Today we’d like to introduce you to Jena Ertel.
Jena, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Probably everything starts when I fell in love with dance in high school. I think that time of life and how dramatic an artistic love can be at that time really forged an indelible attachment to movement and the joy it brings. I eventually went to school for dance at Columbia College Chicago and then got my Dance Education Certification at UWM. I went back to my roots and taught high school dance for many years and it was a truly beloved time in my life watching young women bloom into dancers and falling in love with dance just as I had.
Fast forward a bit more and I transitioned into yoga and fitness instructor in Chicago at a studio open to new ideas and supportive of innovations made by the incredible team of teachers we had there [Shout out Indigo Studio!]
My friend and fellow fitness professional, Matthew Hollis had been asked by the city of Chicago to create a ‘cheer fitness’ class for the summer fitness program. In a previous year, he had been given a grant by the city to study cheer in preparation for a full-length performance that focused on being your own best cheerleader. He also is the creator of the cheer-based, rotating performance group called the Power of Cheer who would do various performances including the halftime show for the Windy City rollers.
After a successful run of the ‘cheer fitness’ classes, Matthew showed me some of his hot moves and I could see that it was IMPERATIVE that we bring this magic to the masses. So, with our combined knowledge of movement, physical fitness, and experience instructing, we put together our first workshop at Indigo in 2011 and called it ‘Cheerobix’ It was 90 minutes of dance routines and conditioning [with poms!] and we were so excited to have the 15 or so people come give it a shot with us. We did another workshop the next month and more people came! Soon, we were filling the space so much we had to move to a bigger space and added a second class. Our squad was very loyal and we began to get enough interest from people to teach it that we created a training. Once again, being able to utilize our combined schooling in pedagogy and how to teach teachers in the most effective and engaging way so that our Captains are consistently excellent at their jobs and happy to be leading their own squads.
At our 5 year mark we knew that we’d need to change our name due to the complication it seemed to cause [people were always calling it Cheerio-BOX!] Plus, they didn’t really know what it was just based on the name. So after many months of focus groups and tossing 5 zillion names around we landed on POMSQUAD Fitness and re-launched with a successful Indiegogo campaign raising over $10,000 to support the promotion and transition from our previous incarnation to the newly minted PomSquad Fitness. Today we have 20 instructors and classes over Chicagoland and beyond with expansion plans into the Midwest and coasts.
Has it been a smooth road?
Oh gosh no! Is it ever? But as businesses go, it’s been pretty joyful and low stakes. Personally, since I manage the business end as well as handle a portion of the creative things AND teach 10-12 various fitness classes per week, the biggest blip in our business’ lifespan was when I was pregnant and after having my son. I taught till I was 8 months pregnant somehow. [sheer will!] but once that guy was born, it took quite a while to get back to the business with the same effort as I was able to put out before motherhood. Now, I had to balance being a mom with my various teaching jobs, running PomSquad, and trying to up a level as a business into expansion and new directions. But the going was very slow. It took about a year to get back on track and then we began our re-launch discussions. So, it wasn’t necessarily a bumpy road, but definitely a slow down in momentum, which is tough in our industry! Everything moves fast and it’s all about trends.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the PomSquad Fitness story. Tell us more about the business.
Oh, I LOVE this question! PomSquad is literally the most fun you’ll ever have working out. We create easy-to-follow, but physically demanding dance fitness routines set to all the songs you love from today and yesterday that challenge your body and mind. Every class will burn about 10 calories per minute and we get about 6000 steps or more in an hour-long class. But the one thing that has always set us apart and kept our squadmates [students] loyal is our relentless hyper inclusivity and personal connection. From day one, I think we were so touched that people would join us for our weird idea of a class that we just knew everyone’s name, personally reached out to make sure they came back and welcomed newbies with open arms. And that feeling of community would catch on within the class as well. Students would welcome in other student and introduce themselves and others to make them feel at home. It is included in our mission, which also sets us apart! We have a mission! To inspire every squadmate to express his/her own inner cheerleader, to create a squad spirt, and to provide a physically demanding experience for the squad that provides proven results. I feel most proud of the community that we are building, but I also feel pretty confident to say that we have the most physically demanding dance fitness format out there. [oh and, of course, THE POMS!!!]
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I think that formats will always shift and utilize tried-and-true methods with new twists. I think with dance fitness specifically, we’ll see a need to shift focus from live classes and teacher training to online options. Or at the very least, a strong online presence to create excitement for live classes. But honestly, nothing ever replaces the group dynamic of a dance fitness class and the energy the room of people provide. As much as people ask us to give them DVD options and online options, they ask us about classes where they are and teacher training as well. BUT video of formats doing their thing is going to be crucial to getting the message further
Pricing:
- Special Sunday Workshops $15 for one squadmate/$25 for two/$35 for three
- $15 cash at the door for 10 AM Saturday classes w/the Jenarator at HiFi
- Captain Training as low as $169
Contact Info:
- Website: pomsquadfitness.com / jenaertel.com
- Email: info@pomsquadfitness / jena.ertel@gmail.com
- Instagram: pomsquadfitness / iamthejenarator
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pomsquadfitness/
- Twitter: pomsquadfitnes
Image Credit:
Jamie Ramsey, John Asta
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