In Chicago, where competition often reigns in the business world, some women-owned fitness studios are redefining success by prioritizing community over rivalry. For four of these studios, collaboration is the heartbeat of their businesses, proving that growth doesn’t have to come at the expense of connection, or accompanied by hardships — such as loss and personal struggle — that can shape the entrepreneurial journey.
“The industry can feel so cutthroat, especially for women,” said Aubre Winters-Casiano, owner of Sweat Sessions Studio in the Bucktown neighborhood. “I wanted to change that narrative by creating a space where we can lift each other up instead of competing.”
Winters-Casiano, 36, launched Sweat Sessions online in 2020, focusing on empowering people through movement. With her background in dance and a performing arts degree, she offers dance cardio, barre strength and yoga-based classes. Her app and now her in-person events have helped shape her teaching style.
Despite years of growth and success on social media as a fitness instructor, Winters-Casiano still had a long-term dream: To open a bricks-and-mortar space for group fitness.
In spring 2023, she and her husband, Brendan Casiano, began searching for a studio while Winters-Casiano was early in her first pregnancy. By July 2023, it felt like that dream might come with a cost.
“When I miscarried, I was like, what is the universe trying to show me?” she said. “What is it teaching me? Do I need to let go of one dream in order to have something else come through?”
As they worked through grief, they continued their search. By October 2023, they learned they were pregnant again and also toured the space that would become Sweat Sessions. They signed the lease in early June and later that month, they welcomed their son, Camden.
“It’s been fun having him a part of this journey,” Winters-Casiano said. “I’ll get to look back one day and be like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I did this wild thing at the same time as having my son.’ It’ll be an epic thing to look back on.”
Winters-Casiano wasted no time utilizing her new space — which opened to the public in October — and immediately implemented a residency program that allows other up-and-coming women entrepreneurs the space to build their confidence in the field through one-on-one mentorship and access to the Sweat Sessions studio.
Part of this benefit includes a revenue share between Winters-Casiano and the mentee, so the mentee doesn’t have to worry about paying a studio rental fee upfront, a common obstacle for many newcomers.
“I know how tough it can be starting out, especially in an expensive city like Chicago,” she said. “That’s why we offer residents a structure that allows them to grow without the immediate pressure of finances. It’s about giving them the space to focus on their craft first.”
The local growth in women-led ventures mirrors a broader trend. In 2023, nearly half of all new business owners were women, a significant jump from just 29% in 2019, according to a report by Gusto, a company that provides payroll, benefits and human resources management software. This shift is also visible in the fitness and wellness niche.
Winters-Casiano said she sees her philosophy echoed by other women in the Chicago fitness scene, including Daryn Schwartz, owner of The Space Between studio in the River North neighborhood.
Schwartz opened her studio in 2018, emphasizing immersive movement, meditation-based experiences and weekly yoga classes. She launched the studio’s first 200-hour certified yoga teacher training in 2023 and creates opportunities for continued education to help the instructors grow.
Through the last seven years, Schwartz said, her goal was to bridge the gap between other up-and-coming studio owners.
“The mission of The Space Between has always been to provide a space for people to breathe, connect and heal,” Schwartz said. “And that’s not just for our clients; it’s for other studio owners, too.”
In spring 2024, Schwartz hosted a lunch for female studio owners across Chicago to connect, share challenges and celebrate successes.
“I had this experience really early on after we opened where I got asked to leave another yoga studio and not come back,” Schwartz said, explaining that she was seen as a competitor even though she was there as a student. “It was then that I realized that we’re better together and that we should be working alongside each other. And I think from the beginning I really adopted this concept of collaboration over competition.”
This spirit of connection and mutual support is echoed by Eleanor Sheers, owner of Forth Movement Studio in the Logan Square neighborhood. Forth incorporates four modalities that serve as the base for what its studio offers: yoga, breath work, strength and meditation-based classes.
Sheers, who attended the lunch Schwartz hosted, credits the experience with deepening her connection to other like-minded studio owners in the city.
The studio owners who attended the lunch “prioritize the business side, but also the mental side of it as well,” Sheers said. “This is how we want to serve the world right now in our lives.”
Sheers’ commitment to the business grew from noticing there wasn’t a studio within walking distance in her neighborhood. For her, it was all about accessibility, making it easy for people to get there. Her focus was Milwaukee Avenue, where Forth opened and which she describes as the heart of the Logan Square neighborhood. Sheers wanted it to be convenient and ideally a five-minute walk from the nearest CTA train stop.
“I had traveled a bit in Europe and there were these awesome one-room studios with amazing communities,” Sheers said about her inspiration for Forth. “(They had) such a local, vibrant community that you honestly don’t see a ton in studios these days. I wanted the feel of when you go into the studio, you know the people around you and you know your teacher.”
One day, Sheers sat down and plotted each of the Forth members on a map and saw they all lived within walking distance or a quick drive. She realized that not only had she accomplished her goal of creating a fitness studio but had also built a community hub — a place where neighbors connect naturally.
As the community-building ethos spread across Chicago’s wellness scene, accessibility became central to Julia Perkins’ mission at Studio Yogi in the South Shore neighborhood, which she opened in February 2022 after seeing a need in her neighborhood.
“I’ve been practicing yoga for … maybe 18 years, and I would always have to go outside of my community to go to a studio,” Perkins said.
Studio Yogi offers affordable yoga to a historically underserved community, with drop-in classes individually priced at $14. Affordability is central to Studio Yogi’s principles, where the cost of attending a class to improve one’s well-being shouldn’t feel like a barrier.
The well-being of people in underserved areas is often “more challenging than those communities that have deeper resources or access to more resources,” Perkins said.
Perkins ensured Studio Yogi’s long-term sustainability by buying the building, which houses four storefronts, two of which are leased.
This creates a foundation for what she envisions as a “mini health and wellness hub,” with tenants like South Shore Works, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to offering education, financial counseling and community organizing.
This strategy is meant to guarantee that the space will remain accessible and offer opportunities for other local, small-business owners.
“At the end of the day, it’s always about the people,” Perkins said. “Service to people, service to community, right? I think that is a driving force for us.”
The drive to create spaces that support not just the body but the spirit is what ties all of these studios together. Whether through accessibility, mentorship or overcoming personal adversity, these women say they have created more than businesses — they’ve built homes for their communities, spaces where other women can grow, heal and thrive.
“Everyone needs movement,” Winters-Casiano said. “Whether it’s dance cardio with me or strength with this trainer or pilates with that trainer, everyone is different. Everyone has their uniqueness, their own special sauce. People everywhere need something. If I can just give a little bit to someone else to help them have the confidence or put one foot in front of the other, to motivate them to do that, then I will.”
Mariah Guzman is a freelancer.