When it comes to the business of fitness, Giselle Calvillo is a little bit of a prodigy.
At 17, she was running Galaxy Gym on the South Side, opening the doors at 5:30 in the morning and closing them at 10:30 at night, hiring personnel and tracking sales. Her youth may have drawn a few curious looks, but no one questioned her talent and drive.
A few years later, Giselle moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting and continue personal training and teaching group fitness. She counted high-profile celebrities among her clients and muscled her way up the career ladder at Bally’s before coming home to be with family following the death of her sister to cancer.
In 2012, she completed her bachelor’s degree in exercise science at Texas A&M-San Antonio.
Today, Giselle is a wife, mother to a 4-year-old son, and founder and CEO of MixFit SA, a local fitness & wellness company. With a studio in downtown San Antonio and partnerships with city parks, MixFit will soon expand into a new home base at Brooks, bringing Giselle’s professional and personal journey full circle.
“It was important for me to do this on my side of town, where I grew up and went to school,” Giselle said. “There is no reason the South Side can’t have cool and fun fitness opportunities for athletes, families, or youth programming to inspire kids. Our team is from this community. This was our goal, our passion, our dream, and here we are.”
As the name suggests, MixFit offers a variety of classes, from HIIT to Zumba, yoga, meditation, and even Warrior Mode training with a steel mace. Many classes are family-friendly, welcome all levels, and are offered free to the community on weekends.
Though MixFit will have a 5,000 square foot headquarters at Brooks, they will continue popular park programming such as Zumba at Mission Marquee Plaza and yoga at Hemisfair. This will allow Team MixFit to operate as a full-service indoor gym where people can sign up for memberships, take classes and/or work out at their convenience.
Giselle isn’t the only prodigal South Sider who returned to seed the MixFit dream. After years of pursuing it alone, Giselle met Miranda Puente through a mutual friend in 2015 and struck up a flourishing partnership that would help the company grow stronger and diversify its offerings.
After receiving her MBA from the University of the Incarnate Word, Miranda moved to New York City, where she found a passion for yoga. She eventually left a career in business at Zachry Construction and began working with YAMA Talent in Rockefeller Center. She learned the business end of yoga, managing professional yogis, organizing retreats and providing programming for festivals such as the White House Easter Egg Roll.
“Yoga changed my life,” Miranda said. “I am the person that trips over my own two feet. Once I started yoga, I became comfortable in my own skin and was better able to live with my anxiety. Yoga is my therapy. It allows me to be a better person and devote more energy to my family, friends and work.”
Because Giselle, Miranda and other team members are South Side natives, setting up shop at Brooks holds a lot of meaning. As an up-and-coming community that aims to be an economic engine for the South Side, Brooks is the perfect location for a group of young movers and shakers trying to bring up the lifestyle of their old stomping grounds.
“We are so excited to be at Brooks,” Miranda said. “To be able to give back to the community and let them know that health and fitness are attainable and accessible is worth more than we can put into words.”
Visit MixFitSA.com to become a member or check out the calendar of events.
