From the Bathroom Floor to the Bike: How Dede Davis Built Misfit to Fit by Choosing Herself First

BlkBld Live | Episode 4 | Season 2

Abdul couldn’t find what he was looking for in Arizona. So he built it.

“I genuinely felt like a misfit in every little area of my life. And for some reason, the name Misfit to Fit popped up in my head.”

— Dede Davis

Some businesses are born in boardrooms. Others are born on bathroom floors.

Dede Davis knows what it’s like to feel like you’re failing at everything: motherhood, marriage, friendship, yourself. Back-to-back pregnancies, postpartum depression, and a season where she was pouring into everyone but herself.

Then came a moment that changed everything. Forty-five minutes on a cold tile floor, bawling her eyes out, wondering how she was going to make it through another day. And when she finally looked up at the mirror, she made a decision: this isn’t how it’s supposed to be.

That decision became Misfit to Fit. And it’s been transforming women ever since.

About Dede

Dede Davis is the founder of Misfit to Fit, a personal training and coaching business built on the belief that fitness starts with mindset. She’s a certified personal trainer, group fitness instructor, and one of Arizona’s most sought-after cycling instructors.

But Misfit to Fit isn’t just about reps and sweat. It’s about becoming unapologetically strong within yourself. Dede helps women build confidence that shows up not just in the gym but in every area of their lives.

“What you’re saying to yourself constantly is going to stay embedded with you. So if you’re constantly telling yourself ‘I can’t do this,’ then that’s exactly what you’ll believe. The question is: what are you going to do about it?”

— Dede Davis

The Backstory

Dede’s journey didn’t start with a business plan. It started with survival.

Today, Dede is a wife of ten years and a mom of three: a ten-year-old, a nine-year-old, and a three-year-old going on forty-three. But a decade ago, she was barely surviving.

Her two oldest are just nine and a half months apart. She was pregnant during her wedding. Life came at her fast, and it didn’t slow down.

“We were figuring out how to be newlyweds and how to be new parents all at the same time,” Dede shared. “And then, of course, now we’re pregnant again. So we’re like, we just going to do everything all at once?”

That season, back-to-back pregnancies, learning marriage on the fly, zero breathing room—is when the postpartum depression hit hard.

The postpartum depression hit hard. It seeped in during her first pregnancy, restocked with hormones during the second, and by the time she delivered her middle son, she was running on fumes.

Then came the breaking point.

“I can remember my husband was at work, the kids and I, we were doing something, but everybody started crying. One person started crying, then the other person, and then I’m looking at them like I’m about to cry too.”

She put both babies in their cribs, closed the door, and sat on the bathroom floor for forty-five minutes, bawling her eyes out. She called her husband, panicking. He didn’t answer. She left a voicemail, crying.

But by the time he raced home, something had shifted.

“I’m already off the floor at this point. I looked in the mirror and I was just like, I do not like what I’m seeing. I don’t like how I feel. And I don’t like how I’m operating right now. This is not me.”

She felt like a misfit in every area of her life: motherhood, marriage, friendship, sisterhood. And then the name came to her.

Misfit to Fit.

She didn’t know what it meant yet. But she sat with it. And from that bathroom floor, she made a promise: everything from that day forward would be about uplifting herself and uplifting women.

Here are three lessons from Dede’s journey…

One: Community Over Transaction

This is the heart of what Dede builds. She’s not interested in transactional fitness, the kind where you show up, sweat, and leave unchanged. She’s building family.

“What’s the difference between transactional fitness and what you’re building?” I asked her.

Her answer? Mindset that shows up in your everyday life.

“The mindset stuff I had to change in order to have it as consistent as it is today. I didn’t realize how all of that then goes into my every single day.”

— Dede Davis

When Dede teaches, she’s not just counting reps. She’s planting seeds. One thing she says in class that stuck with me: “When I’m not around, what are you going to say to yourself?”

That’s the difference. She’s training you to coach yourself, even when she’s not there.

The takeaway: If you’re building a business, ask yourself: are your clients better when you’re not around? Are you giving them tools that outlast the transaction?

Two: You CAN Juggle Motherhood, Marriage, and Business Without Losing Yourself

I asked Dede about the juggle: mom, wife, Black woman in fitness, coach, CEO. How do you show up for all of it?

Her answer was refreshingly honest:

“Showing up in every single area and not fumbling one? This last year has been extremely hard. And I will say that as an entrepreneur, that is something you’re going to have to be okay with: fumbling something.” — Dede Davis

Life is a juggle. You will fumble. And that’s okay, as long as you get back up.

Dede isn’t pretending to have it all figured out. She wakes up between 3:30 and 4:00 a.m. because God kept nudging her. She realized she was pouring into everyone else and had nothing left to give. So now she starts her day with devotionals, with time in the Word, with pouring into herself first.

“God’s way of telling me, hey, you’re starting to give a lot to everybody else. And you don’t have anything to give. So you have to come to me eventually.”

The takeaway: You’re going to drop something. That’s not failure, that’s life. The question is: are you filling your own cup first so you have something to pour from?

Three: Find Your White Space and Own it

The fitness industry is wide. And loud. And full of noise about what you’re supposed to look like, how you’re supposed to show up, and what sells.

Dede knew early on that she had to find her lane.

She wasn’t going to be the trainer showing off her body on Instagram for likes and validation. That wasn’t her. She wasn’t going to chase the “slim thick” aesthetic some other women had seemingly figured out some cheat code to achieve. That wasn’t her either.

So she carved out her own white space: mindset-first fitness for women who want to become strong from the inside out.

When Dede moved to Arizona, someone told her something that stuck:

“You have the ability to be anybody you want to be. But I truly hope that you choose to stay and be Dede.” — Dede Davis

At first, she held back. She knew her energy was a lot. She knew her “super hype” wasn’t everybody’s super hype. She worried about rubbing people the wrong way.

But that first year in Arizona was about shedding shame, the shame of losing her community back home, the friendships that crumbled, having to start over in a new city with no blueprint. She was figuring out her lane, but more than that, she was learning to show up as her full self without apologizing for it.

Then came her birthday ride.

“What better way to reintroduce the world to who I truly am than to just show up exactly how I want to be? And how I am, naturally.”

That ride was a turning point. She stopped containing herself. And the community that showed up? They weren’t scared away by her energy. They were drawn to it.

The takeaway: Your energy isn’t for everybody. Be you, and your people will find you. The fitness industry, and every industry, has enough copycats. Dede carved out her own lane by refusing to shrink into someone else’s mold.

👉 If you’re trying to find your own white space, I built a workbook for that: White Space Discovery Workbook

What I’m Taking From This Conversation

Dede’s story hit close to home for me.

We don’t talk enough about the building-and-caregiving conversation. The juggle of being a wife, a mom, a Black woman, and a business owner all at once. The guilt that shows up when you feel like you’re failing in one area because you’re pouring into another.

But here’s what Dede reminded me: you cannot pour from an empty cup.

She went from the bathroom floor to the bike. From feeling like a misfit in every area of her life to building a community that helps other women become unapologetically strong. And she did it by choosing herself first, not in a selfish way, but in a sustainable way.

That’s the lesson. You’re not supposed to do everything at once. You’re supposed to build a foundation. You’re supposed to test it. You’re supposed to fumble and get back up.

And you’re supposed to show up as yourself, even when your “super hype” isn’t everybody’s super hype.

That’s the whole point of BlkBld Live. We lift as we climb — together.

Thank You to Our Season Two Sponsors

A huge thank you to the Black-owned businesses that powered the couch conversations this season:

Thank you for pouring into this vision and helping us create a space that feels like community, not content.

Watch the Full Episode

Ready to Build?

If you’re ready to stop throwing spaghetti at the wall and start building with intention, here’s how I can help:

  • Book a Free Marketing Consultation — Let’s talk about your brand and where you’re headed
  • DIY + AI Workbooks — MBA + Industry strategy and frameworks to build your foundation. Your Complete Strategic Foundation – From Market Validation to Systematic Scaling. Think of it like having me, as your marketing strategist in your pocket, anytime, anywhere – workbooks.blkbld.co

Or download my free Ideal Client Roadmap to get started today.

Connect with Dede

  • Misfit to Fit: @misfit.2fit (IG)
  • Email: misfit2fit.info@gmail.com