Australia has quite a long list of female health and fitness entrepreneurs who have truly built an empire from the ground up. From Kayla Itsines to the KIC girls, there seems to be a high demand for female fitness founders…and there’s a new South Australian name we think might have what it takes to be next on that list.
Shani Stephens, founder of Perform Athlete, seems to have found an untapped niche for an underrepresented fitness community. And it’s already catching on overseas.
Having started circus at the age of 8, by just 13 she had quite literally ‘run away with the circus’, leaving home to train with Flying Fruit Fly Circus. She then landed her first professional contract at just 17, and has since spent the last 6 years touring with Gravity and Other Myths – one of Australia’s most celebrated contemporary circus companies. In her spare time, she also manages to coach strength and conditioning across CrossFit, functional fitness, Olympic lifting, and traditional strength training; something she’s been doing for over 5 years. So it’s safe to say she knows what she’s doing.
You might have already caught a glimpse of Shani during Gravity and Other Myths‘ recent stint at the Adelaide Fringe. Their current international sell-out show, Ten Thousand Hours, was a smash-hit in Adelaide, but it has also taken Shani to stages all around the world for a good part of the last year. However, between rehearsals, flights, and performances, she has quietly been chipping away at something else entirely: a thriving online fitness business with a global membership base.
Perform Athlete is an acrobat-focused strength and conditioning program, and it’s built from the real demands of circus, not adapted from another sport. Every session is designed to support how acrobats actually train, rehearse, and perform, making it for acrobats of all levels – from students to seasoned performers – who want to build real strength, improve their skills, and perform at their peak.
“My goal has and always will be the same – to raise the standard of how acrobats train, and give every artist the confidence to walk into the gym knowing exactly what to do and why.”
Running from her Instagram, the subscription-based program now has members across Australia, NZ, Germany, Argentina, the USA, the UK, and more – all while Shani continues to tour internationally. We love to see a South Australian making waves overseas, and Shani is doing just that, building a global business from hotel rooms all over the world.
South Australia, we’re hoping this isn’t the last time you’ll be hearing Shani’s name.
Perform Athlete by Shani Stephens
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