A venture final project created at SVA MFAD. Hera is an educational platform that teaches women to strength train with a simple barbell by instructing them in all the fundamentals of movement and mental toughness in a 30-day program completed at home. We help women feel more powerful.
In 2011, I was hospitalized for a serious health condition that called for change. I was struggling with depression and anxiety and knew I had to do something. I decided to take responsibility for my health and began weight training, biking and changing my nutrition. I participated in my first strength competition in 2016. By 2018, I had won two powerlifting meets in my weight class and lost 40 pounds. In 2019, I became a Certified Personal Trainer so I could coach other women to change their lives with weights the way strength training had changed my life.
Strength training is an effective tool for women who want to live long, healthy lives, yet only 20% of women participate in it. Our society exerts pressures and expectations for women to be small, quiet, and unassertive. They are more likely to be influenced by the emphasis on cardio and weight loss in our culture, which puts forth an ideal image of women as toned and lean. Many women find that ideal unobtainable, at least in their own minds: Approximately 91% say they are unhappy with their bodies, an attitude that is closely linked to low self-esteem. Strength training offers a powerful antidote to these destructive attitudes.
