Erica Gambrell and Ainsley Hightower came to Neighborhood Barre as clients before either considered owning a studio. Gambrell, a former University of Tennessee cheerleader, discovered the brand while recovering from an injury and looking for a low-impact workout. Hightower, a marketing and fundraising professional and mother of three, was looking for an outlet during the busy early years of motherhood.
Both eventually became instructors, learning the business while working directly with members. That experience later led each of them to become a Neighborhood Barre franchise owner. Today, Gambrell owns the Neighborhood Barre studio in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, while Hightower owns the Memphis and Germantown studios.
Fitness was already familiar territory for Gambrell. She studied kinesiology and cheered at the University of Tennessee before eventually building a career as a paralegal doing real estate title work. Her introduction to Neighborhood Barre came after a calf injury led her to look for a workout that would be easier on her body without sacrificing the challenge she wanted.
“I was pleasantly surprised by how challenging, accessible, and inviting the classes were,” she said. “It felt like a safe, welcoming space where I was never judged, which was so important to me.”
Gambrell eventually began teaching fitness classes and gained hands-on experience at a Neighborhood Barre studio in Knoxville. At the same time, she was questioning whether her paralegal career could provide the flexibility she wanted as she and her husband thought about starting a family.
“My husband and I wanted to start a family, and I knew I did not want to be in a 9-to-5 office scenario when we started having kids,” she said. “I was working very long days as a paralegal where flexible hours were promised but not delivered, to the point where I was literally changing in rush-hour traffic to get across town to teach a class.”
Hightower also came to Neighborhood Barre during a transitional period. She had studied journalism at the University of Mississippi and built a career in marketing strategy and fundraising. After having her second son, a friend who taught at the Memphis studio encouraged her to audition as an instructor.
“I have three little boys, and I had just had my second child, so I thought it would be great to do something that let me find myself a little bit,” Hightower said. “I auditioned, became an instructor, and eventually left my full-time career to work freelance from home and teach classes”
Working at Neighborhood Barre gave Gambrell firsthand experience with the business. She also saw a need in Oak Ridge for a fitness space specifically for women.
“Oak Ridge is a male-dominated engineering town with lots of golf courses, so there was really no community fitness space dedicated specifically to women,” Gambrell said.
Hightower was teaching at the Memphis studio when its owner offered to sell her the business, just six months after Hightower had her third son. She initially declined, but after talking with her father who owned restaurant franchises, Hightower reconsidered. She believed in the brand and knew that she could find success running the studio.
Using her extensive marketing experience, Hightower was profitable within seven months.Three years later, the business had achieved 30% year-over-year growth, and Hightower had signed a lease for a second Neighborhood Barre studio in Germantown.
Gambrell has focused on making the Oak Ridge studio part of the local community. She works with nearby businesses on pop-up classes and events that give members opportunities to spend time together outside of regular classes.
“You spend a lot of time working on local business partnerships and community events, doing things like ‘Tox and Talks’ with Botox after class, mahjong, and pop-up classes at places like Hops and Hounds, an outdoor dog park with a bar,” Gambrell said. “It is all about local collaboration and creating fun experiences for your members.”
Hightower is now focused on growing Neighborhood Barre throughout the Memphis area. The new Germantown studio represents the next step toward that goal.
“My main goal is for someone to hear Neighborhood Barre and know exactly who we are and where we are in my community,” she said. “I want to build brand recognition around Memphis and for people to associate our studio with an effective, inclusive and all-around fun workout.”
Ownership has given Gambrell the financial independence and schedule flexibility she wanted when she left her paralegal career, including the ability to be there for her daughter when needed.
Hightower has also prioritized balancing the business with her family. She has learned to delegate rather than trying to manage every part of the studio herself.
“I'm a mom and a wife first, so those things are still top priority,” Hightower said. “You have to find a good balance of showing up and staying on top of everything, without feeling like you have to do it all and control it all.”
Gambrell and Hightower were clients and instructors before they became owners, giving them years of firsthand experience with Neighborhood Barre before investing in their own studios. They already knew the workouts, the members and what it took to create the kind of community that had drawn them to the brand in the first place. Now, they are using that experience to grow their businesses and bring Neighborhood Barre to more people in their communities.
To find out more information on costs to buy this franchise, please visit https://1851franchise.com/extraordinary-brands.
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Erica Gambrell and Ainsley Hightower started at Neighborhood Barre as clients before becoming instructors and, eventually, franchise owners building businesses in their Tennessee communities.
Erica Gambrell and Ainsley Hightower came to Neighborhood Barre as clients before either considered owning a studio. Gambrell, a former University of Tennessee cheerleader, discovered the brand while recovering from an injury and looking for a low-impact workout. Hightower, a marketing and fundraising professional and mother of three, was looking for an outlet during the busy early years of motherhood.
Both eventually became instructors, learning the business while working directly with members. That experience later led each of them to become a Neighborhood Barre franchise owner. Today, Gambrell owns the Neighborhood Barre studio in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, while Hightower owns the Memphis and Germantown studios.
Fitness was already familiar territory for Gambrell. She studied kinesiology and cheered at the University of Tennessee before eventually building a career as a paralegal doing real estate title work. Her introduction to Neighborhood Barre came after a calf injury led her to look for a workout that would be easier on her body without sacrificing the challenge she wanted.
“I was pleasantly surprised by how challenging, accessible, and inviting the classes were,” she said. “It felt like a safe, welcoming space where I was never judged, which was so important to me.”
Gambrell eventually began teaching fitness classes and gained hands-on experience at a Neighborhood Barre studio in Knoxville. At the same time, she was questioning whether her paralegal career could provide the flexibility she wanted as she and her husband thought about starting a family.
“My husband and I wanted to start a family, and I knew I did not want to be in a 9-to-5 office scenario when we started having kids,” she said. “I was working very long days as a paralegal where flexible hours were promised but not delivered, to the point where I was literally changing in rush-hour traffic to get across town to teach a class.”
Hightower also came to Neighborhood Barre during a transitional period. She had studied journalism at the University of Mississippi and built a career in marketing strategy and fundraising. After having her second son, a friend who taught at the Memphis studio encouraged her to audition as an instructor.
“I have three little boys, and I had just had my second child, so I thought it would be great to do something that let me find myself a little bit,” Hightower said. “I auditioned, became an instructor, and eventually left my full-time career to work freelance from home and teach classes”
Working at Neighborhood Barre gave Gambrell firsthand experience with the business. She also saw a need in Oak Ridge for a fitness space specifically for women.
“Oak Ridge is a male-dominated engineering town with lots of golf courses, so there was really no community fitness space dedicated specifically to women,” Gambrell said.
Hightower was teaching at the Memphis studio when its owner offered to sell her the business, just six months after Hightower had her third son. She initially declined, but after talking with her father who owned restaurant franchises, Hightower reconsidered. She believed in the brand and knew that she could find success running the studio.
Using her extensive marketing experience, Hightower was profitable within seven months.Three years later, the business had achieved 30% year-over-year growth, and Hightower had signed a lease for a second Neighborhood Barre studio in Germantown.
Gambrell has focused on making the Oak Ridge studio part of the local community. She works with nearby businesses on pop-up classes and events that give members opportunities to spend time together outside of regular classes.
“You spend a lot of time working on local business partnerships and community events, doing things like ‘Tox and Talks’ with Botox after class, mahjong, and pop-up classes at places like Hops and Hounds, an outdoor dog park with a bar,” Gambrell said. “It is all about local collaboration and creating fun experiences for your members.”
Hightower is now focused on growing Neighborhood Barre throughout the Memphis area. The new Germantown studio represents the next step toward that goal.
“My main goal is for someone to hear Neighborhood Barre and know exactly who we are and where we are in my community,” she said. “I want to build brand recognition around Memphis and for people to associate our studio with an effective, inclusive and all-around fun workout.”
Ownership has given Gambrell the financial independence and schedule flexibility she wanted when she left her paralegal career, including the ability to be there for her daughter when needed.
Hightower has also prioritized balancing the business with her family. She has learned to delegate rather than trying to manage every part of the studio herself.
“I'm a mom and a wife first, so those things are still top priority,” Hightower said. “You have to find a good balance of showing up and staying on top of everything, without feeling like you have to do it all and control it all.”
Gambrell and Hightower were clients and instructors before they became owners, giving them years of firsthand experience with Neighborhood Barre before investing in their own studios. They already knew the workouts, the members and what it took to create the kind of community that had drawn them to the brand in the first place. Now, they are using that experience to grow their businesses and bring Neighborhood Barre to more people in their communities.
To find out more information on costs to buy this franchise, please visit https://1851franchise.com/extraordinary-brands.
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