Frame of Mind with West Kept Secret

Welcome to the Frame of Mind series, the brain child of Chase Price with RedefineU Media. At hygge, we’re kind of known for keeping it short. Most of our videos are under one minute and at Zero Day we strictly enforce the 10 minute rule. But a few months ago, Chase came to us with an idea: interview local start ups and entrepreneurs about their stories and ask them questions that small business owners, creatives and community leaders everywhere are struggling with. This series of long interviews (yup, 30-45 minutes) is designed to get in-depth and personal, so get ready to dig in.

West Kept Secret may just be one of Charlotte’s best kept secret. Fitness duo Marissa West and Heidi Schmidt are kicking butts and taking names at Fit Atlier in Charlotte, where they’ve grown their business to from its start out of Marissa’s garage.

It all started several years ago when Marissa graduated with a degree in communications and Spanish, but she knew she was really passionate about fitness. She started teaching spin classes uptown, but wanted a more holistic workout. She started creating her own and teaching people one-on-one in her apartment’s gym, and later her garage when she and her husband bought their own house.

One of those personal training clients was Heidi Schmidt. The pair met in August 2017 when Heidi started working out with Marissa, a former NFL cheerleader. By November 2017, Heidi said she was so impressed with the changes she saw, she began telling Marissa she needed to go bigger, and bring her along, too.

West Kept Secret was formed, and is growing quickly. They’re already looking for more space and have brought on more trainers in the past few months to increase their offerings. Primarily catering to women, the goal is to empower those who take their classes to feel strong and beautiful.

“I wanted to do something that transformed people’s bodies quickly, safely, effectively, and do it in a high intensity way,” Marissa told Chase in the interview.

This means a combination of cardio, pilates and core strength training. The workouts are designed to be high intensity and, when you’re finished, Marissa and Heidi want to be sure you’re sweating.

“Our personal training is not cheat, and we want people to feel like they’re getting every penny they’re spending on that hour,” Heidi explains.

In the hour-long interview with the fitness gurus, Chase talks with them about how they come up with the unique workouts that keep women coming back and telling their friends, what characteristics they look for when hiring new trainers and how they incorporate a work-life balance when building a business brand.

Yep, the video is an hour. It’s a long one, but a pretty darn good one. This interview series is meant to be a deep dive into starting your own business, and sometimes, those types of conversations take time. So, hit pause on your day for a bit and watch the full interview below.