Stories / Adversity

Meet Margarita. Zumba® Is Her Side Hustle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuer8K8jsyc…

I Left My Violent Neighborhood And Made My Dreams Come True
Rony Gratereaut grew up in a rough neighborhood in Puerto Rico, where he saw things that no young person should be witness to. Despite hi…

From Injury to Inspiration: Diego Chantir
Diego Chantir is a super-talented, rising star in the Zumba® community, who you might recognize from his jam sessions as a Zumba Jammer™ …

What Happens to Your Brain When You Dance?
Meet Leoni Epiphaniou. The Boston resident has been a psychotherapist for over 20 years, helping hundreds of clients deal with stress, an…

Finding Her Purpose: Jeimy Bueno’s Story
Jeimy Bueno is an amazing dancer – you might have seen her on stage with Beto at The XI Fitness-Concert™ – and Zumba® Present…

15 Surgeries Won’t Stop My Zumba Classes
“I was not prepared for the evening of July 10, 2002. It was raining and after a long day of work, one exit from my house, my car hydropl…

How Dancing Helped Me Get Through a Traumatic Car Accident
“When I first started taking Zumba classes, it was because I needed to commit to a healthy lifestyle and I needed to lose weight. I have …

From Bullying to Dancing
Natalie Burlison has battled more demons in just a few years than most people experience in a lifetime. For any normal teenager, navigati…

My Hearing Impairment Doesn’t Stop Me From Dancing To The Music
“I am 85% deaf in both of my ears. I was born that way. As you can imagine, my childhood was a difficult time for me, whilst living with …

I Manage My Disability Through Dance
“I was diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis at just 18 months of age. When I was 16, I was told by doctors that I’d be in a wheel…

Friends Don’t Let Friends Fight Alone
Meet Sandy, Jocelyn, Janet, Maribel, and Carla. These Zumba® Instructors and survivors are fierce warriors, who don’t let anything stand …

I Was Only 30 When I Was Diagnosed With Breast Cancer
Growing up in the Middle East with its customs and traditions, Nour Jabri was never taught to make a career for herself. She married youn…

I Am A 20 Year Breast Cancer Survivor
“When I was 35 years old, I was working a double in the NICU when something just didn’t feel right. I saw my doctors and they told me to …

Apert Syndrome Does Not Get In The Way Of My Life
“I have a syndrome known as Apert. It is a genetic disorder that affects the way your skull grows, so it affects the head, fingers, toes,…

Dear Mom, This One Is For You
“One of the reasons why I love Zumba so much is because of the love you feel from the community. Not prejudiced or contingent love… just …

The One Thing That Made Me Feel Like Myself While Battling Cancer
“In 2011, I started at the University of Dublin as an adult, to further my education. There, I encountered Zumba classes as a way to get …

From Depressed and Overweight to Finding My Life’s Purpose
“In 2009, I suffered a really bad breakup and lost myself in depression. It was a really bad time for me. I was overweight, I was unhappy…

Dancing Helps My Mom With Alzheimer’s
“My mom has been battling dementia and Alzheimer’s for five years now. I am her caretaker, and she has forgotten my name. In her eyes, I …

Zumba® Classes Kept Me Happy Throughout Cancer Treatment
“I was diagnosed with cancer in August of last year, the very same month that I started taking weekly Zumba classes. Even though I was ve…

The Beautiful Thing That Happened When I Lost All Of My Hair
“For women, hair is a big part of owning your look and expressing yourself. My whole life, I’d been known for my hair. Big, thick, golden…

Zumba Helped Me Overcome An Eating Disorder
“While Zumba classes are surely the primary weight-loss transformation tool, my story is a little bit different. I have been a very activ…

If You Have a Chronic Illness, You Are Not Alone
“May is Ehlers-Danlos Awareness Month and in honor, I am sharing my story. As terrifying as it is to open up about an incurable, invisibl…

What Motivated Me to Leave a Toxic Relationship
“I was in a relationship for 9 years. While we were mostly happy together, there were a lot of things that were emotionally and mentally …

Finding My Light at the End of the Tunnel
“Back in 2011, I fell into a huge depression. After losing a friend to a heart attack at age 39, getting married followed by a divo…

I Was a Late Bloomer in Life
“I used to be that girl who refused to step foot in a gym because I didn’t think I had the time to do all that was needed in order to be …

I Don’t Need to Hear the Music to Feel it in my Heart
“I’d like to tell you about my student, Mikey Krajnak. At least that is his legal, written English name. His deaf name is DEAF READ BEAR.…

Zumba Helped me Escape my Abusive Marriage
“Telling a story is tough. Telling your story when you have lived through it can be tough on a level that some will never understand. But…

Why I Dance for my Best Friend
“Six years ago, I lost my best friend Jelena. We were two bodies with one soul. For the two of us, dancing was like the air we breathed. …

I Had to Re-Learn How to Read, Write, and Talk at Age 50
**Translated to English below “Quiero compartir con ustedes algo que me sucedió el 17 de agosto del 2015: sobreviví un derrame cere…

I Survived Brain Cancer and Lived to Dance
“When I was three, I was diagnosed with Astrocytoma, a type of brain cancer. I went through treatment and surgery, with very little damag…

Zumba Prepared Me for the Battle of My Life
“As September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, I’d like to take this opportunity to share my story of how a Zumba community has come to…

A Zumba® Instructor With Down Syndrome
Yulissa was born in Lima, Peru on August 9, 1991. Within minutes of her birth, she was diagnosed with Down Syndrome. From an early age, s…

Dancing With Diabetes
“It was as a small child that I slipped into a month and a half long coma. When I awoke, I was told I was diabetic and had to begin…

I’m Making Six Figures By Teaching Dance
Josette Tkacik’s was looking for a way to turn her life around when she was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis in 2011. Having a passion…

How This Single Mom Found Her Light
“Zumba has been a part of my life’s journey since it was introduced to me in 2007. I began teaching in 2009 and lost a total …

I am a Fighter and I am a Survivor
“In 2008, I walked into a library and an ambulance brought me out. I had had my first seizure, fell and fractured my skull, and ended up …

A Better Caretaker Because of Dance
“It’s been very difficult to be a single parent, but I’m so proud of how both of my kids turned out. Right now, I’m a caretaker to three …

Never Say Never
UPDATE FROM SANDY: “For double-mastectomy survivors like myself, there is a misconception that breast cancer can not return. There …

Overcoming Public Speaking One Move at a Time
“My career as a Business Transformation Project Manager for the Finance Department at Massachusetts General Hospital requires me to…

Tuberculosis Is No Excuse For Me
“I constantly hear people coming up with any excuse to skip a workout, so I’m sharing my story in the hopes that I can inspir…

Dancing Through My Anxiety
“About a year and a half ago, I was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Depression – two ‘monsters’ I…

From Uncertainty to Success
“I always poked fun at my mom for going to Zumba class so much, but she finally talked me into going. I was a mess during that firs…

Dancing Through a Tornado
“This past Christmas, I was visiting my parents in Texas for the holidays. On December 26th, we were getting ready to head to dinne…

Dancing Freely in Guatemala
“At least once a year, I travel to Guatemala with Global Healthworks Foundation (GHF), a nonprofit organization comprised of altern…

Autism and the Magic of Dancing
“I was diagnosed with Autism, Aspergers, ADHD, and SPD on February 24th, 2004 when I was 7 years old. I’ve been bullied becau…

Why Dancing Saved My Life
“After the death of a relative, our family suddenly grew from 3 children to 7. Life became difficult to handle. My husband’s …

A Dance-Worthy Life
“I came to New York at the age of 21 to pursue dance. I was in the top level at the Alvin Alley school and, although I was performing qui…

Keeping My Head Above Water
“The best way I can describe my clinical depression is to compare it to drowning in the ocean. When I am depressed, everything is diluted…

I’m Done Being Negative
“There’s a quote that has always resonated with me. It goes something like this, ‘What screws us up most in life is the picture in our he…

Raising Awareness for a Rare Disease
Have you ever heard of Trigeminal Neuralgia? Most likely, you have not. It is a debilitating, progressive, and incurable disease that cau…

An Ability to Inspire
Born with Muscular Dystrophy, Maritza has spent her life physically bound to a wheelchair. But mentally, she has no barriers. “From a ver…

Younger Than Ever at Age 50!
Veronica Scott’s struggles with health have been life long. She has battled obesity since childhood, as well as Metabolic Syndrome, high-…

Jocelyn’s Persistence Saved Her Life
Jocelyn Goodwin was 32, in the best shape of her life and feeling perfectly healthy until she discovered a lump in her left breast. Watch…

A Bump in the Road
“In August 2012, I was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer,” says Linda Few. “And after one year of chemo treatments, foll…

Cancer Doesn’t Like Happy
When licensed Zumba® Instructor Paula Jacobs was diagnosed with breast cancer, she had two choices: let it rain on her happiness parade O…

Out of the Darkness Comes Light
Elona Washington’s strength was intensely put to the test in 2013 when she learned that a good friend of hers had been tragically murdere…

From CPA to Dancing Queen
Charlene Rhinehart grew up like so many young girls – introverted, shy, and lacking the inner confidence needed to chase her dreams. She …

The Only Truth is Love
Shortly after Jacqueline Grace was born, she was diagnosed with Trisomy 13, a rare genetic condition that often takes one’s life be…

A Hero for Happiness
Jhonny Pico Hernandez is a Colombian police officer who has a passion for spreading a message of hope and joy across his war-torn country…

Love Yourself The Way You Are
Nathalie Christian was born with congenital dysmelia, which means her left forearm has been missing since birth. This disorder could…

Dancing to Cope With Mental Health Disorder
When Rebecca Manners tells people she has bipolar affective disorder, she can usually count on the same exact reaction: tumbleweeds. Even…

A Single Father and His Son Use Music and Dance to Overcome Life’s Obstacles
Erick Santana’s road to adulthood was never paved in gold. Growing up in a low-income, super strict household, Erick was forbidden to go …

Smiling Happens When You Least Expect It
In the early months of 2010, Maryjo (MJ) Oster was facing one of the toughest challenges of her life: an awful separation from a toxic ma…

Locked Up, Wrongfully Accused
Dancing has always been an integral part of David Velez’s life. Born in Colombia, he built a career around modern dancing, personal train…

Unsung Heroes: Nepal Community
The Unsung Hero program recognizes ZIN™ Members around the world for their outstanding contributions to their communities, and for their …

Instructor Brings Dance Movement to Asia
Emma Satchel is someone who knows the phrase “hard work pays off.” And though it took a handful of years to see this, E…

Fitness Educator overcomes depression
In 2006, Ann Saldi’s twin boys were diagnosed with Autism just months before she auditioned to become a Zumba Education Specialist (ZES).…

Bailando para vencer la violencia
Jhonny Pico Hernadez es un oficial de la Policía Nacional de Colombia y también un instructor licenciado de Zumba® Un día, mientras Jhonn…

Rheumatoid Arthritis Doesn’t Rule My Life
Josette Tkacik began dancing before she could even walk. Later in life, she studied classical ballet with several notable compa…

I was in an abusive relationship
Since the age of three, dancing was Cody’s life and where she truly felt at home. According to Cody, “there is no better place for me tha…

How to Gain an Income While Losing Pounds
Cynthia Ortega will never forget one of the most mortifying moments in her life. While standing in line with her husband, waiting to orde…

Pushing Through Parkinson’s Disease
Being a podiatrist, Beth Hochstein knew the usual routine of treating an ankle sprain; she found it a bit strange that her own ankle woul…

No More Medication!
At 46, Amilcar was 289 pounds and suffered from HBP, diabetes mellitus type II, abnormal liver function, sleep apnea, joint disease …

Leg Amputation Saved My Life
One day, Adela Crufe-Alvarez was teaching Zumba class and didn’t feel so well. Weeks later and after many procedures, Adela woke up and l…

I was A Victim Of Bullying
Like many teens, Samantha Arregui was a victim of bullying.” I was the chubby girl with no rhythm,” Samantha recalled. “I couldn’t …

My Panic Attacks Are Gone!
Monica started teaching Zumba classes in her local church gym with eight students. She recalled “I was 44 year’s old and nobody’s i…

Embracing My Handicap
Veronica Locatelli is a 29-year-old physiotherapist and devoted Zumba fan. Growing up, she always loved to dance and play volle…

Dancing Through Religious Barriers
Desperate to get into shape after having 4 kids Maria thought Zumba Fitness would be the perfect solution for her weight loss woes; but w…

I suffered A Traumatic Brain Injury
Dubbed “Super Dave” by the Zumba community, Dave Cohen has certainly earned his nickname. He spent most of 2010 in the hospital figh…

Medicine of Choice
Feeling completely lost, Dara E. Johnson went to therapy to get some direction. Weekly sessions with a psychologist brought back some pai…

Like father, like son
Anthony Romero always tried to be a happy, positive person, but suffering from various medical conditions including Psoriatic Arthritis o…

Dancing Helped War Veteran Surive After Combat
Angelica joined the United States Marine Corps in 2003. She was young, but she knew that service for her country was honorable and she be…