Ruth Zukerman

Ruth Zukerman is co-founder of indoor cycling businesses SoulCycle and Flywheel Sports, where she is creative director.

Zukerman at Ozy Fest in July 2018

Early life

Zukerman grew up in Roslyn, New York to a family of Polish, Russian, and German-Jewish heritage. Her father was a physician and her mother a psychotherapist.[1] She was a cheerleader and dancer in school, and majored in dance at Mount Holyoke College. After a few years trying to find dance work in New York City, she decided to give it up.[1]

In the early 1980s, she was offered a job teaching aerobics on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.[2] Years later, after a divorce in 1996, she was introduced to spin classes.[1] She was drawn to physical and mental aspects of the exercise, which she credits in helping her through the time of the divorce.[3] When her instructor moved away she took up teaching at the Reebok gym, where she worked for five years.

SoulCycle

While teaching at Zonehampton, Elizabeth Cutler met Zukerman and followed her to Reebok to propose opening a boutique spin studio based on her method of teaching, asking her to be the face of the business. Julie Rice, also one of her riders and a friend became the third co-founder upon Zukerman's suggestion.SoulCycle opened its first studio in 2006 on Manhattan's Upper West Side. [2][3][4]

Flywheel Sports

In 2009, Zukerman left SoulCycle to start Flywheel Sports with Jay Galuzzo and David Seldin. Flywheel opened in 2010. The companies are now competitors, with different marketing strategies, styles, and use of technology.[2][3]

"Riding High"

In October of 2018, Zukerman wrote a memoir/business book, "Riding High: How I Kissed SoulCycle Goodbye, Co-Founded Flywheel, and Built the Life I Always Wanted." She currently speaks across the country about her career, resilience and reinvention.

In December 2018, Zukerman left Flywheel Sports to explore other opportunities.[5]

gollark: Compilation: converting one language to another.
gollark: I mean, it is...
gollark: Can we consider transpilation a subset of compilation?
gollark: Well, that can be considered compilation.
gollark: IT'S LOOSELY DEFINED AND NOBODY WILL COMPLAIN MUCH

References
  1. Miller, Gerri (July 11, 2018). "Ruth Zukerman Spins Cycling Into Success". Jewish Journal.
  2. Ogunnaike, Nikki (June 16, 2016). "How One Woman Single-Handedly Changed the Indoor Cycling Game". Elle.
  3. Schlossberg, Mallory (September 9, 2015). "One of Soul Cycle's founders turned on the brand and started its biggest rival". Business Insider.
  4. Saint Louis, Catherine (October 8, 2010). "In New York, a Rivalry Shifts Into High Gear". New York Times.
  5. Biron, Bethany (January 19, 2019). "Competition has Flywheel and SoulCycle spiraling into an identity crisis". Vox. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
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