Sixteen years ago, with roughly $3,000 and a mission to bring joy and healing through fitness, Karena Dawn co-founded Tone It Up. Karena was 28, living in Manhattan Beach and they were putting workout classes on YouTube. Instagram didn’t exist yet. Apart from the OGs Jane Fonda and Russel Simmons, fitness influencers didn’t really exist yet. But, Tone It Up didn’t launch for social media fame or to be bought out, and although both eventually happened, it launched to empower women and create community. There have been many chapters, but a new one launches this month with Karena becoming the sole owner, reclaiming the roles of CEO and Creative Director, and leaning into the original goals, but with an expanded platform.
This era marks a powerful full-circle moment for the entrepreneur, and mental health advocate (whose non-profit The Big Silence aims to give a voice to mental health struggles), author (whose biography The Big Silence came out in 2022) and podcast host- who’s adding a second podcast to the mix this month. She’s quietly navigated years of personal darkness and professional complexity to stand again at the center of the brand she created. And, now she’s doing it from her home base in Austin, where she lives with her husband of 10 years, Bobby Gold, and their seven Pomeranians, with a renewed mission that intertwines her two passions, fitness and mental health.
Before becoming a fitness entrepreneur, Karena survived what she calls her ‘decade of darkness.’ Her childhood and early adulthood were shadowed by her mother’s schizophrenia and depression, and her grandfather’s death.
“I always thought I would end up like my mom and my grandfather,” she says. But, she attributes finding fitness with changing her path, sharing, “I started working out and that became my healing.” She remembered the joy she felt as a kid watching her mom do Jane Fonda VHS workouts, and the exhilaration of running her first half-marathon at ten and that eventually became her way forward.
“When I realized working out was so healing, I wanted to share that with more people. I wanted to help women have more joy in their lives. I wanted to give back because I feel so grateful that I’m even here.”
When she met her co-founder, the two bonded over the idea of making fitness fun again. They were among the first creators posting workouts on YouTube, and later, among the earliest fitness voices on Instagram. Then Tone It Up grew from a beachside dream into a full-fledged community.
By 2018, the company’s rapid expansion required outside capital and the investment came with strings, including CEOs brought in to run the business and creative decisions about the company being stripped away.
“A lot of companies now are founded with the intention of selling, that wasn’t us. We were just doing something we loved,” Karena says, adding, “When we were taken away from the CEO role, it was really hard. But I always had this intuition that one day I’d get the company back.”
Just over seven years later, she did. “There came a point when I realized I could no longer stand behind decisions being made for the brand I built. That’s when I knew I had to do something about it,” she says. “I didn’t buy Tone It Up back for me—I did it for the women who have been with us since day one.”
And, she has big plans for the future. The Tone It Up app continues to expand with diverse fitness classes, which will now be updated weekly, as well as meditations led by Karena, nutrition plans, and seasonal programs launched four times a year. Kicking things off, Tone It Up app users can access a January “New Year, New TI-YOU” challenge, which will feature original Tone It Up trainers Chyna Rae, Tori Simeone, and Stefanie Corgel. Karena is building a private studio in Austin that will be completed early this year where they will film content and she’s building out a space on her property to host more events here in Austin that will include workout classes as well as sauna and cold plunge.
Her property, named Villa Artique, is its own creative oasis. It’s seven acres of nature, creative spaces and art previously once owned by Iranian artist Reza Derakshani and used as a filming location for Spy Kids 1 & 2 and Fear the Walking Dead. Karena and her husband moved from Los Angeles to Austin in 2019 and stumbled upon the property in 2020, while they were living downtown. After taking a cross-country trip in a remodeled 2005 Winnebago during the pandemic, Karena craved being in nature. During a Sunday morning drive she noticed a house with the same house number from their days in Manhattan Beach, saw a for sale sign outside, and the rest is history.
We loved shooting the cover story in the home deeply entwined in art and history. For the cover image, Karena herself is immersed in an original of Verner Panton’s Living Tower. It feels symbolic - bold, show-stopping and enduring, much like the new era she’s stepping into. And, she’s wearing Sara Blakely’s Sneex, a fitting nod to the intersection of fitness and personal expression. “I love Sara’s story. She’s tall with big feet like me,” Karena says of the Sneex and Spanx founder, quickly adding, “and the shoes are actually really comfortable!”
Today Reza’s former art studio is Karena’s podcast studio where she records her weekly The Big Silence podcast, which launched in 2022, and will record new podcast Tone It Down beginning this month. The Big Silence continues her mental-health-centered conversations with psychologists, doctors and fellow survivors, whereas she says her newest show, Tone It Down, “is more girlfriend-to-girlfriend approach to conversations, having fun, fitness, and nutrition.” She explains, “Back in the day we used to have coffee chats, and Wine Not Wednesday? It’s bringing that back, bringing back the conversation between women.”
Now in her 40s, Karena’s own wellness routine is focused on weight training, more protein, getting enough sleep and giving herself some grace. “After 35, we lose muscle mass, so it’s important to stay strong, have your protein, creatine, all the things,” she says, adding that she’s also returning to a regular yoga practice. Equally important is her mental fitness, which she keeps in check by adhering to a strict morning routine.
“My morning routine is very strategic,” she shares. “I wake up, make my bed, make some tea, usually chamomile or something without caffeine, and get outside. I walk around my property, meditate, work out, sauna, cold plunge, shower and then get ready for the day. If I do that, then the rest of my day is pretty good.I think the number one reason is because you immediately feel like you’ve accomplished something for the day.”
Back at the helm of Tone It Up and building on her work with The Big Silence, Karena’s looking forward to continuing to build community, here in Austin and around the world. “Since starting The Big Silence, so many people from all over have reached out to share their story,” she says. “We’re all connected to someone struggling with mental health, or we’re struggling ourselves. In a world where we’re all on social media, it’s important to say, ‘I’m not okay,’ and help people feel less alone.”
She adds, “The next chapter is about more honesty, more depth, and more real conversations around movement, mental health, and feeling good at every stage of life. I’m more excited than ever to rebuild, reconnect, and reimagine what Tone It Up can be.”
Congratulations to the woman who was once a little girl who watched her mom do Jane Fonda tapes and said, One day I want to do that…And then she did. Not only that, in a full circle moment, when Tone It Up sold DVDs at Target, it was under the Jane Fonda brand, and Jane Fonda herself called them the new faces of fitness.
Great inspiration for us all to bring into the new year.
Follow Karena on Instagram @KarenaDawn. For more information on Tone It Up workouts, products, the app, or community,
visit ToneItUp.com or follow @ToneItUp on Instagram.
“The next chapter is about more honesty, more depth, and more real conversations around movement, mental health, and feeling good at every stage of life."
“I’m more excited than ever to rebuild, reconnect, and reimagine what Tone It Up can be.”