From Living Room Classes to International Clients: How This Zumba Coach Is Scaling a Hybrid Fitness Brand
Most of our lifelong passions don’t start in adulthood.
They begin as childhood dreams.
For Lauren Hanan, that dream started at age 11, standing in front of the TV after school, watching an episode of Oprah about nutrition, and deciding she was going to change her life. That summer, she lost 30 pounds. But more importantly, she gained something far more powerful: the belief that wellness could be self-made.
That belief would carry her through decades of movement, marketing, and momentum.
While Lauren built a successful career in PR and marketing, the whisper of her true calling, teaching fitness and helping others transform, never went away. It wasn’t until a foot surgery sidelined her workouts in 2017 that she realized she couldn’t wait any longer.
Today, she’s the founder of ForeverFit, a hybrid fitness brand offering virtual and in-person classes for a diverse community of clients, from seniors in adult daycares to travelers at beach resorts. Her story is one of reinvention, resilience, and using childhood clarity to build adult impact.
This MBNews feature reveals how Lauren turned decades of experience into a movement-driven business that centers joy, accessibility, and the power of doing what you love, even if it takes you a while to say yes to it.
From a Girl Who Watched Oprah and Changed Her Life
Some kids spend their summers at camp. Eleven-year-old Lauren Hanan spent hers reading nutrition labels.
After seeing an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show about low-fat diets, Lauren, then a self-described “fat kid” wearing women’s size 14, decided to try something radical for a middle schooler: she took control of her health. By the time she returned to school after 6th grade, she had lost 30 pounds and transformed so much that even her classmates didn’t recognize her.
That transformation wasn’t just physical. It planted the seed for a lifelong fascination with health, movement, and the emotional power of exercise.
“I was always a dancer, always a cheerleader,” Lauren told MBNews. “Even when I didn’t know the science, I knew how moving my body made me feel.”
Over the next two decades, Lauren’s wellness path wove itself around another love: communication. She pursued a career in PR and marketing, even volunteering at a local hospital’s public affairs office as a teenager. But no matter how far she went professionally, the gym kept calling her back.
Then came Zumba.
Lauren’s mom invited her to try a class in the early 2000s when the movement craze was just beginning. “I fell in love instantly,” she said. But it would take nearly 15 years and one life-changing surgery before she finally gave herself permission to teach it.
In 2017, after undergoing a complex foot reconstruction, Lauren found herself stuck in bed, unable to move and sinking into a fog of anxiety and frustration.
“I’m a high-energy person. I have anxiety. Movement is my therapy,” she explained. “Being stuck was torture. But coming back from that made me more determined than ever.”
So in 2018, she got certified as a Zumba instructor not just as a milestone of recovery, but as a declaration of purpose.
Her fitness dream was no longer on the sidelines. It was center stage.
A Former PR specialist who built a Wellness brand from Her Living Room
Long before Zoom classes were mainstream, Lauren Hanan was hustling with a mic, a smoothie in hand, and a soundboard rigged by her musician husband, all from her living room.
She called it ForeverFit.
By 2018, Lauren was juggling five gym gigs, teaching packed Zumba classes across Philadelphia, and collecting email addresses the old-fashioned way, with a notepad at the front of class. Her PR instincts were kicking in. She wasn’t just a fitness instructor, she was building a brand.
And then COVID hit.
Gyms shut down. In-person classes vanished overnight. But Lauren didn’t. Within weeks, she pivoted, first launching on OnlyFans (yes, really) before quickly building her own virtual fitness studio.
“I had no idea what I was doing at first,” she said. “I’d never even used Zoom. But one of my clients said, ‘I’ll pay you if you figure this out.’ And I did.”
She taught herself WordPress. She hardwired a home sound system. She launched weekly newsletters and kept showing up, streaming dance classes to clients in their kitchens, living rooms, and basements.
And they kept showing up, too.
By the time she and her husband moved to St. Pete Beach in 2022, her virtual clientele stayed with her. Not one skipped a beat.
Today, ForeverFit is a hybrid fitness platform offering both in-person and online classes, ranging from Zumba and HIIT to indoor cycling and boot camps. Lauren teaches everyone from city employees in Pinellas Park to adult daycare clients living with dementia.
“I don’t care if you’re 25 or 75. If you can move, I want to help you move,” she said.
But her impact goes far beyond physical movement. From hosting community wellness programs to launching the podcast Hustle and Glow, Lauren is building an ecosystem around empowerment, self-expression, and sustainable health.
The secret? It’s not about the scale.
“It’s about connection,” she told us. “People come in stressed or frustrated and leave smiling. That’s the real transformation.”
From Burnout to Breakthroughs: What It Really Took to Keep Going
For every smile Lauren brings to her Zoom room, there’s a behind-the-scenes story of grit, exhaustion, and starting from scratch.
The first hurdle? Tech overwhelm.
“I didn’t even know how to use Zoom,” Lauren laughed. “One of my clients told me, ‘If you figure this out, we’ll all pay you.’ That was the push I needed.”
Her first online platform? OnlyFans. Not quite the wellness vibe she was going for.
“I had no idea what OnlyFans was. One of my older clients tried to sign up and emailed me: ‘Lauren, I just saw naked women!’” she recalled.
From there, Lauren took matters into her own hands—literally. She built her own website, learned WordPress from scratch, and pieced together an audio setup with help from her husband, a musician.
But the external challenges weren’t the hardest.
It was the emotional cost of losing her in-person fitness community overnight.
“I was used to connecting with hundreds of people every week,” she said. “Suddenly, it was just me, a screen, and silence. I got depressed. I needed to see people.”
There was also the challenge of balancing business with burnout. Lauren worked full-time in marketing while building ForeverFit on nights and weekends. She collected email addresses by hand. She wrote weekly newsletters herself. And she did it all while navigating a move across the country.
Even after relocating to Florida, the pressure didn’t let up.
“I wanted to start teaching right away again,” she said. “But my husband reminded me: let’s enjoy the weekends. Let’s explore this new chapter. And for a while, I listened.”
But purpose has a funny way of calling you back.
Before long, she was teaching Zumba at resorts, offering wellness classes to city workers, and rebuilding her community from the ground up.
Each challenge, tech confusion, business fatigue, and physical recovery from foot surgery became part of her toolkit. Today, those very setbacks are the reason she can teach others how to adapt, pivot, and thrive.
“I used to think I had to be perfect to start,” Lauren said. “Now I know, just start.”
The Ripple Effect of One Relatable and Relationship-First Coach
Lauren didn’t set out to become a wellness leader. She just wanted to help people move and feel better. But the ripple effect of her work has grown far beyond the screen.
Today, ForeverFit offers a hybrid of in-person and virtual classes, reaching clients across generations, geographies, and even stages of life.
She teaches city employees in wellness programs that support public servants. She offers Zumba at the Tradewinds Resort, drawing people from around the world, like a woman from Tokyo who joined her class on vacation.
And she holds a special place in her heart for the students who show up every week, rain or shine, to her local recreation center in Pinellas Park.
“I’m a relationship builder,” Lauren says. “These people become part of your life. We go out for drinks after class. We check in on each other.”
But perhaps her most unexpected transformation came through her work at an adult daycare facility for people with dementia.
“At first, I wasn’t sure if I could do it. It’s not high energy, it’s calm, seated movement. But when I walk in and they say, ‘Hi Lauren,’ and remember my name after a month away… I know I’m meant to be there,” she shared.
She’s also expanding her voice through a new podcast, Hustle and Glow with Lauren and Chloe, where she and her co-host, a bodybuilder and chef, talk about wellness, life challenges, and everything in between.
Everywhere Lauren goes, the results speak for themselves:
Clients lowering their blood pressure
Seniors remembering her name
Students hitting heart-rate goals they’d never reached before
What started as a personal transformation has become a movement. And Lauren is just getting started.
Her Message for Wellness Practitioners
Her message to wellness professionals is clear: show up with more than certifications. Show up with empathy. With adaptability. With you.
She challenges the industry to stop chasing perfection and start creating relationships.
“There’s power in people feeling seen and supported,” Lauren explained. “Sometimes, that one class changes someone’s day or their entire mindset.”
For wellness entrepreneurs navigating a digital-first world, here are Lauren’s top takeaways:
Don’t wait for permission. That dream you've had for years? Go after it, even if it takes time.
Build your brand like a human. Collect emails. Start a newsletter. Connect directly.
Be flexible with the format, consistent with the mission. Whether it’s a rec center, Zoom class, or podcast, your impact travels.
Start where you are. Lauren used WordPress and her musician husband’s old soundboard to launch. You don’t need fancy tech to start.
Relationships > Algorithms. The clients who remember your name will be the ones who stick around and refer others.
In a culture obsessed with aesthetics and scale, Lauren proves that deep impact starts with intentional connection.
What’s Next for ForeverFit?
Lauren isn’t slowing down; she’s expanding her mission in every direction.
With a podcast on the way (Hustle & Glow with Lauren and Chloe), plans to revive her “St. Pete Beach Burn” bootcamps, and ongoing wellness programs for city employees, she’s building a brand that’s both personal and powerful.
Her PR roots are also finding new life as she helps other wellness entrepreneurs grow their platforms, blending marketing with purpose.
And in one of her most meaningful roles yet, Lauren now teaches movement classes at an adult daycare for seniors with dementia.
“They remember me—even when they forget other things.”
For Lauren, this work isn’t just fitness. It’s a connection. It’s legacy.
Why It All Matters
Lauren Hanan’s story reminds us that lifelong passion isn’t a coincidence; it’s a calling.
What started as an 11-year-old’s decision to take control of her health evolved into a decades-long mission to empower others through movement, mindset, and meaningful connection.
Her work isn’t about chasing trends. It’s about creating impact, building relationships, and showing up, whether that’s online, in a city park, or in a quiet room filled with seniors who still remember the joy she brings.
In a wellness world filled with noise, Lauren’s clarity stands out:
Real transformation doesn’t need to be flashy. It just needs to be consistent, compassionate, and deeply human.
Because at the heart of every great brand is a person who cares.
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