The eldest of three children, born and raised in
Michigan, Chalene Johnson‘s childhood was influenced by dance, music, movement and an interest in martial
arts.
Her parents recall her wanting to learn Judo and dance at the age of 3. Crediting her mother as her
greatest inspiration, Chalene grew up taking fitness classes with her mother Marge, one of the first “Jazzercise”
aerobic instructors in Michigan. As children, Chalene and her sister, Jenelle (also a Turbo Kick® Instructor)
accompanied their mother to every class and remember changing the “records” for her between routines. This
passion for movement, music, martial arts and dance became a passion they shared with their mother.
As a
student at Michigan State University, Chalene continued with Tae Kwon Do, dance and aerobics. After moving to
California in the early 90’s she married these formats in a group exercise class that combined the sexiness of
dance, the hip feel of funk with the power and strength of kickboxing. A self proclaimed closet DJ, she taught
herself to digitally re-master and edit music to match the moves of every pre-choreographed routine, adding sound
effects, highs and lows in an elaborately produced musical arrangement which generated an emotive experience in
the exercise participant. Word spread about this unique version of kickboxing class and before long the demand
for videos and trainings spread across the country.
In 1997 Chalene began teaching other instructors how
to deliver her unique brand of fitness. In 1998 Turbo Kick® was born! Incorporated since 1995, in 1999 she formed
a team of creative and talented professionals to develop reasonably priced, unique group exercise programming
that would appeal to people motivated by the combination of movement to inspired music. Powder Blue Productions
trained nearly 500 instructors to teach Turbo Kick® in the first year. Less then 10 years later, that number had
grown to a staggering 35,000 instructors world wide.
To keep up with the demand for new material, Chalene
began producing all new fully choreographed routines accompanied by her special variety of music every 8 to 12
weeks and the popularity exploded.
In 2000 Chalene created her second unique program, PiYo™, a class
designed for mainstream fitness that combines strength training, core conditioning, and dynamic movement in an
up-tempo, non-spiritual environment.
Now a world-renowned fitness expert with over 18 years of experience,
Chalene is the CEO of Powder Blue Productions, a fitness company she started in a spare bedroom. Chalene has
created some of the Nation’s most popular exercise formats including Turbo Kick®, Turbo Jam™ and PiYo™, to name
a few. Chalene is the star of the number one selling infomercial in 2006, Turbo Jam™. Turbo Kick® is one of the
highest attended workouts at popular health clubs across the globe, and offered as the “exclusive” kickboxing
workout in such global giants as 24 Hour Fitness™. To date, in excess of 35,000 fitness instructors have trained
through Chalene’s programs resulting in millions of American’s participating in Turbo Kick® workouts at health
clubs across the globe weekly. Chalene has been voted one of the top three Fitness Instructors in the World by
IDEA Fitness 2005, 2006 and 2007.
Through the popularity of her unique workouts and her own brand of
fitness apparel, Turbo Wear™, Chalene has succeeded in creating a fitness sub-culture. Turbo Wear™ is an
innovative collection with a signature urban, fashion forward, sexy, yet functional flair. In addition to the
legion of fitness instructors around the globe who sport Turbo Wear™, Chalene is a captivating motivational
speaker adept at a variety of topics such as family to business management. She has appeared in over 65 different
exercise videos including Weight Watchers™, Nautilus™, BoSu™, Turbo Kick®, PiYo™, Turbo Jam™ and countless
others. Chalene is a freelance writer for several fitness and management related publications and a regular
volunteer in the public school system 2006 she gained National media attention when she organized 1,500 homes
across the nation to spearhead healthy eating and exercise in their community of friends and neighbors. The
campaign, “Neighborhood Slim Down”, was successful in bringing over 10,000 heads of household together to
commit to 10 days of healthy eating and daily exercise.
In addition to being a leading force in fitness
and business, Chalene champions the cause of helping others to live a fuller life. Through her motivational
workshops and camps, personal writings, live internet chats, blogs and weekly video taped messages, Chalene has
been able to help thousands change their life from the ground up.
Chalene is a regular TV guest expert on
matters of family and fitness and has appeared on countless talk and news programs including E!, ABC, NBC and Fox
to name a few. She is also a regular guest of on home shopping programs such as QVC.
Despite her success,
Chalene teaches group fitness classes in her home town 6 days a week and carefully crafts her schedule to be
there for her children at the end of the school day.
