March 27, 2017

Meet Pamela Debiase and Daniela Escobar of Westwood Pilates in West Los Angeles

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Pamela Debiase and Daniela Escobar.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
We first met during our Pilates Teacher Certification program. After our training we worked at a couple different studios together, stayed in contact, worked out together and remained friends. We just always knew that if we were ever to have a business partner, this was the perfect match! Both of us were professional dancers who always took an interest in fitness, the body and how we move. Both of us are immigrants and first generation Americans, Daniela is from Brazil and Pamela from South Africa, and we’ve worked hard to create the lives we have today. Oh and both of us are October babies making us fascinated with balance and symmetry – no wonder we ended up being Pilates teachers! So 3 ½ yrs. ago, when the right opportunity presented itself, it was a no brainer for us to go into business together and create our studio Westwood Pilates. Each year our studio has grown, we’ve created a community of Pilates enthusiasts and a home away from home for many people. We aim to provide a space where people feel comfortable and welcome, no matter what your age, ethnicity, and gender or body type.

Has it been a smooth road?
While business was doing great when we first opened, our storefront window was repeatedly vandalized for over a year. Wonderful things were happening inside the studio, but it was very disheartening and frustrating to arrive at the studio only to find the windows had been spray painted and sometimes even shattered during the night. Eventually the vandal was caught, he turned out to be a mentally ill transient man who had been vandalizing businesses from Santa Monica all the way to Pasadena. He said it helped him release his pain. When we learnt of him, our anger turned to compassion. We were relieved that he was caught, but this created a big shift in thinking for us. We moved from feeling like the victims, to seeing an opportunity to reach a larger community in LA than just people who want to learn Pilates. So to celebrate our 2nd anniversary we created “Rocking for a Cause” – an annual fundraiser for The People Concern (former OPCC and the LAMP community), who provide food, housing and services to the most traumatized, vulnerable and needy members of our community including homeless individuals, and people dealing with severe physical or mental illness. This event has been a wonderful way for us to celebrate our success each year and to give back to our community. There will always be bumps in the road, but finding the silver lining is what growth is all about.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Westwood Pilates story. Tell us more about the business.
Westwood Pilates is a Classical Pilates studio fully equipped with Gratz apparatus, providing both Private sessions and Group Classes. We create very personalized relationships with our clients, even in our group classes. Contrology Class has a maximum of 4 clients at a time, everyone does their own personalized workout at their own pace. Nobody is held back and nobody is pushed beyond their limits. People always comment on what great energy the studio has and we find it very heartwarming to see the friendships that develop between both clients and teachers. This year we began hosting Alycea Ungaro’s Real Pilates Teacher Training program, and are enjoying training the next generation of Pilates instructors.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Pilates has become more accessible and well known in recent years. We are also seeing more people moving back to the Classical Pilates system recognizing the simplicity and genius in Joe Pilates’ original exercises, order and apparatus. There are lots of Pilates inspired fitness studios who have made Pilates a household name with their affordable group classes, but I see a shift happening in the Classical community, making Classical Pilates more approachable for our current contemporary lifestyles.

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