About BPFA
Making Fitness Approachable, Accessible, and Fun Since 2013
We’re Redefining Fitness for Every Body
The Body Positive Fitness Alliance (BPFA) is a nonprofit organization founded on the belief that fitness should be welcoming and accessible for everyone. Created by gym owners, trainers, and clients who wanted to challenge industry norms rooted in shame and exclusion, BPFA exists to help reshape fitness spaces through accessibility, inclusion, and empowerment.
In 2016, BPFA hosted its first in-person summit, bringing trainers together from across the United States and Canada. That gathering made one thing clear: meaningful change in the fitness industry wasn’t just possible—it was already underway.
Today, BPFA operates as a global nonprofit network and education platform, providing resources, professional education, and community support to advance equitable access to fitness for people of all bodies, identities, and abilities.
What we do
- We educate. Our courses, webinars, and live events teach FitPros how to create inclusive, body-positive fitness spaces.
- We connect. Through our online community and events, we bring like-minded professionals together to share, learn, and grow.
- We advocate. We challenge outdated fitness norms and push for industry-wide change that prioritizes accessibility, inclusion, and joy in movement.
- We support. Whether you’re just starting out or have been in this work for years, we provide the resources and mentorship to help you thrive.
The 8 BPFA Pillars
At the heart of everything we do are the Eight Core Values that form the foundation of our community and resources. These values guide our mission to make fitness inclusive, accessible, and empowering for all.
Pillar 1: Accessibility
Our spaces are physically accessible and our practices are for all bodies. We consider your financial, communication, learning, safety and other access related barriers to fitness.
Pillar 2: Approachability
Our attitudes are positive, realistic, and predictable. Our processes are transparent. We acknowledge our own privilege is a barrier between ourselves and those we serve.
Pillar 3: Enjoyment
We provide fun moments and experiences to help you associate challenging physical work with happiness and success.
Pillar 4: Community
We create conditions for meaningful connections between individuals undergoing similar experiences. We are leaders by example and we protect our communities’ values.
Pillar 5: Scope of Practice
We acknowledge our professional and personal limitations and do not prevent you from seeking a higher level of care for conditions outside our scopes of practice. We implement evidence based practices and follow guidelines from major professional organizations.
Pillar 6: Full Health
We ensure your experiences are safe and enhance your overall quality of life. We do not intimidate or shame; rather appropriately challenge you with consideration for your mental, emotional and physical health.
Pillar 7: Body Positivity
We do not assume your ability based on what we do or do not know about you. We create and hold space for you to exercise autonomy over your body, our relationship and your experience.
Pillar 8: Growth
We prioritize growing as professionals to better serve you. We regularly self-evaluate our practices and their alignment with the Eight Pillars.
Join the Movement!
If you’re tired of outdated fitness ideas and want a more inclusive, empowering path, you’re in the right place. Join us and explore new ways to create meaningful impact and grow alongside like-minded FitPros.
Learn & Explore
Discover what it means to be a body-positive fitness professional. Dive into our resources to help you integrate inclusive practices into your space, training, and business, ensuring that every body feels welcome.
Connect & Thrive
Join a community of like-minded fitness professionals dedicated to inclusivity. Share insights, learn from others, and access resources that will help you thrive and grow your body-positive fitness business.
Support
Our nonprofit organization runs on your support! Learn more about the nonprofit, donate on Patreon, check out resources that help fund our work, and discover other ways to support the cause.
Board of Directors
Amanda Tierney
- Executive Director
- She/Her
Amanda, MS, CSCS, CEDS-C, is an Eating Disorders Informed & Sensitive fitness professional passionate about educating fitness folks on prevention & treatment of disorders related to food & body. Amanda is committed to bridging the gap between research and practice and creating a network of knowledgeable coaches to collaborate with multidisciplinary treatment professionals. You can learn more about Amanda’s work at Rock The Balance, Therapeutic Exercise Alliance for Movement in Eating Disorders, and Athlete Insight.
Marjorie (Meg) Hopkins
- Vice President
- She/Her
Meg is a compassion-focused, weight neutral strength coach from Brooklyn, NY. She is the owner of Thrive Together Movement, a virtual fitness studio on a mission to create a space in the fitness industry where all bodies are honored and celebrated. Outside of the gym, you can find her rescuing animals, writing novels, reading everything, crocheting stuffed animals, and chasing her pets around repeating ‘what are you eating!?’
Katie Majewski Feeley
- Secretary
- She/Her
Katie is a strength coach, strongman athlete, cat mom, travel junkie, and bourbon enthusiast. She is the founder of Power Plant Gym, an inclusive strength training facility in Aston, PA.
Luca Lyons
- All pronouns
Passionate about fostering inclusivity in fitness, Luca founded Ascent Fitness in Tacoma, WA—a dedicated space for joyful movement, strength training, and a supportive community. Luca, drawing on foundational experiences in various activities like climbing, skiing, and ultimate frisbee, recognizes the integral role sports and recreation play in health and happiness. These experiences have propelled a coaching career focused on helping individuals find joy in movement. Possessing a personal training certification from NASM and ongoing education, Luca is unwaveringly committed to crafting an inclusive environment for those often overlooked in traditional fitness spaces.
Stacy Kim
- She/Her
Stacy Kim is the owner of KUMA, two women’s kickboxing gyms in Maine built on body-neutral, inclusive principles. She blends her background in design with a passion for movement to create empowering, community-driven spaces. Stacy also leads Feel Strong Brands, offering marketing tools and coaching for fitness professionals, and is developing both a kickboxing instructor training program and her first book, More Than Movement.
Christine DeFilippis
- She/Her
A movement motivator, body liberator, and unconventional fitness pro, Christine is dedicated to reshaping the fitness landscape into a realm of inclusivity. Globally, Christine presents her insights at fitness conferences, workshops and courses, addressing diverse movement approaches, successful business strategies, & industry inclusiveness. Her personal journey of overcoming an eating disorder, weight cycling, and body dysmorphia fuels her commitment to weight neutrality. Through her Breaking Body Biases podcast, she amplifies voices of those dismantling diet culture. Check out her website here.
Laura Vineyard
- Former ED
- She/They
A coach and community organizer with a background in scientific research, Laura has run her own personal training business, ShockYard Fitness & Social Club, for over ten years. She specializes in new and nontraditional athletes and believes that fitness should be fun, empowering, and accessible to all.
As the former Executive Director of Body Positive Fitness Alliance, she has extensive experience with the operations side of running a nonprofit as well as organizing multiple international summits. Laura has created educational materials for fitness professionals as well as assisted other educators in sharing their knowledge with BPFA’s community of learners.
Kate Herald Browne
- She/Her
Kate teaches people how to tell stories that change the world for good. She holds a PhD in English and uses her background in storytelling research as a learning designer and leadership consultant. Her wellness writing has appeared in Runner’s World, Refinery29, Autostraddle, and SELF magazine. Recently, Kate added a new dimension to her story exploration practice as a singer/songwriter, performing as a solo artist and as the leader of Evening Orchid, a pop-up jamboree band.
Justice Williams
- He/Him
Coach Justice is a Certified Personal Trainer, head coach at Kettlebell Justice, founder of The Queer Gym Pop Up and BodyImage4Justice, and Executive Director of Fitness4AllBodies. He is a trans body positive activist and has been actively creating safe spaces for queer and trans bodies in fitness in the Boston area since 2013.
