on being each other’s biggest advocates and feeding off each other’s successes. This is applicable beyond the wellness industry but part of what makes the fitness community so fun is meeting other girls in class and being able to say hello to as many familiar faces as possible. After all, we’re usually there to get our butts kicked so we might as well try to have fun together at the same time. 🙂 We are lucky enough to be surrounded by inspiringly positive women every day – from celeb-like fitness instructors, to fellow bada** class goers.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @classhoppers
Getting in touch: BostonVoyager 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.
