Every May, AAPI Heritage Month is a reminder to pause and recognize the contributions, stories, and identities that too often go unseen.
In the fitness industry, that invisibility has a specific shape. It looks like meal plans built around foods that don’t reflect your upbringing. It looks like walking into a space and not seeing anyone who looks like you, eats like you, or understands the unspoken pressures you carry.
The coaches are changing that.
Across different backgrounds, niches, and communities, they share one conviction: you shouldn’t have to leave your culture behind to build a healthier life. In fact, for each of them, culture isn’t something to work around. It’s where the work begins.
Jump straight to the read:
- Daisy Cheong: Carry the heritage. Leave behind the cultural pressure.
- Jessica Montero: Health is more than what you eat or how you train.
- Joe Bala: You don’t have to be loud to get things done.
- Star Quiñones: Culture on the plate.
Daisy Cheong: Carry the heritage. Leave behind the cultural pressure.
- Niche: Fitness & Mindset Coach for Asian Women
- Business name: EveryDaisy
Daisy grew up with the same unspoken rules many Asian women know by heart: be smaller, be thinner, be more disciplined. When she didn’t fit the mold, she blamed herself. It took years before she realized this wasn’t a personal failing. It was a shared pattern.
Now she coaches Asian women in their 30s who are stuck in the same cycle: chronic dieting, excessive cardio, and a body relationship built on punishment rather than care.
“I carry forward the discipline. I leave behind the pressure.”
That distinction is at the heart of everything she does. The women she works with are already driven. They know how to work hard, stay consistent, and push through. Daisy doesn’t try to change that. She redirects it. Instead of chasing smaller, she builds stronger.
Instead of eliminating the foods they grew up with: rice, noodles, family meals, she helps them fit those foods back into a balanced approach with healthy carbs and protein that actually works. Strength training replaces the endless cardio. Self-respect replaces the shame spiral.
“I wish more Asian women embraced strength training. It helps you build a strong, toned body, improves metabolism, and creates a sense of confidence that goes far beyond physical appearance.”
To make that possible, Daisy has built a safe, judgment-free space for Asian women to share their experiences, challenges, and wins without feeling misunderstood or alone.
“As an AAPI coach, moments like this remind me that transformation isn’t just about changing your body, it’s about helping someone rebuild a healthier relationship with their lifestyle and identity.“
Jessica Montero: Health is more than what you eat or how you train.
- Niche: Personal Trainer and Nutrition Coach
- Business name: JM Fitness
Growing up in Hawaii, Jessica learned early that food wasn’t about macros or meal plans. It was about gathering, sharing stories, and taking care of each other. Health was emotional, relational, and tied to identity.
Most of her clients arrive having forgotten all of that. Busy women who’ve spent years putting themselves last, convinced that getting healthy means starting over from scratch: new foods, new habits, a completely different life.
Jessica pushes back on that hard.
“You shouldn’t have to erase your traditions, your family meals, or your culture to become healthier.“
Where the wellness industry often glorifies restriction and all-or-nothing discipline, her coaching is built on the opposite: balance, sustainability, and habits that actually fit into life.
One practice she wishes more people embraced is something her culture never overthought: sitting down and eating with others. Intentional, communal meals with no rush. When clients start practicing that, they often improve their relationship with food, digestion, stress levels, and consistency without even realizing it.
That same warmth carries into how she shows up for her clients. She never wants clients to feel judged for where they’re starting from or what their background looks like. That genuine care for people, not just their transformation or progress photos, helps her clients grow with confidence, self-respect, and a healthier relationship with themselves.
Joe Bala: You don’t have to be loud to get things done.
- Niche: Personal Trainer/Coach
- Business name: Joe Bala Fitness
Joe grew up watching his Filipino immigrant family build a life from nothing. No shortcut, just hard work, discipline, and showing up until the job was done.
He now brings that mentality into coaching people who want to compete in Spartan Race, DEKA, and HYROX. He calls them the underdogs, the ones who don’t need to be the loudest in the room, who train with purpose and let the work speak for itself.
Joe’s coaching leads with the same values his culture taught him: humility, kindness, and honesty. He knows when to listen and when to speak up. He didn’t hide his story. He showed clients the same Filipino dishes he grew up eating, but by making smarter choices around portions, he can perform at his best. Watching that, clients began to realize: the food they grew up with was never the enemy. It was fuel.
That lesson eventually reached his own family. One by one, they became his clients, and he coached them all the way to the Spartan Race start line.
To him, showing up means being present, being humble, and putting his clients’ needs first. Every session, every check-in.
“Never forget where you came from and who raised you. Your heritage is the most influential part of what makes you unique as a coach.”
Star Quiñones: Culture on the plate
- Niche: CPT/PN1 Nutrition Coach and Pre/Post-natal Certified Coach
- Business name: Joe Bala Fitness
Growing up in a strict Filipino household, Star understands the power of choice and control over one’s health and lifestyle. Today, she works with moms and busy women who know exactly who they are as caregivers, but have slowly lost sight of who they are as individuals.
Star’s job is to remind them. You have control over your health, your choices, and your lifestyle. That’s not a small thing. Nowhere does that show up more clearly than in how she approaches nutrition.
“Cookie-cutter meal plans are for cookie-cutter coaching.”
Star refuses to hand clients a bland chicken-and-asparagus plan and call it done. Food, to her, is hospitality, memory, and identity. When she built a sample meal plan that included Filipino comfort foods, the reaction from her client stopped her in her tracks. Pure joy — just from reading the plan.
“I clocked it. There is a freedom in seeing an option with flavor.”
That same curiosity extends beyond food. Her family’s attitude was always just try it with new foods, new experiences, new challenges. She brings that energy to training, too. You won’t know what you’re capable of until you give it a go.
Building relationships is non-negotiable for Star. She gets to know her clients through real conversations, their lifestyle, what they enjoy, and what actually keeps them consistent. Without that, she says, coaches limit both themselves and their clients.
Celebrating AAPI Heritage Month
Daisy, Jessica, Joe, and Star come from different backgrounds and coach very different people. But the thread running through every one of their stories is the same: culture is not a barrier to health. It never was.
This AAPI Heritage Month, we celebrate them, not just for the results they help clients achieve, but for building spaces where people can finally show up as their whole selves.
Also read:
