PANTEGO, Texas — Chica Power Fitness was Cindy Newton’s dream.
"It doesn’t feel like exercise. It doesn’t feel like it. You don’t dread going and I want to come and see everybody and dance," said Josie Torres, a client.
"First I am Latina. So, for always and forever, Latin music will always be a part of me. It’s who I am and what I grew up with," said Newton.
Newton is the daughter of Mexican immigrants. She learned early on she had to be fierce to succeed.
"I had a second-grade teacher tell me a long time ago that I wasn’t going to be anything or anybody and that was hard. I remember thinking in second grade, 'how could you say that' and I don’t know if it was because I was a little brown girl who didn’t know English, but I look back and it made me stronger," said Newton.
That little girl graduated 11th in her class of 700 and got a degree from Baylor University.
She was a social worker for more than 20 years but she says she was overworked and overweight so started taking and teaching Zumba classes.
Eventually, she decided to quit her job and with the money she and her husband saved for a swimming pool, she opened Chica Power in the summer of 2022.
"We started cash piling up to build a pool in our house and so instead of my pool, we built this dream of mine," said Newton.
Women have flocked to the business that sells shakes, fitness and hope.
"It makes me feel better. It makes me look better. Makes me be able to do more," said Torres.
Newton said that is what makes it all worth it.
“It surpassed my dreams honestly and truly. This little Latina from Grand Prairie, Texas dreaming big and just making a difference in so many people's lives," said Newton.
One of the people whose life she changed is Julie Goff. The preschool teacher says she became addicted to the classes and the atmosphere, taking two to three classes a day.
Goff was the first to reach 100 classes and she’s lost 15 pounds.
"It's all ages, It's all races. Everything is inclusive. We are all here to get the same thing. We are all here to get better to make ourselves better," said Goff.
For Newton, there is no giving up. There is only determination, an attitude that her students have also embraced.
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