Meet Trailblazer Lindsey Rainwater

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lindsey Rainwater.

Lindsey, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
The idea of bringing women together to support each other came to me when I was pregnant with my first son. I will never forget, I was attending a women’s event at a conference learning about personal branding. Sitting across the table from other women, hearing her perspectives and feeling the energy in the room was incredibly refreshing. This was also very unique and different from what I was used to.  I loved that event and when I got back home I started looking to see when the next event or gathering for women in fitness was, and, this particular event was not for a whole year. I started researching and found out that there was not an association supporting women in fitness, we network at events, but nothing connecting us all year long. So, I got to work, I built the website, called on a handful of women that saw the mission and believed in it and we got things up running. I will never forget sitting there with my husband, seven and a half months pregnant and I am looking down at my phone and I said – “Honey, someone from Australia joined and I don’t even know who they are!” It was great how many members joined that first summer we existed. Fast forward to today, we have over 500 global members, are represented all over the industry and are providing speaking opportunities, mentorship for hundreds and creating new opportunities every day.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
From the start I believe WIFA was truly meant to be, and I had a really easy time getting the website up and running and getting launched. The hard work comes in keeping going when others do confront me and disagree with what we are doing, or I come up against a challenge. Keeping up the intensity is my focus everyday. Advise, well, it is critical that as you grow your personal development and self-awareness along the same trajectory as your career success. If you don’t, you become very vulnerable in the way of others being able to intimidate you out of taking action. Knowing yourself is one of the best business skills in my opinion.

Please tell us about The Women In Fitness Association (WIFA).
More about my work, well, depends on the day, LOL. But really I did a LOT of soul searching early in my career and here is what I know, anytime I am influencing positive change, I am in my sweet spot. I thrive in the midst of environments that are in creation, problem-solving mode and want to improve their results! That could be an individual wanting to generate better day to day satisfaction in their life or a company that wants to get a better ROI on their initiatives. I love supporting the change process!

Things I am most proud of giving birth, twice, to two amazing little boys! Creating WIFA, a place where women all over the fitness industry can come and find community and the career support they crave. What I love most about what we are doing, we are generating literal results. We walk our talk, we created 52 new speaking opportunities in 2019 and over 400 mentorships introductions, that’s the kind of activity that generates results.

Finding a mentor and building a network are often cited in studies as a major factor impacting one’s success. Do you have any advice or lessons to share regarding finding a mentor or networking in general?
Absolutely! Stepping into our full potential has never been more encouraged and embraced. We are also in an era where women are supporting other women, that’s not always been the case so seeing that change is very positive.

Contact Info:

• Website: womeninfitness.org
• Phone: 3035193442
• Email: lindsey@womeninfitness.org
• Instagram: @WIFAssocaition
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WomeninFitnessAssociation/
• Other: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thewomeninfitnessassociation/

Image Credit:
https://instagram.com/shelfranciscreative?igshid=1e1bfmwz3ben8 , Shelby Perez

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