- December 23, 2024
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The beginning of a new year brings hope for change and a fresh start for many people, but living up to New Year’s resolutions isn’t always as easy as it seems.
That’s been the case for Laura Salata and Melissa Monoki, but they’ve stuck with it nonetheless, and the residents of Lakewood Ranch will soon have the chance to benefit from it.
A New Year’s Eve conversation about being unsatisfied with their careers led to them making a 2023 resolution to make a career change. That’s about to come to fruition after two years of hard work and careful planning.
Salata and Monoki are opening a new Bodybar Pilates studio at 8540 Heritage Green Way in East County on Jan. 20.
“We were like, ‘OK, let’s make a resolution,’” Salata said. “And we said, ‘We’re going to be the change,’ because we kept complaining and not doing anything about it. Melissa said, ‘OK, I’ll cheers to that,’ but then she was like, ‘What are we going to do?’”
A couple of days later, the two friends were on their way to watch college football at the ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa, and inspiration struck.
“We’d been going to a Bodybar Pilates, and (Monoki) is like, ‘I wonder if they have a franchise?’" Salata said. "We put in our names, someone reached out to us, and two months later, we’re flying down to Fort Worth and talking our husbands into letting us do this.”
Although both friends separately relocated to the area within the past five years, each had found a sense of community while taking Pilates instruction at Bodybar Pilates.
The journey was especially meaningful to Salata, who had weight loss surgery in 2020 and was looking for a manageable way to stay in shape.
That initially brought her to Bodybar, but it was the personal connections she made there that made it more than a workout.
“I had never loved to work out,” Salata said. “It hurt. So when (Monoki) convinced me to come in, not only was it small, but I felt community. When the franchise lightbulb went off, I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is what we can do.’
“It’s my love of fashion, staying active, and the community. Like people who have walked down my same path, we can support them.”
Plans are in the works for Bodybar to host local artists, authors and even an open bar night so there’s opportunities for new members to create those relationships and memories that have inspired Salata and Monoki.
“(Bodybar Pilates) was our happy hour, and that’s what we wanted to bring up here,” Monoki said.
Bodybar Pilates offers group-based classes using Pilates reformer machines with an emphasis on high intensity, low impact exercises.
People of all ages and all experience levels are welcome to join classes held from early mornings to 1 p.m. and then 4 - 7 p.m. on weekdays as well as weekend evenings.
The first 100 members to join receive a 15% lifetime discount. Once that threshold is reached, all members who sign up before Jan. 20 will receive a 10% lifetime discount.
The duo is also planning on opening another Bodybar Pilates location in St. Petersburg in the latter part of 2025.
