Karen Jashinsky, a native of Livingston, New Jersey, is CEO/Founder of SFE, and handles the business side of the company. She comes from a long line of successful entrepreneurs, so, needless to say, entrepreneurship is in her DNA.

A master trainer certified by the National Federation for Fitness Certification (NAFC), Karen has a passion for empowering others to pursue their dreams.

Her zeal is deeply rooted.

As a child, Karen struggled with asthma, and, as a result, was a slow runner. At the age of 15, she discovered that she couldn’t complete a simple fitness test—a one-mile run.

Competitive and determined by nature, she began to train regularly at the local JCC track, and discovered the weight room there.

From that point on, no matter how busy or stressed she was, Karen always found ways to fit short workouts into her day. This helped her to relax, be more productive, and to reach her goals.

Then, in 2005, while recovering from a near-fatal bicycle accident, she became even more passionate about fitness. It was an extremely difficult experience, but it taught her about the importance of a strong core, which aids good posture, and helps to protect us from injury.

Karen now holds an MBA from the Marshall School of Business at the University of California, with an emphasis in entrepreneurship, and a BS in Business Administration from Washington University in St. Louis, with an emphasis in marketing and international business.

She has been featured in Entrepreneur magazine, and is a frequent speaker on all things entrepreneurial, on marketing, and of course, on fitness. In addition, she’s been honored with a number of awards from her peers in the global fitness industry and was the first recipient of the Emerging Female Business Leader in the fitness industry by IHRSA.

After living in Santa Monica for over 18 years, Karen relocated to the east coast with her husband and baby. She now resides in Durham, North Carolina where she continues to grow the business.

Farrah Zweig, Director of Programming/Co-Founder, gets fired up whenever she talks about anatomy and body movement. As her title implies, she creates the programs for SFE, and is passionate about each and every one of them.

Just like Karen, Farrah’s love for fitness runs deep, dating back to her teen years.

Growing up as an overweight kid, Farrah struggled for years with eating healthy, and finding a type of physical activity that she enjoyed. At the age of 13, she resolved to take matters into her own hands. Farrah made a commitment to improve her eating habits and to start moving … a lot. She changed her relationship with food—avoiding junk, and opting for smaller portions, fruit and vegetables. She also took up kickboxing (thanks to Billy Banks and an amazing coach at the JCC in Fairfax, VA)!

Those simple changes enabled Farrah to be healthy, feel good about her body and lose 50 pounds over one very active summer! In the process, she realized that these were lifestyle habits that she could stick to for life.

As an adult, her two pregnancies taught Farrah even more about healthy weight management, which she achieved with some major effort after each of her kids were born.

Farrah worked hard at being healthy, and she did it without fads, pills, gimmicks or tricks. Now she’s determined to spread the word on what actually works!

Farrah has continuously looked for ways to help her community get fit… and to stay fit. In college, she worked with peers to help them stay healthy and active through challenging schedules. Following her daughter's birth, she began teaching mommy and me exercise classes to clients of various ages and abilities. Once her own children were old enough to enter into classes, Farrah questioned the physical activity opportunities provided to them. She realized that kids’ needs were not being met by the activities currently available to them, which were to simply learn fundamental skills of movement and healthy habits.

Now, Farrah is sharing her experience with students, helping them make lasting changes in their habits, which will benefit them—and those around them—for the rest of their lives.

Originally from McLean, Virginia, Farrah attended San Diego State University. She obtained a degree in Kinesiology with an emphasis in fitness, nutrition and health. Farrah is a Certified Exercise Physiologist through the American College of Sports Medicine, as well as a Certified Personal Trainer through the National Academy of Sports Medicine. Farrah is a PE teacher and has experience running her own fitness and wellness company for families.

Currently, Farrah resides in Beverly Hills with her family.

Student Fitness Experts is a division of Kurly Fitness. Our mission is to transform the way students experience fitness.