Women to Watch Impact Summit sponsors and Women’s Impact Network members: Join us for a not-to-be-missed conversation about innovation, reinvention, perseverance, and more with two fitness industry successes! Ruth Zukerman and Sadie Kurzban, founders of Soul Cycle, Flywheel, and 305 Fitness, will discuss their origin stories and how women can achieve success and build economic security in any industry.
This VIP event is exclusive to Women’s Impact Network members and sponsors of JWI’s Women to Watch Impact Summit. (Stay tuned for your invitation!)
Ruth Zukerman is the original co-founder of SoulCycle and Flywheel, both wildly successful companies that innovated the studio cycling movement. Ruth pioneered the boutique fitness industry by creating the “studio” with a pay per class structure, modeling them after the dance studios she would frequent when she was pursuing her dance career. Over the last decade with these companies, she has come to realize that her passion is greater than simply cycling or fitness. Her mission is to connect people to each other as well as to their own inner strength, and empower them to carry the positive, powerful attitude they have on the bike on into their lives and their careers. She speaks around the country, inspiring people to get unstuck and find new paths, and new passion for a successful second, third or even fourth act in their careers. Ruth is following her own advice and left Flywheel at the end of 2018 to pursue her next great adventure. John Lennon said “Life is what happens to you when you are busy making other plans.” Everything she was working on came to a sudden halt when the pandemic hit the U.S. in March 2020. Refusing to abandon her community, she came up with her latest venture, tru community (tru-community.com) as a way to keep her 20-year-and-still-growing following connected virtually. Through fitness classes, seminars and discussions on health and wellness she and her team encourage sharing thoughts by providing a safe space in which to do it. Ruth lives in New York and is very close with her grown daughters. Her memoir, RIDING HIGH: How I Kissed SoulCycle Goodbye, Co-Founded Flywheel and Built the Life I Always Wanted, was published in October 2018.
Sadie Kurzban is the 30-year-old founder and CEO of 305 Fitness. Named "the next fitness cult leader," by the New York Observer, Kurzban, a graduate of Brown University, has been featured in numerous media outlets like Good Morning America, Harper's Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, the TODAY show, Vogue, Refinery 29, and Fast Company for her unique ability to turn painful workouts into outrageous fun. After winning a business pitch competition in college, Kurzban bootstrapped 305 Fitness in New York City in 2012. In six years, Kurzban and the 305 team have grown a tremendous following. Over 500,000 clients have experienced the brand. 305 Fitness currently has 7 studio locations and nearly 1,000 certified instructors teaching the class worldwide.
