Montclair Fitness Coach Damages Vocal Cords With Intense Cheering

MONTCLAIR, NJ — Adrienne Felder is so good at her job, she literally cheered herself into surgery. That’s why friends have launched an online fundraiser for the Montclair business owner and local fitness guru, who will undergo an operation in September to remove calluses and polyps that developed on her vocal cords.

The culprit? Decades of yelling and cheering over background music in large gyms without microphones, she says.

Felder, a Camden native, Montclair State University alum and the owner of Architect Studios at Lackawanna Plaza in Montclair, has spent the last 20 years of her life whooping and hollering to help her clients meet their fitness goals.

Her credentials are impressive. In addition to holding a master’s degree in nonprofit management from the New School, Felder has group fitness and personal training certifications from the Aerobics & Fitness Association of America, registered yoga teacher certification with Yoga Alliance.

She’s taught kickboxing in Japan, served as a program director at the Montclair YMCA, participated in Glenfield Middle School’s annual African-American Career Day and worked at Lululemon in Montclair prior to opening Architect Studios.

But after years of yelling, Felder says that she’s developed calluses and polyps on her vocal cords, with over 85 percent blockage of her throat.

A medical procedure will help to cure the issue; she has a surgery slated at Mt. Sinai in NYC on Sept. 8. But the price tag - $9,000 – isn’t cheap, and despite owning her own business, Felder doesn’t have health insurance. In addition, it will take more than three weeks to recover and get her voice back after surgery.

Watch a small sample of the intensity that’s made her so successful below.

Felder’s friend, Sarah Reppert, has started an online fundraiser to help defray the expensive surgery, which she says is a “huge burden.”

“The cost of the even mediocre coverage is so high that is a challenge to maintain as a small business owner,” Reppert told Patch.

See the fundraiser or make a donation here.

“Asking for help is not something that comes easy to me,” Felder wrote on Facebook. “I am grateful to have a friend like Sarah who set this page and has given me no choice.”

Felder’s situation also inspired a message in solidarity from another local small business, the Montclair Bread Company.

Don’t forget to visit the Patch Montclair Facebook page here.

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Photo: Simon Needham, used with permission