In January 2019, Karen Madaras and her business partner took a leap of faith -- or a powerful, ninja-warrior-style athletic jump, to be more accurate: They opened a themed gym in the Memorial area of Houston.

Author’s note: This is not MY personal story, per se, (despite the “my pandemic business story” headline), but a story told by our readers, week by week. You might have heard that owning a business these days can be a real challenge, in this age of coronavirus. First they wanted to see Madaras' business partner, Sam Sann, who actually built the first ninja warrior gym in the country and is known by some as the sensei of the sport, Madaras said. Madaras and her partner started looking for a bigger space. “It would have been fine if COVID wouldn’t have hit,” Madaras said.