Sarah Menon

Sarah Menon was raised in a conservative household in New Jersey, where obedience was prized and ambition was “unladylike.” She was valedictorian, but wasn’t allowed to attend prom. Got into Columbia, but was told to choose a “safer” school closer to home. Her rebellion? Going anyway. With a duffel bag, two hundred bucks, and a dream she wasn’t even sure she was allowed to have. Fast forward six years—Sarah’s the founder of Burn Theory Fitness, a woman-of-color-owned boxing and movement studio that fuses strength training with emotional release. It’s not just about getting toned. It’s about burning off the shame, fear, and silence too many women are raised inside of. She teaches every class barefoot, gold nose ring glinting under red lights, yelling things like “THIS IS YOUR BODY. YOURS.” Her studio’s mirrors don’t say “Skinny is pretty”—they say “Strong is sacred.” Sarah didn’t become a Baddie because she broke the rules. She became one because she rewrote them. And now she teaches other women to punch back—at expectations, at guilt, at everything that ever told them they were too much. Or not enough.

My Sister's House

Sarah chose My Sister’s House because she knows what it’s like to be trapped by fear—emotional, cultural, physical—and told to stay quiet. For Sarah, it’s personal. She saw women in her own community suffer in silence, told to endure rather than escape. So she gives—because silence doesn’t protect, systems do. And she wants every woman to know: there’s power in walking away, and even more in walking into a space built just for you.

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