FF Gains Promotes Inclusivity Through Fitness and Fashion

Model, businesswoman, and engineer Jessyka Castillo walks into Balí Cafe downtown and instantly lights up the space. It's not just because she's sporting a bright turquoise workout set but because she's radiating energy. She takes a seat in a nearby booth and flashes an infectious smile.

The Dominican-American runs the online community FF Gains, which she started two years ago to help her overcome personal hurdles. The brand is gaining in popularity as Castillo, who moonlights as a fashion model, recently launched a clothing line of workout gear.

Brushing her curls away from her shoulders, she shows off her ensemble. The entrepreneur tests each new collection personally before selling the pieces online. She designs each set to be versatile, so women can wear them to work out, run errands, or even throw on a blazer and heels for a bit of business casual action.

"I want you to be able to dress it up and be presentable in all spaces," says Castillo, showing off how she's paired the clothing with a cropped denim jacket.

"It's funny we're talking about this here when across the street is where this all started," she adds, referring to PLT Beauty Salon on the corner of NE Second Avenue and First Street. "I was getting my nails done one day and telling my manicurist that I'm becoming this active cutie baddie and have no clothes. I want to wear bright colors; I want to look good because I feel good. And she tells me she has a factory in Romania."

And just like that, Castillo started an inclusive fashion brand of athleisure and workout clothes for women sizes XS to 3X. The pieces can be ordered online at shopffgains.com and, for the first time, are now available to purchase locally at MegaLit Fitness in Edgewater.

"One thing that is really important to me is brand identity," Castillo says. "We're only going to manufacture a maximum of six pieces per size of each item, so that means you're not going to bump into someone else wearing the same thing."

When Castillo first started FF Gains in 2022, she found very few fitness communities around and devised a solution to fill it.

"I started to realize that people just wanted a place where they could connect for all different reasons," she adds. "When people refer to FF Gains as a company or business, that throws me off. You have to understand that at that point, I was literally just trying to save myself."
The catalyst for FF Gains was born from a near mental breakdown. Castillo's typical bubbly, happy-go-lucky attitude was replaced with bouts of depression and heightened anxiety. The day after her 36th birthday, she found herself under the covers of her bed, mindlessly scrolling the internet. She came across a video of actor Denzel Washington talking about what motivates him in his career, and he shared that he doesn't want to be haunted by the things he didn't do or try in his lifetime.

"That got me out of bed that day," Castillo says. That day, she immediately walked over to a chalkboard in her apartment and started to map out what would become the FF Gains community.

The top item on her lengthy to-do list was simply moving. Get out there and start moving. Castillo decided to text all her contacts on her phone and ask everyone to meet up at Nikki Beach at 9 a.m. that Saturday morning.

"Only five people showed up," she recalls. But quickly, that number grew, and more and more people started to show up.

FF Gains started as a way to bring like-minded people together who wanted to work on their fitness and finances — hence the name. Over the last two years, the platform has evolved to include six pillars, all starting with the letter F: fitness, finance, fashion, friends, filanthropy [sic], and field trips.

The first pillar, fitness, started with weekly workout classes on the beach. Castillo has partnered with local fitness studios to organize group classes as these meetups have grown. The financial pillar comes in the form of financial literacy conversations Castillo offers. Pillar number three, fashion, came about when she launched her clothing line. Friends, philanthropy, and field trips all involve bringing the community together through happy hours or volunteering events.

"We're working on expanding workout classes and meetups to Los Angeles, D.C., and the Fort Lauderdale area," Castillo explains excitedly.

FF Gains organizes monthly workouts and meetups, which are promoted online via the Instagram account @fitnessfinancialgains. Most classes are free and organized with community partners like MegaLit and other local fitness studios. The next class will be a free workout at OrangeTheory in the Design District in August.

"The entire model of FF Gains has been creating a world that I wanted to be a part of that I didn't see exist," Castillo shares.