Hi, I am Nadja Simon.
I am a personal trainer.
My business is Allon Health
and Wellness in Asheville, North Carolina.
A lot of my clients are
fearful of being in the gym.
They don't know what they're doing.
They don't feel confident.
They want to know how to lift weights.
Maybe their doctor told them
they need to lift weights
and they don't know how.
And they've been sent out into the world
and I try to empower them
and teach them and help them
improve incrementally safely
and make it fun at the same time.
A-B Tech changed my life.
I would not be here if
it wasn't for AB Tech.
And from the moment I enrolled
and was a student from there
I almost think of it as like an octopus.
Just, you know that the
body of AB Tech and being
a student was the most
incredible experience.
And then the offshoot of that
has just been the support
that I have gotten.
I was the first student out of the health
and fitness science program
to get hired to teach Pilates.
That was an amazing experience
because I was hired not only
as a student hired back into the program,
but I had a lot of support from
what were my head instructors
and then became my bosses
to the small business center supporting me
in my new venture.
It's just been this sort
of endless, you know
continuum from being a
student to becoming a grownup
(chuckles) and owning my
own business in Asheville
in the thing I went to school for.
If I could redo anything on
my entrepreneurial journey
it would be to have started a lot younger.
I went back to school midlife.
So I was in my late 40s
when I went back to AB Tech
to completely change careers.
I was an artist and I wish I had known
about this career sooner in life,
but I'm very thankful that I have it now.