About Your Instructors:

Through more than 25 years of teaching and training, Nicole Dessoye has developed and refined a tailored approach to expanding the mind-body connection of her clients, allowing them to move better, feel stronger, and progress their mental approach to functional movement.

Nicole’s passion for the connection between mind and body began as a dancer and being always eager to diversify and progress her knowledge of the body, she attained mulitple certifications throughout her career including Pilates, personal training, Original Strength, and BFR (Blood-Flow Restriction).

Sarah Laspas is the founder of Muscles and Moxie, LLC, where she helps people recovering from pain or injury get their bodies back to doing what they want, when they want.

Created in 2017, her Evanston-based business bridges the gap between rehab and fitness, offering a more thoughtful approach to exercise—one where movement quality matters and feeling strong and capable is the point.

Her mission is simple: add life to your years through FUNction-focused training that makes consistency feel easy.

Sarah is a certified strength, mobility, and gait specialist and pain-free performance coach. Her clients range from those rebuilding after setbacks—such as stroke recovery, spinal fractures, and chronic issues others “couldn’t fix”—to people seeking functional strength for big adventures (Everest Basecamp, anyone?), as well as anyone who just wants to move more easily day-to-day.

She’s an “elder” Millennial living in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago, where she shamelessly babies her two rescue pups, practices Muay Thai for fun (her coach keeps pushing her to compete; she prefers to stay uninjured and employed), and maintains a lifelong vendetta against olives—yes, ALL olives—despite being married to a Greek.