Donna Michaels-Surface - ACSM, CPTS
Donna stands before her audience with an entertaining multi-media presentation, energy, enthusiasm, and a powerful message. She is on fire. She pulls no punches. And she is on a mission to impact you.
Mind-Body-Spirit. A dynamic and passionate motivational speaker with a formidable background in health & fitness as well as show business, Donna blends drama, humor and information in an enthralling performance that demands action. She wants to empower you with knowledge. She challenges you to take back your control. She motivates you to make healthier choices, move your body, and explore options you did not know existed. Her lectures and workshops expose lies, dispel myths, and illuminate truth. She gives you the tools to become healthier, more energetic, more productive...and the desire to use them.
Professional Actress - Donna has performed on stage, film and TV. As a Nationally Ranked Bodybuilding Champion, she integrated her dance background into her bodybuilding career, winning competitions with graceful posing routines instead of 'manly' posing. Her 'feminine' approach to bodybuilding (unprecedented at that time) earned her numerous appearances, photo shoots and magazine coverage.
Fitness Pro - Donna switched careers from acting to fitness, and became certified by The American College of Sports Medicine as a Health/Fitness Director. Donna was the fitness director of 50,000 sq ft fitness facilities - developing training and nutrition programs for not only ostensibly healthy individuals, but special needs (such as cardiac) as well. She hired and trained trainers to work under her supervision, and required that all become certified.
Live It Or Diet - Donna then formed Live It or Diet - a exercise/nutrition company - and developed the Live it Or Diet Lifestyle System. As a consultant, presenter, and author, Donna was once again on TV and touring the country. She became a TV Health/Fitness personality with her own fitness segment on Channel 5 News in Florida called The Fitness Team - and then created a TV pilot called Fitness Team that was shot and presented in South Beach, Florida. Donna has also been featured on numerous radio shows, as well as QVC, and Home Shopping Network.
Published Author - Donna's book, Burn Fat For Fuel, is a labor of love. Six years of research, writing, (and an obsession to share what she was discovering) produced this digest of diverse information (critically acclaimed, and endorsed by the medical community). Combine that with her 30 years in the fitness field and a television and radio fitness personality, and you have a dynamo that is fueled by the desperate need she has seen throughout this country. 68% of us are over-fat, and 35% are obese!
And then there are the children…
Fitness For All - Donna has specialized in designing fitness programs for unique needs and issues, including: cardiovascular disease, orthopedic injuries, traumatic brain injury, and for our elderly population.
Empowerment - That is the underlying theme in Donna's work. She has been a featured presenter at numerous national aerobic and fitness conferences (including Reebok). She has been a motivational speaker at Fitness Expos (with Dr. Ruth and Deepak Chopra, among others), and has lectured at dozens of health clubs, churches, and organizations on exercise and nutrition. Donna has been a consultant to corporations - presenting, and designing programs for their staff. She has also developed fitness programs for several health club chains. Determined that they have a safe and effective environment for their members, she created comprehensive training programs for their trainers. She has also been contracted to design personalized fitness and nutrition programs for celebrities.
But with all of these credits, what makes Donna compelling is that she is also a former fat woman who was once an obsessed, addicted, gullible, sick, obese then practically anorexic baby-boomer woman who tortured her body and trashed her health, her relationships, and nearly her life—only to rise from the ashes to write her book, and dedicate herself to making a difference (as well as raising the bar) in the health & fitness industry.
Donna's Programs:
FUN - Families Understanding Nutrition & Take AIM - Assess, Inspire, Motivate
SUN - Seniors Understanding Nutrition