Empowering Women in Fitness
Two years ago Carla De Nijs rebranded Remarkables Women’s Health & Fitness to Tru. Now, she’s excited to be developing a shop in the gym where she can sell her activewear line that shares the name. She’s passionate about providing a comfortable and welcoming space for women to workout in and brings a fresh and fun approach to fitness.
De Nijs is a personal trainer and nutritionist, who was born and grew up in Brazil before moving to New Zealand in 2005 on a search for adventure. She’s always had a strong vision for what she wanted to deliver in the female health space, wanting to bring empowerment and confidence to women. Rebranding to Tru, which is short for ‘the real you’, and bringing out an activewear line was all part of the process of achieving her goals.
“I used to train people from my garage back home,” De Nijs says. “Then in 2017 the gym came up for sale and we decided to expand from the garage. I’ve been working with women through online fitness since 2012 and I just felt that this was a good opportunity to get my knowledge on nutrition, get my knowledge and passion for personal training out there and run a gym the way that I think girls deserve.”
Not only does De Nijs work to make a welcoming space, but members of the gym also get involved in creating a warm environment. She says a lot of members come through as referrals, so it feels like one big family.
She also wants to help women to look and feel amazingly confident in and outside of the gym. She often looks to overseas markets such as Australia, America and Brazil to see what they’re doing in the way of activewear. “Here, it’s a safe space for them to explore all the clothing they want because there’s no judgement.”
De Nijs is really enjoying running the gym, from the people she meets to learning all the behind-the-scenes of running a business. She explains that her journey to opening the gym and now her own clothing line has been a really positive one.
“We have such a good supportive community here at the gym. I’m not saying that I haven’t come into any struggles – we lost a lot of members during Covid and then we came alive after that, and that’s when I decided to rebrand the gym because I felt like we needed to be reborn again. It’s way easier to tackle challenges when you’re super passionate about what you do and have confidence in yourself. Plus, having a supportive team with the same beliefs and goals is a game-changer. For us, it’s all about helping women succeed in their fitness journey and feel confident and empowered. With that in mind, it’s easier to keep pushing through, even when obstacles pop up.”
If you’d like to learn more about Tru’s fresh and fun approach to fitness, or learn more about the services and classes on offer, you can head to
trutherealyou.co.nz
