Meet Kamille McCollum | BODYBAR Pilates Co-Founder, Instructor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kamille McCollum and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kamille, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
When I started my first BODYBAR Pilates studio, I was wanting a business in the health and wellness space because exercising is one of my favorite things and Pilates is working on bettering people’s quality of life. I also wanted a place where I could build a community that was truly welcoming to all people. Many people need to be motivated to exercise and I believe community does this. As my husband and business partner, Matt McCollum, grew our BODYBAR Pilates studios we recognized an opportunity to partner with the the original Founder of the BODYBAR Pilates Dallas Location to franchise BODYBAR Pilates across the United States. We want everyone to experience an amazing workout and a beautiful community that creates a welcoming space for all the BODYBAR Babes and Bros.

In 2019, Matt and I started BODYBAR Pilates Franchising and now have over 160 locations sold and over 60 locations open by September 2025. We now have a team of over 20 employees at BODYBAR HQ to support our franchise system with everything from marketing, operational support, and instructor training and ongoing education. We envision BODYBAR Pilates growing to over 500 locations in the next few years and when people talk about their Pilates class, it’s not just their Pilates class, it’s their BODYBAR class.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My professional career has been a unique journey. My Masters is in Social Work and I have been a Special Education Middle School teacher. I then went into business ownership and becoming a BODYBAR Pilates Instructor. I believe a constant theme has been hard work and caring about others. As a Social Worker, I worked long hours for very little pay but my motivator was to do the best job possible and I cared about the clients I served. This followed my work ethic into being a middle school teacher and then into a business owner. When owning your own business, there’s no 9am-5pm work hours and you do what you need to do to be successful. As a franchisor, this has served our franchise owners at all hours of the day and creating a work hard, play hard culture at BODYBAR Franchising.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
There are so many wonderful things to do in DFW. I live in Fort Worth, Funky Town, so here is a list of fun things to do.

You have to eat at Righteous Foods on W. 7th in Fort Worth. Delicious healthy food and fabulous coffees, teas, and kombucha. After you fuel up, head to BODYBAR Pilates on W. 7th for a Reformer Pilates class and meet wonderful people who are there to make you smile. You may be tired but to work out the potential soreness, take a walk up and down the Trinity Trail and enjoy the water from the river and the shade. Check out the water gardens downtown and then grab dinner at the Wicked Butcher. The Wicked Butcher has a cool vibe and great food. The next day you may want to venture out of Fort Worth and head to Six Flags Over Texas and get that heart racing on fun roller coasters. After a lot of walking, head back to BODYBAR Pilates on W. 7th for their Stretch and Balance class to experience a nice stretch. The next day, make sure you make some time to head to Dallas and to experience North Park Mall or Knox/Henderson to walk around and do some shopping. Oh yeah, there’s another BODYBAR Pilates location on Knox/Henderson! Eat at Taverna for some yummy Italian Food. Finally, if you are lucky to be her when the Ranger’s are playing, make sure you head to Arlington to watch a game in their new covered field

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
BODYBAR Pilates and my success would have never happened without the support of my family, friends, and an amazing team members that embrace the vision of BODYBAR locations. We had family members help watch our children for us, our oldest daughter earned many babysitting hours taking care of two toddlers while we were building our first studio. As we moved into franchising our HQ team cares about the communities we are building and jumps in and work endless hours for the success of the brand.

Website: https://www.bodybarpilates.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bodybarpilates/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bodybar-pilates

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bodybarpilates/

Image Credits
These are BODYBAR Pilates photos