I'm Christa Gurka, accidental entrepreneur turned CEO of a multi million dollar health and wellness business. Listen to episodes to hear expert insights and real conversations about what it means to show up, thrive, and — of course — get paid.

 You'll learn what works, what doesn’t, and what REALLY happens behind the scenes of a client-based business. All so you can take away advice and actionable steps that help you become a more successful and confident business owner — on your own terms.

 Check out the most recent episode here!

My #FemaleFridays guest this week is Lauren Sok. She took the leap to found Functionize in 2015 in Georgia after nearly 20 years in conventional physical therapy practice with the ultimate goal of creating a new legacy for her family and her colleagues.

Welcome to another episode of Female emPOWERED! Are you ready to hire your first person? Who should that be? How many hours should you offer them? Should you hire a contractor or an employee? It’s all so confusing! That’s why I’ll be covering what you need to know about hiring.

Happy Friday, Female emPOWERED listeners! My #FemaleFridays guest this week is Katie Costalas, co-founder of RippedPHL. 

Welcome to another episode of Female emPOWERED! We're chatting all about what you need to start a business.

Beth Bishop talked with me this week about her journey to holistic fitness and how she incorporates mindset coaching into her business.

Does technology overwhelm you? Would you love to have more efficient systems at work and even at home but the thought of learning a new technology makes you cringe?

Tracy Sher talked to me this week about her passion for pelvic health as a pelvic physical therapist and her journey to starting her businesses.

Welcome back to another episode of Female emPOWERED! Today is all about time saving strategies for content creation. How do we do this? By batching and repurposing content like a PRO! I’m a big believer in efficiency so you're not doing the same amount of work over and over and over again and I want to share how to do that with you.

This week I am sharing my own story with you and my journey that led me to where I am today!

Welcome back to another episode of Female emPOWERED! Today I have a special guest, Latasha Doyle! She is a content and copy specialist who has helped dozens of entrepreneurs, business owners, and digital agencies create copy and content. Latasha is giving us all of her tips and tricks we need to know about SEO or Search Engine Optimization.

Darcy Smith, my older sister, talked with me this week about her journey to becoming the CEO of her home as a stay at home mom of 11 children.

Welcome back to another episode of Female emPOWERED! My guest today is Andrea Palten who helps you take the guesswork out of how to get leads & sales so your business can grow. She is a Business Coach and an all-around marketing guru! Andrea helps you set up your marketing correctly and develops lead generation strategies that grow your business so that you get new clients consistently and specializes in service-based businesses like consultants, coaches, educators and online entrepreneurs. 

Andrea Trombley, PT and yoga teacher, talked to me about founding a business at 50, how the pandemic affected her practice, and more.

Welcome back to another episode of Female emPOWERED! I always do a quarterly review, and we're coming up on the end of quarter 2. We're also almost halfway through 2021...can you believe it?! So I’m giving you a few ways to check in with your business, yourself, and your team to make sure that you're feeling great about where you are. I also want to talk about the numbers because I know this is something that can confuse so many of us as we start our businesses.

Jackie Fenton, physical therapist and owner of Bright Heart Yoga Studio, talked about running a cash-based clinic, owning a business, and more.

Welcome back to another episode of Female emPOWERED! Do you work 1:1 with clients or your studio really leans on you to operate? If so, you know that taking a break can be...impossible. Today I’m giving you my tips for preparing for vacation or even maternity leave.

Welcome back to another episode of Female emPOWERED! Do you have money on your mind?

It’s time for a new #FemaleFridays chat to kick off the weekend! This week on the Female emPOWERED podcast, I got to speak to Andrea Isabelle Lucas, founder and CEO of Barre & Soul®, a boutique chain of fitness studios in New England that’s about to go national. 

Welcome back to another episode of Female emPOWERED! Today is all about time management and what to do when you feel like you don’t have enough time to do it all, the reasons why you may feel overwhelmed and what you can do about it.

Who’s ready for another #FemaleFridays chat and Coaching with Christa segment? My guest this week on the Female emPOWERED podcast is Alyssa Stewart, founder and CEO of Empower Physical Therapy. Empower PT offers physical therapy, Pilates, and private training to clients in Tampa, Florida. 

Welcome back to another episode of Female emPOWERED! Today is going to be a different kind of episode. I'm talking about mental health and my personal journey for Mental Health Awareness Month. I want to raise awareness for those of us that are high functioning people living with mental health conditions. This is a very real and raw episode with my personal story. At the end of this episode you will hear a few stories from my colleagues and their own personal experiences as well. 

Happy Friday, friends! This week on the Female emPOWERED podcast, my #FemaleFridays guest is Dana Dreifus, owner of Whole Body Studios in Denver, Colorado. Whole Body Studios offers Pilates, barre, yoga, and personal training services to clients of all needs and from all walks of life.

Welcome back to another episode of Female emPOWERED! Today I’m so excited to have my friend Jared Kaplan joining me from Studio 26 in NYC and he has a really, really unique business model that we are going to chat about today. Studio 26 enables fitness and wellness professionals to experience freedom in an inspiring space, belong to a community of experts and make more money.

Christi Brown talked to me this week about her journey to intuitive eating and how she helps others find food freedom.

Welcome back to another episode of Female emPOWERED! Today I’m joined by Shay Kostabi and Barry Enis from Fitness Career Podcast! These two are a husband and wife duo and consulting team with over a decade of experience in the industry. They teach various modalities on and offline, train and mentor the future generations of instructors, and help build boutique fitness studio businesses around the world.

Let’s kick off the weekend with a new #FemaleFridays chat! My guest this week on the Female emPOWERED podcast is Katie D’Amato, physical therapist, certified yoga instructor, and founder of Balanced by Katie, a mobile therapy and wellness practice in San Diego. Through her practice, Katie offers physical therapy, yoga classes, and strength and conditioning classes to patients in the comfort of their own home.

Welcome back to another episode of Female emPOWERED! Today is all about insurance. Not health insurance but how to protect yourself, your business and your staff. I’m talking with Luis Gazitua who has been my broker for years at Pilates in the Grove. Luis is one of the owners of JAG Insurance group which is a full service, independent insurance agency. We all know we need insurance but we don’t always know exactly what we actually need.

Time for another #FemaleFridays chat! This week on the Female emPOWERED podcast, I spoke to Lex Lancaster, also known as Lex Brunelle OR Alexis Brunelle. Lex is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, owner of a website design company, and co-owner of a performance physical therapy practice in New England. You might say she’s a “triple threat,” which is exactly what I called her in this episode! 

Welcome back to another episode of Female emPOWERED! Today’s is all about how to gain social proof for your business, product, service or a course you offer. Did you know over 75% of customers read reviews, testimonials and case studies and 88% of people trust reviews as much as personal recommendations??

It’s everyone’s favorite day! Female emPOWERED listeners, I’m so excited to share the latest #FemaleFridays chat with you. My guest this week was Aimee Coppola, a Team Beachbody® coach based in South Florida. Fun fact: Aimee and I connected professionally through Pilates in the Grove before we realized that our kids went to school together!

Welcome back to another episode of Female emPOWERED! I'm super excited for today's episode because we're talking about charging what you're worth. This topic is SO important to me and I can't wait to talk about this to all of you. Have you heard this a lot?  People telling you...you HAVE to charge what you're worth. What does this even mean?  Who determines how much you're worth?

 Kristin Kaplan, my integrator, talked to me this week about how health & wellness pros and find someone to help them grow to new heights.

Welcome back to another episode of Female emPOWERED! Today we’re going to chat about mistakes most business owners make when running ANY ad campaign. We are talking mostly about Facebook and Instagram ads but this goes for almost any ad campaign someone is choosing to run.

Who’s ready for another #FemaleFridays chat? This week on the Female emPOWERED podcast, my guest was Dr. Carrie Pagliano, a pelvic health physical therapist in Arlington, Virginia. Carrie primarily focuses on postpartum athletes: moms who want to get back into running, HIIT, Crossfit, and other forms of fitness after childbirth.  

Welcome back to another episode of Female emPOWERED! Today we’re talking about doing a quarter 1 review where you take a look at your business and see how you're doing with your goals, progress and more. It’s so important to remember, what gets measured, gets improved!

Time for another #FemaleFridays chat on the Female emPOWERED podcast! This week, I had the opportunity to talk to Kari Saitowitz, founder of Fhitting Room in Manhattan. A self-described “accidental entrepreneur,” Kari launched Fhitting Room when she noticed a need for a fitness studio that combined one-on-one personal training in a motivational group setting.

Time for another #FemaleFridays chat on the Female emPOWERED podcast! This week, I had the opportunity to talk to Kari Saitowitz, founder of Fhitting Room in Manhattan. A self-described “accidental entrepreneur,” Kari launched Fhitting Room when she noticed a need for a fitness studio that combined one-on-one personal training in a motivational group setting.

Dr. Krystyna Holland owns Inclusive Care LLC in Denver. We talk about building an inclusive & equitable business in the health and wellness space.

Welcome to another edition of Female emPOWERED! Today we’re talking all about your competitors and what you can learn from them to improve your business. Learning from the failures and successes of your competitors is a built-in boost for your company, saving you time, resources and money in the long run.

Welcome back to another episode of Female emPOWERED! Today I have someone joining me who has become one of my favorite people, Latasha Doyle. She is the copywriter for myself and Pilates In The Grove. Today we’re talking all things copy, SEO and how they correlate together.

Melanie Connell runs Remedy Physical Therapy in Costa Mesa, CA. Hear how she treats persistent pain and injuries in athletes, and much more!

Welcome back to another edition of Female emPOWERED! Today we are chatting about something I think is super, super important which is burnout and how to burnout proof your business.

It’s everyone’s favorite day of the week, and you know what that means: it’s time for another #FemaleFridays chat! In every #FemaleFridays chat, I sit down with a fellow female professional in the industry and talk about their career, business, and how they got to where they are today. My guest in this new episode is HanaKyle Moranz, a movement maven passionate about helping people move through and with chronic illness and pain. 

Happy Friday, everyone! It’s time for another #FemaleFridays chat with a fellow female professional. In this new episode, I talk to Kerry McGinn, physical therapist, personal trainer, and yoga instructor based in Boston, Massachusetts.

Welcome back to another episode of Female emPOWERED! Do you want to know what I learned the hard way when I first started (and then tried to grow) my business? Not all Google advice is good, and not all free strategies apply to your business.

Time for another #FemaleFridays chat to end the week! In my latest episode, I got to speak with Theresa Pride, physical therapist and Pilates instructor. Theresa is also the CEO and founder of Pride Physique, a Pilates studio based in Atlanta that went virtual during the start of the pandemic in 2020.

Welcome back to another edition of Female emPOWERED! Today I have my COO and CFO, Steve joining me today. Steve has been a big part of Pilates in the Grove growth over the last few years and today we’re talking all about profits, processes and financials. 

Are you ready for another #FemaleFridays chat? My latest guest on the Female emPOWERED Podcast is Justine Calderwood, a women’s health physical therapist and certified birth healing specialist based in Colorado. Through her private practice called The Healing Spot, Justine helps mainly pregnant and postpartum moms, but also women who deal with chronic pain.

Welcome back to another episode of Female emPOWERED! Today is all about becoming a better leader  and what it means to really be a CEO in your business. At some point, as a business owner, you have to step out of the role of business owner and into the role of leader and CEO.

Happy Friday! My newest #FemaleFridays guest on the Female emPowered Podcast is Felicia Alexander, co-founder of Los Angeles-based fitness boxing concept called BoxUnion. Felicia also became one of my closest friends after we met in a mastermind, so I was really excited to catch up with her and share our discussion with you all on the podcast!

Welcome back to another episode of Female emPOWERED! Today we’re going to be talking about hiring because if you want to grow your business at some point you will be considering bringing on team members.

It’s everyone’s favorite day of the week! For our latest #FemaleFridays chat on the Female emPowered Podcast, I talked to Jennifer Hutton, a pediatric physical therapist based in Nashville. Jennifer is also the founder of Building Allyship, a community of healthcare professionals who are looking to be better allies for their BIPOC peers. 

It’s everyone’s favorite day of the week! For our latest #FemaleFridays chat on the Female emPowered Podcast, I talked to Jennifer Hutton, a pediatric physical therapist based in Nashville. Jennifer is also the founder of Building Allyship, a community of healthcare professionals who are looking to be better allies for their BIPOC peers. 

Who’s ready for another #FemaleFridays chat? My latest guest on the Female emPOWERED Podcast is Jennifer Maanavi, CEO and co-founder of Physique 57, an international boutique fitness studio and media business headquartered in New York City. Jennifer and I met in a mastermind together, and because she’s always inspired me, I couldn’t wait to have her as a guest on the podcast!

In this episode I’m sharing tips that  I use to help clients and business owners design their marketing strategy without spending thousands of dollars... 

Meet Lencola, creator of Black to Pilates

Lencola has been in the business for over 16 years, and recently, she launched a teacher training program online called Black to Pilates.

Welcome back to another episode! Have you ever read someone’s website or social media post and thought "Yes.. it's like you're in my head!"? Well, that’s because that company really understands their ideal customers. Do YOU understand your customers like that? Let’s find out in today’s episode!

Welcome to our #FemaleFridays Feature! This is where I share real and raw conversations I had with fellow female professionals. We’re talking about how they got their start in their business journeys, their challenges that all brings a few laughs and even some tears along the way.

Hi there! Welcome to the Female emPowered Podcast! I’m Christa Gurka and on the surface, I am an Orthopedic Physical Therapist specializing in Pilates-based rehabilitation. I own, operate and teach at Pilates in the Grove, which serves the Coconut Grove and South Miami communities with...