Chesna Closs, MSW, ACE-CPT, CHC

Background and Credentials:

Chesna Closs holds a master's degree from Rutgers University and brings 29 years of experience in the health and wellness industry. She is the founder and CEO of Fit Esteem, LLC, which specializes in training, coaching, and customized workshops for adults, corporations, and community-based organizations, and serves as executive director of Fit Esteem Kids, a healthy-lifestyle program for children and schools featuring her original characters, stories, and verses.

Training & Approach

A certified health coach and personal trainer, Chesna is also trained in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) techniques, and credentialed to guide meditation. She has a background in the performing arts and a lifelong love of music. When her late mother developed Alzheimer's disease, Chesna recognized firsthand how music impacts the brain. This experience inspired her to explore the neuroscience of music and its therapeutic potential in her work. As a result, she completed training as a Senior Care Music Specialist with the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function (New York).

Career History

Before founding Fit Esteem, Chesna worked in social services, providing support to blind and visually impaired youth, developmentally disabled adults, pregnant and parenting teens, and children and families through the Head Start program (East Orange Child Development Corp). She then began her personal training career in New York City before advancing into management, where she oversaw a team of 31 personal trainers. She later served as a Member Experience Manager, where she built repeatable systems for member engagement, retention, and special events.

Leadership & Recognition

She is a former governor-appointed member of the New Jersey Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, and a former member of the Newark (NJ) Health Committee under then-Councilwoman Mildred C. Crump. Chesna has presented a healthy lifestyle workshop at the National League of Cities Women in Municipal Government (WIMG) annual conference and served as a guest speaker at both Gaia's Essence Women's Wellness Conference and The Sickle Cell Association of NJ. She has worked with sports physicians and chiropractors, and collaborated extensively with Dr. Karl Strom at Hackensack Meridian Mountainside Medical Center (Montclair, NJ) to deliver wellness workshops and lifestyle coaching for bariatric patients.

Community & Professional Affiliations

Her volunteer work includes leading Fit Esteem programs at the Boys and Girls Clubs (NJ and PA), Neighborhood House (Morristown, NJ), Team Walker (Jersey City, NJ), Cops N Kids (Easton, PA), and Health Quest Family Fitness (Flemington, NJ). Her professional affiliations have included the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America, IDEA Health and Wellness Association, and the National Association of Social Workers (NASW).

Corporate Experience & Current Work

Chesna also has corporate experience as a Sr. Client Success Specialist (Enterprise) with Indeed (NYC). Most recently, she has led marketing, outreach, and a client experience initiative for a local nonprofit serving working families, work that drew interest from the organization's Continuous Quality Improvement team seeking to learn from her processes. 

In 2025, she joined CultureALL (West Des Moines, IA) as an Ambassador Presenter, bringing customized, movement-based wellness workshops and presentations to 21 schools, community-based organizations, and libraries. In addition, she creates strength, mobility, balance, and Tai Chi training and programs to adults over 55 and to individuals living with neurological conditions such as Parkinson's disease and dementia.