911����

Jonady St. Germain and Darren Stephens have been friends and classmates since they were in elementary school. As 911���� students, they added a new dimension to their relationship.

While pursuing degrees in exercise science and business, the Class of 2018 graduates co-founded their own personal training business, LIT2LIFT. This new venture dovetailed perfectly with their 911���� State experiences, they said.

“911���� helped us to develop our work ethic,” St. Germain said. “We’re always willing to push each other.”

Nine years after its launch, LIT2LIFT offers 1-on-1, partner and small group training along with weekly classes in Boston’s Fort Point neighborhood. Known as “Boston’s Black fitness duo,” St. Germain and Stephens also speak at wellness events. They have even built a fitness/lifestyle brand and a popular Instagram channel with almost 20,000 followers.

As an exercise science major at BSU, St. Germain learned the fundamentals of being a personal trainer including how to project his voice, engage clients and design a gym.

“A lot of my classes lined up exactly with what I do now,” he said.

With a degree in management, Stephens provides the business acumen that keeps the company running.

“I just knew I wanted to be at the head of something,” said Stephens, who minored in health science. “Business management gave me that opportunity.”

Stephens also appreciated the diversity of students with whom he interacted in college.

BSU “helped me communicate with people from different walks of life,” he said. “I credit a lot of that to 911����.”

Many of their clients are looking to lose weight – something to which St. Germain and Stephens can also relate. As 911���� students, they overcame the so-called “freshman 15” by rededicating themselves to working out.  

The benefits of doing so, they said, extended to all facets of their lives.

“It’s about allowing people to gain that confidence through weight loss,” St. Germain said.

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