We’re posting transcripts of Working, Slate’s podcast about what people do all day, exclusively for Slate Plus members. What follows is the transcript for Season 5, Episode 8.

In this episode of Working, Slate’s Rachel Gross talks to Zumba guru Barbi Larue about the fitness classes she designs and teaches in the Washington, D.C., area. Barbi teaches classes that range from boot camp and Zumba to her own very own original TwerkFit class. How does she give each class its own personality, and what’s it like to teach such a range? Plus, what’s the secret to pumping everyone up when you’re feeling down yourself?

Think you’d make a great fitness instructor? In a bonus segment exclusively for Slate Plus members, Barbi takes you inside the Zumba fitness empire. Find out how to get started yourself!

To learn more about Working, click here.

This is a lightly edited transcript and may differ slightly from the edited podcast.

Rachel Gross: Welcome to Twerking—I mean, Working, Slate’s podcast about what people do all day. I’m Rachel Gross, a writer for Slate who covers science and food. For the last episode in this season, we’re talking with someone whose job is to pump you up when all you want to do is curl up and go back to sleep.

Barbi Larue is a fitness instructor who teaches boot camp, Zumba, and her patented TwerkFit classes in the D.C. area. And in a Slate Plus extra, Barbi teaches us the inner workings of the Zumba empire.

What’s your name, and what do you do?

Barbi Larue: My name is Barbi Larue, and I am a fitness instructor.

Gross: And what kind of classes?

Larue: I have everything from Zumba to boot camp and TwerkFit, which is the newest addition. Boot camp, it’s a lot tougher. You’ve got to be more disciplined to do it. And you have to have a whole different mindset. And so, when you come into boot camp it’s not just tough on your body but on your mind too, because you have a goal at the end. Your job is to get from A to Z. My job is to push you.

When you come to a TwerkFit class, you come in there to dance, have a good time, and work out. So I, myself, have to be two completely different people as well. I mean, I’m still pumping during boot camp. I’m like, yeah let’s go, let’s go. But I’m in your face challenging you. I’m doing pushups with you, burpees.

When I’m in TwerkFit, I’m like, shaking the A, let’s go girl, pop, yeah. So, it’s two completely different personalities.

Gross: Very different relationship with your students. Let’s start with: When you have an idea for a fitness class, how do you start planning that?

Larue: First, I would come up with the music, which is the most important, because you kind of have to come up with a good concept of high-intensity song, and then low-intensity, and then high-intensity. Because if you have high intensity back to back to back, you know, it’s a lot on the heart. And a lot of people can’t handle that. Me, because I’ve been working out for so long, I might be able to handle it more than other people in my class that are newer.

I try to incorporate everything, hip-hop, African music, Jamaican music, especially with the TwerkFit. Anything that you can shake to, I make sure I have. And the slow jams, Christina Milian, Trey Songz, anything. Anything that you can whine to.

Gross: That you can whine to?

Larue: Yeah. Whine. It’s like when you move your hips slow.

Gross: OK. I just learned.

Larue: TwerkFit is a full-body dance. And it’s more than just shaking your butt. It’s abs, waist, and legs. And when you whine, you’re using your core a lot because you’re moving your waist side to side or moving your hips slowly, rather than just twerking and moving rapidly. The slower it is, the more intensified it’s going to be.

Gross: Got it. So, this class is like doing sprints and then slowdowns. What do you call that?

Larue: Like, doing intervals.

Gross: Intervals, yeah. So, TwerkFit’s kind of like an interval training class.

Larue: Only you’re dancing.

Gross: Only you’re dancing with your whole body.

Larue: First time’s always a warm up. So, we’re just getting our bodies shaking, like, easy steps. Arms up, arms down, just getting the blood flowing. I really, really like fast-paced songs, just get them, like, off, you know—like, get them started, get them pumped and we’ll keep that going for a little bit.

Gross: So, once you come up with a class and you have your soundtrack laid out, how do you start scheduling it and then promoting it?

Larue: Once I have my entire class from A to B, then I’ll sit and I’m like, OK I need a space, I need a contract and I need to start marketing. So, I book down a space. I talk to the owner. I made a contract with them saying I want to do a class here. One at the beginning of the month, one at the end of the month.

And then, I went back to my marketing person who does the fliers and I had pictures done for the fliers of myself, fitness pictures of me dancing or just me in workout clothes. Because you want people to see your face, you know? You want them to see who you are on your flier.

Gross: A personal connection to you as a fitness instructor.

Larue: Exactly. It’s, like, you want to familiarize them with you and your face and your name.

Gross: You’re kind of selling yourself, in a way.

Larue: Exactly. Exactly. People have a lot of choices of workouts, especially in D.C. You have studios everywhere. You have pole dance, you have kickboxing, boot camps. So, people come to see you. People come for your energy at the end of the day and not just a workout.

So, the more personal you make it, the more you brand yourself, the more they see your consistency of your name and your face out there, the more likely they are to connect with you and come to your class.

Gross: What kind of Internet promotion do you do?

Larue: I do all social media, all social media. Twitter, I’ll create the events. On Facebook, and I’ll just keep repeatedly posting on Instagram. The best times to post are usually early on the morning when we’re going to work, especially on the Metro. Or, when they wake up, what do they do? They check their phones. So, between 6:00 and 8:00 a.m., I’ll post one, and then after work when everyone’s getting off and on their phone again, I’ll post it again around 5:00 and 6:00.

Gross: Right. They’re thinking, like, I really need to work out. I’ll just like this post and then I’ll feel like I worked out, yeah.

Larue: Yeah, I mean, they see it, and they’re like hmm, what am I doing this weekend.

Gross: Right.

Larue: And they think might as well go check out this class. So, yeah.

Gross: So, you schedule the class with the venue. It’s the day of this class that you’ve developed. How do you prepare for it before you get to the space?

Larue: I actually do a full run through of the class the day before, actually, just to go over in my head, especially if I have new songs or if it’s a new class. Because, obviously, you’re always going to be nervous when it’s a new class. And the day of, I always just relax until an hour prior, and get dressed.

I always like to seem ready. So I’ll shower. I usually get a new outfit for every class, especially if it’s something fun like TwerkFit. And I’ll go buy everything that I need the day of.

I like making connections with all my classes. So I’ll get all the refreshments and fruits and stuff like that that we’re going to need, for after the class. And on my way to the class, I always blast my music in my car, get pumped, make sure that my energy’s high no matter what’s going on in my life and just have a clear mindset.

I have a job to do. I’m here to make these people happy, make sure we have a good workout, and bring the energy, because that’s what they’re coming for.

Gross: Right. Is that hard sometimes to get in the zone? Do you have a particular song that you listen to to get into it?

Larue: I love Jennifer Lopez. Any Jennifer, “Booty,” “Dance Again.” I love all of Jennifer Lopez’s music. I really relate to her in a lot of ways. Just the way that she has come up and how she dances, how she moves, her energy. I love her. So, I always play Jennifer Lopez.

Gross: She’s the big one. How do you physically set up for the TwerkFit class, and then the boot camp class?

Larue: The boot camp class, I always have a game plan. I have my notebook filled with goals for the month. So, when I come in, I know what my stations are, or if we’re doing stationery workouts.

If we need a mat and weights prior to the class, I open up the weights. And if I have to set up with the cones, with the bosu balls.

Gross: What’s a bosu ball?

Larue: It’s the black and blue ball. We use that for a lot of ab workouts or we pick it up and we do burpees, pick it up, down, put it back down, burpee. We do planks. If you do a regular plank on a floor, imagine doing a plank on the bosu ball. I add it for different things.

I have so many tricks in my boot camp class that I do with them. Anything I find, and sometimes they walk in and they see it’s like a jungle. They’re like oh my God, what are we doing today?

Gross: What did we get ourselves into?

Larue: They already know. They’re like, Barbara, what is this? Barbi, what are you doing today? You’re killing us. And I’m like that’s what you’re here for.

Gross: Right. That’s what you pay the big bucks for.

Larue: For TwerkFit, it’s, a completely different vibe. So, I’ll make sure to bring champagne glasses, plastic champagne glasses and sparkling water, strawberries, or fruit bowls. So, I’ll set that up. I also have a picture station with a photo booth sort of area.

Gross: Feels like a bachelorette party.

Larue: It’s like, you want to come here to feel sexy, have fun, and you know, afterwards we get to stay around, mingle. So it’s, again, two different vibes. But I always come prepared for both.

Gross: So, during the class, what’s going through your head as you’re the instructor, keeping an eye on all your students, and going through your routine?

Larue: I’m in my own world when I’m teaching. So I get there, people are usually waiting, and I just introduce myself if I don’t know you. I walk around, make sure that everyone’s, pumped, everyone’s ready. If it’s a TwerkFit, have their knee pads ready because we’re on the floor a lot. They’re volleyball knee pads that you would wear. I come prepared, water, boom.

Class is about to start, and I go into a different mindset. It’s, like, a whole new me, and I’m OK. Now it’s time to get to work. My mind, body, soul, everything just shifts. And I’m making sure that everybody’s having a good time.

I’m in your face whether we’re twerking or doing pushups. I’m there pushing you, making sure that everybody’s OK. I’m always stopping. If you feel like you’re overexhausted, stop, take five seconds, 20 seconds. Step to the side.

Don’t feel you have to push yourself past your limits. I keep reminding people that, because a lot of the time, people are very hard-headed and they want to keep going, which I appreciate, but you always have to be mindful of that.

Gross: And how do you start cooling people down?

Larue: It was, say, like, before we have the last song, OK, guys, this is the last one. Last song or last workout. You know, give me all you got, let’s do it, let’s kill it. Give me all your energy. This is do or die. So, they know that that’s it, and then after that we’ll go into the cool down.

I always finish with a big bomb. If it’s a TwerkFit song, I might finish with a crazy EDM song, freestyle it, just follow as I do or do what you want. I’ll just blast the music and I know you’re dying, but give me this one last round.

And that usually gets them very pumped because it’s like, OK, I’m almost there. It’s like, when you’re running, you have that one block. OK, I can know I can. Just one more block. I’m going to give it all I got, because you feel so much better when you finish it. Letting them know that they’re close goes a long way.

Gross: I swear, five more minutes.

Larue: Yeah. Like, I know it hurts. We’re almost there.

Gross: Speaking of it hurting. You do so many different types of classes, are there times when you have to do three classes in a row and you are having trouble getting through it?

Larue: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. But you know, the thing is that I don’t feel it until I finish the class because my adrenaline is running through that class. Like, my energy, my blood is just pumping. So, I don’t feel anything. I’m sweating and I’m doing everything but I don’t feel it until after the class.

And then, I have to go to the next class and I’m already in pain. But once my blood starts flowing and I start flowing, it’s just, like, I don’t even feel it. As an instructor, you’ve probably seen this, when you’re teaching the class you start the first eight count, and then you walk around and make sure they’re doing it right. But you’re really just resting. You’re like, yeah, get lower, squat lower, but you’re really just standing there like, my legs are killing me, I can’t squat anymore.

Gross: Now I know what my instructors are thinking.

Larue: There’s tricks. There’s tricks.

Gross: Work harder! (I’m so tired.)

Larue: You definitely have to balance it out, because it can be a lot.

Gross: I was wondering if you could show me a move.

Larue: Absolutely. Let’s do it.

Gross: Thanks Barbi. OK.

Larue: Get up.

Gross: Let’s see what we can do on these carpeted floors.

Larue: Yeah, well we can’t do any floor moves because we would get rug burn. But we’ll start with a basic twerk. So, you’ll be like standing shoulder-width apart and then you’ll bend your knees down a squat, and then put your butt up, and then you slap your palms on your thighs.

Gross: Alright.

Larue: And you just kind of move your butt. Like, you’re just going to—

Gross: Wait. How do you do that?

Larue: Arch your back in.

Gross: My back doesn’t do that.

Larue: And up.

Gross: Damn. OK. OK.

Larue: Then you just pop it.

Gross: I can do this. I got this.

Larue: There you go. Just pop it. Just pop your butt.

Gross: Up and down?

Larue: Yeah, almost out, and then out.

Gross: OK. I think I got it. Nice.

Larue: That’s, like, the basic twerk.

Gross: Just do this for, like, an hour?

Larue: Yeah. And then, shift your hip to one side, right, left, right, left. In shifting your hip, your knee will slightly bend. So, shifting your hip to the left, you’re going to be slightly bending your right knee.

Gross: Got it.

Larue: And then, you do it the other side.

Gross: You move your whole hip. Pop, pop.

Larue: And basically, you’re moving your butt because you’re bending down.

Gross: Got it. Oh my gosh. I think this is working. What?

Larue: Good job.

Gross: Thank you. Oh my gosh.

Larue: It’s a workout.

Gross: Serious. I’m going to sit down now.

Larue: Now you know how to twerk.

Gross: Now, I know all the moves. All the one move, yes.

Larue: That’s all you need. Start with that. Add some music.

Gross: Baby steps. Cool. So, when you have new people in the TwerkFit class, what do they normally have difficulty with and what do you have to correct them on?

Larue: This is going to sound weird. Literally moving their butt. It’s a muscle they have to train, surprisingly enough. So, a lot of the times their posture, they have to make sure that they’re arching their back and they’re bent a certain way, their knees bent a certain way. And they’re, like, I can’t shake it like that.

Gross: Yeah, I can’t.

Larue: If you just keep popping it and practicing, you’re literally training your muscle. Your butt is a muscle that you have to train.

When I first was starting, I couldn’t move it like this either.

Gross: Right. I’ll watch the Big Freedia movies or Justin Bieber’s “Sorry,” and I’ll be like, I want my body to move like that, but I can’t.

Larue: Yeah, I mean, that’s the reason why I tell people we’re here to have fun, let loose. Don’t even stress it. If you want to just go in, go all out, just let loose. We’re all women in here. We’re all grown. We’re not going to call each other any names, you know. This is a class where you’re going to sweat, you’re going to work out, yes, but you’re also here to have fun.

So don’t overthink it. Don’t overstress it. Just keep coming. Just keep practicing it. It’s the muscles that you have to train, if you can’t perfect the twerk, you eventually will. But just have a good time.

Gross: So, is there one type of student that comes to your boot camps and TwerkFit classes?

Larue: Yeah, definitely. It’s two. Two different personalities. I do have a few ladies that come to both, because of course TwerkFit is only for ladies. I’ve had men try to ask me to come, but I think they want to come for the wrong reasons. Therefore, I do not allow it.

Gross: So, you do want to have it as more of a safe space.

Larue: Yeah. I don’t want women to feel uncomfortable, because we are getting down.

Gross: Getting real sexy.

Larue: Yeah. It’s for you to feel good about yourself. You know, bring your sex goddess out and just be you and just enjoy yourself.

Gross: What if I’m a guy and I really want to come to twerking class and I really want to learn how to shake my butt?

Larue: I don’t know. I might be opening that door. I might be opening that door for certain males. I just have to see that they have the right intentions for coming in, you know?

Because I don’t want the women to feel uncomfortable. So, if it was, like, a guy that’s going to stand in the back and stare. If a guy comes, I’ll make him sit in the front. You’re going to be up front with me. You’re not watching anybody but yourself.

Gross: So, we’re watching you.

Larue: Exactly.

Gross: So, it’s more about the comfort level of women and just making sure that you’re being conscious of that comfort level.

Larue: Yes. It’s all about a safe, open space.

Gross: So what kind of students do come to both of those classes, what kind of people are coming?

Larue: I have everything for boot camp, I have mid-20s to late 50s.

Gross: Right, and guys and girls?

Larue: Guys, girls, professional. A lot of people come after work. Classes are usually around 7 or 8, so a lot of people come after work.

Gross: And you used to teach boot camp in a government building, is that right?

Larue: Yes. So, we’ll have that, actually, midlunch. We had Zumba on Wednesdays, boot camp on Thursdays.

Gross: So, office people on their lunch break just getting down. Getting sweaty before they return to the office to sit in their chair for the rest of the day.

Larue: Yep. Then they go shower and back to work. But I actually really liked working at that place because they were very involved with fitness. They would push the employees a lot. They gave them a stepper and if you got a certain amount of steps per month, they would reward you. We have challenges every month.

If you lose this amount by three months, you know, you get rewards. And we would have pull up challenges. They were very, very involved with fitness. I actually loved working there. It was a lot of fun.

Gross: What are the reasons that people will come to your class, do you think?

Larue: Being in a group setting where everyone’s going through the same struggle, everyone’s in the same pain, but everyone’s going towards that same goal, I think it just brings a good energy and helps people get their mind off whatever’s going on in their everyday life. A lot of people come to destress.

Gross: Are there any specific students? What kind of things are your students trying to escape from?

Larue: I have a little bit of everything. I have a single mom who comes to most of my Zumba classes, and we have a daycare in the gym, so she’ll leave the baby there, and she’ll come to class. And she’s like, this is my favorite hour of the day. I just feel so good. I feel so sexy when I come out. I’m all sweaty, and you know, it just makes me feel so good about myself. You motivate me and this is what I needed. So, that’s what people are looking for.

You’re there to bring the energy. You’re there to bring some light into their lives. You’ve got to remember that you can’t just go up there, like, OK guys, one, and two, and three. OK, get down.

Gross: How do you have to go in there and do it?

Larue: You have to pump them up. You have to reassure them. You can do this. You got this. Come you on guys, keep pushing it. Give me all you got. Just get them motivated. I’ll start yelling, especially if we’re doing boot camp. I’m like, are you going work for it or not? How bad do you want it? And they’re looking at me, like, Barbi …

Gross: I’m scared.

Larue: They’re like, we’re doing a plank and they lay down. I’m like, nap time? This is not nap time. You sleep when you get home. And like, OK, OK, OK. I’ll get up.

Gross: Yeah, it’s like a Jekyll and Hyde situation. Like, we’re just dancing, having a good time. Get down and do those pushups. Serious.

Larue: And when we squat, they’re in Zumba, we get down with them like, arms up, arms up. You’ve got to make sure you use all your muscles when you’re doing Zumba, dancing, TwerkFit, still. If we’re twerking I’m like, you better get lower. Butt to the ground, butt to the ground. And they’re looking at me like, no it hurts. And I’m like, pain is good. Pain is your friend.

Gross: My butt doesn’t go any lower. Please Barbi.

Larue: No excuses. I don’t want to hear that.

Gross: Twerk it out. So, what’s one thing that people often misunderstand about being a fitness instructor?

Larue: They think it’s only fun. It’s so easy and fun. And it is. It’s a lot of fun. I love what I do. But it’s also not as easy as I’m going to walk in the class and teach because you’re working with people. People’s health is in your hands. So, if you’re not warming people up accordingly, you come in and you make them do a burpee right away, they get light-headed, they faint.

You really, really, really have to know what you’re doing. That’s why you have to have certifications to teach, group-fitness certification. You have to be CPR-certified to teach anywhere.

Gross: So, I’m going to rewind for a second then, and ask when did you decide that you wanted to be a fitness instructor? I know you’ve loved dance for a long time yourself, but when did you decide you wanted to make it into a job?

Larue: I started doing it part-time after I took up a Zumba class at LA Fitness where I was just going to work out. And it was the first time that I’d ever seen Zumba. So I’m like, dude, I can totally do this. I can totally teach this class. And I found out that they were coming to Virginia to teach how to get certified. So, I signed up. I paid and I went to get certified. It was so instant.

I was doing it part-time. I was doing classes here and there. Then I got picked up. When you’re in the industry and you build your name, you just get picked up. I was teaching Zumba for a nonprofit for kids. I would run classes at elementary school and middle schools and day camps.

And then, I was doing the government building. So, I’m bouncing around everywhere just teaching classes.

Gross: Do you have a goal going forward with what to do with all these different classes you come up with?

Larue: Definitely. I definitely want to build a studio here. I think in the D&V. Wheaton is where I’m currently at. So, I would love to have one there where I can teach variety of classes for adults and for young adults. I’m very business-minded, so I always have different classes that I want to do.

Now I’m developing a new boot camp for women, pretty much. Women work out different than men, and they should, because we have different areas that we need to work and different exercises that work for us and the way that we want to build. You know, your body’s like a sculpture that you have to build yourself.

Gross: Oh, I like that.

Larue: So, being a woman, there’s different workouts that you want to do. There’s some things that I wouldn’t do in my regular boot camp class that I would be doing in this boot camp for women, because there are different things that we want to lift, things that we want to shrink, things that we want to shape up. That’s something new that I’m working on.

Gross: So when you start a new class are you actually not making money off of it for a while? When you want to start TwerkFit, you don’t know how many people are going to come or how much you can charge?

Larue: Exactly. Especially if you’re new. And you’re new and you don’t have a big following, you have to strategize it good. Because I mean, in the beginning when I was doing Zumba, I was spending, you know, $55, $65 for the space, up to $100, and then charge people $5 instead of $20 a pop. And then I would probably make half of what I spent for the studio.

But again, I’m building my name. I’m building a rep and being consistent, people started to see that. And then, I started maxing out at the cost. OK, now I can go from $5 to $7. Now I can go from $7 to $10. You start to build your name. It’s just like any business, any success. It’s not going to be overnight, and you have to stay consistent. That’s the biggest thing.

People are going to do one class. Oh, only five people came. I’m done. You know, you’re new. They have so many other choices out there. So, be you and stay consistent and people are going to follow you, people are going to keep coming.

Gross: Well, I’ve gained a whole new appreciation for fitness instructors. Thank you so much for being with us today.

Larue: Absolutely. I had so much fun.

Gross: Thanks Barbi.

Larue: Thank you.

Gross: Thanks for listening to this episode of Working. I’m Rachel Gross. We’d love to hear your thoughts about the podcast. You can email us at working@slate.com and you can listen to all five seasons at slate.com/working. This episode was produced by Mickey Capper. Our executive producer is Steve Lickteig and the chief content officer of the Panoply Network is Andy Bowers.

Thanks for subscribing to Slate Plus. In this exclusive extra, Barbi talks about Zumba, how it helped her get a foot in the fitness world and ultimately helped her start teaching her own classes.

For those of us who are ignorant, can you explain what Zumba is?

Larue: OK. So, Zumba is a variety of dance and fitness put together. There’s four basic dances. Merengue, salsa, reggaeton, and bachata, which are basically basic Spanish moves, started in the Dominican Republic by Beto. He started back in 2004.

And what they teach us is how to incorporate dance moves with fitness moves. So, the cha-cha and squats, just all different moves that when you go in to get your license, they teach you step by step what these moves are.

And they teach you when you take the class how to write down these steps, so that you remember them. So, when I first started, I would write down the steps in little signals.

Two lines equal two steps forward. And then two dotted lines means, you know, salsa to the side.

Gross: So, this is an organization where every Zumba instructor has the same training and gets the same certification?

Barbi: Exactly. It’s a one-day training that you go to. It’s an all-day training where they teach you the basics. So, there’s a Zumba 1 where you go and you learn just the basics. You learn the four different [types of] music, salsa, merengue, bachata, and reggaeton. And you learn about the four basic moves with each kind of music.

So, you learn the four moves of bachata, four moves of merengue. And again, this involves dancing and fitness all at once. And then, so you get certified for that. And if you want to go into more advanced training, you go into Zumba 2.

And you learn the same steps and then they add hip-hop and they add some African music, or some type of other music. And you learn steps for that, and then you learn how to incorporate steps together, everything that you need to learn from how to do a warm up to how to have your class drawn out to the cool down.

And then you can go through more intense training up to Zumba gold, Zumba ZIN. They have Zumba Aqua.

Gross: Zumba black belt. Zumba Aqua? Dang.

Larue: So, you can do Zumba in water.

Gross: What? Underwater Zumba? So, you’re a certified Zumba trainer, and does that mean that you can work with any gym to teach Zumba classes if you want to?

Larue: Yes. They ask you when you apply for a gym, what Zumba certification you have, because they have Zumba kids, Zumba step.

Gross: Zumba cats?

Larue: Not yet. Pretty sure they’ll come out with that soon.

Gross: Zumba platinum. This is awesome.

Larue: Yeah, they’re great. Their organization’s great. It’s a $30 fee a month and you’re part of the ZIN program. So, they send you CDs with the music already, DVDs with steps for the music.

So if you’re a new Zumba instructor or you like going back to the basics, you can use their music. You can use their steps. If you like to add your own flavor to it, you can use their step and add your own, you know, incorporate your own steps into it. So they really help you, step by step how to run a class.

Gross: Literally step by step. Cool. That reminds me, does Zumba provide any other sorts of support, like business support for you?

Larue: Yeah, definitely. Actually, when you become a ZIN member, and pay your 30-day month fee, you get access to the portal of zumba.com. So, you have your own website. You have marketing tools, where you can have templates for your business cards, template for your fliers.

They have a whole forum where you can go in there and all Zumba ZIN instructors are connected under one forum. So, if anyone’s looking for anything in the area, in your area, looking for teachers, looking for classes. They have all that available where you can just go in and look where people in this area are looking for an instructor here, so you will go and apply. They’re very, very helpful with helping you build your business.

Gross: That’s really useful. Did you get the Zumba license? Was that your first fitness class you were doing? Was this your entryway into being a fitness instructor?

Larue: That was my first class, it was December 2014, maybe 2013, 2013 I think. I took Zumba 1, got my certification, and then I signed up for ZIN $30 a month, and that’s when I started. I got my business cards done. I built my website and a month later, I went and applied for LA Fitness and they hired me.