MEET THE FIT FOR BIRTH Team

Fit For Birth’s proprietary methods, like Core Breathing Belly Pump™ and LABOR TRAINING SM are forging a new kind of pre and postnatal exercise. Meet Fit For Birth’s Prenatal educators and core team members who create community and empowerment and are changing the way prenatal women think about health during pregnancy.

JAMES GOODLATTE

FFB Founder, Holistic Health Coach, Corrective Exercise Practitioner, Speaker, Author, Professional Educator

Carolyn Tallents

PPCES, PPDCC, Holistic Fertility & Pregnancy Safe Coach, Postpartum Doula, Childbirth Educator, Fit For Birth Marketing Director

Amanda Fay

Head Coach, PPCES, PPDCC, Affiliate Marketing Director

Kyla Thomas

Head Coach, PPCES, PPDCC, Affiliate Marketing Director

JOANIE JOHNSON

Head Coach, PPCES, PPDCC, Holistic & Fertility Pregnancy Safe Coach Program Coordinator

CLARA INGERSOLL

PPCES, PPDCC, Affiliate Marketing Director, Tik Tok Magician

Eberly Carro

PPCES, Flexibility Program Manager

THERESA GOODLATTE

Administrative Manager and Student Relations

Karthik S.

PPCES, PPDCC, Pregnancy Safe Coach, India Ambassador

William ZHANG

FFB China Ambassador, PPCES, NASM-CNC, GFS,Dragon Door-PCC, Kick Fit Head Coach

Dana Linvill-Gordon

Natural Birth Expert, Midwife, Resident Doula

Valerie Wiest

Fit For Birth Pilates Master Instructor, NCPT, BASI, PMI, Peak Certified.  PPCES, PPDCC, MBA.

James Goodlatte

FFB Founder, Holistic Health Coach, Corrective Exercise Practitioner, Speaker, Author, Professional Educator

James’ passion that initially ignited Fit For Birth was to help families discover and incorporate the natural “foundations” of a healthy lifestyle (breathing, movement, nutrition, lifestyle, and thoughts) – a concept that was just starting to be recognized as critically important for the health of infants, as well as the family unit.  Unintentionally, his passion as an educator helped build the first global team of fitness & wellness professionals with the holistic tools to reduce infertility, avoid childbirth interventions, and reduce chronic disease in our infants, in addition to helping parents create and sustain healthy lifestyles and reach their wellness goals.

As the founder of Fit For Birth, James is a driving force for providing Continuing Education Credits for the pre and postnatal world.  Today, there are Fit For Birth professionals in over 50 countries.

Two of James’ personal guiding principles include self-growth and making things fun wherever possible. He has long practiced the concept of shaping life into a “Blue Zone,” in the same manner that centenarians live long healthy lives, and today he is absolutely enthralled with the intersection of quantum mechanics and epigenetics. His love for board games comes from his desire to connect with family and friends in a unique way. Learn more about James.

Carolyn Tallents

PPCES, PPDCC, Holistic Fertility & Pregnancy Safe Coach, Postpartum Doula, Childbirth Educator, Fit For Birth Marketing Director

Carolyn is a proud FFB grad who helps women have healthy, happy pregnancies and smooth, strong recoveries. As a former corporate marketing director turned health & wellness professional, and mom to 3 little boys, Carolyn brings both personal and professional experience to the Fit For Birth team.

Carolyn has always been passionate about living a healthy, active, lifestyle, but it wasn’t until facing her own fertility issues and diving deeper into holistic health that she decided to pursue it as a career. She is a Certified Personal Trainer through ACE and a Holistic Health Coach through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She also has a pre & postnatal specialty in nutrition through the Dr. Sears Institute and fitness through Fit For Birth. In an effort to provide an even more holistic offering for her clients, she became certified as a Postpartum Doula and childbirth educator to help women prepare for and transition into motherhood both physically and emotionally.

Carolyn works as the Marketing Director for Fit For Birth, providing strategic guidance and creative initiatives across social media, content and partnerships to bring Fit For Birth front and center to the women’s holistic health & wellness community.

Amanda Fay

Head Coach, PPCES, PPDCC, Affiliate Marketing Director

Amanda believes that holistic pre & postnatal care can help bring about future generations of vibrant health that will help lead the world. After watching the film documentary, “The Business of Being Born,” Amanda knew that she needed to work with the pre & postnatal population, and eventually found Fit For Birth. Amanda is a Certified Personal Trainer through the National Academy of Sports Medicine and an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach. Amanda sees her FFB VC sessions as “such rewarding work.” In them, she intends for every FFB graduate to obtain “more confidence and understanding than they ever thought imaginable,” and for each client to experience a life changing “aha” moment. Amanda is the owner of the successful woman owned online fitness studio called The Functional Bump. She gave birth to her first child in 2020 where she finally got to apply all the Fit For Birth concepts she had learned, having the most amazing pregnancy and birth she could have ever imagined. Amanda lives in New Hampshire, USA, with her husband and daughter. They love to hike, cook, play games, and sleep (still working on that last one!).

Kyla Thomas

Head Coach, PPCES, PPDCC, Social Media Coordinator, ‘Find A Coach’ Program Manager

Kyla joined the FFB Team after completing the PPCES which ignited a passion for working in the pre & postnatal world. She works in the medical rehabilitation sector in South Africa, as a biokineticist specializing in pre & post operative injuries, general injuries, and aches & pains (South Africa’s version of corrective exercise!) After her twin pregnancy (from which she developed DR due to having a dysfunctional core), she struggled to find help or information to rehabilitate her own core and correct her DR. She was blown away by the information she learned from Fit For Birth and is trying to make sure that this information is more readily available (particularly in SA). Kyla runs her own practice that works with general rehabilitation within the medical field but her focus has shifted more toward helping women have healthy, happy and strong pregnancies, and recoveries. Her twin boys will be 5 this year and she is more grateful than ever to have a strong and healthy core (thanks to all that she learned from FFB) to be able to keep up with their crazy antics.

Joanie Johnson

Head Coach, PPCES, PPDCC, Holistic & Fertility Pregnancy Safe Coach Program Coordinator

Joanie has been a passionate FFB grad since 2014. She is the founder of Strong Mom Society, a virtual pre/postnatal fitness platform, and was the co-founder of Fit Pregnancy Club in NYC.

Joanie brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to her work connecting students and bringing innovation to the FFB Holistic and Fertility Pregnancy Safe Coach Program. She shares the Fit For Birth mission to create more fun and abundance within the industry.

After running a brick-and-mortar fitness studio, she loves the freedom of running a business in the virtual space. She currently lives with her husband and daughter in Barbados, but by the time you read this, they may already be off on their next adventure on their nomadic mission to travel the world. When you can’t find her practicing corrective exercises on land, check the ocean, she has a new love of surfing.

Clara Ingersoll

PPCES, PPDCC, Affiliate Marketing Director, Tik Tok Magician

Clara is passionate about bringing FFB’s Holistic Pre & Postnatal programs to the world. During her first pregnancy, Clara’s doctor told her that she had a significant Diastasis. Her doctor said “It’s just cosmetic, if you really want to fix it you can do surgery after you’re done having kids.” After her 1st son was born, and after having 3 umbilical hernias repaired, Clara was determined to heal her Diastasis and strengthen her core before she had another child. This started her fitness journey! She became a personal trainer and later a Pre & Postnatal Corrective Exercise Specialist, and then a Diastasis and Core Consultant. With these tools, she was able to heal her diastasis and create a functional core to prevent it from happening in her second pregnancy. She believes every mom should be given this knowledge, so that they can have pain free pregnancies & postpartum periods. Clara brings her experience and skills into the creation of video content for FFB social media.

Eberly Carro

PPCES, Flexibility Program Manager

With over 10 years of experience working in fitness in NYC, Eberly joined the Fit for Birth family in 2020 after the birth of her first child. She felt her birth experience had gone well enough, but was looking for deeper answers to help her process and integrate everything, as well as practical help for postpartum recovery. She completed the Pre & Postnatal Corrective Exercise Specialist (PPCES) program and found it immensely helpful. After applying this approach to herself with great results, she hopes to help other women during pregnancy, postpartum, and beyond.

As a lifelong dancer, Eberly has always had a keen interest in flexibility. She has worked for many years doing Thai Massage and Assisted Stretching, and has seen first hand how much benefit can be gained from targeted flexibility work. She is excited to help bring the upcoming Flexibility Course to the Fit for Birth community.

Karthik S.

PPCES, PPDCC, PregnancySāf Coach, India Ambassador

Karthik is a personal trainer and Fit For Birth Ambassador in his home country, India. His initiation into pre and postnatal fitness began after an argument with one of his friends, who was a mother. His thought was that women could be more responsible while she wondered why men weren’t more supportive. Joining Fit For Birth is one of his supportive answers to this inquiry, and one that gives him great pride.

Karthik loves that he is now continuously learning from a team that cares for people so deeply. He believes that the right education is important and knows that Fit For Birth is providing an opportunity for him to help educate more people, and to do so in the right way. He hopes to reach out to as many people as he can.

Personally, Karthik loves connecting with his friends by playing his childhood passion, the sport of Cricket. He says that the only two things he watched until age 15 was Cricket and cartoon network.

Learn more about our PPCES India Mentorship Program!

WILLIAM ZHANG

FFB China Ambassador, PPCES, NASM-CNC, GFS,Dragon Door-PCC, Kick Fit Head CoachPPCES, China Ambassador

William believes that healthy, strong mothers build healthy, strong children. As a professional fitness trainer in China for more than 20 years, William has seen that mothers have so many challenges, from chronic illness to poor body image. After being introduced to Fit For Birth in 2016, William came to realize that he can help close the gap in education for Chinese women.

William sees that the current level of pre & postnatal education is very much lacking, even in the yoga and Pilates training already available in China. This awareness, combined with China’s abolishment of the one-child limit and upgrade to allow for three children per family, means that more people are seeking pre & postnatal guidance than ever before. William is determined to be a force for holistic fitness awareness in China!

When he was a teenager, William felt the change that fitness had on him, so he decided to work in the fitness industry and pursue his dream, step by step, on the road to fitness.

Since 2003, his experience as a personal trainer has led him to teach more than 20,000 sessions. In 2008, he won the Top Ten Fitness Mr. Fitness in China. In 2010, he founded Kick-Fit studio in Beijing. In 2021, he became the course director of Blaze Fitness Studio, in Shenzhen China.

Since the age of 22, William has experienced much in fitness. His various competitions led him to rehabilitate from some injuries.  . He has helped build and close fitness studios. He has held roles of trainer, manager, and owner. Through it all, he has learned that a persevering heart is so important. Today, he is excited to share every bit of his experience, and grow with his students.

Theresa Goodlatte

Chief Administrative Manager and Student Relations

Theresa has been a backbone of FFB for many years; our original long-standing “Inner Unit” Team Member. Her comedic ability to make friends, her background in holistic health, and her loyalty as FFB got off the ground made her the perfect candidate! Her dedication as James’ sister is part of what builds an incredible family business. At Fit for Birth, Theresa ensures that students have full support and an incredible learning experience with our courses. She ensures that all FFB students find ease and fun as they journey to become Fit For Birth Trainers.

She is the “Admin Wizard” of Fit for Birth who keeps the pieces of the Fit For Birth team cohesive and happy. Theresa is also in charge of managing various ongoing Fit For Birth projects.

Dana Linvill-Gordon

Natural Birth Expert, Midwife, Resident Doula

Dana Linvill-Gordon is the founder of B.O.R.N., Birthing Options Respecting Nature and a Natural Birth Expert with Team Fit For Birth. She helps women achieve a more gentle birth experience by supporting their emotional and spiritual work prior to coming into labor. She feels passionately that a woman’s birth story is specific preparation for the type of parenting that mother/child will need throughout that relationship. Her true work and specialty is to bring healing, education and empowerment to survivors of sexual abuse, including human trafficking, to enable the successful birth of their babies.

Valerie Wiest

Fit For Birth Pilates Master Instructor, NCPT, BASI, PMI, Peak Certified.  PPCES, PPDCC, MBA.

Valerie Wiest is the owner of Valerie Wiest training solutions and Fit for Birth’s Pilates Master Instructor. As a Pre and Post Natal Corrective Exercise Specialist, Pilates and yoga instructor, health coach and personal trainer, Valerie seeks to help people transform their lives through fitness and nutrition. Valerie’s passion for Pilates began when she was only 14. Since then, she has been on a mission to educate clients on how to move better to feel better. After the pregnancy of her first son, which resulted in a diastasis recti, Valerie made it her goal to learn everything she could about preventing and repairing the condition. That brought her to Fit for Birth. Through Fit For Birth, Valerie learned the power of corrective exercise during and after pregnancy and began incorporating it into her work with clients and with herself during her second pregnancy. After healing her diastasis and having a successful VBAC, Valerie was convinced that she was meant to share the techniques she learned from Fit for Birth with others. She began training other instructors to teach pre and postnatal pilates and helping her clients strengthen and repair their core. Soon she became known as the pre and postnatal exercise expert in her area. She continues to build a niche business around her expertise.

WHO WE ARE

Fit For Birth is a health education and training company. We educate Pre & Post Natal Leaders and Mamas-to-be to inspire the use of natural methods to avoid Infertility, Mechanized Childbirth, and Disease in our infants. The company was originally founded in 2007 to provide progressive perinatal health education to a landscape that needed a holistic voice.

Within less than one year, Fit For Birth information and articles had been published in more than a dozen languages and thousands of people from over 150 countries around the world we’re visiting GetFitForBirth.com every month.

Soon, fitness and wellness professionals who were inspired by the progressive and natural voice of Fit For Birth began asking for certification. In 2011, Fit For Birth delivered our first Live Continuing Education course, Pre & Postnatal Corrective Exercise Specialist. By 2014, our flagship course was hosted Online, instantly available for practitioners worldwide.

The course has been acclaimed as the most comprehensive and progressive pre & postnatal course that the industry has to offer.

IN 2017, FIT FOR BIRTH EXPANDED ITS ONLINE COURSE OFFERINGS WITH THE PRE & POST NATAL DIASTASIS AND CORE CONSULTANT, IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE BLOOM METHOD’S BROOKE CATES.

In 2018, in response to demand, Fit For Birth launched its Prenatal Wellness Course, an online course for Mamas-to-be, expanding its course reach to the prenatal women who had been relying on Fit For Birth as an educational resource for years.

Testimonials and feedback hail the company’s passion, excitement, and personal touch. Besides being known as the most exciting course producer in pre and postnatal fitness, the company is now being recognized for inspiring true leadership among birth practitioners and natural birth-seeking women

Growing with fit for birth

Fit For Birth is a growing community of super-fun and passionate people who love to explore the unexplored and shed light on areas that have been dark. We believe in having fun while changing the world, one family at a time. We pursue our passion to heal families by building a global team of fitness and health professionals so that we can

Reduce
Infertility

Avoid Mechanized Childbirth

Lower Chronic
Disease in our Infants

We know what is being taught by the conventional world concerning pregnancy and childbirth. We are here to share the other side of the spectrum, one that is poised to save the health of moms and their babies, the future of our world.