Lestraundra (Les) is the founder of Balanced Black Girl, an online community dedicated to helping women of color live their healthiest lives.

Upon graduating college in 2011 and diving head first into “the real world” Les soon found that the happiest part of her day was during her gym sessions every morning before work. Each day she felt herself becoming stronger and more confident in a way she had never felt before. So in 2012, she became a personal trainer and nutrition coach to help others feel the same.

She started her first blog The Balanced Berry in 2014 to share what wellness looks like in real life. After four years of sharing recipes and workouts on The Balanced Berry, Les is excited to focus more on amplifying women of color in the online wellness space through the Balanced Black Girl Podcast.

Les is a NASM Certified Personal Trainer, TRX Certified Instructor, and Level 1 Precision Nutrition Coach.

What’s your story?

My name is Lestraundra, and I’m a Seattle native. I’m a Social Media Manager, Podcast Host, Personal Trainer, and Writer. I’m the founder of Balanced Black Girl - a podcast, community, and online media platform dedicated to providing relatable wellness resources for women of color.

Most people know me from creating fitness content, but in the past six months, I’ve made a big shift away from that! I became a personal trainer in 2013 and began teaching fitness classes before and after work. A year into my fitness career, I decided to start a blog to share my passion for healthy living with a wider audience. I launched The Balanced Berry in 2014 and eventually turned it into an online personal training business and healthy living resource hub.

In 2018 I felt myself getting burned out of fitness and felt pulled to move in a different direction. I started feeling really tired of the lack of representation spotlighted in the wellness space. I got tired of attending events and feeling out of place. And I got tired of feeling like I was compromising who I was to fit in on social media. Around this time I started receiving messages from women of color saying they appreciated my content and how relatable I was, and I knew I wanted to begin facilitating candid conversations for women of color in the wellness space. I ordered a microphone and started executing my idea right away. Thus, Balanced Black Girl was born.

Every week on Tuesdays and Fridays, I release new episodes of Balanced Black Girl interviewing women of color who have different areas of expertise in the wellness space on Tuesdays, and sharing tangible self-care and wellness tips on Fridays. I have always been a natural writer, public speaker, and communicator and have since added more public speaking engagements to my roster in addition to hosting the podcast.