Educating & Empowering Women through Pilates & Physio

The drive: What challenges have you overcome?

I grew up in a low-income family in South Africa, studied hard and was able to secure a bursary to complete my studies, which was incredibly challenging. I started my own business while having 2 children in the 4 years it ran and successfully registered with the Physio New Zealand board while pregnant. I immigrated my family from South Africa with a 6-month-old baby and a 2-year-old, left everything I knew behind – my business, my home, every person I knew and all my family – for the hope of a safe and secure future for my family. We are now proud citizens of New Zealand and It was worth every drop of sweat and tears. We are once again able to own our own home in New Zealand (which was very challenging in these economic times) and managed to keep our physio and Pilates business going through COVID.

For better or worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?

In terms of cons, every hat is on your head: reception, administration, bookings, invoices – it’s all on you. It does mean I work late most days. It can get pretty stressful because I am hard on myself. However, I think the kids are proud of their mum because they understand I am going out of my way to help people heal and prevent re-injury. In our community, people actually come up to us to say thank you for the impact we make, when we are with the kids sometimes, and the kids can see that and it makes them smile. My daughter says I am famous because of the use of social media to educate people, which makes me giggle.

The best part for me is the complete control of my diary so I can keep my promise to my kids. If there is an outing or sausage sizzle, I am there, no question about it.