Organizations
Movement breaks, 30-day challenges and workshops that fit the workday, for on-site, hybrid and remote teams.
Washington, DC · Worldwide Move First. Everything else follows.
Fun, engaging group movement for every fitness level, built for the places you already gather: work, church, conferences and community. I help groups move together and keep each other going.
Deona L. Hatley
Founder, DLH Coaching · ACE Certified Coach
- 0+years building movement into campuses and workplaces
- 0universities: Duke, Penn, Rutgers, Georgetown
- 0countries and 30+ states, still finding ten minutes
- 0Msteps logged in one 30-day challenge
Who it's for
Movement that fits the room you're in.
DLH Coaching builds fitness communities inside groups that already exist. Instead of asking people to join a gym, I bring movement breaks, 30-day challenges, workshops and energizers to your team, your congregation, your conference or your chapter, in person or virtually.
Events & Conferences
Energizers and movement sessions that wake a room up and get people talking, connecting and moving.
Communities
Churches, fraternities and sororities, nonprofits and senior centers that want to move together.
Global Teams
Virtual challenges and sessions that connect people across campuses, countries and time zones.
How I build community
Start by the door.
Walk into almost any gym and look at the layout. The treadmills and bikes sit right by the door. The machines come next. The squat racks and heavy weights live in the back. Nobody expects a first timer to head straight for the back. Every program I design follows that same floor plan.
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01 · By the door
Move.
Start where you are. Ten minutes of easy, familiar movement folded into the day you already have. Low barrier, high welcome, every fitness level.
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02 · The middle
Motion.
Deepen the practice with guided mobility and simple habits that make movement feel good, together.
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03 · The back
Momentum.
Make it last. Community and shared routines that turn a good month into a way of life.
The work in action
Real people. Real rooms. Real movement.
Your group could be next.
Plan an experience →Case study
GU Moves: a 30-day workplace movement challenge across two continents
A 30-day movement program I created for university employees (on campus, hybrid and remote) across the Washington, DC and Doha, Qatar campuses.
0enrolled in a two-campus pilot
0%active participation
0%would do it again
0Msteps across two continents
Spring 2026 pilot, designed for Georgetown University employees.
The community · free to join
Move more. Every day. From anywhere.
Move First is a free global fitness and movement community. Every month we virtually travel to a new region of the world and move together from wherever we are.
- 01A new region every monthWe pick a destination and travel there together, virtually.
- 02A shared movement challengeEveryone counts, every movement adds up, and the group keeps you honest.
- 03A playlist from the regionMusic from the region you can move to, from anywhere.
Born from step challenges in Dee's Executive MBA cohort, it grew into GU Moves and kept going after graduation.
Where I've Traveled
Will your city be next?
Plan the Experience →
coachingwithdlh@gmail.com
The question that started it
About Coach Dee Hatley
“What's stopping you from moving for ten minutes?”
In 2019, a time audit showed I had almost two hours free on my busiest day. Then a trainer asked me that question, and I didn't have a good answer. It started the habit that helped me lose 55 pounds, and it shapes every program I've built since.
For 14+ years I've brought movement into places that weren't built for it, from residence halls to classrooms to workplaces. DLH stands for my initials, and for what I care about most: Developing Lifelong Habits.
DukePennRutgersGeorgetown
Certifications · ACE Fitness
- Group Fitness Instructor
- Health Coach
- Personal Trainer
Additional training
- Yoga Instructor200-Hour, Yoga Renew
- Indoor Cycling InstructorSpinning, Mad Dogg Athletics
Education
- Executive MBA, Georgetown
- M.A., Ball State University
- B.S., University of Illinois
Questions
Building a fitness community, answered.
Short, straight answers for planners, HR leads, pastors, chapter presidents and event hosts.
What is fitness community building?
Fitness community building means designing movement around groups that already exist, like a team at work, a congregation, a conference audience or a chapter, so people move together and keep each other consistent. I start with easy, familiar movement, deepen it with guided mobility and simple habits, then build the shared routines that make it last.
Who does DLH Coaching work with?
Organizations and employers, event and conference organizers, churches, fraternities and sororities, nonprofits, senior centers, universities and global or distributed teams. Programs are built for every age and fitness level. Coach Dee also works with a small number of individual coaching clients. Book a call to see if it's a fit.
Do you work in person, virtually, or both?
Both. Coach Dee is based in Washington, DC, serves the greater DMV, and travels for events, retreats, and conferences. Virtual programs work anywhere. Travel costs are included in each proposal.
What does a 30-day workplace wellness challenge look like?
A month of daily, low-barrier movement built into the workday, with step goals, shared check-ins and team energy. In the spring 2026 GU Moves pilot, 96 employees enrolled across two campuses, 84% actively participated, 96% said they'd do it again, and the group logged 15.3 million steps across two continents.
Do participants need to be fit already?
No. Every program starts by the door, with about ten minutes of easy, familiar movement that fits into the day people already have.
Do you speak at conferences and events?
Yes. Coach Dee is a wellness speaker based in Washington, DC who gets audiences moving, not just listening. Talks cover building movement into the workday, habit design, and why most wellness programs lose people in the first two weeks.
What is Move First?
Move First is a free global fitness and movement community. Every month we virtually travel to a new region of the world with a step challenge, a shared playlist and movement, so members can move together from wherever they are.
I build movement that travels.
Have a team, congregation, chapter or event that needs to move more? Let's talk about what would work for your people.
Book a free 30-minute call →Or email coachingwithdlh@gmail.com