Have you ever seen a job posting with “in-house fitness” as a benefit and wondered what, exactly, that entailed? 

Brooke Harrison (AES ‘23) can tell you — at select Google offices around the Bay Area, she’s one of the trainers providing that service. 

It wasn’t the path Harrison was expecting to take after graduating from the U-M School of Kinesiology. She’d thought she might pursue an MBA next since she’d minored in business. But applied exercise science lecturer Michael Stack (MVS ‘04), who’d become one of her mentors, suggested corporate wellness as an alternative. As the industry responsible for managing in-house health and fitness for large corporations, it represented a fusion of Harrison’s two interests.

The field also had plenty of open jobs. Though Harrison says corporate wellness is currently a “small, very niche” sector, the industry is growing quickly: It’s projected to double in market size by 2033, according to global market research firm Precedence Research. 

“Corporate wellness came with all these opportunities,” Harrison says, “especially within the Michigan network.”

The Michigan connection is one reason Stack had suggested corporate wellness. He served on the Kinesiology Alumni Society Board with Scott Schrimscher (MVS ‘11), a longtime employee at one  of the industry’s leading firms, Exos.

An introduction to Schrimscher helped Harrison land an internship with Exos working for its biggest corporate client: Google. She spent a summer in California teaching workout classes and helping manage the gym at the tech giant’s Sunnyvale campus. 

She loved the work, and a year later, she’s still with Exos@Google — though these days as a certified personal trainer who helps employees with everything from establishing an exercise routine to improving their distance-running form.

Exos' mission — to make holistic health a part of the workplace experience — is one reason Harrison has stayed with the company. Seeing the benefits that Google employees get from their Exos- run office gyms is another.

“Every Googler can come in and use that space every day,” she says. “If they have questions, they can talk to the coaches who run the space.” 

Harrison notes, though, that the benefits run both ways. Although Exos trainers aren’t Google employees, they do get to enjoy the perks of the company’s famously amenity-rich campuses, from free food to tech support. Following up a workout with networking at the office juice bar? Not a bad way to spend a Tuesday.