Hi mamas! My name is Nadia and I’m a proud mama to two wonderful boys. Naem is a very opinionated, creative, silly and energetic almost 5 year old who can often be heard loudly sharing his disapproval of the music selection in Saturday classes (don’t take it personally, he does that to basically every playlist that he did not hand pick). In June, we welcomed the newest member of our family, baby Ramzi, and we are so thrilled that he’s here! Ramzi is a smiley, giggly little guy who is happy to just go with the flow and tag along on our family adventures. Naem is very excited to be a big brother (for the most part), although his hugs can be a little too enthusiastic at times!

I grew up in Southern California then moved to Northern California to attend college at UC Berkeley. It was such an amazing experience and still one of my favorite places! From all the amazing people I met to the exceptional food, the hikes in the stunning surrounding natural beauty and all the fun we had exploring San Francisco, I made so many fantastic friends and memories there that will always hold a special place in my heart. In fact I loved it so much that I couldn’t bear to leave and decided to stay for a PhD program in molecular cell biology. And it’s a good thing I did because that is where I ended up meeting an annoying classmate named Trever who eventually became my husband!

We started out as “frenemies”, always competing in our classes, but over time realized that we actually kind of liked each other. Because we were both basically always in the lab, we were together almost all the time and got married just a few years later in Lake Tahoe, one of our favorite places to visit. We still try to make a trip there every summer and it has been so fun to introduce all of our favorite hikes and beaches to Naem. It has become one of Naem’s favorite events of the year, and we are all so excited to share it with Ramzi this summer!

After graduating, we moved to San Diego for postdocs in labs at UCSD, then moved on to work in biotech. My focus in my PhD and postdoc was in immunology, and I currently work in early research and development, leading programs to develop new therapies for cancer that stimulate a patient’s immune system to fight the cancer.

Our journey with FIT4MOM started when Naem was just 3 months old, and we have been coming ever since! My husband had recently gone back to work and I was feeling isolated at home all day, and struggling to find time to get back to exercise even though that was something I felt I needed. From the first class, Naem and I both made such amazing friends that we are still excited to see every week to this day! These days, Ramzi and I have been enjoying being able to join more classes while I am on leave, and I know he will be buddies with the other babies for years to come! It has been so wonderful to see the kiddos grow up together and to be part of such a supportive community of moms who FIT4MOM “get it”, no matter what particular challenge you are facing at the moment. Fit4mom has been such an important part of my motherhood journey, and I am so grateful for the friendship, support, community, and laughter I have found here!