We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cassandra Cotta. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Cassandra below.

Cassandra, appreciate you joining us today. Parents play a huge role in our development as youngsters and sometimes that impact follows us into adulthood and into our lives and careers. Looking back, what’s something you think you parents did right?

My parents never put limits on me, my abilities and my passions.

They also somehow made sure I knew it was okay to be human and it was okay to fail.

Basically, they never told me there was something I couldn’t do or try.

And yes, that’s an exaggeration because of course they told me I couldn’t eat ice cream for dinner, or send my sister back, or stay out until 1am as a 16 year old. They were good, responsible parents who took really great care of me and my siblings.

But they never told me I couldn’t succeed at any of the dreams I had, no matter how hard they were or how much I stumbled along the way.

I was (and still am) a bit of a perfectionist, and as such, I was a little obsessed with getting straight A’s. They never put that pressure on me but they also made sure I knew it would be okay if I failed.

When I came home with my first B my mom got me a cake because this moment was proof that I would be okay, even if everything wasn’t always perfect and that was something to celebrate.

I was faced with a lot of adversity when I chose to pursue a serious life in dance and movement. Friends’ parents would regularly question me and tell me dance was not a good idea. My guidance counselor actually told me that I was “throwing my brain away,” and I was constantly put in a position where I had to choose between my intellectual and artistic side.

My parents? They showed up at every single performance and stayed up late with me to finish all of my AP homework. They drove me hours upon hours to all of the rehearsals. My dad even joined me on stage in whatever way he could.

And every time I came home in tears, unsure of whether or not I was good enough for the stage or for the huge project I had due the next day, they would be there to put me back on my feet and remind me why it was all worth it.

The support they gave me is immeasurable and their ability to make space for failure alongside success has made it so much easier to take risks as an adult.

They taught me that even if it isn’t perfect, it will be okay and I will get back on my feet.

And it will all be worth it. One way or another.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Pilates People is the result of years spent within the fitness and movement industry.

I was first introduced to Pilates as a teenager and it continued to come in and out of my life throughout the beginning of my professional dance career. To be honest, I hated it for years because it was always presented to me as the way to “fix” my body. Having it presented to me in that way just made me resent the practice and the people who were teaching me. It felt terrible to constantly hear about how my body was “wrong.”

In my early twenties, I finished my certification with a practitioner who was able to flip that script for me. He taught me to approach everything from an area of strength. We were never, “fixing,” anything or anyone. We were working with them and meeting them where they were, then finding the best path forward together.

That made such a huge difference to me as a person, practitioner and teacher.

It’s what I’ve tried to bring to the Pilates People table.

Everyone is welcome – wherever they are and however they are – and we all just work together to get to the next step, whatever that may be.

Because that is a philosophy that is so important to everything we do at Pilates People, we have developed as many options and as many ways for people to join in the practice as we could think of (and we are always open to new ideas!). We offer in studio Reformer classes, in studio equipment private sessions, in home private sessions, virtual private sessions, virtual mat classes, virtual classes where people with Reformers are able to join our in studio classes, and pre-recorded video mat classes that can be done literally any where at any time.

We are here to make Pilates as accessible as possible. This is an industry with a history of exclusivity and it is our belief that it is our job to do the work to course correct that in as many ways as we can, while remaining open to possibilities we haven’t even thought of.

And many of these options came directly from client feedback. Something that I am personally most proud of is our community. We could not and absolutely would not exist without the force of nature that is our Pilates People people. Each and every one of our clients is open minded, curious and hungry for movement. They are not afraid to tell us what they need, help us make it a reality and own it in their practice.

They are what has made every single thing we’ve done so far possible and I am constantly in awe of them.

4

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Pilates People is a pivot.

We started in March of 2020 – right as the COVID-19 pandemic hit NYC.

Me and all of my friends were laid off from our jobs and were faced with being unemployed during one of the scariest moments the city has seen in recent years.

So, I rearranged my bedroom and started shooting video classes, because I didn’t know what else to do. I wanted to help people and I knew that movement was the way I could do that. And, I needed to make sure I could afford to stay in my apartment.

As it began to take shape and become more than the band aid solution that I truly believed it was at first, I brought on my business partner – Jenni Sussman – and we began to hire our friends.

We have pivoted the business countless times in the little over 2 years that it’s existed.

We are a business that is legitimately founded on pivoting and I don’t see that slowing down any time soon.

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.

Jenni and I met at our previous job. I remember the first time she took my class – I was absolutely terrified. I looked up to her and respected her so much as an instructor that it was overwhelmingly intimidating to have her in the room.

Turns out, she’s one of the kindest and gentlest people I’ve ever met and she really wasn’t there to judge me. She just wanted to move her body around and I happened to be the one teaching in that hour.

Not long after that, I joined the Instructor Trainers and became her partner. We would teach 8 hour days together side by side and it really formed a bond between the two of us. Those long weekends made it very clear that we shared all the same movement philosophies and she was a person I very much wanted in my circle.

We’ve been pretty inseparable ever since.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.pilatesppl.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pilatesppl/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057569044770
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/pilates-people-new-york

Image Credits
Professional photos taken by Jackie Abbott