User:JimmyTMartin/sandbox

Jimmy T. Martin (born January 2, 1985) is an American entrepreneur, writer, producer and on-air talent based in New York City, NY. He is the creator and co-founder of Brrrn: the innovative fitness company that once pioneered the world's first and only cool temperature (50°F) boutique fitness studio on May 1st, 2018 in New York City and is currently the leaders of lateral movement training and education with their award-winning, 6ft adjustable slide board called the "Brrrn Board", which is endorsed by celebrity athletes like Apolo Ohno, who is also an investor in the company.

In 2011, Martin founded Mayamo Jimmy Productions, a creative content agency that offers brand development consulting and scriptwriting services in the advertising, film and television industry.

Education and early career
Originally from Forty Fort, Pennsylvania, Martin graduated in 2007 with honors from George Mason University with a B.A. in Communication and Minor in Business Administration. Martin received an athletic scholarship to compete on their Men's Division I Wrestling Team from 2003-2007.

Following graduation, Martin studied improv at the DC Improv whiling performed as a lead in several community theater performances with the Providence Players. In 2008, Martin was cast as an understudy and ensemble cast member in the Studio Theatre (Washington, D.C.) 's regional theatre production of The History Boys, which won numerous Helen Hayes Awards. That same year, Martin was cast as a principal character in Emily Abt's film, Toe to Toe, where he co-starred alongside leads Sonequa Martin-Green and Louisa_Krause. In February 2009, Martin left for New York City to further pursue working professionally as an actor.

From 2009-2011, Martin studied and graduated from the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre alongside notable classmates like actress Sunita Mani, and comedians Jamie Kilstein and Mike Feeney. During that time, Martin worked a variety of odd jobs to make ends meet: a Starbucks barista, certified personal trainer, nude art model, greeting card writer for Nobleworks, a newspaper hawker for the New York Times & AM New York Metro. It was from those experiences that later inspired Martin to write, directed and produce the Off-Off Broadway show called, "The Bark of the Underdogs" at the Producer's Club in New York City and later played to a sold out performance at Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre near his hometown in Pennsylvania. This show was the first project produced by Martin's company, Mayamo Jimmy Productions.

From 2011-2015, Martin would go on to be featured in commercials, perform improv and sketch comedy at The People's Improv Theater and be featured on Saturday Night Live as a background performer from 2011-2015. Martin was mentored by Rob — a former head writer at Saturday Night Live (2013-2016) and alumnus of his high school — as a way to later be hired as a writer's assistant on the show. These plans halted after Martin found out that his wife was diagnosed with cancer in September of 2013.

Creating Brrrn
In September 2013, Martin's personal training client at 24 Hour Fitness in New York City told him about the benefits of cold exposure when it comes to improving weight loss and athletic performance. Martin later researched the benefits and realized that there wasn't any fitness companies that focused on exercising in cooler temperatures and instantly came up with the name "Brrrn" — which is a pun that references both cold and burning calories. Less than 30 days later, Martin's wife (Linmarie Martin) was diagnosed with cancer and lost her life on May 12th, 2014 after a 7 month battle with the disease. Martin credits Linmarie with inspiring him to pursue the idea and said during her last week in hospice that it will be "the proudest thing she will never get to see." .

After spending a month back home following the passing of his wife, Martin returned back to New York City to develop Brrrn. He continued working as a personal trainer to further develop the training methodology, alongside his notable clients like Sarita Choudhury. Additionally, Martin was earning income as an advertising copywriter, most notably penning campaigns for brands like Manhattan Mini Storage, ParkFast (both owned by Edison Properties) and Seagram's Gin, and ParkFast.

Martin would later meet his Co-Founder, Johnny Adamic — a former writer for the Daily Beast and public NYC health official under Michael Bloomberg. Martin pitched the idea to Adamic in Tribeca at a La Colombe Coffee Roasters coffee shop and later signed on a napkin that they would be 50/50 partners with the business. Both Martin and Adamic would later conduct trials at Sixpoint Brewery 's beer fridge in Red Hook, Brooklyn and at Bayo's Ice in Swoyersville, Pennsylvania. After conducting trials, Martin and Adamic created a deck to pitch to Martin's long time personal training client, who later became their first investor and founding partner.

After 300 failed pitches, both Martin and Adamic would end up securing $1.5MM in capital investment from a variety of angel investors to launch Brrrn on May 1st, 2018 in the Flatiron/Chelsea neighborhood in New York City.

Recognition
From May 2018 until March 2020, Martin and Adamic would amass over 23,000 customers and be featured for their innovations in the fitness space on Good Morning America, Live With Kelly and Ryan, and in publications like The New York Times, Bloomberg Media, Men's Health (magazine), Women's Health (magazine), People (magazine), Cosmopolitan (magazine), Forbes Magazine, Vogue (magazine), GQ Magazine and many others.

Creating The Brrrn Board
While developing Brrrn in 2015, Martin suggested that Brrrn should feature classes using their own custom made slide board. Having used it as a competitive athlete and private personal trainer, Martin remarked on the benefits of lateral movement training and how it can course correct muscular imbalances caused by overtraining in the sagittal plane— which is the primary plane of motion for most popular fitness activities (like running, rowing and cycling). Years later, both Martin and his Co-Founder(Johnny Adamic) would partner with UltraSlide to create the original Brrrn Board. Martin and Adamic would later develop the workout programming that featured their inimitable Brrrn Board workouts, which offer a low-impact core and cardio solution for users of all ages. Martin would later remark that the Brrrn Board is like "if a treadmill had a baby with a Pilates reformer machine".

After months of opening Brrrn, Martin assumed the role of leading talent development, branding/marketing and fitness programming for Brrrn. In August of 2019, Martin and Adamic began to develop connective technology to entertain an idea of a at-home fitness experience featuring the Brrrn Board.

Ten months later, Martin and Adamic were forced to close their brick and mortar studio following their mandated closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic on March 13, 2020 and pivoted the direction of the company (only three months later) by launching "Brrrn At-Home" - which included hundreds of on-demand workouts and featured their highly touted Brrrn Board. In Q1 of 2021, Martin suggested to redesign the board by adding a handle and the ability to adjust the length from 5 to 6ft.

Currently, Martin has helped to forge a new path for Brrrn's "click & mortar" business model, serves at-home fitness customers, and four wall fitness trainers and operators all throughout the country.

Recognition
Martin primarily acts as the primary spokesperson for Brrrn, having notable appearances on Today with Hoda & Jenna, and ShopHQ. Alongside Adamic, Martin has helped Brrrn to garner national recognition and awards from Good Housekeeping, Rolling Stone Magazine, Men's Health (magazine), and Women's Health (magazine).

Martin has also authored the fitness industry's first accredited digital slide board training certification entitled: The Brrrn Board: Intro to Slide Board Training for General Fitness, which is recognized by both NASM and Athletics and Fitness Association of America for health and fitness professionals to receive continuing education credits toward the renewal of their national training certification.