cover story
The weight room at Fox Gym
S
tepping into the Fox Gym Center is like stepping
into a high-end gym in any major city in the United
States. The place is immaculately clean, bright, and
full of more modern exercise equipment than you can
imagine in Cuenca. The large space has rooms dedicated to
free weights, spinning classes, aerobics, and exercise machines
of every sort. The attached salon and spa echoes the modern
and sophisticated look of the gym. Staff are friendly and speak
perfect English. The people exercising and using the salon are
a mix of expat and Cuencanos of varying ages. Fox Gym is the
kind of place where you instantly feel welcome and at home.
Ignacio Valdivieso, the founder of both the Fox Gym Center and
the salon, works hard to create the atmosphere of possibility
and welcome. It’s not just a business to him, but a way to
help others. His life story would make a great motivational
movie, not because his life was easy, but because he overcame
tremendous odds.
When Ignacio was four years old, his father walked out on the
family, leaving his mother with eight children. Living in a small
village near Cuenca, she worked endlessly to care for them all
and earned money by tailoring. It was very difficult, and there
was never enough money. Ignacio went to work at six years of
age, doing farm work to pay for his school clothes. He loved
sports and was a natural athlete but was unable to participate
in any team sports because he did not have money for the
uniforms and shoes.
Those hard early years created a strong work ethic and an
enduring love for his family. Ignacio was a good student and
wanted to attend medical school after graduating from high
school but did not have the funds. Instead, he went to work
at the Sanchez optical lab. By the age of twenty-one, Ignacio
was managing the lab. He was good with people and soon
moved into a sales position where he traveled throughout
Ecuador distributing frames and eye glasses.
In 1997, Ignacio moved to the United States to join his sister,
Sylvia, in hopes of better opportunities. He studied English,
worked in a gas station, and then secured a position bussing
tables in a restaurant in New York. Within a few months, he
was a waiter there. When he w