The Second Chapter Is Always Better with Tone It Up Founder and CEO, Karena Dawn

About this episode

Karena Dawn discusses her journey in building and reclaiming Tone It Up, a pioneering women's fitness community.

She built one of the first women's fitness communities on the internet in 2009 — before influencers were a thing, before wellness was a category, and before anyone told her it was possible. Karena Dawn co-founded Tone It Up, pioneered positivity in a fitness world built on punishment, sold a stake to private equity, and then spent years watching someone else run the thing she built from scratch. In December 2025 she did what most founders only dream about — she bought it back. This is the sto...

People in this episode

Hosts: Jaclyn Johnson, Marina Middleton

Guest: Karena Dawn

Topics covered

• women's fitness
• entrepreneurship
• wellness
• founder stories
• positivity in fitness

Keywords

• fitness community
• entrepreneur
• wellness
• private equity
• founder journey

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Tone It Up

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