Sandra Amaro
Kim Fookes
Dr. Vincent Walsh
James Mcullough
Brendan Allen
Bojan Blazevic
Anne Mahlum
Bari Goldberg
Desiree Guillard-Young
In her current role as Dir of People, Desiree serves as the acting Human Resources Lead for the ecosystem of boutique fitness studio concepts within the FitLab Studio Division. Providing strategic guidance, advisement, and consulting to Studio leaders, frontline managers, and a workforce of 200+ employees nationwide. She ensures that the collective organization scales with intent, strategy, and the employee experience in mind.
Before joining the FitLab organization, Desiree drove operational excellence and human capital management strategies for established 50+ employee multi-location small businesses in the greater Los Angeles area. She was responsible for defining company strategies and OKRs for compliance, general operations, talent management, external relations, DE&I, and NPS/Customer SAT. She anchored her strategic vision in creating a solid operational foundation that allows the company to scale/maintain a high growth rate while building a workplace that reflects the diverse communities it serves—successfully scaling a two-location startup to a four-location seven-figure business during a global pandemic while designing and executing an exit strategy in partnership with my executive board and founding CEO.
Desiree held multiple roles within Fortune 500 companies for 12 years before entering the boutique fitness space. Her breadth of knowledge and business acumen is comprehensive, with both thought and organization leadership experience in global operations, human capital management, business development, DEIB, technology, and outsourcing services at every leadership level.
Desiree is most passionate about personnel development and serving as a connection point for professionals at various career stages. She is an active PIHRA, SHRM, NHRA, and WIT member. She is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc and a Mentor for Baylor Build.
Desiree holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Baylor University, an MBA from Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business, and a Global Business Leadership certification from Beijing University of Posts & Telecom. She also played volleyball for the Baylor Bears from 2002 - 2006. Her motto, "be the positive change you wish to see in your organization".
Amanda Rees
Amanda Rees is co-founder and CEO of Bold, the leading healthy aging platform. Bold partners with Medicare plans and provider groups to offer older adults personalized and science-based exercise programs to prevent falls, reduce musculoskeletal pain and disability, and increase physical activity levels. Before Bold, Amanda worked in energy and environmental justice, managing the renewable energy portfolio at The 11th Hour Project, a program of The Schmidt Family Foundation. Prior to that, she was a Dalai Lama Fellow, and she has conducted research at Stanford, Princeton and UCLA. Amanda has a BSE in Chemical & Biological Engineering from Princeton University. She has been a fitness instructor for over a decade, teaching dance, yoga, indoor cycling, and community tai chi for fall prevention.