On the list of Canada’s health and fitness influencers making a major impact on women, Samantha Cutler is on a heartfelt mission. Founder of The Fit Fatale––a diverse community of fitness enthusiasts determined to better their health through healthier lifestyle choices. In Samantha’s own words “I truly didn’t start this community to be inspirational, but rather less lonely. As I embarked on Health Coach Training, speaking to experts and really doing the work to learn and figure out what worked for my body, I saw people gravitating towards me to learn how I was doing it,” encapsulates how her work has positively influenced hundreds of thousands of women across the globe. Elixuer recently spoke with Samantha about her work, its impact, and goals for the future.
What’s the inspiration behind The Fit Fatale and when did it all begin?
I started The Fit Fatale community as an Instagram account back in 2015. I was on my own personal journey to heal my adult acne, chronic inflammation, brittle hair and nails, and general misunderstanding of wellness. I grew up on diet culture, jumping from one drastic thing to the next, trying to solve the way I felt both physically and emotionally. I understood after years of yo-yo-ing that these temporary fixes were not working, but I had no idea how to find a more holistic approach to health. Today I have built a community of 285k women around the world, and I couldn’t feel more grateful for each of them too. I now truly know I am never alone, and I hope they do too.
What has been your biggest accomplishment regarding creating awareness for women’s health?
It’s really the smaller things that feel like the biggest accomplishments. It isn’t being invited to an event to speak to hundreds of women, or getting featured in a cool interview (although I love and appreciate every single opportunity). But what really lights up my soul is hearing that someone’s life is positively impacted by my story. Most of us are not fortunate enough to continuously get positive feedback from our community, clients and peers–I know this is a blessing because it has been what fuels me in my harder moments. I have a folder saved on my phone called “TFF love” where I save messages every time I get a DM, email or chat message from a woman telling me how much my content helped her. These are truly my biggest accomplishments.
What in your own words suggests a healthy lifestyle for women?
There is no cookie cutter to health. We are all living a different lifestyle, with different stressors, bodies, minds, and circumstances. The most valuable way someone can live a healthy lifestyle, is by truly listening to what they need. We focus a lot on daily habits and nutrition, but it’s also important to look at what is going on in your life and in your mind. Do you value feeling good and living a long healthy life? Many of us may say yes, but our actions speak otherwise. I’m trying to help women around the world realize that they are worthy of their own love, and that living a healthy lifestyle does not need to be difficult. Small habits daily (I believe there are 7 Fundamentals of Wellness, and created a planner called The Fit Planner that helps track these) have the power to heal and completely change your life.
What would you recommend for women who are struggling with unhealthy lifestyle choices?
Bring it back to the basics. I most recently did a certification at Harvard Medical School in nutrition meal planning. The program was rooted in the fundamentals of Lifestyle Medicine – “a medical specialty that uses therapeutic lifestyle interventions as a primary modality to treat chronic conditions” as stated by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. This is the science and research behind how lifestyle choices (daily habits) have the power to prevent, treat and even reverse disease. I would tell anyone looking to change their unhealthy lifestyle to start doing little things daily that make them feel better, and many of these things are free and right at your fingertips. Get out and walk. Drink more water. Go to sleep earlier. Take deep breaths throughout your day.
What are your thoughts about body positivity and how it aligns with your work with The Fit Fatale?
No two bodies are the same. The conversation of body positivity has made momentous strides in the past 10 years, seeing more inclusivity and diversity than ever. It’s beautiful and empowering and I am so glad that future generations will hopefully only continue to see more of this. But I think something that is not talked about enough is the diversity inside us all. We all react to stress, food and lifestyle different from the inside. Just like how different and beautiful our bodies are outside, we need to see more of a conversation about the inside, meaning there is no right way to FEEL. I hope we can see more of a movement towards embracing our own lifestyle and focus on the one we live, so we can feel better day to day. What works for me, may not work for you and that is a big focus of the work we do at The Fit Fatale.
Besides The Fit Fatale Community, you’re also the founder of MINDFULL—can you tell us a bit about this initiative?
MINDFULL is a meal planning and health coaching platform where I help women explore being “feel good curious” through on-demand recipe and coaching videos. What “feel good curious”means is exploring what eating or eliminating certain foods will do for your energy, skin, digestion, sleep, performance, mood, hormones, and the list goes on. We bring together the scientific research behind nutrition and lifestyle habits that improve our health and prolong our lives, with coaching to explore your own individual body and needs. Together these two empower and equip our community to make the choices that will truly change and improve their lives.
You have quite a presence on social media. Can you tell us how that has impacted your work with Fit Fatale and MINDFULL? In terms of goals.
I owe everything I have built to my social presence, and I am forever grateful for the women in my community. Yes, we have developed the brand into in-person events, and taken it off social to business offerings and more, but the community was cultivated thanks to social media. I however want to be clear not to sugar coat it, social is both a blessing and a curse. Sharing on social media means you are open and vulnerable with people you have never met. That can come with helping people change their lives, alongside immense judgment and misunderstanding. I tell myself every day, I am okay to be the punching bag for some so long as I continue to make a difference in my community. It gets tough, but that’s exactly when I open my “TFF love” folder with the screenshots of outpouring love and support. It helps me refocus on my why and keep going.
What’s next in store for Samantha Cutler? Anything we should be on the lookout for?
MINDFULL just launched this past September, so it truly is my new baby, taking most of my time, funds and effort. I can share that my team and I are focused on growing MINDFULL to its full potential, continuously making changes to bring our community the best experience possible and reach those who need us most. This January we have something truly incredible coming out on MINDFULL and I personally have experienced it, tested it and have seen the wild and rapid benefits in every area of my life, so stay tuned for that!
Finally, how does Samantha relax? What are some of your fool-proof routines that any woman can emulate?
If I’m not working, I am probably with friends and family. I am all about balance. Although a healthy lifestyle is my foundation, travel, days at the beach, late nights with friends and long walks with my husband are just as important. Relaxing in my book just means dropping the “have to dos” and leaning into the “what do I want and what is my soul telling me it needs” without any expectation or external demand. Sometimes that’s binge worthy TV and an early bedtime, and other times, a really good wine and night of dancing. I want to keep myself healthy, so I can live a long, beautiful, fulfilling life. I try to remind myself and others that a healthy life means better quality years of living, so we can’t forget the key component, to LIVE!
Chinenye Emezie | Assistant Editor
