Kim Taddoni is a NASM-certified personal trainer, competitive bodybuilding athlete, and trauma-informed strength coach based in Long Island City. Originally from South Korea, Kim brings a global perspective and refined aesthetic sensibility to her work shaped in part by her early career in the fashion industry, where she developed a deep understanding of body proportions, posture, and presence.
After moving from Manhattan to Long Island City in 2012, Kim transitioned her focus toward health, performance, and longevity, eventually founding Toned by Kim, a high-touch coaching practice serving women in NYC and beyond. Her coaching blends intelligent strength training, sustainable nutrition, and nervous-system-aware programming, with a strong emphasis on alignment, confidence, and long-term independence rather than quick fixes.
Kim is also a mother of two teenagers and brings lived experience into her work as a divorced parent, including raising one neurodivergent child. This perspective informs her compassionate, realistic approach to coaching, particularly for women navigating stress, identity shifts, and demanding life seasons.
Known for her calm authority and precision, Kim helps clients build not only strong, capable bodies, but also resilience, self-trust, and embodied confidence at every stage of life.
NB: Other than the amazing diversity, what do/did you love most about living in Queens (or Queens in general)? How has Queens changed over the years?
KT: Queens still holds onto an old, analog charm, unpolished, raw, and with a small-town feel even as new, modern high-rises pop up sporadically around it. On one corner, you might see a barbershop or fish market that has been there for decades, and right across the street, a newly built rental building with modern amenities. Over time, you do see fewer mom-and-pop stores, but it’s still not hard to find shops layered with years of history, sometimes even dust that instantly bring me back to when I first immigrated here over 20 years ago.
NB: How does Queens inspire you? What are some of your favorite places to be inspired in Queens?
KT: Living in Queens helps me reset to the time when I started from zero as an immigrant. Being surrounded by such a diverse and active Asian and multicultural community brings back memories of the excitement I felt when I first arrived in America; that feeling of blankness, uncertainty, hunger, and drive for survival and success.
One of my favorite places for inspiration in Queens is the Queensboro Bridge. Looking out toward the Manhattan skyline still makes me dream. Even after many years of living in New York City, it reminds me that another chapter, something new might always be waiting.
NB: What advice do you have for readers who are hoping to develop their body building and strength training practices? Are body building and strength training practices that anyone can learn? What is something you wish you knew before you became a personal trainer, competitive bodybuilding athlete, and trauma-informed strength coach?
KT: I don’t see it as giving advice as much as sharing what I’ve learned through experience. If there’s one simple truth, it’s that anyone can start. That absolutely applies to bodybuilding and strength training. If you feel drawn to it, the first step is simply to begin, get yourself moving, get yourself into a gym, or start learning. You don’t necessarily need a coach at the very beginning. There are so many resources available now, and that’s actually how I started. I looked for resources and taught myself through trial and error.
I don’t wish I had known anything differently before becoming a personal trainer, competitive bodybuilder, and trauma-informed strength coach. The journey has been full of surprises in the best way. Strength training transformed my life not just physically, but mentally and emotionally and I’ve seen it do the same for others. I’m always excited to see what new experiences and growth are waiting for me as part of the strength training community.
NB: How important is personal connection and communication (networking) in your industry?
KT: Personal connection and communication are essential in this industry. At the end of the day, we live in a world built around people, and connection is something we can’t really avoid nor should we want to.
What I love about the fitness community is how deeply it values the process and the dedication behind the work, often even more than the outcome itself. In the bodybuilding world especially, people recognize and respect the effort, discipline, and consistency it takes to show up every day regardless of who wins.
In many ways, people in this community communicate through the body, beyond language. You don’t have to be extremely articulate to be understood or respected. It’s almost like art expressed through strength, movement, and presence.
NB: What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? What is something you wish you knew a decade or two or three or four ago?
KT: The best piece of advice I’ve ever received was simple: “At the end of the day, you’re still here.” You survived. You still exist. I don’t usually spend much time wishing I had known things earlier in life. But if there’s one thing that might have eased a lot of pressure and sleepless nights, it would have been truly understanding that I would still be here still breathing, still standing even through hardships that once felt impossible to bear.
NB: Who are some of your favorite personal trainers, competitive bodybuilding athletes, trauma-informed strength coaches, martial arts instructors, yoga teachers, and other movement teachers and healers with a Queens connection?
KT: One person who has made a strong impression on me is Marie Allegro, a bodybuilding posing coach. She has a powerful presence and carries both strength and kindness, with a rare ability to make anyone interested in bodybuilding feel welcomed into the competitive world. Even after decades as a bodybuilding professional, she remains deeply committed to her own daily training while fully dedicating herself to helping others succeed. That level of consistency, humility, and devotion to the community is something I deeply respect.
NB: What are your favorite gyms, strength training studios, martial arts studios, yoga studios, restaurants, coffee shops, communities, and venues in Queens?
KT: I absolutely love being at the original BQE gym in Woodside. There’s a unique vibe and energy there that pushes you to perform at your maximum ability. It feels raw, focused, and deeply connected to the true spirit of strength training. Another place that means a lot to me is the Long Island City waterfront. I moved there 13 years ago with my two boys as a single parent. The Manhattan skyline from the LIC waterfront is truly picturesque, and it holds a permanent place in my heart. It’s where I first felt like I had found my place just me and my two little boys, starting a new chapter together.
NB: What do you wish more people knew about being a personal trainer, competitive bodybuilding athlete, and trauma-informed strength coach?
KT: I wish more people understood that this work is not just about selling a service or showcasing a great physique. Over time, you realize that you can have a meaningful impact on someone’s life often in ways you don’t fully see or measure in the moment. It becomes something much bigger than how the world typically defines fitness. For many of us, it becomes part of who we are. It shapes how we move through the world, how we support others, and how we understand strength not just physically, but mentally and emotionally.
NB: What is something you wish I had asked? Please let me know what that question is, and answer it. Thank you.
Honestly, I feel like you’ve already covered so much and given me the opportunity to share my story in a meaningful way. If I were to add anything, it might be this: What keeps you motivated to continue growing and evolving? For me, it’s the belief that there is always another chapter waiting, another level of strength, understanding, and connection to discover, both within myself and in how I support others.
NB: Do you have any events or projects coming up that you’d like to promote? Can you tell us more about them?
KT: I regularly host posture and body alignment workshops, and I have one coming up on Sunday, March 1st in Long Island City. I designed these workshops to create a space where people can become more aware of their posture and body alignment. From that awareness, they learn how to engage their body through breath and intentional movement. The goal is to give people the opportunity to reconnect with their bodies to recognize that their body is there to support them and shouldn’t be forgotten in day-to-day life.
NB: If you could choose only one type of training or movement practice to represent Queens, what would it be and why?
KT: If I had to choose one movement to represent Queens, it would be walking. Walking is how you truly experience Queens moving through different cultures, languages, foods, and communities sometimes within just a few blocks. Walking represents accessibility, resilience, and everyday strength. It reflects how people in Queens live, work, and build their lives step by step.
NB: What is a typical day like for you?
KT: A typical day for me involves moving through a very full schedule. As a single parent with no extended family nearby, raising two teenagers, caring for our family dog, and running two businesses, my days are very structured and task-driven. My mornings usually start with reviewing my schedule, getting my kids ready for the day, and taking care of our dog. From there, I move into work emails, business operations, and administrative responsibilities not just for work, but for our household and my kids’ needs. There’s always planning involved: meals, snacks, schedules, school logistics. A lot of my day revolves around making sure my family is supported and stable. One thing I never neglect, though, is my own training. I always make time to train at the gym as I prepare for my upcoming bodybuilding competition in July, where I’m working toward earning my pro card.
NB: Can you tell us more about how your early career in the fashion industry, where you “developed a deep understanding of body proportions, posture, and presence,” informed your movement practice?
KT: Working with global fashion brands exposed me to a culture where silhouette, movement in clothing, and physical presentation are studied and refined very carefully. That environment made me constantly aware of posture, movement quality, and how the body translates visually through clothing. Through that experience, I became deeply drawn to body awareness and the aesthetics of the human form. In many ways, it shaped how I see movement today almost like sculpting. You’re working toward shaping your body into something that once felt unattainable, and through discipline, patience, and intention, you make it attainable. That mindset carried directly into my movement practice, where posture, presence, and control are just as important as strength.
NB: What’s a wild story (PG-13) you have about NYC before the times of cell phones or social media? If you weren’t in NYC then, what’s a story you have of NYC past (or the past)?
KT: I actually grew up during the time when cell phones and early social media already existed, but I do have stories from my teenage years that reflect a very different version of myself. In high school, I was what you might call a “problematic” student. I was bold and rebellious enough to leave school in the middle of the day to go hang out with friends. At the time, I didn’t have great communication with my parents, and looking back, I realize I was trying to express my unhappiness through my actions rather than my words. Now that I’m raising teenagers myself, I see that period very differently. It gives me more empathy and perspective as a parent and a reminder that sometimes behavior is really just communication.
NB: Can you tell us more about how your coaching “blends intelligent strength training, sustainable nutrition, and nervous-system-aware programming, with a strong emphasis on alignment, confidence, and long-term independence rather than quick fixes”? What are some of these quick fixes, and how can they be avoided?
KT: To me, “quick fixes” often mean adopting methods or systems that your body and mind aren’t familiar with yet. Almost like forcing something foreign into a mold that isn’t ready to hold it. That approach may create fast results on the surface, but it’s rarely sustainable. I believe in gradual, intentional change. True sustainability happens when both your mind and body are given time to adapt. That starts with body awareness, recovery, and reconnecting with the idea that your body is there to support you, not something to fight against. When you begin to understand how different parts of your body work together and align with each other, you naturally build confidence. Awareness of your body and its presence can be incredibly powerful. From there, strength training, nutrition, and nervous-system-aware programming become tools that support long-term independence rather than short-term results.
NB: Can you tell us more about raising a neurodivergent child?
KT: Raising a neurodivergent child has taught me that parenting is a constant effort in understanding how someone else experiences and interprets the world. It requires stepping outside of what we traditionally think of as “normal” communication and learning to recognize that there are many valid ways to understand, process, and express thoughts and emotions. It also means recognizing that differences are not deficits. There are many people who experience and communicate with the world in ways that may look different from the majority, and it’s important that we don’t position ourselves as having the privilege to categorize or define those differences as lesser. For me, it has been a continuous process of learning, listening, adapting, and growing and ultimately becoming a more empathetic human being.
—Nicollette Barsamian
The Local-Express interview series was originated on July 3, 2013 by Nicollette Barsamian.