some have a dance background, but the majority have never slipped on a pair of ballet or dance slippers,” she says. “I and my instructors are a part of that majority. We don’t have that ballet background, nor do we or you need it to take Pure Barre classes.” Smith has actually focused on her fitness since her college years at the University of Alabama, where she took fitness classes and began healthy eating habits. After college, she began working 65-hour-long workweeks at the family business, Mark’s Outdoor Sports in Vestavia, but she still made time at the gym a priority. Eventually, she tried a Pure Barre workout and was blown away. “I was never a dancer, barely a high school cheerleader at best. I thought no way would I like the barre fitness lifestyle and much less that it would actually be a workout,” Smith says. “Little did I know that it would rock my world, make me sore in ways I had

never known and soon become the only workout I would ever need.” After Smith’s father died in 2012, she wanted to branch out and open her own business, but she didn’t know what kind of business she wanted to run. “That’s when I realized how deep my love was for fitness and how much I tried to center my day around my scheduled Pure Barre classes,” she says. “So the saying is true — ‘Do what you love, love what you do.’ I did just that and reached out to the corporate office of Pure Barre. Then, I started working to make my dreams come true.” Pure Barre Riverchase opened in fall 2013; to date, Smith and her team of instructors have taught more than 6,800 classes. Smith says she chose to open her business in Hoover because it’s such a “busy” part of the Birmingham metro area. “Pure Barre is a primarily women’s workout group, and there are so many

They also sell fitness apparel, accessories and equipment.

May 2016 | Hoover’s Magazine •

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