Ramona Braganza
RAMONA BRAGANZA
By RON SMITH
Ramona Braganza has experienced a great deal of fame and success in Canada and the United States.
And, she credits what she learned in growing up in Brockville as providing the background and basics for making it all happen.
After leaving Brockville at the tender age of 21, the 57-year-young Braganza has been an NFL cheerleader for 10 years, a fitness contestant, appeared on the cover of fitness magazines and shows and enjoyed appearances on television.
She’s probably most famous now for making a strong career as a fitness trainer to some high-profile Hollywood actors and actresses while promoting her own successful fitness training videos. She’s heading up her own charity events to empower young women who require much-needed help.
“It’s been a journey and I’m still on that journey and I’m trying to see what is the next step,” said Braganza, when contacted as she was visiting Los Angeles to work on her charity event that took place in early February.
She believes what she has accomplished and achieved points back to Brockville.
“Coming from a smaller city helps when you go out into the world,” said Braganza. “The lessons you learn, the values you still have from being a child… A small town is only so big and you have to get along with everybody. You have to treat everybody the same. When you go to the big city, you need all that.”
That means it all started when she was seven years old at Westminster Public School when Cheryl Mitchell was coaching gymnastics. Braganza became involved in gymnastics in public school, in her years at Brockville Collegiate and TISS and with the Brockville Gymny Krickets.
“It’s a huge part of everything I do now,” credits Braganza. “Gymnastics gave me a leg up on other girls when I was auditioning. I played volleyball, basketball and track but, for me, I was good at gymnastics. It was easy for me.”
Growing up as a child, she dreamed about going to Los Angeles and Hollywood to become a star actress.
After high school, she started by going to Toronto, taking acting classes, looking for roles and being a cheerleader for the Toronto Argos of the Canadian Football League. Once she turned 21, Braganza and a group of other girls headed to Los Angeles.
She worked in restaurants and trained in a Gold’s Gym before she placed in the top-10 against 100 other competitors in a fitness competition. Her ability to do back handsprings made her stand out from the others.
That led her to be a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Raiders for 10 years with another three years as a dance choreographer for the team. However, she still had dreams of pursuing an acting career.
Working at a sports club, a television producer came in, recognized Braganza from her cheerleading and found her appearances in a couple of television shows.
In 2000, another producer asked Braganza if she would be interested in working with and training a young, up-and-coming actress by the name of Jessica Alba. For the next 12 years, Braganza became the fitness trainer for Alba.
“It turned out I was better behind the scenes than in front of a camera,” said Braganza with a laugh. “That turned into my career. I’ve worked with a lot of people since then. That shows me how lucky and fortunate I am to have fitness in my life.”
Since then she has worked with Hale Berry, Scarlett Johansson, Anne Hathaway, Kate Beckinsale, Ashlee Simpson, Michael Weatherly from Bull and the cast of Fifty Shades of Grey on the sequels.
She owns a condo on the water in Vancouver, travels to New York or Los Angeles to train actors and actresses and owns her own fitness trailer.
As busy as her work schedule keeps her, she still enjoys coming back to Brockville to see her mom and friends.
“You might leave for a while. But, that’s the thing with Brockville. It’s a very nice place. Brockville has a lot to offer,” she explained. “The river (St. Lawrence) is a big thing for me. It always brings me back.”
Braganza is still looking at expanding her horizons.
Motivational speaking is something she’s looking at and that’s certainly a possibility to channel her personality and positive nature.
She still sees her future as wide open for potential and possibilities.
