Meet Kayla Lawson: Thriver Owner & Trainer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kayla Lawson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kayla, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
The success of Thriver is built on establishing solid relationships within our community of athletes and their families. As a special education teacher, one of the most important lessons I learned was to begin the year by establishing rapport with both my student and his/her family. Show up, listen, advocate. Let the student’s family know that you are on their side, you are there to help and support however you can. This is one of the pieces of teaching I wanted to ensure transferred over to the Thriver business model. Each intake phone call is handled with care and the individualization of our program begins there. From that point on, my goal is to make sure every parent I interact with knows their child is in good hands. Exercise is more than just an activity to stay healthy. It is an opportunity for social interaction, it is a chance to establish life-long healthy habits, and in our case, it is one-on-one time to continue building relationships. Many of Thriver’s new athletes come out of recommendations from current or previous clients, be it through word of mouth with friends, posts on parent groups, or information passed down through teachers at the athlete’s school. Our drive to build these relationships has in turn prompted parents to share us with others! We are so grateful for our athletes and their families, and we strive to continue creating a community where our athletes can grow!

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Thriver’s mission is to redefine fitness for all abilities by providing more accessible fitness opportunities to individuals with disabilities. As a previous special educator, I saw first hand the lack of accessibility to and programs for people with specific and unique needs within the fitness community. My business partner, Vivien, and I decided to lead the change and start bridging that gap by providing individualized personal training and fitness groups specifically tailored to fit each athlete’s needs. We work with each athlete individually to create personalized fitness plans designed to motivate and promote healthy movement. Pulling from backgrounds in special education, CrossFit, and personal training, our program is designed to help each athlete meet individual goals based on current strengths, weaknesses, abilities, and limitations. As a relatively new company whose business model focuses on individual interaction, facing Covid-19 was a challenge. However, we were able to use it as an opportunity to grow, implementing virtual training options. As in-person training begins to normalize, we will continue to offer virtual options for our athletes who need a bit more flexibility in their training plan. At Thriver, we want to make fitness as accessible as possible to each and every one of our athletes. Our goal is to provide services that continue to allow all of our athletes to find success in their fitness.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Houston is such an exciting city to visit with so much to do! First, we would cover some favorite restaurants – State of Grace, La Lucha, Taste of Texas, Hughies, Velvet Taco – just to name a few! We would make sure to get a little fitness in by visiting our home CrossFit box, Iron Oak CrossFit. After that, we would visit Memorial Park, the Houston Museum of Natural Science, and maybe even head to TC Jester Park for a game of disc golf! Finally, we would spend the evening on the patio at Down The Street.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
We are so grateful for all of the help and support we’ve received with Thriver over the past couple of years! Thriver would not be where it is today without the constant support and encouragement we’ve received. However, we especially want to recognize our athletes’ parents for their ongoing and unwavering support! These parents have opened up their hearts and trusted us with their child’s fitness, especially during such a challenging time. Thriver exists because of you!

Website: www.thriverfit.com
Instagram: @thriverfit
Facebook: @thriverfit
Other: Email – info@thriverfit.com