MISS LaDRISSA BONIVEL, born May 11, 1974, is a Chicago native, hailing from the Ida B Wells Projects, located in Bronzeville, IL. Shortly after graduation, she had to care for her ailing grandmother, who was battling colon cancer, and it was then that she began to realize the importance of health and how vital it was to take care of herself.
After her grandmother’s passing, she worked at First Chicago Bank, and developed an interest in finance, leading her to earn a degree in Finance in the year 2000. Although she had a desire to be within the financial market, she knew it was not her passion – health and fitness was. She practiced and studied yoga while at college and gained certification as a Yoga Teacher. As a Yoga Instructor she began her long association with Bally’s Studio, which is where she found her true calling in all things health and fitness and acted upon it.
However, at the same time, she continued to work in Finance, but this turned out to be a very unfulfilling role. She was unwilling to sit by and allow life to happen to her, so she began to design an exit plan from “Corporate America” and, by 2002, her plan had succeeded. She had studied and become a certified Personal Trainer / Yoga Instructor at Bally; she had secured a nest egg from real estate; and was ready to embark on a new beginning: helping others on their health and fitness journey. Using her finance and business knowledge, she created her first business, providing on-site yoga and fitness classes using her contacts with businesses in the City. She also competed in her first Body Building show after training for nearly 12 months. In that season she achieved 1st place at a local show, which gave purpose and meaning to her training and was a stress-reliever from the life-changing family issues that where transpiring.
By 2003, these family issues were completely out of control and, in order to ‘do the right thing” she was left with no choice but to gain guardianship of her siblings, then seven and one-year old. She was instantly a “single mother”, with very little family help. She leaned on friends for support, things where hard, and she thought about going back to work to support “the family”, but the idea of being in ‘Corporate America’ again was not the solution. She and her siblings worked together to survive.
La’Drissa left Bally to become an independent trainer and rented space in gyms or trained clients in their own homes. This was her way of life and this is how she provided for her family. She was also a growing star in the small world of body building. She competed several times a year as a way to enhance her marketability within the fitness world.During this transformation, La’Drissa’s skin was in terrible shape. She had acne. Bad acne. She was unable to find a black esthetician who could help truly understand or help her, so she enrolled on a course, to learn to take care of her own skin. As a result, she qualified as an esthetician and created a new extension to her wellness business. Now she worked on all three of her talents on her quest to find her purpose in life.
In 2011, after 11 years of competing in bodybuilding shows all over the United States, La’Drissa’s dream of becoming a IBFF pro athlete was finally realized. She won the most coveted show in the industry, the USA Nationals. This accolade gained her much notoriety as a Premier Trainer in the city of Chicago.
This is when she created her SuperBody boot camp, to maximize time and be budget-friendly for all the clients and athletes who wanted to train with her. In the midst of training clients, La’Drissa’s goal was to get to the Olympia – the most esteemed show for a Pro competitor. And now it was her time. She trained like never before, and she won her 1st Pro show, which granted her international notoriety.
After being forced to move from studio to studio, she found ProFit Studio, right down the street from where she was born. She was finally in the right space to thrive, and dedicated herself to improving the health and fitness of her community, providing instructional fitness, nutrition counselling and workshops designed with a healthy lifestyle in mind. And she continues to work long and hard – helping others on their own personal fitness journey.
