Susana Yábar spent 19 years working in Spanish television, the career she had dreamed of since childhood. She studied Journalism and built her life in an industry shared by her close circle of friends and family, making any career pivot feel improbable. Yet the creative independence she was looking for arrived somewhere unexpected: YouTube, where American creators were beginning to prove that women could produce their own media from the ground up. “In television, at the end of the day, you can sometimes feel like a number: the script and many of the creative decisions are not in your hands”, she recalls. “On YouTube, however, I discovered that I could create something of my own”.
She began making fitness videos for women with busy schedules, drawing on her own experience of struggling to find time to exercise. Inspired by Cindy Crawford’s iconic workout tapes from the ’90s, she filmed her first sessions on the beaches of Ibiza. What started in Madrid out of curiosity turned into her primary profession, spanning 14 years of building and evolving Funfitt into an international name.
The work behind the first 75 euros
The early growth was gradual, and Susana remembers its economics clearly. After six months of posting consistently, without missing her Wednesday upload, she had around 10,000 followers and received her first YouTube payment: 75 euros. “Creating content on YouTube is not as easy as many people think”, she explains. “It took me six months to make my first 75 euros, being extremely consistent, posting every week. It’s definitely not for someone who expects to make money quickly. And today, especially after the pandemic, there are so many more people creating content, so the competition is also much greater”.
By October of that year, her audience had grown to around 75,000. Brands began approaching her, followed by talent agencies representing creators. A global project with the Olympic Games brought the reach of digital media into sharper focus: selected as one of four international creators by a New York production company developing the organization’s YouTube debut, she traveled to document how elite athletes were training ahead of the Games in Brazil. “It was then that I truly understood the power and reach that communication through social media could have”, she recalls.
Susana went on to launch dedicated channels in English, French and Portuguese alongside her original Spanish platform. She also spent four years traveling the world, filming workouts against the landscapes and beaches of every destination. Eventually, she settled in Miami, drawn to its international pulse and climate that allowed her to produce year-round. Today, her community exceeds seven million followers across YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.
A community that fits real life
Scale, though, is not how Susana prefers to define the work. “I’ve never wanted to simply be an influencer creating content to gain followers”, she explains. “From the very beginning, my intention has been to build a community and create a real connection with the people on the other side of the screen”.
Her workouts are designed to be accessible at home, without much time or specialized equipment. The approach grew out of necessity, not an idealized fitness routine, connecting women of different ages, backgrounds and cultures who want to stay active within their actual routines. Rather than chase every passing trend, Susana listens to what her audience needs and allows the content to evolve alongside them. Some women who began training with her 14 years ago are still there. “To me, that is what it means to have built something real”, she reflects.
Turning that connection into a sustainable company required another kind of discipline. A personal project can wait for inspiration, but a company demands showing up on hard days. It is the same mindset she shares with her audience: consistency creates real change, whether in health, body, or business. Professionalizing the brand also meant learning to separate emotional instincts from strategic decisions, prioritizing the future of the enterprise, the team, and the community without losing the authenticity that made it resonate in the first place.
What growth means now
Susana continues to expand Funfitt through new platforms, production formats, and digital spaces. She is especially curious about how artificial intelligence will transform content creation and communication, and eager to explore its tools as they emerge. Yet her definition of success has fundamentally shifted. Where early years centered on metrics and reaching more people, she now places greater weight on long-term trust, lasting impact, and staying passionate about the work.
“After so many years, what matters most to me is that Funfitt continues to evolve with me, without ever losing the connection we’ve built with our community”, she emphasizes. For a founder who started by making room for a brief workout in a crowded schedule, the vision remains steady: helping more women feel better about themselves, right where they are.
Keep moving: @susanayabar · Susana Yábar YouTube
Ph: Tyrese Theodore.
