Allowing women to feel beautiful inside and out
WHEN you educate a woman, you educate a community.
That’s the motto skills development practitioner and Zumba dance fitness instructor Jayess Jayram stands by.
On August 1, Jayram hopes to do just that at the Women’s Day Breakfast at Coastlands, uMhlanga.
She will present a segment entitled, “Women, Wisdom, Wellness”.
Jayram, 43, of Malvern, told
that women in various communities were still struggling to juggle their multiple roles and take care of their health and wellness at the same time.
“It is important for women to create educational opportunities for themselves as well as understand the role that fitness plays in one’s well-being.
“Such a topic is vital and needs to be addressed as one of the biggest challenges women face. There is a lack of coping mechanisms and they are simply expected to deliver on so many things, which restricts their time and progress in every sphere. This can lead to a very unhealthy situation,” she said.
Jayram believes women empowerment is “two-fold”.
“A woman should be able to uplift herself to such a level that she is able to make her own strategic decisions, create her own opportunities and expand her horizons in all areas of her life.
“The same woman who has now empowered herself, will be able to guide, mentor, motivate and support other women to a similar level.”
Women empowerment, she said, is as important as “air is to life and water is to fish”.
“As women, in order to sustain and maintain our own empowerment, we need to constantly be building other women. It is also imperative that women mentor young girls, because who better to mentor and coach our future generation of women than those who have ‘walked the walk’.
“The current generation of young women in high school and colleges are in such an exciting and transformative era where they are being given unlimited opportunities in leadership roles, academics and male-dominated fields. This presents hope, not just for current, but future generations, so grabbing these opportunities with positive attitudes is so important.”
A skills development practitioner with the eThekwini Municipality, she said her own climb up the corporate ladder had been an exciting journey.
She will share this at the breakfast.
The mother of two sons, 21-year-old Jadin Nikeel and 18-year-old Jeron Niveel, said the highlight of her day was getting into her fitness gear and heading out to instruct her fitness class.
“I have classes in my local community five days a week for an hour. It is more than just a dance fitness class, it is a sisterhood where women are supported, motivated and uplifted,” she said. “It is an hour for women to be themselves, de-stress and simply party themselves into shape.”
Her goal? “To make every woman feel amazingly beautiful from the inside to the outside.”
Jayram said her greatest success had been to create a trusting Zumba family in her community.
“It took more than six years of hard work of gaining trust. Through this platform, as a team we are able to implement projects that reach out to the rest of our community. It is also a learning platform where women learn strategies to cope with various aspects in life and not just fitness,” she said.
“I am ecstatic to have my son, Jeron, as co-instructor. His aim is to get more children and teenagers interested in their fitness and wellness. Together, we intend to reach families and show them that fitness can be fun.”