RECognition: Samantha Conley, Fitness & Wellness
Recreation's monthly series to highlight and celebrate our staff
By Shawn Cyr
Assistant Marketing Director
FitLife Program Assistant, Employee Wellness Assistant, Orangetheory Fitness Sales Associate, eBook author.
Samantha Conley holds many titles. And each one of them relates to a core aspect of who she is.
“I have always loved helping people become their healthiest selves,” Samantha says. “I’ve even written an eBook for young women, like me, who are looking for a healthy and sustainable way to eat cleaner: Glow & Grow | A Girlfriend’s Guide to Clean Eating and Healthy Habits. This was a small entrepreneurial experiment to exercise my business skills while helping people with what I love most.”
Samantha’s passion for “helping others build healthy, active lifestyles” is so deep that she actually fills multiple roles for Recreation. As FitLife Program Assistant, she helps facilitate personal training services and group fitness classes such as Pilates and cycling, while also providing customer service support. And in her role as Employee Wellness Assistant, she supports wellness programs (such as Move Right and the Diabetes Prevention Program) and benefits for staff and faculty, while assisting her program manager with additional tasks, including managing lactation room services, coordinating wellness events, and providing customer service.
“Samantha is an excellent teammate who is always willing to share a creative, outside-of-the-box idea or lend a helping hand,” Tiffany Caddell, Fitness and Wellness Director, says. “She is outgoing, fun, and welcoming to everyone she comes across.”
Samantha, a third-year International Business major in Sixth College, joined REC in October of 2024. Safe to say, she’s fit — no pun intended — right in.
"My favorite part about working in REC is the strong sense of community, the emphasis on wellness, and how fun and energetic the environment is every day,” Samantha says.
Her favorite REC memory, at least so far, was working at one of the roller rink events last year. The pop-up roller rinks are a collaboration between Recreation and various campus groups — in this case, the Black Resource Center — to foster some four-wheeled fitness and community around campus, including on the Muir basketball courts and at the Price Center Ballroom.
“It was so much fun, and collaborating with the Black Resource Center made it even more special,” she says. “It was great to see everyone come out and test their roller skating skills together.”
At Orangetheory — an orange-hued boutique fitness gym with worldwide locations, including San Diego — she works at the front desk, selling memberships. (Though, she notes, she often asks coaches for tips and tricks for her own training, for when she becomes a coach.) You see, she’s working on her personal trainer certification through the National Academy of Sports Medicine.
Even when she’s not working, Samantha stays active. “Working out, especially weightlifting, takes me out of my own head,” she says. “Instead of thinking about outside stressors, I’m fully focused on the lift in front of me. That mental shift allows me to be present in the moment and helps me maintain a healthy work-life balance.”
She’s also picked up surfing. Despite being a San Diego native, she’d never tried to catch a wave until her freshman year, when she and her friend Ashley decided to dive right in.
“While we had no training, prior knowledge, or experience, we went out there with boards, wetsuits, and excitement — just happy to have a new outdoor hobby,” she says. “Of course, we got tossed around, but it’s not something that ever discouraged us. We’re hoping to catch some waves this upcoming term together.”
If it’s anything like her other hobbies, we might need to add “Surfer” to her list of titles. And probably many more to come.
