Today we’d like to introduce you to Rose Njoku.
Hi Rose, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I’ve always been athletic, especially growing up in Nigeria. I have 3 brothers and I always wanted to do everything they were doing so you can imagine that. I have sisters as well but I was more of a tomboy and 2 of my brother are closer to my age than my sisters are so I spent more time hanging out with them. I really got into working out in middle school. I realized my love for sports so I decided to play literally everything I could to be in season throughout the whole school year. I played volleyball, basketball, ran track, and I almost did soccer even lol but it clashed so I had to sit that one out I still wish I did though every time I see soccer a cool clip. I did all three of those sports in middle school all the way until high school, I knew in my mind that I was gonna go to college playing one of them it was just a matter of which one was going to get me there. In high school around my junior year is when I started doing little things like not eating fast food and drinking soda just to increase my chances of performing well to make sure I go D1. It was so crazy to me when I did in fact get recruited by different D1 schools for all three sports I was so shaking, like wow, I really did it. Although it was a tough decision between volleyball & track, I decided to run track at Texas Tech University, where I became a heptathlete doing 7 different events which are 110 hurdles, 200,800, high jump, long jump, javelin & shot put. Another crazy thing is that I actually really hated the weight room in college because after a long track practice running multiple 400s, 600s, 200s, etc. all you want to do is go home, eat and sleep but we had to hit weights after which I definitely tried to skip some days to be honest but that never worked out for me lol our strength coach Matt (best strength coach ever!) would literally come hunting you down. So after 4 years of being a student athlete I learned a lot things like how to balance, have courage, strength, grit, overcome adversities and most importantly how to be disciplined and how to stay disciplined. It was also then I realized I liked being a content creator. In my junior year I started doing YouTube I would vlog my track meets, our travel days, practice days, gear reviews, also filmed some summer workouts etc. but it was short lived because my senior year came around and that is when covid hit, everything was over. My last senior season got cancelled which was devastating at first but I was fine with it if I’m being honest I was getting tired I love the sport but it wasn’t anything I wanted to take seriously. YouTube wise I was hurt because I remember my YouTube had just hit 1000 subscribers lol and I didn’t know which direction I wanted to take it afterward so I left that platform but I do plan on returning someday, hopefully soon. But so with track being over at that time I decided to give myself a break from it all and during the break, I started to gain a lot of weight I was eating any and everything, but I always knew when the time comes I could lose it all so I just let myself go. Summer came around and it was time to go home, I walked in the house and my brother was like “your cheeks are huge!” and that was when I was like okay it’s time to work. Me and my best friend Kimberly Iwunze she lives in the same neighborhood just a couple streets over. We’ve been friends for like 15 years now since elementary. We were both in the same predicament with our bodies so we started running up to 4 miles every single day throughout summer running bridges, trails, running around the neighborhood, just straight cardio and we would just post a story or 2 on our Instagram pages and people would always ask us fitness questions often. With all the attention and questions we started getting on our individual platforms we decided to start a fitness Instagram page together which is @kxr_fitness. We started posting workouts around July 2020 peak covid time. I feel like that was honestly the best time to start anything. Because the world froze for about 2 years people were just at home on social media, if you didn’t take advantage of that in some way you did covid wrong lol even if it wasn’t social media based I feel like covid was a good time to work on yourself, learn a new skill, rebrand, plan your life goals etc. but I digress, when we started our page it wasn’t moving fast follower based wise but we kept going and being consistent. The second year of covid is when I decided to get on Tik Tok and I remember during a snow storm, I posted a workout video on there and it went viral so I was like, okay, let me continue this and on Snapchat, reached out to me to be a creator on their app which I’m currently still doing. Then I was like okay let me start making reels on Instagram and those started going viral as well. Brands started wanting to collaborate on both my Instagram and Tik Tok and I just continued to grow from then. With my fitness brand at first things were moving slowly but we stuck to it and kept being consistent and now we’ve grown a lot and have worked with a lot of brands from popular brands to smaller brands. We are also sponsored by two brands which are Women’s Best and TlF apparel which is such a blessing and a huge accomplishment for us. I just thank God for it all I’m doing all of this while currently a nursing student. The younger me in Nigeria would probably think I’m so cool and the college me would be extremely surprised that I go to the gym 5 days a week & I’m so proud of myself for that.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
There have definitely been some struggles, when you’re working towards a goal, there are a lot of obstacles and challenges that you face. You deal with things like body dysmorphia, feeling like you’re not doing enough, losing motivation as well as the struggle of being consistent that’s just to name a few general challenges. But personally all although I go through some of those things I’m never too hard on myself, when I feel like I need a break, I take a break. It’s important to listen to your body and not overdo it and push yourself too much. It has to be fun for you & stress-free, you know!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Im currently a nursing school student so health and wellness is something i really have a passion for even outside of the gym. My current focus right now is graduating and balancing life between motivating others and myself through it all.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I consider myself a risk taker. I think life is all about taking risks. You never want to be too comfortable. I think for growth it’s important to step outside your comfort zone, do things you want to do, and execute ideas you have. Being scared is never going to get you anywhere it’s only going to slow you down or keep you stagnant.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/rosenjoku
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rosenjoku_/?hl=en
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosenjoku_
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsXXHhIsWPbp8bT6XCoVn9Q?app=desktop
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@rosenjoku
