-When I work out, I like to move in a place without fear of judgment or negativity.

I'm here in Compton at Babes of Wellness to try an upper-body weightlifting class.

Let's get swole.

-What I want you to do is put your arms straight overhead as straight as you can, and I want you to actually hold three seconds at the bottom just so I can assess your form.

-From the moment I step in, founder and CEO of Babes of Wellness, Kat Novoa, sits me down for an intake session, their way to get to know new members.

-We like to just take everyone through a very general assessment just to get a better understanding of where you're at, your goals, and how we can best serve you when you're in our space.

-You do this with every new client?

-Yes.

-That's really cool.

I love that.

Then you get to really know them.

-Exactly.

We build intimacy off the bat.

The first question I'm going to ask you is, what are some of your physical goals?

Now, your physical goals don't necessarily have to mean you want toned abs or stronger upper body.

Just tell me and I'll take notes.

-When I think about my physical health, I think about longevity because I think about all the things that I love to do.

I want to be able to do them for a really long time, for the rest of my life.

-Exactly.

Where is your mental capacity right now?

Maybe something you're struggling with or a goal that you have.

-One of my goals right now is to feel more grounded, physically and emotionally, mentally, spiritually, all the things.

-Part of caring for you and caring for your well-being is understanding your body mechanics, how your body moves, what it can adapt to, the load it can carry to ensure that you move safely through our class.

Are you ready for this?

-That sounds awesome.

I'm stoked.

[laughs] -Okay, let's do it.

-We wrapped up our session and quickly got ready for the class.

The energy was electric as my fellow classmates poured in.

The class starts with a warmup, but then the real work begins.

-I actually started off as a mobile trainer, but that wasn't sustainable.

Moved my practice into the garage.

-How long ago was that?

-That was back in 2019, so right before the pandemic.

-Then what made you decide, okay, I want a space instead of my garage outside of my home?

-I think the community really grew digitally online, especially during the pandemic.

Just realizing that the community of Compton was hit so hard with COVID deaths and sicknesses and knowing that it's a movement desert and a food desert, I said, our community is at a disservice and we need a space.

We're deserving of a space.

Who needs a man when you can carry this yourself?

[music] I lost my dad to COVID, so trying to grieve while serving my community was a challenge in and of itself.

I think I was a little naive coming into it, but I thank my grief for that because a part of me wanted to help other people like my dad and not have the community suffer like I suffered.

Grieving and owning a space and running a business really forced me to come back to my practice.

-I could tell when I walked in.

I was like, okay, something feels this is a gym, but you walk in and you're not in the gym.

You feel very welcome.

Tell me about the importance of making sure everyone felt welcome and included.

-Yes.

I did a lot of advocacy work with women survivors of violence, and for them, safety was the number one thing that was stripped from them.

To me, I always came into this space understanding, being a trauma-informed care practitioner, that I need to make people feel safe.

The gym can be a very intimidating space.

It is a very male-dominated industry.

Especially in this space, women have been told how our bodies should look, the kind of workouts that we should be doing, very cardio-focused, yoga, Pilates, and stay away from this.

You need to look a certain way.

I just want women and queer people to be able to come in and as themselves and be themselves and not try to change to fit into a certain mold, but to just exist and feel good in their bodies and feel good in their hearts and feel good in community.

-Where are you now?

How do you feel now, and what do you see for yourself in the future?

-It really changed me for the better because it forced me to look beyond myself, and as a leader, really forced me to start learning the practice of asking for help and understanding that I can't do it all.

It's really helped me take care of myself so that I can better show up for my community.

-Kat brings all of her knowledge and life experience into the space.

You can see her passion and dedication to the wellness of her community expressed in every person here.

Kat, that was an amazing class.

Very challenging, but so much fun.

Would love to know, Yolie, how long have you been coming here?

What drew you in?

What keeps you coming back?

-I moved here last year, and I was like, where am I going to go?

Where is there a place where I can be around women that are supportive and just all about self-empowerment, community, wellness?

That's really what made me excited about coming in here.

It's a really big deal that you opened this gym, and I feel very divinely guided to be here.

-Divinely guided.

I love that.

Karencitta, you're also an instructor here.

-Yes.

I was a personal trainer on my own prior to this, but I was really longing for community.

I felt like I was by myself and I had my own, but I just wanted more.

I wanted to be part of something bigger.

Just seeing that this is more than just a gym, it's really a wellness space, and with the events and everything that we host, I was so drawn to it and I was like, "This is where I'm meant to be."

Yes, definitely having this space in Compton was just the best.

-I'm really inspired by this amazing group.

They've made me rethink my own health and the way I approach fitness.

Bringing physical and mental health into alignment.

That weightlifting class, Swole Babes, was challenging but very energizing.

I had a great time meeting Kat, doing that intake session, which was both therapeutic and releasing, and it's so great to see the changes happening here in Compton.

Check out Babes of Wellness.

SoCal Wanderer is made possible by the Wurwand Foundation's key initiative to support local entrepreneurs.

FOUND/LA.