A case study on building a business empire-in-the-making, proving that creativity, hard work, determination, and research can transform a passion into a real business, why believing in your excellent product is crucial for growth, leveraging people around you to jump start your business, how the use of influencer marketing before it was a thing and early adoption of social media made a major difference, challenges from having from no money for payroll to running out of cash during construction, and why you won’t hear Britney Spears in any of Heather’s pilates studios…Heather Andersen, Studio owner and Program Director of New York Pilates (a New York city-based fitness company offering music driven, small group reformer classes and private sessions),joins Socialfly founders Stephanie Cartin and Courtney Spritzer in the MouthMedia Network studios for a conversation about building her company and her journey to success, along with a surprise and a brainstorm.
In this episode:
Hosts
Stephanie Cartin is the co-founder and CEO of Entreprenista, an all-in-one platform – which includes a private community & business membership called The Entreprenista League that's made up of over 2,000 women founders at all stages of business, a weekly newsletter received by 60,000 readers, two podcasts, in-person educational & networking events, and an award program – that women founders at all stages can turn to for everything they need to grow.
Stephanie is also the co-founder of Socialfly (acquired by Truform Media Group in 2024), Markid, and Pearl Influential Capital. She has won countless awards, including the SmartCEO Brava award, which recognizes the top women CEOs in New York, and a Stevie Award for Women-Run Workplace of the Year. She has also appeared in Bloomberg, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Refinery29, and more.
Courtney Spritzer is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, author, and community builder with a passion for creating brands and platforms that empower women to lead, grow, and thrive.
In 2012, she co-founded Socialfly, a leading social-first digital and influencer marketing agency. Over the course of a decade, she helped scale the business into an award-winning agency working with Fortune 500 brands and emerging startups, building a powerhouse team and culture along the way. In 2024, Socialfly was acquired.
In 2018, Courtney launched the Entreprenista Podcast to spotlight the stories of inspiring women founders. That passion evolved into Entreprenista Media in 2021, a media platform and community supporting women entrepreneurs at every stage of growth. She now co-leads the continued expansion of The Entreprenista League, a membership-driven community and ecosystem for founders.
As an angel investor, Courtney supports female-led and mission-driven startups aligned with her vision for a more inclusive and equitable business landscape.
She is the co-author of Like, Love, Follow: The Entreprenista’s Guide to Using Social Media to Grow Your Business (2015), a strategic guide for leveraging social platforms to drive business success.
Her work and ventures have been featured in Bloomberg, Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur, and The New York Times. She is committed to championing visionary founders and helping build the next generation of impactful, community-driven businesses.
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Highlights
- How Heather discovered pilates, and what led her to open her own studio, New York Pilates
- Why the social aspect of taking classes with groups and friends is important to Heather and how that shaped her studio space and business model
- How Heather started her own studio without any outside investors
- What Heather did to market her studio’s brand, and why being passionate about your product is vital
- How Heather’s business grew from a one-woman operation to opening multiple locations
- ClassPass, and the difficulties in converting people looking to save money into reliable returning clients
- The challenges of learning how to run a business on the job
- What kept Heather going even when the responsibilities of running a studio on a shoestring budget were daunting
- How Heather is keeping New York Pilates feel like a tight knit community even as it grows into bigger spaces and new markets
- The challenges Heather had with learning to grow as a manager, and the lessons she learned through trial and error and a book that helped her
- How New York Pilates uses social media to showcase their brand ethos to potential clients
- What being an entreprenista means to Heather
- Plus, a one minute brainstorm about organization and managing ideas and goals



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