Wellness: Whole Woman Fitness promotes holistic wellness and preventative care.

With a focus on empowerment, Comprehensive fitness for women is a wellness program that addresses women’s mental, physical, spiritual and emotional health. Its programs combine engaging fitness classes with education, communication and accountability to help participants manage and prevent chronic diseases.

“We offer a welcoming community and opportunities for women to take control of their own health and well-being,” said founder Neticia Waldron.

Although relatively new to the fitness world, Waldron has more than a decade of experience as a healthcare administrator at Endeavor Health.

“My work in remote patient monitoring focuses on marginalized communities, because I was part of a family that was impacted by chronic illness,” she said. “When I was 17, my grandmother died of a massive heart attack two days before her 60th birthday. Often in Black families, there isn’t a system in place to properly grieve, and I didn’t have the tools to work through it. That experience ultimately led me to a career in health care.”

She originally began teaching fitness classes at the Fleetwood Jourdain Community Centre in 2021.

“During the pandemic, there was nowhere to exercise, so I became a certified instructor and offered classes for women twice a week. I designed the program based on what I needed, which was to develop coping skills. We didn’t know what we were going to do or if we were going to live or die,” Waldron recalled.

The women-centered model was created to help give women their own solid foundation.

“If you empower women, you ultimately have an impact on the entire family,” she said. “We typically prepare meals, manage daily activities and act as caregivers, but our own needs are often overlooked.”