I started a pole studio. I built so much more!

I Started a Pole Studio. I Built So Much More.

From 14 years working in NHS admin to building a community of strong, confident women - this the story of Wings...

If you had told me 15 years ago that one day I would own a pole fitness studio, teach women how to become stronger and more confident, and build a community of women who genuinely love and support each other, I would probably have laughed.

Because that wasn't the plan.

For 14 years, I worked in the NHS. I was an administrator and secretary, and honestly, I really enjoyed my job. It gave me security, I had my two boys while I was there, and I had absolutely no grand plan to become an entrepreneur. I thought I knew what my future looked like.

Then pole came along.

Finding a little bit of me again

After having my two boys, I was at home on maternity leave and started doing some strength training with my husband, John, who had recently opened his own gym. I could feel myself getting stronger, and it reminded me of something I'd tried years before - pole and thought I would go back and give it a go.

Well… technically, I didn't actually go back to pole straight away.

I went to an aerial hoop taster session. When I tried to sign up, there were no spaces left. So I went back to pole instead.

Having done a little bit of pole many years previously, the muscle memory was still there, and combined with the strength I'd been building in the gym, I was actually pretty good!

But, I was still self-conscious.

I'd just had two children under three and I remember feeling conscious about my stomach when I was on the pole.

Looking back now, I could kick myself.

I'd literally grown two human beings in there.

But that's the thing about confidence - sometimes you don't realise how much you're judging yourself until you look back later and realise you had absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.

At that point, pole wasn't a career.

It wasn't even a business idea.

It was my hobby.

It was my excuse to get out of the house, get away from the kids and my husband for a couple of hours, clear my head and find a little bit of myself again.

And I loved it.

The combination of strength training and pole was something I really enjoyed. I loved getting stronger in the gym and seeing that strength transfer onto the pole. For around seven years, that was simply what pole was to me.

I never imagined it would become my life.

From the NHS to something completely different

Eventually, I left the NHS and went to work in John's gym, initially doing the admin.

Leaving the NHS was a big decision. Fourteen years is a long time, and there's that idea that an NHS job is a job for life. I was leaving behind security and a pension, and I was going into something completely different.

But it wasn't a rash decision.

I'm not a risk-taker.

I thought about it carefully, and when I finally made the decision, I knew it was the right one.

Shortly after starting at the gym I qualified as a personal trainer, and that gave me the opportunity to work much more closely with women and help them get fitter and stronger.

Then lockdown happened.

I was running a ladies-only bootcamp online, and during that time I realised something. I really wanted to help women feel better about themselves, but I struggled with the nutrition side of things. For me, it always seemed very black and white: Eat your protein. Don't eat too many calories. You'll be fine.

But, I knew it wasn't that simple for many women, and I wasn't passionate enough about nutrition to go into the deep learning of it that I would have needed to help these women.

I started thinking about what I could do instead.

How could I help women find confidence?

How could I help them realise that their weight wasn't the most important thing about them?

And then I thought about pole.

The moment Wings was born

Pole had already taught me something important about my own body. When you do pole, you aren't thinking about how much you weigh. You're thinking about whether you can hold yourself upside down. Whether you can climb higher. Whether you can nail that move you've been working on for weeks.

You're thinking about what your body can do, rather than what it looks like.

And I thought:

I need to teach these women pole.

That was the beginning of the idea.

I completed my pole instructor training online during lockdown, and as soon as things started opening up again, I began looking for somewhere I could open a studio.

The first premises I viewed ended up being the one I chose.

I worked through a business plan with Invest NI, secured a business loan and decided I was going to do it.

I wasn't thinking, “What if nobody comes?” I knew I could make it work.

I'd already built relationships with women through my bootcamps and social media, and I knew I could help them.

I was all in.

And John was right there beside me, encouraging me to go for it. When we saw the premises, he basically told me “You have to go for this.”

So I did.

The studio was supposed to open in January 2021. Then Boxing Day lockdown happened. So that plan went out the window, and Wings finally opened its doors in May 2021.

Before I'd even opened, I'd sold out nine full beginner classes!!

The beginning of Wings

I still remember my first class. It was a Monday morning and I was nervous. There were six women in the class, the original studio had seven poles. Now we have ten.

The old studio was smaller, the poles were closer together and everything was very different from what Wings looks like today.

I remember being absolutely exhausted after those first classes. I remember losing my voice after the first week because teaching beginners means explaining absolutely everything in detail. I remember asking other studio owners “Is this how it feels?”

I was exhausted but my body was simply getting used to the amount of teaching I was doing.

After those first few weeks, something changed. Wings stopped feeling like a new business I'd started. It became something I couldn't imagine living without.

Even now, I don't really call it work. I say, “I'm going to the studio.” I don't say, “I'm going to work.” Because although Wings is absolutely a business and there is a huge amount of work behind the scenes, I still feel incredibly lucky that I get to do what I do every day.

Then something happened that I never expected

I thought I was opening a pole studio. What I didn't realise was that I was building a community. The friendships are probably one of my favourite things about Wings.

Women meet in their first pole class and, before you know it, they've become best friends.

They go out together. They go on spa days together. They support each other. They celebrate each other's achievements.

And I understand exactly why. My own best friends came from pole. I met them around ten years ago in a pole class, and we're still best friends today.

So when I see it happening at Wings, it genuinely makes my heart burst. Because that's exactly what I wanted this place to be. A place where women could come in, feel welcome, make friends and find their people.

The transformation you can't photograph

One of the biggest things I see at Wings is the confidence transformation. And it's difficult to explain because confidence isn't something you can photograph. In the gym, you might take a before and after picture to show someone losing weight or gaining muscle. But how do you photograph a woman who walks through the Wings doors feeling like a shell of herself and, months later, walks into the studio completely transformed?

You can't.

But I see it.

All the time.

I see women who arrive nervous and self-conscious.

Women who don't want to wear shorts.

Women who don't want to show their arms.

Women who aren't comfortable showing their stomach.

And then, slowly, something changes.

They start wearing the tiny pole shorts.

They become comfortable in their bodies.

They get stronger.

They learn tricks they never thought they could do.

They start believing in themselves.

And that confidence doesn't stay on the pole.

I've had women tell me that the confidence they've gained through pole has helped them get jobs they never thought they'd get. It's helped them in relationships. It's changed how they see themselves outside the studio.

That's the bit that makes me proud.

Because they're not just learning pole. They're finding their wings.

The Wings woman

If you asked me what a Wings woman is, I'd say she is:

Confident.

Supportive.

Thoughtful.

Strong.

Empowering.

But she doesn't necessarily walk through the door already feeling like that. That's the beautiful part. Sometimes those qualities grow because of what happens once she gets here. And I know that because I went through it myself.

The woman I became

I'm a completely different person from the woman who worked in the NHS. I'm more confident. I'm more ambitious. I've found a version of myself that simply wasn't there before.

Before Wings, I was a mum and an admin worker. I wasn't an entrepreneur. I wasn't someone other women looked to for inspiration. I didn't have a burning passion for helping women find themselves.

Now I do.

Pole gave me confidence.

But, building Wings gave me even more.

It taught me to believe in myself, to keep going and to trust that I can achieve things I never thought I'd achieve. And when I look at the women standing in front of me now, I see a little bit of my own journey in every one of them.

I remember the woman who walked into her first pole class.

I remember being self-conscious.

I remember wanting those few hours to myself.

And now I get to watch women go through that same transformation.

It hasn't always been easy

Running a business isn't always the shiny version you see online. One of the hardest things I've had to navigate has actually been the online world. The Wings community itself is amazing, but putting yourself out there publicly means opening yourself up to opinions, comparisons and criticism. There were times when social media genuinely stressed me out so much that I considered coming off it completely. But over time I have found a good balance.

I've also had to learn to trust my own niche.

You can look around at what everyone else is doing and start wondering:

Should I be doing that?

Should I change my style?

Are people going to get bored of what I do?

I've learned that the answer is no.

I am me.

I do what I do.

And the women who want what I offer will come along for the journey.

The move into our new, bigger studio brought its own challenges too.

For a while, I was paying rent on two studios because the lease on the old premises hadn't transferred as planned. At the same time, I'd invested heavily into the new space and was paying back a loan.

It was stressful.

But we're now a year and a few months into the new studio, things are beginning to ease, thankfully!

That's the thing about growth. Sometimes it looks exciting. Sometimes it looks like wondering how the hell you're going to pay for it!

So, what now?

Today, when I look around Wings, I'm incredibly proud. Not just of the studio. Of the women.

I'm proud of how much they support each other. I'm proud of the friendships. I'm proud of the strength and confidence I've watched grow.

And, if I'm being completely honest, I'm proud of myself.

Because I built this.

I took something that started as a hobby - something I originally used simply to get out of the house and find a little bit of myself again - and turned it into a community that means so much to so many women.

I'm 42 now, and I'm incredibly grateful that my body still allows me to teach, train and do what I love.

And, I want to keep doing it.

I want to keep growing as a person.

I want Wings to keep growing.

I want more women to discover pole.

I want more women to discover what their bodies are capable of.

And most importantly, I want more women to find their wings.

To the woman who's thinking about trying pole…

If you're sitting at home thinking:

I'm too old.

I'm too unfit.

I'm not strong enough.

I'm not confident enough.

You're none of those things.

You don't need to be strong.

You don't need to be flexible.

You don't need to be confident.

You just need enough confidence to walk through the studio door.

Everything else, I can help you with.

I can teach anyone pole.

And I promise you, once you step inside, you'll probably wonder why you didn't do it sooner.

Because one day, you don't want to look back and think “I wish I'd done that.”

You want to look back and think “I'm so glad I did.”

So come and find your wings.

I'll see you in the studio.

Katrina xx