Turning a hobby into a career sounds like a dream come true. We spoke to personal trainer Zita Alves about her time at the Marist and how she is managing her own business.

Q. What are your happiest memories of the Marist?
A. Being part of a team that put together the sixth form pantomime and trying to persuade the teachers to dance to New York, New York! The friends I made were very important to me and I enjoyed being deputy house captain.

Q. What was the most important lesson you learnt while at the Marist?
A. It is people that really make the difference a fantastic teacher, for example. Mrs Peters (Economics) is the best teacher I ever had because she made even the hardest subject understandable and real. I was predicted a C at A-level but thanks to her I achieved an A.

Q. What were your favourite subjects at school? Was physical education one of them?
A. Geography and Spanish were my favourite subjects. I have to confess, I actually didn't like sport, especially swimming!

Q. How did you start up your business?
A. I worked in marketing before I got made redundant in 1997. I used it as an opportunity to travel for four months to South America. Then, when I came back I had a re-think. Did I really want another well-paid but stress-laden marketing job? It appealed to me to turn a hobby, my personal fitness, into a career, plus I'd always wanted to work for myself. I did a full-time 12-week diploma in fitness training and sports therapy. Before I finished the course I started working part-time in a gym as an instructor. When I finished my diploma in 1998, I was offered work at the Bath Spa Hotel as a freelance personal trainer, where I still work now.

Q. How does being a personal trainer compare to your original career in marketing?
A. My job involves monitoring people while they exercise, rather than training with them but I'm still pretty active. I could never sit behind a desk now not even for an hour. Being a personal trainer is much less stressful, more rewarding but just less money. I have had to retrain and it's taken a lot of hard work but being my own boss makes up for it. I am really glad I experienced another career though, especially as a lot of my clients are business people so I can understand their stresses and pressures.

Q. What is the most rewarding aspect of your job?
A. I love the sense of satisfaction I get from helping people achieve their goals; be it having more energy, feeling generally healthier or just getting into that dress! I trained a 40 year old who had never done any running. I encouraged her to include it in her training and now she runs half marathons. As a result, her percentage of body fat is much lower and she's much fitter. She says if I hadn't started her on the right foot, she wouldn't have done it.

Q. Why would you encourage someone to keep fit?
A. A healthy lifestyle allows people to get the most out of life. Taking regular exercise, drinking plenty of water and eating a balanced diet all give you more energy, makes you more positive and reduces the risk of major diseases, especially in later life.

Q. What are your current goals?
A. I want to keep learning and increasing my knowledge. At the moment I'm doing a Boxercise’course. I'd like to study nutrition in more depth as that really interests me. My main aim is to keep enjoying my work as much as I do now!