Meet Kelly Etter | Pilates trainer

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

Hi Kelly, what do you attribute your success to?
My commitment to making a positive, healing, encouraging and empowering impact on the world. I believe that my approachability, authenticity and genuine desire to be of service, as well as to have fun, shines through and is a very important factor behind my success and the success of my brand.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My work makes my heart sing because as a teacher of healthy movement I get to be a facilitator of healing and transformation. Via a better understanding of healthy alignment, body mechanics and Pilates, I help people bring themselves out of pain and enjoy a much better quality of life!

I have been told that what sets me apart is my ability to put people at ease: that by being vulnerable I create a safe space for others to be vulnerable and that I have been able to balance that with a delightful sense of humor. Teaching and facilitating are about learning, growing and connecting. The ability to facilitate others’ learning and growing allows me to be of service and gives me a deep sense of purpose.

Right now I am most proud of and excited about the success of the new program I developed to support people while in COVID 19 lockdown: RECLAIM your body, reclaim your LIFE! In 12 weeks you will DISCOVER how to bring your SPINE back into WARRANTY and with it your LIFE! You’ll LEARN how to bring POWER back to your CORE, RECLAIM your POSTURE, and create HABITS that will ENABLE you to ALLEVIATE pain, INCREASE energy, and LIVE the life of STRENGTH and JOY you deeply DESIRE. You will increase your VITALITY and understand how to apply healthy body mechanics throughout your day – enabling you to CONFIDENTLY trust your body to serve you and ELEVATE the quality of your life. I VALUE our relationship and am DEDICATED to helping you feel SAFE, heard, and SUPPORTED; to leave you feeling BETTER than when you arrived.

I am equally excited about and proud of my students and their successes!I received this from one of my RBRL students: ” All your work is coalescing in me being able to reach one of my original goals, developing/folllowing a daily Pilates program. You did the developing, which was mind boggling for me. I’ll do the following with a grateful and joyful heart and an ever stronger, more fluid body-the other goal. I’m jazzed to reach not for he stars but Joe Pilates’ prime. THANK YOU!”

How I got to where I am today is a pretty long circuitous story filled with several challenges, lots of hard work, trial and error, many blessings and lovely people. No, it wasn’t easy. Early on, I overcame being so pigeon toed that I tripped over my feet: leg braces, dance classes and years of hard work and determination led to a nearly twenty year professional musical theatre and dance career; the highlight of which was being a Rockette in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular in Mexico City. Later, via church and movement-Pilates & dance-I overcame the challenge of anxiety and depression brought on by an unwanted divorce. And most recently, I overcame the challenge of COVID 19 lockdown via learning, growing, pivoting and adapting. Focusing on how to be of service and a support to others during that surreal time was the key ingredient to my success.
I learned to keep showing up and giving the best I had to offer; that perseverance pays off.

I want the world to know that the values of kindness and integrity matter most to me. Because we do not know everyone’s story or struggles; life is challenging, everyone can use a little more kindness. Because living with integrity builds trust, fosters strong relationships and inspires others to also live with integrity. I also want them to know that what “sparkles me up” (a phrase which I love, from one of my mentors) is when they apply what I have taught them to feel better, stronger and more confident.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I would take them to Descanso Gardens & Huntington Gardens, to Christian Assembly church, to lunch at Relentless, to brunch &/or dinner at Little Beast in Eagle Rock. I would also take them to a concert at the Greek Theatre and the Hollywood Bowl. We’d have dinner at Alexander’s Steak House in Pasadena and go for a drink and live music in the Tap Room at The Huntington. We’d visit the Getty Museum and walk the gardens there and we’d go hang out at Joe’s Great American Bar & Grill in Burbank for live music and dancing!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
WOW: SO MANY have contributed to my success and where I am in life! Above all, God has blessed me immensely.
Carol Appel trained me and gave me my first Pilates teaching opportunity.
My family and dearest friends have loved, supported and encouraged me.
My current mentors, Anne Bishop and Chantill Lopez, have inspired and challenged me to grow and supported me in branching out and taking risks.
Last and by no means least, my amazing students deserve credit and recognition in my story. So, I’d like to dedicate my shoutout to all of the above!

Website: www.kellyetter.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kellyetterpilates/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-etter-62423633/

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

Yelp: https://www.KellyEtter.com

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX8VKc0V4GA&t=12s

Other: https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/494234653

Image Credits
Rebecca Little Photography