Beyond the weights: Mindy Melott’s commitment to community wellness

One month and countless votes later, Mindy Melott has landed in the national spotlight as one of the top five contestants for the Ms. Health & Wellness competition.

The winner takes home $20,000 and will be featured on the cover of Muscle & Fitness HERS magazine.

But for Melott, it’s not about recognition. It’s about giving back to the community and supporting a cause close to her heart.

If she wins Ms. Health & Fitness, Melott said the prize money would go towards expanding her offerings and turning Next Level Training into a wellness hub.

The competition also supports The Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation, an organization that funds childhood cancer research, raises childhood cancer awareness, and offers financial aid to families.

Two years ago, Melott lost her 69-year-old stepfather to lung cancer. The spread was fast and aggressive, and within five weeks of diagnosis, he was gone.

Melott has lived in Valdese for about 30 years. She owns Next Level Training, where she offers an array of programs combining fitness with wellness for a full mind and body approach to health.

Melott partners with holistic practitioners, including a functional medicine doctor, nutritionists, chiropractors, and massage therapists.

Next Level Training offers functional fitness, post-injury therapy, weightlifting, boxing, yoga, Pilates, and more. Melott said one of her popular programs is “Box, Bend, Burn,” which is a 45-minute program of boxing, strength training, and Pilates.

Melott said she kicks off “Rebuild and Rise” next month, a program for women feeling disconnected from themselves physically or emotionally.

Sitting comfortably on a yoga mat beneath a warm, infrared light, Melott talked about the business, her background, and more.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What is something you are especially passionate about right now?

Families and women. I always love children and them coming in and teaching them things, but women, particularly. Just building them up in that empowerment, not just strength physically, but mentally, too. When you give women the support they need as a good group support, it’s almost like they’re unstoppable and it’s been cool to watch.

How do you spend most of your days?

During the week I’m always looking for more to offer, learning about people, and just being here and involved in the community and the people that come in and out. I purposely have two phones, because when I go home, I’m making a point to set it aside and spend time with my children. We’re big outdoors people, so right now they’re big into sports. On the weekends we do a bunch of different things. We like pickleball, golf, hiking, day trips, visiting towns. We’re very close as a family. I only have two left at home out of six, and I also have grandbabies, so we try to get together once every other week and have family dinners.

What do you love most about living in Burke County?

I really love our outdoors. I love our mountains and the atmosphere of it. I like the quaintness, particularly Valdese. It was sad when 100 Main got taken, because they’ve watched my kids grow up. I love that, with my kids, I can be down here working in the summer, and the rec is right there. They can ride their bikes; they can go to Myra’s. I just feel like Burke County allows that to stay alive in some of the youth, because a lot of towns have gotten so big that they’re not safe, and I feel like our kids have really lacked that independence away from screen time. I really feel Burke has done well as far as raising a family goes. It takes a village to raise kids. I was a single mom with my kids, and all of us parents helped each other.

What’s one piece of advice you’d give to your neighbors?

I feel like so many people are fast-forwarding and have too many tabs open. I would say if you slow down and you’re intentional in anything you’re doing, you will recognize and see a lot more. I feel like that applies to anything. With fitness, if we slow down and we’re intentional, it’s more beneficial. Spiritually, if you slow down and pay attention, there are signs from the universe or whatever that come at you. People in your life, if you slow down and you have that conversation that was maybe what you needed that day.