2019 Issue 5 Sep/Oct - Focus Mid-Tenn Magazine

lgbt health
Tash Weddle is
ALL HEART
by Sunny Eaton | photos courtesy of Ashley Hylbert
Natasha “Tash” Weddle
is making magic happen.
She is doing all the right
things for all the right
reasons. An essential
presence in the Nashville
business community, Tash
owns TNB Fitness and
New Beginnings, where
she is using her talents
to empower women to
change their mindset,
habits and bodies.
“The goal is to empower
women to take control and
live their best lives,” says
Tash, who founded the
nonprofit organization, New
Beginnings, in 2011. The
aim of New Beginnings is
to give low-income women
an opportunity to become
part of a fitness community
that may otherwise have
been out of reach.
Tash recognized that
fitness, nutrition and health
education can be expensive
and for women prioritizing
basic necessities such as
feeding children, paying rent
and maintaining full-time
jobs, it often falls low in their
hierarchy of priority. “There
is a gaping divide between
access to fitness for these
women and the clear need
shown by fitness and health
statistics for the state of
Tennessee,” she mentions.
Closing the gap
With New Beginnings
serving more than 200
women per year, Tash is
taking steps to shorten that
divide. She hosts several
fundraisers a year and a
portion of the profits from
her TNB Fitness gym and
personal training program
go to support New
Beginnings scholarships.
These scholarships enable
Tash to get deep into the
lives and habits of her
participants.
“We go beyond just
exercise and break through
to the patterns of thinking,
daily habits and personal
visions that truly
shape health.” New
Beginnings is a
year-long program
in multiple phases.
For the first
phase, women are
required to commit
to at least eighty
percent attendance.
“That commitment is
the first step in putting
self-care into the daily
to-do list and the realizing
that health and movement
don’t have to be a chore or
something to suffer through
for cosmetic gains, but
instead are a hard-earned
gift and endlessly rewarding
journey. A journey they
won’t be taking alone.”
Unsurprisingly, Tash is an
extraordinary athlete. An
all-star basketball player in
high school, Tash went on to
play collegiate basketball for
both North Carolina State
University and the University
of Evansville. Her talent
eventually met its match
with a recurrent knee injury
that forced Tash to endure
five surgeries. “My athletic
career transitioned into a
notable 17 years as a strength
and conditioning coach for
several major universities
including the University of
Tennessee and Vanderbilt.”
More than athletics
Although she loved this
work and had earned a
reputation for excellence
and measured success,
Tash knew there had to be
something more in store
for her life, that there was
more she could contribute
to the lives of other people.
In answering that question,
TNB Fitness and New
Beginnings were born.
Walking into the
enormous, well-equipped
TNB Fitness gym and the
New Beginnings meeting
room, filled with inspirational
quotes and vision boards
is like having a gauntlet of
self-growth and betterment
laid at your feet. When you
are in Tash’s office,
looking at her
bookshelves full of
training materials
and new concepts,
you know she is capable
and that she does more
than talk about excellence
and growth, she lives those
ideas. “I want people to ask
themselves, ‘what more can I
be doing – for myself and for
my community.”
Tash isn’t all exercise and
empowerment, she is also
kind, interesting and makes
you feel welcome in her
presence. She spends her
free time traveling, reading
and with friends. Soon, she
and her wife are headed
to central Mexico for some
much-needed rest and to
scope out some retirementlocation
possibilities.
Don’t worry, Nashville –
Tash is invested in the city
and isn’t going anywhere
for a very long time.
FOR MORE INFO
To learn more,
visit www.tnb-fitness.com.
Page 22 / focusmidtenn.com / SEP+OCT 2019 / SUCCESS