We had the good fortune of connecting with Francesca Petrolo and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Francesca, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
My thought process behind starting my own business was at first to be able to help people by sharing with them all my knowledge, as a trainer is important to teach people how to treat right their bodies and mind. The second thought was to be independent to make my own money without asking anything from anybody. Then I thought that it was really important to wake up every morning and go to sleep every night happy and proud of myself and of my good work with no stress of any boss can give to an employee.

During the year I have been really passionate about seeing the results my clients had during the time and I started to be angrier about the knowledge and so started to learn more and more from different people and cultures. One of the main reasons I moved from Italy to San Diego is just this one, LEARNING more and more about the fitness field.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If my best friend will come to visit me I will show them all these places in this order: 1. bay park area because is where I live and I think it is a really great spot, 2. Sunsetclift, 3.La Jolla, 4.Balboa Park, 5.Downtown. 6. Water frot. Those are the best places for me in San Diego area, there are others too but are out of town.

Unfortunately, as an Italian, I cannot really suggest any good place to eat haahah! Anyhow there are some good things to test like the Acai at the Acaiarioca spot in Ocean Beach, I love it, Amalfi Cucina Italiana in San Marcos, really good restaurant, In North Park, there is a pizza and gelato place call “Gelati e Peccati, I will defiantly go there with my friend.
In the USA there is not really a food culture like in Europe, so is difficult to say ” I will take you to a very typical place”. But I really appreciate some Asian restaurants here,

To hang out and have fun there are many places to go, I like to go to Pacific Beach because is close to the beach and there are all young people, The clubs and restaurants in PB are really unique and nice, it seems like you are always in vacation even if you live here.
I really like Belmont Park in Mission beach because there is the rollercoaster and other games, there is a big gym with an Olympic pool and you can train on the rooftop with the ocean view, which I think is amazing. San Diego is very versatile and full of different things to do. In Downtown, I like to go dancing or just have a walk as well as in Balboa Park, but during the day only because everything is open, there are a lot of museums. Balboa Park at the night is just OK, it has all the lights on, but, trust me during the day is way better.

Sometimes I like to go to watch fights on TV and in North Park or Pacific Beach there are really good sports bars like ” the Tavern”, where after that they put on very loud music and they open the space to dance. It is really nice.

A lot of places in San Diego have live music to listen to or for dancing, one, in particular, I like the most is Cafe Sevilla in downtown, because they have 2 floors one is the restaurant in Spanish style and they always have live music of all the kinds, the down floor has either live music or DJ and they have salsa and bachata events almost every day and the night always start with the classes, they teach salsa and bachata before the social dancing. Sevilla nightclub is great and cheap, with only $5 you can follow the classes and dance.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are several people to whom I have to dedicate credit. First of all my Italian coaches because they train me and push me to set the goal of the competitions and at that moment I started to see things more seriously and I started to teach with them and other students. Also, my student always gave me motivation to never stop teaching.

Since I moved to America I troubled a lot, but I always had people that helped me and supported me in a different way starting with Dave Zarella who rescued me when I was subjected to a scam, to S10 Fitness, WeckMethod because they taught me so much about life and a new way to train our body and Nervous System, many times they saved my life. One special thank you to Christopher Daly, he passed away almost one year ago, because he was my mentor and really good friend.
During the way, I also met other people whom I had bad and good experiences with, but either way, they helped me a lot to grow and learn about the life, and because of this I am where I am now, otherwise, I could not be. All the bad and good experiences we have during our trip in this world have sense and are happening for a reason.

Last, but not least I have to thank my friend Michael ( The Will to Train) because he introduce me, one year ago, to Any Body Can Youth Foundation, a non-profit organization where I am still working as a Project Manager. They are an amazing organization, they are my family now and we all help disadvantaged people and families around San Diego teaching them how to step off life without cowardice, but with courage and dignity. We teach kids boxing, we educate them, we help them with school and we offer them wherever they need to be safe.

Of course I have many others to thanks too, they are all in my heart.

Website: www.francescapt.com

Instagram: fpetrolo87

Facebook: francescaPT

Other: you can also find me and follow abcyouthfoundation.org I am working with them every day Monday to Friday and we are located in 3131 Market St.