The Founder of Nadina Fit App.

Introducing Nadina Zarifeh: The Vola girl who brought hope and empowerment through her music. Born in war-torn Lebanon, Nadina’s performance at the Zecchino D’oro Festival became a symbol of resilience. Now, she has launched her fitness app, aiming to help busy women embark on their fitness journey. With thousands of exercises and access to online trainers, Nadina’s app is revolutionizing the way women stay fit. Her message: Take control, be present, and embrace a healthier, stronger, more confident self.

Please introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Nadina Zarifeh. I was born in Beirut, Lebanon during the Civil War. I am mostly known as the Vola girl for my performance “Vola Vola Palombella (Tiri Tiri Ya Asfoura)” at the 1986 Zecchino D’oro Festival in Bologne, Italy where I won the La Targa G D’oro. This performance gave everyone in my country a moment of hope in such a dim reality that we were all living. I was so blessed to have had Vola spread across the Middle East. To this day, I am deeply touched by how fans from all over the Arab world continue to reach out to share with me how my performance gave them hope and empowered them to follow their dreams.

Tell us about your education.
My education is quite eclectic! I graduated computer programming with honours and minored in English Literature. I’m an NCCP certified swim coach and also certified in Bare Above with Pilates focus.

What are some of your childhood memories?
The great memories were the ones I made while using my spotlight to make a positive impact in people’s lives and be able to help them through hard times. All my revenues from my performances during the war were donated to different charitable organizations. The bad ones, hiding in shelters and the fear that we faced daily from all the bombs, explosions and fighting. Not knowing if we will live to see another day.

What or who got you interested in sports?
My parents exposed my sister, brother and I to many different sports when we were kids. My dad was a ballet dancer and also had a black belt in karate! He was also a folkloric dancer and performed at the Baalbek International Festival back in the late 50’s. So, it’s safe to say that I inherited the love for arts and sports from my dad.

Why and when did you leave Lebanon?
It was in 1988. I was invited to a TV interview at LBC where I was being honoured for representing Lebanon at the Banner of Peace festival in Bulgaria where I was invited by the President to perform and chosen to represent the children of the world. We stopped for a quick bathroom break at a Wimpy restaurant on the way home as the drive was a long one. On the way out of the restaurant we noticed we were being watched and then once we got on the road we saw a car following us. They cornered us. One guy pulled out a gun and struck my dad across the head with it and took over the steering wheel and the other guy pointed his gun at my sister, brother and I and sat in the back with us. After driving us around for nearly an hour they stopped the car in a deserted place, it was a pitch black area, surrounded by deep pits and hills of rubble and dirt. “Give me all your jewelry and money,” they demanded! My mom, the bravest person I know, spoke to the guy very calmly, gave him whatever she had from her wallet. He didn’t believe that’s all she had and began to get aggressive, yelling and waving his gun at her. I don’t know what possessed me to do this but I’m grateful that my instinct guided me. I yelled back at him that my mother isn’t a liar and turned the light on in the car. During the war we were told to never turn that light on because it drew attention and there could be snipers that might shoot at you. At that point I had tunnel vision and I just wanted his yelling to end. Turning the light on jolted them because they were now sitting targets so they grabbed everything they had including everything they had stolen from us and fled. They left us with no money and in the middle of nowhere. Funny though, that after threatening our lives and stealing everything we had, they told my dad “if you don’t know how to get out of here you can follow us”! We were all sick from the terror and from this horrible ordeal of the reality that we almost faced our deaths, so we decided to go. We had experienced a lot during the war but this was the moment that made us take action and leave our home.

Why did you choose Canada? How easy or difficult was it to settle down?
We chose Canada because of its diversity and multiculturalism. As soon as we arrived my mom studied for one month but because she was helping all the other students, they offered her a job immediately as an instructor for post-secondary. For me it was challenging especially at school. When asked about my life before Canada my schoolmates and teachers would accuse me of lying. One teacher even made me bring in photos as proof. They would make fun of my Lebanese accent and when my parents would give me treats to share with my schoolmates, I remember one girl telling me that I can’t buy friends with chocolate. That was so foreign to me because in our Arab countries we are incredibly hospitable and we love to share. In swimming, early on I became faster from my other teammates and instead of supporting one another they would hide my goggles before my swim race and even my bathing suit to slow me down or to have me miss my race. I really took all this to heart, I couldn’t understand why people were being this mean and honestly it didn’t make sense to me. How was I helping so many people through my music yet here I’m not even being given the chance because I’m different. It made me feel that they didn’t want to accept other cultures.

How did you develop an interest into swimming and after winning so many titles, why did you quit?
In spite of the Civil War that was taking place in Lebanon, I was lucky to swim for the Nadi El Najah swim club in Beirut with my older brother and sister. When I moved to Canada, my parents made sure I continued my swimming because I was in love with the water, the community and just competing. But during a high school PE class, we were playing handball, and I jumped to get the ball and one of my teammates came charging and collided with me knocking me to the ground. I landed on my tailbone and the sudden pain was so intense I remember feeling a moment where I felt like I was going to black out. At first the doctors thought I only had a bruised tailbone but after a year of excruciating pain they decided to do a CT scan and found that I had in fact fractured my back in two places! I wore a brace for nearly a year and was in and out of massage and physio! I had my singing taken away from me due to the war so I wasn’t prepared to have my Olympic dream taken from me too. So I continued to push through the pain and train and compete but eventually I couldn’t feel my legs anymore and I had to leave the sport. I had already stopped swimming for several months but in 1997 the Pan Arab Games were taking place in Lebanon and I was asked to represent Lebanon. So I went and competed and despite not training and still having pain in my back I won 5 bronze medals for our country. Right after that I came back to Canada and began to coach competitive swimming so I could still be involved with the sport that I loved.

Now, we are all excited about your new venture which is your fitness app. Tell me how did the idea come up?
To be honest, the first time I ever thought of creating something like this was in 2006 when I was on a trip to Los Angeles. I was talking to a famous fitness trainer who trained the stars, about my transition from retiring from swimming and how I was able to strengthen myself after such an injury and how I developed my own way of exercising and doing circuits. He recommended I create a DVD and he would connect me with the right people in the industry. I guess the universe lines things up for you when the timing is right and it happened to be now, after all these years!

How long did you take to come with the final app since the initial idea?
Even though I had come up with the idea years before, I took about a year of working on it. With the help of my husband, I filmed over 2000 different exercises and their variations to create the programs. I’m really happy with the outcome!

When was the app launched and where all is it available?
I launched the app on January 17th and its available now! Visit NadinaFitApp.com to see what’s in the app!

Who are or is the main target-user of the app?
My main target-users are busy women who want to get fit without going to the gym. I have programs specifically for women who want to begin their fitness journey but have no idea how or where to start and those who have started but found other “beginner” programs were still too challenging so they gave up. The programs are designed through a progression of levels from beginner to advance so that no matter their starting point, women will find a starting place to begin their fitness journey towards a healthier stronger, more confident version of themselves.

What makes the app different than the other apps in the market?
When women join my app, they will also get access to thousands of other online trainers for one super low price.

What kind of memberships are you offering and what are its perks?
Women have the choice of a monthly or annual membership. Monthly memberships are only $14.99 USD per month, but if they choose the annual membership, it’s only $99.99 USD per year (or $8.33/Mo) so you save 44 percent! A huge perk is that we get to be on this journey together virtually with support and direct access to me in the app.

How has the app been received so far? What has been the feedback?
Great! So excited to share it with more women! Here are a couple of testimonials: “Great first workout! Easy and enjoyable exercises. I feel limber, energized and happy!” “Did this workout twice in a row, just started working out again and found this is a good way to start, it is easy on the body and my joints. Plus it was actually fun!” “Loving how I can easily fit these workouts in my day, nice and easy.” “On day 4 and feeling stronger and more flexible every day!” “Started out easy and before I knew it I was sweating! Very clear instructions. Can’t wait to ‘level up’.”

What message would you like to give to our readers for staying fit and specially women from this part of the world?
As we get older more and more responsibilities stack up and trying to keep up with our health gets challenging! We, especially as women, put so much pressure and expectations on ourselves, including how we look. We often lose sight of what’s really important. Our health, physically and mentally and where our bodies can take us. I’m here to empower women to take control! Forget all those goals, forget all the expectations, forget all the pressures we put on ourselves that end up weighing us down because unexpected things in life do happen! In my app I will do the thinking for you! All you have to do is show up, move with me, hang with me and just be present with me! Together we can push one another to achieve a healthier, stronger, more confident version of ourselves.

What is your personal fitness routine at the moment?
I workout 3-4 days a week. To be honest, my working out is more for my mental state than my physical state. It keeps me grounded. I make sure to take days off to recover. Some days I’ll do active rest where I will go for a walk with my dog and hubby, play laser tag with my niece and nephew, or make sure I’m moving in some way or another, like take the stairs instead of the elevator or do random squats as I am walking around the house! Because I run my own business there are many times where I might only have 15 or 20 minutes to workout. Even today as I write this, this happened, but I reminded myself that 15 minutes of something is better than nothing. It’s all about progress. Imperfect action is always better than perfect inaction.

Your message for us at CP magazine.
I wanted to thank CP Magazine and especially you Mr. Jameel Arif for creating a space that gives us a voice to share what we love in order to reach and touch others and be able to make a difference in each other’s lives. You have been a supporter of mine starting with my music and I’m grateful for this opportunity in order to empower women to invest in themselves!