KUALA LUMPUR: A movement named Awek aims to empower and provide women with more spaces and opportunities to be involved in the male-dominated fitness industry.
Its founder Danish Suresh, who has over 20 years of involvement in the fitness industry, said fitness has always been a struggle for women of all levels in the country, as well as within the industry.
That spurred him to start Awek, which stands for Absolute Women Empowerment Knowledge, in March this year.
“The fitness industry is a focal point to get to meet everyone regardless of their background. Being a physical trainer before, I will become friends with our clients and they will share their stories and struggles.
“So I have come up with Awek to start the empowerment, beginning with virtual events like online workout sessions since April and am planning to get face-to-face events once the Covid-19 pandemic eases,” he told Bernama.
He said the movement not just emphasises on the fitness of physical health, but also focuses on mental health, having organised several virtual talks on various topics inviting athletes, coaches, physiologists and former national athletes to share their experiences and journey to inspire women.
Danish said the ‘K’ in Awek also stands for Kalon, meaning the ideal physical and moral beauty, and Kuala Lumpur and other cities and districts in Malaysia like Klang, Kluang, Kota Bahru, Kuala Terengganu, Kuching, Kota Kinabalu and Kangar.
“So we have plans to move and do some activities or events for the public physically with the support we can get. It doesn’t just stop in Malaysia, Awek had speakers from Canada, the USA, Indonesia and India during our previous Virtual Events, so we want to reach out to every woman within the Nusantara Region and hopefully one day, globally,” he added.
Danish said the next virtual talk will be titled Career Comeback after Pregnancy that will be fully held by the moderator and speakers from Indonesia on Sept 25.
Further information can be found on Awek’s official Instagram @awek.movementmy and official Facebook @AwekMovementMY. -Bernama
