Johnia Gigii Williams.
Johnia "Gigii" Williams let off a light giggle as she recalled her journey to create her brand, BodyCamp by Gigii – a fitness center with a physical location at the Big Blue Building in Five Corners on St. Croix — that serves both body and mind.
"I feel like it's been such a long time coming but I'm so full of joy and every time that I think back throughout this whole entire process, it just reminds me constantly just to never give up,” she relayed to the Consortium in a recent interview.
Born and raised on the island of St. Croix, Ms. Williams is a certified personal trainer, certified nutritionist, and certified life coach whose own struggles with body image led her to create an atmosphere for people to thrive and feel healthy.
But the birth of the fitness center did not come without its share of adversity. In 2014, she tore her Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) – one of the four main ligaments in her left knee and again three years later in 2017, she tore the ACL in her right knee. She quickly became depressed and physically inactive and began to stress-eat to the point where she was unable to walk or stand for more than five minutes.
In 2018, Ms. Williams had become the heaviest she had ever been in her life. But instead of continuing a self-defeating practice, she poured her concentration into improving her health and lifestyle.
“You don’t have to be great to start but you have to start in order to be great,” she remarked, noting that the foundation of her business is created on self-love and building confidence.
“A lot of my clients, what they say is that it’s a safe space,” she said, crediting it to her exuberance on the job.
Ms. Williams explained that “They feel motivated, they feel empowered. I think it stems a lot from me — my personality, how I pour into them because even during the workouts or when I meet with them, it’s not only just about the physical aspect. It has a lot to do with the mental; it has a lot to do with improving your quality of life and that stems from a place of hope, that stems from a place of self-love, that stems from a place of positivity."
Ms. Williams is now able to help others to improve their quality of life, saying, “I am excited to continue to change the world one life at a time."
“When God lays something on your heart you have to act on it and even if you don’t know where you’re going to end up, you just have to take a leap of faith and then back that up with the necessary work that it takes,” she added.
Sonsirez Robles, a law student, became a member of the gym this Summer and described it as a “sisterhood”.
"We're all going through the same journey together and we all have different reasons why we're there, but it's like for that hour that we're there, we are united for the common purpose of getting healthy and feeling good for ourselves."
She said the love from staff makes it even easier to focus on one's overall wellness.
“So on days when you really don't feel like working out and when you're struggling with your diet, there's always someone that you can speak to. Even if you don't want to speak to her, there are different individuals that are available and that are understanding," Ms. Robles shared.
Ms. Robles said she can’t wait to go back on her next break to experience that level of support.
“It was really a life-changing experience for me. It's not only about going to the gym and working out, it's really about the overall experience where she provides a nutritionist, [and] she provides a counselor.”
Group Training Sessions Offers:
Personalized training in a fun group setting
Tuesdays and Thursdays @ 5:30 pm $25/session
Gym Memberships
Silver Membership:
- Gym Access Only
- $70/month
- No initiation fee
Gold Membership
- Gym Access & personalized group training classes
- $175/month
- No initiation fee
