Angela Yong Sellers

Angela Yong, Owner of Fit Columbia,
Expert in Thai Yoga Bodywork, Yoga, and Personal Training

Angela Yong is a world-traveled, creative, and highly involved Columbia, SC, community member whose career in fitness has spanned decades, beginning when she earned her first personal training certification right out of college in 1998.  Angela worked as the Health Enhancement Director for the Columbia YMCA, the Director of Operations for the University of South Carolina Women’s Volleyball team, and the Assistant Athletic Direct for Hammond School, but it was actually a serious sports injury that transformed her practice and her career.  In her fight to regain mobility and strength after that injury, Angela became fascinated by healing methods used typically by physical therapists, including cupping and IASTM (instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization).  She began intensively studying nontraditional forms of yoga, expanding on the decades of knowledge and experience she already had.

In 2018, Angela and Fit Columbia won the Better Business Bureau’s Small Business of the Year award.  In the more than 13 years since she opened Fit Columbia, Angela has continued her own education and training journey.  She has studied, and incorporated into Fit Columbia’s classes, nontraditional practice such as Iyengar-inspired wall yoga, aerial yoga, and yoga with animals.  In 2020, she traveled to Thailand and was certified in master level training for Thai yoga massage and bodywork.

In recent years, Angela has provided yoga training for four sports teams at the University of South Carolina, where she has also created and taught a nontraditional yoga course which allowed students to experience a new yoga style each week deepening their love and understanding.  Currently, she lends her expertise as a conference speaker and yoga retreat host.  She continues to foster caring, mindful relationships with her clients, while also fostering connections in the community through her philanthropic efforts.

Angela’s Focus on Philanthropy & Service

As a minority business owner, Angela Yong has worked to increase the visibility of Asian-American talent in her community.  In 2022 as an Ambassador for the City of Columbia, using the platform to advance causes for minorities and to encourage the city to official recognize Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.  In 2024 in celebration of AAPI Heritage Month, Angela created the Tour of Tea, an event in Columbia’s Five Points neighborhood showcasing flavorful teas from six Asian countries.

Fit Columbia has hosted fundraising and partnership efforts with nonprofit organizations like Epworth Children’s Home, the Palmetto Conservation Foundation, The Therapy Place and Lexington/Richland Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission.  In these projects, Angela helped to create accessible curriculum that is educational, confidence-building, fun, and relaxing for participants.  In recent years, Fit Columbia has donated thousands of dollars to regional causes in the Columbia area, solidifying its inspirational leader’s impact on the community at large. 

Giving Back

Angela believes in helping the Columbia community grow stronger.

More about Angela Yong
Angela Yong is an accomplished fitness expert whose career feats have been featured on Carolina Education Television, WOLO, Palmetto Parent, Skirt Magazine, The Columbia Star, and ABC Columbia.  Check out some of these recent highlights: 

·     “Every Sip Tells a Story.” Midlands Biz 2024.

·     “Authentic: Angela Yong.” Fig Magazine 2023.

·     “Working Out: Angela Yong Promotes Columbia While Helping People Get Fit.” Cola Daily 2022.

·     “Season 1, Episode 13.” Communal/SOCO Show Podcast.

·     “Fit Columbia Celebrates 10 Years in Business.” WISTV 2021.

·     “Cola Q&A with Angela Yong.” Cola Daily 2021.

·     “2018 Torch Award Winners Announced.” Midlands Biz 2018.

·     “How I Go Columbia: Angela Sellers.” The State Newspaper 2016.

In 2011, Angela opened Fit Columbia, creating a space for nontraditional yoga and a way to approach exercise she felt was lacking in the community. Fit Columbia offers innovative classes, as well training and certification for other instructors.  Angela’s studio meets each client where they are, one-on-one, to provide the kind of training that has benefitted her; she says, “I believe in holding space. I hold space for you, when you walk in, I ask, ‘How’s your body?’ Based on the response, that’s what we do.”  She has consistently utilized her studio to educate Columbia-area residents about the relationship between physical and mental health via mentorship in yoga and stretching. Through Fit Columbia, Sellers draws on years of proven history and experience with training and conditioning with hundreds of athletes, including equestrians, cheerleaders, football players, and volleyball players.

Angela has represented the City of Columbia, SC, as an Ambassador in 2022.

Angela Yong is an accomplished professional in the health fitness industry:

·    Faculty Member, Sakhi Yoga School

·    Speaker, Choose Well Summit, 2022

·    Certified Practitioner, Touch of Presence Biodynamic Cranial Approach (BCA) with Giorgia Milne, 2022

·    Certified Active Aging Movement Coach, SCW, 2021

·    Certified Meditation Teacher, SCW, 2021

·    Speaker, SCW Fitness Education Conference, 2020

·    Certified Practitioner, Thai Yoga Bodywork with Michael Sitzer, 2020

·    Certified Practitioner, Thai Yoga Bodywork, 60 hours in Thailand with Pichet Aon Phawat Boonthumme, 2020

·    Speaker, MTC Artworks Conference, 2019

·    Speaker, Athleta Be Bold Panel, 2019

·    Speaker, Southern Mutual Church Insurance Company Health Week, 2019

·    Speaker, SCW Fitness Education Conference, 2019

·    Certified IASTM Practitioner, 2019

·    Certified Myofascial Cupping Practitioner, 2019

·    Brand representative, Athleta, 2018

·    Certified Kinesio Taping Practitioner, 2018

·    Certified Level One Raw Food Chef ISSA Sports Nutrition,

·    SCW Fascia Stretch Specialist, ACE Functional Movement

·    Certified Personal Trainer, American Council on Exercise

·    Certified Personal Trainer, Athletics and Fitness Association of America

·    Personal Trainer, Beachbody Insanity

·    Certified Instructor, Athletics and Fitness Association of America, Spin & Pilates

·    Certified Education Provider, Yoga Alliance, 200 E-RYT

·    Certified Instructor, Lexington Medical Center Group Fitness

·    Certified Instructor, 50 hr Yoga for Cancer, with Tari Prinster

·    Certified Instructor, 45 hr Pre/Post Natal Yoga, with Amani Jackson Murray

·    Certified Instructor, Restorative Yoga with Ursel Sarala Harmon
·    Instructor, Aerial Yoga Level 1 & 2
·    Instructor, Wall Yoga
·    Instructor, Bungee & Flow
·    Certified, American Red Cross, First Aid
·    Certified, American Red Cross, CPR
·    Certified, American Red Cross, AED