Karen Lord set her eyes on the horizon from day one as the founder of her eponymous Pilates studio.
Having started out in New York’s Meatpacking District in 2010, the former fashion and arts veteran soon attracted the interests of celebrity clients and expanded her modernized Pilates business to a 3,200-square-foot studio in the hip neighborhood of Tribeca. Then, in 2019, she took her boutique to the West Coast on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice – and has been growing in Los Angeles ever since.
Last month marked the opening of her fourth studio in Hancock Park, less than a year since a Redondo Beach location took root.
Lord sat down with the Business Journal to discuss her journey to and from Pilates, moving to L.A. as a New Yorker and the importance of stepping out of one’s comfort zone with intention and poise.
What is the founding story behind Karen Lord Pilates Movement?
My journey in starting this company was really to better understand my own body when doctors were failing me.
When I was back in New York, I was struggling from (endometriosis and chronic illness), and it was really affecting my quality of life. I was doing everything at the highest level but still suffering. And I ended up finding Pilates through a friend needing it.
I suggested he go. He took me with him to a class, and then I also did somatic work with a therapist.
And I said, ‘This is really where it’s at. I’m finding myself coming back into my body in a way that I hadn’t been since I was a competitive gymnast as a kid.’ It was beautiful to go from a very cerebral arts background back to using my body as an expression of art, just like I was in gymnastics. Pilates brought me back to that, and then I said ‘this is something that I would really love to make my life’s work.’
I sought out a great school in New York. I had a clear vision for what I wanted to do. I remember somebody in the room saying, ‘I just want to be a teacher. I don’t want to start an empire.’ And I said back, ‘I do.’
You have a background in psychology, arts and fashion. How did that background translate into how you manage your business?
The psychology piece is definitely useful, and I know it’s a tremendous part of our success. It’s simply the psychology of managing groups, the psychology of helping people be seen, the psychology of designing a space. It’s so crucial to bring that into this new space and new arena. I think it’s really set us apart through the years – keeping our clients safe, keeping our trainers safe and everybody having a really beautiful experience.
I’m thinking very much about these third spaces that we’re talking a lot about because there’s a lot of loneliness in the world. I design all of the studios myself. I’m a little bit ‘crazy’ and don’t even use renderings.
Just whatever comes out of my heart and my head, we put it onto paper and then into place. I absolutely love interior design, and that comes from my visual arts background.
I think that creating a beautiful space isn’t to be exclusive or to keep people out. It’s to invite people in. It’s to say, ‘Hey, I cared enough about you and your experience to share something that I love with you.’
Not only is design a big part of that mental wellness; I believe strongly that clutter creates chaos. I don’t allow that in my studios. One of the main principles (of Pilates) is breath. I want you to walk in and feel like you’ve taken a breath of this inviting space. It’s crucial not only to the experience of a client from the moment they walk into the studio, but then it translates to the type of workout and my specific method of Pilates.
It’s structured, but it’s beautiful, and that’s what my method is as well.
You are a New Yorker who came to L.A. What is it about the City of Angels that attracts you and your business interests?
I didn’t mean to be out here. I ended up here because the original plan was to be bicoastal, and then (COVID-19) closed the studios for a year. And I just kept flowing with L.A. It’s a more challenging city for me because I’m so used to the New York systems … there’s a whole different flow to L.A. I think it can be very isolating sometimes, so it was really important to me to have this community aspect that isn’t just innate. In New York, everybody looked out for each other. In L.A., you have to really find and create that for people.
Nature was important. When everything was closed down, (I was) getting into nature, going on hikes, immersing myself in the ocean. Coming back to L.A., it was like I found myself as a kid again. I grew up in Massachusetts, riding bikes and playing outside in the woods, and I think L.A. brought a little bit of that humanness back to me that New York had maybe pulled out. What’s important about these Pilates studios is (the practice) does … really form a community.
Here you have to seek it, and these Pilates studios are really doing that.
Pilates is a huge market, and people are getting more interested in wellness. Within this competitive market, how do you find a niche to grow into? What makes Karen Lord stand out?
We deliver the best client experience. We have world renowned trainers. It’s a founder-led company, so I’m not only (doing) the design, but I’m in every Pilates sequence that gets approved, every move that gets made in that studio, from the way that the front desk greets people to the way that our trainers conduct a class to the way that we open and close curtains, all the playlists are curated by myself.
I specifically make (all the playlists) to send the client on a journey.
Since New York, and since day one, we’ve constantly delivered an excellent product, and it really I think it absolutely sets us apart because we’re not chasing trends – we’re starting them and we’ve started it. I was one of the first people to do this resurgence of ‘boutique fitness,’ where studios are modern and beautiful, and you’re taking a more modern approach. There wasn’t that when I did it, and I saw a really empty space in that market – we made it slightly more contemporary, so it was more palatable for the masses.
And now look at what happened. Look at the way it blew up, right?
What are some core ideas, motivations and work ethics that guided you throughout the years in the business?
I believe in working really hard and not giving up. We have very creative spaces, I have a strong sense of what’s right, and I stick to that. I’m incredibly direct. I treat the people that work with and for me extremely well. I think you have to pay fairly.
It’s very, very important to treat your team well and not have just this transient, ever-changing team. You have to have people that care. I wouldn’t be able to own this ever-growing company without a strong team, and I wouldn’t be able to have a strong team unless the company was founder-led. I was working with my team every single day to better ourselves and I’ve done that since day one. It’s crucial. Even if I can’t be there physically, I’m talking with my director of training and development every single day.
To me, the biggest pillar of growth is emotional, psychological growth within the team.
I think you (should) look at your clients over your numbers because they’re going to guide you to bigger numbers. You have to know what they need but also make sure you’re listening and pivoting if something isn’t working. I’ve got my hands in everything, and I think that’s the answer. There isn’t a day where I don’t know what’s going on at each studio.
In the next five years, do you see Karen Lord Pilates growing to a bigger number fast, or is it more of a sustainable, slower approach?
Growth is absolutely in our future. In one year, we opened two huge studios. We’re taking a little time right now to nurture the communities of the two spaces that we’ve just opened, and that’s really important. But expansion is absolutely in our future. We are talking about (opening) a studio a year, but I think this year since we opened two, we’re going to take a tiny bit of space. We’re going to expand into different and possibly secondary markets as well. We’re looking everywhere.
Throughout the years that you’re building this studio, what are some challenges on the way and how did you navigate that?
There’s supposed to be challenges in business. Those challenges teach you, and they toughen you. Some of them keep you up all night crying. It’s always a beautiful journey, but all business is tough. This is an especially tough business because the fitness market, especially in big major cities, is so heavily saturated. You have to stay absolutely up to the minute on your game, or somebody else will take over.
We really struggled when we were closed for a year during COVID. I certainly wasn’t expecting to have a global pandemic. At that moment, we pivoted. We had online classes at that moment, and we started an online plat- form at that time too. We stayed the course.
We made some smart financial decisions. I think hiring is (also) one of the biggest challenges. When I’m hiring, I look at talent, but I know that we have a program internally that can develop that talent. (The trainers) have to really love people. They have to have a good heart. They have to be a team player, and that’s not easy to find. But I’m great at finding those people and developing them into really good trainers. And we’re very studio centered – our people aren’t necessarily devoted specifically to the trainer, but to the studio. While somebody’s personality and cadence may change, you’ll (always) get a strong core workout with a kind leader.
I think part of having a business with a bunch of people moving their bodies and letting out all of this emotion potentially, you have to be prepared. And you have to be prepared to treat people with a level of support that isn’t just fitness informed, you have to be psychology and trauma informed as well.
In your experience, how have people’s attitudes towards health and wellness changed in recent years, and how have that changed your business practice?
People are at once both more discerning and less informed, meaning that they want more, but they don’t necessarily know what they want because there’s so much noise out there. It’s our job to educate.
What’s important is structuring those 50 minutes that you have with a person, plus a little bit in the beginning and a little bit at the end to make these connections. Trainers have to be on point as both ambassadors to the company and a proxy for the client, so that they’re getting their questions met, and also so you can explain, hey, come back again and try it three times before you decide. Tell me what you love. Tell me what you didn’t love.
We have a little bit less time, so we really have to be on our game.
After 16 years in the business and more years doing Pilates, what is your biggest takeaway and how do you view your business legacy?
I’m so proud of what we’ve created. I’m proud of myself as a founder, pivoting in the face of absolute adversity. I’m proud of the team that I’ve created. I just feel proud that the client can look at a Karen Lord studio … and know that they’re going to get an excellent experience and they know what they’re getting. They’re going to get classical Pilates with a contemporary approach.
I’m right there taking class alongside them whenever I can, and I’m proud of our ethos. We care about people, and we care about diversity.
We care about inclusion. That’s something that I’m incredibly proud of; we’ve stayed true to who we are through all of these years.
The only thing that’s changing is we’re getting better.
If there’s a young entrepreneur who’s just starting out with their own business, what would you say as advice to them?
My advice is first to have a vision but be prepared for your experience to not quite match the vision. If you have a strong vision, be prepared to pivot. I certainly wasn’t expecting all of the challenges I’ve had in business. Know that there will be challenges and know that it’s going to be the most rewarding and also hardest thing you’ll ever do.
I remember somebody once saying, ‘It’s cute that you have your own name on the wall.’ And I’m like, ‘What? Whoa! There’s nothing cute about this. It’s hard.’ I don’t know if they would have said that to me if I was a man. Be prepared for the misogyny that comes with all of it. As women, I think we are prepared.
Offer to work for free. Be an apprentice. Watch somebody working. I really think that if you’re a woman, learn from other women entrepreneurs that have succeeded. Seek out the best, work for free, be willing to do anything it takes. You’re going to have to get really comfortable with being uncomfortable and asking people for help and offering your services. There’s going to be really uncomfortable moments, and you can’t prepare for that. It’s going to change you, and it’s going to change you for the better. There’s going to be tears, and you do really have to put yourself out there, and you really have to ask questions and create a community of advisers. Get ready to ask a million people a million different questions.
