Jazzercise: Judi Sheppard Missett

How I Built This with Guy Raz

Guy Raz | Wondery

Business

4.8 • 31.1K Ratings

🗓️ 18 January 2021

⏱️ 78 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Judi Sheppard Missett wandered into her first dance class when she was 2, and hasn't stopped dancing since. In the late 1960s, she was teaching jazz dance in Chicago and her students—mostly young moms—complained she was acting too much like a Broadway taskmaster, when all they wanted was get in shape and have a good time. Seeing an opportunity, Judi created Jazzercise: a hybrid of aerobics and dance that ushered in a new culture of spandexed, synchronized movement and became one of the first workout programs for women with mass appeal. With the help of video technology and franchising, Jazzercise eventually spread around the world, growing into the $100 million business it is today.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, Prime Members, you can listen to how I built this early and ad-free on Amazon Music.
0:07.0	Download the app today.
0:09.0	New Year's is here, and with it brings the possibility of change.
0:13.0	As one behavioral scientist put it, first starts are really powerful.
0:17.0	So as you head into 2023, LifeKit is a great resource to help you plan your life and tackle changes, both big and small.
0:24.0	Listen to the LifeKit podcast from NPR.
0:27.0	When I started this class, you know, I had many dancer friends, and they said to me,
0:35.0	what in the heck are you doing?
0:38.0	And I said, what do you mean?
0:39.0	And they said, well, you're bastardizing the art of dance.
0:43.0	And I said, well, you know, I'm doing this to help these women, and they're feeling better about themselves, and they're happy.
0:53.0	And plus, I'm able to teach them an appreciation for dance that they never had before.
1:01.0	So now, when they come to watch you, my friend, perform, they're going to appreciate what you have to go through to do what you do.
1:13.0	From NPR, it's how I built this, a show about innovators, entrepreneurs, idealists, and the stories behind the movements they built.
1:28.0	I'm Guy Ross, and on the show today, how Judy Sheppard and Missette became one of the first people to turn exercise into a business, and that business into a brand.
1:40.0	Chasersize, still around, and outgrossing $100 million a year.
1:54.0	Even by Southern California standards, my mom was a bit of an outlier.
1:59.0	Back in the early 1980s, our kitchen pantry was stocked with things like quinoa and carabins and azekio bread,
2:07.0	and our fridge was packed with things like hikama and rainbow chard and sprouts.
2:12.0	At school, I'd look envyously at the other kids as they feverishly pulled out twinkies and ho-hoes and fru-roll-ups from their lunches as I unrapped in a zikio bread sandwich stuffed with avocado,
2:26.0	and falfas sprouts and tomatoes. My juice box was the school water fountain, and my mom was already practicing yoga in the late 1970s, and she always had a keen interest in new fitness trends.
2:39.0	So, in the early 1980s, she became, for a brief moment, an early adopter of jazzer-size.
	...

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