It comes full circle

Written by Natalie Lavery ('19)

Like many freshman students, Yasmin Elgibali (’11) started her first few days of 1787 August Orientation barely knowing anyone and nervous beyond belief.

Scared but not discouraged, she headed to UREC Fest in hopes of finding her home on campus. It was here that she found out about the semester-long group exercise instructor course and immediately registered. 

It was this course and her job as a Group Exercise instructor, which followed the class that paved the path for the rest of Yasmin’s JMU career and beyond. As a group exercise instructor, she taught all formats for all four years, but step aerobics was her favorite.

“That is when I fell in love with helping people get more fit and feel confident about themselves,” Yasmin said. “It also helped me have more confidence and I just loved be a part of an amazing community.”

Through her job as an instructor she participated in a co-curricular class designed for peers to motivate others through motion. Through this class she volunteered doing fitness events and wellness programs around Harrisonburg. Her senior year she was the teaching assistant for the course, where she co-led the class, built relationships with local schools and retirement facilities, and conducted trainings.

As a marketing major, and someone who is constantly on the search for new opportunities, Yasmin jumped at the chance to join the UREC marketing team and dueled as a UREC marketing intern as a part of her senior capstone.

“When I got my job as a Marketing Assistant I had never used Photoshop or anything in Adobe Suite, but I was able to learn how to navigate the world of design from others on the team,” Yasmin said. “Most of the other marketing assistants were graphic design majors so they were all really good at teaching me. I feel like it really prepared me for one of my first jobs in advertising.”

Shortly after graduation Yasmin worked at a few advertising agencies in New York City as an account executive and then in digital production. Thanks to her marketing job at UREC, she understood things from a designer's perspective and quickly learned how to do client basing.

“When I came into the advertising world I felt like I could hone in on how to communicate with clients in a professional way while also knowing how to ask them the right questions to produce work that aligned with their business goals and objectives,” Yasmin said.

 
Yasmin worked at a few other advertising agencies and then wanted to shift gears, so she started working for a national hotel loyalty program. After working her 9-5 jobs, she decided she wanted to explore something new — something that aligned with her passion for fitness and wellness. She began teaching group exercise again and shortly after ran into a mutual friend at a wedding who started a fitness company in New York. Through this conversation, she got a managing job at a 305 Fitness studio in Washington D.C.. Yasmin is responsible for studio operations, growing client traffic, managing & training the team, local marketing, and overall client experience.

“I think working at UREC, both from a marketing and a group exercise side, helped me look at it through a lens of what would people who are taking the class want from the studio,” Yasmin said.

 
Yasmin explained that she learned the importance of having a product that is consistent across cities and one that exceeds people's expectations.

 
“This is something UREC does really well,” Yasmin said. “They are really good at anticipating what students are looking for.”

 
Yasmin encourages all JMU students to take advantage of all the opportunities that UREC offers and to learn through asking questions, and being innovative.

 
“Basically how UREC helped me was it gave me the skills I needed to grow my career,” Yasmin said. “Even at my job now, while I am not teaching the class, I understand the importance of gauging what the participants are looking for and knowing how can I amplify the experience.”