HEALTH
REDEFINING FITNESS Ohio University alums and fitness trainers Katie Filippi and Stefana Avara share their stories of social media success. BY HELEN WIDMAN | PHOTOS PROVIDED BY KATIE FILIPPI AND STEFANA AVARA
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aintaining a healthy lifestyle can be a challenge for many college students — even without a global pandemic. For Katie Filippi, an Ohio University alumna, and Stefana Avara, a master’s student at OU, the obstacles are well worth it. Filippi, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in food nutrition and science in 2018, now lives in Hawaii and runs her own virtual fitness company, Nutrition Clearly. She also works part-time as a clinical dietician. Filippi filed an LLC for Nutrition Clearly before making the move to Hawaii with her husband in 2019, but she didn’t move forward with the business until months after they got settled. When the coronavirus shut the world down in early 2020, Filippi noticed the demand for virtual fitness training was increasing. Filippi says that although Nutrition Clearly was meant to be virtual from the start, she was worried about starting her virtual training during a time when so many people were struggling financially and losing jobs. “And I was like, is this even a good time? But it really didn't affect anything at all once I was doing it. People were still interested and still signed up to work with me,” she says. When she started at OU, Filippi says she was introverted, but becoming a Supplemental Instruction (SI) leader and a teaching assistant helped her get out of her shell. She started her fitness Instagram, now called @katiefilippi_rd, her sophomore year at OU, and the account has grown tremendously since then, especially during the pandemic. As of this March she has 119,000 followers. Although Filippi didn’t initially envision running a company, Nutrition Clearly has allowed her to be more creative in her career. “I think there's something that draws me to it, like the flexibility and doing it your own way [and] creating what you
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want,” she says. “You can really do what makes you happy.” Like Filippi, Avara has grown her social media presence during the pandemic. Avara completed her undergraduate degree in 2020 and is currently studying for a dual master’s degree in business and sports administration. Avara has amassed a significant following on Instagram and TikTok under the name @defining.fitness. Her Instagram account currently has more than 70,000 followers. Avara originally started her fitness account on Instagram when she was a freshman at OU in 2017. She wanted to hold herself accountable during her fitness journey, but she deleted it because no one else was filming and posting fit-
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I think there’s something that draws me to it, like the flexibility and doing it your own way [and] creating what you want. You can really do what makes you happy.” KATIE FILIPPI OHIO UNIVERSITY ALUMNA FOUNDER OF NUTRITION CLEARLY
