El Monte women's fitness studio focuses on empowerment and community

EL MONTE, Calif. (KABC) -- A boutique fitness gym in the San Gabriel Valley is focused on women's empowerment, offering everything from dance fitness to pilates, yoga, zumba and circuit training. It's called "Beastin Beauties" in El Monte.

" Boutique fitness spaces here, it doesn't exist here, so I needed to have this for the people in my community here, where I grew up," said owner Jay Armada.

Members love working on their health and fitness alongside other women.

"You walk in and you feel like you're able to let loose and inhibit it in a way that you don't find in other places," said member Esmeralda Cabral.

"It takes away the stresses of being in a space where you may feel judgment from others. And there's a certain level of comfort as a woman that you wanna be able, especially if you're starting a health journey or you're reigniting it, you wanna have the comfort of being around under supportive women," said member Ruby Rose Yepez, who also teaches yoga at the studio.

Women empowerment has been the theme all along, from Jay's humble beginnings...

" I want people to feel what I felt when I was going through my own journey. I had lost ninety-three pounds in a whole year and I just wanted everyone to feel that," said Armada.

...to a huge setback in 2020 when the gym's previous location burned down in a fire.

" I thought I didn't wanna do it anymore. Maybe it was a sign from God that you should just quit. But my community held me up and they just really made me believe in it again," said Armada.

Now, her business is thriving, and she was just named the city's Woman of the Year!

" Community and connection here in this space is super, super important. Jay is not just about bringing people here for health. She brings people here to build the connections so that they feel that they're part of a community," said Yepez.

"You build a connection without even really trying. You're all experiencing the same moments together. There's always just so much fun happening," said Cabral.