The P Spot

Michaela Brown is well on her way to building a local fitness empire. She has her own studio, The P Spot®, in northwest DC. She teaches 20 Exoterobics® (her unique spin on cardio striptease) classes per week, with online courses slated to begin soon. She just finished filming fitness DVDs, which will be available for purchase this fall. The 26-year old native New Yorker is living her dream.

Brown traces her passion for fitness to her exposure to dance and team sports in high school. Her field hockey prowess took her from a private high school in Connecticut to Georgetown University, where she was the first female African-American on the team. She went on to become the captain and lead the team to three winning seasons and a national ranking. After graduation, Brown accepted a full-time position at the university.

Though she enjoyed her work, she discovered that something important was missing from her life—fitness. To fill the gap, she became a certified personal trainer and began working with clients part-time. Brown quickly learned that part-time wasn’t enough for her. “I just woke up one morning and realized that fitness was my true passion,” she recalls. “I knew I had to follow it.”

Brown quit her day job, started a popular hip hop dance aerobics program at a prominent chain of local fitness clubs, and continued working as a trainer. After a year of focusing exclusively on fitness, she was ready to strike out on her own. “I took a leap of faith and started The P Spot as an in-home personal training service.” She continued to work with personal and corporate clients, but now, it was on her own terms.

A few years ago, Brown heard about an intriguing new trend in fitness—cardio striptease. “I bought the DVDs as a consumer, just something fun for me and my girlfriends to try. I had fun with it, but it fell short as a workout.” Brown decided to draw upon her experience as a personal trainer and her background in dance and the performing arts to make strip aerobics her own. She launched her Exoterobics classes for women in November 2006, including Chairwork, Pole Fit (not, Brown stresses, Pole Dancing), Strip Aerobics, Body-licious, and Floorwork.

Fifteen hundred satisfied customers later, business is booming. “People come in because they see ‘pole’, or ‘strip’, or ‘exotic’,” Brown says, “but the workout they get and the results they see are what keep them coming back.” Her customers echo that assessment. “Pain has never been so much fun, nor has it ever gotten me such great results,” said one repeat client. A recent first-timer commented, “It was absolutely thigh-destroying—I was sore for three days. But I’ll definitely go back. I had the time of my life!”

Brown attributes her success to the fact that she has fearlessly followed her passion. “Life is just too short. Every time you turn on the news, you see that someone has passed unexpectedly,” she observes. “You don’t know how much time you have, and you can’t live your life guided by fear. Whatever you want, you just gotta go get it. And why not? Why not you? What is it about you that you think you shouldn’t have the opportunity to do what you love? That’s what got me where I am,” she says. “The courage to ask, ‘Why not?’ ”

Photo: Michaela Brown demonstrates her pole technique.