HALO Talks: Elevating Wellness

"Culture can never be something where you just check the box. Once you've built that culture, you're not done! It takes every single day," states Joel Goldberg , speaker, broadcaster and author of Small Ball, Big Results .   The parallels between sports and business are undeniable, and Goldberg shares some 'in the trenches' stories with Pete on everything from recruiting, finding the right roles f...

Wellness 4 Every 1 aims to increase awareness of the inequalities in the wellness industry and provide opportunities for diverse communities to have access to quality arts and wellness programming, as well as a space for social and emotional well-being. Their programs are currently in 100 public schools nationwide, with 150 classes weekly (new programs are added all the time) and impacting over 10...

Kory Angelin has been in the HALO sector for over 10 years. He began as a trainer and worked his way up with organizations like 24 Hour Fitness, Lifetime, Equinox, F45, and is currently the COO of Volofit . "I think I've been in every position along the way," he jokes.  On the culture of an organization, he says, "A business is made or broken starting with the owner or ownership group. You're sett...

Katie Webb was in digital partnerships for 11 years while also working as a fitness trainer and group exercise instructor. She ending up spending a lot of time at GNC and slowly started to learn the supplement industry. "I couldn't really find any formulas that were leveraging food ingredients over ingredients I've never heard of (never mind the 300 grams of caffine!) and a lot of my female client...

Rachel Raymond served as COO for five years at Indigo Ag --one of the fastest growing companies in the space--and it was there where she found inspiration to start Purpose , "A mental wellness company that leverages the science of the microbiome to help us improve our mood." One of their biggest goals is to help the consumer gain visibility into their mental wellbeing in a way that best serves the...

A computer scientist by training, Ross Lauder , Founder of Single Focus Talent , went through an IPO with Hubspot and has ". . . worked the roles I hire for!" he states. Single Focus is a boutique executive search & career specialist for the SaaS / computer software & technology driven industries, with a focus on sales, operations and leadership roles across the EU and USA. Lauder also hosts the G...

Dr. Michelle Segar is author of the forthcoming The Joy Choice-How to Finally Achieve Lasting Changes in Eating and Exercise which will be released April 26, 2022. Her extensive academic research (and time "in the trenches" as a health coach) focuses on creating and maintaining sustainable "self-care" behaviors such as exercise, eating well, getting enough sleep, etc. Anyone who is in any way conn...

Formerly in finance at investment banks and a hedge fund, Paul O-Reilly-Hyland is currently the CEO and Founder of ZEAMO . Zeamo, "simplifies and enhances the relationship between fitness partners and fitness consumers with a digital-first approach that meets the evolving needs of the fitness industry while staying true industry partners." Currently in 2,000+ clubs, they conducted a test with McKi...

We're pleased to announce the recent merger of The Athlete Book into GamePlan !  "This is a huge strategic initiative for us," states Max Wessell, Chairman of the Board.  The industry leader in the space, GamePlan was founded nearly 14 years ago with the idea of helping athletes get jobs. Currently with 300+ athletic departments, over 100,000 athletes averaging ~1,400+ e-learning courses a day, Ga...

Many in the HALO sector already know Lee Hillman . What they may not know however is that prior to entering the space, he was a partner in one of the Big 4 accounting firms. He left in 1991 to serve at Bally's as the CFO, even before it was solely a health club business. He worked with Bally's until 2002, helping grow it to nearly a billion dollar company and is now and an Owner/Partner in Power P...

Dr. Layne Norton jokes, "I describe myself as a meathead who loves science or a geek who lifts heavy things!" A highly prominent figure in the direct-to-consumer fitness and nutrition space, Norton attended the University of Illinois (perennially in the top 5 for Nutritional Sciences) where he earned his Ph. D. He went on to earn his pro card in natural bodybuilding, and became a world record hold...

Now with 15 years in the HALO sector Founder of YBell Fitness, Aaron Laurence, found his calling and career relatively late at 35 years old.  He jumped immediately into small group training. "The one challenge I faced was around the equipment I was using," he states.  "Setting up a whole lot of stuff in the morning for 30-40 people was quite a bit of a challenge!" Host Pete Moore has stated many t...

CEO & Co-Founder of Boutique Fitness Solutions , Julian Barnes joins a rare club of HALO Talks guests making their second appearance! ( First one here .) We're proud to join him at BFS's 4th Summit, April 28-30, 2022 at the Westin Times Square .  In a quick "state of the industry" after 2 years of COVID, Barnes tells us according to IHRSA, 30% of the studio market is now closed unfortunately. He d...

Jared Hanley is the CEO and Founder of NatureQuant , a company that "quantifies" nature in a sense. In a nutshell, their tech assesses and promotes nature exposure. Hanley's background was in finance using big data, analytics, and machine learning . . . but he's always been passionate about the outdoors. "I wondered why do we feel so good when we get outside? I wanted to apply my skill set in that...

Keith began his career in the HALO sector from the ground up working as a commission-only salesman at a Powerhouse Gym in Augusta, GA. He slowly became interested in the tech side of the business as well--which was "pre-Windows" era when you had to connect computers with coaxial cables! Trawick became an evangelist for technology in the sector as the years went on. He states, "Tech companies now a...

Benj has had fascinating career path into the HALO sector. Currently the General Manager of the College Park Athletic Club , he's always been into sports as a kid (thanks in part to his Dad who coached in high school.) He lived in Sweden for a year and eventually became a Pastor for 7 years at a small church in Michigan. After returning east, his friend gave him a job in the club business, and he...

The former CEO of In-Shape, Schuler now serves as the CEO of the California Fitness Alliance , an advocacy organization working to galvanize all subsets of the fitness industry in California.  "It took this crisis to realize how important advocacy is, how hard it is to get heard in an industry that's just trying to get people healthy . . . and how much of a disconnect there is with policy makers,"...

Ntiedo has had quite a career both in corporate America and as an entrepreneur. Originally from Nigeria and the Bahamas, he learned six computer languages before age 11, eventually made his way to McKinsey, founded FitGrid (originally called YourGuru ) and, along with Julian Barnes ( his HALO Talks here ), co-founded Boutique Fitness Solutions, Etuk became interested in the HALO sector because his...

Joining us for his second appearance on HALO Talks ( first interview here ), Founder and CEO of Flexit-- Austin Cohen-- chats about rolling out their new virtual personal training platform mid-COVID and how it's been an "absolute game changer" for both their B2B and B2C customers. Virtual personal training "fits into a real white space in the industry," he states. Flexit built out their own system...

Conor O'Loughlin, CEO & Co-Founder of Glofox , is a former professional rugby player who is taking his lessons learned on the field and finding great success in the business world. Glofox raised a "humble" $2M initially, and recently received another round for a total of nearly $25M. With a fast-growing team of approximately 200, Conor and his (initially) small team bootstrapped everything, starte...

An industry veteran in the sector since the early 90's, Paula Neubert has been with Club Greenwood for 19 years. A high end, massive, 150,000+ sq foot fitness resort in business for 34 years, Paula and her team have built something extremely unique in the HALO space. "We look at the competition as ways to make us better. I can say with 100% certainty that our club is built on referrals . . . it's...

Pete Moore appeared on Matt's podcast  in August, and we're excited to introduce him to the HALO Talks audience if you're not already familiar. Co-Founder of Escape Fitness and host of the excellent, Escape Your Limits podcast , Matt's company started in the UK, progressed into Poland, Germany, and 10 years ago came to the states. He trades stories with Pete about his early trade show days and how...

Petra Robinson (aka "Mama ZUMBA!") got into the HALO sector while living abroad because of her passion and desire to help others. She studied with industry pioneers Jacki Sorensen & Judi Sheppard- Missett , became certified by AFAA in 1986, and eventually became their VP and ran their convention for 10 years! Now with ZUMBA since 2005, Robinson runs 100-120 tradeshows a year for them. She and Pete...

Robert's first HALO Talks was in 2019 where he chatted with Pete about the up's and down's of scaling a business-to-business software company. "A B2B SaaS business caught me completely off guard. It's a different totally different ballgame from running a gym!" he jokes. (Jackson also owns the high end Forma Gym in San Francisco.)  Since then, he's sold Fitness BI (which he started with only $100,0...

As the CEO & Founder of KickHouse , a new boutique franchise currently with 35 open locations, Jessica Yarmey started the company in July 2020 (right in  the middle of the pandemic!) She states, "The value add of the boutique fitness experience is real, and it's priceless to people have that guided experience." A former D1 soccer player, lifelong athlete, and 10+ year industry veteran, Yarmey has...