Faces Of New Bedford #135: Shaun Monteiro

Meet Shaun Monteiro, 30-year-old personal trainer, and owner of Finest Hour Athletics.

Shaun grew up playing all sorts of sports, so when his dad got him a job working at Gold’s Gym in Dartmouth, he was very excited. Although he started as just the cleaning boy, he worked his way up to the manager of the gym, while also falling in love with working out. He found enjoyment in challenging himself to get stronger, improve his techniques and stay disciplined.

This passion drove Shaun into various forms of competitions while he was in college, including bodybuilding shows, weightlifting competitions, CrossFit games and even a relay sport called GRID. He and his semi-pro team were flown out to a worldwide competition in California, where they were pit against the best GRID teams and finished in first place.

Upon graduating from Johnson and Wales with honors from their business program in 2014, Shaun decided to launch the company he had been envisioning for quite some time, Finest Hour Athletics. During his time in the fitness industry, he felt that there was a brand missing that spoke to the people who were entrenched in the culture and he intended to do that with his brand. Alongside his business partner, Ryan Tavares, they started making t-shirts that would evolve into the storefront business located in Downtown New Bedford. Shaun is so passionate about the message behind Finest Hour, which doesn’t mean you need to be training to win a bodybuilding show, but allow yourself to be ready for the moment that could define your whole life. He hopes that he can continue to use his abilities and brand to motivate others to reach their goals and chase their passion.

Faces of New Bedford is a project by Colton Simmons. If you are interested in booking a shoot or getting prints from the series email all inquiries to colton@coltonsimmons.com.

Read more of the Faces of New Bedford series here.