“Together, Lisa and Adrian are supportive, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable, and they epitomize what I consider to be #relationshipgoals”
About Us
Welcome to We Strive Well. We are Adrian and Lisa and we’re excited to help you find your path to a healthier, happier life!
We are a couple based in Oakland, California who believe that it is truly within our power to design the life we want. We want to help you to feel empowered to do the same. Although we have experienced hardships in life, together and apart, we approach challenges with a growth mindset, flexibility and imagination and we try to maintain balance and prioritize our health (both physical and mental) at all times.
Read our stories below to learn about our different wellness journeys and how we took control of our lives.
First, we’ll share our wellness journeys.
Adrian’s Story
As Senior Activity and Exercise Specialist at Fitbit, the lead coach in the Fitbit Coach app, a sleep coach, and a strength and conditioning coach I live and breathe health and fitness. My passion for health and wellness started with track and field and grew further when I joined the US Army. During my time in the service I went on multiple deployments where I learned the importance of proper physical preparation, sleep, and nutrition. I was awarded the title of Master Fitness Trainer and responsible for ensuring the soldiers of my company were battle ready.
After my time in the Army, I embarked on a new kind of mission; to find more peace and calm in my life, whilst still being disciplined and at peak physical performance. I sought to find balance and to design a life that worked for me and enabled longevity. At Fitbit, I initiated and worked on the sleep and mindfulness programs, which led me to read and research hundreds of scientific studies, take courses on sleep and insomnia, and be invited to do a TEDx talk on sleep. To say I’m passionate about sleep and its impact on our health would be an understatement. I do not believe that optimum health can be reached without focusing on sleep. So many people feel helpless when it comes to their sleep and I am dedicated to helping clients gain control over this aspect of their life.
Fittingly, Lisa and I met at the gym and over the last four years we have grown so much together; actively designing a life that makes us happy. When we’re not relaxing at Lake Merritt, we can be found trail running in the foothills, doing yoga at our favorite studio, or snowboarding and skiing in Lake Tahoe. We would love to help you take control over your life, and make your health and wellness a priority.
Lisa’s Story
Over the years, I have really strengthened my ability to break disruptive habits and implement healthy ones. I am highly organized and great at creating systems that keep myself and our clients supported and accountable. On a deeper level, I am very spiritual and really try to live my life with a growth mindset— making decisions that are reflective of my beliefs and guided by my moral compass instead of just going along with the status quo. I have implemented routines and rituals that help me be my most balanced, healthiest and wisest self.
But I wasn’t always this way; I grew up in Scotland, eating a lot of processed, sugary foods and had very little idea about physical, mental or spiritual wellbeing. I grew up playing team sports which kept me in shape despite my poor diet, however, when I went to law school the weight piled on (I gained 50lbs in 4 years). I made the decision to go to law school for all of the wrong reasons, and due to unhappiness I developed many unhealthy habits; I no longer played team sports, I drank and partied a lot, I binged on unhealthy foods, I didn’t work out at all, and I had no routine, hobbies or spiritual practice.
When I graduated, I took stock of my life and knew that being a lawyer would not make me happy so I decided to walk the path unknown, despite much judgement and pressure to do the ‘sensible’ thing. This was my first leap of faith and it also motivated me to lose weight as I wanted to start this new chapter looking and feeling great. I worked with a personal trainer in Scotland and lost weight rapidly, and when I moved to California to attend business school I was back at my high school weight! However, my motivation for exercise was still very ‘looks’ focused (I was skinny but couldn’t do a single pushup!), I calorie-counted obsessively and still partied and drank way too much, and I took no time for self reflection or personal improvement. After business school I was fortunate to land a job at a tech company in San Francisco, but I still had a very ‘work hard, play hard’ mentality and definitely burned the candle at both ends.
Meeting Adrian really helped me to see that the purpose of training and healthy habits should be longevity and feeling good, not looking good but feeling miserable. With Adrian’s help I became physically and mentally much stronger, began to lead a much more active life, eat and cook more nutritious foods, and even began to participate in Spartan races, 5K runs and 10k runs.
My deeper life shift, which led to my second leap of faith, came in May 2018, when my dear Dad suddenly died of a heart attack. He was in very good physical shape, but he was a lifelong insomniac and dealt with crippling work stress. His death was a huge shock to me and the grief was overwhelming. I began a quest for meaning. This lead me to become very spiritual and to believe that life is about love and growth and that every hardship is a learning opportunity. After a lot of self reflection I decided to leave the corporate world and to live at a pace that was more in line with my needs and to make decisions based on my happiness, instead of expectations or social norms (or the million other reasons that we do things we don’t want to do!). One of the main ways that I cope with my grief is by focusing on my physical and mental health and wellness. I listen to my body, I exercise consistently, I meditate and journal every day, I practice yoga, I cook and eat nutritious food and most importantly I stick to a routine.
Together, Adrian and I want to help our clients lead their healthiest, most authentic and stress free lives. We are so excited to share what we’ve learned with you and get you to a place where you feel in control of your life!