Work Hard. Be Nice To People.

This is the mantra of trainer and social media mogul Claire P. Thomas. And as we found out, it suits her to a tee.

- By Lara Mcglashan. Photography by Cory Sorense

We chose a location on a random stretch of beach just off the Honoapi‘ilani Highway on Maui — a place where we could pull Claire P. Thomas’ converted Sprinter van through the kiawe trees and onto the sand. The only other people around were a few environmental volunteers taking water samples down the way.

We were shooting Thomas “making breakfast,” and she stood just inside the van holding an egg above a bowl as if about to crack it. As our photographer snapped away, Thomas changed poses: She looked at the egg, then into the distance, then at the egg, and then behind me. And then she waved.

A couple stood on the periphery watching the shoot and whispering to each other. It’s not uncommon to have lookie-loos on set, so I didn’t think much of them and turned back to the task at hand, but Thomas was already engaged.

“Hi! I’m Claire!” she called out, hopping down from the van. She and her boyfriend, Jared Connell, shook their hands and the couple talked a million miles a minute: They had been following Thomas for a long time on Instagram and knew she was on Maui, and they wondered whether they would see her while on vacation — and then here she was! If the couple was halfway to the moon to be speaking with Thomas in person, they did a virtual lunar leap when she invited them to take her high-intensity interval training class at Makena CrossFit later that week.

“Bye, Rebecca!” said Thomas as the couple took their leave and she returned to set. “I really hope I see you in class!” For most people, this sort of send-off would be considered neutral politesse at best. But the thing is, Thomas actually meant it.