MACK TERRANCE SR.
Mack Terrance Sr., socially known as @KingMack_Fitness, is a personal trainer, mentor and coach. His fitness journey began in prison. After being released from prison in 2013, his journey as a personal trainer, coach, mentor and reformed incarcerated male began. Mack knew he had to go bigger to maximize the potential in his purpose. In February of 2017, Motivation Team was incorporated. While Mack had been working as a youth mentor, coach and trainer for some time, it was in January of 2019 that he and his business partner/wife (Mia Y. Terrance) opened a gym, Motivation Team Athletic Academy. Motivation Team Athletic Academy, is one of the few black, family owned and operated athletic facilities in New Orleans that welcomes youth. As youth mentors and parents of three (Mack Jr., Maci, Major and Milan) that are present and actively involved in empowering our youth, in 2021, the gym’s non-profit (Cultivating Youth) was officially established.
MY STORY
“I made it out of the projects of New Orleans, I went to college, I did what I needed to do to be successful, and trouble still found me. And it only takes one second for your life to change. In that one second on June 24, 2005, my life changed. One second. After trying to do everything right, I still ended up making one bad decision. I was sentenced to seven years in prison for manslaughter and was released in 2013. While incarcerated I developed a plan and honed in on my passion to ensure that members of my community had a safe place to change their lives holistically. My business and passion developed through the loss of my perfectly fit mom. In 2004, my mom's life prematurely ended due to bone marrow cancer. The passing of my mother sparked something in me to understand more about our bodies and my time in jail was God's plan to slow my life down in order to develop my purpose.” Though we received our 501c(3) status in 2021, the work began in 2016 when Mack Terrance Sr. began speaking publicly to the community on the negative impact incarceration has had on his life. “I have a powerful testimony and it is my duty to empower youth and prevent gun violence.”