About

The camera is the newest
tool in a long career
of telling stories.

An award-winning writer, director, and filmmaker who took a long detour through the fitness world — and never fully left either one.

Education

BFA, Emerson College

Industry Experience

6+ Years — New York & Los Angeles

Certification

Les Mills US Trainer & Presenter, 2023

Based In

New Jersey

The Foundation

An artist first.
Always.

Long before a gym bag was part of my daily routine, I had a story to tell. A BFA from Emerson College — one of the country's leading programs for film and the arts — set the foundation for a career spent in writers' rooms, on set, and behind the camera in some of the most demanding creative environments in the country.

Six-plus years working across New York and Los Angeles in the entertainment industry isn't just a credential — it's a way of seeing. An instinct for narrative, for where the light needs to land, for what makes a moment worth capturing and what makes it forgettable. That training doesn't leave you. It shows up in every frame we make.

Award-winning work as a writer and director taught me one essential truth about visual storytelling: the image has to earn its place. It has to say something real.

Amy Russo — artist first

Photo by Hilary Murphy

6+

Years in the Entertainment Industry

2

Coast Cities — New York & Los Angeles

2023

Les Mills US Trainer & Presenter Certification

NJ

Based in New Jersey, available regionally

The Unexpected Turn

Fell into fitness.
Stayed for the art.

After working as an executive assistant in Hollywood and New York, I left the entertainment industry in pursuit of more aligned work. The trade wasn't glamorous: photo and video work and cleaning fitness facilities in exchange for gym memberships. I was getting up at 4am to drive an hour to a studio, take class for 60 minutes, and mop the floors for 90. I studied technique while photographing a professional kickboxer. I listened to instructors' coaching while scrubbing toilets.

Then one day, I was plucked from a workout and thrown on the mic of a group fitness class — and I never looked back.

Multiple Les Mills, Group Fitness, and Personal Training certifications followed. I found work in marketing and commercial content creation in the fitness and wellness industry, and was welcomed onto the Les Mills United States National Team in 2023. I've traveled from Mobile, Alabama to Auckland, New Zealand. That background in storytelling made it impossible to approach fitness photography as anything other than narrative work — every shoot we do is a story, every class is a performance, every athlete is a character worth knowing.

Amy — fell into fitness

Photo by Hilary Murphy

The Athlete

A lifelong athlete.
The eye knows.

Soccer was my first language. Years as a competitive athlete meant knowing movement not as an observer, but as someone who has lived in the body that makes it — felt the anticipation before a sprint, the weight shift before a turn, the particular exhaustion that looks like strength from the outside.

That background is not incidental to the work we do. It's central to it. When I've played the sport, I know where the moment is going half a beat before it gets there. I'm already positioned. The shutter fires at the right time because my body knew what the athlete's body was about to do.

Sponsored athlete partnerships with brands like adidas and Ultrahuman have deepened that language further — keeping us fluent in the culture of high-performance fitness from the inside, on both sides of the camera.

Amy — lifelong athlete Amy — athlete

Photo by Hilary Murphy

Les Mills

Certified inside
the culture.

Becoming a Les Mills United States Trainer and Presenter in 2023 wasn't a business decision — it was the natural end point of a long immersion. The certification put a title on something that had already been true for years: a deep, earned understanding of the Les Mills system, its philosophy, its music, and the specific electricity of a room when a class is working the way it's supposed to.

That insider knowledge translates directly into what we bring to every shoot. Working at the national level requires more than a press pass — it requires fluency. Knowing which track builds to a peak. Knowing how an instructor moves when they're locked in. Knowing where to stand so we're invisible to the class but right there for the image.

Events include Les Mills Live Los Angeles, Les Mills Experience Los Angeles, and Les Mills Experience Houston. Studio and club work spans The Edge Fitness Clubs (NJ/PA/CT), RevolutionFitness (NJ), SMASH Athletics (VA), and HealthQuest Fitness (NJ). Nobody has to explain the culture to us. That's already done.

Amy — certified inside the culture

Photo by Hilary Murphy

Collaborations & Partnerships

Les Mills

US Trainer & Presenter — National Events

adidas

Photographer & Sponsored Athlete

Ultrahuman

Sponsored Athlete

Emerson College

BFA — Award-Winning Writer & Director

Ready to make something
worth looking at?

Whether you're an athlete, a studio, or a Les Mills instructor who's tired of photos that don't do justice to the work — let's talk.

Start a Project See the Work