Breaking Away Award of Excellence: Brittney Hogan, Virago Fitness
This week KUSI and Torrey Pines Bank honors Brittney Hogan and Virago Fitness with the Breaking Away Award of Excellence. Virago, meaning an extremely strong, spirited woman, or female warrior, was established in 2014, by a surviving spouse of a fallen United States Marine. Brittney’s late husband, Hunter Hogan, was killed in combat in Afghanistan in 2012. After a sad journey and trying to find her way, Brittney found fitness as a healthy way to escape and cope with the big change in her life, and soon realized that she could help others going through the same sort of things.
When speaking to her mom about Brittney’s entrepreneurial spirit and her relationship with Hunter, she said, “I’ve always said that Brittney is kind of an amazing person who lights up the room 15 minutes before she gets there. The two of them were basically best friends with everyone they met because they cared so much about others, more than themselves. And Hunter was a huge part of our lives, a part of the family. It was the hardest thing we’ve ever gone through.”
When I asked how she felt knowing how successful her 25-year-old daughter has become in just a year, she responded with, “I’m not surprised at all, I was a single mom and was running a women’s magazine when the girls were younger. They always helped me, especially Brittney, 17 at the time, would take charge of things and people talking to her on the phone from across the country had no idea they were talking to a kid.” It’s that hard-working and caring spirit that brought Brittney here and we thank her and her support system for the amazing things they do.
Team Virago is a free-to-join group of fitness enthusiasts who get together for weekly runs in San Diego and for fun outdoor fitness activities once a month, like their most recent, paddle-boarding and mimosas. Not only has Britney provided Virago Fitness activities for like-minded people and those dealing with post-traumatic growth, but she also sells “cute and classy” fitness merchandise, such as shirts, shorts, pants, water bottles, backpacks, and her brand new athletic shoe line for men and women. You can shop these affordable styles and read Brittney’s blog at www.virago-fitness.com.
Virago Fitness gives a portion of their proceeds to the H.D. Hogan Memorial Rodeo Scholarship Fund, a foundation started by Brittney and Hunter’s father, Steve Hogan, that awards High School Seniors college rodeo scholarships. Virago also gives a portion of their proceeds to the USO, a non-profit organization that assists troops serving in combat, their families, our wounded warriors and their families, and families of the fallen. The USO was a tremendous help to Brittney and her family after her husband’s death, and she is forever grateful.
Please Like Virago Fitness on Facebook, and/or follow them on Instagram and Twitter for updates. If you or anyone you know would be interested in joining the team or helping put her shoe line on the market, contact Brittney at info@virago-fitness.com. Brittney and her team are more than deserving of this award for helping unite a community to channel their struggles into strength to become a better version themselves.
