Meet Our Founder

Mary Doyle

Personal Trainer

Park Avenue Fitness owner and American Council on Exercise (ACE) certified personal trainer since 1998, Mary has vast experience with a variety of clients, from preteens to seniors. Getting to know each individual client’s level of fitness, lifestyle, personality & goals, she assists them in building a healthy, balanced lifestyle. As well as a trainer, she has been a Fitness Director for close to 30 years, was a Health Club Owner for 11 years, & has certifications as a Specialist in Brains & Balance Past 60, Orthopedic Exercise, Senior Fitness, Functional Training, and Nutrition. She worked with everything from anorexic preteens to all ages recovering from injury or surgery: from the overweight & out of shape, to senior cancer patients. 

Mary believes fitness & nutrition affect every aspect of your life, emotional as well as physical. She identifies changes that will enhance your life as a whole, helping you make fitness plans that fit your life. Her expertise, encouragement, and humor have assisted her clients with weight loss, gain, or maintenance, injury rehabilitation, balance, flexibility, increasing strength, and stress reduction. Working with Mary means working together, in ways that benefit YOU. 

Mary’s so passionate about her line of work that she wrote a book!

 Meet Our Trainers

Joan Romero

Personal Trainer

Joan has over twenty years of experience training clients and teaching in Santa Cruz County gyms. She enjoys working with exercisers at every level of fitness and helping them to address their training needs. She trains both individuals and small groups and provides balanced, sensible workouts that deliver results.

She is an ACE (American Council on Exercise) certified Personal Trainer, and an ACE-certified Senior Fitness Specialist, Functional Training Specialist, Orthopedic Specialist, and Weight Management Specialist.

Her overarching philosophy is that the time her clients spend with her training should directly improve the activities of their daily lives! When she isn’t training, Joan enjoys spending time with her husband Mike, son Ben, and their dog.

Marlyss Bird

Personal Trainer

Marlyss loves to explore new ways to stay active and strong. She is an avid runner, hiker, and mountaineer who also enjoys strength and circuit workouts. She has a lifelong passion for the outdoors and fitness and became a NASM certified personal trainer after a successful career in the corporate world. She is also a senior strength and conditioning consultant.

Her experience in talent acquisition for the retail industry gave her a wealth of interpersonal and motivational people skills, which she brings to her training sessions. She is excited to share her love of health and fitness with others and believes that it’s never too late to change your life.

When she’s not in the gym she enjoys hiking, cooking and baking, photography, and reading. 

Jenny Perez Alvarez

ACSM Certified Exercise Physiologist

Jenny found a passion for fitness training while serving in the military. After her service to the US Army ended in 2007, she went back to Utah to earn both her Bachelor's of Science in Exercise & Sport Science from the University of Utah and American College of Sports Medicine certified Exercise Physiologist.

Jenny has now been a California resident for 15 years and has taught a variety of classes: water aerobics, TRX, cycling, anatomy, ski conditioning, yoga, and meditation. She loves teaching one-on-one for those with special considerations such as, preparing for surgery, rehabilitation from injury, metabolic syndrome, or specific athletic events. 

When she is not training other people, Jenny enjoys spending time exploring with her husband and their dog named Jogger (who does not like to jog), running, training for ultramarathons, and cycling (both road and mountain).

Rafael Garibay

Personal Trainer

Rafael has 12 years of experience in personal training working in Santa Cruz County. He’s back in Santa Cruz after a 4-year stint in Southern California. He delivers customized workout plans to all his clients to ensure they reach their goals. He has a B.S. in Kinesiology and Exercise Science from CSU Fresno.

In addition to personal training, Rafael has 3 years of experience as a physical therapy aide, which gives him a wonderful source of insight for clients who have injuries or for pre and post-rehabilitation.

Rafael has a passion for improving clients' health, wellness, and quality of life. He loves helping people reach their health and fitness goals and seeing a smile on their faces as they are progressing daily. He hopes each session leaves his clients energized and ready for the day. Rafael is enjoying picking up golf, being outdoors, and remaining active.

Dan Shupe

Personal Trainer

Dan is an ACE Certified Personal Trainer since 1994. In addition, he holds a certification in Strength Training from California State University, Hayward.

His background includes participating in and/or training others in football, basketball, track and field, water polo, martial arts, swimming, diving, surfing, and yoga.  With such a great variety of interests and experience in personal training and teaching classes, he eventually moved to more management positions within the fitness industry.

Working at the Imperial Courts Tennis Club he has rekindled his passion for training and joined the Park Avenue Fitness Team.

His training philosophy is: keep it simple! He excels at breaking things down and helping you get started on your fitness journey regardless of your current fitness level. He mixes core strength training with cardiovascular conditioning and flexibility with a big dose of smiles and laughter.

Clark Carabelas

Personal Trainer

Clark is a Certified Personal Trainer and Corrective Exercise Specialist with the National Academy of Sports Medicine. He has a B.A. in Psychology and completed two years of graduate studies towards his Masters of Physical Therapy. After 12 years of working in skilled nursing and orthopedic rehab centers in Southern California, he shifted his career and brought his physical therapy experience to functional integrated training to Santa Cruz.

Combining and developing both skillsets allowed him to implement his understanding and importance of posture, gait, balance, functional movement patterns, performance training, & tissue healing. He completed advanced studies in scientific back, core, & specialized sports conditioning in subjects such as golf, motocross, tennis, & horseback riding. 

Clark individualizes each program to his clients’ functional and/or performance needs. His experience extends to all ages and lifestyles, from the sedentary to the elite athlete, with or without complex medical histories. He wants nothing more than for his clients to become as independent from pain and health medications as possible and to enjoy a higher quality of life.

Alli Sunshine Quick

Personal Trainer

Alli is an ACE Certified Personal Trainer and has been in the fitness industry for over 20 years. After recovering from a knee injury and subsequent surgery, she developed her love for Pilates and acquired that additional certification. Having taught classes in clubs and assisted living communities all over the county, she has experience teaching all formats from BootCamp, spin, Silver Sneakers, and everything in between. 

She developed her love for exercise growing up in a rural community where much of her time was spent outside. She had been a tomboy all her life, and in school, she was involved in many sports, including volleyball and track. She has facilitated running clinics as well. As a single mom, she enjoys spending every free moment with her daughter. Having started by pushing her in the stroller, they now run spartan races and triathlons together. 

She loves to share her joy of exercise with others, training clients aged 13-96. In particular, training seniors has been a specialty of hers for the past 15 years. Her message to her clients is to do what you can until you can do more.