Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Dodd.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I lived in Texas when I was a little girl in Arlington before the Cowboys stadium was there (now I am dating myself) and than moved to New Jersey. My husband, Frankie, and I met in high school where we wrestled on the same team. We have 5 beautiful children and moved to New York as my husband was NYPD. About 3.5 years ago we moved across country when my fourth child was only 10 days old so that he could become a police officer in Fort Worth, Texas. I had always wanted to be back in Texas because it stole my heart as a little girl and is one of the best places to raise children. We do not have family here and I have always wanted to have the village that they speak of and found at times that it was so difficult to find. I had attended FIT4MOM Keller Southlake classes a few times after having my fifth child. (My children are 16, 6, 4, 3 and 2.) I had wanting to find connection because although motherhood is rewarding at times it can feel so isolating. Becoming owner happened so unbelievably quickly. My heart knew it was exactly what I wanted to do and being able to do it with my children right beside me made it even better. My husband is my biggest support and saw the fire that sparked in me once I learned that my location was up for sale and within 6 weeks I became owner of one of the most amazing villages I have ever found. I have done a lot of things in life, but absolutely nothing compares to owning this business and being a mother. I have made so many connections with groups that believe in working together and building each other up and businesses that believe in supporting each other through all stages. Its been beautiful.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I do not think there is anything in life that is meant to be amazing that doesn’t come with some type of struggle. I have worked hard my entire life for everything that I have and there have always been struggles. Having 5 children so close in age is beautiful chaos all the time and after my father passed and not having family here has made the journey rough for us. Taking over a business and learning how to be apart of such an amazing movement has been rewarding but hard work. Being post partum and moving across country to a place where we knew no one so my husband could start a police academy was like starting over but living in Keller, Texas and raising our beautiful family was worth it! These were all struggles through the journey but they also made the journey even more beautiful. I asked my husband this question and he laughed and said “I could write a novel about all the sacrifices and struggles you have endured and how you continue to show up no matter what.” I guess I never really sat down to think of the hard things… just keep moving forward. My motherhood journey had struggles and I had cervical cancer and we didn’t know if we would be able to have more children and ten years later I carried a baby girl to full term and she was 9 pounds and than had 3 more babies.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
FIT4MOM Keller Southlake is part of the nation’s leading prenatal and postnatal fitness program, providing fitness classes and a network of moms to support every stage of motherhood. We offer mommy and me classes like Stroller Strides, mom only classes, FIT4BABY classes for our expecting mamas, virtual and in person classes too. We are set apart from others because we believe in creating healthy habits that our children watch and learn from us while taking care of ourselves too. We have weekly play dates, arts and crafts, DADurdays, LIT4MOM Book Club, monthly Moms Night Out, monthly Family Night out, Run Club and Mama Village Bible Study. We are very community driven as well and love to give back. My mama village has cleaned up parks, helped raise donations for first responders during holiday season and the list goes on. One of my favorite things I have done since becoming owner in the community was at our local Keller Farmers Market I set up a tent as a diaper changing station and nursing station for families and mothers. The amount of thank you messages for having that available to the community is exactly why I do this as an owner. Filling one mama/families cup and the mission part of FIT4MOM is unmatched. We are more than just the workout, we are the mama village that you always wanted to be apart of because motherhood was never meant to be done alone! ALSO I think it is important to point out that although I took this franchise over as FIT4MOM Keller Southlake that we as of this month have classes that branch out to North Fort Worth, Roanoke, Trophy Club, Alliance, North Richland Hills, Watauga, Saginaw, Keller and Southlake!
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
We had over 25 local run businesses at my grand reopening that we supported and that helped support the mama village. I work consistently with local businesses that believe in our workout and our mama village. I love when I get to learn about a new business or an existing business in North Fort Worth, Keller and Southlake and surrounding areas that we can lean on to use indoors when weather limits us from being outside or that we can work with and support them in their journey as well! They are welcome to message me at melissa@fit4mom.com or call my business cell at (817) 889-7172. We collaborate and grow with so many wonderful local mom and pop, mom groups, indoor facilities, mama based businesses. My first 8 week program of Run Club is half way done and we are doing a local 29th Annual Casey’s 5K/Fun Run & KISD Family Health Expo and each week our “group run” has either taken place with Bear Creek Running Co. and their free run they do for the community every single week, or indoors on the track when the cold hit Texas at The Keller Pointe and we even do group runs at our local Farmers Market! We have had so much support from local businesses filling swag bags even Tiny Ms. Keller helped us gather donations for the local first responders. And some of our partners which I am always looking to grow that are indoors include Building Blocks Preschool at Keller United Methodist Church, TOCA of Keller, Top Kids Gym and Sports without this support and collaboration from indoor locations like these it would slow our workout journey down and not have the connection we love.
Pricing:
- $59 Lite membership
- $79 Unlimited
- Class Packs, Run Club and FIT4BABY are session/individual purchases
Contact Info:
- Website: https://keller-southlake.fit4mom.com
- Instagram: fit4momkellersouthlake
- Facebook: Fit4Mom Keller/Southlake
Image Credits
FIT4MOM Keller Southlake
