Today we’d like to introduce you to Melanie Webb.
Hi Melanie, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I’ve always had one foot in the fitness studio–and the other in the outdoors. My path to creating WebbWell and meeting injured or recovering power players and business people where they’re at started long before I entered the professional world. As the daughter of an award-winning life science teacher, I spent summers in science camps for girls, played competitive coach pitch baseball with the boys, and had my hands in the dirt in the family garden, nestled at the base of 11, 700 foot Mount Timpanogos in Orem, Utah. My mentoring in the body arts began as a 14-year old playing varsity volleyball, when physical therapists worked to heal chronic leg pain and my coach taught me how to visualize my performance–my first foray into overcoming barriers through guided meditation.
I graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in Human Biology and Developmental Physiology. Then I went MIA. I spent the next winter working and snowboarding at Snowbird Resort and waiting tables in Pismo Beach, California to save every cent before embarking on a backpacking trip around western Europe and Northern Africa for 8 weeks. Living out of a backpack for 8 weeks, not knowing where I’d call home that night, was the best thing I’ve ever done. Not only did it expose me to other cultures and make me a traveler, it taught me that it takes little to live a happy life, and people are good everywhere.
Finally I was ready to get to work, and I spent the next 3 years exploring Utah’s hidden wilderness areas while working as a wildlife biologist for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. My uniform consisted of river shorts, a backpack, and Chaco river sandals. I developed strong research and writing skills, interacted with multiple Federal Government Agencies, and committed myself to the conservation of endangered species and the lands they’ve called home for centuries. It was during this time that I began moonlighting as a certified personal trainer, seeing clients in the gym a few nights a week while working to help them achieve their big fitness goals.
It seemed to me that the life of a biologist, wild and free as it was, had a glass ceiling. September 11, 2001 happened, and I accepted a job offer as a NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) Consultant in Washington, D.C. I traded my Chaco’s and shorts for high heels, a suit, a big paycheck, and spent the next year feeling like a fish out of water in a giant Federal Government office building.
By the end of the contract year I was ready to tie a bow on my five years as a bureaucrat. I started a graduate program at The George Washington University and went back to work as a personal trainer at the largest luxury fitness club in the U.S., The Sports Club / LA. Within months my calendar was full and I was training the power players of Washington, D.C. I was named “One of the top trainers in the industry” and launched my company Sol Fitness Adventures, leading bespoke adventure travel trips to the spectacular wilderness areas in Utah that I’d studied as a biologist.
Doors continued to open, and I became the go-to guide for bespoke tour operators Butterfield & Robinson, Gray & Co. and the world’s most expensive resort, Amangiri. It turned out that guiding active vacations for the world’s richest people was fun and games–until I ended up in the doctor’s office with a diagnosis of adrenal fatigue. “Adrenal what?!” I asked. Up until that point I knew only one speed, and it was go-go-go.
Although I’ve been injured and healed many times, chronic illness due to stress was a wake up call. I began shifting gears toward a business model that took better care of me. I wrote and published my book Adventures in Mother Nature’s Gym to teach others how to do what I’d been doing. I started training again, this time with an emphasis on supporting people who are injured or facing chronic illness and forced to prioritize their health. WebbWell was born after accompanying a client to Mexico for 3 weeks and watching him lose 21 pounds. Watching the lights come back on in his eyes was a career highlight for me, and all the reward I needed to pursue this healing work full time.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Hardly. I’ve often felt judged for not pursuing a more linear career path. Instead of rising to the top of one field, I’ve changed course several times, ultimately landing on working for myself (for now). If there’s one thing I learned during the Covid pandemic, it’s that the one thing I can count on in business is myself and my ability to pivot and adapt. While I gained a lot of skills working for State and Federal Government as well as private sector, I felt boxed in. Nothing was secure. Now I call the shots.
My path has been marked by multiple injuries and setbacks. When you’re self-employed, that equates to loss of income and many worried nights. You learn what really matters. You either have grit and resilience—or you don’t. My own healing experiences have been part of the initiation a healer goes through before being qualified to work with the deeply emotional, mental, and physical challenges my clients bring to me. I’m not sure I’d be as good at this work without the pressure of walking through that refiner’s fire myself.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about WebbWell Retreats?
My boutique tour operator business Sol Fitness Adventures was a lot of fun—and a big learning experience. I took what I learned working with clients in the most elite fitness training studios in the country and on my award-winning outdoor fitness retreats and created my course Adventures in Mother Nature’s Gym.
I still moonlight as a guide in Southern Utah’s National Parks; but Sol Fitness Adventures is where I’ve been—and WebbWell is where I’m going. Everything is coming under one roof now—my Private Coaching work with power playing clients and corporate partners, the Mother Nature’s Gym coursework, and on-demand Body + Mind + Nature content to support my clients with evidence-based movement and mindfulness programming anytime, anywhere.
I’ve invested a lifetime into mastering my craft, but it’s real life experience that has taught me most of what I know. Failures and successes, injuries and healing, fun trips and mis-adventures, you name it—I have been there, done that too. Most people I meet simply want to know that they can trust me to care enough to guide them through the challenging journey of transformation. Nevertheless, you’re invited to discover the juicy highlights of my travels and studies, career and education, below.
I was named “The person to call for guided travel in Utah” by DEPARTURES Magazine, “a leader in the adventure travel industry” by Norie Quintos of National Geographic Traveler, and “one of the top trainers in the industry” by The Sports Club/LA (now Equinox). I’m a sought-after industry and corporate retreat facilitator and speaker who wrote my course Adventures in Mother Nature’s Gym to help entrepreneurial, outdoor-loving fitness professionals bust out of the indoor gym silos.
I’ve shared my approach with numerous national and local media outlets and top-rated travel destinations, including DEPARTURES, IDEA Fitness Journal, Outside, New Beauty, Good Morning America, Amangiri, Goldener-Hirsch Auberge Collection, and Vermejo Ted Turner Reserves.
My new podcast The Mindful Trainer is a sanctuary where stories of resilience and grit can be shared alongside insights from industry leading athletes, coaches, trainers and guides. Now streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, WebbWell.com, and on the WebbWell channel on YouTube.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Resilience. I somehow have the ability to keep getting back in the game, even after being knocked sideways. I can two sets of grandparents from The Greatest Generation for that gift.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://webbwell.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melanie.from.webbwell/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melanieawebb
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@webbwell
- Other: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mindful-trainer-with-melanie-webb/id1836518356
