Ary Nunez started practicing martial arts when she was five years old and she hasn’t stopped since. Now, she’s mastered her skills, branched out to explore her dreams, and is building her own fitness empire as a personal trainer and entrepreneur.

Photo Credit: Kristian Ranker

What is a typical day like for you?

I get up every morning at 4 or 5 a.m. and I walk three-quarters of a mile to the train. I like to warm up in the morning before I do anything to get my mind and my body going. It’s a form of meditation for me. Then I train clients in the morning from 6 or 7 a.m. to about noon. Around mid-day I work on creating projects or develop existing projects, and build my business. Then in the evening I teach classes at a gym or train clients.

You do so many things, how did you get where you are today? What was your career path?

My father was a martial artist, so I started karate at five. Then I began tae kwon do and kung fu. I was also a dancer.

I put myself through college then went to work for a cruise line doing marketing work. The company re-located from New York to Miami and gave employees the option to keep their jobs and move to Miami or stay in New York, receive one full year of pay, and find a new job. I told myself that this meant that I now had one full year to develop what I really wanted to do.

I designed a fitness class based on martial arts and dance, got certified as a personal trainer, and started practicing. Gyms went crazy wanting to host my class and it became really popular. I started receiving press and responding to it. Life just happens. It’s like catching a ball and saying, “This is an opportunity, what will I do with it?”

In your workouts you combine dance and martial arts. What made you incorporate these specific styles?

My goal in life is to fuse everything, and I think that’s because I come from a mixed background(Dominican, Spanish, Argentinean, Haitian, and English). Nothing exists alone and we are affected by everything, whether it’s your environment, your family, your genes, or your culture. If you take hip-hop and kung fu and fuse them together it becomes a completely different movement and it’s beautiful.

I also think fusion promotes education. [It might encourage you] to learn more about the regions where these arts, like kung fu and hip-hop for example, originated. I fuse culture, movement, and philosophy because I like to mix it all up and see what happens.

What advice do you have for girls who want to turn their interest in sports into a career?

1. You need an education and a strong foundation. No matter what your passion is you need support.
2. Practice everyday. No one feels 100 percent everyday, so one day you might want to work on a certain aspect of your sport or maybe you need to meditate and think about your sport.
3. Embrace your talents and let go of what you think people expect you to do because if you know what your talents are, you won’t second-guess yourself. You have to trust yourself, whatever shape or color you are.
4. You should compete against yourself, not your competitor, not your neighbor. If you compete against yourself you’re always going to be better.

As a fitness instructor how do you motivate your students, especially when they are new to a class?

I like to motivate people by finding something that we share and just making people feel comfortable and welcome. I start class by saying that we’re all in the same place and let’s focus on what we’re doing now. Let’s get out of yesterday and tomorrow and just focus on “right now.” Once you are in the moment you don’t care about what everyone else is doing and you just focus on yourself.

In previous interviews you have said that you are very aware that you are a role model, especially for young Latinas. Who were your role models growing up?

My first role model was my father for giving me the practice of martial arts, literature, and confidence. My mom instilled spirituality and girl power in me. She also raised four children alone after my dad passed away when I was young. I never went without and I never felt poor. She showed me that you may not be perfect, but you can do whatever you want to do.

My secondary role models were my teachers. I also believe in God because I think that there is something bigger then me. If I’m alone and I’m having a problem I pray.

You have your own non-profit organization that uses fitness and health to empower youth. What made you want to start an organization that works specifically with kids? What has been the most rewarding experience you have gained by working with youth?

I had a challenging childhood and I want to offer opportunities to children. My non-profit started as a reaction to what my community (the Latino community) looked like. It is in a scary state and I wanted to educate older people who were stuck in their ways by getting their kids to work out and have the children influence their parents.

I am also volunteering for an organization called New Alternatives for Children, Incorporated, which works with children with medical challenges, and this upcoming school semester I will be teaching middle school girls martial arts, which is very exciting for me!

What do you do for fun?

I love kung fu, spending time with friends and family, eating, exploring the world and its many cultures, watching movies, laughing so hard it hurts, walking, jogging, and dancing with my friends on Friday nights. I love to dream and I always write down my dreams, but once I write them down I have to make them happen.

Read: 1 Corinthians 7:17-24

Go home to your friends, and
tell them what great things
the Lord has done for you.
-Mark 5:19

“Find your own Calcutta.” That was the response Mother Teresa sent to a woman who wanted to join her in ministering to one of India’s most crowded cities. What is Calcutta?! Calcutta is the place in India where Mother Teresa cares for the widows, orphans, homeless, underprivileged and dying.

Did you know that nearly half of the homeless are children? It is sobering to think of innocent babies, toddlers, elementary, middle-schoolers and teenagers wandering the streets with their mothers because of abuse, neglect, poor decisions or a crisis that left them homeless.

“What have you done this past year to make a helpful difference within a mile of your home?” The hungry, the suffering, the unevangelized at our doorstep lack the more appealing aura of the needy souls elsewhere on the planet. But the ones closest to us are those whose needs we are best equipped to meet. I once heard a quote, “don’t pray for God to feed the hungry when you have plenty of food.”

Let’s take personally what Jesus said to a man He had set free from demons: “Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the lord has done for you” (Mk. 5:19).

If we look around us through the eyes of Jesus, we’re sure to find a Calcutta close by.

It doesn’t matter your age, you can make a difference. The mission field is closer by than you think.

For those in SURGE, remember the Deacon’s conference?

Porn. Yes, we all know what it is for the most part. We’ve heard about it, read about it, maybe even seen it or know others who see it on a regular basis. I don’t know about you, but deep down I know it is unacceptable and not pleasing to God.

I had a serious boyfriend who was addicted to pornography. I found out because I was on his computer one day “checking my email” as I was snooping through the history of the websites that he had frequented in the past week. I clicked on a couple that sounded extremely questionable and I was so shocked. Shock was about all there was to describe my instant reaction, followed closely by a feeling of anger and betrayal. I was growing to respect this man who I thought loved God and then I discovered this! He and his friends told me that all guys do it-it’s only an addiction if you look at it “x” amount of times, etc. He tried to tell me that it in no way had to do with me because he didn’t compare me to these naked, crazy women at all.

I somehow felt so defiled. I felt so unvalued. I felt inadequate and insecure. I almost felt guilty for a second because I would not have sex with him and wondered if that was why he was looking at this stuff.

I could not take it. We definitely broke up.

I just really want to encourage you to stand firm in what you know is right. God is calling us to soo much more than this. Never settle. Never lower your standards. Never let someone else try to justify what you know in your heart is the right thing. Never start believing those kinds of lies these guys were trying to tell me. And definitely never start listening to the lies Satan tries to throw at you about it being your fault.

Not everyone is involved with porn-so don’t believe it.

Here is another story from a girl named Rachel who was affected by porn in a different way from a man she and her family knew and trusted:

What if…
We weren’t so quiet about this issue?
We actually believed that not every guy is into porn?
We actually believed God calls us to a much higher standard?