Meet Francesca Gerard | Health & Wellness Influencer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Francesca Gerard and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Francesca, what do you want people to remember about you?
At a very young age, I knew early on that I wanted to influence people through teaching. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to teach, but I knew that I loved the idea of influencing people towards a path that serves their greater good. To continue my passion and commitment to public service, I studied Psychology. I became immensely interested in delivering mental health services to individuals in marginalized communities. My commitment to promoting wellness in marginalized and oppressed communities was demonstrated through my work as teacher in Title 1 schools that primarily served children with personality and/or mental health disorders from low-income families and as a Case Manager where I had the responsibility of connecting parents to resources that considerably improved the quality of their lives to be able to care for their children. My experiences working in these communities led to my decision to earn my Masters Degree in Education. I pursued this degree with the conviction that mental wellness is directly linked to student achievement and children’s social, emotional, and behavioral development. Later on in my life, I developed a fondness for health and fitness because mental health has proven to reap the benefits of your overall health! This led me to become a certified Personal Trainer. I shared this background of my academic and professional achievements because it leads to what I want my legacy to be. I want my legacy to be someone who has demonstrated a consistent and persistent drive to learn, improve my practice as an educator, influencer and researcher, and to make a positive impact on the lives of those I encounter. Particularly in the areas related to health and wellness, I want to be remembered as a women who is courageous, determined, and compassionate. A young women passionate, knowledgeable, inspiring, persistent, and goal-oriented. To take it a step further, I plan on attending medical school to become a Psychiatrist. I want people to remember that I intend to accomplish my dreams no matter what! I am very ambitious so I want to be remembered as someone who is a go-getter! I want to be remembered as a women who is committed to continuing my education to remain stimulated and mentally active. My life’s purpose is to be an inspiration to people and I am grateful for my experiences that given me the ability to promote wellness, education and practice in marginalized communities. I hope those who know me will associate my name with a sense of deep, collective love. I want to be remembered as someone who treats people with compassion, kindness, and fairness. Someone who approaches each day with energy, creativity, gratitude and love! I hope they will think about their souls and the connection I encouraged them to have with their true-selves. I want to be remembered for my advocacy, efforts and commitment to health and wellness. I want someday for my community members, family, friends and future children to say “wow, Francesca’s impact on the world extended to people who really needed help.” I want to be remembered as someone who grows a garden of empowerment. A women who is an excellent role model and sustains life in physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual areas. A women who encourages and uplifts others.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I have a few proud achievements that I would like to take this opportunity to share. My first proud moment was earning my BA in Psychology. This study provides me with a deeper understanding of human psychology. Health is not just the physical aspect we need to understand, but how to get clients to change their habits and ways of thinking outside of the gym as well. Fitness and psychological health go hand-in-hand. A second signifcant milestone in my life, was earning my Master’s degree. I am the first in my generation to earn a Master’s degree. Achieving a Master’s degree was not a task that I ever thought I could successfully accomplish. It felt amazing to earn this accolade and is still one of my biggest drivers! Furthermore, my degree in Education allows me to educate and coach clients, help them obtain positive behavior change, and create lifelong healthy habits. Health is what gives people energy and the focus to think clearly and push them through the inevitable tough times that will come their way. I consider these achievements as just the start of my journey, not an end! I plan on continuing to advance my career. I love setting goals and pursuing them with my work, dedication, enthusiasm! Next, I consider my personal transformation my greatest achievement. I am proud of myself for being so dedicated and conscientious throughout my weight loss journey. I am proud that I put my health needs high up on my priority list. Going through this transformation, motivated me to want to help others in their health and wellness goals so that I can continue my public service to positively impact others lives. Teaching and coaching has been my passion and career choice. Therefore, earning my personal training certification is another proud moment for me. I earned my personal training certification so that I was able to sharpen my knowledge and gain a strong foundation with competencies to help people get in shape and live healthier lifestyles. To this day I enjoy passing the knowledge I have acquired through a broad spectrum of experience to others. I find great satisfaction to see others achieve their goals. The certification provided me with an understanding of kinesiology concepts in human movement, exercise and management. Learning is the best investment that I have made. It wasn’t easy, because it requires a lot of time, balance and energy, but it is fundamental to succeeding! I remained self-disciplined because it granted me the ability to stay focused on reaching my goals. Self discipline is the key to success in life! It helps me to become an unstoppable force of energy to reach the greatest level in my life. I want to be remembered as someone who always stayed focused, determined, and resolute in pursuit of my goals. I want to be remembered as a woman who integrated her venture as a personal trainer as well as her career as a clinical health psychiatrist and wellness speaker.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If a friend was visiting the area and I wanted to show them the best time ever, one of the things we would definitely do is visit so many restaurants! Trying new food opens your eyes and your taste buds to a whole new range of authentic flavor profiles and foods that you would’ve otherwise been missing out on! There are so many different corners of the world to discover new flavors! Living in South Florida offers me the range of opportunities to try new restaurants throughout Palm Beach, Dade, and Miami! It makes this aspect of my life so much more interesting! Particularly, I love restaurants with scenic views and ambience! I am a sucker for Italian food, but have been so open to other dishes such as Caribbean, Vegan, Soul, Seafood and even Indian! Every time we do something new and challenge ourselves, we forever expand our comfort zones just a little bit more! It’s always amazing to experience a culture so different to your own, but what makes this extra special, is experiencing it through their food! I particularly love areas such as Wynwood, Sweetwater and Las Olas because I know these are areas my friends wouldn’t find back home. These areas are suitable for all and offers a wide variety of things to do and try!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to dedicate this shoutout to my mother. To me, working was as natural to me as breathing. I always felt the need to either to be working hard or working toward something. This undeniable independence and drive that I have stems from my mother. My mother is, hands down, the hardest working person I know. My mother has taught me so many things growing up: how to love, how to be strong, how to be a good person and how to give back to others. When you grow up with a single mother who works hard, it inspires you. It teaches you to lead by example. It teaches you a fundamental life lesson: You don’t need anybody else. My hard-working supermom has taught me you can achieve anything you want if you set your mind to it and dedicate the time. She has forever been one of my biggest supporters in the good times and the bad. She helped shaped my attributes and values as a person and a woman. Her life lessons made me who I am today! Thank you, Mom, for giving me so much love and support over the years. Thank you for working so, so outrageously hard to give me a life worth living and for giving me the greatest role model to look up to. This is why I go so hard. Being in this situation I feel more pressure to do well. I use this as motivation whenever I am struggling and just want to quit, this is one of my top reasons as to why I am so determined.

Instagram: Francesca_fierclymade

Image Credits
@cte_photography