Punching Through Peaks and Valleys With Monica Jones

TELL US ABOUT BASH AND WHAT’S YOUR ROLE IN THAT COMPANY?

Monica: Alex, who is one of the co-founders, is one of my good friends. It’s all about how you treat people. When I used to work at Gold’s Gym I would see quite a few of the people who are involved with Bash now. They were members of the gym and I would always smile and speak to them regularly. Years down the line I became the head coach at Orangetheory with Alex. She is a co-founder of Bash and she always had a big dream to have her own place.

I always wanted to be my own brand. I watched her try to find what concept she wanted to start as I was making my way through my own personal boxing journey. I introduced her to boxing and she fell in love with it. She started to see how empowering it was, especially for women. And then she decided that that’s what she wanted to do. As she grew into that role of not just management, but now ownership and building a brand from the ground up, she wanted me to be her right-hand woman.

WHAT HAVE THE DARKEST TIMES YOU’VE FACED TAUGHT YOU?

Monica: College was a huge piece of that and I paid for it on my own. I waited tables from age 17 up until 25 and in that industry it’s very easy to continue keep going. You make cash, you make friends, you drink for free. That kind of stuff makes you complacent.

One of the darkest times for me was being in college knowing that I was paying a lot of money for something that wasn’t exactly what I wanted to do when I got out. I didn’t have the money to continue paying for it. I was really just down on myself and it was the people around me who thought the most of me that picked me up. It’s about no matter what you’re going through still treating the people around you with love and still sharing what you’re going through with them. Because if you don’t they don’t know and no one can help you.

I’ve already moved this mountain, I can move the next one and there’s definitely going to be another one to move. The bigger your dream, the higher you have to climb.