YELLOWKNIFE - "I'll get the chips," Tara Newbigging said, ending a call on her cell phone.

Newbigging, a personal trainer new to Yellowknife who is starting a business focusing on fitness and health, quickly followed that sentence with a clarification.

Tara Newbigging of Guelph, Ont., has started a new personal training business in town, Fit 2 The T. Newbigging will give corporate wellness presentations and hopes to do so at the diamond mines. - photo courtesy of Tara Newbigging

"They're for my boyfriend," she said.

Newbigging, who recently moved up from Guelph, Ont., has used her relocation as an opportunity to open her own personal fitness business, Fit 2 The T.

"I've had my business name in mind since I was 16," said Newbigging, who hopes to give corporate wellness presentations at Yellowknife businesses, including the three diamond mines.

The presentations will cover many facets of personal fitness, including nutrition and stress management.

"I like to promote living a healthy lifestyle - exercising, eating healthy, living life to the fullest," she said.

But there was another reason for starting her own enterprise.

"In my heart I knew I always wanted to be my own boss."

While completing her Bachelor of Physical Health and Education at Laurentian University, Newbigging gave wellness courses for prominent businesses like Johnson and Johnson and Microsoft Canada. The latter business proved particularly challenging.

"Everyone was reluctant to change. Everyone was so set in their ways. I think it's the culture there. There was no work-life balance."

If there's one thing Newbigging has learned, it's that you can't force people to do anything they don't want to do.

Her role, as she sees it, is to provide people with the helpful nudging they need to make healthy choices.

To that end, Newbigging will also be teaching fitness classes and doing one-on-one personal training at Breakaway Fitness Centre.

Among the classes she'll be giving is Zumba, a new type of fitness workout.

"Zumba is the newest craze of fitness," she said. "It's an hour of dancing with hidden fitness moves in it. It's intended for people who don't realize they're working out, but they are and they're having fun."

Newbigging, when visiting Yellowknife for the first time in March, gave two introductory Zumba classes at Breakaway.

The first class attracted 10 people, the second class 30, including one male, a challenge for fitness instructors, said Newbigging.

Breakaway promptly signed Newbigging on as an instructor.

To Breakaway co-owner Kelly Robertson, who took part in the introductory courses, Newbigging's addition to the club was a no-brainer.

"When she talked to us about her qualifications, Zumba was an added bonus," said Robertson.

"Her being a personal trainer and fitness instructor was great for our business. We're always looking for instructors.

"Yellowknife is small. There's a small number of instructors. So when someone new comes to town - and someone as talented as Tara - you just want to latch onto them."