Valley Role Model

Valley-born McKenna Mendoza has a passion for Pilates, is a talented model and a licensed real estate agent. Though her plate seems full, she somehow still has room to dream. Mendoza first flashed onto AFM’s radar last year when she reached the final round of the first-ever Face of Foothills competition with 178,008 votes and became the 2010 runner-up. She originally learned about the competition through her modeling agency, Ford/Robert Black, for whom she still works for part-time.
While growing up in the Valley, Mendoza attended high school at Desert Vista where she played softball and found a true love for dancing. “I was a big dancer growing up,” Mendoza says. “I was on my high school dance team and also competed with a local studio.” She then attended Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business where she graduated with a marketing degree.   
Thanks to a foundational knowledge of kinesthetics and movement through her years of dancing, Mendoza discovered her greatest passion, Pilates. “I think it was my interest in dance which led me to Pilates, just for personal fitness,” she says. “Then I discovered that I really liked it and that I would like to share it with other people and teach it.” In order to do so, she obtained her Pilates training via the Ron Fletcher Program of Study, which is said to be one of the most professional and respected training courses. She has also finished her certification, which required her to perform 600 hours of hands-on training. Currently, she works at 10 Minute Pilates in Tempe.
In addition to teaching Pilates, Mendoza is also a licensed real estate agent with her parents’ Ahwatukee firm, The Mendoza Team. As for taking over the family business, Mendoza says, “I think my dad probably would have liked that.” But Mendoza has her own ideas for what the future holds for her. Mendoza sees herself staying put in the Valley; her next big plan includes opening up her own studio in Ahwatukee and possibly getting her master’s degree in exercise science and nutrition. “I love it here so I don’t see myself moving anytime soon. My first venture would be here and then maybe [I would] go somewhere else with it.”

TO LEARN MORE:
10 Minute Pilates www.10minutepilates.com.
The Mendoza Group 480.706.7234, www.mikemendoza.com.