A conversation with Tahnee Donkin, National Fitness Manager at Genesis Health + Fitness

If you've ever wondered what a career in the fitness industry can actually look like over the long haul, this one's for you. I sat down with Tahnee Donkin, National Fitness Manager at Genesis Health + Fitness, and honestly her story had me nodding along the entire time.

Eighteen years in the industry. Big brands. Leadership roles. A health scare that changed everything. And a perspective on what it means to be a woman in fitness that I think every woman thinking about this career needs to hear.

Here's what she shared with me.

The light bulb moment

Tahnee's path into fitness wasn't the typical one. She came from a performing arts background, studying and working professionally as a dancer. It was actually ongoing injuries that kept bringing her into the gym for rehab, and one day it just clicked.

"I was looking around at all these personal trainers, and I had this moment where I thought, this is their office. This is where they get to go to work every day."

Twenty four hours later, she was signed up for her Cert III and Cert IV.

What I love about that is the immediacy of it. She didn't overthink it. She felt the pull and she went. And then something else happened that I think is such an important message for anyone studying right now: she started networking before she even graduated.

A few weeks into her course, she was already reaching out to gyms, introducing herself, asking if she could do unpaid work experience. Fitness First said yes. By the time she graduated, she already had a role lined up.

This is something I say to our students all the time. You don't have to wait until you finish your Cert IV to start putting yourself out there. Start while you're studying. Get in front of people. The barrier feels way smaller once you've already been in the building.

What those early days were really like

Tahnee started her PT career eighteen years ago, and she's honest about how different the landscape was back then. The industry was heavily male dominant, and the perceptions around female trainers were real.

On her first week, her PT manager told her that because she was female, she would have to work ten times harder than the male trainers to get anywhere near their level of success.

"The way I took that was, well, you just watch me."

She saw it as a challenge. And while not everyone would, what I appreciated was that she didn't pretend it was easy. She had a member follow her around mid session, speaking to her client, questioning why he was training with her. That kind of thing is genuinely intimidating. But she had support around her, she held her ground, and she kept going.

Things have changed a lot since then. There are so many more women in the industry now, in personal training, in leadership, in education. But I think it's worth acknowledging the path that women like Tahnee walked to help shift that.

The burnout that changed her direction

Here's the part of Tahnee's story I wasn't expecting.

She had been running her PT business, loving every minute of it, saying yes to every client at every time slot they asked for. Five in the morning? Sure. Eight at night? Absolutely. Saturdays, Sundays, whatever they needed.

She ran herself into the ground. At around twenty three, she ended up in hospital with a suspected stroke.

Coming out of that, everything shifted. Her PT manager had been encouraging her to step into a management role for a while, and she had kept saying no. Too young. Too inexperienced. Who would hire her to lead a team of older, more experienced male trainers?

But after the hospital, she reconsidered. She put her hand up. She got the role. And she hasn't looked back.

I think what's so powerful about this part of her story is the reminder that burnout is real in this industry, especially early on when you're hungry for experience and clients and you just say yes to everything. The analogy she used has stayed with me: you have to put your own mask on before you help someone else. You cannot pour from an empty cup and serve your clients well at the same time.

What leadership taught her that the gym floor couldn't

When I asked Tahnee what those national and regional roles gave her that she couldn't have learned as a sole trader on the gym floor, her answer was simple: perspective.

Working with hundreds and hundreds of personal trainers over the years, she's been able to see what actually works across a huge range of approaches, personalities, business models, and markets. Not just what worked for her in her own little world.

"There is no one size fits all in this industry. But I've seen enough to know what really does work and why."

She also talked about how lonely it can feel running your own PT business, and how that loneliness is often unnecessary. The community is there. The support is there. You just have to be open to it and willing to reach out.

What she does now at Genesis

As National Fitness Manager, Tahnee oversees everything health and fitness across the Genesis club network, which includes a mix of franchise owned clubs, joint venture partners, and company sites. Personal training, group fitness, the coaching zone, reformer Pilates, gym floor experience and their newest offering: recovery.

That last one really caught my attention. They're bringing in massage chairs, infrared saunas, cryo lounges, recovery boots. The whole picture. Because recovery isn't a nice to have anymore, it's just as important as the training itself.

The one thing she wishes she'd known

Tahnee said picking just one was hard, but she landed on this: stop focusing on the wrong things.

In those early days, she spent so much time on her business name, her logo, her colours, her website. All the things that felt important but actually weren't.

"Clients don't care about your business name. They're going to remember you, and what you can do for them, and how you make them feel."

People and relationships first. Everything else comes after that.

The other big one was education. She thought finishing her Cert III and Cert IV meant she knew enough. A mentor sent her to a course called Strength Training for Women just a few months in, and she walked out realising how much she didn't know.

Eighteen years later, she says she still has so much to learn. And she wears that proudly.

Filex is coming

Tahnee is heading to the Filex Business Summit on the Gold Coast next month as a panelist. Her session is called Hiring to High Performance and it covers the full journey of building and supporting a high performing team, from attracting the right people right through to culture and development.

If you're heading to Filex, go and hear her speak. And honestly, even beyond the sessions, the networking at Filex is where a lot of the real magic happens. So many of the opportunities in Tahnee's career came directly from relationships she built at events like this.

I'll be there too, and I would love to see you there.

For the woman who isn't sure yet

I saved the best for last, because Tahnee's answer to this one really got me.

If you're a woman thinking about getting into the fitness industry but doubting whether you have enough to offer, she wants you to think about who you're actually trying to help. Most personal training clients are women. And no matter how knowledgeable a trainer is, there are things that only another woman can truly understand from lived experience.

"If all we needed was the right program, everyone would have gone online and pulled one down and achieved all their goals. But that's not what helps people succeed. It's relationships. It's connection."

You have more to offer than you think. Your experiences, your perspective, your empathy for what other women go through, that is the thing that will make a difference in someone's life.

Take the first step. Find a mentor. Let the community hold you while you find your feet.

The industry needs more women like you in it.

Tahnee Donkin is the National Fitness Manager at Genesis Health + Fitness, bringing 18 years of experience across some of Australia's leading health club brands. She will be a panelist at the Filex Business Summit on the Gold Coast in June.