Hey! We’re Coach Mel and Courtney. We’re friends turned business partners who first met while earning our Master’s degrees in Applied Behavior Analysis at the Florida Institute of Technology. Today, we combine our backgrounds in behavioral science and strength training to provide online personal training for women athletes who want to get stronger, perform better, and feel confident in the gym.

As NASM Certified Personal Trainers and athletes ourselves, we understand how overwhelming strength training can feel when you are unsure of form, worried about injury, or bombarded with misinformation about lifting as a woman. That’s why our coaching goes beyond workouts. We focus on proper technique, progressive strength training, and education, while using behavioral science to help you build habits, confidence, and routines that actually last.

At EmpowHER Strength, our mission is to help women athletes feel strong, capable, and empowered in their bodies. Whether you are lifting for the first time or looking to improve performance in your sport, we are here to guide you with expert coaching, support you through the ups and downs, and help you build strength that transfers both in and out of the gym.

Who We Are

Let's work together!

A woman taking a selfie in a gym, making a peace sign with her right hand.

Meet Coach Mel

Coach Mel is a lifelong athlete who knows exactly what it feels like to love a sport, train hard, and still feel held back by recurring injuries.

She started kickboxing and karate at age 5 and trained until 22, then transitioned straight into Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, where she has trained consistently for the past 5 years. Growing up, she played almost every sport you can imagine including soccer, basketball, volleyball, lacrosse, track and field, gymnastics, and dance. Movement has always been part of her identity.

But like many women athletes, Mel hit a wall. Repetitive shoulder and hip injuries, especially from sparring, would flare up again and again. She tried to outwork the problem by overtraining, doing nonstop conditioning, bodyweight workouts, and YouTube ab videos, with only the occasional random weightlifting session.

Everything changed when she finally committed to strength training.

In 2019, Mel began teaching spin classes and discovered a passion for strength training after stepping in to coach bootcamp sessions. What started as curiosity quickly became a calling. She went on to earn her NASM Personal Training Certification and a Master’s degree in Applied Behavior Analysis.

Mel has coached both men and women ages 3 to 70 through group fitness, kickboxing classes, and one-on-one personal training. Her unique strength as a coach comes from combining performance and form focused training with a deep understanding of human behavior. With her background in ABA, she focuses on the “why” behind your habits, helping clients build routines that actually stick and make changes that last.

Today, Mel works at the prestigious CERN in Switzerland, training particle physicists, engineers, and high performers to lift heavy with confidence. She also founded CERN’s first women-only powerlifting class, teaching dozens of women how to lift safely, progress strategically, and build real strength in the gym.

Mel’s own strength journey has completely changed her athletic performance, especially in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Since starting structured strength training, her injuries have become far less frequent, her confidence has grown tremendously, and her physique has noticeably improved, all while supporting her performance on the mats.

She’s proof of what we at EmpowHER Strength believe wholeheartedly:

Women athletes do not need more conditioning. They need strength that supports their sport and protects their body.

A woman standing between two punching bags, flexing her biceps and smiling, wearing a white sports bra, black pants, white sneakers, a cap, and a watch.

Meet Coach Courtney

Courtney’s relationship with movement started early, and it was anything but one-dimensional. She began gymnastics at just four years old and competed through age 18, learning discipline, body awareness, and resilience through years of structured training. Alongside gymnastics, she explored and competed in a wide range of sports including soccer, track and field, BMX, dance, volleyball, and competitive swimming.

When her competitive gymnastics career ended at 18, Courtney faced a familiar crossroads many athletes experience: figuring out what comes next. She found that next challenge in endurance sports, eventually training for and completing a half marathon in 2017. But during marathon training, she began experiencing significant knee and back pain. Like many endurance athletes, she assumed the solution was to reduce or remove strength training altogether, only to realize that this decision made things worse, not better.

That realization became a turning point.

Courtney shifted her focus toward intentional strength training, learning how to rebuild her body instead of constantly pushing through pain. She immersed herself in research, mobility work, and progressive programming to rehab old injuries and support long-term performance. In 2022, she earned her NASM Personal Training Certification and began working at a commercial gym, where she coached 30+ clients with diverse goals, from returning to activity after injury to building confidence, strength, and resilience in the gym.

Through coaching, Courtney discovered her true passion: helping people feel capable and confident in their bodies, not just during workouts, but in everyday life and sport. In 2023, she began graduate school in Applied Behavior Analysis, recognizing that physical progress means little without sustainable behavior change. While ABA is often associated with autism, Courtney saw its powerful application in health and fitness. She began integrating behavior science into her coaching, focusing on habit formation, motivation, and consistency, the factors that determine whether progress actually lasts.

Today, Courtney works with hybrid athletes and active individuals who love multiple sports but feel stuck, injured, or unsure how to train in a way that supports everything they do. Her coaching blends evidence-based strength training with behavior-analytic principles to create programs that are not only effective, but sustainable.

Her philosophy is simple:

You don’t need more training volume.

You need strength that supports your sport, protects your body, and fits your real life.