One year after…
A Year of Pivot and Resilience
As entrepreneurs, we're at our best when we're flexible and able to pivot, while staying strong at the core of our mission, brand, and soul's purpose. My personal Pilates practice, along with Chinese medicine healing and philosophy, helps me cultivate these qualities as a solopreneur every day.
After Hurricane Helene took out the CoreSelf studio in Asheville, I was quickly thrown into a forced pivot. Fortunately, I've been working online since 2018 when CoreSelf first launched as a video subscription platform. In the years since, CoreSelf has become a bigger online community and brand that holds my work with Pilates students, teachers who crave deeper learning and ongoing mentorship, and athletes training to be more elite, fit, injury-proof, and impactful in their sport. The studio space was perfect for my in-person and online Pilates work, plus my acupuncture treatment space for weekly patient care.
Post-storm pivot meant turning to all online work as fast as possible, then rebuilding apparatus slowly as time and means permitted—all while creating a space in my home garage studio with new, existing, and repaired apparatus for filming, online teaching, and private in-person sessions.
The Garage Studio
The garage space is sweet. Between new purchases and salvaged apparatus, I have a complete private studio of classical equipment again, with a stack of multiple pieces in the queue to be repaired. After stripping the apparatus of foam, fabric, staples, more foam, and more staples—followed by sanding and more sanding—the wood can be refinished and the upholstery redone by both myself and a professional upholstery person in town. As he reupholsters, the equipment comes back to me to reassemble with the hardware, handles, wheels, etc. Honestly, it's been a fun deep dive into how and why this apparatus works so well, and I'm not afraid of the tool work and challenge of building.
Working out of my home garage studio right now means I can serve the Pilates teachers I mentor and train around the world via Zoom. I still teach weekly live online classes to longtime clients, friends, subscribers to my video platform, plus teachers and athletes joining us on the mat or for special apparatus classes. I'm seeing some one-on-one clients in my home space as well and loving it.
In the last year, my work with the WNBA and Unrivaled has really increased, offering me incredible opportunities to support these professional women basketball players and teams across the league through in-person work, filmed workouts, and live online sessions. Having more freedom to travel in order to train these players and be with full teams has been incredibly valuable, for them and for me!
Also in the last year, I traveled internationally to train Pilates teachers. Teaching workshops and private sessions in Mexico and in Portugal were both magical trips, where I get to both teach and learn as I share everything I know and love about Classical Pilates with the students attending.
What I Miss
What I miss—and I know my community locally misses—is a full studio where we can gather for group classes all together. I miss the space where I can offer Pilates and acupuncture in one place. Currently, I have a small room I rent in Asheville for acupuncture patients here and there weekly, but having it all in one space and location is most ideal for me, and I want to find that right space again.
In looking for a new space, I feel very intentional and specific about what I want and what I'll say yes to. So I'm looking, and I appreciate the patience and encouragement of my locals—who beg for a space so we can chisel together again—and the patience of all the teachers I train who want a full studio for workshops and trainings in person. I'm offering online workshops, but yes yes yes, in person is THE BEST and I miss it too. I can't wait for a space again so I can train young teams in person on the apparatus. This year I'm going into the high school to train the Asheville High Baseball and Basketball teams in their space, which means all mat work for them (still hard work!) and no apparatus or group cupping (they're bummed too!).
Gratitude and Looking Forward
In this year of pivot, I'm grateful for all the resilience and grace I've felt from my CoreSelf community. As it goes with a disaster—and for so many who lost so much—we didn't see it coming and certainly weren't ready or wanting such a shocking, sudden shift. And yet we pivot.
I'm grateful for the online work I had going and that I could increase immediately to support my family. I'm grateful for the community of friends, chosen family, clients and students, friends of friends, and the greater Pilates community for showing such compassion and support in the moment and ongoing. I'm grateful for my garage space and my ability to film video content, connect via Zoom with so many, and keep our Classical Pilates workouts strong and alive without a big studio space. I'm especially grateful for my sister's support and her family, who waded through the mud a year ago to save what we could of the apparatus so that I have a chance to rebuild it over time.
Attached are some photos of the progress in my home garage studio right now. Some beautifully recovered pieces of apparatus—the barrels are in a color I call "metallic jade" and are so fun! Also new reformers I was able to purchase through the GoFundMe support, while the damaged reformers are still in the upholstery rebuild shop. Lots more growth and work to go, of course—we are works in progress!
I continue to mindfully look for a new larger studio space for the Asheville community in between working online and the big work coming this winter with Unrivaled women's basketball league in Miami. It's one stepping stone at a time while keeping the big goals and wild dreams front of mind.
Again, forever grateful for your support and donations a year ago, and your energy of care that continues. Now, back to another workout in my home studio so that I can continue to be as flexible and strong as I can as an entrepreneur, day to day.
Y'all are the best. xoxo