Today we’d like to introduce you to Cassidy Glad.
Hi Cassidy, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I got into group fitness classes back in 2018 after I got sober. 2017 was an incredibly low and rough year for me as I went through treatment for alcoholism and spent my summer in a residential program for 34 days. I had also discovered I was pregnant four days before leaving for residential treatment. Once I got out, I moved back in with my parents and slowly started to piece my life back together. I ended up placing my daughter for adoption and we have an open relationship. Which means I still have contact with her and her family, and we have visits as often as we can. We’re like one big, blended family!
So, with the heavy year that I had in 2017, my mom encouraged me to start going to a yoga studio with her. In addition to the yoga classes, they had other group fitness classes on the schedule, such as Barre & HIIT. I fell in love with the barre classes immediately. There was so much familiarity within barre as I grew up dancing my entire life.
8 months later I signed up for a barre teacher training at that same studio. 6 months after the training, I started teaching my own classes at that same studio.
I had this desire to continue to grow and learn more. So, I just kept going. About 7 months after I started teaching my own barre classes, I signed up for CorePower’s Yoga Sculpt Teacher Training. I started teaching at Corepower after I graduated teacher training and made it through the intense audition process. A few weeks later, the world shut down due to COVID. I pivoted to teaching online classes through the other studios I was teaching at the time. Late 2021, I signed up for my 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training through LifePower Yoga at Lifetime. Once I graduated, I started teaching all different types of classes at Lifetime. I then went on to complete my personal training certification through NASM and ended up being able to quit my “corporate job” and went all in on fitness between Lifetime and another local studio in Minneapolis.
June of 2023, my husband and I moved up north to Duluth. We knew we wanted a slower pace of life and to be closer to nature and the big lake. I continued teaching virtually through my own online studio and hosted pop-up classes around town to start to get to know people. I knew eventually I would want to open my own studio and certainly get to that point. I started to develop a “following” around town and it becomes a lot trying to find spaces to rent and host classes at. I knew I also wanted to bring in teacher trainings up here, so it would be a full circle moment to have all of this under one roof.
November of 2024, I signed the lease to my OWN studio finally. We got the keys on December 1st and got to work right away prepping the studio to start hosting some soft launch classes and getting bodies moving in the space. Roughly 3 weeks later, we hosted our first soft launch class in the studio and sold out our 50 founders’ memberships in 6 days.
Since moving to Duluth and prior to opening the brick and mortar, I’ve completed a trauma conscious training, pre/post-natal training, and am currently working on my mat Pilates certification.
It has been a JOURNEY to get to where I am today but an amazing, fulfilling process where I’ve been able to learn so much along the way.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Not one bit. I spoke about this in the last question.
Between the struggles of battling addiction and placing my daughter for adoption, which are incomparable to most struggles.
I also battled with imposter syndrome (I actually still do) for so many years and would cling on to my corporate jobs while I taught my group fitness classes around them (before and after work). I finally trusted myself enough to let go and go all in fully on fitness. I knew I had something different and special.
Moving to Duluth from Minneapolis was another challenge in itself. I noticed it was much more difficult to hear back from people or get anyone interested in partnering up with me to start to get some pop-up Move with Cass classes going. I had a few get back to me and am still in contact with them to this day, but most would either never respond, decline altogether, or ghost me. This was when I knew I couldn’t rely on others and needed my own space to bring in the steady income.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Pulse is a boutique group fitness studio in Duluth, Minnesota. We specialize in barre, burn (strength training + cardio), dance cardio, yoga sculpt, and candlelight restore classes. We are a safe place for folks to show up as they are and move their bodies in community. My focus with Pulse has always been to provide a Third Space for folks. So, they are able to have somewhere besides home and work to meet other like-minded individuals and build a strong community for themselves.
In addition to offering a full weekly schedule at Pulse, we do plenty of events in the community or at the studio. It’s a big part of our mission to uplift and support other local businesses in the community.
We have also launched and are currently in the middle of, our first Yoga Sculpt Teacher Training. We will continue to offer them 1-2 times a year, as well as launching a Barre Teacher Training this fall.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
I believe you have to have a fine balance between being empathetic but also being direct and having thick skin. Owning a business and being vulnerable in that sense is not easy, nor for the weak. You have to be prepared to handle anything that comes your way and bounce back with a new, fresh idea or take on something. There will ALWAYS be something, so how are you going to handle it and take care of yourself? Boundaries and self-care are KEY.
Pricing:
- Monthly Membership $125/month
- 8 classes/month $95
- 4 classes/month $65
- Student Discount membership $65/month
- Virtual Studio Only $45
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.pulsebarreduluth.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pulsebarreduluth/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100086964789974
