78 Photo Essay: KoriLee Gunter

Personal Trainer at Bowen Chiropractic 31 Complete Health

Words by Justin Hunter | Image by Blakeney Clouse

Fridays tend to be the cheat day for the Bowen Chiropractic 31 Complete Health personal trainer and group leader KoriLee Gunter, who today is honoring that tradition by sipping on a chocolate milkshake. 

“I won’t force you to be in the gym, but I’m going to be there,” KoriLee laughs. “It may sound lame, but I truly love to work out.” 

KoriLee may have joined the Bowen Chiropractic team in September 2020 after three years as a personal trainer at Planet Fitness, but her story begins a few years earlier. After graduating from Jasper Beauty Academy in 2014, she began working at Crazy Beautiful Salon and was also a full-time baker at Michelle’s Bakery. Yet, she was unsatisfied. Although it appeared nothing was wrong, she was in the midst of a quarter-life crisis.

After working a long day, KoriLee sat down with a pen, paper, and a silent prayer in her heart to figure out what to do with her life. “You can only sweep up so much hair and wash so many heads of hair while you’re building up a clientele,” she says. “I worked beside my mom, Misty Smith, at Crazy Beautiful Salon for three years. Cosmetology is a waiting game, and it wasn’t for me.”

So, KoriLee began to pray. “I asked the Lord, ‘Am I complaining about my blessings here, or is there something else I need to do?’” she recalls. 

God answered KoriLee in a most unusual way. At the end of her prayer and brainstorming session, two words were written on her paper— “working out.” 

Now the 26-year-old Jasper native plans to dedicate the rest of her life to helping others discover the beauty and benefit of a body in motion.

“I have no idea what the future holds in the next four or five years,” KoriLee says. “But in the next ten years I would love to open my own gym. I say ten years, but it’s probably going to be longer than that because it is a million-dollar idea.”

KoriLee is currently studying to obtain her ACE Personal Trainer Certification, the highest accreditation in her field. She plans to take the ACE exam this summer.  

“I know God gave me that dream and I’m not going to do it halfway,” she says. 78