Lauri Mazeikas shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Lauri, we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: What do you think is misunderstood about your business?
I believe in the fitness world there’s a lot of misunderstanding about what fitness really looks and how it performs. Many people seem to believe that fit people all look and act a certain way, but fitness comes in all shapes, sizes, and activities. What is one person’s pinnacle of health won’t necessarily match another’s. A good trainer uses the words “it depends” liberally when describing health and fitness and creating a plan for their clients. Yes there are general rules, but following those rules won’t get every person the same results – even though all the results may be good. This is actually great news because that means there are hundreds of different ways to approach health and fitness. I love opening women’s eyes to that and helping them fall in love with processes vs. just results.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Lauri Mazeikas and I am an online personal trainer, exclusively for women. What makes me unique is that I work exclusively with women to help overcome the toxic messaging many of them have been told when it comes to fitness. I love to educate women on the fact that 97% of the health and fitness industry is built on research ONLY DONE ON MEN and then applied to women as if we are small men. There is very little research on women’s only issues from menstruation, to pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause and menopause. Our bodies change dramatically throughout our lifetimes and even in just the cycles of one month. We aren’t crazy! We’ve just never been studied! So as new science and research emerges it is truly a beautiful thing to share that knowledge with women and help them feel supported, loved and accepted in the fitness realm. Women deserve to fall in love with their bodies, their cycles, their natural processes. I love embracing that and helping other women see how beautiful and powerful it is too.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What was your earliest memory of feeling powerful?
I was a ‘tomboy’ growing up in a world and family that did not think girls should play many sports. I advocated hard at seven years old to play soccer, but in my small town there weren’t many soccer teams, and even fewer girls on the teams. My first taste of power came the day I stepped onto an all boys team and was immediately mocked and made fun of. I didn’t care because I knew I was good. Once we started playing, those same boys got real quiet, and by the end of the game one of them came over and said “You’re good. I’m glad you’re on our team.” That was the day I learned that actions speak louder than words and the boys didn’t know as much as about girls as they thought they did.
When did you stop hiding your pain and start using it as power?
2020-2021. I once again was healing from postpartum anxiety and depression that had been lingering since the birth of my last baby in 2018. I got to a place where I started seeing my pain as valuable and that also meant seeing who did not value me. I cut a lot of people out of my life. I shut down my social media. I sold a business and I did everything I could to come to terms with all of my pain throughout all of my life. It wasn’t easy, but it definitely became powerful. I even got a tattoo of a phoenix in the midst of that chaos because I was literally setting myself and my entire nest on fire. I had to burn it all to the ground and let go of a lot of relationships to truly see myself, confront my demons, heal and change. I wouldn’t be able to speak out like I do now if it weren’t for that time. I’ve learned boundaries. Practiced the word ‘no’ and become familiar with it’s power. And I’ve learned what it means to live a life of integrity vs. one that only operates on the approval of others. That has helped me find my voice, my peace and my purpose. It was hard, grueling, dirty work getting here; but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. In fact, I’d offer to anyone else because the woman I am today is so much stronger.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
When we take better care of women, women will transmute that into caring for the world better. Women improve communities, families, nations – but the more we are erased, ignored, hidden, silenced and uncared for the worse it gets for everyone. And yes, women are still erased, ignored, hidden, silenced, abused and neglected at an alarming rate over men. Women deserve so much better – better healthcare, better research, better life-saving care, better mental health support, better safety, better financial security, better cultural support, to feel better, to matter more, to be heard more, to be the ones leading conversations, to be the ones opening doors, to be seen for the goddesses we really are. Talk to any woman and you will see how society has negatively effected them for simply being a woman. Value their experiences and you will know how much fear and anxiety we carry every day. Take our perspective seriously and you will know how deeply regular physical pain and undiagnosed trauma effects our daily life – and how it’s often dismissed or downplayed by the very industries meant to help us. Get below the surface and you will see the mental and emotional loads we carry in society are too heavy. We need support. We need real care. We need to be taken seriously, because when we take better care of women, the world gets better.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What do you think people will most misunderstand about your legacy?
I’ve already dealt with a lot of people who misinterpret my mission as an attack on men. It’s not. I think the same systems that have negatively effected women have also negatively effected men too. I fight from the woman’s perspective because I’m a woman. I know what this body, this physiology feels like. I know sexual harassment, assault, the fear of walking alone, the shoulder shrugs when it comes to my health questions, the loneliness of motherhood, the exhaustion of the mental load and caregiving, the invisible loads every woman carries, the effect of outrageous expectations from society, the beauty industry, and terrible messaging from within my own fitness industry. Women don’t feel heard and there’s societal proof that we’ve been actively ignored (especially by the health and medical industry). Speaking on that is just truth, not an attack on men. Helping women feel supported, stronger, and loved changes the world and makes it a better place for everyone, man or woman.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.themsfitmom.com
- Instagram: @themsfitmom
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauri-mazeikas-08abb727/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lauri.mazeikas
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thems.fitmom7498
- Other: TikTok: @the.msfit.mom
Image Credits
Brittani Louise Photography for one of the Ironman finish line pics
