Leadership Team

MEET THE TEAM //

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." -John Quincy Adams

Jose Soto

Founder

Jose Soto, B.A, ACE CPT, is the Founder and Owner of the NJ HIIT Training Facility. He is a Certified Personal Trainer through the American Council on Exercise, SFG Level 1 Instructor (StrongFirst) and a Certified Physique and Figure Specialist through NESTA. Through his education and experience, Jose's mission is to
use his enthusiasm and knowledge to inspire, educate and empower others to live healthier, balanced and forward thinking lives.

Chandini Mohanakumar

Operations Manager

Chandini moved to the United States from India in 2008. Being actively involved in sports since Kindergarden, Chandini became a successful sports athlete representing her school, college, town and State in track and field. She was a professional cricket player for her home state of Kerala, India for 4 years and continues the sport today playing for the New Jersey Women’s Cricket League and Tristate women’s Cricket Team.

Melissa Gaud

NJ HIIT Coach

As a child Coach Melissa was not particularly athletic, she did not participate in anything sports related. She delved into fitness when she joined the dance team in high school and the Newark Police Explorer program. Academically, she excelled in the Explorer program but was constantky frustrated with her physical performance, confidence, and weight fluctuation. She felt guilty that as a leader of the program she consistently "disciplined" participants with pushups but could not correctly perform them herself.

Denisse Bonilla

Team Events Coordinator

Denisse Bonilla was born in Bronx, NY and is one of four sisters. Throughout her childhood, Denisse moved from city to city with her family including residing in Honduras for a year before settling down in Highland Park, NJ. Denisse graduated from the Rutgers Business School in NJ with a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration and immediately pursued her MBA from Florida Institute of Technology making her the first in her family to achieve University and Advanced degrees.