Meet Allie Tichenor

We were lucky to catch up with Allie Tichenor recently and have shared our conversation below.

Allie, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
Growing up with divorced parents I watched my single mother struggle and my dad work himself to the point of stress that I could recognize even from a young age. Money was an extremely tense topic in both households. I recognized the need to be self-sufficient as a way to avoid conflict.

When I was 15 I got my first job – I wanted to have money to pay for my own things and babysitting was too sporadic. My dad was endlessly proud of me. It was a nice feeling and he imparted the advice to “never quit a job until you have another job lined up.” That advice has stuck with me throughout my life.

This advice, a desire to not have conflict around money, and the example of my hardworking stepmother have rubbed off on me.

My father married my stepmother when I was 5. She worked for the same company starting as a temp and working her way up the ladder – having opted to skip college and get right into the workforce. While my mom was employed on again off again and my dad switched jobs here and there, my stepmother just kept working her way up the ladder.

When my stepmother and father divorced I saw that my stepmother was alright on her own. She bought a house nearby where she and my father had been living to provide for my little brother. She became a single mother and raised my little brother, bought vacation homes, and bought my brother a brand new car when he turned 16 – she didn’t struggle the way I watched my mother struggle.

My stepmother retired when she hit a certain number of years at her company and promptly moved to Florida… and got a job. She retired again and then got another job. When she retired for the third time she swore up and down that she was done, but I still see how hard she works for her church, to help out with my brother’s business, to pet sit, to help with a friend’s jewelry company, and anything else that she wouldn’t call work anymore. She’s still got that work ethic that I admire so much and I like to think that’s where I get my work ethic from.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about your work before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I have the absolute pleasure of helping people alleviate pain and feel better while tricking them into loving exercise. I teach Pilates. I am so passionate about Pilates that I would call myself a Pilates nerd. There’s this amazing system of exercises and apparatus that was created by Joseph Pilates and I just stumbled into it back in 2014. I had no intention of becoming an instructor and advocate for the exercise, I just wanted to enjoy myself.

Through my time doing Pilates and training to teach I realized that while there is no shortage of fitness studios in LA, or even Pilates Studios, there is an overall trend in fitness that is not very inviting if you’re already feeling like you don’t fit the mold. I combined my love for music with my love for Pilates and created a space that is welcoming to everyone, but focused on the counter-culture – especially those who may feel intimidated by the average studio. We play a mix of punk, rock, and metal music. The space is made to feel more like a neighborhood record store than a high-intensity fitness studio. We don’t have mirrors on the walls and encourage clients to come and take some time for themselves.

Pilates Punx is a woman-owned Pilates Studio offering private and group sessions for the community. We strive to be a welcoming studio that makes anyone and everyone feel comfortable – taking any of the intimidation out of boutique fitness. Our mission is to help clients alleviate pain and gain strength through proper Pilates instruction, with an emphasis on the how and the why. We cater to the “other,” the counter-culture, the folks who don’t feel like they fit in at the average studio. We are a music-driven studio with a deep connection to rock, punk, and metal music.

I’m excited to also share that we host a Pilates Certification Program – I get to help teach people how to do what I love the most and it is so incredible to see my students share the knowledge and skills that they have learned in our program. Our next cohort is launching in March 2024.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
My ability to listen and desire to understand where people are coming from has been very impactful in how I can help and relate to clients. I also have found that my ability to juggle a bunch of tasks at once has helped me become a successful business owner as small business owners have to wear many hats. My willingness and eagerness to always continue learning have been the most impactful in my journey. I would advise anyone early in their journey to continuously seek growth – to continuously educate yourself and continue to grow by learning, listening, pivoting if need be, and to never stop. Don’t think that you know it all. You will do yourself a disservice if you stop seeking mentorship, workshops, accelerator programs, or any resources that are made to help you think bigger.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
I recently gave birth to my first child in December 2023. I could not be more in love and happier, but navigating life as a business owner AND a mom is a whole new thing. I knew that mothers had a job all their own that often gets overlooked, but I didn’t quite realize what it all entails.

Everyone talks about the sleepless nights with a newborn, but no one talks about how your day is broken up in 2-hour feeding windows and that just when you start something, it’s time to feed again. My husband also runs his own business, but I watch him return to work with more time to actually get work done. He can set up meetings and not worry about whether the timing will hit just right for him to finish feeding before having to appear on Zoom. I had to host two staff meetings with my camera off because my daughter needed to feed right when the meetings were scheduled.

It’s a challenge that I am up for and I feel so blessed to have the flexibility of working for myself. I know that I will learn how to get more done and things will become a routine. I just want to give credit to all of the parents out there because until I became one, I never did give them enough because I almost assuredly underestimated what it is to be a parent.

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