What Olivia Amato Did Before Becoming A Peloton Instructor

She sweats, she sparkles, and she seems like a petite wonder as she pushes your mind and body to do things you never expected — either on a spin bike; on a treadmill; or right on the floor, tending to your core or lifting weights. With her bubbly personality and unbridled enthusiasm for fitness and getting others fit, one would think that Peloton instructor Olivia Amato's lifelong goal was to coach people to become a better version of themselves both physically and emotionally.

But Amato is not just an expert at making you feel like you can fly, even at a bike resistance that makes it seem like you're pedaling through quicksand. She also has a penchant for math and numbers — and that's what led her to her first career, which is as far from a fitness instructor (who teaches thousands of people at a time) as you can get.

A New York City native, Olivia Amato grew up loving team sports, participating in lacrosse, hockey, track, and cheerleading. She even cheered for her college team but studied something decidedly different from fitness when she was there. As it states on her website bio, "Olivia wound up majoring in business and finance because she was good with numbers."

Unfortunately, being good with numbers doesn't necessarily mean you'll love the business world, and Amato didn't. She was lucky enough to land a job as a Wall Street trader right out of college, but she wasn't happy there. "I was good at my job, but I didn't like my job," she told E! News. "And I thought to myself, 'I can't live the rest of my life like this.'"

So, rather than continuing to spend her weekends crying and dreading going onto the trading floor on Mondays, Amato chose to write down the things that brought her joy in life, and she realized she was happier taking a client for a workout and a healthy fitness drink than she was frequenting New York bars with them. As she watched the instructors she loved teach, she stopped wondering why she couldn't also do that and instead she decided she would do that.

Olivia Amato admits she was nervous to make a career leap from business and finance to fitness instructor and eventually Peloton instructor, but she knows it was the right decision. "Honestly, I have no regrets about the choices I've made that have led me to where I am today," she told E! News. "I certainly appreciate what I learned while I was working on the trading floor, and I carry those experiences with me still today, but I don't miss it. And I wouldn't trade where I am now for anything else."

Keeping the thousands of people a day who sign on to take her classes either live or on-demand motivated is one of her greatest rewards. "I like to lead by example," she says in her Peloton bio. "By staying with you throughout class, I can show you that sometimes, all it takes is getting out of your own way to accomplish your goals. You're going to love the way you feel when we're done!"