Beach Camp For Goddesses

Urban Goddess was founded in 2004 by Melisa George and has been established to nurture women who live in urban surroundings and feel the need to nourish their physical, spiritual and emotional self.

Melisa has an extensive exercise and outdoor sporting background, utilising her skills to develop well-balanced programs suitable to one on one and group exercise training for women. She prides herself on being an energetic, fun and a motivated person that has the desire to help you achieve your goals. Melisa is also the editor of Shine Magazine, the Shires fastest growing “Health and Lifestyle” magazine. Shine Magazine was founded by Melisa in 2005 to bring like-minded women together in the business of “Health and Healing” to educate and direct women and their families to a better quality of life.

Melisa knows the benefits and rewards health and fitness can bring. Growing up with involvement in surf lifesavings movement and progressing to become a state and national surfing champion by the age of 18. As a natural progression, snowboarding followed along with numerous surf/snow events in Australia and NZ alongside her husband Brad.  Outdoor activities bring adventure and she can’t get enough of leisurely activities such as surfing, bushwalking, ocean swimming, and her newly found love of trout fishing in the snowy mountains.

Melisa is a strong believer that health and fitness should be a part of everyone’s life, and that it should be enjoyed. As a personal trainer, her goal is to educate women on the benefits of health and fitness and to make exercise enjoyable. Melisa feels individuals should exercise because they want to, and because they enjoy it, not because they feel they have to. Melisa has mature leadership skills and will help break old habits and create positive new ones by keeping you motivated with goal setting, dietary analysis, and various challenges. Melisa will listen to you and your needs, and will devise the best program for you to reach your goals fast!

Hayley Thomas

Hayley has participated in physical activities since her early childhood and lives and breathes a healthy life.  Having enjoyed over 10 years dancing and playing netball she understands about maintaining her fitness at a competitive level.  In more recent years Hayley has also continued her team sports playing football and oztag with friends.  Growing up on the coast has led her to continue enjoying the outdoor lifestyle and activities of swimming, running and surfing to keep her in fitness on track.

Hayley encourages the importance of physical exercise and living a healthy lifestyle to her friends and family, which eventually led her to become a personal trainer. The natural progression then followed to help encourage women to find balance in their lifestyle through health (nutrition) and fitness. This involves having fun during workouts and on completion feeling fit, strong and energised ready to take on the challenges of the day or week ahead.  Her technical skill, exercise technique and manner in which she delivers her training sessions is a valued asset comes naturally to Hayley and in return delivers the results clients are looking for.

Since becoming part of the Urban Goddess team in 2008 Hayley has shown her extensive variety of training ideas and experiences. Her approachable personality and zest for life has proven to be popular amongst her clients and at group training sessions. Hayley makes sessions enjoyable yet challenging enough to give results without the added yelling and punishing techniques that more so discourage then encourage the individual. A positive trainer with a positive approach!

Jess has always been sports-mad; participating in oz tag, netball and outdoor adventure at every opportunity. Becoming a personal trainer has been Jess's dream since high school - she knew that she wanted to help others discover the enjoyment that sport and exercise can bring.

Jess understands how important physical activity is in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and that different people have a variety of different reasons for participating in regular exercise. As your personal trainer, Jess guarantees that she will listen to your wants and needs, and together you can set and achieve the goals that are important to you. She will support, motivate and encourage you in every aspect of your programe, endeavoring to make your exercise experience positive and tailored to your individual goals.

Together, Jess will achieve the results you have always wanted. Improvement in general health and fitness, tone your body (including nutritional advice), better muscular strength and endurance, to engage in sports specific training, or simply to have more FUN in an exercise environment!

Jess has been on the Urban Goddess Team for two years after meeting Melisa at an elite personal training boxing course. Achieving fantastic results for many Urban Goddess clients from fat loss to running a new distance never achieved before. Jess packs a hard and fast punch, and is a very popular trainer who has a kind nature and quirky sense of humor.

Lois Wolf

Lois is an energetic and knowledgeable fitness trainer working in the industry for close to 10 years. Married, and a mother to three teenage children, she has a realistic understanding of how to achieve balance in finding time for herself and her family. Lois has been involved in fitness since her early teens- bike riding, running and swimming, hence her love for triathlons.

In early 2000, Lois established her personal training business from home and conducted aerobics classes at clubs and dance centres. In between training clients and group exercise classes, Lois worked as a massage therapist for physiotherapists so has a gained a more in-depth understanding of how the body works and injury prevention.  Later, down the track Lois began working for a corporate fitness travel company that led her to becoming manager of Toyota Corporate Gym at Woolooware. Managing the programs and sessions for over 400 staff members including personal training, group training, corporate games and events. Lois has great people skills, knowledge and experience working with such a variety of clients on a day-to-day basis with mature leadership skills.

Three years ago Lois ruptured a disc in her back and is unable to run any great distance (meaning over 10kms) and her main form of exercising is cycling. Lois clocks up over 200km per week cycling to and from work and along the coastal road to Wollongong for pleasure. Being a fan of the outdoors, Lois’s list of other leisure activities are skiing, kayaking and bushwalking.

Lois is our newest trainer to the team showing her strengths  at  KayakFIT sessions on Gunnamatta Bay and enjoying the challenges of her newly found skill of driving a manual!

Kristy Grant

Kristy is our newest Trainer to Urban Goddess and brings with her a passion for not only fitness but also for working with people, helping them to set & achieve their own goals, overcome life’s little hurdles and most of all enjoy their health & happiness. Through nurturing, education & a tough but enjoyable physical training session Kristy gains a great sense of satisfaction from passing on the many health & fitness tips that improve ones lifestyle, self esteem and general health & fitness leading to a longer quality life time.

Kristy has always enjoyed & been involved in a wide variety of physical activities having been encouraged from a young age about the importance of sport and fitness and most of all to have fun during these activities to ensure a good level of personal fitness & balancing all of this with a healthy diet. Nutrition has also always been a big part of her life thanks to a very healthy Mum who engrained these wonderful eating habits very early on & led her to study Nutrition & Food Science at school & years later Kristy now enjoys experimenting in the kitchen with her own healthy new recipes!

Having always been a Shire person, Kristy enjoys making the most of the beautiful outdoors we have here in Australia, some of her favourite activities being wakeboarding, learning to surf, diving, tennis and weekends spent going to the beach and camping. Growing up Kristy was a strong swimmer and played competitive A-Grade tennis and now loves balancing the varied workouts of Urban Goddess with her own workouts & classes at the gym each morning.
 
Since leaving school Kristy has worked in the customer service industry in varying roles & industries giving her well over 10 years of people interaction experience. It is this experience combined with her knack of communicating and relating to people on different levels as well as a deep understanding of the importance of listening & empathising, that allow Kristy to form solid relationships making people feel comfortable and able to share their goals and motivations for health & fitness.