where everybody shines!
Nicole DeWard
Nicole is a NASM Master Trainer with a passion for education in the health & wellness industry. After gaining knowledge and experience in the field at big box gyms she opened her own studio SHINE health & wellness in 2013. She holds certifications in Corrective Exercise, Behavioral Change, and Group Personal Training, Health Coaching as well as Nutrition Response Testing. This obvious passion for education is driven by her love to serve her community.
Her passion to create life transformation for clients and health professionals is the reason SHINE has been a light in her community for the past 10 years. Combining fitness, nutrition, and therapy in an intimate environment has allowed clients to gain success in their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. Nicole and her team of trainer's loving accountability encourages clients to become the best version of themselves.
She has also coached dozens of health professionals in growing their own successful businesses. Nicole leads a team both locally and nationally serving clients all over the country. It is her desire to see all people SHINE their light in their own world to inspire change in the lives of many. She is also the founder of RISE coffee & tea, a nonprofit coffee shop in Roswell, GA that employs extraordinary individuals with special needs, like her daughter Bekah, to impact our community in a unique way.
To learn more about RISE, click HERE.
peg bullock
Peg's foray into massage began as, shall we say, an accident. She was in a car wreck nearly 15 years ago and suffers from two herniated discs in her neck. In an attempt to avoid surgery and manage the pain, she went to massage school and now, as a massage therapist, she helps other people feel better every day.
Peg particularly enjoys working on the neck and helping her clients alleviate headaches and migraines. Peg enjoys playing an active role in her family, and she is on her own journey to personal health and wellness, having lost 70+ pounds and gained fitness and health. Because her work is so personal to her, Peg relates closely to her clients and enjoys helping them SHINE.
Vicki Pope
Vicki is now a certified Adaptive Special Needs Master Trainer. She is one of the Special Friends Fitness trainers and trains personal clients. Vicki works in both RISE & SHINE. She also hikes 5-10 miles a day at Leita Thompson trails! Vicki loves the young adults at RISE and has never left a shift without her heart being full.
Justin Vantreese
A passion for fitness and exercise has been deeply rooted in Justin’s life for as long as he can remember. A 2011 graduate of Kennesaw State University with a degree in Exercise Science Justin began using his degree to help people with special needs attain their fitness goals. Justin has supported nearly 2 dozen clients with a range of special needs (Autism, Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, Fragile X). Many of these clients were previously sedentary and had never truly exercised before working with Justin. Three of his special needs clients have each lost more than 30 pounds as a result of the personal training and encouragement Justin has given.
As an avid runner, completing 8 marathons and a 50 mile ultramarathon, Justin enjoys helping his clients train and complete 5k races. He is also a Special Olympics coach for Cherokee County year round, coaching tennis, basketball, volleyball, softball and bowling. In his freetime, Justin enjoys running, tennis and pickleball.
Recently certified as a personal trainer through NASM, Justin began working at SHINE where he specializes in training people with special needs. Although that is his niche, he is dedicated to helping anyone attain their individual fitness goals.
kristen hill
Kristen has been active most of her life. Growing up, she was in competitive sports, transitioning into school sports in middle school and high school. That competitive spirit never died, but after having 4 kids, had to be redirected. She found herself in a gym taking classes every chance she could. Being the extrovert she is, there were quick friendships made and eventually she was asked to teach group fitness. It was a perfect fit until she and her family moved back to her old stomping grounds in Michigan. Although hesitant, Kristen found a new facility and was hired as a group fitness instructor immediately. Her passion for helping people had grown over the years, so she made the decision to become a personal trainer. In 2017 she became certified through NASM and began seeing clients right away. It didn’t take long for her to realize what her next certification had to be… so in 2019 she was certified in Corrective Exercise with NASM.
2019/2020 has proven to be a challenging year. Yet, Kristen’s love for people, helping them become stronger, improve flexibility, gain confidence and have an overall better look at life, has only grown with her new role as SHINE's virtual trainer. During Covid, SHINE personal training had to look different, so our virtual training program was birthed. Kristen has taken over the program and is blowing everyone away with her consistency, passion, attention to detail and fun spirit. Being part of such a wonderful group of clients, colleagues and friends at SHINE has expanded her outlook on life even more. Now she feels at home again and looks forward to helping more people find their light to SHINE!
Dawn Russell
Dawn is currently mentoring with Nicole DeWard as she studies for her NASM certification.
Dawn loves fitness and wellness and is excited to learn even more since joining our team.
Sharon Troisi
Sharon began her professional fitness career as a small group fitness and bootcamp instructor. Her love for fitness, however, came at an early age with her involvement in youth sports such as soccer, tennis and swimming. This carried over into her adult years as she fell in love with running and strength/cardio group fitness classes, especially kickboxing. This all culminated into getting her group fitness certification and most recently, her NASM personal training certification. Sharon loves working closely with her clients on achieving their fitness goals and there is nothing she loves more than watching their progress and seeing them accomplish things that they didn’t think were possible. Her clients' health, safety and happiness are of the utmost importance to her and she feels blessed and grateful to be able to connect with such amazing people on a day to day basis.
Sharon is a native Georgian, born and raised in Roswell, GA. She attended UGA and is a diehard Dawgs fan. She currently lives in Marietta, GA with her husband of 20+ years. In her free time she enjoys walking her two chocolate labs Bailey and Mocha, traveling to the beach, gardening, reading, college football, spending time with family and relaxing. She is so excited to be a part of the SHINE community and looks forward to her daily interactions with such a wonderful group of people!