Vicky Loza Created 30-Minute Workout Videos to Empower Women to Lead Healthier Lifestyles

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During the pandemic, Latina fitness expert and motivational health coach Vicky Loza started doing at-home workout videos —available on her website, vickythefitchick.com— after losing her job as a personal trainer in California. "When covid happened, I was used to doing my 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. [workdays] training clients, and I didn't have a job anymore. I had just moved into my first apartment and it was at the point where it was like: 'Sink or swim, Victoria. What are you going to do?'" she tells People CHICA of those early months in quarantine when businesses shut down and people were ordered to stay home. "I started doing these programs you can do from home. You only need a set of dumbbells and a chair, and the first one did really well."

Loza's mission —to make her workouts accessible and affordable to her clients— stemmed from her own upbringing. "I didn't have a gym membership, weights [or] money," says Loza, who grew up with two siblings in a household led by a single mother. "I started working out [using] Jillian Michaels at-home workouts and Shaun T Insanity [DVDs]. I did that for about a year and I got down to maybe like 120 pounds."

Working out is just one part of a health regime she encourages her clients to follow. "I wasn't very educated on fitness and health, your well being, how you should be eating correctly," admits Loza, who learned during her journey about the importance of eating your way to health. "That's where I was mentally [when I started, thinking:] 'Well, if I don't eat I'll be fine.' That was the worst mentality to have. I ended up hiring a personal trainer just to see how they work and [to learn] about the body and all of that."

Her own journey to health led her to become a personal trainer, and while she hopes to one day have her own fitness line, Loza is zeroing in on making her videos and helping her clients. "I'm really focused on just creating more of these programs for all of my girls," she shares. "This consumes all of my time, especially with me checking in with the girls on a weekly basis through Zoom calls and DMing everyone. I don't want to drift too far from it because they still have great accountability with me. So my main focus right now is [on] these programs."