NITA L. WATSON

It’s February! A month that we designate for love. And this week’s feature is a pillar of what self love looks like. She‘s made a name for herself as a trainer who teaches the importance of keeping your mental health as strong as your physical health. She empowers through strengthening the body, but has also found that she needed humility to strengthen her heart and mind She is Nita Watson, aka Coach Nita!

Nita is from the city of Pomona, in Southern Cali, and as a fellow “Pomonian”, I immediately felt the connection. She’s experienced traumas, closed doors, and heartbreaks, like most of us, but it was the fight with her toughest opponent that could’ve taken her out for good Who was the opponent? HERSELF!!

Now, when I look at Nita, I see strength and power. I see someone who don’t lose fights. I see someone that when she speaks, people listen. So I could only imagine the inner strength it took to realize she had to get passed herself in order to live out her own purpose. She credits her Grandmother and many of the women before her for the confidence and strength she’s grown. And since she’s in the business of changing lives, she couldn’t fulfill that purpose until she made changes within herself first

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I asked Nita what her “messy middle” was. You know, the ”not to pretty” phase(s) we’ve had where life was literally knockin’ us out! One of her toughest battles have been against her own ego. “My inability to see that others mattered and my ego was detrimental to relationships and opportunities.” The childhood trauma she went through had created an aggressive and over bearing character that had used her past as an excuse to not be her authentic self It showed up in how she treated others and her ego made it difficult for her to live out her journey to the fullest

Living life in constant battle with your own self is a hard road to travel, but she finally committed to embracing her failures. She allowed herself to actually ”feel” her way through the trauma and before long, doors started to reopen and opportunities began to present themselves again

As queens, we often reference our crowns We shine them up and wear them on display for everyone to see, but sometimes we forget that they can be heavy We bear a lot of weight in ourselves. Nita learned the importance of community and sharing her crown with others, but she could have only learned that by setting her ego aside. This allows her to celebrate others and to cultivate more meaningful relationships. This is her “2.0 growth journey”.

Nita is the creator and founder of The Self Care Lab. A mental health based boxing club. TSCL is a USA Certified Boxing Club utilizing boxing as an outlet to cope with anxiety, depression, suicidal behavior, PTSD and all forms of trauma. A community that uses boxing and fitness to overcome the mental through self care. That’s powerful! As a USA Competitive Boxing Trainer and Therapist, Coach Nita and her team provide an outlet, a safe, therapeutic space for youth and their family "It's a Healing""It's a Vibe"

Every month she combines boxing with focus on a different mental health diagnosis. January covered suicide and suicide awareness. And February will bring education on Borderline Personality Disorder. She’s a fierce advocate for her community and pays it forward by providing the tools in and out of the ring to conquer any opponent She’s a beast with some gloves and a crown! SS X COACH NITA!