Carla Nokes

Founder & CEO of The Fitness Directory, an on-demand recruitment platform modernising how gyms and fitness professionals connect. My career began in professional tennis, where I developed the discipline, resilience, and performance mindset required at elite level. Navigating the transition from professional sport into business gave me first-hand insight into a critical industry gap: highly skilled fitness professionals struggle to access consistent, flexible work, while operators face costly delays and inefficiencies in sourcing qualified talent. With over a decade of experience in the fitness industry, I built The Fitness Directory to solve this problem at scale. The platform operates as an Uber-style marketplace for fitness recruitment, enabling gyms to source verified professionals quickly, while empowering talent with flexibility, visibility, and career longevity. As CEO, I lead product vision, market strategy, and partnerships, with a focus on: •Scalable marketplace growth •Operational efficiency for fitness operators •Workforce mobility and retention •Technology-driven disruption of a traditionally manual recruitment sector The Fitness Directory is positioned to become the infrastructure layer for fitness workforce supply, addressing a global, recurring demand across gyms, studios, and wellness brands. I’m focused on building a category-defining platform with strong unit economics, defensible network effects, and long-term industry impact. Open to conversations with investors, strategic partners, and operators aligned with the future of fitness.