We had the good fortune of connecting with Bridgette Koenig and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Bridgette, what is the most important factor behind your success?
Awaken is a place for women to feel empowered. We want women to be able to experience the feeling of being a badass. Most people associate exercise with an intent to lose weight. At Awaken, we use exercise to tap into our mental well-being by encouraging women to be themselves, be powerful, and bring out their own confidence.

What should our readers know about your business?
When I first came up with the idea of Awaken, I was just getting back into instructing cardio kickboxing and personal training after the 2020 shutdown. I am not a local to the central coast so I was starting from scratch. Kickboxing is something I am passionate about and there wasn’t anywhere in Lompoc that offered what I wanted to train. I benefitted so much from when I was consistently training in kickboxing and there is a special kind of family feel with a kickboxing gym. I wanted to be able to give that feeling to other women.
Awaken Cardio Kickboxing got its name and logo from the phrase “Awaken the lioness within”. To me, this means that inside of us, we have this fierce, strong, intelligent force that needs to be awakened. As women, we are told by society to be a certain way and to be smaller in any way possible, but in the savannas, lionesses are the ones who pull the weight of their community. Lionesses work together and use each others’ strengths to feed the pride and protect their young. That is the type of environment I want to bring to this community.
Women that can be strong, fight, and provide are what is going to make the community we live in a better place.
I was, and still am, shocked at the amount of support Awaken has had even before opening its doors.
Opening a business is never easy, but I am so supported that it makes it feel less stressful.
I had a hard time learning basic business terms and learning about taxes and permits, but I had a lot of help from WEV of Santa Barbara County. I am proud that I didn’t give up on this dream. The amount of women who have told me the impact Awaken has had on them is so worth every struggle.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If my best friend, Michelle, were visiting Lompoc and the central coast, we would be so busy! The first thing we would do is go grab some coffee at SouthSide Coffee. I know we would have so much to catch up on and there are so many cozy nooks to chat and spill some tea. We could not miss a Pole Fitness class at Blooming Energy Yoga Studio. Their pole class is so fun and its a really great workout. Of course, we would visit Capulin Eats and Provisions for an amazing vegan sandwich and take a walk up Bodger Pass and check out the trails that they are working on expanding or explore the trails behind Cabrillo High School in the Burton Mesa Ecological Preserve Trail system.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I could not have done any of this without the help of the Women’s Economic Venture in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. WEV helped me understand business planning, how to use Quickbooks, helped with loans, and has a mentor program that really helped me in my first year. I learned so much through their programs and I will forever be grateful to them.

Website: awakencardiokickboxing.com

Instagram: awaken_lompoc

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Awakencardiokickboxing

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/awaken-lompoc?osq=awaken

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyQrfwQLGZFVcm5C3jSHVGA

Other: training programs: https://www.trainerize.me/profile/awakencardiokickboxing#

Image Credits
Amanda Villalobos, Laura Oldfather, Flying90

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutLA is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.