by Gary Hyndman
Copyright © 2000 Greenville Journal
At the age of 17, Ramona Graham was performing at a beauty pageant in Pittsburgh when she was discovered by a Nashville record producer. But before the former Miss Teen South Carolina could put her name on a record contract and be whisked off to Music City, her late mother intervened. Fearing her inexperienced daughter would be corrupted by the music industry, she forbid her to go.
While Ramona Graham the girl was disappointed, Ramona Graham the woman is more philosophical. 'Looking back on it now,' she reflects, 'I don't think it was how I would have wanted to make a living. You're on the road all the time. It's not working with people. And I love working with people.' Instead, she opted for a career in another field for which she developed a passion—health and fitness. And, in the immortal words of Robert Frost, 'That has made all the difference.'
At the time, there were few role models to emulate. But motivated by a genetic predisposition to gain weight and the tragic death of her middle–aged father of a heart attack, she set out on a quest that would change the course of her life.
In the end, she would come to embrace affirmation rather than guilt as her guide. 'I've really become a student of the human spirit,' she admits. 'Every 24–hours is an opportunity for transformation. You have the power to make changes. Attitude is the machine that drives everything—physically, mentally and emotionally.'
That commitment to possibilities is readily apparent in her work as a fitness instructor and coach with approximately 100 clients each week. The Boot Camp model she introduced to Greenville four and a half years ago, based on the principles of military basic training, combines strenuous aerobic exercise, weight training and good nutrition. But unlike its prototype, she chooses to motivate clients with encouragement rather than admonitions. 'It really fuels my fire to see people reach their goals,' she says.
Ramona Graham's philosophy is that fitness is a team sport. She argues that her Boot Camps offer clients—both men and women—the structure, accountability and empowerment that are often absent from individual workouts. The thank–you notes she regularly receives attest to clients' newfound emotional as well as physical fitness.
The Boot Camp pilot program began in late 1998 with employees at Downtown Nautilus, where Ramona Graham worked as a personal trainer and fitness instructor. The first series open to the public was organized the following January with twelve hearty souls who committed to a vigorous 90–minute pre–sunrise workout three mornings a week. The program has grown every year since. Two years ago she added a second class led by a second instructor and capped enrollment in her own class at fifty participants.
The recent closing of Downtown Nautilus has accelerated her dream to open her own fitness center. She currently is in negotiations for a suitable space. Ramona Graham also has entered into conversations with Clemson University, which has invited her to introduce Boot Camps for students, faculty and staff on its campus. And her long–term business goals include the development of a corporate wellness program that would be marketed to local businesses as a means of reducing employee absenteeism and health insurance claims.
Yet, one need travel no farther than the city's Cleveland Park to see evidence of her impact on the local culture. In February 2001, Ramona Graham's Fitness Trail opened at the park. Each of the sixteen stations on the course was paid for by corporate and individual sponsors, with the city covering the cost of installation.
Paul Ellis, the city's director of parks and recreation, describes Ramona Graham as 'a jewel of a person.' He says his decision to name the facility for her was only fitting. 'I thought it was a logical way to do it. She brought it to us and raised all the money for it.'
It's hard to believe that the energetic Ramona Graham claims to be slowing down. She recently ended a professional relationship with Gold's Gym to concentrate more attention on her 8–year–old daughter, Asheton. She also admits to occasionally indulging a taste for chocolate and taking long hikes in the mountains where, she says, 'everything negative leaves you.'
And, oh yes, the passion for singing, a talent first nurtured while growing up in the church, remains. Only now, the lullabies with which she serenades her daughter and the tunes she hums in the car we purely for her own enjoyment. |
