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Scaling with Soul: How President Emerald Lopez is Shaping the Future of barre3
B3 BLOG: Emerald, congratulations on your first year as President! You stepped into this role with an impressive background in multi-site, values-driven growth. Over the past year, how have you balanced preserving barre3’s heritage and ‘women-first’ DNA with implementing playbooks and strategies necessary to scale the brand?
EMERALD LOPEZ: Thank you! It has been an incredible year of listening, learning, and mapping out our next chapter. When I stepped into this role, my top priority was to honor the beautiful, 18-year heritage that our founders and community built. Our purpose—proving that our mindful approach to fitness transforms women’s bodies, lives, and businesses—is non-negotiable. That ‘women-first’ DNA is what sets us apart.
What I’ve learned from my background in scaling brands is that culture without infrastructure cannot scale, and infrastructure without culture has no soul. To protect our legacy and achieve our aspiration of being the #1 franchisor dedicated to women’s wellness, we have to make our business model as resilient as our community. That’s why we have defined 2026 as ‘The Year of Integrity & Infrastructure.’ We aren’t changing who we are; we are setting the behind-the-scenes standards that let us grow without losing what makes us us.
Over the past year, balancing this meant looking at our systems through a dual lens. We honor the practice by anchoring everything we do to our fitness heritage and evolving our classes to deliver our distinct, mindful experience. At the same time, we are professionalizing the business by focusing on studio financial health across the entire ecosystem. We are rolling out standardized financial tools like Qvinci so every studio can benchmark its health, while significantly expanding our hands-on support and training in the field to provide our owners with personalized coaching where they need it most.
B3: Stepping into a company with such an established culture can be both thrilling and intimidating. Looking back at your first few months, what surprised you most about the barre3 community as you found your own rhythm?
LOPEZ: It was definitely a mix of both! When a brand has a community this deeply rooted, the culture is living and breathing in every interaction.
To really understand the heart of this brand, I got out into the field and visited over 50 studios. Walking into each studio, I instantly felt an overwhelming sense of warmth and authenticity. In my own barre3 practice, I can feel how our distinct approach to movement and cueing sharply contrasts traditional workouts. Instead of pushing clients past limits to change what’s on the outside, our instructors guide them to listen to their own bodies. This creates an ego-free space that removes the pressure of performance—a space where people feel safe to modify, and show up exactly as they are to find joy in movement.
Beyond experiencing barre3 around the country, I can confidently share that our approach isn’t anecdotal—it’s backed by behavioral science. We partnered with Dr. Gloria Han to conduct a mindful fitness impact study.* The data proved that when a workout is designed to support and energize your body instead of exhausting and breaking it down, it completely resets your relationship with exercise—turning fitness from an obligation into a sustainable practice that lowers stress and helps you do life better.
Ultimately, finding my rhythm at barre3 meant realizing that this approach to fitness and the community element we focus on is our superpower. It’s why our clients keep coming back to our studios, as well as the reason our franchise network continues to grow.
B3: One of your major initiatives this year has been reshaping our corporate Support Center to better champion owners at the local level. What were the biggest operational gaps you wanted to bridge, and how are these changes directly impacting our studios?
LOPEZ: As a franchisor, we need to orient all of our efforts in support of our studios, shifting from a traditional ‘Home Office’ or ‘HQ’ model to a ‘Support Center’ model that serves franchisees. Our local studios are the lifeblood of the brand, and our job at the Support Center is to clear the path for them to thrive.
To make sure we were focusing our efforts on the right things, we launched a comprehensive survey across our entire network to measure satisfaction across our teams. The honest, unfiltered data showed where we were shining: our owners felt deeply supported by our world-class training heritage and the authentic heart of our brand. We knew we needed to double down on that. The survey also illuminated some clear pain points: a need for more focused business coaching and less fragmented corporate processes.
Guided by that data and the validated needs of our studio owners, we made the strategic choice to shift resources out of the back office and straight to the front lines where owners said they needed it most. Those decisions can be difficult to make, but they are essential when you are committed to ensuring all studios can thrive.
To execute this transition, we leaned heavily into one of our core values: a love of learning. We realized that accelerating our growth required a thoughtful balance of talent—pairing the people who know the soul of barre3 with outside experts who know how to build the systems for growth.
We used those blended, reallocated resources to bridge our biggest operational gaps and impact our studios directly in three categories. First, we prioritized rolling out a dedicated field team of Franchise Business Coaches and Field Instructor Trainers. Second, we’ve made strategic new hires across our marketing team to build out performance marketing, paid media, and consumer insights to help us reach new clients. Finally, we’ve focused on streamlining the entire lifecycle of owning a studio—from a revamped real estate and onboarding process for new studios to plug-and-play marketing toolkits for our existing studio network.
Each of these changes is designed to make doing business with us seamless. By handling the operational complexity at the Support Center, we strive to take the heavy lifting that often comes with small business ownership off our owners’ shoulders. This frees them up to do what they do best: focus on hospitality, client retention, and building deep, lasting relationships with their local clients.
B3: Many of our studio owners started as instructors or clients who simply fell in love with the class. For a fitness enthusiast reading this who dreams of business ownership: What core traits define a successful barre3 owner?
LOPEZ: It’s true—so many of our owners started their journey with barre3 on the studio floor. If you are sitting at home dreaming about making that leap to studio ownership, let me debunk a major myth: you do not need a background in fitness, and you do not need an MBA or a finance degree to own and operate a studio.
The most successful barre3 owners possess a specific blend of business acumen and leadership traits. They focus on exceptional client experiences and possess a deep, unyielding passion for people. They understand that their job isn’t just to sell a workout, but rather to create a sanctuary.
Just as important, strong owners can also connect the dots locally. They have the natural ability to engage their community, build strong relationships, and network with local partners to weave their studio into the fabric of their neighborhood.
Studio owners must have the ability to build, inspire, and manage a team, from front desk staff to instructors and mentors. Our most successful owners appreciate and leverage the power of our proven franchise system; they don’t waste time reinventing the wheel on marketing engines, tech, or real estate. They take our established frameworks and ignite them with their own unique, authentic energy and passion.
B3: Building on those leadership traits, let’s talk about the broader economic landscape. With so much shifting in the franchising and wellness industries right now, is this moment a good time for an aspiring entrepreneur to invest in the brand?
LOPEZ: This is an incredible time to step into business ownership with us because the broader market is working in our favor. Research shows people are shifting where they spend. While people are actively cutting back on retail, dining out, and other discretionary areas, they are protecting—and even growing—their investment in fitness and wellness.
We are living in a post-pandemic world where people are starved for authentic human connection, and women are explicitly moving away from unsustainable fitness trends. They want science-backed wellness and sustainable, lifelong strength. What we offer isn’t just a temporary trend—it’s an essential and sustainable practice.
If you have the business acumen, the drive to lead, and the desire to build a vibrant local community, we have the infrastructure and the playbooks to help you turn that dream into a fulfilling reality.
B3: As you look toward year two and beyond, what is your ultimate vision for the barre3 franchise community and what excites you most about leading the next generation of studio owners?
LOPEZ: My long-term vision is a robust, thriving franchise network that is hitting massive growth milestones by delivering on our purpose. What excites me most about supporting this next generation of owners is providing them with a best-in-class support system to match their fierce ambition and drive.
While 2026 has been about building an unshakable operational foundation, the years ahead will be focused on momentum, evolution, and expanding our reach. I can’t share everything just yet, but I can tease a few major initiatives we are working on behind the scenes.
First, we are actively researching and designing the barre3 studio concept of the future. Our goal is to create new studio formats with different investment levels so ownership is more accessible. This includes exploring innovative layout strategies like a ‘hub-and-spoke’ model, which will make it more efficient and accessible for our franchise partners to step into ownership or rapidly scale across an entire region.
We are also partnering with leading research partners to analyze how our brand identity resonates across our entire client base. Just as we’ve spent the last 18 years innovating, we are ensuring our brand remains modern, premium, and relevant for the next 18 years and beyond.
Overall, I’m focused on setting a new standard for how a franchisor supports its network to scale. If you are looking to invest in a business that combines a deeply felt human mission with an ambitious, forward-thinking growth strategy, the future at barre3 is bright.
*Based on findings from the barre3 Mindfulness and Fitness Impact Survey led by Dr. Gloria T. Han, PhD, a first-of-its-kind study examining the physical, psychological, and daily-life benefits of integrating mindfulness with fitness.
B3 BLOG: Emerald, congratulations on your first year as President! You stepped into this role with an impressive background in multi-site, values-driven growth. Over the past year, how have you balanced preserving barre3’s heritage and ‘women-first’ DNA with implementing playbooks and strategies necessary to scale the brand?
EMERALD LOPEZ: Thank you! It has been an incredible year of listening, learning, and mapping out our next chapter. When I stepped into this role, my top priority was to honor the beautiful, 18-year heritage that our founders and community built. Our purpose—proving that our mindful approach to fitness transforms women’s bodies, lives, and businesses—is non-negotiable. That ‘women-first’ DNA is what sets us apart.
What I’ve learned from my background in scaling brands is that culture without infrastructure cannot scale, and infrastructure without culture has no soul. To protect our legacy and achieve our aspiration of being the #1 franchisor dedicated to women’s wellness, we have to make our business model as resilient as our community. That’s why we have defined 2026 as ‘The Year of Integrity & Infrastructure.’ We aren’t changing who we are; we are setting the behind-the-scenes standards that let us grow without losing what makes us us.
Over the past year, balancing this meant looking at our systems through a dual lens. We honor the practice by anchoring everything we do to our fitness heritage and evolving our classes to deliver our distinct, mindful experience. At the same time, we are professionalizing the business by focusing on studio financial health across the entire ecosystem. We are rolling out standardized financial tools like Qvinci so every studio can benchmark its health, while significantly expanding our hands-on support and training in the field to provide our owners with personalized coaching where they need it most.
B3: Stepping into a company with such an established culture can be both thrilling and intimidating. Looking back at your first few months, what surprised you most about the barre3 community as you found your own rhythm?
LOPEZ: It was definitely a mix of both! When a brand has a community this deeply rooted, the culture is living and breathing in every interaction.
To really understand the heart of this brand, I got out into the field and visited over 50 studios. Walking into each studio, I instantly felt an overwhelming sense of warmth and authenticity. In my own barre3 practice, I can feel how our distinct approach to movement and cueing sharply contrasts traditional workouts. Instead of pushing clients past limits to change what’s on the outside, our instructors guide them to listen to their own bodies. This creates an ego-free space that removes the pressure of performance—a space where people feel safe to modify, and show up exactly as they are to find joy in movement.
Beyond experiencing barre3 around the country, I can confidently share that our approach isn’t anecdotal—it’s backed by behavioral science. We partnered with Dr. Gloria Han to conduct a mindful fitness impact study.* The data proved that when a workout is designed to support and energize your body instead of exhausting and breaking it down, it completely resets your relationship with exercise—turning fitness from an obligation into a sustainable practice that lowers stress and helps you do life better.
Ultimately, finding my rhythm at barre3 meant realizing that this approach to fitness and the community element we focus on is our superpower. It’s why our clients keep coming back to our studios, as well as the reason our franchise network continues to grow.
B3: One of your major initiatives this year has been reshaping our corporate Support Center to better champion owners at the local level. What were the biggest operational gaps you wanted to bridge, and how are these changes directly impacting our studios?
LOPEZ: As a franchisor, we need to orient all of our efforts in support of our studios, shifting from a traditional ‘Home Office’ or ‘HQ’ model to a ‘Support Center’ model that serves franchisees. Our local studios are the lifeblood of the brand, and our job at the Support Center is to clear the path for them to thrive.
To make sure we were focusing our efforts on the right things, we launched a comprehensive survey across our entire network to measure satisfaction across our teams. The honest, unfiltered data showed where we were shining: our owners felt deeply supported by our world-class training heritage and the authentic heart of our brand. We knew we needed to double down on that. The survey also illuminated some clear pain points: a need for more focused business coaching and less fragmented corporate processes.
Guided by that data and the validated needs of our studio owners, we made the strategic choice to shift resources out of the back office and straight to the front lines where owners said they needed it most. Those decisions can be difficult to make, but they are essential when you are committed to ensuring all studios can thrive.
To execute this transition, we leaned heavily into one of our core values: a love of learning. We realized that accelerating our growth required a thoughtful balance of talent—pairing the people who know the soul of barre3 with outside experts who know how to build the systems for growth.
We used those blended, reallocated resources to bridge our biggest operational gaps and impact our studios directly in three categories. First, we prioritized rolling out a dedicated field team of Franchise Business Coaches and Field Instructor Trainers. Second, we’ve made strategic new hires across our marketing team to build out performance marketing, paid media, and consumer insights to help us reach new clients. Finally, we’ve focused on streamlining the entire lifecycle of owning a studio—from a revamped real estate and onboarding process for new studios to plug-and-play marketing toolkits for our existing studio network.
Each of these changes is designed to make doing business with us seamless. By handling the operational complexity at the Support Center, we strive to take the heavy lifting that often comes with small business ownership off our owners’ shoulders. This frees them up to do what they do best: focus on hospitality, client retention, and building deep, lasting relationships with their local clients.
B3: Many of our studio owners started as instructors or clients who simply fell in love with the class. For a fitness enthusiast reading this who dreams of business ownership: What core traits define a successful barre3 owner?
LOPEZ: It’s true—so many of our owners started their journey with barre3 on the studio floor. If you are sitting at home dreaming about making that leap to studio ownership, let me debunk a major myth: you do not need a background in fitness, and you do not need an MBA or a finance degree to own and operate a studio.
The most successful barre3 owners possess a specific blend of business acumen and leadership traits. They focus on exceptional client experiences and possess a deep, unyielding passion for people. They understand that their job isn’t just to sell a workout, but rather to create a sanctuary.
Just as important, strong owners can also connect the dots locally. They have the natural ability to engage their community, build strong relationships, and network with local partners to weave their studio into the fabric of their neighborhood.
Studio owners must have the ability to build, inspire, and manage a team, from front desk staff to instructors and mentors. Our most successful owners appreciate and leverage the power of our proven franchise system; they don’t waste time reinventing the wheel on marketing engines, tech, or real estate. They take our established frameworks and ignite them with their own unique, authentic energy and passion.
B3: Building on those leadership traits, let’s talk about the broader economic landscape. With so much shifting in the franchising and wellness industries right now, is this moment a good time for an aspiring entrepreneur to invest in the brand?
LOPEZ: This is an incredible time to step into business ownership with us because the broader market is working in our favor. Research shows people are shifting where they spend. While people are actively cutting back on retail, dining out, and other discretionary areas, they are protecting—and even growing—their investment in fitness and wellness.
We are living in a post-pandemic world where people are starved for authentic human connection, and women are explicitly moving away from unsustainable fitness trends. They want science-backed wellness and sustainable, lifelong strength. What we offer isn’t just a temporary trend—it’s an essential and sustainable practice.
If you have the business acumen, the drive to lead, and the desire to build a vibrant local community, we have the infrastructure and the playbooks to help you turn that dream into a fulfilling reality.
B3: As you look toward year two and beyond, what is your ultimate vision for the barre3 franchise community and what excites you most about leading the next generation of studio owners?
LOPEZ: My long-term vision is a robust, thriving franchise network that is hitting massive growth milestones by delivering on our purpose. What excites me most about supporting this next generation of owners is providing them with a best-in-class support system to match their fierce ambition and drive.
While 2026 has been about building an unshakable operational foundation, the years ahead will be focused on momentum, evolution, and expanding our reach. I can’t share everything just yet, but I can tease a few major initiatives we are working on behind the scenes.
First, we are actively researching and designing the barre3 studio concept of the future. Our goal is to create new studio formats with different investment levels so ownership is more accessible. This includes exploring innovative layout strategies like a ‘hub-and-spoke’ model, which will make it more efficient and accessible for our franchise partners to step into ownership or rapidly scale across an entire region.
We are also partnering with leading research partners to analyze how our brand identity resonates across our entire client base. Just as we’ve spent the last 18 years innovating, we are ensuring our brand remains modern, premium, and relevant for the next 18 years and beyond.
Overall, I’m focused on setting a new standard for how a franchisor supports its network to scale. If you are looking to invest in a business that combines a deeply felt human mission with an ambitious, forward-thinking growth strategy, the future at barre3 is bright.
*Based on findings from the barre3 Mindfulness and Fitness Impact Survey led by Dr. Gloria T. Han, PhD, a first-of-its-kind study examining the physical, psychological, and daily-life benefits of integrating mindfulness with fitness.
