Conscious Empires: Building Mental, Physical & Business Health with Karena Dawn

Karena Dawn is a warrior. 

In the public realm, she’s a globally renowned (rebel) fitness superstar, co-founder of Tone it Up, an empowering fitness collective helping women look and feel their best. Beyond business, she’s a champion for mental health awareness: a truly embodied light force who radiates love, resilience, and empathy. Her powerful story is one I wanted to share today as an ally for her profound mission here on the planet. 

Karena courageously shares her life backstory and experience growing up with a mom suffering from schizophrenia, as well as the impact of the diagnosis on her own mental wellbeing as a teenager and family dynamic. After numbing her pain with drugs and partying through to her early 20s, Karena found soul redemption through fitness, working her body, healing her mind, and eventually building a business platform where she could help thousands of women do the same. We discuss her convoluted pain-to-purpose journey and how her upbringing has shaped her business goals moving forward. 

This conversation is a testament to both the spirited 7-year-old girl who would make $300 at a yard sale and the bold, inspirational business owner who stands before me today. I have so much love and respect for both souls. 

The Ceremonial Offering

Karena offers us a moment to check in with ourselves through a special poetry reading, before asking us to sit and ask four profound life questions: “Who am I? What do I want? What is my purpose? What am I grateful for?”

We talk about:

  • Her humble beginnings in Indiana and how her mother’s mental health diagnosis changed her life 

  • Money and abundance 

  • The moment she reached her breaking point and turned to fitness to heal 

  • The mental health conversation happening in the collective and how we can do our part

  • Evolving family dynamics and maintaining a relationship with mom

  • What it takes to build – and maintain – a fitness empire 

Resources:

Guest Bio:

Karena Dawn, Tone It Up Co-Founder, is a spirited entrepreneur and lifestyle celebrity whose passion for healthy living, fitness, and wellness has placed her at the forefront of the health and fitness industries.

Fate first introduced the triathlete, trainer, and former sports model and host to then-personal-trainer, Katrina Scott, at a Manhattan Beach gym in 2008. Inspiration and passion collided, and the girls started filming fitness videos for YouTube. The channel gained increasing attention from women across the country who became dedicated to their new trainers. Taking the world by storm with their fresh, fun, and friendly approach, Dawn and Scott built the Tone It Up lifestyle brand and community, a large and loyal network of like-minded women. This inspiring, energetic “friend-to-friend" approach to fitness made Tone It Up the go-to, one stop destination for women seeking a fun, unique approach to achieving their best self.

Originally from Indiana, Dawn fell in love with sports and fitness at a young age. She completed her first half-marathon at 12 and some of her earliest memories include watching her mom work out to Jane Fonda videos in their living room – she even filmed her own workout video on VHS for a 1st grade class project. After her youth became full of turmoil due to her mothers mental health disease, Dawn went through ten years of severe depression and escaped into drug abuse. In her early 20s she was ready to regain her life and live in love rather than fear. She rediscovered fitness and the memories of how it made her feel. Dawn began using triathlons as her therapy. She continued to compete, became a personal trainer, and made a name for herself in the sports world, in addition to becoming spokesperson for brands like Oakley, Adidas, and New Balance and appearing in “Shape,” “Self,” and “Women's Health” magazines.

Alyson Charles