Kerri Flanigan

Hi! Meet Kerri. I have the pleasure of seeing and talking with her almost every day. She’s the owner of AIR Charlotte and that’s where I get my daily workout in. When I first gave AIR a shot I never thought it’d be part of my daily routine. Kerri’s commitment to creating a space that is all welcoming and supportive is what gets me there and through each workout. I never ever feel like I can’t do it. She’s awesome.

She’s also taking over out Instagram today! Follow along here.

What are you passionate about?

I don’t want to do the obvious and say fitness. Can I say life? I’m passionate about life and under that umbrella is my company, my job, my family, my home and my friends because I think a healthy balance of all of these things makes you in general just more relatable which is important. Without all those things I probably wouldn’t be as passionate. If I just had my job I wouldn’t have that balance and ability to get away from it for a little bit. That’s important. Oh and traveling. I love it. Oh man, I could go on and on so let’s just say life.

Who do you look up to?

She’s not hear anymore but my grandmother. We call her Oma. She immigrated from Germany, with my Dad when he was little and my grandpa. They lived through WWII, in prisoner of war camps and such, and came to Canada and basically started a life from nothing. They saved everything they made, I think they took one trip to Hawaii, and brought us up like their own kids. She was just one of those people who always put other people first before herself. She worked so hard for what she had and then just gave it to people. Her generosity and love for everything makes me a little jealous at times. I wish I could replicate it. She definitely still inspires and motivates me. There’s a reason my LLC is called GoodRoots. My maiden name is Gut which means “good” in German.

What is your most embarrassing moment?

In college, I used to drive an old van, and ’81 Volkswagon vanagon which is actually still sitting in our backyard, waiting to get fixed up. We had that gas shortage in Charlotte about 7 or 8 years ago, and I had pulled into the Walmart gas station in Belmont, waited in line and finally got gas. I went to start the car and no joke it wasn’t starting. This van would break down driving to class. So I had all these cars honking at me, of course I have no idea what to do and can’t push it by myself, finally these two older men, probably from Gastonia, helped me push it out of the way and eventually get it started. The battery had some issues. Anyway, I said my thank you’s and right before I got back into the driver’s seat, the old man looks me in the eye and says, “You’ve got some real purty eyeballs”.

How do you think people would describe you?

Active. I have a hard time sitting still too long. I’m a little fidgety. Outdoorsy. If i’m not working out in here i’ll be outside hiking or doing something. Music festivals outside are the best.

What frustrates you?

When people say I can’t. Those words. Especially here in the studio. You get people being pushed to their limits and outside of their comfort zone a lot so the first reaction they have is I can’t, I can’t, I can’t. Sometimes we’re in a go go go setting and you have to stand next to them and basically say yes you can. I know in my head that they can do it.

@jmitchem asked where are you from?

Edmonton, Alberta. People always go where’s that? It’s Canada. It’s actually the second most populated northern city in the world. It’s also F’in cold. I grew up snowboarding… though I’m not much of a skater. I came down here for school and what like wait, it’s much warmer down here. I’ve been here about ten years.

Katie Levans wants to know what’s one thing you’ve failed at but learned from?

I wasn’t the perfect daughter. My mom and I had a rough relationship so i’d probably say I failed her a little bit. I couldn’t give her the relationship she wanted with her daughter because I was sort of a nut job for a little while. I was standoffish and wasn’t that ideal daughter when I was younger. So, when I moved away I realized what I had done and have since rekindled our relationship. Not that we were enemies but a mother has a daughter and they want a certain type of relationship and I think I failed her a little bit in that sense. I guess you don’t know what you have till it’s gone.

You can find Kerri training people at AIR or on Twitter @AIRFITCHARLOTTE.