Episode #14 - Debra Strougo Frohlich, co-founder of Row House

Today I’m joined by Debra Strougo Frohlich


 


Debra is one of the Founders of Row House


 


In today’s episode, I talked with Debra about what it takes to
succeed in the fitness industry, her experience building and
scaling a boutique concept, and why Row House stands out in a
crowded studio landscape.


 


I had a great time chatting with Debra and I hope you enjoy
listening. 


 


Let’s get into it. 


 


More from Debra >> 


 


Debra Strougo Frohlich is the Founder of Row House, which she and
her husband launched in 2014 with the intention of scaling. 
Today that dream has been realized with close to 100 studio
locations opened and about 300 studios committed to after just
two short years of franchising.  


 


Debra is a New York City native, and is fortunate to spend most
of her time in Manhattan where she continues to own and operate
Row House studios and her other brand, EVF
Performance.  


 


Debra began her career with a dual career: Business Development
by day and fitness hustle by night.  With a background in
digital analytics she worked for 5 years in content aggregation
for an EW Scripps Company; launching subscription and advertising
revenue.  Identifying that this could be the future of
fitness, she launched Fitizens.com to aggregate Fitness Experts
and Enthusiasts in 2007. Although this was a successful launch,
it was before its time. While teaching fitness and doing various
other biz dev projects in fitness, tech, publishing, etc Debra
met her husband and business partner, Eric Von Frohlich and they
proceeded to build two fitness studio based brands – Row House
and EVF Performance.  


 


As they were building those, Debra spent 5 years in NYC Tourism,
under Mayor Bloomberg during his administration where the team
was able to surpass tourism goals.  Debra’s direct
contributions were in creating a million dollar business by
generating revenue against NYC digital as well as hard assets.
Partners included NYC businesses large and small, looking to
reach NYC visitors from near and far.  She was also part of
the original task force who created Broadway Week, which will
persevere as Restaurant Week has as a NYC economic stimulus and
mainstay. In 2014, Row House opened its doors to disrupt the
fitness industry. Debra ran the studios and grew the brand until
2017 went she successfully created a partnership to expand Row
House through franchising.  The company is now controlled by
Xponential and Debra and Eric continue to operate Row House
studios in NYC. 


 


Debra  is a mom at 3. She loves to connect people and ideas
- and is keeping her eyes out for her next big one!.


 


More from Fitt Insider >> 


 


Fitt Insider is a weekly newsletter and podcast about the
business of fitness and wellness. 


 


From product launches and funding news to game-changing
innovation, Fitt Insider provides listeners with insights and
analysis on this ever-evolving industry. 


 


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