We were lucky to catch up with Luna Bruno recently and have shared our conversation below.
Luna, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
I remember being about five when I realized that no one was going to rescue, encourage, or invest in me. My mama already had her share of destructive habits. I only saw dad on some weekends, and the communication between them was pretty toxic. The neglect and abuse absolutely affected me – but in a way that you wouldn’t expect.
All the chaos gave me a sense of liberty. I decided I had the freedom to be anyone I want to be. Aside from some kind teachers, I never really had any reliable source of encouragement or positive reinforcement. I had to develop all that myself. As I came to terms with my parents’ limitations – what seemed to me like a lack of passion for life — I was able to grow more independent and search for meaningful relationships and life teachers.
I love to compete and test myself. I was always gifted athletically, but I was never put into sports by my parents. My first coach wasn’t until high school. I never saw this lack of structure or opportunity as a barrier. I just kept moving forward and evolving however I needed to keep moving forward.
I would get up early as a kid to do my sprints, test my times, test how many push-ups I could do, test my jumps, and even punch things with a straight face to build “toughness”. I still laugh about that last one.
So no, I wasn’t raised to be resilient, but I raised myself to be resilient.
My biggest incentive and motivator has always been putting myself in difficult situations for the chance to feel that surge of victory. That is my drug of choice. For me, so much of resilience is putting yourself into the game, over and over again… and working til you meet the goals you’ve set.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
Athletics and sports have always been my passion. I grew up in a tough situation having to raise myself and my younger sister in most cases. I witnessed and received a lot of abuse. The way I have learned to cope is through pushing my body and mind.
It’s interesting to revisit the reasons I began to dream up Vital Force. To be frank, the idea of the business has its roots in a traumatic incident where my ex-husband abandoned my 9-month-old daughter and me in a foreign country. I was a full-time mother, broke, broken inside, going through postpartum, and scared about the future.
I was unable to move back to the USA at the moment and needed a plan to support my baby and me. I decided to start a Mommy and Me Bootcamp. The classes were all outdoors and it gave me (and other mothers) a chance to get fit while socializing our little ones. I then became a mobile trainer training stay-at-home moms while wearing my baby on my back.
I also hired a babysitter so that I could go to the gym and lift some heavier weights. I was gifted a few personal training sessions in powerlifting and I was HOOKED! I absolutely loved the feeling of getting stronger. It felt like I was a phoenix rising, evolving into a better, more confident….me.
As the weights went up and I was hitting the gym 4x a week, I began to notice some of the ways that athletic clothing was not supporting the female body. For example: seams in places they shouldn’t be, thin cheap fabric, and no regard for the need of absorbency in the gusset area.
When I competed, I saw women urinating when lifting heavy weights…. in fact, I was one of those women. Finally, I decided to do something about it. I’ve had the name Vital Force in my mind for a while because its a term that represents the energy in every single person. The energy that expresses your creativity and strength.
I wanted to create a brand focused on female athletes’ strength. I don’t think enough people are focusing on that. I want to highlight women being bad-asses, taking up space, being in their element, doing crazy amazing things with their bodies. Ultimately, the biggest goals for me are to empower and inspire women to be strong.
Therefore, the Vital Force brand is starting with an athletic clothing line for strength athletes. We are focused on the biology of women and how we can support their performance in sports.
We expect to launch Spring of 2025. In the meantime, we plan to be at the LA Expo in January and at a handful of other selected events you can find on our Instagram (@vitalforceusa). Stay tuned!
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
1. No Quit Mentality: Life is hard and there is no getting around it. You can either give up and become a victim or rise up to the challenge. I choose to rise up. Honestly, there is no choice for me. If I give up – I die – harsh but true. We get this one life to make something of ourselves, try your best in all things and learn from the mistakes.
2. Courage: Don’t settle! You were made to live this life to the fullest, whatever that may be. Take intelligent risks and believe in yourself. The ones that choose to face their fears rather than running from them will continue to win.
3. Visioning: Never stop envisioning the life you want to manifest. The more you practice visioning, the more motivated you’ll be to reach your goals to make that vision happen. I’ve been visioning since I was little and sometimes as an adult I find myself saying – “I remember dreaming about this moment and here I am!”.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
Vital Force is about empowering women in strength. We are looking to partner with anyone who is uplifting women through their company or platform. Furthermore, we want to collaborate with female athletes who are powerlifters, cross-fitters, weight-lifters, and wrestlers. If you are reading this and want to partner, please contact us on Instagram @vitalforceusa.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.vitalforceusa.com
- Instagram: @vitalforceusa
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/vitalforceusa
Image Credits
Kendra Farber
Ergel Cadilenia
Jocelyn Carballo
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
