Beyond the Reformer

Scaling a Pilates Empire Without Losing Integrity of the Method with Amy Jordan

• Nic Lenny • Season 4 • Episode 45

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0:00 | 1:07:15

Nic sits down with Amy Jordan, founder of Pilates Addiction and creator of the WundaFormer, to explore what it really takes to build a Pilates empire without losing your purpose.


From leaving a career in entertainment marketing to opening her first studio with every penny she had, Amy shares the courage, creativity and conviction behind her journey.


They discuss equipment innovation, studio ownership, scaling through franchising, leadership boundaries, inclusive culture and the mindset required to grow sustainably.


Amy opens up about developing new Pilates apparatus, launching revolutionary home equipment and the lessons she learned about slowing down, building strong foundations and letting go of control.


She also shares her experience of facing cancer during Covid and how movement became part of her healing.


This episode is for Pilates teachers, studio owners, movement educators and entrepreneurs who want to innovate, scale and lead with integrity while staying connected to the true roots of the method.


Timestamps

00:00 Introduction to Amy Jordan

02:02 Leaving marketing and opening the first studio

07:05 Taking the leap and investing everything into her business

11:05 Expanding beyond the reformer

14:02 Sketching and inventing the WundaFormer

19:14 Opening multiple studios and building strong teams

29:22 Balancing athletic flow with classical principles

31:03 Reinventing props for better alignment at home

35:17 Building online reach and global impact

39:16 Designing a revolutionary home Pilates machine

43:01 Franchising Pilates Addiction and scaling with integrity

48:56 Leadership boundaries and empowering teams

50:52 Reflecting on what she has created

54:16 Quick fire questions


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SPEAKER_00

Coming up on today's episode of Beyond the Reformer.

SPEAKER_02

For my first studio, I used every single penny in my savings. I also then put the machines on a credit card.

SPEAKER_00

I put all my chips on the table. Today's conversation is with Amy Jordan, the founder of Pilates Addiction.

SPEAKER_02

You have to do it scared. If you're not scared, then you probably don't care enough. The brands that are gonna win at scale are brands that own their education, they own their equipment, they own their standards, and they own their longevity. We don't hire for people who want to put on a show because it's not a performance. We hire for people who are aligned with helping others feel amazing in their skin. It always comes back to that. There's no reason by statistics and science that we should be sitting here. There's no reason the survival rate on the cancer I had is single digits. I think there's a misunderstanding about Pilates in general that it's about stretching and flexibility versus about control and strength.

SPEAKER_00

With flexible welcome back to Beyond the Reformer, the podcast for everyone who loves Pilates. I'm Nick Lenny. I am a Pilates teacher, a studio owner, an educator, and now your host for all of these conversations. Today's conversation is with Amy Jordan, the founder of Pilates Addiction. I was in LA at an event and I decided to turn my little Airbnb into a podcast studio. So if you're watching this on YouTube, you're gonna see my little cute face that we had. It was so gorgeous. Amy Jordan reached out to me and I, if I'm honest, I had an expectation of what her brand was and what she was about. And I was so wrong. I found her incredibly inspirational, uplifting, motivational. Is it an amazing creativity? I don't know where it comes from. And I'm just so excited to share this conversation with you and hopefully inspire you as much as she inspired me when we met. Before we begin, I could I kindly ask that you like, subscribe, or follow wherever you're listening or watching. We are on YouTube as well. You can watch us over there. It really does help the podcast to grow, and it's just a really important metric that we get measured against. If everyone who listened or did that, our numbers would go through the roof. So it's my little request to you. I would be so grateful. All right, let's get into today's conversation. Amy, thank you for joining me. I am in a very sunny California on this podcast tour, and it's amazing to be sat down. You've driven down from LA today. I have, I'm so happy to be here with you, and the sunshine is just for you. I know. Well, the sunshine is amazing. We uh we went for a run this morning. We are lapping up for California life. I love it. I'm thinking, oh my goodness, if I lived here, what a life I would have. So you created Wonder Bar Pilates. Yes. Talk to me about that. Where did that come from? Was there a problem that you were trying to solve?

SPEAKER_02

Absolutely. So I was actually in entertainment marketing at the time, running huge brands, having a good old time, but just crushing my spirit every day.

SPEAKER_00

Not not feeling like I was adding to the world or do you know how many people? So I'm I'm ex-marketing, and do you know how many people I talk to who are desperate to leave marketing? It's a job that really is relentless.

SPEAKER_02

It truly is. And it wasn't the life that I saw for myself in the future. The time I didn't have kids, but I knew I wanted to, and I thought this is not the life and the hours and the experience I want to have as a mother. And so I had started doing Pilates just as a hobby. And I thought, you know, I I think I could open a studio. I'll do a little side hustle, open this studio. I did. It was just with other reformers at the time, nothing, you know, particularly groundbreaking, but it lit a passion in me and it lit a fire in me. And I started working with my mentor, MJ Groom. And she started introducing me to a Lundicher to, you know, work on a standing ballet bar, work on, of course, a reformer, but a jump board, things that I didn't have. It was just a reformer. And so I started sketching on a plane to solve this problem because I had a studio and it was fun and it was great, and I loved the clients and the experience, but all I could use was this reformer. So beyond the reformer is what I was looking for.

SPEAKER_00

Did you hear that? Did you hear that? I know I like the link into that. Honestly, I went through so many names, and then that one came to me and I was like, it's great, isn't it? Because reform is having this huge boom, which is amazing. It's, you know, I remember when I first started teaching, nobody knew what Pilates even was. But I think what's interesting about, you know, is thinking about how do we bring in more of the method into people and the different pieces of equipment. Because once you've done that, it's incredible.

SPEAKER_02

It's just a totally transformative experience in a whole new way, in a whole nother level. And so I knew I wanted to bring these pieces into the clients that I loved. I had two studios at the time, but there simply wasn't floor space. There truly wasn't floor space. And primarily we teach in a group format. And I'm like, there's no way I'm getting 10, 12 adults to go over to a window chair and fix the cactus and do all the things. It's just not going to happen. So I started sketching on an airplane, just like every trope you would think of, and decided to create this machine. So we launched Winda Bar with the Winda Former. So that includes a reformer, a jump board, a ballet bar, and a window chair all into one. So that's been in existence since 2012. So we have studios in New York, Tennessee, New Jersey, and New York. And in the last year, we've partnered with sequel brands. And so they are now franchising and we've rebranded into Pilates Addiction, which is this next phase and next era for what Wundabar was and the foundational roots that we've built, and really just elevating it, taking it into the next era, the next chapter. And so far we have over 200 territories sold. Wow. That are going to be opening in the very new future, near future. So Wundabar Pilates is sunsetting as a brand with love and appreciation and respect and pride for all the work we've done since 2012 and really just working with this incredible team to help us grow and let it shine in a way that it never has before.

SPEAKER_00

I'm excited to touch more upon that story and where you're going. I'd love, though, to go back. You mentioned your job and you mentioned kind of discovering Pilates. Talk to me about that time in your life. What was going on? How did Pilates make you feel?

SPEAKER_02

It was such a critical space for me, a safe space for me for my mindset and for my health. So I was going through a difficult breakup at the time, and it was this one place in which I could really feel centered, connected, and the world and the thoughts in my head just stopped and paused and quieted while I was on a machine, while I was moving. It takes such focus and such control, right? The movement takes such intention.

SPEAKER_00

And I always think it's so interesting how almost everybody talks about that. I feel like that's what makes Pilates so special. There isn't really much else that you would hear people talk about that first and foremost, actually, about how mentally it just quietened everything. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02

And that's what happened for me. And it was just this light bulb aha moment of I wasn't feeling fulfilled in a spiritual way, you know, or an emotional way with my work. I loved my job. I loved the actual work of it. But I wasn't being feeling fulfilled or feeling like I was giving anything great to others. And so that's how it really inspired in me like, hey, maybe I could do this. Maybe I could look at offering this to my hometown. And that's how things got started in my original studio. So it was really this place that emotionally served me and of course physically served me because it's a beautiful way to move. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Were you working in marketing? Was it around that time that you actually first did Pilates as a client? What was the journey like then to becoming a teacher and becoming a studio owner? How did you manage that? Because I think so many people are in their careers, their proper jobs. Not that this is, I always I still refer to it as my proper job, which is nuts. It's crazy, right? But uh, because this is definitely a proper job. But I I'm always thinking it's interesting to hear how people always say, how were you brave enough to make that that transition? So how did you do that training? Did you do it alongside your job? I did, and you know what? You have to do it scared.

SPEAKER_02

You have to do it scared. If you were not scared, then you probably don't care enough. Yeah, so true. You have to feel that the nerves, the you know, the anxiety about it, the worry, and you just have to put it all on the line. For my first studio, I used every single penny in my savings. I also then put the machines on a credit card. Like I put all my chips on the table and didn't. And how did you have the trust to do that in yourself?

SPEAKER_00

I just dug deep and knew that I would solve the problem. I remember my mum kind of saying to me at one point, like, could you not just would your job not take you back? And I because I was with a boyfriend and I went through a really bad breakup. And so originally there was like this feeling like, well, I'd have his support. And then suddenly I was literally on my own. And I was like, I just know, like there's just this deep knowing it will be fine. It's trusting your inner self, right?

SPEAKER_02

And and believing in it. And there's actually two funny little side stories. So the landlord, I mean, I didn't even know what a commercial lease was. I didn't understand that was a thing. Yeah. That's how just naive I was in this market. And the landlord was a little bit baffled by Pilates. Of course, he didn't know what it was. And he and his wife took me to coffee and he said, like, you know, what's your fallback plan if this doesn't work out? And I was like, Oh, well, my uncle will come in and financially support, which was not true. I had not talked to my uncle about it. I had not asked him about it. And he said, you know, I see success written on your forehead, and I'm gonna take a chance on you. And because I didn't have, I didn't own a home at the time. I had no collateral, none.

SPEAKER_00

I think you need those little moments of serendipity, don't you? Or where somebody just take, I mean, similar, my first lease, it's the most relaxed lease you've ever seen in your life. We've been there 10 years now, and I'm not sure I could have ever, you know, the my recent studio is one of those much more 10-year commitments. Da-da-da-da-da. I don't think I could have done that at the beginning. When I see people take those leases out now, I think, are you nuts? Like you, I, you know, it's you need someone who kind of takes a bit of a chance on you.

SPEAKER_02

And you just before others can take a chance on you. Oh, true. Yes. And I did eventually ask my uncle, like, hey, by the way, I brought you up in a lease negotiation, and he was cracking up, and he said, you know what? He said, There's what's the worst case scenario? You get$150,000 into this. It's a lot of money, not trying to pretend it isn't. You know, this is in 2008, 2007, maybe when I was negotiating the lease. And he said, worst case scenario, you close the studio, you go back to work at your big fancy job, and you pay it off in a couple of years.

SPEAKER_00

That's what was in my business plan. What happens if it all goes tits up? That's a very English phrase. And it was like, I'll go back to marketing, actually.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, there's there's options. You have options, these are solvable problems.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Did you go into your teacher training knowing that you were going to open a studio?

SPEAKER_02

I had a pretty good inclination, yeah. And it it was um a pretty abridged training at that time, and then I took it upon myself to do to do more.

SPEAKER_00

I similar to what you said earlier. I had had that feeling in marketing where I wasn't with anyone to have children. I wasn't even sure I I kind of knew I wasn't particularly maternal, but I knew that if I didn't have children, I'd regret it. Yes. But I used to see the mothers doing that job and I thought I don't want that life. And also I used to feel like if I died tomorrow, like I wasn't doing my work, it wouldn't make any difference. Right. And I really wanted to do something that made a difference to people.

SPEAKER_02

It's important to find that purpose and what purpose is. And if this is it, then you know, carving your own path in this work is really important to serving that purpose.

SPEAKER_00

So you opened your first studio, you said that was, you know, just standard reformers. Um, and then what kind of took you to the place where you're thinking, okay, I want to create my own equipment? Did that come first before you expanded into other locations? Or what we had?

SPEAKER_02

She has retired into the Netherlands, which just breaks my heart. But I worked with her, I worked with another mentor, Kendall Pink, and it's just it was that expanding of my mind and of movement and of the functionality of movement and how we can serve others with, you know, really helping them to feel better in their body, in their own skin, you know, not only with confidence of, of course, everyone wants to look great, but it's really truly about how does your body work? How do you feel when you stand up and go upstairs when you get up off the ground? Can you do all of these things? And so working with them on different apparatuses really opened my eyes to, wow, I can serve in such a different and more robust way if I have more tools at my disposal.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. So talk to me about those tools.

SPEAKER_02

So I mean, a wounded chair is just this like most exciting anti-gravity piece of equipment that I will, without shame, say the first time I tried to do a pike or an upstretch, I couldn't get the pedal off the floor. My my brain couldn't wrap itself around the mechanics of it. And so I finally got the pedal up and it was just game-changing. I knew I had to get into that. And the first time I did jump board with MJ, I remember she just made me go and go and go and go. And my shins, I had the worst shin splints because I had lived for over a decade in four-inch high heels.

SPEAKER_00

That's the marketing life. That's the marketing life. And I I think that I used to run for trains. And I mean, I'd walk 20 minutes to the train, 20 minutes from the train to my office, the other end in these insane heels. Absolutely. And I put, you know, when I put them on for like the Christmas party or something, now I'm like, how did I live like that?

SPEAKER_02

I would walk like miles in New York for, you know, conventions, shows, whatever it was. And my I had a business professor in undergrad, and she told me she was this like just exquisite Brazilian woman, and she was very tall and elegant. And she said to me once, and I never forgot it, and I took the advice to heart. She said, you must be eye to eye with the boys, you know, and at that time, certainly even more so than now. And I took that advice to heart and I wore foreign shields every single day of my career. And I was eye to eye with the boys, and I did do very well. So it was good news, bad news, because you know, now I've had to unwind some of that damage. But the jump board, that experience of being a fit person, being someone who was already teaching the body is on a reformer. The intense understanding of the dysfunction of one of my, you know, body parts was really eye-opening and just really helpful for me to understand that this is another really powerful tool to help people find better function in their bodies.

SPEAKER_00

So you've got two studios. You're seeing the power of the different pieces of equipment. What then makes you think? I mean, are you a creative at heart to think, yeah, like what brings you to be an innovator and think I'm gonna create something that doesn't exist? And there's one thing having the idea, Amy, but also how does one take that to fruition? And you know, how do we find someone to build it? Like that is an insane, it's it's a pretty intense process. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

But the answer is you just have to start, right? So it starts with a sketch, and sure that could be an idea sitting on a shelf, right? But that doesn't serve you or anyone else. I didn't know anything about inventing equipment. I didn't know anything about patenting, I didn't know anything about mechanical engineers, none of it. So I just started asking. I asked my business manager, hey, do you know anyone? I went and saw that person. They weren't the right fit. They sent me to another manufacturer. I didn't have an engineer. I started with a friend of a friend who was overseas. That work was not wasted, but we didn't use any of it, but at least got drawings that I could present to this manufacturer. And then they took it on almost like, like, oh, isn't she cute? Is the sense that I got from them. I was pregnant, you know, with my son, and I walked into this factory in four-inch heels. So you're eye to eye with the man. I liked it. And they were like, What wait, what do you want us to build? Because they do like industrial equipment, they don't do Pilates, certainly, at all. So they took it on just, I think, as a fun little side project. And it's here in Southern California, and they built the first prototype the week my son was born. It came off the factory floor. So right before he was born, I'm pregnant as a house, testing the machine. The chair pedal wouldn't come up off the ground because they had made it out of solid steel arms. So you'd hook up the springs and it would just don't settle down on the ground. So there was no recoil. So, and that's okay. And that's what we did our first training on. We took that prototype to MJ Studio and we used her like traditional machine, basically next to it, because the reformer portion worked, the jump board portion worked. It was just the chair that didn't. So we did the training kind of on a hybrid of machines. So it's not going to be pretty, it's not gonna be perfect. And if you just keep going and keep going and meet each challenge with the best next best decision you can make and just keep going.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, fair play doing that generally, but then heavily pregnant. And like you said, it's not like it just comes off and it's like ta-da. It's actually like, no, now the work's dart. No. It's it needs finessing, it needs testing.

SPEAKER_02

That must have been full on. The jump board was literally, it's the material I believe is called Del Run. And it's like basically a super like dense and thick plastic. It looked like a cutting board. It was ridiculous. And then we did one more prototype where the pedal worked, and that second prototype. So before we're even anywhere close to a studio, we still don't have a great working prototype, but it's working. That lived in my living room, and my son learned to walk around that machine the way they would usually around a coffee table. He learned to walk around that machine because that's what life was. And we didn't have a home that was large enough to have a separate room for this machine. So it was just we took out the coffee table and put in the window former. My dad's a carpenter. He was coming in with like, you know, uh pieces of wood to try to like, you know, refine and basically give templates or models to the engineers. I worked with, you know, multiple engineers, multiple prototypes. And then we opened our first store as my third studio. We first did actually we did a pop-up in an old hair salon where this the machines were like this, there was no mirrors, and it was just a pop-up so we could learn how to teach on it.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Because sure we knew how to teach Pilates, but how do you do a flow? Yes, when you have four apparatus, because normally it's you're teaching a jump board class or you're teaching a chair class or you're teaching reformer flow or you're teaching a bar class. How do we intertwine these? And that was something no one, not even me, had ever done. So we had to figure out how we're gonna teach this. So we did a pop-up studio first. We did a lot of, you know, um training and and testing in that room. And then we opened this store with the window formers. And again, they're still essentially at that point working prototypes, right? First run. What gives you the focus to stick with that? Because that's a lot. It it really is a lot, but it's that purpose, right? Of I want to serve people better. And I knew that this equipment was a way to serve people better. And that's that's how we got to the point of choosing to expand into Pilates Addiction because my passion and my purpose is not in my massive scale, right? We have 11 studios, pretty great, pretty fantastic. We have thousands and thousands of clients, but to scale at that, you know, 200 stores in the first year level is not where my passion lies. And that's where my partner's passion lies. And that's what that's where the synergies come in. And that's where the beauty comes in, where we can then serve the original purpose of how many people can I serve to feel amazing in their own skin? And this is now a vehicle in a way to do that as Pilates Addiction.

SPEAKER_00

Talk to me, if you will, about scaling, even initially to your, I mean, the 11 studios were your studios as such at this point. How does one do that? How do you keep that consistency, get the right teaching staff? In my experience, it's actually getting the right management staff is really tricky. How do you do that and stay sane?

SPEAKER_02

We we had started to franchise and just kind of like dip our toe in that water. So two of the studios are franchisees, but in general, you know, we've we've opened the most corporate stores. And so what's critical to me is alignment in the vision and in that purpose, right? Because skills are trainable. You can teach people to teach, you can teach people to manage, you can teach people all these skill sets, but you can't teach someone who's not bought into the method or to the approach of what you're doing. You can't teach that into someone. So I've had it happen on more than one occasion where I've hired someone based on their resume or on their skill set, instead of really making sure they're bought in to what it is we're doing here. And that becomes the most expensive hire you'll ever make, right? So it's much more important to find that alignment and then work on the consistency of the training. So that the values, right? The vision and owning that is how you scale. You have the brands that are going to win at scale are brands that own their education, they own their equipment, they own their standards, and they own their longevity. Those are the critical pieces in order to scale into something that's really massive.

SPEAKER_00

When you sit down with someone, how do you judge, like what kind of questions do you ask them to try and figure out if they are aligned with that same vision and identity? I think when I was recruiting teachers for a long time, I didn't find this too tricky. I could feel from them if they believed in what I believed and And I'm with you, you can teach the skills maybe they don't quite have yet. But sometimes I think with some of the more central teams of the studio, it can be harder to really, you know, they're not often Pilates teachers, or or maybe they are. Like I was talking to a studio owner recently, and she was saying, you know, my marketing manager is ex-client. And, you know, you have to have people who really are brought into Pilates. But I'm interested, how have you done that across those studios?

SPEAKER_02

One of my favorite ways to do this is to have them take my class first. And that is such a great energy read. And you you can you teach Pilates, you can see it on their face if they're bought in, if they're listening, if they're wanting to get the most out of it, if they're enjoying themselves, if they're working hard. That is critical. And that is such a raw space of energy. You know, teaching comes from a very raw and creative place for me. And I think when you're in a class, if you're willing to give up pretenses or give up expectations and just really go with, you know, what the movement is and how your body is on a given day, that speaks volumes of are you going to get on board with what we're doing here? Because it is such a, you know, a raw emotional and physical experience.

SPEAKER_00

It's so interesting to hear you say that, Amy, because it's not a tangible thing, it's a sense. No. And that's hard sometimes, isn't it, to really have that sense of somebody and get it right. I remember the Rachel, who's behind the camera here, she's with us on this tour, the studio manager at my studio. You know, I met her and just immediately just had this feeling. But it's hard sometimes hard to get that.

SPEAKER_02

It really is hard to find that. You have to go through quite a few people. And it's hard to find at scale too, right? Because I'm not hiring. Well, this is it. As you do it now and they're in different locations, that's the challenge, isn't it? It is. And it's the it's the great leadership that I am blessed to have. Working with me, it's these incredible leaders that are running East Coast and West Coast, is the way we have it set up right now. And these two women, Blake and Anne Marie, they absolutely understand the vision, absolutely drunk the Kool-Aid. One of them teaches, one of them does not. And so, but they understand what it is we're doing here. They're passionate about it. And it's critically important that the people you have in the, you know, in the position of hiring and of, you know, really leading the culture in their, you know, respective stores, they have to buy into it so that then that continues through who they choose to hire, what they're seeing in the studios, you know, what that what that culture is that you've created and and making sure that we keep that true and aligned together.

SPEAKER_00

So having the knowledge that you have now of opening those studios and and what's to come, if you were to open your first studio again today, would you do anything different?

SPEAKER_02

I would encourage myself to slow down. There was, I put so much undue pressure on myself as a brand new mother, you know, of scaling quickly and being this big brand quickly and being, you know, and all of these things. I wanted to grow and grow and grow. And and that was so important. And it was a lesson that MJ taught me. I won't pretend to do a Dutch accent, I would like to, but I I'm terrible at it. But she said to me once when I was literally in tears on her machine, I think I was second, I think I was pregnant with my daughter. So the studios had been open for a year and a half or so, and I was saying, lamenting that we didn't have a million stores already. And her message to me was that like strong, beautiful trees must have very deep roots. And it was like, okay, I understand. And but that's something that I would encourage anyone starting to build those roots and build that depth of character and quality in what how you are as a leader, as well as in who you're bringing on to grow with you.

SPEAKER_00

And I think uh if it's a good idea, it's a good idea tomorrow or next week. I am terrible. It sounds like you are too, for I have an idea and I want it already done. And that is what gives you the drive for sure, but it also is what absolutely causes burnout and illness. And you have to kind of, you know, I sometimes hear myself preaching to my clients and thinking, I really should listen to this advice. Right. Right.

SPEAKER_02

And I I would also something that I've learned just within the last few years when I've hired a CEO coach for myself, is that there's no like, there's no prize for doing it all. You don't have to do it all. Like I now barely touch email. I now certainly don't touch my calendar. I at this point I teach two days a week, you know, and yet we have all of these stores running. And it's really about what is that one thing that you can do that no one else can do? What is that one thing? And so for me, it really is about innovation and creativity, not only in the equipment and the patents that I have, but also in the way that we move and how we approach movement with these tools.

SPEAKER_00

Well, talk me through that because as you said, you've now got a format that has this piece of equipment that does so much. So, how do you approach that class planning? What is the structure like for that?

SPEAKER_02

So we have a really um robust and just highly curated training program. So we started with a 350-page paper binder with photos and words. It was wild, right? Then in 2018, we really converted into the digital age. We we launched our first digital training program. We still do in person, of course, but this is kind of that coursework ahead of time. And now with the scaling into Pilates addiction, we've just refreshed it. And now someone that's worked with me for almost a dec decade, Liza, she is running that with the SQL team and really curating that foundational anatomically driven, function-driven, you know, training. So that now you have the tools in your toolbox to teach whatever class you want. So we don't pre-prescribe. I find that it's far more interesting for the clients and for the team members to create their own routines. You know, we do have requirements that it has to move in the seven planes of movement and it has to move around the machine and every piece part has to be touched and utilized. You know, we like to think of it as a flow around the machine, like a big circle or like a figure eight, even, you know, so there's ways that we have of approaching it. Of course, we provide sample routines for people who are new and need to understand how that works. But something that I do and I encourage my team to do is to always look at who you have in front of you.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I was thinking to myself, you know, when you talked about how you recruit and you sense the energy, I'm, you know, my studio is called Soul Pilates. Like it's very much about feeling the people who were there and giving them what they need, what they want. And if you're too prescriptive, you can't do that. But of course, it's great. It takes time to be able to do that in confidence and presence. Yes. So, yes, having some example routines, but it's it's nice to be able to give people a framework that has some freedom in it for them to bring their own personality across and also, I imagine, to have the ability to read the room.

SPEAKER_02

A hundred percent. And one of the skill sets that we do like literally train into the team is that you want to start with one move that's like right down the middle, a squat, a plank, you know, something that's like a push-up, something that's just like very straight down the middle, you know, it's not highly complicated choreography. And then you immediately know who you're dealing with, what is gonna be a challenge or not, what is going, you know, okay, I can I need to dial it up a little bit. Okay, I need to focus on fundamentals, whatever it is. But that read, that tell at the beginning of class is gonna give you so much information so that you can show up for the clients where they're at on any given day.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I was gonna ask you, how do you ensure that, you know, teachers can have creativity without it turning into a performance? But actually, I guess that's how. That is how, yes. You can then read the clients and you can work with them where they're at as opposed to taking them to a level that's just not appropriate for them.

SPEAKER_02

And this is where the alignment comes in of who you're hiring. Because we don't hire for people who want to put on a show because it's not a performance. We hire for people who are aligned with helping others feel amazing in their skin. It always comes back to that. Are you here to serve the clients? And we even have an approach that we um focus on in the way we teach because it is a group, right? So we talk about bringing the floor to the client. So this is props like a moon box, props like a wedge, props like posture pillows, you know, things that bring the floor to the client if they can't get down to the floor, you know, theoretically, so that we're serving and supporting them wherever they're at that day.

SPEAKER_00

So where does the style of your teaching, is it, you know, if you were to sort of it say rooted in the method, to a more athletic space, somewhere in the middle, like, or does it depend on who's being taught?

SPEAKER_02

It really is the juxtaposition of both. We are, you know, highly foundational, but are we doing hundreds in every class and footwork? No. But foundational ideas of that movement and the anatomy, but also in an energetic environment. But it's not hard for hard's sake. I feel like when you lean too far into the athletic version of Pilates, I should say, it's about being hard and it's about this like badge of honor that my class is the hardest. Like, well, why is it hard? What's it hard for? Because it's about the intention and the quality of the movement to make it hard. But we do move at a pace in which you're sweating, it's cardio intense, it's a flow versus a pre-prescribed list of exercises that you're taking off. We really do want it to feel like a circle or a figure.

SPEAKER_00

And I think that's a really interesting space to be because I think the that need for more of a flow, more of a workout is great. Just teach it with some depth. Yes, and with intention.

SPEAKER_02

And that's really special, actually. And teaching up and down. Yeah. And because, right, you've got 10 people and three are Olympians, and you know, three are pregnant, and three are coming back from injury or never done Pilates before. So we also are really intentional about we call it teaching baseline, and then we teach down or up.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

If you want more challenge, do this. If you want to dial it down, do this, but start somewhere in that that mid lane, and then everyone is served to the level that they're at.

SPEAKER_00

So talk to me about, you know, I'm thinking about your innovation and your equipment, but I know you didn't just stop with your reformer chair jump forward combo bar. I'm an artist at heart. And I love this. And so you kindly brought me a lovely gift and you've got some, you know, innovative props for at-home use. Was that important to you? You know, was it important that, you know, is it your clients that are doing this work at home or has it spread kind of beyond that? Talk to me about that process of taking stuff, you know, changing even the props. Yes.

SPEAKER_02

So it's it's definitely beyond the client base. Yes, absolutely. They have them at home too, but it's a worldwide experience now. And I kind of feel like my specialty in what I'm creating and what I'm innovating on is taking what is great and making it even better. Right. So all of the pieces of equipment were were great, but they're better together and it creates a seamless flow for the workout that you know people in the modern age want. And with the circle ring, it just it was a tool that everyone hated. And not just because, oh, it's so hard, I hate it. No, it, you know, pops out of your legs. And as a studio owner, I hated it because it looks like garbage after three uses. This, you know, the spongy like handles, they start to disintegrate, the the text rubs off, they just weren't functional. Like it's not a great alignment to put it between your ankles. Like it's getting things, you know, outbound. And if that's what you're doing all the time, that's that's fine for some movements, of course, but on a repetitive way, no, thank you. I'm looking for alignment. So when they walk up the stairs, they're feeling better and functioning better. So that's when I came up with the resistance ring. So it's this hourglass shape, because then it is far more functional and it connects your legs to your core in every single move you're doing. I'm excited to try it. It's it's wild. And it goes in so many different positions, you know, the narrow way, it goes between your inner thighs, gets your knees aligned with your hips and your ankles. Where does the inspiration for something like that come from? You know, and and the other props that you've created as well. So many people using it, you know, and particularly petite clients, like they couldn't even do what I was asking for, right? And then the the expansion into online workouts. So I have on my Amy Amy Jordan official YouTube channel, I have hundreds of free workouts that, you know, are included for anyone who wants to work out worldwide. But even doing live Zooms over the years that we've had to do live zooms, you know, I would be looking in the camera, like, oh God, you know, that alignment isn't right. And I'm trying to fine-tune it over the over the internet. The resistance ring just dials it in. It dials the alignment in. So you don't even need my hands on you. You can really do it. And frankly, it makes my job a lot easier in a room of 10 or 12 clients because I'm like, put your window core there and boom, boom, boom, the whole row of clients are just aligned. It doesn't have any pads that wear out. So as a studio owner, you don't have to, you know, replace it all the time. And it's just been a really fantastic way for me to connect with people in different studios. Um, I've just this last year launched the curved blocks. So again, taking something that's been around for millennia, a square block, and actually making it functional, where I'm sure you hear this from your clients. Oh, my wrist hurts for plank, my wrist hurts, my wrist hurts. A, we need better mid-back connection. And B, one of the ways you can find this is by the block has a curve over the top of it, opening the wrist and connecting the weight to the entire palm rather than just the heel of your hand. It drives the work straight into the middle back shoulders core. We stand on it. So then your feet open up, unwinding what we have in shoes, and that's the gateway to the medial line to your core. So creating these tools in a way that then kind of make it a no-brainer to find the core connection from parts of your body that you don't think are connected to your core. And then, of course, it adds balance challenge, and we flip them so the rocking sides down, and then you're doing bridges with the rocking, you know, pattern underneath your feet. So it's it's a pretty cool way of approaching movement with tools that help you find the connection we're looking for without a teacher's hands there.

SPEAKER_00

When did the online part of your studio, I suppose, come into existence? You know, have you always had that online presence and helping people in their homes? What's the ethos of that? Because obviously in the studios you've got this really cool piece of equipment. Right. What are clients doing at home? And how are what's the discoverability like? How are they finding you and what's kind of making them come to work with you?

SPEAKER_02

So certainly, you know, like big brand collaborations are always helpful. Like I've done videos with Livestrong and Shape and all these other, you know, companies. We did launch videos online the first time in 2018, right, when we came into the digital age. And then we had kind of revamped it right before, you know, all this shutdown happened. So we it it was a way of me again wanting to serve more people in the world. And I've since had, you know, we work with people all over the world and and have people come up to me. Like even in Greece, a woman came up to me in the shop and knew who I was. And she, you know, was just incredibly, you know, sharing some of her personal journey and things that I had helped her heal from videos, you know, and never even knowing that I was creating impact. But talk about purpose when you're impacting and and I'm helping a young woman in Greece, and I didn't even know she was working out with me.

SPEAKER_00

How are people finding you? Are they finding you through, you know, because you're a prolific content creator? Is that important to you to do that and to get that discoverability out there?

SPEAKER_02

It is because it's, you know, in this time, that's where that's one really great way for people to find you and even being on podcasts to say, like, you know, follow me, Amy Jordan official. Like then people hear about it through podcasts, you know, through stages, through reputation, through being in, you know, magazine articles, and just being out in the world. I did a collaboration with MasterCard at the Grove and, you know, just meeting new people out in the world, um, coming to conventions, you know, having features, all of that is part of the outreach.

SPEAKER_00

How does one elevate their profile to the point where they can get those collaborations?

SPEAKER_02

I I really think it is innovation. You have to stand out, right? We're marketers, you have to stand out. And so if you if you have ideas of how you're gonna be different and not just like slightly different, it really has to be as a story that a brand can tell. And you and you truly are gonna benefit if you're also willing to be authentic and raw with your story. I'm not sure if you're aware, but I had cancer in 2020 during COVID. It was a real good time. Kids at homeschool, businesses closed, and being willing to share that journey and look at what how movement heals you, even in a health crisis, you never see movement professionals in a health crisis. They kind of go into the shadows while they're, you know, attending to their health. And it was really important to me to share that journey and show that, like, yes, even though I am one of these, you know, personalities in the Pilates world that people, you know, see and, you know, hopefully are inspired by, this was a way for me to be very real. And that created a lot of opportunities where people wanted to, you know, feature my profile or share the story because it was such a unique way of dealing with something that was awful, but I was trying to make the best of it that I could and serve and show up for others who are also in healing crises.

SPEAKER_00

So, in your experience, you know, you're creating innovative content, you're being very vulnerable online and showing your true story all of the sides of it. Are those brands and those collaborations coming to you, or are you also kind of working the PR machine and going to them?

SPEAKER_02

A little bit of both. It depends. So now I have an agent that helps me, my dear friend Krista. So she, you know, helps me with these brand collaborations in general. They're incoming because my focus is not, you know, always on outward bound-facing things, but it's it's all in service of helping as many people as I can.

SPEAKER_00

I love that. Is doing at-home workouts important to you? Do you think that's what people out there need to be doing more of?

SPEAKER_02

I think that moving is critical every day. Whatever it is, whatever it is, you know, my personal choice is Pilates, right? So that's where I like it. But if you're moving every day, it's just it's absolutely critical. And that's why we talked about before. That's why I am now developing a home machine that is going to be truly, truly revolutionary, truly industry disrupting. And we're going to be launching that in 2026. So this is so exciting.

SPEAKER_00

Well, it's funny because I have so wanted a reformer at home for ages. In the UK, houses are quite small and you know, small rooms. We don't have enough room for one. I've just got a chair for home. I'm very excited about this. And I think it is really nice to think about, you know, to bring that in, you know, the sort of innovation that you have and think about how can we do things differently. So it's gonna be really exciting to see that.

SPEAKER_02

I'm I'm so excited about it. And I I can tell you too that this is another invention. So I've had a habit of having sketches, even sculptures of inventions that sit on paper because I was so busy staying in my inbox, staying in the weeds of my studios. And only with this, you know, kind of current evolution I'm in to really show up as the leader, focusing on what I focus on. That's how I'm like kind of rapid fire releasing innovation after innovation. Um, I also just launched the flex barrel that's gonna be at all the Pilates Addiction Studios. It turns a chair into essentially a ladder barrel. Um, it's crazy. And then we also are gonna use it as a long box and a sitting box on the machine. It's fantastic.

SPEAKER_00

When you were in your marketing role, I mean, is creativity been part of your life? Absolutely. Always.

SPEAKER_02

So my undergrad is in art. Okay. And then my I have a master's in marketing.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So those two work really well together to not only sketch and ideate, but then execute and launch. And so those are two really powerful skill sets that I have and trainings that I have. But this idea of taking these ideas off of paper and bringing them into the world is really where I'm focused on right now. Because oftentimes someone who's working out at home is not someone who either enjoys a studio experience, who isn't close enough to a studio, because even as we open hundreds, if not thousands, of Pilates addiction locations, there will still be millions upon millions of people who are nowhere near a studio. They live in a rural area, they live in a part of the country that we haven't opened in, whatever the case may be. Maybe they're a caregiver for someone in their life, and it's not a possibility for them to leave. So that's another reason why I'm creating this home machine. So you can basically then have the option, like, oh, I would really want a reformer or a chair in my home instead of just the mat. The mat is so foundational. I always like to say it's like you, baby Jesus, and the mat, like that's all you got.

SPEAKER_00

So it's well, I brought my mat with me. Right. Well, my like my really lightweight travel mat. I love, I mean, mat is so accessible. You can do it anywhere. You can dial it down when you're like, I've been on a 12-hour flight, everything hurts, I just need to do lots of twisty, stretchy stuff. Yes. Um, to, you know, I'm gonna really work my body a bit to death. And I just love that's I mean, I think that's why I've loved Pilates. I love it, can meet you wherever you're at. That's exactly right. But I think to have a piece of equipment that can seamlessly fit into your home would be amazing, actually.

SPEAKER_02

Well, like we were talking about, right? So Joseph Pilates created the wounded chair to quite literally be a chair in his New York apartment.

SPEAKER_00

This is why, because I heard this from a guest on the podcast. I was like, I should have one of those. Why, of course. I mean, and you sort of Forget how powerful, like you mentioned, the chair is actually. So now you know your Pilates addiction, you're expanding. What has that journey been like? And what's brought you to the place where you're thinking of expanding this big? And as you know, I'm not surprised you've had to shift your role and have some, I mean, I'm kind of at that, not to the same level, but thinking actually there is some coaching often that's needed to shift your role. Yes. And be like, I don't know how to be in this new role. I've never been in this new role. So you've done that now. You've got all these new studios coming. Talk to me about that. How's that going to happen? Is that through franchising?

SPEAKER_02

Yes. So that is through franchising. And I'm working with Anthony and Sarah at SQL brands, and they have a track record and a history of taking, you know, brands from, you know, 10 stores, 20 stores to thousands of stores. And so it's about choosing the right partner. I've had, I don't even know how many people come to me over the years and want to either buy Windabar or be a partner with me in expansion. And this was the right duo, you know, and with their team, of course, but I knew that these were the right people. And it's just trusting that inner knowing and trusting the timing of it. I'm so proud of the work I've done. I am just in love with my clients, in love with the work that we have done together since 2012. But it is time for this new chapter. It's time to elevate, it's time to take things forward and just trusting that and knowing that is so important and working with partners who value what has been done. And so there's a lot of intention and effort going behind holding those standards, holding our values and making sure they're repeatable, right? So refilming the teacher training, very intense, you know, operations, playbooks of how how a studio is run and what our ethos is and what our culture is, because culture isn't words, right? Culture is the reward for the work you do and the standards you hold, right? And it's it's the language you use, it's the energy that the studios carry. That's how you're gonna scale and that's how you're gonna win. And we do own the education, we do own the equipment, we do own all of the pieces that are going to allow us to scale without watering down the beauty of what we're doing here.

SPEAKER_00

Do you ever worry when you look at that franchise model of who will take on those franchises and will it in any way not be quite what you envision the brand to be? Or do you feel because you've done the work of creating, you know, A, how you select those people, I imagine, and B, the work that's gone into the materials, do you feel confidence in that? Because I get asked this a lot, would you ever franchise? And I think, I don't know. It's probably a little bit about like my need for control. And I guess you have to release.

SPEAKER_02

You do, yeah. If you want to scale at this level, you have to release that control. And certainly in my role where I have, you know, allowed SQL brands now to run this, um, I've had to let go and hold on to the pieces that do matter to me. So I was involved in the teacher training with Liza and developing that program so that we can put, you know, frameworks in with freedom for the educator team. You know, there's going to be thousands of them. So that's really important that the foundational elements that the Wundaformer is now gold. Oh my God, she's beautiful. The Windiformer Orem series is this um machine that's in place. And the movement that we do on that is rock solid. And the rest of it, you know, branding is super important. We're marketers, but that is less important to me than the foundation of what we're moving on and how we're moving and the intention behind the movement. I can tell you this from the first, you know, 200 franchisees I met in Miami at our convention. We've done a bang up job of selecting really dynamic people who are aligned with the vision. So so far, so good.

SPEAKER_00

Do you sit at home and think, you know, think back to the first day, you know, you have this idea and think, how is it? I mean, it's on camera. Absolutely insane. Because it's not just a studio. I mean, it's you like you said, it's the invention, it's the product, it's the education. I mean, that's a movement. And that's all you, yeah. And that's very different. But also, it's not so different that you've left the field of Pilates, it feels like.

SPEAKER_02

And it's with, you know, authentic respect for the foundational movement and the traditional work that is done. It's with the utmost respect, but I but I also don't hold it um preciously, right? So I also have taken it into what I consider the future. It's a pretty incredible thing to look back at the coffee table window former, or at one point we literally had to like scrap the engineer we were using, and we went out like two hours outside of LA to this like bizarre little desert, like not even a town. It was like a machine shop in a desert. Just these really wild steps along the way, you know, and uh transitioning into owning studios in New York, you know, 3,000 miles away and letting go of control and trusting that team. And it really has been a process of growth for myself as a human and as a leader and as a mother, modeling what is possible, modeling, loving your work, modeling, growing without, you know, burning yourself out and grinding, growing with other incredible, like-minded humans who are aligned with the vision and being able to show up for your kids in the plays that for some unknown reason are 11:30 on a Tuesday.

SPEAKER_00

I think that all the time. Imagine being in your old job. You either wouldn't make it, you'd be so stressed out, you'd end up with a shitty conversation with a boss about your commitment. I think that all the time because running your own businesses, there's a lot of hard work, there's a lot of almost never being off feeling. However, I love it for many reasons. Yes, but I also love it exactly for that reason. It's like I can shift things and off we go to the 11 a.m. Christmas song.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, on Tuesday. On a Tuesday. And I've learned about really holding better boundaries for myself. I used to believe that boundaries were for others, and I finally now understand that boundaries are for myself. And part of that is my phone being silent and plugged in in the other room when I am making dinner or doing whatever it is with my kids. We take walks very often and the phone stays at home and building those boundaries that none of this is an emergency, my friends. You know, it is, I can count on one hand the actual emergencies that have happened inside of a studio, of all of these studios in all of these years and all of these cities.

SPEAKER_00

What happens though? So, you know, in New York, I don't know, there's a leak or something. I always think about this when I think about opening studios further away from me. And I think, you know, that I have got people to call on, but sometimes they're not available. And, you know, I'm like, don't worry, I'll get in the car, off I go and do it. How do you get around that in your head when you're like 3,000 miles away? It was a process, for sure.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, that's good to know. And it truly has been building just incredible teams and who take ownership because they are so aligned with the vision, they take ownership in it. Even in Los Angeles, my team almost entirely handles leaks, A-B system going down, spring breaking, whatever it is. They handle, I would say, 98% of what goes wrong. And if I can be helpful, I'm very happy to jump in. But it also is allowing them the, you know, autonomy and the empowerment to solve problems. I'm not the only one who can solve problems. And I kind of used to believe that. I'm a little embarrassed to say, but yeah, I used to believe that, oh, I'm the only one who can come in and save this client communication. I'm the only one who can come in and fix this or do that.

SPEAKER_00

And that's not true. It's not true at all. Someone said to me recently, sometimes you have to climb the mountain, and before you try and climb another mountain, you have to stop and look around and survey what you've done. Or are you the sort of person who's like, I've climbed a mountain, what's next? Let's do the next mountain. Do you do burning? Do you find yeah, me too? That's why I'm asking. Recently I was thinking about, you know, the ability to feel pride for your work. Not just pride in your head, but like feel it and be able to go, wow, and not try and be like, okay, what's the point of the thing?

SPEAKER_02

Is happening here.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I'm I mean, I just think your story, I mean, genuinely is an immense story.

SPEAKER_02

It's been a wild and just I'm so blessed with, you know, things that have gone right. And yes, I've worked hard. And also to hear your story about your health as well, like in the middle of miracles, like straight up miracles. There's no reason by statistics and science that we should be sitting here. There's no reason. The survival rate on the cancer I had is single digits. Wow. So there is literally no statistical reason we should be sitting here. So miracles, blessings abound 100%. And I feel like in the past, I was absolutely next mountain, next mountain, next mountain, next mountain. And that spoke to that spoke to me not having enough um self-worth. Yeah. And valuing myself enough. And I'm in an evolution and in a journey of finding that. And some of these critical moments of, you know, launching Pilates addiction and seeing that happening and literally signing an agreement in which I'm giving away, not giving away, I'm selling my IP and my, you know, branding rights. This is a powerful moment in which we look back.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And I was with my kids in New York City. How old are the kids now? They are 12 and 14. Wow. Almost 15. That's a lovely age for them to really take that in with you. They were 11 and 13 at the time. This happened last winter.

SPEAKER_01

And we were on just a family trip to New York, and we're in this, you know, um high um spot in our hotel room, and we could see from the hotel room two studios. You know, I had sent up a little um champagne for me and a little orange juice for them, and we cheersed, and it was just such a powerful moment, moment of reflecting on what it took to get there and how important it is for me that my children see that, and what a powerful part of motivation they served as for this journey. And it was just an incredible moment to look back and see what it took to get here.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. So you didn't stand at the mountain, but you did stand in a skyscraper. I like this. I can probably work with that more with a glass of champagne. Yes, I like that. We can work with that. So good. But it's just, I think what you've done is incredible. And um and I think, you know, there is definitely if you don't have that continuously climb the mountain mentality, you wouldn't be where you are. But I imagine as well, like, you know, what you went through with your health, and there's various things, aren't they? They do make you take stock and you say, okay, I can probably still have a similar drive, but boundaries, like you said, phones and space. And you know, I was just saying the other day, actually, I think the word, whenever I've for years, the word I always think of like, what do I want out of my life? Oh, it's space. Yes. And then I find space and I still it. Yes. So I'm like, no, no, no, I've got to listen. I'm after freedom. Freedom.

SPEAKER_02

Freedom in spirit, freedom in time, yeah, freedom in resources. And that's a really important vision for me to to have, you know, freedom just in life in general.

SPEAKER_00

We always end our conversations with some quick or quickish fire questions. What is your favorite Pilates exercise and why, Amy? I'm gonna say upstretch or pike on the wounded chair.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, you mentioned that earlier, and I think I love that. I love that one. It's so powerful, it connects your whole body, and it also is this anti-gravity move where it's also playful and joyful, where you're basically like, you know, on your way to a handstand. And I really, I really enjoy that and just the control it takes and the intention it takes. Otherwise, you're just riding the springs.

SPEAKER_00

Whenever I'm doing my mat workouts in the morning, I'm remembering what lots of people told me, they're normally mat exercises. But now I've got my new chair coming, Amy. I will be thinking of you every time I'm doing an upstretch. Um, a habit that sustains your energy, because oh my goodness, you have so much energy. Do you have a habit that helps you keep that balanced? I do.

SPEAKER_02

I have quite a few habits that help me keep that balanced. Um, I start my mornings with like lemon, olive oil, like elixir in the morning, before coffee, before anything else. I start my day with water every morning. And I feel like that really is an important way to kind of clear things out and get yourself going. Eating as many foods as I can from the ground, you know, from earth with as few ingredients as possible because when I steer out of that, I have less energy. I feel I don't feel as great. And moving every day, it's critical. And what does moving look like?

SPEAKER_00

Do you have lots of different types of movement that you like to do? It's primarily Pilates, of course. The stand for Pilates. For me too, actually. I think if all else fails, it's just what I do. And it just makes it was the thing that I did that just made me feel so good and still does. Every time.

SPEAKER_02

And if not if I'm not doing Pilates, it's gonna be, you know, walking, hiking, swimming.

SPEAKER_00

Those are my other go-tos. I love that. Is there one thing that you think people misunderstand about your method?

SPEAKER_02

I think that they might misunderstand that it's about stretching. I think there's a misunderstanding about Pilates in general that it's about stretching and flexibility versus about control and strength with flexibility.

SPEAKER_00

What excites you about the future of Pilates?

SPEAKER_02

New inventions and new ideas that are not only gonna come from me, certainly that's exciting for my own personal path, but I'm excited to see what others have to bring to the table because I certainly don't have all the answers.

SPEAKER_00

Was there a decision early on that changed the direction of your brand, of your life?

SPEAKER_02

Yes. So early, early days, we used to do what we would call at that time the best body challenge. And it was a time in this industry when it was very outside ink and it was very six-packy before and after photos, numbers on the scale, numbers on a measuring tape. And we used to do that because that's what you know was in the industry. And this was in my original studios, not at Wunda Bar. And launching Wunabar, I decided that we would only focus inside out. And we have never ever done anything of the sort of a best body challenge or a weigh-in or a measuring tape, because it's so much more powerful to start on the inside. And then sure your outside looks great, but that's the easy bit.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, like that is the easy- I say this all the time to be real percent. The strength and tone is actually very easy. But the the mindfulness, the feeling, the sensing, that's hard to teach, it's hard to feel, but it's what changes lives.

SPEAKER_02

It's what changes lives, and it also created a safe space in which everyone felt welcome. Because I think there can be a misconception about the industry that, oh God, it's just a bunch of skinny chicks. And that is not true, and that is not helpful, and that is not just anything that is workable. So even with, you know, with our it reflects in our team, it reflects in our clients that all shapes, all sizes, all people, all walks of life are welcome in our stores. And this is a tenet that we do with our educators on the first day of training, where we say, here's the expectation. The expectation is that you welcome all people, all genders, all religions, all colors, all sizes, all ability levels, you know, all the way down the line. If that's not for you, then this is not going to be a great fit. And one time I've had an educator leave training. One time I did because it didn't align with the way that she saw the world. And that is such a powerful part of our culture, is that we stand with open arms to serve anyone who wants to leave with us.

SPEAKER_00

I was talking about this in an episode a while back, and we had a clip of it on social, and it was me saying, I think studio owners need to do a better job of that approach and also reflecting it in their marketing, and you know, their photography needs to show a wider range of people. Yes. It went viral, but not with teachers, it went viral with clients. And I must have had about 500 comments, all pretty much saying the same thing of I'm a mid-sized person and I was made to feel really uncomfortable, or I didn't even feel like I could go. I went back to every one of them and I said, please go somewhere else. Yes. Promise to you. That is not what this industry, this Pilates for me has always been everybody. And I don't know if it's a little bit different in the States, but for me, it's always felt like, yeah, and you know, it was all about, oh, I walked in and everybody looked a certain way and I didn't feel comfortable. But I think it's such an important message to get across, actually. That's why the at-home stuff's important too, because if you do really feel uncomfortable, let's find a way. And that might give you the confidence then to go into a studio.

SPEAKER_02

And in not only in your marketing, but also in who you hire. Who are you hiring? Who are you putting on the microphone? Who are you putting in front of the clients? Is it only one body type? Then stop talking about it because you don't, you're not putting your money where your mouth is.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Amy, it has been an absolute joy to talk to you. Thank you for sharing all your knowledge and all your story. What an inspirational story. Thank you. I'm so grateful to be here with you and to meet you in person instead of just online friends. I just loved the conversation with Amy. I hope you did too. She just had this beautiful energy. She came with a gift of this um, you know, Pilates ring that she's designed. It's so interesting to hear how she kind of looked at the Pilates equipment and felt where she could change it or modify it. I love the at-home piece of equipment that she did the door, and I'm not allowed to do it. I was like, I want one of those in my house. And then I got to see her at the Pilates Journal Expo. She had a stand there. She just has this phenomenal positive energy that radiates deep from outside her. You know, one of those people that you meet, and I just loved getting to know her and finding out a little bit more about her story. So I hope you've enjoyed today's conversation. Please tell your friends, tell your colleagues. I know you're all doing that. We are growing at this crazy, crazy rate. And I'm so grateful, and it's wonderful to be here with you all. I will see you next week for another episode of Beyond the Reformer.