 Welcome to our show. We're the voice for the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Hawaii, where our aim is to provide an inclusive platform that celebrates diversity fosters connections and celebrates the voice of our Latino business owners here in Hawaii. And we want to thank think tech for giving us this opportunity in this platform to amplify our Latino business voice here in Hawaii. And we also have other events that help us achieve our mission, like our upcoming Latino business expo in October on October 7, and we also have a taste of mana, which is a fundraiser that we have scheduled for November 4. So stay tuned for that. Follow us on our social media and website. I'm Barbara Luca, president and founder of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, and my lovely co host is going to introduce our guest today and we're going to have a great show for you. Hello, I'm Marisol Ruiz, and I am the vice president of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. And we are so excited. Our guest today is a political river from RIP Fitness. He is the founder and CEO. We have tons to talk about. I'm going to introduce him. We're going to get started with him telling us a little bit about himself personally first. And then we're going to get into all the wonderful, fantastic things that RIP Fitness is doing here in the community. So without further ado, HIP, would you please talk to us about. Hello, hello, hi, familiar. My name is Similea Rivera. I was born in the Dominican Republic. Got to the US in 1998. My parents brought us over here. I was living in New Jersey until 2012. I joined the military for about 10 years, decided that I wanted to get out of the military and open up a business and RIP Fitness was born from there. So RIP Fitness, what does R1P stand for? R1P stands for reborn in paradise. We came up with that name because we wanted you to leave your old self behind, kind of like your old self has to die in order for you to be reborn. So you could be reborn a new person. So that was the name that we came up with, you know, be reborn and especially here in paradise. Thank you. Had you ever had a business before? Was this your first venture and then why the fitness world, right? So many people are doing restaurants and marketing, you know, why fitness and is this the first one? I had different ventures before other businesses that I've invested on, but nothing that I've started myself and fitness just gave me the ability to truly help people and see the results and see the change in people. You know, I wanted something that was rewarding in a sense and I wanted to see people's life change. I wanted to see people's I saw a lot of stress in the military. I saw a lot of lonely people. I saw a lot of people gaining weight. I saw a lot of issues that were very that they weren't being solved in the military. So what I was like, I wanted to do something to change that. So I wanted to see we first started it wasn't even supposed to be a business. It was just supposed to be helping those that were in need. So we started just doing free workouts and from there, that's what the business was born. Can you elaborate a little bit on that the free workouts because I've met people throughout the islands that are now that you have a physical brick and mortar gym which is an amazing place I love it anytime I talk to somebody I'm always, you know, promoting the gym. But what is this that you were doing before that came just from a space of love and sharing with people what were you doing because I've heard some stories from people that are like hey I was out this place so share a little bit about that. Share a little background about that. As soon as I touched down on the island which I believe was 2019, early 2019. We, I wanted to do workouts just to help out I was already a fitness instructor in the military. But people needed the extra help. So I was like, you know what on the weekends, while everybody is free and off. Let's get together and Ford Island with a memorial for Pearl Harbor is that we will all get together there. And it just started working out like as friends. And then they started inviting more friends and more friends until the group outgrew Ford Island. And we're like okay, we're now we got civilians that want to come and join. We have different people that want to come into this group. So we ended up moving into the beach started doing it at the beach, and it got bigger and bigger at the beach. We saw that the community just kept growing. And we were like, okay, what are we going to do to shift this into an actual business, because we weren't charging anything at the time. So we ended up doing the merchandise. That's where the red fitness merchandise was born. Once the merchandise came in, they truly went into people, the community just went and supported it. Everything that we put out, they loved it, they supported it, and they were buying it. And then we were hit with COVID. Once COVID came in, we had to shift more into the online process of it. Once COVID started dying down, we started getting back together and doing the workouts on a smaller scale. But then again, we just kept growing. So we're like, okay, we have to find the facility. We ended up looking for a facility. We went to a couple of places, came here to Waipahu. We ended up going to the place across the street. And we got out, we got outbid by a construction company since we didn't have any history or anything like that. A construction company kind of beat us for that building, which was 5,000 square feet. And it was twice as much as the rent of what we pay now. We kept circling around looking, and we ended up looking literally across the street from the place that we went the first time and ended up finding a 10,000 square foot facility for half a place. And we got down and so, yeah. That was a blessing. It was amazing. You know, I love the way that you use your space to support the community. Tell us about your sip and shops and how that came to me. The sip and shops were beautiful because we wanted to find out a way to give back to the community and to bring other local businesses to kind of be part of our community as well. I've always been a firm believer that if you create a community, it has to be large enough so other communities can thrive and live within the community. So I was like, okay, we need to bring other small businesses who were just coming up like us and give them the opportunity to be in front of a public, to be in front of our community and in different people. So we gave them that platform. And then we wanted something also for our community to just have fun, enjoy, bring the kids. It is family friendly. Yes. So and I are one of our favorite things to do. Yeah, and we love, you know, we love just seeing our community in a different aspect, not only just working out, you know, getting their sweat and but also enjoying themselves being with their family and being in a place where they feel comfortable. Right. I love your your sip and shops and I think it's something to be said when people operate businesses individuals when you operate from a space of abundance right where you're it's not it's so easy for us to get caught up in our own businesses whether it's your self employed or your job right. We can get caught up in the grind and not really think about anybody else because you're trying to just kind of, you know, get through the day and you know move on to the next so when you come from a space of, hey, we're all in this together. Let's share. So you're actually you're sharing your space with these businesses and when we've gone to your sip and shops, it's, you have food vendors you have music you have DJs you have, you know, they're making bracelets you have someone making henna dances. I mean it's amazing and, and you give people this platform and again it comes from a space of an abundance from abundance and when we operate from that space, I think everyone grows naturally. And then you want to be that way as well right as a, it's, you know, you you give back and what is it the pay it forward. It's kind of the same idea right and when a community collectively thinks like that I think that's when we start to see massive change in community and people start to grow and thrive. What do you think about that. I love the way you put that honestly because not a lot of people can see it from that perspective or understand what's happening and, and I love when you can see it. What that it comes from a place of love and a place of abundance and that if we all start thinking that way we all start helping each other out and helping other small businesses because tomorrow those small businesses can be the bigger businesses. That you know so if they come from a platform like that they would again do the same thing for those other smaller businesses who are coming up and help the entire goal is to help each other out and continue building on top of the foundation that we've already laid. Right. Now, so that's one aspect of it right is your, your sipping shop so kind of to just build off of that. You know, sharing and growing and thriving, you know, but at the end of the day, I mean real talk a lot of business owners and a lot unfortunately in our Latino community I'm just going to say it. You know, we're not always fully fully supporting one another so it takes like a mental shift right to come from that space so what is it that you're also doing because I've heard of something like a mastermind which is huge. Right. Tell us a little bit about that what you're doing and the how that was born and what is your mission with that. The mastermind is another amazing project that we came up with my friend Maria Arietta, she was able to. We were able to get together and kind of come up with a plan on how to level up the people around us, those who are truly focused, those who want to get to that next level and and don't have the opportunity how to make that mental shift. So we decided to implement everything that we know as business owners as the industries that we've been working in for all of these years, we've kind of gathered so much information and so much knowledge that now we've been able to pass it down and implement and change and make those mental shifts that are really needed in order to level up in order to level up there has to be change in order to in order to have progression, you have to have some sort of change and change is uncomfortable. I so we want to show people that yes it might be uncomfortable, but you're progressing each time that you're getting into uncomfortable song, you're progressing I love comparing them to the gym and the gym you come in and you're literally breaking down your every day and then you have to recover and the muscles will grow same aspect when it comes to a business when it comes to a project, you are going to be you're going to find areas that are going to be hard. They're going to break you up, but if you can see through them, you will level up to that next to that next step. So we want to shift the community mentality on. Okay, what is it that that that real growth looks like what is it that real opportunity looks like what is it that working in abundance looks like what is it that getting away from any limitations that set. What does that look like. So the mastermind encompasses all of that. We, we like Maria. So we're also partnering with her with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and we met her at your sip and shops and we've done business with her because we're all in the real estate industry as well right so. So, she's actually helping us on the committee to plan the Latino business expo which is going to be, you know, the event that we bring in and support our Latino business owners of all different industries that a lot of towers. She's going to moderate a panel, and I, you're going to be one of our guests, along with Mercado that I saw who's also been a guest on our talk show. And the talk area so you know we're we're supporting our business Latino community and sharing our culture. It's Hispanic Heritage Month so we have you know entertainment scheduled. We're using the stage out there it's going to be a great event. And speaking of, you were talking about a ranchero so hip so you're not just the gym right you do you do outreach you have your sip and shops you have your masterminds. But you've also brought out and I've seen and you know I don't know much about it so maybe you could share a little bit I've seen that you've collaborated with a ranchero, you brought out like DJs, literally like full on events and you know a concert out in El Ranchero from who did you find somebody from the Dominican Republic, I think a DJ right. Yes, we've got the adonis from the Dominican Republic. We are currently partnered up with El Ranchero with their Latin nights every Saturday night. They do a lot and I is a hosted at El Ranchero will run by Rip Fitness. One of our guys are dance instructors run that night they do they teach classes by chat and salsa at El Ranchero for free during that night. And then what they do is that the community that they built already in the gym that comes to dance and that enjoys dancing. They have like that free that basically that Saturday to come out and show the moves that they that they've learned. We've been partnered up with El Ranchero since I believe October of last year, and then we've been doing these events there. So every a quarter we try to bring a different artist, a different DJ, different sort of entertainment for the community. So speaking of those events with El Ranchero hip how had you done this before like had you promoted events had salsa nights before is it something that how did it grow. And because it does take a lot of work to when we put on events are one of the as breakfast lock goes on. And we, you know, we have our 30 guests. You know, we have our little committees, something like this is huge bringing out DJs or having people show up on Friday nights. Like, how did you get involved in that. Funny enough, while I was deployed in the USS car event in the Middle East, this is an aircraft carrier. I hosted by Chata, like nights on the flight deck or there's a flight deck and then there's a below deck in that below deck we're able to do basically events big events and stuff like that. So we hosted like Latin night, Latin dancing by Chata and salsa. And during that time I kind of got a little feel for it. Nothing too crazy because you couldn't fly anybody in, but gathering the community together. And I think that with all of these events. It's already having a community makes it that much more easier. I don't really have a background in bringing out artists and stuff like that. But once I put my mind to something, I make it happen. So I, we wanted to see the DJ the community wanted to see the DJ. So we moved all the pieces that we possibly can and brought him out here. Yes, there was so many road bumps in the process. But overall, we got him here. We did the party. Everybody enjoyed the event and it turned out to be fantastic. So I gained a lot of experience from it. Yes, that experience sets you up for where you're at now. I see you're in your south side but Chata room right now so I know you guys get you have classes there at night. And you, I was looking at your website and you guys have also participated in a competition. Can you tell us about that. Oh yeah. Competitions are fantastic. They're there. They're really show you so much about yourself with the competition. It comes a lot of training, dedication, consistency, it goes from your sleep, from how much water you're taking it, how much food, your way in your food. And then once there is competition day comes up. There's so many different factors that go into it. A lot of people do it in many different ways. But here what we do is we do it as a team. The competition, the bodybuilding competitions or the bikini competitions, they're very isolated sports. You go with your coach, you participate, you're done. We come as a team. So we look like a collegiate team. Everybody's wearing the same suit. Everybody, we have the music on. Oh yeah, you're rocking the Rift Fitness gear. Yes, we show up and we show out. Right, that's how we do it. And we also, that we brought to these competitions, we brought the side side and by Chata performances, which happened at the competition, which never happened in any competition. Fun. So it gives them a little bit of our culture and who we are and what we stand for. And we love that because not only are we showcasing our best shape and our best physique, but we're also showcasing our culture, our gym, our community and everything that we stand for. That is so cool because you said something about that bodybuilding or those types of competition can be pretty isolated sport. I've watched videos of when you guys did some competitions. Barbara, they come out when it takes a village and I'm telling you when they're up there and they're like competing and you have 20 people in the crowd just going nuts for you and cheering you on and singing. And I mean, it is such a, it has to be a beautiful thing. I was just overjoyed watching it. And I can't imagine what it feels like being on that stage by yourself and knowing that you literally have a village right there backing you up the whole time because it is it's extraordinarily difficult. I mean, you know, Maria competed and to see that transformation was unbelievable. It's beautiful. But it does take a village. And, you know, with the crowd hyping you up and you're out there dancing and everything you can't help but want to vote for you. I saw that you guys recently had a Barbie car wash on your Instagram page so what was that about. The Barbie car wash was pretty cool because we did some of our athletes here are doing are going to be modeling or have some sort of some sort of show coming up. And what we did was they needed a fundraiser so we're like why not just host a car wash here. We try to support the community whichever way we can. And this was one of the ways that we were able to just get them to kind of like, Hey, this is this is a way to get your tickets out and do something cool. And now it's killing it all over. It is trending everywhere. So super cool to do a car wash that was Barbie theme. We need to do that for the chamber mighty song. Are you going to dress up like a Barbie. This people. Anything else in the works that you have going on that you want to share. We have a lot of things in the words we have right now our Spartan program that's coming up in August 7. I know that that's going to be a huge one that's usually where we have a group of individuals who sign up to kind of change their lives. This is where we see the most changes is about three months long their training Monday through Friday. And this is most popular program here at the gym. And we love when that program kicks off because you start seeing people change drastically from we've had clients here that not only have they changed physically and let's say lost a ton of weight or gain muscle, but also to get off medications like high blood pressure medications sugar like those things gave me goosebumps when they're when I'm getting those kind of stories back. I'm like, wow, like that's we're really impacting somebody's life to the point where they don't have to whether they don't have to take medication. I was like, that's huge. That's something that I wasn't I wasn't expecting that I wasn't expecting to hear that. And it kind of gave me a reality check like where there's people that are really needing this for life for health for their changes. So that was big. That's coming up now, August 7. Is there a limited number of if somebody wanted signed up for the Spartan program because it sounds again that's kind of a group effort right it isn't like an individual one on one training it's it's with a group. Is there like limited number of seats to sign up is there a deadline can you talk a little bit about that. It's a limited number of seats, because we want to make sure that the groups are not too big for each individual trainer we want to keep the groups no more than five individuals. We want the quality of the workout and the training to not be affected by quantity. For that individual for that one that's coming up now in August 7 is this Friday. That will be the last. The last time that you're able to sign up and we currently have about five spots left and our limit is usually about 30 individuals total. How about your beach day I know you guys just had one recently and you go out on the beach and you guys are out there dancing and celebrating like let's talk about that. Every last Friday of the month, we usually have the dance team go out to the beach. The classes that they were going to teach in the studio out there and then invite anybody at the beach that wants to enjoy the classes joining them as well. So we do that every last Friday of the month. And then we usually have a big beach day for the entire community. At least once a quarter have them come out there we do a big beach day we do a workout. We kind of go back to the roots where we first started, and we do a free workout for the community and have people come out barbecue have a good day bring their dogs kids, everything. I also want to ask about I know you guys, you're not just a gym you offer dance lessons. So let's say that I'm not a member of the gym, but I want to learn how to bachata is that something that somebody can do or do they only have to be a member of the gym to be able to participate and what does that look like. So you can be a member of the gym and participate. You don't have to be a member of the gym. You can participate there's dropping rates. So for example there's a dropping rate to any of the classes that you want to do and try them out. There's different memberships that you can do that are just specifically for dance, just specifically for the gym, or for both. So whichever choice you want, we will accommodate. Where can they find you where you located and what that's the best way to follow you. So we are located in white power. Right by don't get hot day. You are about two minutes walk walking distance from the train station that just opened up. So if you take the train station to the white power station, you're able to find our gym within two minutes. You can find us in Instagram, Facebook, tiktok, YouTube, Google. Any of these, you're able to find us immediately. Well, our most active social media channel is Instagram. We're constantly putting our information there. We're constantly uploading the next event what's coming up. So if you want to stay in touch with everything that's happening at the gym. Currently and what's coming up. Instagram will be the best channel. You're doing a great job on Instagram. How many followers are you at now. 19,800 right now. 20,000 just say 20,000. This year alone. Good job. Wow, you went from working out of the beach for free to you know, 20,000 followers and all these events and keep up the good work we're happy to support your business and be part of the community and thank you for joining us in our community events and you know we're, we're doing the same thing out there and giving a voice for Latino business owners. I want to thank you guys for actually just giving me the opportunity to be here I want to thank you for thinking of me for both being supporting supporting the gym for both being here and being part of this community and always adding to this community and always looking for ways to help the Latino community grow. And it doesn't go unseed you know, we really, we really are all so grateful with the work that's being done and with the projects that are coming up. I know that the business expose coming up on the 7th of October, I believe it's on this. And I'm excited for that and I know that the both of you most likely will be joining us on our next mastermind. So we are going to be talking about that, but I'm so happy to be a part of what you guys are doing and having you guys are part of what we're doing is what we're building. And what events do you have anything coming up in the next, you know, 30 days to have any any events coming up. We have the sipping shop, I believe that's going to be on the 18th or the third Friday of the month. We have an event in town this Saturday, August 5th. I believe it's like the Waikiki. One of the festivals in Waikiki. It's like the street festival in the main. That's going to be fun. We usually bring our dancers out, our merch, and we usually play dominos out there. We're playing Majong. On the 12th we're supporting a local volleyball team and we're going to be doing a volleyball tournament down on Queen Beach. Which one? What is it called? Queen's Beach and Waikiki where they have the volleyball set up. Oh yeah. We're going to be the sponsor for that tournament coming up on the 12th. So that'll be fun. That's exciting. But thank you so much. Yeah, I think when we all put our minds together and we, again, going back to abundance and support one another, promote one another, help one another, level up, right? That's what you were saying earlier. We're going to thrive and grow together. So it's really exciting. Thank you so much for giving us your time. We know you're busy training everyone over there. Speaking of events, we do have an upcoming Buenos Diaz breakfast networking event. We have it every other month at the taqueria. So the next one is going to be August 8th and we're going to be discussing wealth builders education. So basically it's just changing your mindset from a saver to an investor and setting up your family for generational wealth. It's going to be a great event. I've been to one of their seminars before. And Rick Inigas is presenting. He has a nonprofit and he's one of our members. And our next Ola Iloha talk show. We do these every other week. And our next guest is going to be Nancy Ortiz. And she's a community organizer as well. And we're going to be discussing her two day event that she has planned in October for Hispanic Heritage Festival. So I just, you know, this is a great platform for us to all get together and talk about all of our events. And this, thank you think tech Hawaii. Thank you for watching our show. Thank you, Marisol for co-hosting. And thank you for joining us. This is Barbara DeLuca. And catch us next time. Adios and all of everybody. Thank you so much for watching think tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please click the like and subscribe button on YouTube. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Check out our website, think tech Hawaii.com Mahalo.