• Meet June’s Mom of the Month, Julia. Julia and her son are Wednesday Stroller Strides and playgroup regulars, and they bring such great energy every time. You’ve probably spotted them around town and at events too. We love having them in our community and are so glad they keep showing up week after week. Julia, you’re such a bright part of this crew!

• Tell us about your family!
• We are an international family with a beautiful blend of cultures and traditions. I am Ukrainian, my husband Chris is American, and together we are raising our two-year-old son, Mark. We love creating special memories together and giving Mark the opportunity to grow up connected to both cultures.

• Current/previous career?
• I am currently a stay-at-home mom, which has always been my dream and something I truly value. Before becoming a full-time mom, I worked in the pharmaceutical industry. While I appreciated my job and all the financial benefits of it , I always knew that creating a loving home and being present for my family was most important to me.

Meet our May Staff of the Month, Maria! As our event coordinator, she's the one behind the scenes making the magic happen from Sip & Strolls to family events to Moms Night Out to working with our amazing sponsors for Mamapalooza. We asked her a few questions so you can get to know the woman who keeps our community events calendar full.

• Tell us a little about your family--who's in your crew and what stage of mom life are you in right now?
• My family consists of my husband, Steve, and our two sons, Luca (4) and Leo (2). It's full toddler and Pre-K mode over here, complete with high energy, constant questions, and repeated explanations. The biggest challenge in my life right now is having two kids simultaneously pulling me in opposite directions 🫠

• What do you love doing outside of teaching/working for FIT4MOM--work, hobbies, passions, anything that fills your cup?
• Beyond FIT4MOM, I love baking, trying new recipes, and spending time outdoors. I also enjoy a nice iced coffee flavor of the month, which comes in handy when picking spots for our group's biweekly sip & strolls. I even picked up part-time work for a friend who runs a mobile coffee cart, because apparently once coffee is in your life, it finds a way into your schedule too.

• Every month we get to shine a light on someone who embodies what FIT4MOM Oak Park River Forest is all about. This month, that’s Catherine. She’s a 5:30am virtual class regular who keeps showing up week after week, and joins classes and events whenever she can with positivity. Her consistency doesn’t go unnoticed. Catherine, thank you for being such a beautiful part of this community.

• Tell us about your family!
• My family is my world. This year, will be celebrating 10 years of marriage to my husband, Ethan. I have 2 daughters, Olivia (8) and Vivian (4.5), who rule and run my world! We've lived in Oak Park for the last 10 years and have made it our home. I'm originally from Michigan, and my husband is from Missouri.

• Current/previous career?
• School Psychologist in Downers Grove

• What does motherhood mean to you?
• Oooohhhh it means so many things to me... Motherhood is something that I couldn't wait for, and now that I'm here, it's the best job yet. It's tiring and exhausting, but also fun and adventurous. I've learned to embrace the chaos. I describe it like this journey where I am constantly learning, yet amazed and in awe of what my husband and I have created. I love watching my girls grow into these humans, where they are individuating (and tell myself these stubborn and strong-willed traits will come in handy later on in life, just not right now), and watching their personalities come out. At times, I laugh because I can see which traits are mine, my husband's, and then laugh when it's karma! Shoutout to all the mamas out there, this job is hard, and no handbook came with our children when they were born (I tell my students this that even in the toughest of times their parents are doing the best they can with what they have).

• You may already know her from class — we're thrilled to officially introduce Rachel Turkowski as our newest team member! Rachel has been part of our community for years and is joining us as Client Relationship Manager. She is an incredible supporter of every mom she meets, and we couldn't be happier to have her officially on the team.🎉

• Tell us a little about your family--who's in your crew and what stage of mom life are you in right now?
• I have my two amazing kiddos--Emmett (8) and Marlo (6). I love the elementary school years; we are having so much fun.
• What do you love doing outside of teaching for FIT4MOM--work, hobbies, passions, anything that fills your cup?
• Besides attending F4M classes, I love reading (I highly recommend The Correspondent by Virgina Evans), knitting, and spending time with family and friends.
• Why did you join FIT4MOM?
• I've been a F4M member for nearly three years when I approached Liz and asked if she needed any admin help. I love being part of this community, knowing I have a place I can show up to every week and feel welcomed and cared for.
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Meet Kelly — a Body Boost regular who never misses a Monday night, and shows up to Book Club with the same energy and a big smile. We’re so glad she’s part of our community!

• Tell us about your family!
• My spouse Peter and I met as teachers right after college. We have 3 kids, two in pre-K and one in elementary. They're at such fun ages right now, filled with wonder and imagination (and all the big feelings).

• Current/previous career?
• I work in a college women's center as an advocate for survivors of gender-based violence. I love that my work allows me to be part of a feminist community, support survivors, and be constantly learning.

• What does motherhood mean to you?
• Lately, motherhood has been about stepping back and watching the world through my kids' eyes, trying to let go of some control and encourage them to grow into themselves.

• Favorite local spot?
• Scoville Park and the Oak Park Public Library are on our regular rotation. I love relaxing while the kids play in the library, reading together, or having a picnic during the summer concert series or movies in the park.

• Please join me in getting to know this mom of the month, Taylor. You’ll see her on Saturdays and races with her cheerful daughter, sometimes carrying her in her back. She is always smiling with a great attitude at many of our classes. The instructors love seeing her.

• Tell us about your family!
• It’s me and my husband of almost 5 years, Michael, but I call him “Moss”. Together, we have our sweet daughter, Riley, who is two and a half now.

• Current/previous career?
• I am the diabetes social worker at University of Chicago Kovler Diabetes Center. I help all pediatric and adult patients with any barriers to succeed in managing their diabetes.

• What does motherhood mean to you?
• To me, motherhood means unconditional. I just love my little one regardless if she smiled or screamed at me. I’m counting down the minutes until bedtime while also staring at the baby monitor for her to wake up. I love pouring my unconditional love into help forming this human to their own self. With just a dash of stress.

Please join me in getting to know our amazing instructor, Rachel! You’ll find her teaching Strides 360 at 9:30am and putting in the work on Sunday mornings as she completes her Run Club training to proudly co-lead our Spring session. Rachel is truly a team player — always jumping in to sub classes, support our staff, and this month she’s even hosting our MNO at her home. We are so lucky to have her helping lead and love on this community. 💛

• Tell us a little about your family—who’s in your crew and what stage of mom life are you in right now?
• My family is co-chaired by my husband ,Tom, who is easy going and supportive of all my various gigs and activities. We are deep in the "parenting young children" stage of life with our crew: Vera (8), Charles (4.5), and George (1.5).

• What do you love doing outside of teaching for FIT4MOM—work, hobbies, passions, anything that fills your cup?
• Outside of Fit4Mom, I love to keep active, physically and mentally. I stepped back from paid work after our 2nd child was born but stay very busy volunteering as Treasurer of the Willard Elementary PTO and Vice President of the River Forest Public Library Foundation. Giving of my time, talents, and treasures is a pillar of my life and something I want to instill in my children by example.

• Please help me celebrate our February Mom of the Month, Tracey! ✨

• Consistency, kindness, and courage to show up—Tracey embodies it all. From trying different classes to cheering on other moms, she’s such a light in our community. We’re so proud to celebrate her as our Mom of the Month.

• Tell us about your family!
• It’s just the three of us: my husband, Ben, and our 10 year old Graham. We moved to Oak Park from the city one week before Graham started kindergarten and he’s currently in 4th grade.

• Current/previous career?
• I’m a university faculty administrator teaching all of our university teaching assistants and running programs for multilingual students who need additional English language support.

• What does motherhood mean to you?
• This feels like the hardest question to actually answer. I always joke that the Peace Corps slogan is “The Toughest Job You’ll Ever Love,” and that’s only because they haven’t been parents yet. It’s so all-consuming to be a parent and yet also so joy-filled as well. I had an absolutely amazing mom, but she died at 50 years old and Ben’s mom died even younger. So it often feels like building the plane while I’m flying it, without a manual, and yet somehow making it all work. What else in life is like that and yet we wouldn’t change anything? (Well mostly lol.)

• Please help me celebrate our January Mom of the Month, Lindsay!✨

  Lindsay and her daughter bring so much joy to our community—from classes to family events and Mom Nights Out. We’re so grateful to have them with us!💕

• Tell us about your family!
• My partner, Dan, and I have one sweet little girl, Hadley! She is 6 months old, and absolutely the light of our life. She is the only grandchild on one side, and one of two grandchildren on the other, so she is absolutely adored and smothered with love by her entire extended family (I would say spoiled, but I don’t believe you can spoil a baby!).

• Current/previous career?
• I am currently in transition! I’ve spent the last decade as a management consultant, specializing in supporting large-scale marketing transformations, but decided it is time for a change. In the new year, I will be starting my job search in earnest, so if there are any other moms on the hunt who want to exchange resumes, let me know!

• What does motherhood mean to you?
• Motherhood to me is so many things, but foremost is joy. Hadley brings me constant joy by doing absolutely nothing. Just seeing her existing, smiling, and enjoying the world brings me so much joy. Even a huge blowout can bring me joy because I get a big smile showing me how much better she feels afterwards.

• Please join me in celebrating this incredible mama! Kaijah shows up to our mom-only classes with such positive energy. She works hard and brings a brightness to class that our instructors absolutely love. We’re so grateful she’s part of our village — and we can’t wait for you to learn more about her this month.

• Tell us about your family!
• I've lived in Chicago with my husband for the past 11 years. We moved here while engaged and planned our wedding while I was in my first semester of the MPH program at UIC. Our kiddos, Evelyn (7) and Mattias (3.75) complete our little family in the Austin (Chicago) neighborhood.

• Current/previous career?
• After being between jobs most of the year, I'm shifting from a support role in recruiting to general human resources. I'm excited to jump into all things workplace benefits and HR operations!

• What does motherhood mean to you?
• Motherhood means growing and expanding yourself in unexpected ways. I'm different than I was before having kids, but I also shifted when we went from one to two. Loving and accepting those shifts is important to me because I want my kids to do the same for themselves.

Meet our Mom of the Month, Laura Bacon! Laura brought her energy, humor, and heart to everything this month — pushing us to 6th place in the Casket Races (in the shirts she made herself!) and then crushing a 10K the very next day with Run Club. She embodies strength, spirit, and community.

• Tell us about your family!
• I live in north Oak Park with my husband and two kiddos - ages 8 and 10

• Current/previous career?
• I am a lawyer - now I work “in-house” for a manufacturing company.

• What does motherhood mean to you?
• Learning something new every day by watching my kids experience the world through their eyes.

• Favorite local spot?
• I get all my workout gear at Lively (owned by Fit4Mom instructor Christina!) for a great cocktail and delicious food, I like Amerikas.

• How did you find Fit4Mom?
• I first joined the Elmhurst chapter of what was then “Stroller Strides” in 2015! I reconnected with the OPRF classes through Alison Newman when our kids were in kindergarten together.

Please join me in congratulating and getting to know this month's Mom of the Month. Rachel came to me last November asking if she could help organize some volunteer work to do with our kids with FIT4MOM. Thanks to Rachel our FIT4MOM community has created over 100 bags for the unhoused, litter cleanup in the park, and assembled 40 bagged lunches for housing forward. We all appreciate Rachel's kind heart and leading these volunteer efforts to raise our kids in the best way!

Please join us in congratulating and learning more about our Mom of the Month. Catherine always shows up for our community in every way - classes, checking in, and helping with our volunteer projects. We are so happy you found us when you moved here and are in our community!

• Tell us about your family!
• My husband Kevin and I have been married for 12 years and we have a 9yo son (4th grade) and a 6yo daughter (1st grade). It’s wild to me that we now have two kids who are undeniably school aged! We moved back to the Midwest (where we are both originally from) from the East Coast (New Haven, CT) three years ago to be closer to our families, so we are now fortunate enough to also be within driving distance of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

• Current/previous career?
• I’m a psychiatrist with a specialty in college mental health. I worked at Yale University for 12 years and have worked at Northwestern University for the past 3 years. I treat undergraduate and graduate students and also collegiate student-athletes. The commute to Evanston isn’t great, but I love my work, find it very meaningful and fulfilling and I feel so fortunate to have a job where I get to work with bright, talented, hardworking college students every day. Plus, working on a college campus keeps me (sort of) young- haha!

Please help me celebrate one of our incredible members, Chris Muench! Chris has been such a consistent, positive force in our community. She stayed dedicated to her FIT4MOM workouts throughout her pregnancy, joined us for Sip & Strolls shortly after welcoming her beautiful baby girl, and jumped right back into classes as soon as she was cleared. Chris is always ready to greet a new mama and share what makes this village so special. Thank you, Chris, for being such a valued and inspiring part of our FIT4MOM family!

Tell us about your family!

I live in River Forest with my husband Zack, 3 year old Niko and 4 months old Cora. When Zack and I first met he lived in an apartment across the street from where we live now. After moving in together in the city we came back here during COVID and ended up literally across the street, lol.

Current/previous career?

I'm a project manager for clinical studies and I've been working on the same drug for 8 years now, even before I moved to the US.

What does motherhood mean to you?

Right now I'm still in the thick of the baby phase and it means I'm attached to my baby (to nurse) for longer than I love, lol. But motherhood means seeing my kids grow up and rediscovering the world through their eyes.