Shelley Brown

I have been in the fitness industry for 19 years and I have taught group fitness classes for over 13 years. I started my aerobic teaching career at Park Fitness where I was inspired to teach from the encouragement of the Group Fitness Director. In 2000, I became a Can Fit Pro Fitness Instructor Specialist and started teaching classes at Park Fitness.  In 2001, I became Body Training Systems (BTS) Body Step certified and taught for GoodLife Fitness in Milton for 2 years. When I returned to Brantford in 2004, I continued my teaching and work career for the Athletic Club. I loved to teach body sculpt and boxing classes, but found myself getting bored of “traditional aerobics classes.”  In 2008, I saw a certification coming to Toronto called “Zumba” – I had no idea what that was all about , but it said dance and fun so I signed up for the certification. I was one of the first 100 people to become certified in Canada in Zumba. Pregnant at the time of taking the certification, I had to wait a while before I could teach the program at the Athletic Club. Five awesome years later the program is still flourishing here!

Most people know me in Brantford now as “Zumba instructor Shelley,” not many people know I actually work for the Athletic Club as the Club Administrator, have a Zumba business with my sister called The Zumbatwins, I am a full-time mother of two boys, and teach for another fitness company called Imagine Dance and Fitness. I can’t go anywhere in Brantford without someone saying “oh I heard about your Zumba classes.” How amazing is that to be recognized for something I work so hard at and I am so passionate about? I love inspiring people through dance fitness to become active and to grow into  Zumba instructors on their own. My goal is to continually work on challenging my participants to achieve what they thought was not possible. I donate a lot of my free time to host and participate in Zumba-thons in Brantford and Brant County, along with going to schools to promote fitness to children. My classes have inspired a group called the “Zumba Squad” – it’s a group of over 90 school-aged children that participate daily in zumba at their school. It is taught by two amazing participants that come to my class on a regular basis. I am very proud of what I do every day for people and I won’t ever slow down until my body tells me too! ZUMBA LOVE!