Gabriella Violi thought an office job would be her goal in life. Years later, she’s opened a personal training studio and found her true calling. She talks to Teagan Bell about the inspiration behind starting her own business and the secrets to her success.
Gabriella Violi is a confident, outgoing businesswoman.
Balancing her time between two jobs she adores and enjoying married life with husband, Brendan, she’s living life to the fullest.
But, like most stories of success, this wasn’t always the case.
Born and raised in Merbein, Gabriella was an active child and teenager, being an avid dancer both inside and outside of school.
Although she had considered following dance as a career path, she says an office job was her ultimate goal.
“Being in high school I still enjoyed dancing, but my dream was to complete Year 12, land a full time office job and find a suitable bachelor to be my husband,” she says with a laugh.
“I don’t think my careers counsellor was very impressed.”
To her delight, Gabriella scored an office job as soon as she left high school. But she also gained something else unexpected.
“I loved my office job, I loved where I worked, who I worked with and the hours of it all,” she says.
“But I had quit dance to focus on my career and along with gaining my full time job, I had gained more than 15 kilos.”
While Gabriella was starting to feel unhealthy, she says comments she was receiving about her appearance were what gave her confidence a bashing.
“People had started to make comments about me being a little more ‘beefy’ and ‘chubby’,” she says.
“I had been quite a petite girl and very active with dance, so comments like this started to play with my head.
“Some said it out of concern and others said it to put me down. Maybe they didn’t realise how much I took it on board, but I did and my confidence levels were so low.”
Rather than let the vitriol get the better of her, Gabriella started working out with Irymple-based personal trainer (PT) Bianca Romeo. It was a move she says has changed her life.
“A group of us girls started going to classes with Bianca and I just connected with her. She pushed me, motivated me, congratulated me on any achievement I’d made,” she says.
“I started seeing results in the mirror and I also started to see results mentally – the things you can’t see in the mirror.
“I started buying tighter clothes again, I started posting more selfies and then my confidence returned with all the new comments I was receiving.”
But the thrill of regaining her health and happiness wasn’t enough.
“Training with Bianca I thought ‘wow, how amazing is this! What a dream job! To give people self love, to help someone reach their goals, to be a friend and push them with words of encouragement,” Gabriella says.
Meeting future husband Brendan in 2013, Gabriella trained with Bianca until her wedding day in September 2017, after which she moved to Euston to start her new life.
“It was then I thought about how my dream was to give back to others what my trainer had given to me,” she says.
Studying at the Australian Institute of Personal Trainers, Gabriella became a qualified PT in December 2018 and made the decision to open her own training studio, Fitness By G.
“Starting the business was always on the cards the minute I signed up to do my course, but I was a little scared,” she says.
“My husband is a very positive person and when I hinted that I wanted to start the business he said to me ‘you do the course and we will make it happen’.”
Now, a year after Fitness By G opened to the public, Gabriella says she’s living her dream.
“I pinch myself every time I walk into my gym and think ‘I can’t believe this is my life’.”
