Fatemeh beats adversity to launch fitness career

Aug 26 2009 by Chris Knox, The Journal

Christopher Knox

(0191) 201-6258

chris.knox@ncjmedia.co.uk

ABUSINESSWOMAN has battled back after nearly dying of a rare disorder to set up her own health and fitness studio, and is now looking to become a television star.

Fatemeh Sajadinia acquired a two-storey building in Fenham, Newcastle, in 2007, and has spent months transforming it into a women-only gym and physiotherapy studio, which boasts a range of fitness classes, a holistic therapy suite and hair and beauty salon.

Mrs Sajadinia, who funded the £50,000 refurbishment herself, has led Seena Health to grow in popularity as people look to benefit from her experience as a practising physiotherapist within the NHS.

However, realising her ambitions has not been easy. She has had to overcome a series of challenges, one of which almost cost her life.

A car accident in 2004 meant that she had to quit her job as a spinal touch therapist with the NHS in Newcastle, as she had lost the use of her right arm due to severe muscle and tendon damage.

It was then that she decided to take up a management role at her entrepreneur brother Hossain Rezaei’s Pride Valley Foods business in Seaham, County Durham, which was eventually sold on to a US firm. Mr Rezaei, who lives near Hexham in Northumberland, now runs healthcare and leisure businesses in the region.

In 2007 Mrs Sajadinia was told that she had endometriosis, which is a condition where cells normally found in the womb are discovered elsewhere in the body. She almost lost her life when her abdominal hysterectomy hit complications.

It was only a few months later that she had to go through the heartbreak of losing her mother to cancer, something which she said almost put an end to her ambitions.

“The last two years have been an absolute nightmare,” Mrs Sajadinia said. “There were so many times that I just didn’t feel like doing anything and was just getting more and more depressed.

“However, as my arm began to heal I realised that I was wasting my talent and decided to purchase the site in Fenham. It has been a very difficult time, but I am now doing something that I have always dreamed of.”

Mrs Sajadinia also wants to provide physiotherapy for NHS patients in order to help service its ever-growing waiting lists.

She now employs nine freelance fitness instructors and three therapists and has big plans for Seena Health, including the opening of a injury rehabilitation centre, and is hoping to roll out a chain of gyms across the UK.

She has also published a fitness DVD called Your Back With Fatemeh, has featured as a guest host on a health and fitness phone in show on Spice FM and has plans for a TV show in which she will help people with musculoskeletal related problems.

“It has been quite a journey, starting my own business,” she said.

“I’ve met a lot of other female entrepreneurs and there are some amazing women out there doing great things. I would definitely encourage women to go into business.”

It has been a very difficult time, but I am now doing something that I have always dreamed of