Last Updated on May 14, 2021
Katie Corio is a personal trainer and licensed sports nutritionist, with a Bachelor’s in Kinesiology. Additionally, Katie competes in the bikini division of Women’s Bodybuilding and works as a fitness model for Live Fit Apparel, in addition to being an Intellifluence health and fitness influencer. You may have seen her on the cover of Oxygen magazine last year or in her Muscle & Fitness interview. Katie’s mission is to promote physical well-being, and inspire others to maintain a happy and healthy outlook on life. You can check out Katie’s fitness plans, recommended supplements, workout gear and more at katiecorio.com or follow her on Instagram and YouTube, to name a few.
In one of your recent videos, you highlight the top 5 fitness mistakes you made when first getting into health and fitness. Fast forward to today and you’re an authoritative health and fitness personality and influencer. How did you identify these fitness mistakes and what were some of the first steps you took to transform your fitness journey?
You learn as you go so, I think anybody who does health and fitness kind of falls into that timeline a bit. Where they do something and then they realize that they’re not doing it right because they are more exposed to other people that have had more experience and, you know, people who [have said] that’s probably not the best thing or whatever or they are not seeing results quick enough so they do more research. I did, I kind of just started going to the gym and I didn’t know what the heck I was doing at all so I jut ended up doing five mutes walking on the treadmill like and leaving because I had no idea and the gym was super intimidating for me. So, I hired a coach who kind of taught me the ropes and kind of introduced this world I wasn’t aware of and once I started doing everything correctly, I started getting results. And then I feel like results for fitness people is the biggest motivator and it completely change my life. I was like I’m changing my major, I want to help people get fit because it never felt so easy before, and it kind of developed over time into this amazing career that I feel so fortunate and blessed to be in.
You have a new women’s activewear line launching soon, can you tell us a little bit about it, including how it came to be and a little bit of what’s involved with launching a new clothing brand?
Well obviously there’s a million active wear lines out there women’s active wear is everywhere. People are popping up with new shops right and left but what I’m really excited about Corio Active is the clothes are gong to be great and I’m not compromising on quality of fit or fabric because those the main things that we look for when we buy clothing but the clothes are just going to be a platform for people to connect in your community. So, I really want to make my brand about the community and feeling like when you wear the clothes you’re part of something bigger. And I’m going to – I have so many plans like events and things for people to get involved with the brand that are going to give back to the community., give to charity, and we’re going to feel good about not only having amazing clothes but also like giving of themselves and assuming that it’s bigger than them.
So, that kind of where I think Corio Active is going to be different from other brands out there right now but I really – a big piece of my heart space goes to human connection because I feel like in today’s society we’re more connected than ever but I feel like we’re so disconnected from each other actually. And I really want to create a space where people can feel genuine human connection.
How do you maintain your dietary and fitness regimen throughout the week with your busy schedule? I find that it’s one thing to take some time on a Sunday and plan the week out, and it’s another to stick with that plan as unexpected things come up in the schedule and life gets crazy…
That’s a great question. So, I’m a big believe in like I think we’re complication nutrition a lot because they want a quick answer, a quick fix, they go on this fad diet or whatever. I believe that the best nutrition to result to or to have as your foundation is just whole food, clean meals like no processed crap, no sugars, no artificial sweeteners just go back to basic nutritious food. If you meal prep on Sunday that’s amazing and then you have you mood in your fridge. Sticking to it is a different story like you said so what I always do when I’m trying to be like very on point is the day before I’ll think about it or I’ll write it down I’ll be like okay this is what I’m going to eat tomorrow, ensure that it’s just easy quick grab and go ready for me. If I’m not – if I don’t have the time to meal prep or if I don’t have the food in my fridge that I could like eat whole nutritious food I just try to make smart healthy choices with everything and preparation is key. So, when you – I like this thing it goes when you fail to prep you prep to fail so I always tell all my client and my YouTube people, I’m like just prep your food, give yourself options, have healthy food in your fridge and you’re going to be more likely to make those smart decisions every day.
At what point in your fitness journey did you determine that you are indeed an influencer and did that change your approach at all once you knew that you were influencing people’s fitness plans and buying habits?
I love that you asked that because before this I was thinking about our meeting and I was thinking about of that exact question and I’m like why. I wonder if they’re going to ask this so good job. Yes, there was a moment in time where I kind of that ah-ha like light bulb. I think social media isn’t a new thing but it’s really not that old either and I feel like at first I was like oh wow lots of people are following me that’s cool, you know. But it wasn’t until I went to a Fitness Expo where I got to meet the followers in person and interact with them that I really felt humbled and I felt the weight and the responsibility for my platform that I have.
When people come up to you in person and this goes back to the human connection thing looking at somebody in person and they’re telling you that your posts have affected their day to day life, that it keeps them going and teaches them healthy habits… I’m like, wow I really am impacting these people because it’s something where it’s like you can post things night and day but until you get that face-to-face interaction you don’t really know. You don’t know it it’s affecting people so that kind of happened for me in 2015. I think it was the first Expo that I went to where I was like wow I better take this seriously I feel so privileged to that people would even care about what I had to say but also so honored and excited about that opportunity to change people’s lives for the better
Over the summer, you posted a video where you got very transparent and encouraged your audience to view social media content realistically, understanding that influencers such as yourself have highs and lows, just like everyone else. I feel like it was a breath of fresh air for many, but I’m interested in hearing about the response from your audience…
Oh people loved it. I’ve done a few videos like that so I’m not sure about which one you watched but I think people are getting more keen to authenticity on social media now. I mean there’s like literally apps that can change the way that your face looks in the video like it’s crazy what you can do. And so I feel like putting out a video like that and kind of just showing them my weaknesses and what I think is a problem was a breath of fresh air for the people because I feel like they could relate a lot. and I think it’s something or I hope that more influencers will embrace and do because, you know, you look at social media, Instagram and YouTube, and you just see this highlight reel, this stream of like a perfect life and it’s just common human nature to subconsciously compare yourself to that and it’s not reality, it’s not. It’s just not it’s like that one photo that you saw took probably three hours to take in a thousand different clicks and ten filters and whatever and people are subconsciously comparing themselves and nitpicking things about each picture. And I want to be an advocate for social media influencer to break that cycle and really expose the down life as well and I think will gravitate towards that because in a sea of perfect they probably craze someone being more realistic and raw.
Would you rather: A. Do 50 burpees or B. row 1000 meters for time?
Burpees. I’ve actually done fifty burpees before. It’s like this thing I do like every few weeks. I’ll do fifty burpees and time myself and {it takes me] three minutes and forty-four seconds
Andrew is the Head of Client Services for Intellifluence and has a background in communications. He is committed to helping brands get the most out of their campaigns and is the co-host of the Influencer Spotlight series.
