The best marketing tool 27-year-old Arianne Missimer has is herself. Prospective clients of Core Fitness are likely to sign up if they have even the slightest hope of eventually looking like her. Young, attractive, fit, and committed to a business she loves, Missimer exudes the confidence that she can make any body healthier.

Core Fitness specializes in personal training. About 60 percent of Missimer’s clients are women, and she finds that men seem more reluctant to face the truth regarding their fitness level. “But when men understand the advantages of the personal approach to fitness, they come around,” she says. “We stress performance improvement, whether injury prevention for competitive sports or just having enough energy to get through the day. All fitness levels and ages are welcome.” A testimony to her success: 90 percent of Core’s clients come from referrals.

Missimer’s interest in wellness was sparked by the 1999 Miss Fitness America competition. Her trainer, in preparing her for the competition, pushed her to a body-mass index of 9 percent (18.5 to 24.9 is considered normal). Recognizing that this approach was not healthy, Missimer decided that “there had to be a better way.”

She received a degree in nutrition science from the University of Delaware in 2003 and became a registered dietitian after a post-graduate internship. It was during this year of rotating assignments that she became a part-owner of Core Fitness. In 2004, she bought out her partner and her 80-hour work weeks began. “I was scared,” she says, “but I could see the potential.”

After four years, Missimer’s vision is now a reality. She employs four trainers and a massage therapist. “One of my trainers has turned out to be a great office manager, which is a tremendous help,” she says. “I continue to work with a group of about 30 clients to stay connected and continue to develop my own skills.” In three years, after she is awarded a Ph.D. in physical therapy from Neumann College, Missimer plans to purchase the entire building and expand.

On March 1, the doors opened at PhysiCore personal training studio in the Shops of Limestone Hills. Jessica Ramsey, the 35-year-old owner, offers her clients privacy and comfort when they exercise. “I have been doing personal training for a long time and ran a business in my basement at home. Recently, I decided to expand into a larger and more professional space,” she says, glancing around at the deep-purple-accented walls. “Most of my clients are women—Boomers and Generation X-ers. The space has large, street-front windows, but I have the option of closing the shades to conduct training without passersby peering in.”

The effervescent Ramsey has a degree in biology and chemistry from the University of Delaware. For many years, she monitored clinical oncology studies for the pharmaceutical industry, a job that demanded a lot of travel. The day she came back to work following the birth of her first child was September 11, 2001. “This tragic event and the fact that I had a baby caused me to re-evaluate my career,” she says. “I decided to quit traveling and expand my fitness work.” Now the mother of three, Ramsey is grateful that her husband is supportive as she expands her business out of the house.

“I think being a woman business-owner in this field is actually an advantage, since many women seem more comfortable with a female trainer,” she says.

PhysiCore offers a few classes but the emphasis is clearly on personal attention and training. Ramsey says her services are by appointment only and that maximum class size is five—constituting what she calls a “boutique” setting. She specializes in pre- and post-natal exercise and has her own “groupies,” called the Buff Mamas. “Many trainers don’t know what to do with pregnant women or new moms,” Ramsey says. “I often get referrals from them for pre-natal exercise and post-partum rehabilitation. Most of my business to this point has come from word-of-mouth.”

Although she has had great coaches, Val Whiting has trained herself all her life. Or, at least since she was encouraged to give up cheerleading and become a basketball player in seventh grade. “The coach noticed that I was 5’11”,” Whiting says. The rest is history—a history dotted with many athletic honors, including being named one of the NCAA’s top 25 players of the past 25 years.

Whiting, 35, and her business partner-husband Jay Raymond own GameShape, a training center they opened in 2003. Tucked away in a quiet office park across the Christina River from the Amtrak station, GameShape trains athletes of all ages with a hybrid of techniques Whiting developed over her years of playing competitively, training, and coaching. “Just like the computer industry,” Whiting says, “there is always innovation and more to learn in our field.”

Whiting calls herself a coach, not a trainer. “I have high expectations for my clients and I am not a people-pleaser,” she says. “I see things they don’t see and push them, especially girls, not to give up on themselves. I want to empower them until they ask for more. We began by accepting only competitive athletes into our program, but now everyone is welcome regardless of fitness level. However, we do reserve the right to ‘fire’ unrealistic or unmotivated clients.”

Prospective clients are evaluated with methods that include movement screens and agility drills. Whiting believes semi-private training works better than solo work, because both men and women are competitive. Females, she has discovered, are much more self-conscious, yet enjoy working out with their friends. Men, in contrast, often prefer individual training.

GameShape offers a female-only Boot Camp—a four-week strength and cardio program that challenges women to bring their A game to workout sessions. Whiting says the program is based on the theory that everyone is an athlete.

She hopes to enlarge the center, make it easier to find, and add nutrition counseling. She says that being a woman is really not an impediment in developing a business, but being African American is. “I often feel I have to go above and beyond to prove myself,” she says.

Lisa Sorantino is fit and trim, but she hasn’t always been this way. “I was a heavy adolescent,” she says. “A personal trainer at the YMCA changed my life. Whether it was the regular exercise or, I admit, the desire to please a handsome instructor, I began to make progress. I took better care of myself and lost weight.”

The 37-year-old Sorantino owns Wellnesstoday, an exercise center in the former Pike Creek Fitness Club. Her large, well-lit studio is separated from the rest of an empty second floor by the former fitness club’s glass partitions and a new entry way with big windows.

“MBNA got me started,” Sorantino says. “I had my first contract with them in 1997 and expanded to provide fitness programming at four of their sites. The relationship ended in 2006. In the meantime, I had opened a fitness studio in 2003 and moved to my current location in 2007.”

Sorantino caters to people, primarily women in their 30s, who have been sedentary and want to get in shape. The center offers both private and personal training. With a focus on overall health, Sorantino provides a comfortable place for her clients to exercise. She emphasizes that her approach is not intimidating. “I spend a lot of time talking about a client’s lifestyle,” she says. “My mission is not fitness, but rather an improvement in the quality of a person’s life. I meet with each new client to discuss their goals and help make them accountable for their choices.”

As a female business owner in the fitness field, Sorantino says she is concerned that she is judged by her looks and that prospective clients, among others, expect her to appear a certain way. She would much rather be seen as a “whole package.”

Middle age hasn’t slowed Bonnie White. Energy and enthusiasm characterize her approach to women’s fitness and selling the Curves program. “Curves welcomes women 9 to 90,” says White. “We have a passion here to make people healthy.”

White started dancing at the age of three and taught ballet, jazz, and tap dancing for 10 years. She spent many years doing another kind of movement—relocating regularly as her husband, Gregg, was transferred to assignments around the world by DuPont. She kept busy as a stay-at-home mom. “I began to gain some weight as I got older,” White says. “In 2002, I walked into a Curves and the concept spoke to me.” She and Gregg bought seven franchises in the area, and Curves gave them a year-and-a-half to get them all up and running.

The Curves program is a 30-minute workout circuit designed to meet each woman’s fitness goals. A dozen or so machines are positioned in a circle, with large exercise pads on the floor next to the machines. Every 30 seconds, a female voice tells the women to switch to the next activity. White says anyone who walks through the door can complete the circuit.

In hiring her staff, she puts friendliness ahead of technical skill or fitness experience. “I can teach them the Curves methods, but I can’t teach them to have a caring heart,” she says. Staff members are on the floor at all times monitoring circuit-use, answering questions, and offering encouragement.

White is proud of the new, computerized CurvesSmart system that customizes each workout and takes the place, in her opinion, of a personal trainer. “You would not believe how the weight is coming off with this tool,” she says.

Being a woman in the fitness business is a plus, according to White, since she says she has faced the health problem many of her clients experience—eating too much and not getting enough exercise. “I wish we could get more young girls in here to start them on the path to a healthy future,” she says.

In 2002, after 20 years with the Goodyear Tire Co. as a human resources and sales training professional, LeAnne Williamson’s job was out-sourced. “I faced a decision: Either I find another job within the company, which was an option open to me, or I begin to do what I love,” she says. “I took advantage of this opportunity to become an entrepreneur.”

Running a fitness operation came naturally to Williamson, who’s 44. She says that she has been an athlete all her life—playing sports and working out at local YMCAs as she traveled around the country on business. “I did research into fitness centers and found that many bored me,” she says. When Ladies Workout Express, which is owned by Lady of America Franchise Corporation, invited her to Florida to learn about their centers, Wilkinson bought the rights to operate four, opening one here in Hockessin.

The center is small, but the space still manages to include a 30-minute circuit workout, free weights, storage shelves, merchandise, and a couple of stand-alone saunas in the back. “I call my facility a full-size gym without the shower,” Williamson says.

The majority of her clients are in their early 40s and they come not only for the exercise, but also for the social environment. Williamson calls herself a listener.

“This is a people business,” she says. “It’s all about hearing what the clients need.”

Her people skills are put to use in her other business, Your Success Coach, Inc., a consulting business that puts her on airplanes more often than she likes. “I have a terrific staff at the fitness center, so I only need to visit once a month or so for meetings and trainings,” she says. “I hope to have a good staff in place in my consulting business as well, so I can cut down on my travel.”

Eventually she wants to expand her floor space and her team. “The company gives me unlimited flexibility in how I choose to build the business,” she says. “One of my priorities is to do more for children. Kids can come here for free. Girls in particular need to develop a positive self-image, and exercise is a great place to start. I’m looking for organizations to partner with.”

Everyone at Beach Fitness calls Betty Arnold “Mom,” a sobriquet she finds appropriate, given her maternal nature and the fact that, according to Arnold, “The Beach has actually become a second home for many of our members.”

Before she became an employee and later a co-owner of the business, Arnold worked at DuPont for 19 years, followed by a stint as a stay-at-home mother. In the mid-’90s she found herself in the middle of a serious depression. She was going through menopause, no longer was needed as a caregiver to her children or parents, and she had gained 50 lbs. “A concerned friend told me that I ought to go see Ray Knight at Beach Fitness,” she says. “I took the advice, and he instantly made me feel comfortable and welcome. I began to train.” Along with the regular exercise, three years ago she also quit smoking, kicking a 38-year pack-a-day habit. Her health improved significantly, and Arnold considers herself an example of how Beach Fitness can be life-altering.

Knight named the center after determining that he could not realistically follow his original business plan and open in Rehoboth or Dewey. “I think people like the concept of coming to the Beach in Newark to work out,” Arnold says. “We have a sunny, fun atmosphere here.”

A full-service fitness center, the Beach caters to men and women of all ages, including a 10-year-old boy who comes in regularly. Arnold also notes that clients come from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. “I wish people in our country could get along as well as the diverse clients we serve,” she says. “I often see young men working out next to elderly women, and each is courteous and helpful to the other. We don’t have women- or men-only areas or classes. I think men like the relationships they develop, as do the women. Sometimes they seem surprised when I remember a name after a long absence. I consider that part of my job.”