Mumpreneur’s testimonial: From a marketing sport career to Zumba queen (by Rebecca Rogoff)

I’m a 42 year old mother of 2 boys, nearly 13 and 10, which requires bags of endless energy, as you can imagine!

I’ve always loved sports, my career in marketing began in sports many years ago but it when my boys were about 3 and 1 years old I became unwell with Ovarian Cancer (and beat the bejeebus out of it!) and I decided that it was my time to really take control over my body. I was determined to make myself as fit and healthy as I possibly could and so I took up major running (I did many 1/2 marathons, 10ks, duathlons and finally the 2008 London Marathon) and cycling (London to Brighton, London to Canterbury, London Bikeathon), climbing, Capoiera (I was rubbish) & dancing. I felt fantastic! I also taught tennis to children for a number of years. Fun fun fun!

I focused on my heartfelt objectives: sports, kids and being able to work and earn money while still being a full-time, hands-on Mum to my boys – an issue that’s tricky and close to all of our hearts. How could I bring these 3 things together?

Then I heard about Zumba! I tried a couple of classes – actually, that’s not true – 1 class was all it took! I saw that it fused everything I wanted so perfectly – dance & fitness. Fabulous! As my love for Zumba grew I also realised that I could also encapsulate the final piece of my puzzle in to the picture too – I could turn my love of dance & fitness into a career and share it with others, it’s one of those infectious things!

I got certified through Zumba.com (which was a blast) and immediately started to teach classes throughout the week in Putney.

Although I truly love teaching all Zumba to everyone & anyone, the class I got the most fulfillment and joy out of was the one where mums had to bring their babies into the class by default.

I remember how difficult & frustrating it was trying to find forms of exercise when I was a new mum & I just love how great it makes mums feel so to host a Mums with Babies class was a complete no-brainer.

Zumba works. It just does. I’ve seen the physical effect on the people who come to class and I’ve felt the effects myself. It develops gorgeous, feminine, dancers muscles – which is what we want, right? And Zumba at Eddie Catz works too, it’s a fantastic union.

Currently I’m holding 2 classes there: Thursday 9:45 for Mums/babies and Monday 7pm for everyone (without kids) – booking is required (for comfort and to avoid over-crowding) so I’d recommend firing me off an email or visiting my website at Zumbafunk.com.

In March, after my next certificate, I will be bring Zumbatomic to Eddie Catz (Putney and Wimbledon) too – this is Zumba for children & teens from 4 – 16.